Join us for a nine-day cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Lines' ship NCL Pearl, starting at Trieste and ending at Athens, sailing down the Adriatic Sea. After five years of not cruising because of Covid and cancer we at last manage to catch up with entertainer friends Tomas and Maris!
Each day is shown on its own separate entry, reached by clicking/tapping the seven photos below. A link on each page will bring you back here.
Saturday 24 August 2024. The ship is moored against the dockside in Gruz as we leap (slither slowly) out of bed. This is the port for Dubrovnik and almost every time we have been there so far, we have wandered down along the port to the far end of the basin rather than go into Dubrovnik itself.
There's a lot to be said for it. You get a nice peaceful walk down a long street lined with cafes, bars and grocery outlets on one side and ships, boats, yachts both large and small and a sailing ship on the other. In Dubrovnik itself you get a chaotic square-cum-bus station where buses, coaches and pedestrians all compete for the same bit of road and crowds of Game of Thrones fans all craning their necks to spot a recogniseable bit of King's Landing from the show.
Now I'm as enthusiastic about the show as the next person - actually considerably more so, as Miss Franny was the next person and she hated it... What I'm not enthusiastic about are massive crowds and people who seem to treat anyone walking with a stick as an opportunity to see how close they can get, dodging from one side to the other across your path after approaching silently from behind. So we walked down the length of the port again and very nice too. Buying drinks on the way back I learned my first word in Croatian - "vala" means "thank you" The conversation went like this:
"How do you say thank you in Croatian?" "Vala!" said with a smile of appreciation that I should take the trouble to learn. "Vala?" I said, trying it out. She nodded. "Oh thank you! Er... I mean vala!" I stuttered. Old habits die hard and all that...
We had a few other cruise ships travelling along pretty much the same route during the week. Sometimes there were four of us, sometimes three, occasionally five. A regular was Cunard's Queen Victoria. Actually owned by Carnival Corporation, she is operated by Cunard and was built 2006-2007 with delivery to Cunard in December 2007, when on the same day it was named by Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall. The champagne bottle did not break on hitting the side of the ship, a bad omen traditionally, but a second bottle duly smashed immediately. None-the-less much was made of the incident later that month when over 130 people contracted the winter vomiting disease norovirus aboard her. Moral of the tale is to never try to lick old champagne off the side of a ship...
Then the Franjo Tuđman bridge takes the road to and from Split over the River Dubrovnik. The brave - or foolhardy - can bungee jump from it... I was going to have a go - but the Norwegian Pearl was already sailing away. I settled for a jump down into the shower tray instead... It was perhaps just a little safer, there being a handle on the wall to hold onto. But - and readers might like to draw an admiring inward breath at this point - I did it without the aid of any harness or elastic band!
The Rose Garden Restaurant was a buffet style dining area and our usual go-to place to eat. The food was mostly ok, but Norwegian Cruise Lines, depite the name, are an American-based company and the food reflected North and South American tastes primarily. We did expect this and the majority of passengers were indeed from the countries of those continents. Some items were very sweet to our taste. Surprisingly, steaks which Americans are famous for were sometimes so fatty that we just left most of them on the plate. I've never experienced that in America.
Our main reason for choosing this cruise was the chance to see these two wonderful people again. Tomas and Maris, singing as "2 Intense". It was a joy for us to see them again and we had a meal together one night with a chance to sit and talk and catch up on all the things happening at home and with families etc. "He's itching to get up here!" grinned Tomas one night. Yes I was but I'm still not in any fit enough state to try it yet! Hopefully someday.
Thursday 22 August 2024. Today we are in Zadar. We've been here before but I totally fail to recognise the port. We must have been moored either somewhere else or perhaps somewhere so hideous that I've blocked it from memory... I do know that, like today, shuttle buses had to be taken to get into the city and that we had done it and enjoyed the city. Today we decided not to bother and spent the day again on the ship.
The view off the side of the ship was particularly pleasing with a harbour with twin piers directly opposite and berths and more piers to the rear of the ship from where a steady stream of ferries all bearing the company name Jadrolinija passed us by on their way either into or out of the port.
