Not having been here before and having heard it was an attractive walled city, 30 minutes from the dock, we were somewhat surprised to find ourselves in a small, attractive fishing harbour, with a life of its own. We did pay the $15US return for the shuttle coach ride to the city, but it only took about 10 minutes, so no wonder that were several passengers who walked it!
Even though at that point, we were the only cruise ship in, the walled city was busy with tourists, who were piling in at a great rate. Why is it that people on guided walking tours in narrow streets always have to stop and then block the whole street? It is possible to walk around the city on the wall, but apart from at the initial entry point, whilst we wandered just inside the wall, we never found another access point anyway, so we spent much of the walking time in narrow shaded streets, where people still live, though many are apparently apartments. Lugging your luggage from the entry to the city to one of these or any of the hotels is something I wouldn’t fancy. Steps everywhere – and that includes on the wall. Several times we were only a matter of feet away from the city wall, with people looking down on us.
The streets were very clean but peering into one or two back gardens we saw nothing more than the evil kikuya (sp?) grass (weed) and stones!
We didn’t stay too long as once again, it was a case of pacing ourselves and making sure Paula didn’t overdo it. There was nothing of special interest in the shops and neither of us are cathedral, museum or art gallery buffs.
As we headed back to the shuttle bus stop, we were well aware of even more cruise tourists piling in and they were from a large MSC ship that arrived after us.
As we were the only two on the shuttle bus, we got them to drop us off at the beginning of the harbour and we had leisurely stroll along the front. The market had plenty of fresh fruit and veg but not much else and the various cafes seemed to be totally overrun with smokers, so we headed back to the ship and ran the gauntlet of several dockside stalls, but we weren’t tempted. Prices for the usual tourist stuff seemed higher than in Greece.
This time, we were back at the ship before the pizzeria closed, so we each had a very tasty pizza and iced water. The iced water may not be as Italian as red wine, but there you are.
Whilst Paula had a good rest/nod, I tried to catch up with the blog.
After a coffee we went out for the sail-away and at this point, we established that our telephone wasn’t working! I jiggled the wiring around a bit and then it kicked into life. Poor Ros had wasted about half an hour yesterday afternoon trying to get in touch - and we have no idea what happened to Jo’s note shoved under the door. Maybe our super-efficient steward Marvin, got there first and assumed it was just another bit of paper thrown towards the waste bin and missed? He is certainly the most efficient steward we have ever had – and yet all have been great.
Never mind. We opted to support formal night so that Dennis and Anthea could enjoy their last formal night on board. It was lobster and king prawn night so I opted for that as my second course once again, then both Paula and I had the excellent beef Wellington as our main. The jumbo prawns are as large as the lobster tails.
The comedian in the vista lounge, Ray Turner, struggled a wee bit so no better than a 7/10 I’m afraid.
We headed for the atrium for the 10:45pm balloon drop and a noisy farewell to those leaving in Venice in two days’ time.
The “family” photograph shows Assistant Director Marcus with his (Greek) grandma and one other, whilst his girlfriend, dance captain, Stephanie (currently employee of the month), is seen with mum Jane and stepdad Graham, from Langley Mill, Notts. Nice people.
Paula survived, just, and bedtime was a respectable 11:45pm.
A day at sea tomorrow – with several people looking forward to a restful, cruisy day, before the half way point – Venice.
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