Adriatic

T2203A – Reflections

~ Graham Alderson ~ 2 Comments

In my last post, T2203A – Walking the Dalmation, I described our visits to two ports on the Dalmation coast of Croatia, Zadar and Dubrovnik. In this post I will cover the final two ports on this cruise, Kotor in Montenegro, and Cadiz in Spain, as well as give my thoughts and reflections on what has proved to be a lovely cruise in remarkably good weather for the time of year.

Kotor, Montenegro

Our visit to Kotor was on the final of five consecutive days in ports along the Adriatic Coast, and by this time inevitably we were starting to feel a little tired and jaded. However we had both read and heard how stunning the sail into Kotor was, sailing up fjords in the early morning light to reach the port, so we set our alarm clock for a very early 6:30am so that we could be outside to enjoy the scenery as we sailed in.

When I pulled back the curtains I was rather concerned to see land so close, and wondered if we had sailed in early and we had missed out on the best scenery. I quickly threw on some warm clothes, and headed out to the open deck at the front of deck 6, to see where we were and what was ahead, as frustratingly after all these months, they have still not got a bridge camera view on the televisions in the cabins available yet.

To my relief I could see that we were heading towards a narrow entrance to the fjords, so rushed back to the cabin to tell Carol, and to get my woolly hat and gloves as it was perishingly cold up on that exposed deck.

Sailing up the fjords brought back so many lovely memories of doing the same in Norway, often at an even earlier hour – the dramatic steep sides, the little villages and houses clinging to the edge of the water, and best of all the perfectly still water giving fantastic reflections of the scenery. My shutter finger was working overtime as I worked in the lovely but challenging low sunlight.

The tour we had selected was the first to leave the ship, so very reluctantly we headed down to breakfast before we actually reached Kotor.

The tour we had chosen was to have two guided walking tours, one in Budva old town, one of the oldest settlements in the Balkans and recognised as a monument of architectural antiquity by UNESCO; and the other in Kotor old town.

As our coach took us to Budva, our local guide told us all about life in Macedonia, and what we will see on the tour. Our first stop was a short photo opportunity on the cliffs overlooking the Sveti Stefan peninsula. Our local guide told us that this used to be an island, and the short causeway linking it to the mainland was man-made. She also told us that it was a hotel resort for the rich and famous, as it was so private there – for example it was the wedding venue for the tennis player Novak Djovovic.

Reboarding our coach, it was then a short drive back into the centre of Budva, where we alighted for our walking tour of the old town, which was enclosed by impressive stone walls. Our guide led us through part of the old town, stopping a couple of times to explain what we were seeing, before leaving us to explore the area on our own.

The inside of the Orthodox church was stunning.

There were a couple of archways in the city walls which led out onto the beach.

At the appointed hour we reconvened outside the main gate to the old town, and walked together back to our coach for the drive back to Kotor.

Back in Kotor, our coach dropped us just outside the port gates, and from there we took a subway under a busy road to reach the entrance gate to the old town. Once again our local guide took us on a short walking tour of the old town, and knowing that I could so easily come back in the afternoon when hopefully it would be less busy, I elected not to take photographs at this stage, and concentrate on looking and listening instead. At the end of her guided tour, the local guide told us we had free time, or we could just return to our ship, which is what we chose to do, as our lunch Poolside was calling.

After a delicious lunch and a rest, I headed back to the old town by myself to take some photographs. As I had hoped, it was a lot less busy, and I could take the photographs I wanted without too many people in the way. One of my first targets was the stone pillar with a pointed top, our local guide had told us that this was a ‘pillar of shame’ – if in the past someone did something wrong in the small local community, they would be tied to the post so that people could throw rotten fruit at them – these days she said it was replaced by a group on Facebook – a sign of the times! Another spot she had pointed out was the well in a small square – she told us that this was where everyone used to meet up for a good gossip – again almost certainly replaced by Facebook.

Returning to the ship, it was dusk when we slipped our moorings and alas set sail on our return journey from the Adriatic. We were to have five and a half days at sea before we returned to Southampton, punctuated by a half-day ‘pit-stop’ call into Cadiz, Spain.

Straits of Messina and Stromboli

In the afternoon of the first of those sea days, we sailed through the Straits of Messina, between mainland Italy and Sicily. From our balcony we could see the coastline of Sicily quite clearly. At the far end of the land there was a low-lying spit sticking out into the sea, with a very tall mast on it which dwarfed the lighthouse close by. Carol spotted a very strange effect as we passed the spit – there was a tanker sailing behind the spit at an angle to us, and because of the relative motions of the tanker and the land to ourselves, it looked like the tanker was going really, really fast – maybe the Captain was out the back doing some water-skiing!!

Once through the Straits, the weather deteriorated quite quickly and the seas got quite rough, just as our Captain had predicted. He had also told us that later that afternoon we would sail close to the volcanic island of Stromboli – although there would not be time to sail all around it. We passed the island on the opposite side of the ship to our balcony, so we ventured up onto the rear deck to see and photograph it. By then a very cold wind was blowing, and the ship was rolling in the waves – the conditions we so completely different to how they had been in the warm sunshine and sheltered conditions of the Straits just a few hours earlier. From our course we could not see anything of the volcanic eruptions, other than a plume of smoke near the right-hand top of the cone.

We then had a further two days at sea before we reached our final port of call on this cruise, Cadiz in Spain. As we sailed west across the Meditteranean Sea, the seas calmed and the weather improved again, and by the third day it was back to the blue sky, sunshine and calm seas that we have been blessed with for most of this cruise.

