adriatic travelogue

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Here we go again! Another adventure (small “a”, hopefully) is in the offing. This afternoon, as a matter of fact. We were barely home from the last trip to Old World Prague and the Blue Danube when we found another really great deal through Grand Circle Travel. We were still a bit jet-lagged so we decided we better think a bit longer on it. Well, the deal just wasn’t going away. Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina is the name of the cruise and the offer was about $1200 off per person. How does one pass something like that up while we’re still physically able to do so? Even better? While the tour company was coming up with $1300/each for the airfare and most of the airlines were offering the RT from Chicago to Zagreb, Croatia for around $1200, Turkish Airlines was offering it for $600/each (although it did mean a 22-hour layover in Istanbul on the way home -- oh, how could we be able to survive such a thing? We decided to add another night in Istanbul on our way back to explore the city a bit more.) Why is this a trip that looks worth taking? Well, it’s a much smaller ship than we’ve been on before (except for our trip to the Amazon about nice years ago) -- only sleeps 50 passengers and there are only 44 signed up to go. We’ll have two program directors so each of them only have to herd 22 of us. The route takes us to parts of the what had been the Medieval Venetian Empire. Korčula, the largest island in an archipelago of 48 and the site of a picturesque medieval town. Kotor, a picturesque walled city nestled at the head of Europe’s deepest ord at the foot of the Balkans. Dubrovnik that has what is regarded today as one of the world’s most exquisite walled cities. Split with the Imperial Palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the greatest Roman ruin in southeastern Europe. And so much more The weather looks like it’ll be in the 50s-60s during the days and 40s during the nights. Some rain is likely but for the most part the extended forecast is looking good. We’ll be in a hotel tomorrow in Zagreb, Croatia, and then off to find our ship in Ploče, Croatia on Saturday. We’ve been told there is wi-fi aboard the ship, the MV Athena, and the ship appears to be well-fitted for American travelers (even has 120V outlets as well as 220V.) We’ll be on the ship until February 10 and then transfer back to Zagreb for our last night of the cruise. As I said, on the way home, we’re doing a 2-night layover in Istanbul. We were lucky enough to have enough Wyndham Rewards points for a free night and the second night greatly discounted. We’ll be staying in the Old City before flying the rest of the way back to Chicago on February 13. And so, soon, we’ll be off. Here we go again! (written 28 January) Travels with Shava/Sue 28 January - 13 March. 2016 Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina Itinerary 28 January - Depart for Zagreb 29 January - Arrive in Zagreb • 30 January - Budapest 1 February - Zagreb • Ploče 2 February - Ploče • Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina • Blagaj • 3 February - Korčula, Croatia 4 February - Korčula • Kotor, Montenegro 5 February - Kotor • Dubrovnik, Croatia • 6 February - Dubrovnik 7 February - Dubrovnik • Hvar • Split 8 February - Split • Šibenik • 9 February - Šibenik • 10 February -Šibenik • Krka Falls • Zadar 11 February - Zadar • Istanbul • 12 February - Istanbul 13 February - Depart for US Grand Circle Travel: Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1

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Travelogue for Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

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Page 1: Adriatic travelogue

Here we go again! Another adventure (small “a”, hopefully) is in the offing. This afternoon, as a matter of fact.We were barely home from the last trip to Old World Prague and the Blue Danube when we found another really great deal through Grand Circle Travel. We were still a bit jet-lagged so we decided we better think a bit longer on it. Well, the deal just wasn’t going away.Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina is the name of the cruise and the offer was about $1200 off per person. How does one pass something like that up while we’re still physically able to do so? Even better? While the tour company was coming up with $1300/each for the airfare and most of the airlines were offering the RT from Chicago to Zagreb, Croatia for around $1200, Turkish Airlines was offering it for $600/each (although it did mean a 22-hour layover in Istanbul on the way home -- oh, how could we be able to survive such a thing? We decided to add another night in Istanbul on our way back to explore the city a bit more.)Why is this a trip that looks worth taking?• Well, it’s a much smaller ship than we’ve been on before

(except for our trip to the Amazon about nice years ago) -- only sleeps 50 passengers and there are only 44 signed up to go. We’ll have two program directors so each of them only have to herd 22 of us.

• The route takes us to parts of the what had been the Medieval Venetian Empire.

• Korčula, the largest island in an archipelago of 48 and the site of a picturesque medieval town.

• Kotor, a picturesque walled city nestled at the head of Europe’s deepest fjord at the foot of the Balkans.

• Dubrovnik that has what is regarded today as one of the world’s most exquisite walled cities.

• Split with the Imperial Palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the greatest Roman ruin in southeastern Europe.

• And so much moreThe weather looks like it’ll be in the 50s-60s during the days and 40s during the nights. Some rain is likely but for the most part the extended forecast is looking good.We’ll be in a hotel tomorrow in Zagreb, Croatia, and then off to find our ship in Ploče, Croatia on Saturday. We’ve been told there is wi-fi aboard the ship, the MV Athena, and the ship appears to be well-fitted for American travelers (even has 120V outlets as well as 220V.) We’ll be on the ship until February 10 and then transfer back to Zagreb for our last night of the cruise. As I said, on the way home, we’re doing a 2-night layover in Istanbul. We were lucky enough to have enough Wyndham Rewards points for a free night and the second night greatly discounted. We’ll be staying in the Old City before flying the rest of the way back to Chicago on February 13.

And so, soon, we’ll be off.

Here we go again!(written 28 January)

Travels with Shava/Sue

28 January - 13 March. 2016

Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Itinerary• 28 January - Depart for Zagreb• 29 January - Arrive in Zagreb• 30 January - Budapest• 1 February - Zagreb • Ploče• 2 February - Ploče • Mostar,

Bosnia and Herzegovina • Blagaj

• 3 February - Korčula, Croatia• 4 February - Korčula • Kotor,

Montenegro• 5 February - Kotor • Dubrovnik,

Croatia• 6 February - Dubrovnik• 7 February - Dubrovnik • Hvar

• Split • 8 February - Split • Šibenik• 9 February - Šibenik• 10 February -Šibenik • Krka

Falls • Zadar• 11 February - Zadar • Istanbul• 12 February - Istanbul• 13 February - Depart for US

Grand Circle Travel: Cruising the Adriatic: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina

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Mostly been an uneventful trip thus far. We caught the bus out of Madison a bit earlier than really necessary because I felt the next one would make the time to check-in and get through security a bit too tight. We pulled into OHare at 1730 for a 2115 flight. A good healthy walk (from one end of the International Terminal to the other to check-in and half again back to security. We still had plenty of time for dinner (good thing since I hadn’t eaten much all day.) A place called Wow Bao where Ed got a Thai chicken rice bowl and I got a BBQ pork bao and a Thai Chicken one plus a spicy peanut noodle salad. Still a little hungry, he had a Mongolian beef bao and a had a chocolate one (they were out of the coconut custard one that I really wanted.)

Boarding was a little weird since they offered pre-boarding to families with small children and those elite members but not to those that needed more assistance. Luckily, the young man minding the gate saw the walker and ushered us through. The pane layout was nice since there were a few rows in the very back of the aircraft that only had 2 seats instead of 3 on the sides. Since I had booked the fight as soon as I had the cruise confirmed, getting these seats was easy. Not more space in the seat or legroom but still more comfortable. We have the same seats going home in a couple of weeks.

Turkish Airlines still has good customer service and amenities as well as reasonably good food. We were given an amenities pack in a nice zippered case with eye mask, ear plugs, slippers, socks, Ed said it was quite good. (see picture of menu later). toothpaste/brush and lip balm. Dinner was served shortly after take-off but I didn’t partake. Ed said it was quite good but I was still full of bao and noodles.

The movie selection was excellent and since I rarely sleep on a plane, the first two I watched I was fully awake for (Pawn Sacrifice) and The Intern. Then, I watched Ricki and the Flash and napped through both Pitch Perfects (I’ve seen both and enjoy them and knew if I slept it was no great loss.) I love my husband who was kind enough to go buy me a new set of noise-cancellation headphones when we couldn’t find our second set. Made the whole flight better.

About an hour and a half before landing they served a breakfast of scrambled eggs & cheese, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato, fresh fruit, cheese with tomato, olive, and cucumber, and a fresh, hot roll. Very tasty. Amazingly tasty. Especially the eggs that had flavour and were not rubbery or dry.

We landed an hour early and getting my walker was very easy. We got into the terminal but found out our next flight is going to be n hour late taking off. So, we wait. We did get a chance to talk to 2 Chicago Blues musicians on their way to a gig in Tel Aviv. That was fun. I got their business card to give to

Chris for the Knuckledown Saloon (the premiere Blues Club in Madison.)

And so we wait.

The wait was an extra two hours past the time we were supposed to take off—an hour of that sitting on the plane. Worst part of it was the smell of diesel or kerosene or something noxious like that since we were in the last row of the plane. But we finally took off and were on our way. About 45 minutes into the flight, a “snack” was served (a caprese salad, a roll with turkey and veggies on it, some crackers, chocolate mousse, and beverages—Ed had wine and beer, I had tomato juice and water.) It was all reasonably tasty and just the right amount of food at that point.

We landed in Zagreb around 2100 local time so they made up for the late start a little. The only little hitch was having to ask for my walker and making everyone wait while they got it for me. (Both Istanbul and Zagreb airports have the planes drop you a fair distance from the terminals and then bus you back and forth as needed.) Immigration/customs was a breeze – no questions asked – and getting our bags a snap. Since we had chosen to book our own air travel, GCT does not automatically provide airport transfers. It costs $25/each both ways. I kind of decided and insisted that we go ahead and pay the extra $100 to take the uncertainty and questions out of this part of the trip. Considering how late were getting in and how tired we were, I’m glad I stood my ground on that point. There was a driver waiting for us, he took us out to a place to wait near the curb and went to get his vehicle. The drive from airport to hotel was about 20 minutes and, as the driver spoke good English, we were able to find out a few things about the city (population is 1M and some nights museums are open and free to the public—like tonight.)

We were met at the door of the hotel by Danijela, our program director (PD), who is from Slovenia. She had our keys and some basic information. Showed us where the restaurant was – buffet open until 2300 and up to our floor. She gave us all the times for the morning (wake-up call at 0630, bags out at 0700, breakfast until 0800, and departure at 0815.)

We showered, changed, and went down to the buffet more out of curiosity than hunger. Tasty food, well-prepared, but a bit cold considering how late it was. I especially liked one dish that was kind of like a blintz casserole. And the desserts were really tasty—we split four different ones. My favourites were the cherry strudel and an apricot tart (the crust was shortbread. We got hooked up to the free WiFi and caught up on email, Facebook, and the news.

It’s after 2330 now and I better try to get some sleep. Tomorrow is mostly driving but I still want to be awake for it all!

Madison to Chicago to Istanbul to Zagreb

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I’m sure that Zagreb is an interesting town with much to see but this does not seem to be the trip for that. GCT offers a post-trip extension to stay there a few extra days (for extra money) but until we’re both retired A N D i n d e p e n d e n t l y wealthy, that’s not going to happen. Sleep wasn’t too elusive last night and getting up wasn’t exactly easy this morning but bags out by the door by 0700 and we went down to breakfast.

The buffet was nice with a lot of what we’ve come to expect on these trips — various cheeses, sliced meats, breadstuffs, plus salad things, some smoked fishes, and olives…and the stuff for the Americans — eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, cereals. A nice variety of juices, teas, coffee, etc. and the best selection of honeys that I can imagine seeing. Too bad honey isn’t something I can eat much of. I ate lightly with a bit of many different things but decided at the first rest stop that I had eaten too much and couldn’t partake of some amazing looking pastries.

We were aboard the bus by 0815 and it was nice. 45-passenger buses with only 22 passengers (well, 23 with Danijela) are very comfy! It was a long day on the bus but nicely paced with bathroom breaks about every 1 ½ hours and a very nice lunch break.

As we drove through the Croatian countryside, Danijela spoke for quite a while with many interesting bits of information. First, she told us a lot of the basics about the money systems in each country we’ll be visiting, shopping, safety, etc. Then, we heard quite a bit about Nikola Tesla who was born in Croatia. From there, we were taken through Yugoslavian history which was assisted by a nice map, and then a bit about the differences of the various Slavic languages.

We drove first through the Lika region which was very rural/agrarian. The hills were very similar to the hills of the Appalachian region of the U.S. This is the coldest region of Croatia though it wasn’t too bad today. We had quite a bit of fog and some light rain. The climate is considered “continental”. There is very little in this region to keep the young people there. No industry and not really great land for serious farming.