All day cars and vans were forming lines, waiting to board the next ferry and none of them seemed to have to wait long as another ferry sailed in well before the outgoing vessel had disapeared.
I once again got out the sketchpad and today used pastel pencils to produce a coloured sketch of the harbour opposite. The red roofs added to the mix of colours. I left any large boats and ships out but added a few very basic shapes to represent the small yachts and pleasure boats lined up against the harbour wall.
Miss Franny told me afterwards that I had several onlookers as they passed our table on Deck 12. I was mostly oblivious, looking out over the side as I was, but one or two stopped to talk and made nice comments.
A closer look at Miss Franny's bracelet which was made for her by our granddaughter, Grace especially for the cruise. It wouldn't be Grace if there weren't a few Disney motifs included!
Wednesday 21 August 2024. Today the NCL Pearl has docked in Rijeka, the first of three Croatian ports that we will visit on this cruise and the only one that we have not visited before on previous cruises.
We have breakfast in the Rose Garden buffet - "Washee washee, hungry hungry, yummy yummy!" as a squirt of sanitiser hits your hand from what appears to be a highly pressurised squirt gun - and return to the cabin to get our going ashore essentials. Passports and money mainly. You will seldom be asked to show passports, but if you are for some reason arrested or injured during the day or simply miss getting back onboard before the ship sails then you will need both it and money! Whilst ships may be able to make some small allowances, they cannot wait where a falling tide might leave them unable to leave the dock and so you will be able to wave goodbye to the ship, your fellow passengers who will be lining the rail shaking their heads at you and all your belongings other than what you have on you...
Pushing all this to the backs of our minds we get off the ship and walk down the pier we are moored at and into Rijeka. A couple of weeks ago I took a step short coming downstairs at home and scraped the back of my leg on the step, leaving a carpet burn that blistered. I'd been putting antiseptic cream on but Miss Franny had only packed the small tube we were halfway through so needed to buy some more. I know it sounds trivial but at age 70 and with diabetes, these things do not heal quickly and can be very painful.
The Botel (boat-hotel) Marina has been refurbished inside to function as a hotel and has 35 guest bedrooms and is rated 4-star on TripAdvisor.
We made our way into the shopping streets in search of a pharmacy. These are fairly easy to spot just about anywhere as they usually have a bright green cross on a sign at the front of the shop. There will usually be someone able to speak English too, though I do like to be able to speak a few words if only to say please, thank you, coffee, white wine, red wine, beer and to be able to count up to at least five. Most of which I can do easily in western Europe but in Croatia on this trip I learned my first Croatian word: "vala" means "thank you". The locals will appreciate the effort.
There were quite a few street works going on in the centre, we had several roads to cross and whilst the familiar lines denoting a pedestrian crossing can be found easily, the reaction of drivers will not be exactly as you might expect. Keep eyes open for approaching cars and don't assume they will automatically stop for you even if you are already three-quarters of the way across!
We came through a small street market with some yummy-looking fruits and then to this small park and plaza where we found a bit of shade to sit under for a while. Temps were pushing 40C and drinking plenty was on our minds. A local two-year-old girl was riding a tiny bicycle / scooter with no stabilisers up and down like she was born in the saddle. Her Mum was nearby and gave a warning shout if the little girl looked like straying too far away.
Then, just in time before we totally melted away, we were back at the portside and walking back along the pier to the NCL Pearl.
Looking back towards the city from ground level just before we got back on the ship. The yellow building just right of centre is the headquarters of the Jadrolinija state-owned ferry and shipping group. Croatia has over 1000 islands along its coast and therefore requires a large fleet of ferries both for goods, cars and pedestrian traffic. They also service other ports of call on the east coast of Italy.
We made our way up to the side of the Pool Deck on Deck 12 where we settled at a table and I got out the sketchpad for a pencil drawing of the port and city. The only pencil sketch of the week, as for the remaining days when I did sketches they were all in colour using pastel pencils which I carry in a roll-up canvas holder which has a loop to hold each pencil, a sharpener, an eraser (long since lost) and a small case containing extra leads for my propelling pencil.
