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The Europe we missed

April - May 2018
During our trip around Europe last year we did not manage to go to Italy and since we had cruise credits we picked an itinerary that took us around the boot plus a couple of other countries. While in Europe, we are adding the Russian river cruise. Read more
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  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 13

    Corfu

    April 26, 2018 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Yesterday was a sea day which also happened to be Anzac Day. There are about 400 Australians (plus a few Kiwi's) and a dawn service was held on board the ship... around 150 people in attendance. This was a nice touch.

    In Corfu, it was another nice day although there was quite a haze covering the area. Last time we were in Corfu it was simply spectacular..I guess we saw it at it's best last time. Never mind. We had booked a mountain bike tour of Corfu (why you ask? That is a good question and I am wondering why too). It wasn't too bad but there was a bit of hill climbing. Ok when we got to the top it was all downhill so that was fun. Brad enjoyed it... me, maybe not so much. The views were not great due to the haze.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 14

    Magnificent Dubrovnik

    April 27, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    A great day, perfect weather-wise and a bit of fun had today. The cruise ship docked about 4km our of the main "old town" area and we had a tour up the cable car, then buggy riding, then a stroll around the fortified town.

    Great views from the top and the buggy riding was a bit of an adventure. Trouble was it was very dirty and we all returned covered in a fine red dust. (Ahhh! My white shorts had only just come back from the laundry and they were filthy again). As well as that, I did my usual trick of falling over, loose gravel on a slope, and scraped my arm and cut my hand as I grabbed a thorny shrub on the way down. Nothing more serious hurt.... except my pride. Brad just shakes his head at me - not very sympathetic, is he! At least I got to have a drive as well.

    Back down in the old town it struck me as very clean, no litter, no graffiti and yet it was only around 25 years ago that this area was involved in war as the former Yugoslavia was breaking down into the smaller nations like Croatia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Slovinia etc. There are the usual souvenir shops etc. Also lots of cats wandering the streets. We will be visiting Dubrovnik again next week so we will walk the walls and explore the town then.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 15

    Kotor the cat capital

    April 28, 2018 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Kotor is a town in Montenegro that reminds me of a Norwegian Fjord. We only had a half day here and there is not a great deal to see here as this port is a relatively new entry to the cruising calendar. Apparently Kotor is known for its cats, although i think I saw more in Dubrovnik.

    There was a fortress you could walk up to but at 1350 steps on an uneven path, I decided to let Brad have the privilege of doing the climb (charged him €8 too). He said it was fairly strenuous and at one point he was crawling up on his hands and knees ( so he says, although he didn't take a photo of that bit so he may be exaggerating???). I found myself a cafe with WiFi so i could send emails and my blog.

    Bought a couple of small souvenirs, wandered along the city walls (all these old European cities seem to have walls surrounding them), back on the ship and sailed out. Next port is Venice and as I am writing this we are just cruising into Venice and it looks amazing!!!    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 17

    Venice = very nice

    April 30, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We spent a day and a half in Venice as it was a change over day with half the ship disembarking and a new lot of passengers joining the cruise. There are three other cruise ships in port already so Venice is bound to be crowded. The port is a little way away from the main square and the only way is by water...there are no roads where we are going (to quote the Doc in Back to the Future - am I showing my age here? )

    So we arrive in Venice and the place is a sea of people ( This is also a public holiday weekend). When you think of Venice you really only think of the canals, gondolas/ gondaliers, a couple of famous bridges (Rialto bridge and Bridge if Sighs), St Marks Basilica & Square and the Grand Canal. Apart from the Doge's Palace there is not to much more to see. I guess it is the uniqueness of this place that is the main attraction.

    We had a tour of the Doge's Palace - very ornate with gold and painted ceilings and apparently one of the largest canvas paintings in the world. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs which does not have any romantic connotation associated with it as the gondoliers would have you believe as they punt you underneath. Instead it was actually the direct path to the prison. The sighs would be the sound the prisoners would make as they crossed the bridge, possibly only a one way trip.... Or so the story goes.