Cadiz, Spain

We sailed into Cadiz around 7:30, just as dawn was breaking, and looking out from our balcony I could see that the superyacht Yas, with its distinctive lights along the waterline, and the one that we had admired on our last visit in September, was still berthed in the same place.

Regular readers will know that Cadiz is one of our favourite ports, and one that we like to explore on foot on our own. This time we were only here for half a day – what I call a ‘pit-stop’ call, on our long journey back home from the Adriatic. We therefore decided to leave the ship as early as we could, so that we could have all the time we wanted ashore, and also before it got too busy.

The Cadiz old town, so accessible from the ship, is a maze of narrow streets and squares, which we just love to explore at random, seeing what we find. We had in mind to re-find the lovely square called Plaza de San Antonio which we discovered by accident on our last visit in September, and also to visit the market at some stage on our exploration.

As we set off the streets were remarkably empty, just as they have been at every port we have explored on this cruise. There were hardly any shops open, not that it bothered us, and we just assumed it was the early hour for Spain. We passed the market quite early on, found it closed, so carried on our way thinking we would try again on our way back to the ship.

After a while of exploring random new streets, a quick check on Google Maps guided us in the general direction of the Plaza we wanted. Once there, it looked as lovely as we remembered bathed in the early morning sunshine, and Carol was very content to sit on a bench soaking up the rays and the views while I had a scoot about with my camera. This time I went inside the church there, the Parish Church of St Anthony of Padua, which was as lovely inside as it was outside.

Rejoining Carol, we both sat contented for quite some time before setting off on our wanderings once again. We managed to navigate back to the market, which was still closed, as were most of the shops – it was only once we were back on our ship that we found out that the places were closed because of a religous festival that day.

We were back on board ship in plenty of time to have our lunch in our favourite place, Poolside. As we sat there we had lovely views out over the city and the Cathedral, and we both felt so lucky and so blessed to be able to eat such lovely food in such lovely surroundings.

The ‘all-aboard’ time was 1:30 for a 2pm departure, and I went out onto our balcony to take a few last snaps of the city as we sadly sailed away back towards the UK and our home.

Final thoughts & reflections

As I write this on the final two sea days of our voyage, it is time to reflect on what an amazing and very special cruise this has been.

We knew when we booked this cruise, that travelling in Europe so early in the year would be a gamble when it came to the weather, and indeed we were a little unsure as to what to pack for. As it turned out, we were so very, very fortunate – in every port bar one, we had blue skies and sunshine – and even in the other one it was just cloudy and dry. Yes, at times on our sea days it got a bit ‘lumpy bumpy’, but we would expect that sailing in the winter months.

Another reason we have been so blessed on this cruise is that in each and every port we have been the only cruise ship docked, and so every port – including amazingly Dubrovnik – has been very quiet and empty. Combining that with the wonderful weather, we have seen lovely places in absolutely ideal conditions!

We have had the chance to see and explore so many lovely places – Valletta, Lake Bled, the Krka Waterfalls, Dubrovnik, and Kotor to name but a few, but it has been more than that, we have been back in our adopted ‘second home’.

When we come on board it really does feel to us that we are back in our other home, not least from the wonderful welcome we receive from the officers and crew, who all work so hard and go that extra mile (and sometimes further) to make our experiences on board as great as they can. There are so many names I could mention, but that might make for rather boring reading, but I must pick out our Captain, Jozo Glavic, for keeping us safe and so well informed – even down to when we can expect to pick up local phone signals as we sail past a coast (including which side of the ship to stand); the wonderful Maitre’D Roshan Mendonca, his equally wonderful assistant Rodel Mateo, and his fantastic team – especially our two Dinner waiters Rene and Ahmad, and all the Poolside team lead by the wonderful Captain Waiter Rowel Tolentino.

It has also been lovely to meet up with Entertainments Manager Tim Spicer again and chat. We first met Tim on the epic Grand Voyage on the lovely Boudicca, and got to know him better when he sat at our dinner table one formal night. Tim told us that he had been alerted that we were back on board by his Mother, who reads this blog! Both Carol and I would like to say a big ‘Hello’ to Tim’s Mum (sorry we don’t know your name), and to send you our very best wishes – you should be very proud of your son and the job he does so well.

I said in my post at the end of the trio of back-to-back cruises we did on Bolette last autumn, see T2123 – Paradise Lost?, that “Yes, there are a few things that haven’t been sorted out yet, but that it is work in progress, and by the time that we come back on board next year the experience will be even better“. Well, a few months on, yes things are better, but there is still more work to do. The food is much hotter, the return of the cold fruit soups is wonderful, but sadly there were still too many nights when the dinner menu was not to our tastes, and we chose to eat in the cafe rather than the dining room. Alas we are still unable to view either a webcam showing the view out forward from the Bridge, or the shows and lectures going on in the theatre on the televisions in our cabins, things we very much miss from the old ships. Oh yes, and the Grill specialist dining room, or Forrest Room as we think it is now going to be called, is still not open. All of this we hope is still work in progress, and we will continue to monitor progress as we return for more cruises later this year – the first of which, will of course be the subject of my next post.

Postscript 1

Part way through a cruise on Fred. Olsen, a postcard is left in your cabin called Penny For Your Thoughts. You can write on it anything about the cruise that is on your mind – good or bad – and then post it in a box on the Guest Services counter. For every card that is returned, the company makes a donation of a penny to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. A couple of days later you get a standard letter back from the Hotel Manager thanking you, and we have wondered in the past how much notice is actually taken of what we write.