After the Lika region, we were in the Dalmatia region. Here the weather is “Mediterranean” and mose hospitable. After an are of karst (very porous limestone with no visible water, we came to an area with lots of olive, pine, and cherry trees and vineyards. The Ravini Kotari or flatlands is much more fertile and interesting to see. Danijela described the “bora” which is a wind, usually northerly, that can gust up to 240 k/h. One product that is greatly helped by this wind is prosciutto that is dried for a year or year and a half in this wind.

The lunch break was at the Krka Restaurant (Odmoriste Krka) which was located on the bluff above the Krka River and the view was so beautiful. And the food! Oh, my. It was so good. We started with a beef consume’ with tiny egg noodles, a salad of lettuce with whole kernel corn, an tree of veal & roasted potatoes (“Meal Under the Iron Bell” is what Danijela told us it was called, and apple strudel. Luckily, Ed and I decided to split one of the plates of the entrée. Much too much food but all so good. Luckily, we did have a bit of time to walk after lunch though we were the last to get back to the bus which irritated Ed a bit.

The rest of the drive was uneventful since pretty much everyone napped with their food comas. Danijela just quieted down so people could digest the food and relax. The terrain became hillier and there were quite a few windmills which was nice to see. The roads and tunnels were in wonderful shape and time went fast.

About 1600, we pulled into Ploče, a relatively small seaside town where the ship was docked. We checked in and were shown our cabin. The MV Athena is a much smaller ship than we’ve traveled on before. The cabin is nice but there is very little storage space. Double bed with private bath. The shower, in fact, seems bigger than the river ships have. The cabin we’re in is on the same level as the reception, lounge, and restaurant so no stairs most of the time while we’re onboard.

Zagreb to Ploče — on the road in Croatia

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Ed and I went for a walk instead of unpacking, missing the safety talk (well, kind of missed it since we heard much of the loudspeaker across the bay where we were walking. There wasn’t much to see but it’s very peaceful here and it was a pleasant walk as the sun was setting. The weather was a comfortably 55F or so. We wandered through a small grocery store and then back to the ship.

Port talk was scheduled for 1845 so they can tell us about the amenities aboard the ship and then explain what is planned for tomorrow. Dinner will follow around 1900. More food we don’t need but it’s there and I suspect it will be good.

I like the size of this ship so far. The lounge is right next to the restaurant. After the port talk, Ed took my tablet and keyboard back to the cabin and I went to find dinner companions in the dining room. Everything, for us, is on level. Our cabin is at the end of the hall on the first deck and the dining room is on the other end. Probably no more than 100 yards from one end to the other.

I found some pleasant dining companions—a couple from Deering, ND—and settled in for dinner. Our waiter, Paul, is from India. There is only one seating for each meal and it’s open seating so it’s possible to get to know someone new every meal. Tonight, the four courses were: a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions topped with thin slices of a hard-style cheese like parmesan; a cream of potato soup, a choice of three entrees (I chose the chicken stuffed with cheese & prosciutto and Ed chose the fish which was a type of whitefish caught locally whose name I can’t remember—the third option was a vegetarian dish of stuffed mushrooms); and a choice of a dark chocolate brownie topped with pistachio ice cream or black walnut ice cream (Ed had the brownie & I had a cheese plate

which is always an option—OMG, the cheese was fantastic especially the bleu cheese and the smoked gouda—4 types of cheese and a small bunch of grapes. Who needs sweets?

The dinner conversation flowed nicely, the food was excellent, and Ed said the wine was quite good. (GCT started offering, recently, beer, wine, or soda pop with the meals. It usually is $3-4 in the bar. This is a nice bit of added value to the trip.)

After dinner, we finally got unpacked—there is a lot less storage space on this ship so we had to get creative. I almost put my socks in the mini-fridge. (Why in the world do they waste space in the cabins with a mini-fridge???) Oh, well. The ship shouldn’t be too perfect, I guess. After everything found a space to be in the cabin, I climbed the two fights to the sun deck to enjoy the evening air and explore. It was still around 50F so it was an enjoyable walk and no one else was around so I got some relatively quiet “alone” time. On my way down, heading back to the cabin to crash, I ran into one of the waiters, Titus, who is from Bali, Indonesia. He was wonderful to talk to. We talked for at least an hour but maybe more about

everything and anything. Travel, food, religion, his family, mine, and so much more. Finally, I realized it was almost 2315 and morning was going to come way too early so I said good night and headed to bed. No one else was up and around except the evening clerk at the reception, Artem, a young Ukranian man who wants to study to be a captain some day. We spoke a bit about his country and his schooling and then I finally, reluctantly, retired for the night.

Ed was already asleep and I thought I was still pretty awake. But my head hit the pillow and my eyes slammed shut. For about an hour. I found myself wide awake again so figured I should finish writing up this day’s stuff. And so here I am, with you, dear reader. Though I don’t have more to say about today, I should probably just send this and try to sleep. Tomorrow morning we are off to explore Mostar, Bosnia. We will have to go by bus as well as having to deal with a real border crossing since we will be going from an EU country to a non-EU country. We have been warned that the border crossing could take a while, or not, depending on the mood of the border guards on any given day. We shall see what we shall see.

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Waking up a few times through the night (like an hour after I couldn’t keep my eyes open plus a few other times) didn’t seem to slow me down today. Up around 0700 and to break the fast around 0730 was easy enough. Trying to eat relatively lightly, I had a bit of smoked salmon, cheese, cucumbers, fruit (fresh & dried), scrambled eggs and some bread. The Croats make the best breads!!! We ended up eating alone since only a 2-top was left by the time we got there.

On the bus by 0815, we headed out to Bosnia. We were warned that the border guards tend to be very severe and it could take a while. Luckily, this isn’t considered tourist season AND it was Sunday so the line wasn’t long. But they were through all 48 passports (44 passengers plus 2 program directors and 2 drivers) and stamped them all. I guess they don’t always stamp them (in fact, Danijela told us one time they brought some sliced meats to the border guards to “thank” them for stamping them. :D There was only one road, one lane each way, so one could see how slow this crossing could be.

We drove through along the Neretva River all the way from Ploče to Mostar with tangerine and orange trees as well as many olive trees. Olive Oil production is big in this area. Danijela told us that eels and frogs are popular products of the river. There is a dish called brodat that is a fish stew that is a specialty of the region.

Mostar is described as a city where East meets West. The Bosniaks (the Muslims), the Croats (Catholics), and Serbs (Orthodox). The terrain around was very hilly and rocky with the Neretva River bisecting the East & West. We visited the second oldest mosque (Koskin-Mehmed Pasha’s Mosque) in the town and then were able to see the best view of the famous Mostar bridge. The river was such a beautiful blue/green and the ravine that had been cut through by the river was beautiful.

The famous bridge was built in the 16th century by a Turkish architect and stood for over 400 years until the war in the 1990s. The bridge was destroyed after being bombarded for 2 days in 1993. It’s rebuilding, using the same type of native stone as the original and using the same construction techniques, took 11 years (2 years longer than the original.)

We took a walk to the Museum of Herzegovina a few blocks from the Mosque (up many, many steps past a cemetery that used to be a children’s park — many such cemeteries had to be created from parks throughout the city because of the war. We watched a short video about the history of the bridge since the middle of the 20th century. Ed and I ended up in a fascinating discussion with the museum curator or docent (not really sure which) about very early history of the region while the rest of the tour went to learn more about the history of domestic arts. We finally joined them for a bit before the group left the museum.

Back down the flagstone steps in a light rain that had begun to fall was a bit slippery. When we got back to our guide’s office, we were treated to a piece of the Bosian version of lokum,

and then proceeded through the windy street that led to the bridge. The street was a bazaar with many small shops that sold many things similar to the bazaar in Istanbul. There were also many Roma/gypsies that were begging rather aggressively.

The bridge was pretty kewl and there were great views of the river from it. The shopping was like a poor man’s Grand Bazaar and mostly they didn’t take any of the currency we were carrying (we hadn’t exchanged money to have any of the Bosnian marks since we were only in Bosnia for a few hours and the money isn’t worth anything anywhere else.) We bought one small souvenir book and a fridge magnet with the

An excursion to Bosnia and sailing to the island of Korcula, Croatia

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bridge embossed on it.

We met up with the bus and drove about 15 minutes to the smaller town of Blagaj for lunch. The limestone walls rising out of the River Buna were incredible and reminded me a little of South Dakota near Spearfish. The walk to the Vrelo restaurant was about 10 minutes but they did offer to call the place to have a couple of us that don’t walk as well as the others for a ride. I figured, even if I was doing alright at that time, I wanted to still be doing alright in 10 days so I opted for that. The setting was gorgeous! The food was okay. Not nearly as good as lunch the day before but we had great dining companions for wonderful conversation so we didn’t care much. Cream of chicken soup was pretty good but the shredded cabbage salad was a bit boring. The meat (some kind of beef and a couple of small sausages) weren’t to my taste, the vegetables were overcooked and seemed to have come out of a bag from the freezer. The potatoes, on the other hand, saved the meal. They were really well prepared and seasoned with a bit of paprika and lots of butter. Dessert was kind of like a gingerbread patty in a syrupy sauce. This was okay but I didn’t finish it. The fates know I certainly didn’t need it.

Some of our folks found out that there was a cave to visit where the river flowed from but we missed out on that. A few

of us opted again for a car ride back to the bus and we settled in for the ride back to Ploče, Croatia. I think I slept almost the whole way back. The border crossing seemed quicker but I was barely conscious then. We were lucky enough that one of the roadside stands selling the produce and stuff from the Neretva Delta were still open. Danijela got out and bought us a huge back of tangerines/clementines and passed them around. I ate 3 of these ‘cuties’. They were SOOooooo good. It seemed only minutes more and we were back at the ship. Ed and I stopped long enough to go to the bathroom and dropped our pack so we could walk around the town just a

bit more. It was 1630 and the ship was sailing at 1800 but they wanted everyone on board 30 minutes prior to sailing. The grocery wasn’t open (I had decided to buy a few things but I’m sure we’ll have another opportunity—though I think grocery store things can make great souvenirs) so we walked back a slightly different route, making the most of our time. The town wasn’t much other than a place for the ship to dock but it was still interesting.

We went up to the sun deck to watch the ship sail out of the town and then down to the Lounge. Tonight was the Captain’s Welcome Drink and Dinner. They had champagne or juice for us in the lounge along with a few canapés and introduced almost all the crew to us. Since we were already underway, we were introduced to all but the two who were steering the ship. It’s a relatively small crew compared to what we’ve seen on the river cruises and all men. There seems to be a small number of places that they are from (Indonesia, Serbia, India, Croatia, and the Ukraine are what I remember.)

We ended up at the same table for dinner as we had the night before but with different dining companions. Again, we had great conversation. The Captain’s welcome dinner is always a bit fancier than the other nights (except for the Captain’s farewell dinner.) A cold starter of a small salad and some very tasty fig butter was followed by a hot starter of a seafood soufflé (which was tasty enough but not fantastic) served with some kind of risotto. There was a palate-cleanser of sherbet in champagne followed by an entrée of medium rare veal served with a kind of potato patty and an onion pastry. We tried to order half-orders but got the full orders. The veal was so good that I didn’t care much about that. I stole half of Ed’s meat as well but barely touched the side dishes. Good thing, too, since dessert was probably one of the best crème brulees we’ve ever had that was served with some very tasty strawberry ice cream and fresh fruit. This was all followed by a small plate of homemade candies. Hardly a complaint about this meal—very tasty food and great conversation.

We docked around 2130 on the island of Korčula which supposedly is where Marco Polo was born (unless he was born in Venice or Constantinople). There is a huge Medieval fortress right next to where we are docked. I am pretty sure we were the only two that decided to go exploring. The fortress was calling to me, I swear. The streets were deserted and I think we heard only one bar open (we heard music and saw lights but didn’t go and check it out.) We saw maybe one or two people and a few cats. The fortress was up a bunch of stairs and had a series of rabbit warren-like alleys throughout it. Everything was very well-lit and very quiet. It was SO kewl. My camera seems to absorb ambient light so well and use it perfectly to illuminate the photos without a flash. We explored for over an hour and I was just starting to feel a bit tired. We have almost all day tomorrow to explore more.

By the time I hit the bed at 2330, I could barely keep my eyes open. By 0100, I was wide awake again. I really should try to sleep now but this trip still has me so psyched. I can’t wait to explore and learn more.

