Welcome aboard The Splendour of the Seas...

We made our way to the wharf in Venice – no mean feat, I can tell you. Again, it was not very far away, but with many bridges and an overpass to cross with our suitcases, and then a “People Mover,” which is a small electric train with no driver...creepy.

After the usual sign in procedures and passport checks, we embarked on The Splendour of the Seas for our 8 day cruise of the Adriatic, following the coastline down to Greece.

This is our Ship. Our Stateroom is the top one above
the tree, under the white eaves.

We asked for our Stateroom to be on the port side, so that we could be on the shore side as we went down the coast. We had visions of sitting on our balcony, having happy hour with wine and nibblies, while watching the towns and scenery on the coast passing by.  When we got on board, we got lucky.
It was a great cabin, on the correct side - and it had a lovely balcony! Perfect.

Bob is saying "Where's my Beer?"

For those of you that have been on a cruise, you know how great it is. You have the whole ship to play in, and your holiday can be as restful or as busy as you make it.  The food is sensational – and way too much of it – and there are spa’s, pools, hot tubs, theatres, restaurants, shops, gyms, live shows, exhibitions, and on and on and on.

The boat is just setting sail, and we were watching the 

sites of Venice by night, passing by.  It was so beautiful!

We had dinner (and all our meals, actually) in the main buffet restaurant. They had an enormous amount of choice - I can't imagine anyone, of any country, not being able to find something they like. Vegetarian, meat, fish, salads - you name it, they had it.  As this was an American cruise line, we were amazed that they had hamburgers and chips at every meal - including breakfast. And people were eating it! Even though there were much tastier and healthier options available. We learned that those that had hamburgers, and then a donut, were the American tourists!

This was just the Sweets section.

There were three hot sections, two cold food and salad sections,
one entree section, and the sweets of course. Then there was
the: "We'll cook you what you want" section,
and still some people ate hamburgers and chips. Go figure!

I was a bit worried that we had left our cruise too late in the year for a smooth crossing, but, even though this was the last cruise for the year for this ship (they were going to the Bahamas after this),
we had absolutely perfect weather. Except for the gentle rocking, you wouldn't know you were on a boat.  We had one night of thunder and lightning with rain - which was spectacular to watch over the water - but the wind was mild, so there was no unpleasant rocking or rolling. When our cruise finished, I was able to lighten our suitcase by throwing away a brand new unopened packet of "Kwells" !

Our first stop on our cruise was Dubrovnik, Croatia - and what a surprise that was! You have all seen the ancient brick walls of the Dubrovnik Fort, which circles the city. That was what I expected to see coming into view.  But no, Dubrovnik has the most picturesque little harbour, complete with a lovely suspension bridge that links the two sides of the hilly islands.

It turns out that the famous 13th century medieval walls encircle "The Old City" and are on the other side of the island, a 20 minute bus ride away.  It was certainly impressive!

This is only a tiny part of the wall - taken from the moat.

Imagine trying to scale those walls if you were trying to
attack the town. They were huge!

The walls surrounded the whole "old town" with only two possible entry points. One over the moat, and the other on the hill, about 3kms away inland. It certainly looked impenetrable.

Inside the walls, there were many shops and private homes. Yes, ordinary people still lived there, but you should have seen how steep it was.  Literally hundreds of steps straight up into their homes.
They are accessed through tiny lane ways between the shops, and then straight up. Amazing!

I don't know if you can see, but the lane slopes up and then
the steps are vertical up the tree to the very top. 
We watched two local ladies go up. Bob said: "I'm glad I
don't have to come down there everyday to get the paper!"

The town was lovely - lots of nice buildings
and churches, museums and exhibits, 

and of course, shops and restaurants.

One of the most interesting places for us was the Franciscan Monastery, built in the 14th Century. Not only was the building impressive, but the paintings were remarkable, and the books (illuminated manuscripts) with the beautiful penmanship of the scribes, including ornate first letter exquisitely crafted were very special.

Courtyard in the Franciscan Monastery, 
very peaceful.  It was surrounded by covered 
walkways all the way around; like the one 
you can see below the cut out circle.
Those are the tops of fallen ancient 
columns in the foreground.

There was a Pharmacy Museum in the Monastery which fascinated us. Apparently, it is the oldest Pharmacy in Europe, it began in 1317. I can't even imagine the kind of medical care they were receiving then, but the pharmacy had original books of prescriptions for all kinds of concoctions, poultices tinctures, and medications. Very interesting. 