One of the many luxuries of sailing on a cruise is having the Stewardess make up the room twice a day. As part of her duties, in the morning the beds are made beautifully, and in the evening they are turned down, and a small chocolate placed on each pillow – wonderful. However they have started doing something on the two or three formal nights on the cruise, which we just cannot understand the point of. On formal night evenings, the Stewardess unmakes the bed, and carefully folds up the duvet into a long shape folded back on itself, so that it looks something like a caterpiller lying on top of the bed. So at the end of the evening, when we return tired and ready for bed, we have to set to and remake the bed ourselves. Why?

So this time Carol decided to write about this on our Penny For Your Thoughts card – and slightly tongue in cheek said that she does not pay a lot of money to come on a cruise to have to make her own bed! Well last night, a formal night, we found out that someone does read the cards, as while everyone else’s beds were still in the strange formal night arrangement, ours was fully made up and just turned back as if it was a normal night. I wonder what will happen on our next cruise?!

Postscript 2

Carol and I have done numerous cruises with Fred. Olsen over the years, and one of the Entertainment Hosts that has quite often been on board with us has really stood out – so well-respected, so cheerful and above all so unbelievably talented. It just seems that he is brilliant at anything and everything he turns his hands to, including singing, ventriloquism, comedy, painting, pottery etc etc. He always gets fantastic ovations at his one-man shows, especially when he shows off a very special and unique talent, telling stories using a sandbox, which is a flat perspex box with a bright light underneath, and which has a camera looking down onto it displaying on a big screen the pictures and words that he makes by sprinkling and arranging sand in the box.

As well as doing all his duties as an Entertainments Host, he is also the ship’s welfare officer for the crew, and works tirelessly all hours on his colleagues behalf. We also know that while he was unable to sail with Fred. Olsen during the pandemic, he was busy back home in the Philippines, not only helping out everyone else (of course), but also creating the most beautiful and wonderfully decorated cakes.

I am sure that anyone who has sailed a few times with Fred. Olsen before will know that I am talking about the wonderful and unique Wilmar Casa. A couple of nights ago he put on his one-man show, and although it was later than our usual bedtime, of course we had to stay up and watch him once again. As usual he told us that he was quite happy for photographs and even videos to be taken during his show, so out came my camera.

Just before his final song, he told us that this cruise was the last one in his contract, and that he was looking forward to returning home to the Philippines and to see his Mother in a few days time. During that final song about saying goodbye, he showed loads of photos of himself with fellow crew and with passengers over his long career with Fred. Olsen (he started as a waiter many years ago on Braemar).

Carol and I obviously both hope that we will see Wilmar perform again one day, in the meantime we would like to take the chance to say to him have wonderful and well-earned vacation, and wherever you go, and whatever you do, be happy and healthy, and remember how much you are respected, loved and appreciated by us all.

Postscript 3

While Carol and I may be away on holiday, of course we are all too aware of the terrible events going on back in the ‘real world’, and in many ways it has felt wrong to be writing about seeing lovely places or whether or not your bed is made, when so many, many innocent people’s lives are being devastated or worse. Like everyone else we feel so helpless, but of course the sad fact is that whether or not I wittered on in this blog, it would make no difference to their plight, so rightly or wrongly I have decided to carry on and write this post. Over the years Carol and I have been so fortunate to see what a beautiful and wonderful world we live in, we only wish that everyone in the world, wherever they lived, could have the chance to live out their lives in peace and harmony.

T2203A – Walking the Dalmation

~ Graham Alderson ~ 1 Comment

In my last post, T2203A – Watery Wonders, I described our visits to Split, Croatia, and to Koper, Slovenia; and the fabulous tours we did from these ports to the Krka Waterfalls and Lake Bled respectively.

Those were the first two of the five ports along the Adriatic Coast that we were visiting on consecutive days. Our next two ports, Zadar and Dubrovnik, are located on the Dalmation Coast in Croatia, and our visits there are the subject of this post.

Zadar, Croatia

Neither Carol or I had been to Zadar before, so we both had that extra air of excitement as we opened the curtains that morning to see what the approach and port would be like. As we did so I could see we were already very close, and had already passed the old town area. The snow-capped mountains in the background added drama to the scene before us.

There are eight ports of call on this cruise, and we had decided to book tours on half of them, and do our own thing exploring the port on foot in the other four. Zadar was one of the ports that we decided to do our own thing in. Given the distance from where we had docked to the old town, I was not surprised to see that a shuttle bus was required. We decided to let the initial rush for the shuttle bus die down, so instead I settled down to complete and post my blog entry about Split and Koper.

Around 11am we were ready to go ashore, and collecting our shuttle bus ticket we found that we were to be on bus number 10, so they obviously weren’t going that frequently. Indeed as we waited in the atrium near Guest Services, the giant clock that spans three decks whirred and chimed the hour.

At last we were called to go down and board our shuttle bus, but first there was a very long walk along the quay and through a big terminal building to reach it, and we thought how difficult and tiring it would be for passengers less mobile than ourselves.

A bus ride of 10 to 15 minutes or so brought us to the drop off point, which was at the far end of the peninsular holding the old town. It was very close to two interesting art installations, the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun, both designed by the architect Nikola Bašić.

The Sea Organ captures the movement of the waves and transforms it into musical notes. It has 35 pipes of different lengths and sizes embedded with whistles buried into the promenade, and the ‘melody’ appears from a sequence of holes running along it. Listening to it was quite a unique experience, but of course photographically there was little to capture. For the curious, a search for ‘Zadar sea organ’ on the internet will provide sound clips I am sure.

