Adriatic Explorer Cruise Index, 13-20 October 2017

Join us for the Adriatic Explorer cruise on the Thomson Dream cruise ship from Corfu heading up the Adriatic Sea to Koper, Slovenia; Venice, Italy; Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia and a final stop in Kotor, Montenegro before heading back to Corfu where we leave at the end of a brilliant week.

We will not be taking any excursions this time, but we will leave the ship each day under our own steam for a look at each of the cities we stop at. Click each of the small pictures below to view the articles that describe our adventures and the features and history of the places we visit.

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Lazy Day in the Port of Dubrovnik

We've spent a few days racing (leisurely) through various places and today we're going for a slow walk and a relaxing time!

Today we are at the Port of Dubrovnik. Gruz to give it its proper name. Never ones for lazing on sunbeds and burning to a crisp, but wanting a more gently paced day than the previous two, we decide to take the sketchbook for a walk to the bottom of the harbour and see whether the view is - or can be made - simple enough to draw.

It's a respectable walk by the time we reach the far end of the harbour and here the road carries straight on and a path leads to the right along the harbour wall and off up a dirty great hill which would eventually bring you to the coast with a turn to the left and still a long walk to the walled city of Dubrovnik. But given that there's a massive map and a very clear signpost pointing along the road that says "Centrum" (not that hard to translate into "Centre" I would have thought...) it turns out to be a bit amazing how many people look at the sign and then the map and then walk past us along the harbour wall and then return saying the hill is massive and they weren't sure if they were going the right way. If you want to walk to Dubrovnik, by the time you have reached the map you are roughly one third of the way to the walled city.

Some take half an hour to come back and then look at the map again and then come back past us to retrace their climb... Now that's dedication! As for me, I'm quite happy sitting here with an empty mind (yes I know - that's its usual state...) and happily doodling away. A boat owner comes along and drags a tiny dingy out to paddle out to his motor boat that is moored in the harbour somewhere. He takes a look at what I'm doing. "Very nice!" he says and we fall into a conversation. He is going fishing for the day as he does most days, bringing home the family meal.

The Croatians are lovely, friendly people I have always found. Several stop to look at what I am doing and make comments in perfect English which makes me stop to count how many words I can speak in Croat. I don't finish all the fingers on just one hand...

We spent a couple of hours sitting there whilst I ignored most of the ships and boats but included Thomson Dream and the Karaka a wooden broad-hulled sailing ship which we have admired on previous visits. Just beyond the Dream the River Ombla enters the Adriatic via a ria, a 5 kilometre (3.1 miles) long estuary which flows under a suspension bridge whose support cables can be seen over the Thomson Dream.

We walked back towards the ship, looking in one or two shops, including a shop dedicated to Game of Thrones. Dubrovnik is the location for the show's King's Landing.

Gruz is a pleasant place to visit even without the more well-known attraction of Dubrovnik. Buses run from just outside the cruise terminal entrance into the city, stopping just outside the main entrance, Pile Gate.

Tomorrow will be our final day and port before we leave the ship for home on Friday. Join us next time in the city of Kotor, in Montenegro.

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Last Day of the Adriatic Explorer

Thursday, 18 August 2011. The Thomson Spirit arrives into Gruz, the port for the Croatian city of Dubrovnik.

As it's our last day we'll have a last look at the ship itself! Once again we have decided not to go on an arranged excursion. This means for the first time ever we have done an entire cruise without paying for excursions! Dubrovnik is an hour's walk apparently. We'll set off and see where we get to!

The last time we were in this port, there was a lot of building work going on to extend the wharf. We are docked on a bit that didn't exist the last time and we have to walk the length of the harbour.

Halfway down we come to this excellent replica galleon, the Karaka. Well, it's not a galleon apparently, but a replica of a 16th century carrack. I suspect they weren't fitted with the same sort of luxuries in the 1500s somehow, but it certainly looked wonderful and you can find out more on the Karaka website complete with some beautiful photos of her under sail.

We walked all the way to the end of the harbour and there found that the street signs for Dubrovnik were a little open to interpretation... Our map that we had picked up didn't help as the harbour was too far away from Dubrovnik to be shown.

There was a peninsular heading back on the other side of the harbour for as far as we had walked already and more and I suspected Dubrovnik was probably on the other side of it. Taking the short cut over the peninsular instead of round it looked as though it involved one hell of a climb! Besides... it was very nice on the harbourside! We sat on a bench and watched what there was to watch for half an hour and then ambled back up to the ship. (Maybe as well - I was wrong about Dubrovnik being over the hill - it was along the road in the same direction we had been walking.)

That's twice I've been to Gruz and not been into Dubrovnik... Ah well! Third time may prove to be lucky! We sail out at 5:00pm, heading out through the channels and islands and past the suspension bridge over the river.

The large ferries were nowhere to be seen here. Just an older small steamer heading across to one of the islands. We ate once more in the Compass Rose restaurant where Thomas and Fred were watching out for us, to wave us into our chairs.

Then we headed for the Horizons Bar where the harmony group New Dimension were playing their usual ballads. "Is it rock and roll night tonight?" I asked as I walked in. I'd asked this about three nights running and it had become a standing joke. However tonight they went into a conflab for a while and then - Blue Suede Shoes!!! Who would have guessed! They all laughed as I got up and salaamed them.

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