    It is known as St Mark's Basilica (and square) because that is where the apostle St Mark is buried. Trouble is, St Mark died in Egypt , not Venice, but as the Venetians were always competing against Rome (who had St Peter), they decided to steal the body from Egypt and bring it back to Venice. To do this they hid his body in a large basket and covered it with pork so when they passed through customs the Muslims would not touch pork and thus not find the body. True story - fascinating stuff. There is a depictation of this event on the front of St Mark's Basilica. Unfortunately we were not able to go into St Mark's as the queues were just too long.

    We didn't go on a gondola as it is quite expensive and when we looked at the faces of those travelling, nobody seemed very happy, including the gondalier. We got plenty of photos though and we also made our way to the Rialto bridge, did some shopping and bought a piece of Murano glass (another Venetian specialty) and a couple of other souvenirs. Back onboard on off to Split in Croatia.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 18

    A Sunny day in Split

    May 1, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Split is the 2nd largest town / city in Croatia with rather dramatic scenery surrounded by massive barren mountains. We didn't stay in Split itself but headed out to a little village called Omis then down the river by boat to a mill (now a restaurant). Being a public holiday (May Day), all the locals were out enjoying their day off. Actually, they talk about Aussies won love their long weekends, I'm sure the whole of Europe have been relaxing since Saturday making it an extra long weekend. There were people kicking balls, playing badminton, fishing, free climbing (madness), zip lining, but not many swimming as the river is still very cold - very clear though.

    The villages are all immaculately clean, not so much the cities. The city of Split itself is rather ugly with apartment blocks built around 30 years ago accommodating mainly for the Navy as this was there centre. A pleasant day... not too taxing physically... but nothing that I would call a 'must see'. There was a tour to Krka national park that has lots of waterfalls which may have been nice to see so that may have been a better option.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    1
    Day 19

    Dubrovnik City Walls

    May 2, 2018 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    This was our 2nd time in Dubrovnik and the plan was to walk around the city walls. Beautiful day and we didn't want to fork out $14US each to have a shuttle bus take us into town.... it was only 4km, mostly flat except for the last big hill, so we decided to walk in. It took a while but we were pretty pleased with our efforts.

    As with anything in Europe, there was a fee to walk around the walls - 300 Kuna or around $25pp. Lots of stairs up and down and approx. 2km around. The ocean is clean and clear and a beautiful blue colour. Looking down on the city below you could see the tiles that had to be replaced after the bombing 20-30 years ago.

    After our walk around the walls we found this fantastic lolly shop (We saw it before when we were here last). Bought an assortment of lollies to try. One of them was called a hot chilli pepper. We thought it was just a gummy lolly but when we ate it it sure packed a punch - burnt our mouths for ages.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 20

    Saranda Albania

    May 3, 2018 in Albania ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Today is our wedding anniversary - 32 years... how about that! So where do we celebrate it but Albania!! To be honest, before now we really didn't know where Albania was. (It is a small country below Croatia)

    What else do we know about Albania? Well, Mother Theresa came from Albania as did the actor Jim Belushi (according to our guide). They have a rather striking looking flag - a double headed black eagle on a red background; and I guess they are a fairly poor country - the average wage being about €200 per month.

    Saranda is not a usual cruise ship port and I think our ship was the first of the season so to celebrate we were meet at the dock by school children who presented us with friendship bracelets with Saranda beads , welcome to Saranda stickers and children and adults dressed in traditional costume doing their traditional dancing.

    Our tour took us to look at some ancient ruins in Saranda featuring beautiful mosaics.... but the mosaics were covered underground for protection and all we saw were some canvases of pictures of the mosaics, so I don't really get the point of this stop. Next we travelled up to a castle ( was a castle but now a restaurant) for the view over the town. Would have been a very nice view on a clear day but unfortunately it was fairly overcast and hazy.

