Day 45 Split

Just a little further down the Dalmatian Coast, we are now in Split. The Emperor Diocletian built a massive palace, which now serves as the foundation of the old town of Split. It is very similar to the walled old towns we have already visited, just on a smaller scale. 

Lots of small lane ways, lots of little shops and always a fresh produce market.

We found a tall statue that reminded me of Merlin the magician, and I should know who it is but alas I don’t, but I do know that everyone goes and rubs his big toe.... now I must google and find out why..... But I gave it a rub just in case it is for something lucky.

  Just behind there, there was a fountain where I had to look twice as a man was there busily brushing his false teeth under the spray of water.... eeewww

We then decided we needed to visit the Marjan Lookout... We knew we had to climb a hill to see the sweeping view, but unfortunately, we missed the turnoff, so what was supposed to be a 20-minute hike turned out to be a half hour walk in the wrong direction.  

After asking two gentleman we were still no closer , it wasn’t till we asked a female that we were heading in the right direction.  As we had already covered so much ground we decided to only go as far as the first lookout. 

Conveniently situated right there was a bar/ cafe, so we sat for coffee and enjoyed the thunderstorm that was now passing over the city.

The sign we should had followed

 On the way down we found a barber looking a little bored, so we indulged him and Garry got a much-needed haircut.  The Barber was Meticulous using several different scissors and razors all for the princely sum of $8.

Back in town, we had some left Kuna to dispose of, so we stopped and enjoyed a glass of wine,  a beer and watched as people  we knew passed by.  Eventually we headed back to where the tenders were boarding and made our short trip back to the ship.

Day 44 Slovenia - Ljubljana and Lake Bled

Just a stone's throw away from Venice is Slovenia.  I think last night we sailed right out to sea and back again to kill time.  We arrived early into the port of Koper a pretty little town but maybe not enough to keep you interested in for a whole day.  Our private Guide Graeme from Four Seasons Travel, Slovenia arrived just as we exited the ship.  He had another tour booked which his wife Helena was taking.  Graeme was highly recommended on Cruise Critic and after spending the day with him we can see why.  Graeme is English married to Helena who is Slovenian they live in Bled with their 2 young children.

It was so nice to listen to a guide without having to really concentrate on the accent.  He was very knowledgeable not just about where we were visiting but also about the background of the country.

Our first stop was Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia.  He took us to the old town where you can really see a mix of architecture, it felt like German, Austrian and French all rolled into one. We saw the Unique triple bridge design by Joze Plecnik. We saw St Nicholas Cathedral with the most amazing bronze doors.

  In the town Centre they were setting up the open fruit market, we even spotted the scales that are set up so you can check your purchases are correct.  This time of the morning the weather was looking rather ominous and it was cool so the stall selling sweaters made a bit of money that morning !!

We moved on to the highlight of the trip Lake Bled.... We first went up to Bled Castle where the view of the lake was just fantastic.  The colour of the lake was gorgeous and out in the middle of the lake stands a small church on a small island.  You can get out to the island on one of the small boats rowed by oarsmen in a standing position.  It is a tradition that once you get to the island and climb the steps up to the church you toll the bell to let people know you made it.  With our time restraints, we just had to look from afar.

From the castle, we then moved down to the resort town around the lake.  We stopped at the cafe that claims to have been the first to create the delicious  Crème Resina  (looks like a vanilla slice ).  In keeping with tradition we had to sample all things local so it was cake, coffee and another speciality of Blueberry schnapps.... ooooh Yum... more like a blackberry nip than a bitey schnapps.... and all before lunch .... eek

No sooner but we were back on the road to Koper which is around a 2 hour drive.... you have to take your hat off to Graeme and Helena as they had drove from Bled to Koper to pick us up, then brought us back to Bled, took us back to Koper and then had the long drive back home again.

To ensure that we had enough time to get back to the ship, we arrive back in Koper a little  early so Graeme takes us on a walking tour of Koper town.... here the architecture has a more Italian feel to it, even all the signs are shown in both languages.

Back on the pier a traditional band was playing with a few little stalls selling their wares and wine..... it was a lovely little port, it is a lovely country.

 

Day 43 Venice Day 2

We were up early again this morning and decided to use the ships shuttle.  Venice was so much more crowded this time as there were 8 ships of varying sizes here today.  As the vaporetto made its way around to St Marks we passed many of these new ships...   the funniest sight was 2 semi-trailers on barges, goodness knows where they were coming from and off to.

We pre purchased our tickets for the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doges palace and our quick entry tickets into the Basilica.... The Basilica is lovely but very dark and even though we paid just 1 euro each to get quick entry tickets quite a few of the sections once inside wanted more payments of 4 – 5 euro’s. 

We did look into doing the after-hours tour which we had heard was stunning, but we could not get tickets for Sunday night.... Princess was running a tour at $150 per person.  Online the tickets are 28 Euro each.... go figure....  though we did hear it was really spectacular.

It was now time for our Doges Palace Tour.  Little did we know that Broom Hilda herself was going to be our guide..... Red Hair and all.... Her introduction was laying down the Law... no photo’s, no videos, no backpacks, all bags are to be worn to the front!!! And she checked each and every one of us....

 Whilst we were waiting for the backpackers to take their bags into storage, Arnold raised his video camera to shoot the square we were standing, allowed as we were still outside.

But hang on, Broom Hilda roars at him “You are not allowed to take my picture, in this country, you need to have written permission before you are allowed to take anyone’s photo, we had a guide whose picture they took and then she found out she was on a pornographic site ..... Delete your photo now” she barked.... poor Arnold hadn’t even turned the camera on...

Though we should have let her know that no one would put her photo on a pornographic website.... on saying that unless that other guide did her tour in the nude, I can’t imagine why it would be.....LOL......  

Bark and Bark she did... “You are not allowed to lean on anything, you are not allowed to touch anything, you can hang onto the rails walking on stairs as they are new”.... and if she spotted you breaking any rules she growled at you ....  So apart from that she was very knowledgeable.  She took us to the cells where prisoners were held and told of their conditions.  She relayed the story of how Casanova managed to be the first to ever escape these walls.  When we had finished she ushered us back through one of the secret passageways into the palace where we could continue exploring the public areas on our own.

the view were the prisoners would look out when passing though and Sigh! hence the name of the bridge.

After this trip we had a spot of lunch and some more last minute shopping until we made our way back to the shuttle and back to the ship. 

One thing to mention, the public toilets... They have WC and arrow signs all over telling you where to go to find them... sometimes they can be just around the corner and other times they can lead to the other side of the island... ask us how we know!!!

We sailed out of Venice under the cover of night...  not quite as glamorous as I had hoped as I thought that the city would be more lit up than it was.