We noticed what looked like a very large circle of solar panels also set into the promenade, but it was only after we returned to the ship and I did a bit of research on the internet that I realised it was Greeting to the Sun. Under the 300 glass plates set into the promenade there are photovoltatic cells which by day convert the sunlight into electricity which is stored, and then at night this is used to produce a light show.

Moving on, we then started to explore the old town on foot. Unsure of where best to go, we headed towards a church spire we could see, and went inside briefly.

We then spent a while walking up and down the narrow lanes looking at the old buildings, which is usually what we just love to do, but this time neither of us really connected with what we were seeing – whether it was the place, or just that we were feeling tired and a bit jaded after two really busy days and long tours I am not sure.

Knowing that we would be doing lots of walking the next day in Dubrovnik, we therefore decided to call it a day, and headed back towards the shuttle bus stop.

Returning to the ship, after a delicious lunch Poolside, we rested up in anticipation of another busy day ahead. Once again we had had glorious weather, and with again just our ship in port not many people around, but for some reason this was not a port that will live long in our memories.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Both Carol and I had been to Dubrovnik before, but not together. For each of us visiting the old town was a stunning experience, but marred by the huge numbers of people thronging the narrow streets – and yes we do realise we were part of the problem!

In the original itinerary Dubrovnik was due to be an anchor port. That was how I visited the city many years ago, and it was rather convenient as the tender dropped us right in the old town.

We were therefore surprised when the Captain announced that we would be docking in the new town, and using shuttle busses to transfer passengers to the old town.

We sailed into port just as Carol and I were at breakfast, so between courses I kept popping out onto the rear deck to take photographs of our approach.

This time we were keen to get ashore and into the old town before it got too busy, so we managed to travel there on the second shuttle bus of the day, which dropped us close to one of the gates into the walled old town. Inside we were astonished and delighted at just how empty the streets were – neither of us had ever dreamed that we could be there with so few people around.

After walking the length of one of the main streets, I noticed an archway leading out to a quayside, and I rightly guessed that this was where the ship’s tenders had brought me ashore on my previous visit. It was absolutely lovely there, looking out over the crystal clear water and the bobbing boats, and I left a very happy Carol there sitting on a wall lapping up the view, while I scooted around with my camera trying to capture the magical scenes.

After a while we continued our meanderings inside the old town, and we could not resist going in a Christmas shop, where we purchased a pretty decoration. This is another of the little things we love to do, and at the end of the year when the decorations go up on the Christmas tree, each special one we have bought brings back great memories of the places we have loved visiting.

We had a wonderful time wandering up and down the narrow lanes and taking great delight in seeing the beautiful old buildings in such perfect conditions – lovely sunny clear weather, and just hardly anyone else around – we were so unbelievably lucky!

Eventually our legs and feet began to tire, and so reluctantly we made our way back towards the shuttle bus stop. Just before we got there, there was an open square overlooking the sea, and Carol spotted a large group of little children looking so cute, all dressed up in costumes as if they were about to perform. Of course we had to go over and investigate, and I could not resist taking some snaps of them.

My wonderful wife then not only spotted an adjacent cafe with outdoor tables overlooking the sea, but also that it did pizzas, a lunch we love to have ashore when on a cruise as it is one thing we never seem to get on board. We secured a table in a prime location right by the sea, and while we waited for our food we watched the children perform.

It was a magical end to a magical port visit – this one really will live long in our memories! Returning to our ship, we rested up and dozed, thoroughly contented.

We had one final Adriatic port to visit the next day, Kotor in Montenegro, before we unfortunately started the long voyage home. That visit, and our ‘pit stop’ visit to Cadiz on the way home, are likely to be the subject of my final post from this wonderful cruise.

Postscript

Well done if you spotted that I missed the word Coast off the title to this post!

T2203A – Watery Wonders

~ Graham Alderson ~ 2 Comments

In my last post, T2203A – Contrasting Cathedrals, I described our visits to Cartagena in Spain, and Valletta in Malta. Shorty after I had posted it on my blog, we set sail for our next port of call. It was dusk as we sailed out of the grand harbour, so I popped up onto the forward facing deck on deck 6 to take some photographs in the fading light of one of our many favourite ports of call.

We then had a quiet and calm day at sea, sailing towards the first of our next two ports of call, Split in Croatia, to be followed by Koper in Slovenia. In each of these ports we had booked ship’s tours, both quite long tours featuring wonderful natural water features.

Split, Croatia

It was early in the morning, and the skies were a dreary grey, when we sailed into Split. It was the first visit to this port for both Carol and myself, and it was immediately apparent that this was a busy ferry port, and we learned later there were frequent ferries both to the many Croatian islands, and across the Adriatic sea to Italy. Across the harbour we could also see the location of the old town, clearly marked by the tall tower of the Vestibule.

The tour we had selected was to visit the Krka Waterfalls within the beautiful Krka National Park. The tour was for five and a quarter hours, as the drive to the national park was around an hour and twenty minutes each way. We therefore had an early departure time, so needed to be up and into breakfast very early.

There were two coaches making this tour, ours was the first to leave. As we headed out of town it was soon clear that other then the historic old town we had spotted from the ship, the city had little else to interest us, with sprawling modern appartment blocks and shopping centres. At one point our local guide pointed out a section of a Roman aquaduct, and she told us that it was one of only three still in use in Europe, the others being in France and in Spain. I tried to snap a photograph of it as we passed in our speedy coach, and apologise for the rather blurry snap:

We soon picked up a fairly newly build dual carraigeway, a toll road which our guide told us went all the way to the nation’s capital, Zagreb. The road cut through the mountains, and for mile after mile we just passed dry barren rocky ground. Our guide told us that in places we could still see some stone walls from when subsistance farming that used to take place – now as so often is the case, people have drifted to the towns and cities for a better life.