    Then we visited the main attraction - the blue eye lake. Essentially it is a bubbling spring whose source is very deep and gives it a very deep blue colour in the centre - like an eye. The water is the clearest water I've ever seen but very cold, about 10°C. Unfortunately, one lady went to feel the water and slipped on the bank and fell in. It was a bit of a struggle to get her out.

    Finally, there are 750,000 bunkers in Albania.... yes, three quarters of a million little concrete structures. These were built by the dictator of the country (can't remember his name) during the cold war around 50 years ago. He was convinced that both USA and Russia were going to invade Albania and so he spent millions of dollars they didn't have to protect his nation. Many have been pulled down to reuse the steel, or they have been repurposed as shops etc.

    So Albania was kinda interesting... at least it wasn't crowded like many of the other ports we have been to. We finished of our anniversary in one of the specialty restaurants on the ship so that was a nice ending.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    1
    Day 21

    Katakalon

    May 4, 2018, Eastern Mediterranean ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    A quiet day today. Most people go to Olympia - the birthplace of the Olympic Games where they light the Olympic torch before every games, and also the temple of Zeus. As we visited this place several years ago we just stayed in the town of Katakolon and looked through the shops. They had some nice things from unique ceramic pieces, wooden and glass artworks and various sculptures and paintings, as well as the usual assortment of souvenirs.

    Brad practised some artistic shots with his camera while a caught up on my blog, spoke to one of the boys who happened to be online at the time, and checked out some photos of Layla that May sent through. Overall, a relaxing day...a change from yet another 'old town'.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 22

    Souda

    May 5, 2018 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    We docked at Souda on the island of Crete. Located pretty much in the middle of Asia, Europe and Africa, Crete became a very important island that the forces from all sides wanted to have control of. During the 2nd World War, Crete was the site of a battle involving mainly British, New Zealand and Australian allied forces who were attacked by German airborne forces (paratroopers). Many lives were lost - we visited a well maintained war cemetery with around 100 Australian soldiers and around 400 New Zealand soldiers ( the largest section being British)

    Our tour then took us to an old monastery / Greek Orthodox church, once again in a well maintained setting. The church was very ornate featuring a lot of gold. From there we went to a monument of someone or others tomb, but this was mainly for the view over Chania (pronounced with a silent c), a pretty village on the harbour, often referred to the Venice of Crete.

    We spent some free time in Chania which was nice along the harbourfront but the ever present shops contain pretty much the same assortment of souvenirs - just a different name on the front of their fridge magnets / t-shirts / mugs etc. Anyway, it was quite an interesting day trip to Crete and I learnt some history about a place I really did not know anything about before.    Read more

  • Brad and Mandy PearceThe Europe we missed
    Day 23

    Mykonos

    May 6, 2018 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    This Greek island is another port we have visited previously so we decided to walk around the town. All trip Brad had decided he was going for a swim at Mykonos but when the day arrived it was overcast and a little on the cool side. We wandered through Little Venice and to the windmills for the usual photos, then back through the narrow alleyways to the town beach area.... no-one swimming and Brad doesn't want to look like the only goose out there. (Actually, there were a couple of white geese swimming there - thought it a bit strange to see geese in salt water).

    Walked back through the narrow alleys to find a place to eat and while we were waiting for our meal, Brad announced " there is a pelican coming down the street". Sure enough, there was Patmos, a rather famous pelican that wanders around Mykonos, complete with his entourage of people. He walked right around the table where I was sitting and strangely he is a rather unusual shade of pale pink. We missed him last time so it was great to stumble across him even when we were not looking for him. I think he might be Patmos the third as a pelican has been wandering the streets of Mykonos for years.

    The day had warmed up and when we walked back to the town beach, Brad could see a couple of people having a swim so it looked as if he was going to get wet. I stayed on the shore and took photos as proof. He said it was cold at first but very salty. A satisfying day.    Read more

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