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An old friend of mine, Elise, asked yesterday, after reading my account of the trip so far “How’s the walking going so far?” Before this afternoon, I would have said “better than usual.” But I get ahead of myself.

Sleep and me last night were not constant companions. Even after I was done writing up the day around 0130, I was still wide awake. Obviously, my system is partially having trouble adjusting but I think I’ve become more sensitive to caffeine than I have been. I’d had a Coke Zero with dinner and that may have contributed to my insomnia. I also wanted to go back and explore Korčula Old Town some more.

I finally dozed around 0400 and awake a few minutes before my alarm went off at 0700. Some fruit, a couple of eggs over easy, and some of the wonderful brown bread (I swear the bread was hot out of the oven) was enough to get me going. I’m enjoying black currant juice very much (don’t see that one back home at all.)

The city tour was scheduled for 0900 so there was some time to chat and shower before heading out with our group, I’ve described on other trips about the receivers that the tour companies now use. They call them “whisperers” and it’s a way for each traveler to hear the guide without having to stand

almost on the guide’s feet. I can wander and take photos and still hear the commentary or the “we’re walking…we’re walking”. Lucha, I think her name was, had been a teacher and knew her town well. She took us through about half of the Old Town, much of the territory we wandered through last night, explaining about the history and architecture. They opened a couple of museums and the cathedral just for our groups. One museum was the religious museum in the old Bishop’s residence and the other was the city museum. We’ve come to the conclusion that in all of our travels there’s very little “new” to see in museums. Vey little stands out. The cathedral (Cathedral Sveti Marko) while modest in comparison to some of the great cathedrals of Europe that we’ve explored, was uninspiring except for one piece. The painting behind the alter was a magnificent, refurbished Tinterillo.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the Old Town before the local guide left us near a map of Marco Polo’s travels. Many of the group went to a demonstration/sales pitch for about red coral jewelry which is something this area is known for. We decided to forgo this and continue to walk and explore. We found a coffee shop, Step, (Ed had a glass of white wine—he says that it’s more potent than most wines he’s had—and I had a cup of tea. We wandered a bit more, stopped back at the ship to change slacks (my last button, which I had wanted to reinforce before leaving home but couldn’t find a needle, popped off) and then went back out to find lunch on our own. Since it’s not really tourist season, there weren’t very many places open so we went back to Step and shared a Fruti di Mare (seafood) pizza.

We joined back up with a portion of both groups around 1415 for a hike. I decided to go for it and was comfortably handling the walk, 2/3 of which was uphill (but flat and paved), for a bit more than the 2/3. Going downhill proved to be pretty painful for me and I ended up just telling Danijela not to worry about us. I had to sit from time to time—the walker is invaluable but still not helping after walking 3-4 kilometers. The

Korčula, Croatia

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downhill was the worst for me. We were passing a bakery when we were almost back to the ship and I said, hopefully, “bakery?” Ed, not even being close to hungry was a little surprised. I thought I deserved a treat for making it all the way back. I won and bought a couple of filled doughnuts with a rich dark chocolate filling. We split one and I have the other if I wake up with low blood sugar as I have the past two nights. It was very tasty!

I totally crashed when we finally made it back (I think the walk took me more than an hour more than everyone else), took a couple of Vicodin, and slept solidly for an hour. Ed massaged my back and feet for a while before I could get moving again, and then we wandered out to the Lounge so I could write this chronicle. And weirdly enough, I got a cocktail, a Tom Collins (those who know me know this is very odd). The Captain has told us we’re sailing around 2300 tonight for Kotor in Montenegro. (We’ve been given a photo ID now to wear at

all times that has our passport number on it since we will be in and out of larger ports than the last few days.)

Our dinner companions this night were two couples from Nevada who are part of a group of 5 couples who are traveling together. The four of them were all originally from the Philippines and so a lot of our conversation was about that and it made for an interesting dinner. The salad was the

best yet—it was called a Farmer’s Salad and was tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, and a cheese that was similar to feta but much milder. Soup was a chicken consume’ and was nice and light. For the main course, I chose the fish and Ed had the pork steak & sausage. Everything was well prepared, as usual, and the seasoning worked well. For dessert he got the lime cake (more like a cheesecake but not tart like a key lime pie filling) and I opted for the cheese place again.

The after dinner entertainment was wonderful. A group of five, four men and a woman, who did traditional klapa singing. This a cappella singing style is an informal tradition in which friends gather to sing in four-part harmony, and is perhaps

the most definitive of all Croatian musical forms. This group had a mandolin, an accordion, and a guitar, and only one of the pieces they did was a cappella. It was all very, very good although their serenades were so slow and sweet I almost dropped the camera a few times (I videoed it all and it will be on YouTube when we get home—we also bought their CD as a souvenir.) Their bass was wonderful though he only soloed once. I told him afterwards he should solo more and he gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I love the Croatian people!!!

Tonight, as I said earlier, we sail to Kotor, Montenegro. I suspect that I will not have that much trouble sleeping this night.

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Sleep was not elusive last night and I think I slept the sleep of the dead. Getting up was slow and I wasn’t feeling too social. Made it to the dining room after Ed had finished and grabbed a few slices of fresh bread (the loaves are only 2” in diameter), a bit of fruit and juice, and ordered a couple of eggs over easy.

The ship was moored out in the Bay waiting for a pilot, I believe, to help us get to the port of Kotor. The Bay of Kotor has been described as a fjord because of the way the mountains rise up all around and there are many twists and turns. The narrowest strait, known as the Vierge or “chain”, was so narrow that it was easy to stretch chains across to close it off to invaders or until the taxes were paid by the trading ships.

It was kind of chilly on the sun deck though most of my fellow travelers thought it quite cold and were layering on winter clothing. I was a little chilled and asked Ed to get me my light jacket. It was probably about 45 and sunny but also a bit windy as we sailed across the Bay. Finally, I had to come down to our cabin to use the facilities and realized I was a little queasy so I laid down until we docked. I woke to the announcement that we were going to start our city walking tour soon. It was about 1000.

I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t feeling well this morning since our group of 22 was cut down to 15 when we walked to the town to meet our local guide, Ryan. He was a hoot. So well trained as a professional guide that he appeared like an actor on the stage. Enthusiastic, bright, smiling…he talked us through the basic history of Montenegro and his city.

Kotor city is a walled city with the walls extending far up the mountainside. In all, there’s over 3 kilometers of walls on the steep rock face and 1420 well-worn steps. It is really impressive to look up the mountain-face and see the wall snaking up to the Fort of St. John over 900 feet above sea-level.

We walked through the squares and narrow streets of the old city, seeing old palaces, churches, shops, restaurants and bars. And cats. Lots and lots of stray cats (and 1 dog that decided to be my guide from time to time. We stopped at a very nice Maritime Museum filled with some of the best models of ships I’ve ever seen.

After the organized city tour was over, abut 1 ¼ hours, we wandered on our own for a bit. We went to the entrance of the walled path and I made it up about 30 of those 1420 steps. Ed made it a bit further. I heard one of our traveling companions went about a third of the way to a church in the wall and it took him about a half hour.

We decided, again, not to come back to the ship for lunch and found a local seafood restaurant. Ed had wine and I had a cup of tea and we split an order of risotto in a red sauce with seafood (clams, oysters, shrimp, mussels, calamari, squid, and fish) along with some more good bread. The food was filling and the price very reasonable.

From there, we wandered down to the open air market that is just outside the city walls. Not too many stands were open (I’m not sure if that was because of the time of day or time of year.) There were a few stands with vegetables, fruits, flowers, and even one artist with a few paintings.

We got back to the ship in time to meet up with about half of the group to take a trip to an island out in the Bay. We took a bus to a small city of Perast which is an historic city a few kilometers away (about a 20-minute drive.) We were told it was a short walk to the water taxi that took us out to an islet called “Our Lady of the Rocks” (their idea of short and mine are

Kotor, Montenegro

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beginning to differ greatly but I’m still moving.) There is a small church on the islet, which is man-made, that houses a painting of the Virgin and Child that according to legend “wanted” to be there. It was found in the middle of the Bay, taken to town, and “miraculously” reappeared in the middle of the Bay. So, the people from Perast created an island from the sunken ships of their enemies to build a church to house the painting. It was very interesting.

Small boat back to shore, “short” walk back to bus, and drive back to town got us back to the ship around 1600. Ed took a walk to the shopping mall to see if he could find me needle and thread and I took a shower. Now, I think it might be time for a nap.

Once again, no needle found in the haystack so no repair on the buttons possible yet. We both napped a while until the Port Talk and then went to dinner. There is definitely something going through the ship since I think only about half of the passengers made it to dinner. Our dining companions were two gentlemen whose wives had taken to their beds. The conversation, once again was good, as was the food. The started was a very nice dish that was labeled stuffed melon but it was more like stuffed smoked salmon since the salmon was wrapped around cream cheese with a little melon inside. They offered two soups—a hearty bean soup or a chicken consume’. I opted for the consume’ since something lighter seemed like a better idea. We both remembered to ask for half portions—I had the salmon and Ed had a beef dish. Mine was served with a bit of linguine that was perfectly cooked and some veggies while Ed’s was served with gnocchi. We both had a baked apple for dessert that was way too good. It had a streusel-like filling and was served with a bit of pistachio ice cream.

The after dinner entertainment was scheduled to be a Movie Night with “No Man’s Land”, an Oscar-winning film about the Bosnian war. I first went up to the top deck to get some photos of Kotor at night and as I climbed the stairs I realized I wasn’t feeling very well. I had to sit for a while before coming back down (after getting the photos, of course), and by the time I did come back down, I felt worse. I told Ed I was going to

the cabin and climbed into bed. I ran into the Hotel Manager, Demir, who showed great concern and gave me two capsules of charcoal (one to take then and the other in the morning.)

Didn’t take too long before I started having stomach cramps — really bad ones — but it took me probably 3 hours before my entire gastro-intestinal system exploded. At least, the cramps went away after I lost the stomach contents, and I was able to sleep a bit. From the timing of mine and the other people’s illnesses, and the symptoms, I’m suspecting this is Norovirus. (I sent information from the CDC to Danijela so she could educate herself about it.)

I couldn’t finish this chronicle last night so it’s now Wednesday morning (day 7) and I’m up only so our cabin steward can clean the cabin. I’ve had a cup of tea and another charcoal capsule. And will go back to bed as soon as possible. I’d love to explore more of Kotor but if this had to happen, I’m glad it was here and not when we’re in Dubrovnik. So, I’ll leave this off here and write more later.

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Today has pretty much been a wash. I to up long enough this morning to leave the cabin to that Ahmed, our cabin steward, could clean the room and then went straight back to bed. Ed sent my nightshirt out to be washed and that was pretty much it for the morning for me.

Ed, on the other hand, was able to join the small group who chose to walk the wall of the city up to the Fortress of St. John. He said that there was an inhabited house all the way up there in amongst the ruins of a small village. He said about eight of our fellow travelers made this trek up there since the weather forces were kind enough to allow the rain to stay away. Originally, there was an optional tour that was to be offered today to go more to the interior of Montenegro but with rain threatening, not enough people signed up for that.

When he returned and I woke up, I asked him to see if he could get me some toast. He was able to get me some saltines and that was good. My blood sugar does really strange things when I’m sick so trying to get it stable again takes a bit.

This tour has been different than others we’ve been on because they are able to adjust travel based on the weather and other things. Because of the cancellation of the optional tour and the fact that yesterday’s weather was so nice that we could go visit Our Lady of the Rocks, which had been originally scheduled for this afternoon, they decided to sail to Dubrovnik early. We sailed just as lunch was being served at 1300.

Luckily, it took well over two hours just to sail out of the Bay of Kotor so the beginning was still in calmer waters. The chef was good enough to make some plain rice and vegetable broth for those of us not feeling well. I had both plus a few orange slices and grapes and called it good. This all seemed to sit well so I called it a win. After lunch, I grabbed the camera and climbed up to the top deck to get a few photos of the last we’d see of

the Bay. There was a Turkish-era fort at the mouth of the Bay Ed had told me about and I wanted to see. Shortly before we got to it, we were already out of the calm waters of the Bay and had quite a bit of rocking and rolling as we made our way to the Sea.

We had a few hours of open sailing so I had a cup of tea and then laid down for another nap. I woke up in time for a talk by Sinisa, the other program director, about Tito’s Yugoslavia which included the history of the region back to the Illyrians. It’s all very complicated and convoluted. Sinisa says he has never been a teacher but he’d make a good one.