A series of articles describing our cruise on the Ocean Village Two. The itinerary for this cruise was Heraklion, Crete > Day at Sea > Dubrovnik, Croatia > Venice, Italy > Korčula, Croatia > Corfu, Greece > Zakinthos, Greece > Heraklion, Crete.
Join us in our adventures, trials and mishaps. Each article can be accessed by clicking or tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article will bring you back to this index page.
Wednesday 26 September 2018. Our final day before flying home tomorrow. Our port for the day is Split in Croatia. We have been here a few times so have booked our only organised trip of the week for today.
We are taken by coach to Krka National Park near the border of Croatia with Serbia. A feast of waterfalls that I have seen described as both "spectacular" and "boring". Make your own minds up as you go through these very selective photos. I took well over a hundred during the day. What a good job we didn't have my good friend David the clicky monster with us - we'd have had to have dunked his camera in the water to stop it smoking...
Our guide told us the usual bits of history and culture on the way here and mentioned the park's wildlife. It has, we are told, bears, wolves and Croatia's most venomous snake, the antidote to which must be administered within forty minutes or death will overtake the ambulance...
"However they tend to keep to the higher ground and all we are likely to see will be ducks and fish..." And breathe... Once at the park we have a quick comfort break and then we are given a map and choose to walk through it on our own, having made sure we know where and when to meet up again. The boats on the river far below will be another part of the tour as we will meet up with the bus somewhere else following a short river trip on one of these boats.
The route around the park was by following a raised walkway made from wood. It was easy to follow and we could make our own pace. In fact despite us setting off first, the rest of the party overtook us at one point and were then overtaken by ourselves once again.
There were large waterfalls and small waterfalls. Some tall, some short. Some wide and others narrow. Some fast and some slow. It was most certainly not boring. There were quite a lot of people walking the wooden trail in both directions and several languages to be heard.
There were plenty of fish to be spotted in pools and streams. From tiny fry to foot-long adults they swam in shoals amongst the lily pads.
And the ducks. That's alright, we don't need to see the wolves, bears and poisonous snakes thank you...!
There's a spell of smaller falls, cascading over short drops.
And then a long drop into a large pool below.
Each rush of airborne water accompanied and set off by luxurious greenery.
The faster moving falls create their own foam even after a relatively short drop.
At this point water flowed in numerous streams under the walkway. There was a large party of young people in these blue sweatshirts. They are from Heidelberg University.
At every large fall there are people standing with their backs to it taking selfies with an outstretched phone in hand. "This is a picture of me obscuring X. And this is me hiding a lovely view of Y. This one is me with a dog's nose and ears..." If anyone is miffed at there being so few pictures of me, please let me know... Well? No? Thought not! ☺
We are getting to the end of the trail and the most spectacular view of all. At this point it is permitted to swim. Our guide had warned that it would be cold but it didn't prevent quite a few people from stripping off and getting into the water.
We are near the meeting point for this last view of the falls. A bridge takes people for a closer look but apart from me and a Japanese girl taking a photo of her friend who hadn't noticed and was busy picking her nose, everyone else on the bridge was staring at their phone!
It was lunchtime. "Fancy a sandwich?" asked Fran. It was crammed full of ham and cheese. We ate 1/3 of it each and admitted defeat at that! On a nearby table a little girl from Nottingham, either two or three years old, was singing "Let It Go! Let It Go!" over and over. The cold never bothers me anyway...
Our meeting point was a pole with a solar panel on top. "You won't miss it..." our guide had said!
From here we make our way to the boats for our river cruise back to where the bus will be waiting.
Even having left the waterfalls behind, there is still some spectacular scenery!
The boat takes us to this small village whose name I failed to hear, see, ask for.
"Follow me, straight to the coach!" said our guide loudly. However... "I've lost my husband!" comes a voice. Had he mistakenly gone off with another group, wondering where his wife might be? No... he had just decided he wanted a drink and thought he was more important than everyone else. The mind boggles! He hadn't even taken his wife!
On the way back in the coach we are coming down the mountain road towards Split and in the middle distance pass a fortified hill - Kaštel Gomilic - which is the location for the city of Meereen in TV's Game of Thrones.