At long last we reached the turn off for the national park, and entering the park we were soon driving through forest along a narrow road which twisted and turned down the side of a steep ravine. Through the trees we got tantalising glimpses of the river and lake below.

Alighting from our coach, our guide led us to a large map on a noticeboard, which indicated the route of the circular walk we would be taking around the waterfalls. There were a cluster of buildings at the start, many of them closed for the winter. We were led into one, which used to be a watermill, and there we saw some of the many cats we saw on the walk – some seemed to follow us around as if they had been missing human company over the winter – or was it just that they were hopeful of some food?

We then set off on the walk around the waterfalls, mainly walking on a wooden boardwalk, often crossing over the torrents of water. There were many reasons that we were glad to be doing the tour in February – our guide told us that the water flow was much greater and therefore more spectacular than in summer, there were not the huge numbers of people that are there in summer months, and also it was cooler – she said that the temperatures were usually in the high 30s in midsummer – much hotter than we like for walking around in.

We were not sure what the British ‘Health & Safety’ brigade would have made of the long stretches of the boardwark without any handrails. The surface was a bit damp in places, but we were so thankful it was not a wet day, especially when our guide told us that it had been raining just the previous day.

As we followed the boardwalk around, our guide pointed out noticeboards listing the flora and fauna that can be found in the park. She told us that we were very unlikely to come across any of the snakes – some poisonous – much to the relief of Carol and I am sure our fellow passengers! She told us that a bit later in the year much of the ground would be a carpet of flowers – so that was one disadvantage of being there in February.

Once we had reached the far side of the gorge, our path took us down quite a number of steep steps, down to where there was another cluster of closed wooden shops and cafes – another sign of just how busy the area must get later in the year. From there we took a wooden bridge back across the gorge, which gave fantastic views of the most impressive of the 17 falls, and where we stood in wonder for quite some time.

Reluctantly we followed our guide up the steep hill back to where we started, over a mix of steep steps, and a rather uneven rocky track. On the way we passed the remains of the first hydro-electric station in the park, which our guide told us was the first to be operational in the world.

As we reached the top of the hill I stopped at a viewpoint to snatch some last few photographs of the stunning waterfalls before we boarded our coach for the return journey to our ship.

Soon after leaving the park, we stopped at a restaurant for a snack, which proved to be much better than we expected. On each table there were carafes of red and white wine, bottles of still and sparkling water, and a carton of fruit juice. We were each given a plate with a range of local cold snacks – the nearest English equivalents would be a cheese & ham sandwich, rounds of bread with pate and fish paste, and slices of cheese and tomato. This was followed by another plate, this time with three small round balls rather like doughnuts, with a smear of chocolate sauce – Carol was delighted to eat mine for me! Finally we were all offered tea or coffee.

Suitably refreshed and replenished, we then reboarded our coaches for the long drive back towards our ship. As we neared Split, I took some photographs of mountains, a castle perched high on the rocks, and the view down towards the city.

This was a great tour to a stunning and wonderful place, and the views of the waterfalls will live long in our memories. We would definately recommend the tour to anyone able to manage the walking and steps involved.

It was dusk by the time the ship slipped it’s moorings and set sail for our next port of call.

Koper, Slovenia

Early the following morning we slipped into our next port of call, Koper in Slovenia. My prime focus was getting ready for an early start on our ship’s tour, but I did manage to find time for a couple of quick snaps from our balcony as we approached the quayside.

The tour we had booked was a very long one – 8 hours – and was to visit the iconic Lake Bled in the north of the country, which involved a two hour coach journey in each direction. Although I had been to Lake Bled on a ship’s tour many years ago, it would be the first time for Carol, and we were both very much looking forward to making the trip together.

There was quite a bit of confusion and annoyance to start with, as we were told on the ship that it was not compulsary to carry passports ashore, only to find that once down on the quayside that the local immigration were checking passports before allowing us ashore. Fontunately we were carrying our passports anyway, but there were quite a number of cross passengers who had to make their way back to their cabins to fetch theirs before they could board the coaches.

There were three coaches making the trip, each only half-full of course due to social distancing for covid reasons. As usual we all set off in convoy, which meant that when we reached the service station for our comfort break everyone arrived at the same time, reaulting in long queues for the facilities. It has always been a bug-bear of mine why they can’t stagger the departure times of coaches on the same tour, even by five or ten minutes would often make quite a difference.

We had a very good local guide on our coach, he spoke immaculate English, and explained everything very well, especially the history and geography of the country. The weather was lovely as we left the coastal area – clear blue skies and bright sunshine – and our guide told us how lucky we were as the previous day it had been raining on the coast and snowing at Lake Bled!

As we drove north we climbed higher and higher, and the scenery became more and more mountainous. For a while the weather closed in, it was very misty and foggy, but our guide assured us that it would be clear and sunny again by the time we reached Lake Bled. As we approached the Alps, where Lake Bled is located, the high mountains were all covered in a fresh coating of pure white snow, and looked amazing. As we approached our destination our guide pointed out a monument on a roundabout, complete with keyboard, accordion and traditional umbrella, symbolising the music of the Avsenik Ensemble, very famous musicians from the area.