The Port Talk was shortly after the history lesson which outlined what tomorrow would be like in Dubrovnik and then dinner. A bit different this time because the starter course was laid out on the table more family-style than the formal plated version we’d seen thus far. A six-sectioned serving dish had pickled peppers, a minced meat roll, some tzaziki sauce, a red pepper paste, olives, and a cheese pastry of some kind. There was also pita bread and a spicy chicken salad served on the side. I skipped the eggplant soup but Ed says it was excellent (eggplant is the only food in the world that I avoid as much as I can). We both remembered to order half-portions of the main course though I almost regretted it when I took my first bite of the lamb (Ed went for the fish). The lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender and very flavourful (as was the fish). I ate sparingly of the veggies and potatoes served with mine. We both went for the dessert—custard in puff pastry with hazelnut ice cream on the side. I was really glad I was feeling better.

There was no after-dinner entertainment planned for tonight but since we are docked (we’re actually in the Port of Gruz which is where the cruise ships dock) we decided to take a short walk after dinner. The streets were pretty quiet and reasonably clean although there was a light stench of sewage in the air like something was broken. But it felt good to get off the ship for the fist time tonight even if it was only for an hour. Now I’ve showered and put on my clean nightshirt and am ready to sleep. I hope I do though considering that I’ve napped about six hours today I’m not holding my breath about it.

Kotor to Dubrovnik, Croatia

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Hard to believe that after sleeping so much yesterday that I was able to sleep so soundly last night but I did. I realized it was 0800 and nudged Ed awake and finally tumbled out of bed. Breakfast was being served until 0830 as usual and our bus to the Old Town was to leave at 0845. I wasn’t too hungry so I grabbed a little fruit, bread, salami, cheese, and tomatoes and a glass of milk. It was sufficient.

We’d been warned it was going to be rainy today so everyone dressed for that but what we got was so much more. The morning started with the “yugo” (south) wind which is warmer and less severe but shortly after we arrived within the city it changed to the “bora” (north) wind which can gust up to 100 km/h. And although the temperature was around 55F, it felt much chillier. If only we’d had more of a clue, we could have put on some long underwear and Ed could have brought his stocking hat instead of his Irish hat (which is best for the rain). He, at least, had some gloves but I kept having to pull my hands up my sleeves. This didn’t diminish how much I enjoyed the city of Dubrovnik, though.

The port of Gruz is only a few kilometers from the Old Town and easy to get to on our shuttle busses or on the city bus. Less than 10 minutes and we were outside the massive walls of the city. Our guide (I missed his name) was as good as any

other city guide we’ve had thus far and took us from the main gate through the main thoroughfare to the Maritime Museum.

We started out seeing a map of where all the mortar hits were within the city walls during the 1991-92 siege of the city by the Montenegrins and the Serbians. In October 1991 units of the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army), supported by volunteers from

Montenegro and Serb-dominated eastern Herzegovina, quickly overran the tourist resorts south of Dubrovnik and occupied the high ground commanding approaches to the city. The bombardment of Dubrovnik began in early November and lasted until May 1992. Contrary to Serbian–Montenegrin expectations, Dubrovnik’s hastily arranged defenses held out, and in the end the siege was broken in July 1992 by a Croatian offensive from the north.

You can see evidence of this senseless destruction all around the city. Many roofs were destroyed and have been replaced. So many reparations over the past 25 years but still so much can be felt and experienced.

Dubrovnik is built on a major fault line so earthquakes have been very destructive here as well. As one enters within the city walls, there are 3 buildings not destroyed in the earthquake of 1667. We explored two of them. One is a Franciscan Monastery that is also now a Pharmacy Museum and the other we visited was a church that felt very Baroque inside. Because yesterday had been St. Blaise’s Day, the Patron saint of the city, all of the tourist spots were free. So, we continued through the city, with it’s narrow streets and stone buildings (and the wind—the rain went away almost as soon as we got off the shuttle) until we reached the sea wall and the Maritime Museum.

We only explored the first floor of the museum which was the pre-19th century stuff and skipped the upper floor that covered the age of steam. It’s a nice museum although photos were not allowed so I might not remember much except that we bought the museum book. That was where the official tour ended and we

Dubrovnik, Croatia

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took off to walk the city wall. The wall completely encircles the city and despite the wind and LOTS of steps, I was able to do half of it. All the way up to the highest point, even, to the Fort on the south side.

We found a lovely wine bar/bistro for lunch after a stop in a nice bookstore (Algebra) to find a historic map for a friend. It was warm and inviting and we had a wonderful meal. We both started with a Fisherman’s Soup that had a wonderful rich broth and was

filled with various types of very sweet fish and one mussel. We then split a dish of calamari that had been prepared with potatoes, capers, olives, and onions in a tomato sauce. Served with bread, I sopped up every bit of the sauce. Ed had two glasses of a very good (according to him) red wine and I had water.

We found our way to the Ethnography Museum from there,

after a few twists and turns and LOTS more steps. This museum had an exhibit about World War I on the main level and life in this area of the world on the 2nd and 3rd floors. It is housed in the old granary so the building itself was very interesting and had great views from the windows.

The shuttle bus back to the ship met us around 1530 and got us back to the ship very quickly. I’ve now had a cup of hot chocolate and half of an orange that we picked up off the ground as we left the old city. (Orange and lemon trees were everywhere!!) This orange was as tart as a lemon but it was a great experience to taste it so fresh.

Port talk now after the captain explained that we have 11 hours of sailing tonight while we sleep. Tonight we get to go to a local village for a home-hosted dinner.

The drive to Gromača, a small farming village in what Danijela called the “hinterlands” of Dubrovnik, took about 40 minutes since the bridge that would have made the trip faster was cut off to the bus due to the high winds. Our driver, once again, was Romano (who had driven us from Zagreb to Ploce the first full day here. He navigated some very narrow roads and took us into the village where our 22 were met by 3 hostesses. We were divided into 3 groups of 8, 8, and 6 and walked various homes. This is one of the best experiences, usually, that GCT offers and we were told that the ones for this trip were considered the best of all.

Our family was definitely a farm family. Father was the farmer and raised the animals and tended most of the crops and trees. He was also the olive oil maker, vintner, and made the grappa. The mother was the cook and made many different things including breads, candied figs, candied orange peel, jams, and she also did crafts including lace and pysanky. She had a stand in the Old City during the tourist season and we were able to shop after dinner. The daughters, one in 8th grade and the other in 5th, helped tend the farm, clean, cook, and translate for their parents. The younger one, especially, was very well versed in English. We were given a tour of the

smokehouse (which we viewed much like a summer kitchen) and the wine cellar.

They started out offering us a bit of grappa and a walnut liqueur (all made on site) along with the candied figs and orange peel. Then, we went into the small house (the property had been owned by the father’s family and was over 300 years

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old though the buildings were all destroyed in the 91/92 war and have been since rebuilt on the old foundations) where the kitchen and dining room were. They might have another kitchen in the main house but we didn’t get to see that.

Dinner started with homemade cheese, prosciutto, and bread served with their homemade olive oil. Dobro!!! (Good in Croatian.) The main course was mashed potatoes and sarma (stuffed cabbage rolls) which had to be the best we’d ever had (the sauce was amazing!!) For dessert we were served a rose cake which was a custard, very much like flan but served with rose liqueur over it and a couple of cherries that had been soaked in the liqueur (very much like brandied cherries but better.) We ended up with a bag of the orange peel and a bottle of the rose liqueur (as well as the recipe for the rose cake) and since they didn’t have enough change we got a bottle of the walnut liqueur as well. It was all so good, why not? The prices were reasonable and it helps the local economy.

As we were leaving, the youngest daughter walked us to the bus and when I went to shake her hand she wrapped us both up in a big hug. I am seriously in love with the Croatian people!

We made it aboard about 10 minutes before the captain had wanted to sail so there was no time to take another walk. No worries there. I think I definitely got my steps in (and I don’t even have a fitbit.) We are sailing for about 11 hours tonight but the captain said we’d be sticking between islands so it shouldn’t be too rough. On the other hand, the ship is kind enough to supply a bowl of Dramamine, just in case. I think everyone else disappeared into their cabins. But Ed and I bundled up and went up on the top deck to experience the sailing out. Unfortunately, we didn’t go back out past the Old City (which is what I was hoping) but it was pretty kewl to be out in front of the pilot house and experience the feel of really sailing on a sea. The clouds were parting and we could see many stars. It was all pretty incredible.

Right now, we’re both sipping hot tea in the lounge, me writing and Ed catching up on the news on CNN. We are all alone. Not even any crew are up and about.

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It was a rolling and rocking night for sleep, and we are probably in what is close to the rollingest part of the ship. But sleep wasn’t too difficult. Walking to the washroom when waking up in the wee hours was but sleep wasn’t.

Timing was the same today as it has been every day on shipboard. 0730-0830 breakfast and today’s start was 0845 for our touring. We docked shortly before breakfast on the island of Hvar. Our busses and local guides took us out to explore about a third of the island. Driving on winding roads that reminded me of driving on highway 1 in northern California, we climbed high above the sea. Overlooking wide vistas including a lace-like network of dry stone walls (walls made of native stone with no mortar holding them together), we climbed high as we wound our way to the town of Hvar.

We had a couple of photo stops and the weather was perfect. Although a bit chilly, it was clear and sunny. The island of Hvar has typically Mediterranean climate and about 2715 hours of sunshine a year. They say that if there are seven days of rain in a row or a whole day of snow, a hotel stay is free. Obviously, they’ve never had to pay out on that. The island is known for lavender and rosemary and it is used in many products for sale all around the island. There

is also a lot of agave, palm, myrtle, and pine trees.

Our third stop was high above the town of Hvar which is a port town on the south-western coast of the island where there is a 13th century fort (not open, much to my disappointment.) The view was stupendous and it is easy to see how this had become a tourist destination for centuries.

We had a short walking tour of the town which was once divided by the central plaza (at one time a harbor when the water was higher) into the nobility on one side and the lower class on the other. There is a Franciscan monastery, a small cathedral, and what they say is the oldest theatre in Europe. That, too, was closed for renovation. (When it isn’t tourist season, it seems to be repair season.) We had some time to wander on our own. There was one stand selling lavender products but I figured Ed might divorce me if I brought anything smelly like that back. There was a children’s festival, mostly for the youngest—kindergarteners—going on as we wandered. The costumes were diverse from ladybugs to explorers to Minions. We chose to take a few minutes in a café for a warm drink (coffee for himself and hot cocoa for me) and a change to use the facilities. (The one public convenience is known as the most expensive in the country costing 7 kuna [a Euro or a dollar] and it was recommended to stop into a café or bar too take care of business.)

Back on the bus we wound our way along the other side of the island on our way to a small town and harbor called Vrboska for a visit to a local vineyard and a winetasting. A short walk, that felt longer by the minute since I’d left my walker on the bus, took us to the Pinjata family winery. The room that we filled was dark and had a low ceiling, all made out of stone, and beautifully decorated. Long tables held three bottles of wine, classes, a glass to dump leftovers into, some wonderful cheese

Hvar & Split

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sitting in olive oil, and bowls of almonds mixed with currants and raisins. I’m not much on wines and they, 2 whites and a red, all tasted pretty much the same to me. The cheese and nuts were wonderful, though, and the presentation was fun.

It finally got too noisy for me so I wandered out to check out the fortress/church across the courtyard from the winery. Only the guides were out there so it was pleasantly quiet.

We found our way back to the ship in time to sail out around 1300. And lunch. Yup. Time for another meal. No option to stay in a town this time but lunch was good. There was a spicy, chunky tomato soup and a buffet that included salads, fruit, and other things plus a creamy mushroom pasta. Plus it was seafood day (first Friday of the Lenten season, I guess) and there was a seafood salad, a shrimp salad, marinated mussels, octopus, calamari (sautéed and fried), and a couple of kinds of fried fish. I wasn’t really hungry but some of it was too good not to at east have a bit. Especially the sautéed octopus and calamari and the soup.

I was surprisingly tired after lunch and ended up napping for a couple of hours as we sailed to the town of Split. We docked around 1600, not long after I’d woken up, and as soon as the gangplank was in place we set off in our groups with a “short” (seemed really long to me) orientation walk to the town. Danijela took us as far as the gate to the old town which is the Imperial Palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built like a fortress with walls 590 feet by 705 feet, the palace was occupied by the Emperor Diocletian from AD 300-313, we explored just a little bit and decided to head back to the ship. Since we will have an extended city tour tomorrow morning, it seemed like a fine idea to wander back to the ship.

