Cruise Days 1-4

 Our first stop was Split, Croatia. As we emerged from the ship and the port terminal, there were red buses waiting. For 20 euros, one could have a sight-seeing tour, including the Diocletian Palace, which I was eager to see. Dan preferred to walk into the city and look around on his own. The bus part of the tour wasn’t remarkable; we had an overview of the city of Split. We got off at a stop right in the center of the promenade along the water. Our tour leader was very knowledgable; I suspect she was a history major. We walked through the palace, which was actually a very large fortification and walled city. It was built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who retired here. The outlines of the palace walls are still there, and inside you could follow the streets between the gates to the north, south, east and west. The area was overrun by the Venetians in the 15th-16th centuries (lots of interesting info at this Wikipedia entry). They destroyed most of the so-called pagan temples and mausoleums and made them into Christian churches. The very center of the palace still stands, a large round room that is open to the sky above. When we were there, a group of men singing a cappella were performing (and selling their CDs). It was quite impressive in a very resonant space. 

On an upper level of the Palace

In the center of the Palace (round room through the doorway)

This is the Dalmatian Coast, and of course I had to snap a photo of a Dalmatian dog that was posing for the tourists. 

Yes, a Dalmatian dog!

Saturday's port was Kotor, Montenegro. I don’t know much about this city or country and was looking forward to seeing it. However, there were high winds and the captain decided it was not safe to go ashore. (Kotor is a tender port, where we would have to ride in small boats from the large ship to the city.) The surrounding area was beautiful, with houses all along the shore just below looming mountains. The departure, earlier than scheduled, went through a long area, almost like a fiord. So we saw lots of stunning scenery.

A village along the waterway

This island was near the town of Kotor

On Sunday we were in Taranto, Italy, a very old city tucked up inside the boot heel of Italy. Here we were offered a bus ride from the ship to the city. It was still a long walk over the bridge and into the town. The old town is actually an island that protects an inner bay, with bridges at both ends of the island. We wandered around several streets. When we first arrived, there was a band practicing in a piazza. Near the end of our walk we saw a large church, with several flights of steps to the entrance. I wanted to go in, and was glad we did. The band was playing in the church, where a statue of a saint was enshrined at the front. (I never found out who was being feted.) It was impressive.

A narrow street of steps

Typical balcony gardens in Taranto

We walked back to the bus stop; I believe we did over two miles altogether. I was happy to get back to the ship and get some lunch. During lunch we watched several small sailboats coming into the harbor and backing into their slips.

On Monday, September 19, we were at sea for the entire day. It was Queen Elizabeth's funeral, and we were glad we had good BBC coverage on the TV in our cabin.