Adriatic Cruise 2017

 27 May 2017

At Ben Gurion airport there was a man who had a problem getting out of passport control, he told us afterwards that every country he visits he has the same problem as his name come up as a wanted criminal has a similar name. His wife was English born but he came from Gugerat, Pakistan and his daughter was spending 3 months in Nablus as she had done a degree in Arabic and was improving her speech. 28th May stayed 2 nights at the Best Western Linton Lodge in Oxford. This was a very comfortable place with good food but the toilet was weird, there was not enough place for long feet so one had to sit diagonally on it and there was underfloor heating, so at certain hours you could not stand on the bathroom floor tiles barefoot. We had a lot of time to chat to Brenda and Frank and they took us to for lunch. From Oxford we took the coach to Bayswater in London and stayed with Minne and Lionel Fry. Wed31st May Saw the play at Lyttelton theatre "Ugly lies the bone" of a US army woman soldier and her recovery after being blown up in Afghanistan. Thurs 1st June. I walked from the north to the south of Hyde Park and met up with Astrid at the Science Museum where we had lunch. In the basement - the only area I hadn't toured fully it has an old collection of household appliances that we used from coal to paraffin and the gas and finally electricity. There is a section for children to play with water, boats pumps waterwheels and raincoats for them to put on. A place we will bring the grandchildren. I walked back through Hyde Park and went to check Diana's Park this is a free Disneyland for toddlers and only adults with children may enter. That evening we saw the musical "School of Rock” which had 13 young kids playing music, we now want to see the movie again. Friday 2nd June took a bus directly to the War Museum where we took both Tal and Adam to about 20 years ago. It is better set up and more extensive nowadays covering every war from WW1. A guide gave a talk on the Falklands War with Harriet Planes and other weapons as well as maps to explain the story. A youngster telling the story while I remember the war from TV and the press a the time. In charge of the bookshop was a young person who had done a master’s degree on WW1 and said he wanted to work his way up hte museum system. Sat. 3rd June\ Took a long walk to Portobello Rd which was so crowded that you can hardly walk with all sorts of collectors’ items and a flea market as well as food stalls. On every corner there was an entertainer, classical guitar, pop musicians, male choral choir, and jazz saxophonist . We took a taxi to the coach station and the driver was something old and rare - a real Londoner, he complained about Uber that got into the city in a real corrupt way and don't keep to a contract charter. Later on the news we read about this and Uber responsible for clients being raped etc. Took the coach to Gatwick and Easy Jet to Venice where we arrived late and were at a hotel near the airport. Sun 4th June Took a bus to the city, you are supposed to buy your ticket before you get on the bus but on Sunday no ticket sellers so the driver let us ride free. In Venice we bought tickets to get back. From Palazza de Roma we walked along the Grand Canal. Venice is fascinating as the only way through the city is walking or you get waterbuses along the canals. However it was regatta day and so the waterbuses were not working till late afternoon so we had to walk in the heat back. We saw every kind of man powered boat going along from many different countries. I went for a swim in the hotel pool and later in the evening we went to a restaurant where I managed to talk to the old couple sitting next to us. He told me he was 91 and he was bringing his lady friend out for dinner. That night there was a power outing at the hotel caused by everyone having air conditioners on. We were watching the Manchester concert for the bombing victims. June 5th Went to the port and got on the cruise ship. The ship took about an hour to get out of the Venice lagoon and we could look down on the city with all its bridges and canals. You see the waterbuses and water taxis as the city has no means of transport by land as every bridge you have to takes steps to get over. There are island further out that are agricultural and have vehicles on them. Finally we got out of the harbour, there are buoys along the way marking the channel. That evening we watched the movie “The Dogs Purpose” on open air cinema, luckily it ended before the weather turned cold. That evening we listened to a band playing well known songs of the 70s while we waited for places at a sit down dinner. 