One of the interesting things about this trip over others is the security at the ports. We were all given a photo ID that has our passport information and the information about the ship on it. A few of these stops, like here in Split, the security is a little tighter and we have to show this ID to exit and enter the port where we are docked. They said that after the Paris attacks in November, the cruise ship was not even allowed to go to Hvar but the tour had to come to split and then take one of the car

ferries over to the island. It’s a not-so-subtle reminder that the world isn’t always the safest place to be.

Neither of us was very hungry when we went to dinner so it was good that we once again had some nice conversations during the meal. The starter was a crepe filled with a ragout of vegetables which was not really to my taste so I only nibbled a little but Ed seemed to like it a lot and wouldn’t let the server take it away. Probably a good thing since the soup was a cream of mushroom and he doesn’t like mushrooms. I only ate a bit of the soup but I still wasn’t very hungry. The choices for the main course tonight was beef stroganoff over spaetzle (I ordered a half portion), perch, or a vegetarian quiche Lorraine (yeah, by definition it should have bacon in it but it was just veggies and cheese) (Ed ordered a half order of that.) Neither of us finished the food. Ed wasn’t feeling in tiptop shape so he skipped dessert altogether. I had ordered a cheese plate again and ended up taking it to go since I really wasn’t hungry for it then. Paul, our server, was sweet enough to put saran wrap over it for me.

Tonight’s after dinner entertainment was a group of young folk (looked college-age to me) doing a short Dalmatian Folklore presentation of music and dance. 5 musicians and 8 dancers entertained us for an hour or so. The costumes were festive, the music lively, and the dancers all very energetic and smiling. It was a fun program. There were a number of just musical numbers that seemed to be a challenge between two of the musicians almost like Dueling Banjos. They sometimes did 3 or 4 pieces to give the dancers time to change into new costumes – three costume changes altogether. It was a nice way to end the day.

I got back to the cabin and Ed was just reading. He says all is well so mote it be. I’m wiped so I’ll be crashing hard, I think, as soon as I turn off this machine. Tomorrow we explore Split and Diocletian’s palace.

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Sleep was not elusive last night and when I awoke I was relatively refreshed but not feeling really social. Luckily, since I had taken my cheese plate dessert to go last night, I still had enough left for a decent breakfast with a few crackers that I had. That and a banana was sufficient to get me going this morning.

Our city walking tour left at 0900 and we met up with our guide, Illiana, just outside the gate of the port

authority. I was amused later to find that the guide for the other group from our ship was her father. A family business. The walk still felt very long for me to go from the port to the city but I wasn’t as tired as I had been yesterday after we had toured around Hvar earlier in the day. Least that’s the way it felt. As we walked, we learned a bit about the modern city of Split which is the second largest city in Croatia and the third largest port in this part of the world.

We entered the old city at the same place we did yesterday afternoon but we learned so much more about Emperor Diocletian and his life and death. Over 1700 years ago, Diocletian chose to build his palace within the fortified walls here and lived there with his wife, daughter, and a small cohort of soldiers. After his death, the palace was overrun and houses were built within the walls. Much of the Roman structures were destroyed and soon the Medieval town was built haphazardly and became the old city. Today, about 2000 people live within the walls in houses in various states of repair. Decay over the centuries, damage from earthquakes and such, have all left their marks. Now the city has shops and cafés and bars and restaurants scattered through the maze of streets and alleyways.

We toured where they have determined where Diocletian lived with his wife and daughter. His mausoleum, an octagonal structure nearby, was turned into a church and later expanded. The interesting thing about that is that they didn’t destroy the Roman details but just stuck in a bunch of altars and such (the

expansion is mostly used for the choir today.) This was an interesting mix of the Roman and the Medieval. One of my favourite details was the frescos on the ceiling of one of the altars which was mostly intact where the sun hadn’t destroyed them. From the church we walked to the Temple of Jupiter which was quite small. Diocletian made himself known as the son of Jupiter and was very disappointed in his architects for such a small structure. The Christians had removed and destroyed the statue of Jupiter and turned it into a baptismal font and eventually added some decorations that looked quite Celtic. There was a wonderful bronze statue inside that was made in the 20th century by the famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic, that was moved into the Temple after the sculptor’s death.

We wandered through the streets, alleys, and plazas until we found our way back out of the walls near where we had started over two hours before. Today is Saturday and it turns out that it is Carnival here in Split and was described to us much like our Halloween. It was fun to wander through the festive atmosphere with children and adults in costumes that didn’t look too different from what we might see in October at home. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (one family only had 2 children so the dogs were dressed up as the other 2), Supermen, Batmen, clowns, witches, Elsas and Olafs (characters from the animated film Frozen), and so many more paraded in the streets with music and baton twirlers and all. Popcorn and cotton candy was sold from wagons on the streets as were large, colourful balloons.

We peeled off from the group to go seek out some pizza but couldn’t find a pizza restaurant that had a place to sit down. I could tell my blood sugar was low and I needed something so we finally got a small one from a small bakery and ate it

Split

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while the parade passed us by (or I should just say, passed us). There were many cafés and bars but none had food and most of the restaurants where we were walking were not open yet. Finally, Ed found a place called Appetit that was above a large supermarket. Turned out he found a real gem. After the but of pizza, I wasn’t too hungry so I though some soup might be good. (The day has been a bit chilly but clear and sunny. I dressed just right for the weather and was pretty comfortable but soup still sounded good.) When I saw that they had Crème Caramel for dessert, I knew I was getting dessert. One of the fresh catches of the day was tuna so Ed ordered a tuna steak grilled with grilled veggies. It came out nicely rare and huge. I swear it was at least ¾ of a pound or more of fish. I nibbled a little but concentrated on my prawn soup (rich broth of cream and butter with tiny shrimp in it) which was wonderful. The dessert was good, though not as creamy as a flan, and I enjoyed it greatly. Ed had both red wine and beer to accompany the meal and I stuck to water.

The PDs were leading another hike this afternoon up a hill that looked like it would be too much for me. Ed and I had a bit of a misunderstanding so I ended up walking a little more than I would have liked but all is well. Instead of gong all the way back to the ship for him to meet the group, we sat by the harbor and enjoyed the sun. The hikers caught up to us and Ed went off with them. He doubled back to tell me that a few people had found the Synagogue open in what had been the old Jewish ghetto, so I wandered in that direction to see if I could get in. Nothing was open but I was able to wander on my own, avoiding all stairways since I wasn’t up to carrying the walker if I could help it, for the next hour and a half. I was hurting pretty bad when I made it back to the ship around 1600.

The afternoon discovery and/or entertainment was the ship’s Executive Chef, Darko, doing a demonstration of vegetable and fruit carving. Turns out he had his own cooking show on

Serbian TV and comes from a family of chefs. His father was chef to Josef Broz Tito. Darko once was the chef for Steven Segal. The demonstration was a lot of fun and he carved everything from tomatoes to cucumbers to oranges to white radish to a watermelon (he did a rose on the watermelon is less than 10 minutes.)

We ended up at a table where Ed was the only man and he was very entertaining (even telling stories that I hadn’t heard before.) Tonight, the starters were on the table again and included hummus, tzatsiki sauce, zucchini patties, olives, and a salad of cucumbers/tomatoes/onions/feta, and was served with some nice pita bread. The soup was a white bean and the choices for the main course were lamb shank (that I ordered as a ½ order again but was so good that I wish I’d ordered a full one), red snapper, or the vegetarian choice that Ed had of fried, breaded cheese. Dessert tonight was baklava and almost everyone ordered it—it was really good and not swimming in honey like it often is. I find it amusing that almost every dessert (except the cheese plates) are served with ice cream (and really, really good ice cream at that—and this is being said by someone from Wisconsin.) It was a lovely dinner.

Tonight is another movie night. My Life in Ruins, a 2009 romantic-comedy about a tour guide, set in Greece, with a group of the most obnoxious tourists ever. Every bad stereotype you can imagine. They set up the lounge with a large screen TV and popcorn (as they did the other night) but I’m just tired enough that getting comfortable and kicking back in the room (with our smaller tv) felt like a better idea. So, teeth are brushed, PJs are on, Ed’s got his noise-cancellation headphones are on, and I’m kicking back. Hopefully, I’ll stay awake for the whole movie. If not, I’ll fall asleep a bit amused.

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I can honestly say today has become the laziest day I’ve had on this trip. We’ve been going for 11 days and there are still six days to go. Because of this, I decided to kick back a little, even though I’m not sick. Maybe I’m growing up a bit?

We started sailing around 0500 but I didn’t really notice that. I had a reasonable night’s sleep, not great but not terrible and had no trouble getting up around 0700. There was some smoked salmon atop bagel halves with a bit of cream cheese and capers so I grabbed one of those plus a banana and some of the really good brown bread and ordered a couple of eggs over easy. I wasn’t feeling particularly social (I really do like the folks we’re traveling with but being an introvert, I need some more alone space from time to time), so I sat at one of the few two-tops the dining room has.

As soon as I was done eating, I bundled up and went to the upper deck to watch as we steered towards the Šibenik region. This county has 242 islands in an area of about 1000 square kilometers. Only 10 of these islands have settlements although as we sailed towards our destination for the day I saw dry walls that were probably hundreds of years old. There is only one safe way in to the harbor from the open sea and that is the St. Anthony Strait that has the fortress of St. Nicholas overlooking the entrance. This is said to be the most important renaissance fortress on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.

I probably, for me, stayed on deck too long standing up for I

was already feeling it in my back and legs before we docked. It was about 1030 that we left the ship (from the fantail for a change) to meet our guide, Mariana, for our walk in the old city. Šibenik is very much a Medieval town, with more narrow alleyways and streets winding through like a maze. It was pointed out that it’s almost impossible to get lost since downhill is seaward. The highlights of the town include the Cathedral of St. James, which is on UNESCO’s Word Heritage list, and was built between 1431 and 1555. The interesting features of this building are that it contains no masonry elements with its walls, vaults, and cupolas precisely chiseled as if made of wood. Its impressively detailed stone sculptures include 71 human faces — believed to represent local Šibenik residents at the time of the cathedral’s building — carved into the cathedral’s outer walls.

We wandered through the town to the cathedral where the official tour ended. The afternoon was set to be a hike to the other highlights of the town — their fortresses. I’ll write a bit of those in a bit. Ed and I wandered back along much of the route the tour had taken us on because it turned out that my memory card had become unseated in my camera and I hadn’t realized that. All of the photos I tried to take along the way weren’t in the memory. **sigh** We, of course, took a few different turns but that just made it more interesting although I missed a couple of shots that I thought I had gotten. We were going downhill much of the way and I discovered that I could sit on my walker and roll down the hill. I suspect it was kind of amusing looking from the outside—I know I was amused at myself.

We found a restaurant near the water called Restaurant Zora that billed itself as a pizzeria and a spaghetteria. While I thought the idea of spaghetti sounded good, we found they were only serving pizza. We ordered the house special that had tuna, octopus, and mushrooms on it. Mmmmmmmm. So good. So was sitting down and just watching cars and people passing by and watching the swans and seagulls playing near the shore.

Šibenik

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I could have stayed in town and wandered more but tomorrow is an optional trip to a national park and waterfalls and I want to save some of my energy for that. The option for the afternoon was a hike to 3 of the 4 fortresses in the town. The first, and the one not visited, was the one we saw on our way into the harbor this morning. St. Michael’s fortress is the oldest monument in Šibenik, first mentioned in the 11th century by King Petar Kresimir IV who founded Šibenik in the year 1066. It was the starting point for the expansion of the city walls all the way to the sea. St. Michael’s fortress was built on a 60m high hill for control and defense of entrance to Šibenik bay and Canyon of Krka river. It was destroyed many times during attacks and the present appearance dates from the 18th century. Four towers from the 15th and 16th century have been preserved. Reconstruction of the St. Michael’s fortress has been completed in 2014, now with a magnificent open air stage with 1,077 seats where musical and theatrical spectacles take place.

St. John’s fortress is located above the old town of Šibenik, at 115m of altitude. Star-shape designed by the Venetian architect Antonio Leni served to guard the town against Turkish invasions. The fortress was built in only 45 days, the citizens of Šibenik helped in the construction because of danger of the attacks. After heavy losses during the battle on September 16th 1647 the Turkish army withdrew from v. St. John’s fortress was an attractive historical backdrop for scenes from the series Game of Thrones filmed in September 2014. Currently it’s one of the most popular shows in the world.