Arriving at the shores of the Lake, we were immediately bowled over by the beautiful scenes before us, set off to perfection by the white snow on the mountains in the background. Alighting from our coaches, we transferred into the traditional local boats called a pletna for the voyage across to the only island on the lake – and in the whole of Slovenia – Bled Island. The boats have a very shallow draft, and so we had to board slowly and carefully, and sit alternate sides so as not to overbalance the craft. Each boat, holding around 15 passengers, was propelled by a single man using two oars at the stern. Our guide told us that they are always local men, and the rite to ply their trade on the lake is usually handed down the families from father to son. They use a very particular rowing action, leaning forward to put their body weight onto the oars on each stroke, in order to be able to propel such a load by themselves.

Reaching the island, our oarsman deftly manouevered the board so that it docked against the island jetty stern first, and we all disambarked carefully one at a time, in the order in which we boarded.

We then had around 45 minutes to enjoy the steep-sided island, which at it’s top had a church, bell tower, gift shop and cafe. To reach these there are 99 steep stone steps which were built in 1655. After all the exertions of yesterday, Carol decided to remain at the bottom of the steps with our friends Brian and Darien, while I set to and climbed all the steps so that I could see and photograph the church and bell tower, and of course the views from up there too.

The entrance fee to the church and tower seemed to be putting most people off, so I had both of them to myself as I looked around. The church was small but attractively decorated.

In the bell tower there were two very narrow spiral staircases – one for going up, one for coming down. On the way up and down there were regular signs on the wall about time and clocks. Hanging in the void was a huge pendulum for the clock swinging regularly back and forth. From the top there were lovely views out across the lake.

Returning down the steps I rejoined Carol and our friends, and waited for it to be time to make the return voyage.

For our voyage back the wind had got up making the water quite choppy, and our oarsman did a brilliant job to get us back on dry land without getting wet – we saw that some of the passengers on the other boats had rather wet clothing when they alighted.

Our coaches then drove us through the town of Bled, and around to the other side of the lake, where we had lunch at a restaurant. I do appreciate that catering for around 60 people simulataneously is not easy, but as is so often the case on these popular tours, our three course cooked lunch was rather indifferent and only luke warm. We were given a tepid bowl of noodle soup, followed by chicken, very watery and overcooked vegetables and boiled potatoes – again luke warm, and then a slice of apple strudel.

Leaving the others to have their desserts, I elected to leave the noise and commotion of the restaurant, and take a short walk along the edge of the lake. Here it was very tranquil, and I took some more photographs of the lake from the different perspective, as well as of the restaurant and adjacent rowing facility.

All too soon it was time to reboard our coaches for the long drive back to the ship, which this time we did without a comfort stop. I took advantage of this time to select and prepare the photos for this section of this post.

Arriving back at the port, once again we had to queue up and show our passports before we could return to the ship.

Once again this was a fantastic tour to a simply stunning and wonderful location, only let down by the food served for our lunch. Despite the latter, we would not hesitate to recommend this tour.

Personally, I think the two tours demonstrated the right way and the wrong way to provide refreshments on a ship’s tour. On the first day all the food we were served was cold, so there were no issues with hot food being cold by the time it was served. The fact that it was a snack rather than a full blown three course meal was also fine, there is no shortage of food on the ship, available at any time during the day, so we really don’t need a full hot meal.

Although the old town was close to where we were docked, we decided we had done enough for one day, bearing in mind we still have three more Adriatic ports to visit in the next three days!

Our next to port calls are to Zadar and to Dubrovnik, both in Croatia. Our visits to these are likely to be the subject of my next post.

Postscript

Believe it or not, the local tradition is for a groom to carry his bride up all of the 99 steps on Bled Island. I was struggling a bit for breath and my legs started to ache just climbing them by myself, never mind carrying someone.

While we were waiting for the return voyage, a young man tried carrying a lady up the steps – I have no idea, but doubt that they were actually bride and groom. At the first attempt he only made it a short distance up the steps, but after a short rest he tried again, and this time made it nearly three quarters of the way up! Bravo!!

T2203A – Contrasting Cathedrals

~ Graham Alderson ~ 3 Comments

In my last post, T2203A – Shake, rattle and roll, I described the start of our latest cruise, which is to the Adriatic sea on the Fred. Olsen ship Bolette, which featured strong winds and rough seas as we sailed down the English Channel and across the Bay of Biscay.

By our third day at sea the weather had improved considerably, and once we were through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Meditteranean Sea, the seas were calm, the skies were clear and the sun was shining, and we were very much back into our happy place – knowing just why we love to cruise, especially considering the weather back home is so awful right now.

Cartagena, Spain

Early on the fourth day we reached our first port of call, which was Cartagena in Spain. Alas this was very much a ‘pit stop’ call – just for the morning from around 8am to around 1pm – so there was only time to do a ship’s tour or go ashore by ourselves – not both. As we docked the sun was only just rising behind the mountains surrounding the bay.

We had visited Cartagena just last September on our Undiscovered Spain cruise – see T2123 – Paradise Lost? – when we went ashore by ourselves and explored the beautiful historic buildings and Roman excavations on foot. This time we therefore decided we would like to see some of the surrounding area, and so chose to book ourselves on a ship’s tour, called Murcia Highlights. This was billed as a four and a half hour tour, but clearly there was not going to be enough time from the departure time of 8:15 to fit this in before the ‘all aboard’ time of 12:30!

There were only around 16 of us doing this tour, so there was more than enough room on our coach for social distancing. It took around 45 minutes to drive to Murcia, the capital of the local county. On the way we passed mile after mile of fields growing all sorts of fruit and vegetables – our local guide told us how southern Spain was the basket area for Europe growing most of the fruit and vegetables, and with only around 30 days of rain a year, they can fit in three crops a year. As we neared Murcia the scenery changed as we climbed over densely wooded hills, and as we descended again we could see Murcia laid out below us on the plain.