Some of the jars and containers used for storing creams and
potions and blue and cream painted drawers and cupboards.

The old town is fairly small, so it only took a few pleasant hours to stroll around and see all the interesting sights, before going back to the boat.

Is this an Oxymoron? A bookshop with that 

name, and not a maths book in it.  

How do I know?

It was too hard to resist - I had to ask.

Bob made a furry friend while waiting for the bus
to take us back. He had been patting it, when they
mutually decided that enough was enough,
and both walked away.

The boat left port at 6pm, and it was just getting dark. We sat on our balcony and watched the lights of Dubrovnik as we sailed away. It was just beautiful. A very pretty place.

The next morning we arrived in Corfu, Greece - the first of the Greek Islands on our cruise.  We went to have a look at the Old Fort which was constructed by the Venetians in the 15th Century, to protect the town from enemies and pirates.

The bridge over the moat to the Old Fort was originally
made of wood and a lot lower down,
but the British Military built this high brick one.  

Taken from the bridge - the boats are privately owned
leisure craft and are on both sides of the bridge.
Bob was happy to "inspect" them all.

Inside those smooth steep walls, were alleyways and exhibits, including a very large square, at the end of which was the Church of Saint George. This church was built in 1840 by the British Military, and while spacious is quite modest inside.

Church of St.George in the old Fort.

After admiring the views, and strolling the markets in the square outside the fort, we finally headed back to the boat. The only disappointment with the boat was that it had no wifi internet capabilities - so we were incommunicado whilst on board. They did, however, tell us which Greek ports had free wifi - and Corfu was one of them. We wanted to have time to contact our families and friends before boarding...and so did everyone else!  I find it amazing that in these days of advanced technology, they don't make free wifi available on board.

Back on board we had a nice dinner, and went to a performance of "Dancin' thru the Movies," a live show of dancers and singers that were really good.  Most enjoyable.

The next port of call was Athens - and we knew there would be so much to see that we needed to take a tour. You can't go to Athens and not visit the Parthenon, or the Olympic Stadium. The tour sheet was good in listing the physical capabilities needed for each tour, so Bob and I decided to split up. He went on the one where "Guests must be able to walk 2.5 miles over steep inclines, and approximately 300 steps and uneven surfaces." and I went on the "Crocks" tour where "Guests must  be able to walk at least 600 yards and 60 steps over fairly even surfaces." 

We ended up going to the same places, but whereas Bob actually climbed up to the Parthenon, I viewed it from the viewing promenade below. We didn't realize that the Parthenon was so far away - a 45 minute bus ride to get to it. I always thought that it towered above the city and so it does, but the "original" city. Athens has expanded over the years, of course, just like every major city, and now the original monuments are quite a way out.

What an amazing structure! The Parthenon was completed in 432 BC, it's hard to fathom the advanced civilisation that had such skill to build this classical structure at that time.  When you think that it is so huge, built of solid, heavy marble, with the tools they had at the time - it is an awesome feat.

They have done a great job of preserving the site, and the Parthenon itself was undergoing restoration when we were there. They have been working on it for about 5 years, and they say it will be another 10 years before it is fully restored, and that's with today's capabilities! 

Speaking of inspiring, we also visited the original arena where the first modern Olympic games were held, and where the Olympic Flame is lit in a wonderful ancient ceremony. We were not allowed to go in it, because they were setting up for a big event - a charity marathon - to take place that weekend, but it was amazing to see how big it was, and imagine it filled with people!

The Olympic Arena where the first modern games were held.

Our tour took in Hadrian's Arch, an 18 metre high arch, made of the same marble as the Parthenon. They say it was built in 132 AD. And still standing. Amazing!

Honestly, how can that arch still be standing? 

Especially with all that traffic thundering past.

Incredible.

We saw all the major sights in Athens in a whirlwind, one day tour - but we didn't stop at the place I would have liked to spend a few moments. It was the Phaleron War Cemetery - where our brave soldiers lost their lives on Greek soil in WWII. We drove past it, and, while sad, it was good to see it was maintained in pristine condition.

Back to the boat, and a "debrief" dinner and drinks, and sharing of our day. Bob enjoyed the Parthenon, and said it was a most remarkable structure. He was overwhelmed by the age and construction size - even the ruins nearby were solid and huge. He said that their description of "approximately 300 steps" was very approximate. He reckoned there were nearly double that, of all different sizes and shapes. He was happily exhausted, and said it was certainly a most memorable experience.

After a good nights sleep, we had breakfast while watching the boat dock on the island of Santorini.
What an amazing place. It was a white city, sitting right on top of the steep sided hills.  From a distance it looked like snow on the hills, until you came close enough to see the white-washed houses of the village. So pretty.

This is the site of the most powerful volcanic eruption in history, believed to have been the cause of the disappearance of Atlantis. It has Bronze Age excavations of a town which was buried in 1450BC.
Bob was very interested to see this, and went on a tour. He boarded the tender boat to the wharf, but didn't get to go up the steep cliff in the furnicular cable car. They were all ferried up a very windy narrow track up the hills.

I decided to have a day off to catch up on washing and this blog, so after my "chores" I enjoyed sitting on the balcony and working on this blog for you. But I couldn't help looking at the village - it just looked like it was perched precariously on the edge of the cliff.  And, while watching I actually saw people on the back of a donkey, going up an unbelievably steep track to the top. A donkey! I couldn't believe my eyes, and had to get out the binoculars. Yep, a "convoy" of  8 donkeys were making their way upward. I was laughing it up, but during the day, the convoy went up several times - and I never saw any of them coming down! A mystery.

When Bob came back, he told me all about his adventure over "Happy Hour". The bus took them to a village that was buried in ash after the great volcano eruption. Apparently the people knew the eruption was coming and left their homes and belongings they couldn't carry, and left the island. The ash covered everything and solidified, so when historians came to excavate the area, they found the complete village, with items in the homes that had burned away, but were covered in solidified ash, so were able to restore them. Bob said the village was covered in about 30 feet of ash - that's how far they had to dig down to get to the houses. Fascinating.  He took photos on his camera, but unfortunately, I can't upload them here at this time.

Bob is briefing me on his adventure, during "Happy Hour",

and we were still enjoying ourselves when the ship left 

the dock, and we were treated to the pretty lights of Santorini 

as we sailed away.  What an amazing place.

The last of our Greek Island visits was to Katakolon. This is the home of Olympia, once the site of the ancient Olympic Games. The first Olympiad was held in 776BC. After that the ancient Greeks gathered here every four years - for more than a thousand years - to watch or compete in the athletic competitions.

We strolled along the road filled with shops, and as the Greek economy is in a downturn at the moment, there were bargains to be had if you were in shopping mode.  There were galleries, restaurants, and lots of souvenir shops....and I was actually inspired to buy some stuff!  Yaaayy!!!

This was the last port of call for our ship, and we began the long sail back to Venice. There were so many things to do on board - Showtime Live Shows, Bingo, Scrabble Comps, Karaoke Comps, Trivia nights, Game Shows etc. Before we knew it, we had to pack our things and get ready to leave.

We were trying to get motivated to pack up on our last night on board, when we had a knock on our door. Standing there was a crew member with a lovely big Chocolate Birthday Cake in hand.  What a surprise! It was Bob's birthday the next day, when we had to disembark, and our daughters had organised a cake for their Father.  How wonderful! And clever! I must find out how they organised that.  Bob was quite overcome at the unexpected surprise - and the fact that we had only that night to eat it!

Bob is cutting his surprise Birthday Cake,
a delicious chocolate torte.

Everyone on the cruise was friendly and we had a great time. However, all good things must come to an end, and they wanted us to "abandon ship" at 7 am in the morning! Normally, this is so they can get everyone off, clean and reload the ship, and get the next lot of passengers on board. It's a very big day for the crew! But this trip was the last run for the Splendour of the Seas in Europe, as the weather is going into winter, so they were now sailing to the Bahamas to cruise around the islands.

Happy Birthday!  Bob eating his Birthday Cake 

from his daughters, at 6 am on his birthday!

Thank you, girls.

We arrived back in Venice at 5.30 am, and Bob and I decided to get up and enjoy the view, picking out familiar landmarks, and enjoying sunrise over Venice. It was very beautiful - very special - even through sleepy eyes!

So that was our cruise. We had a wonderful, memorable time. 

But it was now time to get off the ship, and continue our journey.

We are continuing our journey south to Florence. See you there.

Till next time...