Šubićevac fortress also known as the fortress Barone is situated at 80m of altitude. Upon construction it was connected with the St.. John’s fortress, with whom it played an important role in the defense of the city against the Turks in 1647. These two fortresses were built at the same time with the help of citizens. It bore the name of Baron Degenfeld, Venetian soldier of German origin, who has greatly helped in the defense of Šibenik, for a long time. (Description of the fortresses taken from http://www.solarishotelsresort.com/4-sibenik-fortresses/)

Ed went on the hike but I ended up crashing and napping from

the time he left, around 1415 until 1600. I guess I needed to just stop for a while. I came out to the lounge then, just as Ed and others returned, had a cup of hot chocolate and a couple of small cookies and writing this chronicle. Now, it’s time for our next Discovery talk—Croatia Today.

The talk, given by Sinisa, was very informative. He covered so much from politics (about 154 political parties), religion (most of Croatia is Roman Catholic), jobs (16-18% unemployment unless it’s tourist season and the largest industry is tourism), healthcare (universal), maternity leave (1 year with the first six months at full salary and the other six at minimum wage … and the company must hold the job for that time), abortion (allowed through the first trimester with no questions asked), education (free from 4yo kindergarten through college if your grades are good enough), and much, much more. Sinisa spoke for a full hour pointing out that probably 70-80% of the older generation would welcome back Tito’s style of Communism since everyone had “enough”, everyone was employed. It was all very interesting.

Dinner tonight was a started of eggplant with feta cheese (Ed ate both his and mine), cream of broccoli soup (which was the best soup on the ship thus far) that had a crouton with gorgonzola on it … mmmmmmmmmmmm. The main dish was a choice of chicken breast, fish, or veggie skewers. I did a half portion of the chicken which was very well-prepared. Ed skipped that course and nibbled a little of mine. Dessert for me was cheesecake with blueberry compote and for Ed a lemon sorbet with pomegranate seeds. Neither of us finished dessert.

The after-dinner entertainment is karaoke which we both dislike so we’re in the cabin already (not even 2100 yet) and I put Jersey Boys on the tv so I can’t really hear the iffy singing. Tomorrow is a trip to the Krka Falls and the national park and then we’re off to Zader.

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Today was very pleasant and different than the rest of this trip has been. Sleep flitted in and out last night but I was usually asleep as soon as I woke up so it was kind of fitful, I guess. I was a little out of it this morning but that could have been the low blood sugar talking. After a bowl of cereal with banana, some pineapple juice, and a bit of cheese I was doing a lot better.

This day we had an option. We could stay in Šibenik and

continue exploring as we did yesterday or we could join in on an optional tour to the hinterlands, as Danijela calls them. There was an additional cost to this half-day tour though many of us think they should just include this option and charge a bit more for the trip. We went to Krka National Park and an outdoor museum known as Etnoland.

First to Krka National Park. A total of 109 square kilometers along the Krka River was proclaimed a national park in 1985. The area, even in winter, is exceptionally beautiful and we concentrated on the park of the park with many waterfalls. There are, in total, seven travertine waterfalls for a total drop of 242 meters. The walk from the parking lot to the Skradinski buk, the longest and most commonly visited waterfall, is only a short distance to some very good walking/hiking paths—both flat and some with lots of steps. I stayed pretty much on the flatter path but still saw some wonderful vistas. Ed took the more challenging path that had many, many steps and no handrails. We walked for a bit over an hour and the weather, which had been threatening rain, stayed nice. The sun came out and the breeze was pleasant and not too brisk.

The parts of the park we didn’t see included the ruins of a Roman military camp, medieval Croatian fortresses, a Franciscan church and monastery, and more. During the tourist season, there are demonstrations of the mills and how

the wheat was milled, cloth washed, bags and carpets woven, horseshoes smithed, and other domestic and agricultural activities.

About a 10 minute drive from the park was our second destination. Etnoland Dalmati is the first theme park of its kind in Croatia, which opened its doors to visitors in mid-May of 2007. It is situated in Central Dalmatia, only 10 minutes from National Park Krka in Pakovo Selo (15 km from Šibenik). With an area of 15,000 square meters and a capacity for 500 people, it acquaints the visitors with the life of the Dalmatian hinterland as it once was. Our hostess, Anna, and her husband built many buildings and gardens, to show how the Croatian people lived for centuries.

Anna was lively and animated as she showed us her labour of love. From the first glass of walnut liqueur to welcome us to the white wine, the red wine, and the dessert wine, we felt

the warm hospitality as she showed us through Grandpa’s house and gardens. She had fun drawing in members of our tour to help illustrate the roles of men and women in her culture. We saw the bedroom, weaving room, dining room, kitchen, and wine cellar with it’s furnishings and decorations. It was a good presentation, albeit a little touristy, that included the opportunity to purchase souvenirs and the wines afterwards.

It was about a 20 minute drive back to the ship and since we thought we were sailing right away, we didn’t get a chance to see any more of Šibenik. Lunch was ready but I decided I needed a shower first. I really enjoyed the lunch today since the pasta station had linguine with a wonderful meat sauce. I ended up eating two bowls of that, one pork kebab, and some fruit. The second bowl of pasta was my dessert.

One of the interesting

Krka National Park & Etnoland & Zader

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things we’ve learned on this trip is the difference of the winds and their affect on the land and the people. The Bora is the strongest and I’ve described that a bit already. The Jugo (sirocco) is the warmer, moister wind and usually lasts as long as 3 days though it can be as long as 3 weeks in the winter. The landward breeze is called the maestral and is daily, thermic blowing to the northwest. This is what brings the warm weather from spring to autumn. And the stiff breeze, known as the burin, blows contrary to the maestral and blows mostly at night and stops shortly around dawn.

We are now sailing to the city of Zader so I think it’s naptime. We’ll be sailing for 4-5 hours depending on the weather and sea conditions.

Okay, so the nap barely happened. I hung out in the Lounge, reading and dozing off and on. CNN was on the background and every so often something that was said made me comment. We were pulling into Zader as the cocktail reception started for the Inner Circle members (you become Inner Circle when you’ve taken more than 2 trips with GCT.) Champagne or juice for a toast, some hors d’oeuvres, and a free cocktail from a limited menu. Of the 44 passengers on this trip, 29 are Inner Circle. The one person with the most trips, 40, was given a prize. We were all given a pin to remember the trip by. (Inner Circle also receives discounts on ship’s services like the bar or laundry.) A few people talked about other trips and the hotel Manager, Demir, took time to thank us for being GCT ambassadors since they do best when we spread the word about how much we like GCT. Which we do!

We sat and talked with a retired professor and his wife who currently live in Michigan for a while after that and then it was time for the Port Talk about tomorrow—our last day and night on the ship. We had great conversation during dinner (and at one point were told we were weird as we described our hobby) and more food. I really wasn’t hungry so nibbled on the shrimp salad, beef consume’, cannelloni stuffed with spinach (1/2 order, of course—which Ed had as well since neither the fish nor turkey appealed to us at the time), and I finished with cheese again and Ed had the blueberry cake.

After dinner, our Program Directors took us on a short walk to see the Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun. The Sea Organ is built into steps that go down into the sea and consists of 35 pipes of different lengths, diameter, and tilts along 70 meters of the coast. On the pipes there are labiums (whistles) which

play 7 chords of 5 tones. When it is windy, as it was tonight, the result is glorious. An endess concert of mystic harmonies. In 2006, the architect, Nikola Basic, received the European Prize for Urban Public Space over 206 other projects from across Europe.

The Greeting to the Sun is another public art installation by the same architect. It consists of three hundred multi=layered glass places placed at the same level with the stone-paved waterfront in the shape of a 22-meter diameter circle. There are photo-voltaic modules that light up to represent the sun (smaller circles of coloured light represent the planets in our solar system. It’s all very unique and beautiful, especially after dark.

Ed and I took our time walking back to the ship and found what we will probably be seeing tomorrow during the city tour. Zader has the ruins of a Roman forum that is quite extensive and a unique round 14th century church. I’ll leave more of both of these for tomorrow. For now, I’ll say it was a pleasant walk and I think I will sleep good tonight. .

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Hard to believe that tonight is our last night aboard the MV Athena. It’s been a great trip and we still have a few days to go before we head home but the ship has been so much home for the past 11 days that packing is not something I want to do tonight. The crew has been probably the best we’ve seen on all of our GCT trips and their service has been impeccable.

Sleep last night was comfortable and I was ready to go when morning came. The special for breakfast was Eggs Benedict which was quite good though the sauce could have used a bit more lemon for my taste. A bit of juice, cheese, and dried fruit and I was ready to go.

We met our guide, Ana, just outside of the ship and walked a lot of the same route that we did last night. Past the Greeting of the Sun and the Sea Organ, we got more information about these unique public installations. The ruins of the Roman forum looked different in the daylight but still quite impressive. We didn’t get to go into the round church but we did get to

go into the only Orthodox church in town that had once been a Roman Catholic one. Zadar is an ancient city, with over three thousand years of history, that is full of character. We toured the cathedral and the museum of a Benedictine Abbey which still houses 17 nuns.

After we left our guide, we wandered down the main street to find something to drink. Ed a beer, me a hot cocoa. We sat in an outdoor

café and watched the world wander by. Many young people in costume, still carnival and today a day off from school, and others. At one point, a gentleman sitting behind me started up a conversation. Turns out he’d lived in Australia all of his working life and only came home when it was time to collect his pension. He still works as a builder and he was fun to listen to. A Croatian-accented voice peppered with “bloody” every other word. We wandered some more and read much about the reconstruction of the Rector’s Palace that was severely damaged in 91/92.

The highpoint of the day for me was the Museum of Ancient Glass. The museum is one of the city’s newest attractions. It’s housed in the 19th century Cosmacendi Palace and has some outstanding views that overlook the Jazine harbour. The museum contains one of the premium collections of Roman glassware outside Italy, with a cornucopia of goblets, jars and vials retrieved from archaeological sites across Dalmatia. Highlights include the delicate vessels used by Roman ladies to store perfumes, skin creams and essential oils. We started on the top floor for what turned out to be a private glassblowing demonstration. The artisan showed us four shapes and asked which we wanted him to make. I chose a square bottle with a lovely swept handle. He talked us through, in good English, every step as he worked. It took him about 10 minutes to make the piece which was lovely. The floor below had the permanent collection. The first hall contains artifacts related to the trade and trade-routes such as selected glass artifacts; local glass products and relief stamps. The third theme - glass in cosmetics, pharmacy and medicine is represented in the next hall. The central theme in the biggest hall of the new annex is necropolis as a finding place of numerous complete glass items and a place of use of glass in the funerary ritual (glass

Zader

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urns, balsamaria, lids). Besides the reconstruction of several types of ancient burials, there are also several groups of glass grave goods as well as two Liburnian funerary monuments and six small funerary tituli. Small hall in the eastern wing of the Cosmacendi house contains glass jewellery such as glass rings, hairpins, glass beads, necklaces, bracelets and pendants. From this small hall a visitor enters a bigger one representing the theme glass in household and everyday use (glass bottles, jugs, funnels, ladles, ollae, small bowls, cups, plates, game pieces...). Glass miniatures are represented within the following theme. Permanent display ends with rarities. The ground floor had a nice exhibit on the history of glass and glass-forming. There was also a hall for rotating exhibits that held a modern exhibit that didn’t thrill me much but the rest of the museum pretty much made my day.

We left there, following the old city wall and wandered through the city a bit more to the promenade next to the sea. We picked up a bit of bakery along the way, mine a cheese pastry and Ed a piece of strudel. We wound our way along a different route to the sea and discovered the remains of the Church of Stomrica. The floor plan of the church is fascinating: the five semicircular apses (typical of early Dalmatian church architecture) and the semicircular portal surrounding the central space give it an unusual six-leaved clover shape. We got back to the ship around 1500 and lay down for a short nap. We got up with the hope of being able to see the sunset which Alfred Hitchcock, after a trip here, proclaimed to be the best he’d ever seen. Unfortunately, the clouds had eased in again and it wasn’t much to see.

Tonight is the Captain’s Farewell Drink and Dinner time and then it will be time to pack.