Arriving in the city centre the coach dropped us off for our walking tour in the old centre of the city. We were dropped close to a little park with pretty flowerbeds and with attractive fountains playing.

Just a short walk between some buildings took us through to a big square, and we were all immediately bowled over by the stunning vista before us – although at one end of the square there was a very modern building looking totally out of place, the rest was filled with lovely old buildings. The highlight was the cathedral, which was our first port of call.

Our local guide led us inside the cathedral, and gave us a slow and very thorough tour around. He explained how there had been a huge fire inside the cathedral, caused when candles set alight the heavy curtains that used to cover the pillars, with the result that much of the interior, including the stained glass windows, were only around 100 years old.

We were then led outside, where we waited for a cathedral guide with a huge heavy key to join us, who opened up the cathedral tower so that we could ascend it. Inside the tower there were a series of 18 stone sloping ramps, spiralling up the insides of the tower walls, which the guide explained used to be used by donkeys. This made for an easier ascent than climbing steps, but it was still quite hard work, and we were glad when we reached the top of the last ramp, and a handful of steps took us to the main viewing area. Here we had far-reaching views of the city spread out way below us.

From there, a tight stone spiral staircase led up to another floor housing all the bells, which were rung electrically. Just before it was time to come down, some of them chimed the quarter hour, and the sound so close was very loud and made us jump!

Descending from the tower was much easier, not least as we had gravity on our side this time. From there it was a short walk to our second stop on the tour, the Royal Casino of Murcia. This was not a gambling establishment, as you might think from the name. The local guide explained it was a quite exclusive private club inaugurated in 1847, and new members had to be nominated by existing ones. As the building was also a national monument, the public were also allowed to enter parts of it to view it.

The building was simply stunning both outside and in, with a whole series of differently ornate rooms off a central covered ‘road’. We were particularly impressed by the Moorish entrance lobby, and another with huge and stunning French chandeliers and a painted ceiling. As we went in we could not help noticing several media cameras set up in the central ‘road’, and we thought it was very nice of them to want to interview us! Actually they were clearly there to interview some important local people, for later on our tour around the building we saw them being interrogated, with loads of microphones pointed towards them as well as the cameras.

Very reluctantly leaving this spectacular building, we then walked back the way we had come to our waiting coach. By then the square that we admired earlier was full of people enjoying the pavement cafes.

By the time we had driven back to Cartagena, although the time had gone on to 12:20 the local guide still said that they would be giving us a short scenic tour of the city on the coach, and the ship’s representative on the tour had to go to the front of the coach and remind him of our ‘all aboard time’. We still had a bit of a tour around, mostly around the post-war areas of the city which are much less attractive and interesting to us than the parts we had walked around on our previous visit.

We were 10 to 15 minutes late by the time we got back to our ship, but we were not the only ones as several coaches on different tours were also only just disgorging their passengers too – we think they were all operating on Spanish ‘whenever’ time!!

As we sat up in The View cafe eating our lunch we set sail for our next port of call, Valletta in Malta, which we are due to reach after a day and a half at sea. Returning to our cabin and balcony, we were just in time to see a couple of dolphins sailing in the wake from the ship as we sailed out of the bay.

Valletta, Malta

After the day and a half at sea, blessed with clear skies, sunshine, and calm seas, early on Thursday morning we sailed into Valletta harbour. While not reaching quite the peak of say sailing into Sydney, Australia, or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we rate sailing into Valletta very highly, especially if the sun is shining and making the stonework of the buildings shine golden. As we approached the skies were still quite cloudy, but fortunately some gaps in the cloud appeared at just the right time, and set off the lovely old buildings quite nicely as we sailed in.

Valletta is one of those places that Carol and I simply love to walk around, so we hadn’t bothered to book a tour. We could therefore enjoy a leisurely breakfast up in the View cafe, looking out over the harbour, before setting out to explore the sights in our own time. Before setting out, I just had to snap the stunning view of the Valletta Waterfront from our balcony.

We had been told we would need to take our passports and vaccine proof ashore with us, and after having our temperatures checked before disembarking the ship, this documentation was checked in the terminal building before we were allowed to leave the cruise port area.

We have been to Valletta several times before, and knew our way into town via the Barrakka Lift, which for just a Euro per person for a ticket in both directions, saves a lot of climbing. The Lift emerges at the Upper Barrakka Gardens, which offer fabulous views over the harbour, and of our ship in the distance.

We then followed a familiar route through the gardens, then past the gorgeous Auberge De Castille building (the Prime Minister’s Office), and down a couple of streets to reach our main target for the morning, St John’s Co-Cathedral.

Surprisingly neither of us had entered the Cathedral before, and it was one of those places when the moment we entered our jaws just dropped to the floor. While the outside of the cathedral is quite plain, inside it is simply wonderful – and quite a job to know where to look next to take it all in – the walls, ceilings and floors are all magnificent!

I was particularly taken by the very ornate and colourful gravestones that covered much of the floor:

We had headsets to listen to a commentary as we went around, but after a while we both lost interest in that, as it seemed a distraction when there was so much visually to take in.

Eventually it was time to leave, and we continued to wander outside, following streets that caught our eye, just as we always love to do in attractive old towns.

Noticing that time was ticking by, we decided to make our way back to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, as we wanted to be there in good time for the firing of the noon-day gun. On previous visits we had heard the cannon fire from a distance, but somehow neither of us had seen it happen until now. As noon approached, quite a big crowd built up all along the railings overlooking the Saluting Battery, so we were glad we got there early for a prime position. Carol kept her hands ready to cover her ears as the cannon was fired, while I endeavoured to keep my camera still and capture the moment.

