Saturday, September 6, 2025

As predicted, we both read books all day. We still got up at 6 of course, but then grabbed a couple of recliners on the pool deck. I am in the middle of Rick Perlstein’s “Nixonland”, and even after all day reading it I am not done. After dinner we took in the show, which was called Vinyl Jukebox, which had the singers and dancers doing records from such as Abba, Elton John, Pat Benetar, etc. Then I did a quick scouting mission to see where we pick up our tickets for the Tender boats into Kotor tomorrow.

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Again up at 6. Today we are in Kotor, Montenegro, and it is a Tender port, so after a shower we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge to get our Tender tickets. Unfortunately it was very slow getting to a Tender, but our tour guide was willing to wait. And we were again paired with the couple we toured Sipenik and Zadar with. Our tour said Beauties of Budva, but we never got anywhere near Budva. But we had a good time anyway. We first went to Our Lady of the Rocks,  a church built on an artificial island. The story is that some fishermen found a painting on the reef, someone made a vow, and an island was built. Then sailors who got into trouble anywhere on the sea would make a vow to have a painting made to Our Lady if they were saved, so the museum attached to the Church has accumulated a bunch of them; another kind of vow resulted in silver plates in the Church. In fact we saw a lot of silver today, and very little gold, so I’m guessing silver was more readily available. This being an island, it was of course only reachable by boat, but as it happened we were on a boat. It might have been a van, but the road we would use was closed for a triathlon event, so we went by boat instead.

After Our Lady of the Rocks we visited the town/village of Perast, clinging to a narrow shoreline. Kotor is deep inside a fjord, and our cruise ship could only go part of the way, which is why it was a tender port. The surrounding mountains were steep and not suitable for building, so you would find towns and villages clinging to bits of a flat shore line wherever they exist. Perast has one street and one church, which we visited. Then it was back to Kotor, which is a walled city where the wall goes up the mountain to enclose an Illyrian fortress, but it was around 1,300 steps to climb, so we passed. We did walk around the town a little, and we visited a 12th century church, St. Tryphon’s Cathedral, which again had a museum attached. Again, we saw a lot of silver, but little gold. It was very hot in Kotor, so after this we caught the next Tender back to the ship, and got into a nice conversation with a couple from Australia.

Back on the ship we changed into bathing suits for a dip in the pool, followed by more reading until it was time for dinner at 5pm. We ate in the buffet again, and then went to the show, which was a return engagement by the magician Basilio Tabacchi, but a different show tonight. It was very good, and we will probably see him one more time this trip. We ended the evening by watching a bit of our departure from Kotor. The sun had gone down by now, so it was a nighttime departure with lights from the shore. Tomorrow is Dubrovnik!

Monday, September 8, 2025

Up at 6 again, and hurried through breakfast since we were to meet our tour at 8am. This was another Shore Excursions tour, and of course we were docked at a different place than the tour started from, so we grabbed a taxi that cost 25 Euros to go about 3 kilometers. But we were on time. We met one guide, but then she turned us over to another lady who drove us in a van for  a panoramic tour of Dubrovnik. She also gave us a lot of the history, and one place pointed out “You see that house over there? That is in Bosnia. We got up high for some interesting views of Dubrovnik, but after about 1.5 hours she returned us to the first lady, who took us on a walking tour inside the old city.

The old city is defined by a city wall that encircles the town, and you can get on top to walk along the wall. But they want 40 Euros for that, and we’ve walked on masonry before, so we skipped the wall walking. The old city is interesting. There is of course a lot of history, and not all of it ancient. This city was shelled by the Serbians in the 1991-1995 Yugoslav war, and there are memorials to that. But our guide was not even born when that happened, and she thought it was all about politicians being stupid. She is Croatian, but has Serbian friends, and everyone is at peace now. It was another hot day, though, when we were finished Cheryl and I found a local bar/restaurant to get a cold drink in the shade, and to use the rest room. Then it was back to the ship via another 25 Euro cab ride.

Back on the ship we have fallen into a pleasant routine. I always want a dip in the pool, followed by a little hot tub, and finally a cold shower. This always refreshes me, and sometimes Cheryl joins me. But then we read  for a few hours until it is time for dinner. And after dinner we go to the show in the main auditorium, the Stardust Theater. For tonight it is a really good group we have enjoyed doing a program of Motown. And then we go to bed. Tonight we will set our phones ahead 1 hour because we will be changing time zones going from Croatia to Greece.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

The morning was a bit more leisurely since we had an NCL excursion set for 9:25 and it left from the pier. Our port this time was Corfu. And this meant we had left the Adriatic finally to enter the Ionian Sea.

Corfu is town on the island of Kerkyra, and like every other place we have visited so far was once controlled by the Venetians. You can always tell a former Venetian place because you will see the winged lion in statues and reliefs. If the lion is standing on an open book, the town was absorbed in a time of peace, but if the book is closed, it was in a time of war. Here the book was open. But to keep the peace and protect the population, two fortresses were established, with the town between them originally. One fortress had two major rocks adding to the fortifications. Our coach dropped us near the fortress with the two rocks, then we walked down a few streets in the town. Everyone had 45 minutes or so of free time, so we visited the fortress with the two rocks. Then we rejoined our guide for a trip to a museum of Asian art housed in the former palace of the British High Commissioner, because of course the British ran the place in the early 1800s. But according to our guide, they did some good things like establish the Ionian University. We were kind of rushed getting through the museum, but that sometimes happens on these excursions when you have a schedule to keep. Cheryl and I quite like museums, but not everyone shares our interest in them.

Following the museum we got back on a the coach and went out of the town to a Taverna where we were served lunch and entertained by Greek musicians and a pair of dancers. The man picked up a small table with his teeth, causing comment from people that he must have a good dentist. This was a very pleasant little stop, and I tasted a few of the dishes. You have to take advantage of the local culture when you can. Then we got back on the coach and returned to the ship. It had been a hot day in Corfu, and we looked forward to a cool dip in the pool. We did that, then went to dinner, and from there to the show. This was four singers doing what appeared to be mashups of Broadway tunes and rock songs (I think), and I recognized Lola from Damn Yankees in the first song, but after that neither of us had much luck figuring them out. One was Maria from West Side Story with a different melody, and another time I thought I recognized a melody from Fleetwood Mac with words I did not recognize. But they ended with Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was a nice closer. In any case, we enjoyed the show.

Overall, Corfu is not a destination. It was fine as a stop on the way, but it looked a bit run down, and if we never make it back, that is fine. It is a big world, and there is a lot to see. We are past the half-way point now and will be home in a week.