I really have enjoyed the crew on this ship. The Captain, Luksa, sets the perfect tone. He enjoys his job and is very professional and obviously expects that from his crew. But he’s also very personable and enjoys talking to the passengers and has an open door policy to the wheelhouse. The Hotel Manager, Demir, can play the clown but is also very professional on the job and very empathetic. He, too, has set a tone that his crew

can emulate. The restaurant/dining room is run so smoothly with only 2 waiters and the bartender/hotel administrator. This is pretty amazing with 44 guests to serve. The smiles are wide and if there are any complaints amongst the staff, the passengers never see them. I especially have appreciated everyone, from the sailors to the room stewards who have helped me personally by carrying my walker off and on the ship since the gangway is too narrow to roll it.

The Captain’s Farewell Drink and dinner is a time to thank them all. Hopefully they really can feel how much we appreciate them even before the tips get dispersed. A bit of champagne or juice and some h’ors d’oeuvres were served again while the appreciation was given and received. Dinner started with a classic Caesar salad, followed by a bit of sole and salmon wrapped in nori, for the starters. A palate cleanser of raspberry sherbet in champagne was next. The main course choices were roast beef that was served rare enough for me or polenta with roast veggies which is what Ed had. Dessert was baked Alaska that was first paraded around the dining room by the kitchen and dining room staff and then the final thanks to the whole crew. It was a fitting end to a wonderful cruise.

We thought of going out for a walk after dinner but since neither of us had packed yet and our bags are supposed to be ready by 0700, it seemed more prudent to pack. It is now almost 2300 so I think sleep shall be next. We will have about a 4-5 hour drive tomorrow back to Zagreb.

So, soon, we shall leave the Adriatic behind. I can see why a couple of the folks on this trip have done this one more than once.

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It is amazing how easy it is to get up ahead of schedule when one is anticipating having to do so. Having set the alarm for 0645, since the bags needed to be out of the room by 0700 was a snap considering I was awake at 0300, 0400, 0530, 0615, 0630, etc. Only a few things needed to get stuff into the luggage and threw on the clothes that I’d laid out last night, to be ready to go.

I chose to be a little anti-social and sit at a two-top since my blood sugar was low and I knew that conversation wouldn’t be my strong point. Some juice, a small bowl of fruit, a bit of bread and a couple of fried eggs made my brain come to life finally. The sea, even where we were docked which was somewhat protected, was really choppy with the waves washing over the shore and into the street. I think we were all very glad that we were leaving the sea behind this day instead of starting out (as will be the case of the next group that is due to arrive at the MV Athena about the time we reach Zagreb early this afternoon.)

Disembarking the ship was kind of tricky with the waves as they were but the sailors are good and watchful, waiting until just the right moment to tell us to cross the gangway. They were soaked so we didn’t have to be. It is nice, that despite the fact we are only 44 of us on this tour, that GCT still chose to give us two PDs and two busses even though on other tours that would normally be the ratio of travelers per PD and bus. Almost all of us can have a double seat for the ride back to Zagreb. The sun came out for a bit and our last view of the sea had a double rainbow dominating the landscape. At one point, it looked like the end of one of the rainbows was directly in a mussel farm which caused me to remark “There, that clinches it. Mussels are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

Now, as we leave the Dalmatian coast, the fog has settled in and it’s really quite dreary. Since we have been traveling for so long and have seen so much, I don’t think that any of will be heard complaining. Danijela spoke for a bit about the fact that there are forces that want to start drilling for oil off the coast which would be a real shame. Windmills are new here in Croatia and only supply about 3-4% of the energy needed at this point. We saw very little solar along the coast that sees so many sunny days each year, which really surprised us. We can hope that the environmental activists have a chance to

increase the wind and solar and keep the oil companies at bay so that the unspoiled natural resources of this part of the world can continue to flourish.

We will get into Zagreb around 1300 so this should give us time to explore a bit today. Considering how late we arrived at the beginning of this tour, that will be nice. We don’t really have time tomorrow morning, even though we have a later transfer to the airport than many of our fellow travelers. More on that tomorrow. For now, I think a nap might be in order.

Never really napped. In the four and a half hour trip, we made two stops. The second was only about a half hour from the city so I’m still not sure why it was thought we should have 40 minutes for lunch. Ed and I shared kremšnita which is a fabulous Croatian cream cake. It’s about 3” of vanilla custard topped with heavy whipped cream and then a couple of sheets of puff pastry. The piece was hugs and half of it filled us both up. So rich and tasty! Other people had lunch including a few that skipped the Croatian truck stop restaurant in favour of Burger King (the only one in Croatia). The only thing good,

in my mind, was that someone brought one of the cardboard crowns back for Danijela and she became the Burger Queen. We all had a good laugh about that.

We got to the hotel Westin in Zagreb about 1230 and our rooms were ready. Since we hadn’t seen anything of the city when we first came in two weeks ago, we wanted to get out right away. I put on some long johns but was stupid and didn’t grab my coat or sweatshirt. I did grab my hat, though. It started raining a little as soon as we were a few blocks from the hotel. Luckily, our first destination turned out to be just a few blocks from the hotel—the Ethnographic Museum had advertised an exhibit that I thought looked really interesting. It was an examination of mythical

creatures from folklore like witches, faeries, demons, etc. It was nicely put together with some wonderful photography and fanciful creatures made mostly out of sticks. It was a different kind of exhibit and I really enjoyed it. We wandered quickly through part of their permanent collection which was stuff that explorers from Croatia had brought back from all over the world like Zaire, Japan, Australia, Indochina, etc. We skipped the second floor that had their exhibit of folk costumes.

After that, we went wandering to try to find the main square

Zadar to Zagreb

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that was closest to the hotel. It probably wasn’t the best tourist experience ever but I was chilled, a little wet, and kind of tired. We did make it all the way to see the Cathedral but didn’t go in. I felt that my blood sugar was low and being as cold as I was all I could thing of was hot cocoa. We stopped at a place called Johann Franck’s (established 1826, it said on the sign) and sat outside but in a covered, sheltered space with huge space heaters. The hot cocoa was like hot, liquid pudding. It was amazing. I was feeling a little better but after we had walked about 3 or 4 blocks, it was getting to me and I asked if we could catch a taxi, since I saw a taxi stand nearby. Even with a tip, it was less than $5 to get back to the hotel.

As much as I hated to stop moving, I had to. Tired and cold and sore are not a good combination. An hour and a half in a bathtub of hot water helped a lot to bring me back to some semblance of human. I dressed and we joined everyone from the tour for a farewell drink and a recap of the trip. Dinner was not included in the tour so that was it to say good-bye.

We asked for a recommendation for a place for dinner, it was almost 1900, and Danijela suggested some places. I was feeling a bit better but definitely needed a real meal. We walked back to the area that we had been through earlier. It was even cooler than it had been but at least the rain had stopped AND I had brought my sweatshirt and gloves. We couldn’t find the place that Danijela had recommended so we wandered until we stumbled upon a place called Boban. We discovered five folks from the tour already there but didn’t join them. We each ordered one of their many specials. I had a thick pasta called bigoli (wholewheat flour, butter and duck eggs) that was homemade in the restaurant and mixed with seafood in a lovely white wine sauce. Ed opted for their homemade gnocchi that was mixed with marchapone, bacon, and pumpkin. They were both very, very good. The service was okay, not great. But the food made the place worthwhile. I shared a Somersby cider with Ed (something that has truly become my favourite hard cider.)

We had a nice walk all the way back to the hotel. I’m hurting but happy…and tired.

A side note about the hotel. We noticed when we checked in and when we came back from our first excursion that there seemed to be a lot of security in the lobby of the hotel. We wondered about it and finally found out. At first, it seemed that the Croatian President was here to visit Russian dignitaries early on and then Iranian dignitaries later on. This was different.

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I guess everyone needs a bit of a lazy day when traveling. If we had just had gone with letting GCT book our air travel, we would have had an even more boring day and probably would still be traveling right now. Instead, we were allowed a nice leisurely morning to get up, have breakfast in the hotel, repack, and move on.

The hotel’s breakfast buffet was as nice as it had been two weeks ago. Still some amazingly good scrambled eggs in the chafing dish, a marvelous casserole that still tasted like the blintzes had exploded, tasty bacon, and salads, cheeses, cold meats, pastries and breads. I really am going to miss Croatian breads. I had a little of all of the above and then retired to our room to finish packing and just unlax a bit. Ed went out for a walk around the neighborhood.

Our shuttle to the airport was scheduled to leave around 1000 with the bags needing to be outside our door by 0930. No problem with any of that. There were two smallish vans for 10 of us so it was a comfortable drive—about 20 minutes or so. Sinesa saw us off from the hotel (Danijela had already left with the folks that were going on the post-trip excursion to Slovenia) and a GCT representative met us at the door and helped us navigate the airport (not hard to do since the Zagreb airport is pretty small. Easy-peasy to get through everything pretty quickly.

Our flight ended up to be about 45 minutes late leaving but we got in at the time we were scheduled. Must have been one heck of a tail-wind. Turkish airlines is great. I am pretty sure there is more legroom in general and even for a 2 ½ hour flight, we were fed decent food (a salad with some chicken in it, a small cheese sandwich, crackers, chocolate mousse, water, and whatever we wanted to drink—Ed got a beer and wine for no extra charge). They were reasonably good about my walker though they insisted it had to go into one of those huge plastic bags like they use for strollers. But I could have it until we got on the plane and was able to get it when we got off. Getting from the plane to the terminal was via a bus just like in Zagreb and then we joined the throngs going through passport control. It really wasn’t too long and then we had our little adventure when it was time to get the baggage. My bag made it, his didn’t. But even the Turkish Airlines bureaucracy is better than average. Ed went to the lost and found area, they told him to have a comfortable seat—tea and/or coffee was available—and they would call down to see where it was. It only took about 20 minutes to get his bag—they brought it right to us, in perfect condition.

I had a pang of being stupid when I realized that the app I had on my tablet for Wyndham Rewards needed an internet connection to connect and the Turkish airport internet system is even stupider than I am. When I tried to log-in, it wanted

a phone number. I don’t know the number for my tablet and wasn’t going to use my phone because I didn’t want to set up being able to use it over here. So, I didn’t have the hotel information or address or anything like that. Luckily, I did remember the name of it correctly.

We found a shuttle that offered us a roundtrip, door-to-door, for who-knows-if-it-was a reasonable price or not but it was convenient. The traffic wasn’t great considering it was about 1730 local time (an hour ahead of Croatia) but the shuttle driver was a pro (I think he must have his combat driving license) and he got us to the hotel, the Wyndham Istanbul Old City, in one (well, one each) piece. Check-in was smoother than making the reservation in the first place (I was using Wyndham Rewards points and one day was free, all on points, and the other discounted, using some points and some money, so they had to do it as two separate reservations—it took me over an hour to make the reservations originally. However, since it was mostly points, the room is only costing us 70 euros for both nights and the location is very good.) We had our own guide as well as a bellman to show us to our room.

The guide was very, very helpful when Ed took our map to her to get our bearings and she convinced us that we needed to try a restaurant that offered incredible views of both the Golden Horn and the Bosporus. She called them and they sent a van to pick us up (and later it got us back to the hotel as well). The views were incredible even after dark though it must be even more awesome in the daytime. They were really slow (it is a Thursday night and tourists are fewer and farther between than they used to be) and the service was very good. They had this special Ottoman Platter for two people though I think it could feed four or more and it came with a variety of grilled meat, salads, breads, tea, and dessert. It was more than we needed and cost more than we’d normally pay but it was an experience. They kept bring us food and more food and still more food. We enjoyed as much as we could. Ed had a glass of wine that he deemed excellent and I got to have a glass of pomegranate juice (something I’ve missed since our trip here last year.) Strangely enough, the restaurant’s name is Surplus though I think it should be called “Surfeit”.

It was raining and chilly by the time we rolled out of there so, after the van drove us back to the hotel, I didn’t feel much like walking. Memories of being cold and wet from yesterday were too vivid in my mind. I should have walked off some of that dinner but it wasn’t the time to be smart. I think I was too full from that meal, as well as tired from traveling, to be smart.

Tomorrow, we have a full day here in Istanbul, so we will be off to find the museums we didn’t have time for last year. More on that tomorrow.

Zagreb to Istanbul

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So, after dinner last night, getting up and moving wasn’t all that easy. Ed’s alarm went off at 0800something and when I asked him why he mumbled something like “I might have had a reason last night.” We finally got moving, him with coffee and chocolate and me with water and chocolate around 0915. Food really didn’t interest either of us and we figured we’d find something somewhere.

We caught a taxi to the Military Museum which was about 6km from our hotel across the Golden Horn. Not too bad a drive at that hour. The reviews didn’t do it justice for someone interested in pre-16th century history. Most of the reviews I read talked about their firearms collection but we spent almost 3 hours before we got to that part of the museum. The early history covered much of the military history of the Huns and Mongols with some amazing and huge paintings and dioramas. Then, as we moved on, the European offensive and defensive armour and weapons rooms were even more amazing. The collection of helmets on display rivaled what we had seen at the Royal Armoury Museum in Leeds, UK. The Persian and Turkish stuff was just as amazing. I’ve got tons of photos, which is good since there was no museum book to buy. There were two pieces of 16th century Hungarian maille (a shirt and a bishop’s mantle) that were made up of ¼” RIVETED links!!! I didn’t try to get pics of those since I had nothing to show the scale of the smallness of the links. But they were incredible. The room of 14-16th century European helmets made us both drool. ;-)

We started in on the firearms collection but by that time I was tired and I’m not huge on guns, even pretty ones, so we doubled back and went through the hall of the siege of Istanbul (1453).

The diorama there and some of the maps and stuff were very informative and helped us to understand more of what we thought we knew.

On our way out, Ed went through some of the exhibit on Turkey during the Korean War (yeah, we skipped a LOT of years there) and I went and perused the stuff in the gift shop. Nothing there reflected our interests, though, so we didn’t buy anything. If you find your way to Istanbul some day and like military history, this place is a must. And it only cost us $2.40/each for tickets and $2.40 more for the photo pass.

We got out of there just as some kind of high mucky-muck looked like he was going to give a press conference or a speech or something in the lobby (security had increased a fair bit since we had gotten there a few hours earlier.) We found our way out to the street and made it to the first big intersection. It took less than 2 minutes for me to signal for a taxi and we asked to be taken to the Hagia Sofia since I figured he would have no clue where the Mosaic Museum was and I knew it was near the big mosques. It was an interesting ride and very fast since it was midday now and the streets were a bit clearer. The weather was a bit gray but not too chilly so it was good when the taxi dropped us off on a back street kind of behind the area where the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque are located.

As we got out of the taxi, a gentleman who spoke very good English asked where we were from and what we were looking for. He, of course, turned out to be a carpet salesman (come to Turkey some time and you’ll understand this concept.) He said his shop was near the Mosaic Museum and that he’d walk us there. More for his shop, of course, and eventually we found out he really was telling the truth. The Turks are really born salesmen (“Hey, Beautiful Princess,

Istanbul

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come let me sell you something you don’t need.”) But we were in an amiable mood at this point, so we went along for the walk and the sales pitch. He did point out that the museum was actually closed for another half hour at that time so a stop in his shop couldn’t hurt. So, we went in and up to the showroom. The guy that brought us there left us in the hands of someone who had spent some time in the States whose English was even better, and we got the full show—apple tea and all. The sales pitch is something we expected and were ready for. The bargain he got down to was actually not bad but as I’ve said before, “I like to travel too much and I don’t want my next trip on my floor or wall.” Besides, we have no place for one to display it properly. And with al of our critters, it wouldn’t stay as nice looking for that long. We finally took our leave, much to the disappointment of the salesman. One of his young helpers was very cute and enjoyed flipping the smaller carpets around like they were flying so I did see a real flying carpet here today.

You might not have noticed that I haven’t said anything about food yet today. That’s because I didn’t want to stop and eat. One day to see stuff we wanted to see meant that I didn’t want to waste even a half hour sitting in a restaurant. We found a simit (kind of like a Turkish bagel covered with sesame seeds) and split that. I was going to say that was enough but Ed figured I needed more (he was probably right) and there was a small bazaar right there, just before the entrance to the museum. We wandered in and the first two shops were spice shops which also had dried fruit and lokum (Turkish Delight). I was very firm that I just wanted 100g of mixed dried fruit and was glad to get away with less than 300g. it made a nice snack and had enough carbs to keep me going for a bit.

So, finally I got into the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. The museum was built in such a way that they kept the mosaic pavement partially intact in a section of the arcaded yard of the Great Palace of Constantanople and is part of the organizational unit of Hagia Sophia Museum. The mosaics exhibited in this partially open-air museum have been dated to 450-550 AD and are magnificent in terms of both art and the variety of scenes portrayed. I was able to take a lot of photos AND I purchased the museum book as well. It’s not a huge place but the condition of the mosaics is quite good. Admission is about $3.50/each and I’d gladly have paid more.

Unfortunately by the time we finished with this museum, it was starting to rain and got heavier as we wandered through the bazaar next to it. We had thought about trying to find the archeology museum but I guess we have another reason to come back to Istanbul. Finally, Ed was cold and wet and I was just feeling pretty wet, we stopped at a café that offered us a heat lamp over our table. I’m sure we could have done better but it wasn’t terrible. I noticed that they had salep, which is this really great hot drink made from crushed orchids, milk, and sugar and usually served with cinnamon atop. We then shared a chicken shish kebab that came with a bit of salad and a lot of thin flat bread. Ed ordered French fries which were over-cooked for my taste (but the dozen or so cats wandering around the tables didn’t seem to mind when I fed them some—even though they probably would have preferred meat). We shared some caramel pudding to finish it off.

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The rain kept going from light to heavy as we just started to wander somewhat aimlessly. We finally started to lie to most of the rug sales shills and said we had purchased one already since “no” is not in their vocabulary (I swear it!). I did like one young sales shill that kept turning up along our path, whether by accident or design I am not sure. His English was decent but he told good jokes and stories and Ed really enjoyed engaging him in conversation. We even ended up outside of the shop that he worked for, under the awning, and talking for a long time until his co-worker pointed out that if we weren’t coming in we should let the young man do his work. We had been dismissed and the rain had let up a little.

We wandered a little more, still somewhat aimless, and I was getting tired and not making too much sense. We weren’t communicating very well, either. We did finally end up on the right road back towards our hotel which I knew was only about 1 ½ miles away but it was raining heavier now and I was

just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually, I surrendered to the pain in my leg and feet and back and said that a taxi was probably a good idea. We could have probably done public transit since we were on a major tram line but it was obviously rush hour. The taxi ended up costing us about $13 because of the amount of time it took to get through the traffic. But I was grateful to be warm and dry for that 20 minutes.

We did experience a lot of Istanbul in just one day. We saw two great museums and encountered some interesting characters. We saw many streets through the three taxi rides and had many a salesman try to get us to come see their carpets or restaurant shills try to feed us. Sights, sounds, smells, and all that one can experience in a city like Istanbul can leave a great impression if only for 8 or so hours of time here.

It’s now about 2030 and it doesn’t seem like the man has any gumption to go back out. Especially since it’s

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Istanbul to Chicago to MadisonThe thing about a traveling day is there isn’t enough time to do much more than pack and wait…and wait…and wait. Then, travel some more and wait even more.

Our flight was scheduled for 1340 but the van to take us to the airport was scheduled to pick us up at 1100. Even if getting up early didn’t give us a chance to do anything other than walk around the neighborhood around the hotel. Which was pretty much a shopping district—high-end—and neither of like to shop (even if the shops were open that early). So, about 0800, in the rain, we set out to find breakfast (not in the hotel since our deal didn’t include it). A survey of the two-block radius around the hotel yielded one bakery open.

So, it won. I didn’t even catch the name of the place. It only had about 6 tables and a glass-enclosed case filled with all manner of interesting looking baked goods and sandwiches. Ed chose a small pizza and I went for something that they said had cheese inside. It was encased in puff pastry like a strudel. They cut each and brought them to our table. I ordered cherry juice and Ed Turkish coffee (the kind you have to chew). Everything was really good. The pizza had peppers and olives on it so it wasn’t to my taste but the cheeses pastry was savory and really tasty.

It was still raining and there was nothing to really see or get to, as I said, close by, so we found an awning, I settled on the walker, and we people and traffic watched for a half hour or so. Despite it being Saturday morning, things were bustling. But there is only so much of that one can do. So, at that point, we decided to go back to our room. We had time, so I suggested Ed go down to the spa/gym (I hadn’t brought a suit or even gym clothes so I stayed in the room and goofed off on the tablet.)

The phone rang at 1000 and the bellman said our van was there already. *sigh* I said that we were told 1100 and my husband was in the gym. He got up about 10 minutes later, showered and changed, and we pulled everything together to go check out. I still figured we had a half hour but it turned out the driver was waiting for us. We loaded up and set off to the airport. The route was different than last year or the other day so we got to see more of the city (and the traffic.) It took us about 40 minutes to get to the airport.

And then more waiting. Lots of lines. Lots of security. Had to put everything through a scanner to get into the airport. Once we figured out where to go, which wasn’t that clear, we had to be questioned just to get in the line to check in. Then, more security and a passport check. Then, check-in which was pretty easy. Then, after a bathroom break, it was to passport control and then the next security scanning—the big one. Line to line to line, shuffling along. Finally, through all that, we stopped at Duty Free to spend the leftover Turkish lira and euros we had to get the last minute gifts I wanted to get. Finally, off to find our gate. Can you believe that they had moving sidewalks that they had blocked so people couldn’t take a luggage cart on them? This meant I couldn’t take my walker on it. *sigh again* Finally, made it to gate and…you got it? More security! We had to go through another set of passport and boarding pass checking…twice…before getting into the gate area.

Luckily, at this point, we had about a half hour more to wait—time enough to stuff our duty-free stuff into our carry-ons. Then, we had to trudge down LOTS of steps, get on a bus to go to the plane, and more steps up into the plane. Whew! Finally!! We were only about 20 minutes late taking off. Since we had no other plane to connect to, just the bus (which runs every hour or hour and a half ), no worries.

Yup, still like flying Turkish Air! I was able to get us the same seats we had on the way other (towards the tail and only 2 instead of 3 together.) Once we took off, we were given a piece of lokum (Turkish delight), then a hot wash cloth, then a drink, and then dinner with more drinks. I had the chicken which was nicely seasoned and served with rice and sautéed peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Ed had the beef meatballs that also smelled good. Along with this, we both had a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella and a salad of fava beans; a hot, fresh roll; crackers and cream cheese; and a dish of orange mousse. We also received another amenities pack each.

As we took off, I watched the movie Steve Jobs. After that, I watched Bridge of Spies, The Peanuts Movie, a documentary about the making of the Back to the Future trilogy called Back in Time, and Trust (with Robert Redford as Dan Rather). I have decided to try not to sleep so I can get back on our time as quickly as I can.

About 7 hours into the 10 ½ hour flight, we were fed again. I really wasn’t too hungry but the crackers, cream cheese, and the smoked salmon & tomato from the salad was good. There were roast veggies and rice that I totally skipped. I gave Ed my hot roll but I did eat my apricot mousse. Not too bad, really. Just not too hungry at that point.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we were about 45 minutes early arriving. But my love affair with Turkish Airlines faded a bit when my walker didn’t appear on the gangway with the strollers like it should have. I agreed to a wheelchair to get me to baggage claim which did get us through immigration/customs a bit quicker. But my walker didn’t appear. The guy who was pushing me around tried the over-sized area twice. After close to an hour of wandering around, we went to file a claim and were told it had been found. Another 10 minutes and they brought it to us. We missed two busses with all of that. So, another hour of waiting and we finally made the bus home.

It’s -6F in Chicago and 5F in Madison but at least it’s dry so far (snow due tomorrow). So, by the time we get home, we’ll have been traveling for only 18 hours (since we left the hotel in Istanbul). Really, it’s not that bad. And we’ll have the critters, our own bed, and my bathtub. Tomorrow will be photo editing and laundry. Soon. So soon.

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Pictures

Click on the links below to access our photos.

• Zagreb to Ploče, Croatia• Ploce, Croatia to Mostar, Bosnia/Herzegovina• Korčula, Croatia• Kotor, Montenegro• Dubrovnik, Croatia• Hvar, Croatia• Split, Croatia• Šibenik, Croatia• Krka Falls & Etnoland, Croatia• Zadar, Croatia• Zagreb, Croatia• Istanbul, Turkey

Videos

Click on the links below to access our videos:

• Klapa Performance 1, Korčula, Croatia• Klapa Performance 2, Korčula, Croatia• Klapa Performance 3, Korčula, Croatia• Dalmatian Folklore Performance 1, Split, Croatia• Dalmatian Folklore Performance 2, Split, Croatia• Dalmatian Folklore Performance 3, Split, Croatia• Sun Salutation and The Sea Organ, Zadar, Croaia