Our plan had been to return to the town centre and have lunch at a pavement cafe that we know, but by then our legs were starting to get weary, and the lure of one of the delicious beefburgers from Poolside on board ship was just too great to ignore! We therefore descended the Barrakka Lift, and made our way back along the waterfront to the cruise terminal and our waiting ship.

With our tummies full of delicious burgers, we made our way back to our cabin to rest, and for me to sort out the days photographs and complete this blog post.

Tomorrow we will be resting up during another day at sea, before we begin a hectic 5 days in a row, each in a different Adriatic port. I expect my next post will cover the first two or three of those ports, whenever I find the time – and energy – to prepare it!

Postscript 1

I would like to thank everyone for their interest and comments on my recent posts. My post before last, about our reasons not to go on the cruise to the Caribbean and Central America, has now been viewed around 700 times, making it my most viewed post ever, beating the previous most popular post about not managing to land on Easter Island W1801 – It’s almost Easter. It is clear that my most popular posts are about not doing things, so I will have to think up some outlandish other things we have not done, and write about those!!

Postscript 2

From the reaction to the postscript in my last post, it is clear that the dinner menus are very much a ‘marmite’ thing – some people are loving them, and some, like us, have some issues with some of them. I have to say though that for the past two nights dinner has been wonderful – great choices that suited us, and the delicious food was served piping hot, something else that has been a problem in the past on Bolette. Huge thanks to all concerned, and especially for the scrummy cold fruit soups which have been a huge welcome back.

T2203A – Shake, rattle and roll

~ Graham Alderson ~ 2 Comments

Early in the morning I stirred, aware of gentle creaks around the room, and the bed rolling from side to side. Was I dreaming of being back doing what we love so much, sailing on a cruise ship, or was this really for real? As I came around, memories flooded back of the previous day – being thankful we were packed and ready very early when the taxi arrived half an hour before it was due – walking around the port terminal building and being blown backwards by the wind and rain – an all to brief meeting with our friend Didi, our number one Hotel Manager, as he left the ship just as we boarded it – so YES, were were back on board at the start of another lovely cruise together!

Regular readers might remember that my last post on this blog, S2202A – A risk too far, was all about how and why at the last minute we cancelled off our long winter cruise to the Caribbean and Central America on the Fred. Olsen ship Borealis. As it happens, our unease was well justified, as the cruise concerned only got as far as the first port, Madeira, before being abandoned due to the number of both passengers and crew with Covid-19 on board, with the ship sailing directly back to the UK. For similar reasons her sister ship Bolette had to miss out the last couple of ports on her cruise around the Canary Islands, and sail back to the UK early. Both ships then spent weeks in port while their crews recovered.

As the days approached the next cruise we had booked, to Venice and the Adriatic on Bolette, once again we were left wondering whether the cruise would still go ahead, whether it would be able to sail to the same itineray, and whether we would feel safe to sail onboard. I was particularly nervous about Venice – while it is a lovely and romantic city – the Carnival was still running on the day we were due to be in port, and with big crowds there in limited places to walk, it would be impossible to keep social distance.

That problem was solved when Fred. Olsen sent out an email to inform us of three changes to the itineray – both Venice and a stop in Sardinia were cancelled as Italy required visitors to be in isolation for two weeks prior to arrival – obviously not possible on a cruise – these were replaced by extra stops in the Adriatic which suited us just fine. The other change was the stop in Lisbon was cancelled, and replaced with a stop in Cadiz – again fine by us as we are so bored with Lisbon as so many of our cruises have stopped there over the years, and we just love walking around Cadiz.

While we started to sort things out, and make arrangements for going away like arranging family to stay at our home if needed, we wondered when it would be safe to pack, and left it later than usual to commit our clothes to our cases.

The strong winds and heavy rain when we boarded our ship in Southampton on Sunday meant one thing for sure – it was going to be a very lively sail down the English Channel and then down across the infamous Bay of Biscay. Sure enough, our lovely Captain, Jozo Glavic, in his pre-departure briefing warned us of gale force winds and seas of 5.5 meters ahead!

While for the first couple of days yes there was plenty of shake, rattle and roll, it has not by any means been the worst conditions we have experienced at sea, and this morning – our third on board – the wind is right down, the seas are much calmer, the sun is out and the temperatures are starting to rise nicely. Hopefully we can resume eating in our favourite place, Poolside, at lunchtimes!

It is so lovely to be back on board, and while Didi, and Chandra, our number one Maitre D’, are away on well deserved leave, it’s so good to be welcomed back by so many other members of the crew we have befriended over the years. It is also good to see many of the things we noticed on our last cruises have been improved or put right, such as the return of cold fruit soups and dish of the day at dinner.

Anyway, this is just a short post to set the scene. Here is a map showing our expected ininerary over the coming couple of weeks or so – we know in these times that any cruise is a magical mystery tour, and to expect last minute changes:

All being well, I expect my next post to cover our visits to Cartagena in Spain, and Valletta in Malta.

Postscript

Our first full day on board was Valentine’s Day, and it was wonderful to be away and cruising with my amazing, wonderful and gorgeous wife Carol on this special day. There was a display of fabulously decorated cakes for the occasion up in the View cafe:

As expected, it was a formal night, but I have to say we were sadly underwhelmed by the menu for dinner in the main dining rooms that night – so much so that we chose just to dine in the cafe instead. I do appreciate different things appeal to different people – here is the menu so that you can judge for yourself: