The day started at sea, scheduled to arrive at noon. One thing we've learned about our captain, after just a few days, is that he likes to be early. We were scheduled to depart Venice at 11:00 pm, but when we went on deck for the 10:45 Cast Away party, we saw the ship was already underway! Yesterday we left Ravenna about 20 minutes early so today we arrived about 30 minutes early. The seamanship today was quite amazing and I now understand why larger ships have to tender into this port. The pilot had to bring the ship to a halt, then do a complete 180 degree rotation before backing about 200 yards into our dock location. It was a beautiful thing to watch. True to form, while all passengers were scheduled to be back on board by 6:30 for a 7:00 pm departure, but since they were all back early, we actually left at 6:28!
We did not know what to expect today and were pleasantly surprised by the area, being very much a resort town. Here is a nice overview of the Old Town of Dubrovnik, showing the old harbor and fortress walls. This is very old city and competed with Venice as a major maritime capital, but was able to remain an independent city-state until finally conquered by Napoleon. Of course our guide gave a full history of the split up of Yugoslavia and subsequent 1991 - 1995 civil war.
Later we were driven to the picturesque resort town of Cavtat for an hour of sightseeing and shopping. Along the main street virtually every other business was a cafe. After walking around and seeing two churches, Mary and I did stop for some gelatto before catching the bus back to Dubrovnik where we watched a folkloric dance show.
Lastly, tonight we had a beautiful sunset. Even the ship videographer / photographer was out taking pictures of it!
Tomorrow is a day at sea so there may not be a blog post.
2 comments:
Hi Bill , love the photos , what a beautiful sunset and Dubrounik is lovely .
What a shame you missed departing , I dont think its fair they say a time to leave and leave early . I remember Glenn and Erin arriving back to Sydney from their cruise , they were told a time they would be arriving in Sydney harbour so they woke to see the sights of the harbour only to find they were already docked in Sydney , They missed coming in and was so disappointed . I wouldnt be happy if that was me . Enjoy your trip and say hi to Mary from me please . Pat
Sounds like your cruise is off to a good start! So glad you didn't have problems with your connection in Paris and that you got to have your gondola ride in the sun! Great pictures too. Love the sunset, gondola and those beautiful mosaics!
Have fun - how is the weather - is it hot?
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