Thursday, June 11, 2015 – At Sea – Party Cloudy – 80s

It is – boringly – another wonderful day at sea.

After grabbing a mocha decaf latte (still looking for the right formula), Ellen and I attended an art lecture at 10:00 AM - “History of Impressionism” – in the Connexions Lounge.  It was a very interesting lecture given by one of the curators of the art displays on board.  I had a bit of trouble with his Brit accent but I got most of the information.

At 11:00 AM, I went to hear my opposite number, Peter Quantermaine, give a presentation entitled, “Selling the Sea – Classic Maritime Posters”.  Interesting topic…

After feeling like a regular passenger for a few days, it has now come down to getting to work.

My first presentation, “The Whitechapel Murders”, is scheduled for 12:15 – 1:00 PM in the Royal Court Theater.  I got there a bit early to make sure all the AV worked and to greet some passengers.  I am in my new lecture uniform (dark coat, tie, and gray slacks).  Some passengers have arrived early.  We asked one of the techs to take a picture of us and it turned out pretty good.

I was introduced by Alex MacDonald (Assistant Entertainment Director). 

The talk was revised to be an opening talk – previewing the rest of the series – and providing some technical back ground, as well. 

 

“The Whitechapel Murders"

The talk went well – the theater is huge and interacting with the audience is difficult (they are so far away you can’t hear their comments).  However, the turnout was good for a first talk – around 200 people based on the occupancy of the theater.  It was a good start.

We got some lunch in the Lido Restaurant (buffet).

As always, and especially during nice days, we are on the open deck reading and relaxing.

Tonight is Formal Night, so golf shirts give way to shirt, tie, and jacket.  We even saw some guys turned away due to the dress code in the Britannia Restaurant.  The dinner again was excellent.

Post-Dinner Sunset

We attended the Production Show - “Victoriana” – in the Royal Court Theater.  Although the costumes were great and the singers most enthusiastic, the songs and dances were clearly Anglo-centric and we did not recognize any of them (the audience did and loved them).

We finished off the evening in the Commodore Lounge.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 – Dubrovnik, Croatia

Port Background.  Dubrovnik is located on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia (Dalmatian Coast). At one time, Dubrovnik was the capitol of the wealthy city-state of Ragusa (a powerful rival to Venice).  During the Balkan War in 1992, Dubrovnik suffered heavy bombardment – today, the damaged city has been rebuilt and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is one of the best remaining medieval walled cities.

It’s another beautiful day – this time in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Queen Victoria is docked at the Gruz Cruise Port in the shadow of the very interesting Franjo Tjudman Suspension Bridge (sorry no picture).   The cruise port is only about a mile from Dubrovnik.

View from the Port

Both of us are on the same tour today - “Dubrovnik, Dominican Monastery, and Walking Tour of the Old City” plus free time.  Our plan is to meet up during the free time portion of the tour to check out Dubrovnik on our own.

I boarded my comfortable bus – not overly crowded so I was able to get a window seat and take photos.  Within minutes we were passing by the Old City Walls – recall that some of the location shots for “Game of Thrones” are shot here in Dubrovnik.

The Old City Walls

The bus continued past the city (on our way to a scenic stop) and I could get a good view of the ubiquitous red roofs of Dubrovnik.

The highway followed the coastline south of Dubrovnik.  There are a few homes nestled in the slopes.

 

As we continued, we passed by a large island, Lokrum.  The name means “bitter fruit”.  The island is popular with the locals – it has some nice eco sites, a castle, and a small salt pond (a miniature Dead Sea).

Lokrum Island

Lokrum Island is only about 600 meters from Dubrovnik (although it looks further away depending on the viewing location).  Looking back along the road we just drove on, we could get a great view of Dubrovnik – the marina and the old city.

Dubrovnik from the Highway

The bus turned around and headed back to the city.  Our first stop was the Dominican Monastery.  The Dominican Monastery was started in the early 13th Century and the current structure completed in the 14th Century. 

The Courtyard of the Monastery is very scenic.  Our two tour groups met up in the Monastery so I was able get a nice picture of Ellen.

The Courtyard and Ellen

There is a sculpture in the monastery’s church that has a connection with Chicago.

“Pieta”

Ivan Meštrović is a Croatian sculptor, who is also known for his statue of “Spearman”, a native American on horseback, in Grant Park. 

After our visit to the Monastery, our tour proceeded down the main walkway, the Placa or Stradun.  At the end of the long street is the famed clock tower with its animated figures.  Striking the bells are Maro and Baro, the zelenci (green) twins (turned green by the effect of the salt air on the bronze).  They came out but I did not hear any bells ring.  There is also an astronomical clock on the tower.

The Clock Tower at the end of the Placa

The Main Square was our next destination.  This square is home to the Custom’s House (with its Venetian look), the Rector’s Palace, and the Dubrovnik Cathedral.

Rector’s Palace

Custom House

Dubrovnik Cathedral

At this point, we were on our own, complete with a rendezvous time at the Ploce Gate.  The shops were interesting but it was a hot day and some nice gelato sounded very good.  We did some comparison shopping and wound up in an interesting “Soda Fountain” type place (the girls working there were all dressed like they worked in a Fifties soda shop).  Our gelatos were a bargain at 1.25 Euros and they were delicious and huge.

Enjoying a Gelato in Dubrovnik

As we waited for everyone to gather at the meeting spot, we got some nice shots of the harbor and Adriatic.

Soon, we were back on the ship.  We were able to get a late lunch/snack and spent the rest of the day reading (it was warm on the deck with no breeze so we found a nice. cool spot inside).

Kindling with a View

After another nice dinner, we opted not to see the show tonight (Flautist – Suzanne Godfrey) but catch some of the entertainers around the ship.  A very nice way to spend the evening.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015 – Kotor, Montenegro – Partly Cloudy – 80s

It’s a beautiful day in Kotor, Montenegro. 

We have been here before at the end of the season and it has been cloudy and cool – and I believe, one time, we were caught in a deluge.  Not today.

There are more ships here today than there are piers and the Queen Victoria – even though she is royalty – did not get an docking assignment.  We will be tendering into the city – it is a very scenic ride through the bay so it is actually a bonus.

From the ship, we are afforded great views of Kotor Bay and the surrounding mountains (the Orjen and Lovćen ranges) and towns.  The bay is 28 km long and was once thought to be a fjord – in fact, it is a drowned river valley or ria.  We can even see the ships that are docked.

Views from the Ship

The tenders started running pretty early and, since we are not on tour today, we went down to the Queen’s room to pick up our ticket.  By the time we got down there, most of the excursions had departed and our wait for a tender was short.

Tenders Running

It is a very scenic tender ride into the city but from my seat, I am unable to get any pictures – maybe, I’ll have better luck on the way back.

Tender Pier – Kotor

I believe this is the first time that we have been here and not on tour, so instead of going right into the old city, we instead headed left off the pier to check out some of the city surrounding the walls.  We found some shops and restaurants along with a hotel.

We also came across a very nice fountain in what was a park area.

Near the fountain in a grassy area, we discovered a small monument.  This monument was dedicated to Jan Karski. 

Jan Karski, who died in 2000, was a Polish World War II resistance movement fighter.  In 1942 and 1943, he reported to the Polish government in exile and the Western Allies on the situation in German-occupied Poland.  He shared information on the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto as well as the Nazi extermination camps. 

As we walked, we got great views of the old city walls as well as the harbor.

We have been here before on the Azamara Journey.  The Journey was docked here today.

Azamara Journey

Fred Olsen Cruise Ship

Entrance to the Old City

Just before we got to the gate to enter the Old City, we spotted a health spa – we spoke to the owner, who told us she was all booked up for today (lots of ships) but she did quote some very low prices, so we will look her up next time we are in Kotor.

Kotor is a remarkably preserved walled city as evidenced by the photos below.  The steepness of the peaks behind the city are incredible as well.

 

Kotor and Environs

The old city is also quite spectacular with its narrow streets (no cars), several restaurants, and souvenir shops.  We explored the city for a while.

One of the sights we have seen several times before was St. Tryphon Cathedral.

This Roman Catholic cathedral was consecrated on June 19, 1166.  The cathedral was seriously damaged and rebuilt after the earthquake of 1667.  During the rebuilding process, some parts of the towers were not perfectly duplicated resulting in today’s appearance.

After walking through a good portion of the old city, we explored the city to the right of the old city.  This area was not as quaint as the other parts of Kotor and some shops were shuttered.  After a few blocks, we headed back to the tender pier to catch our ride home.  This time, I got a very good seat and was able to get several shots of Queen Victoria in Kotor Bay.

Once back on the ship, we had lunch and headed for the warm open deck. 

Relaxing on the Open Deck

After a very nice dinner in the Britannia Restaurant, we attended the show.  Tonight’s headliner was the British group, Fly Right (from the Nat King Cole song).  They were energetic and entertaining and the audience really liked them.  What I liked was the choreography and synchronized dancing.

A great day in Kotor.