6th June Cover. This is the only proper port in Slovenia and is one of the most important ports of Europe and you see trains carrying aluminum to Germany as well as cars being exported via the port and the drive on the highway to Ljubljana was through a national park where there are thousands of limestone caves as the place where the white Cartesian horses are bred. The Julian Alps are 3000 meters high. The population of Slovenia is 2.340 000 and they are mostly Catholic. English is the first foreign language but there are also Italians and Hungarians. In 1991 the Pope visited and was the first leader to recognize their independence. The Cathedral door is new made of copper and had the whole history of Slovenia on it. With Pope John Paul at the top.The whole centre of the city has become a mall. Spenderer square is after the poet who wrote the national anthem and there is the statue of his girlfriend and unrequited love. We ate fresh cherries and ice cream as well as he good coffee Astrid had. That evening the Flylights a trio of black Londoners who sang Motown music very well. June 7th Zafar Croatia is the oldest port in Europe. The Dalmatian coast has 320 islands. The Croats originate from the Carpathian Mountains in Poland. the whole area was under Venice for a long period and so there is the architectural influence. After WW2 was one of 6 Yugoslav states and became independent in 1995. Any industry was destroyed in the independence war and what was left was old communist stuff that was closed down so there is no pollution and the only important industry is tourism. Sibernik was the city worst hit by the Black death. You see hundreds of dry stone wall built to get the stone off the land but now they have fallen into disrepair. In 1900 a disease struck the grapes and many Dalmatians emigrated to Australia. The St James cathedral is unusual as it is all masonry. The old city has a Roman forum. WE returned to Zadar and went into the old city which is surrounded by a wall to defend against the Ottomans who never succeeded in conquering the city. The one gate has an arch to celebrate the sea battle of Lepento the first big battle of Moslem defeat in 1452 by Spain. The parts of the city destroyed by allied bombing in WW2 and not developed till recently. Recently built is a sea organ, here as the wave flow in it makes a sound. There is a solar reflector that absorbs energy in the day and gives it off at night. iHollywood. For entertainment we had a very polished selection of Hollywood musical songs 8th June Dubrovnik Croatia. Zagrev is the Capital where a million of the 4 and a half million Croatian citizen live they are mostly Catholic. We were taken along the mountainous route to see a view of some of the islands in the bay. This feels like a Norwegian fjord. The old city is walled and we were taken to the church and church museum. In the cathedral there were golden arms or legs that held the relics of saints and once a year they are paraded around the town. In 1667 it was destroyed by an earthquake so very few of the building are original. I visited the Sephardi synagogue here which is in a narrow alley close to the Rectors Palace. The seats are around the wall and around the bima and a women section above. The first floor was a community hall and later the population was mostly Ashkenazi. Once had up to 11 cruises entering in a day but now it is limited to 4 cruise ships daily. At dinner that night I sat next to Shirley F who wrote a memoir on being the wife of US air force pilot called 'Getting my Wings" but it cannot be found on Google. 9th June Split. Here we went for a walking tour from the port into the city where Astrid tasted 3 wines and I tasted the cheeses as well as bread but most delicious was the olive oil. Wines and olives grow in Croatia or the Dalmatian coast are more on the hills and not irrigated so there is only enough wine for local consumption. Split is an old original Roman city which survived attacks and later other houses were added but the original bottom floor is Roman. A house in a narrow alley has the top floor as a synagogue; The guy there says that up to 100 of the community meet for supper on Friday night instead of prayers. When Jews arrived from Spain they were welcomed by the Venation regime especially doctors. We saw a variety of fish and sea food in the fish market. Entertainment. Ben Mills an English singer with Rod Steward and Joe Cocker type music. 10th June Kator Montenegro. This whole country has only 650 000 citizens. Mostly Orthodox but also Catholic and a minority of Moslems. Like Croatia is was under the Venetians and so you see the architectural influence. The 1667 earthquake destroyed the city and the wall were rebuild. Kotor of part of the Boca(mouth) to get into this inland so you come along what looks like a fjord but not a fjord that were created by glaciers. Montenegro became independent from Serbia/ Herzegovina in 2004, the Serbian currency (dinar) used at the time was in free fall and they took on the Deutschmark which later became the Euro. We saw the vegetable market and got the impression that it was small farmers selling their goods as none of the fruit was a standard size. Our walking tour with a group of 12 and we ended up in a family home of a retired couple whose house had been in the family 150 years and we learned about the types of food eaten basically the Italian menu. The lady of the house gave TV programs on the food and had done a program only a week before for an Israeli TV channel. Her husband had been a seaman. The economy was based on shipping but today is almost entirely based on tourism. That night we saw 2 shows the first with a Russian woman with a electric violin that had a weird sound. The late show Elysium was a musical with good songs but provocative. 11th June Sunday This is a sea day travelling from Montenegro via the straits of Massine to Naples. We did an Inside Access Tour and were shown the inside of the kitchen, how it works the storerooms and food fridges. The quartermaster has to know what the customers taste is as American go for fast type food despite the choice. We were taken to see the inside control room that monitors the motor for all the engines. The ship has massive generators and the engines run on electricity that these generates. We were taken onto the bridge and shown that the captain has 3 sets of controls - the middle and port and starboard so that he can see to maneuver the ship into harbour. Tugboats are no longer used but pilots give them a lot of advice as they are up to date on conditions of the harbour. Each side has 3 engines that pull and at the back you have engines that can rotate to dock the ship. Stabilizers stick out in rough weather. This is a 90 000 ton ship and if it goes at a maximum of 22 knots/hour it uses 5 and a half ton of fuel per hour and needs fuel after 5 days sailing. We were taken below the water line where there is the recycling of garbage and laundry with most recent up to date automatic machines. Just above the waterline are kitchens for staff of different nationalities. We went into sit down dinner every evening and said "Happy to Share" so we sat with 2 or sometime 3 other couples. This way we met Brits, Americans and Aussies. After supper one of the guests did sleight of hand tricks with cards, he was excellent, but what was interesting was that the Indian or Indonesian waiter were shocked as they had never seen anything like this and though it was real magic. Entertainment was a fantasy musical with excellent songs. June 12th Naples. I took a walk into the city from the port. Naples looks like it muddles along, traffic lights that don't work, streets are not kept clean and cars parked everywhere. Tram lines but I didn't see a tram. Trolley lines with few busses. Pedestrian crossing but no cars stop for you so the comment was" see Naples and die being run over” I returned to the ship for lunch and we were taken on a bus tour during the siesta time when there is less traffic. We drove past the castle and the museums built that houses the archaeology of Pompey and the university of Naples is an impressive building. Naples was started as a Greek city Neopolis. In Israel the city of Shkem is called Nablus in Arabic it was originally called Neopolis but there is no P in Arabic. Behind the city is a promontory so he city developed upwards and there are buildings of over 200 years old. There is a tunnel through this and a new part of the city is behind it, Then we were taken for a drive over it and you see the suburbia and buildings on the side of the hill. From a view point you can see the Isle of Capri, Sorrento and Vesuvius. Entertainment was Craig and Brian Mc Donald a versatile Scots pair who play a range of instruments, sing and won the X-Factor as children. 13th June Sicily. Port Massina. The straits of Messina lie between Italy and the Isle of Sicily, on the island is a population of 5 million and Palermo is the capital. The city of Messina was destroyed by earthquake in 1908. It appears more organized than Naples and the tram system we saw running regularly. Sicily was under Arab occupation 150 years and they brought oranges, almonds and pistachios. Mussolini brought eucalyptus to and you see them in the low valleys. You can always see smoke coming out of Mt Etna the most active volcano in the world. We drove up hairpin bends to the town of Savaco where the is a 500 year old house that was used as the setting for Godfather 2. To get to parts of the town people own small cars. There was a church there and a ruin filled in which archaeologist believe was a synagogue. Sicily is 70% mountains and there is not much place for commercial farming, you see small concrete dams where they pump water up from the river with plenty of grapes, figs, olives growing on the hills or terraces. We were taken to Forza de agra another town on the hill with a fortress and switchbacks up the steep mountains. Here is a church which was also a set for the Godfather and in the basement is a place monks would mummify bodies. to get the road ran over bridges and about 6 tunnels. There should be many synagogues in Sicily and southern Italy as it had a large Jewish community under Spain until the expulsion. For entertainment Tom Gorowy a Welsh juggler entertainer that got lots of cooperation from the audience. 14th June Quiet day at sea --Missing notes. Slept late and had a sit down breakfast, stretching exercises in the gym ,went to the trivia games at every opportunity, sit down dinner and 2 lots of entertainment. 15th June Arrived in Venice and after breakfast left the ship with all our luggage and walked to the overhead funicular that took us to Pazzale Roma and took a motorbus to Marco Valpete and walked to the hotel. The room’s bathroom had a washbasin, then a toilet, bide and shower all in a row. I went for a long walk through St Mark’s square, the Doges palace, tower and cathedral. There are so many churches for art lovers to appreciate the paintings. One of the churches has been made into the Vivaldi museum with an enormous collection of wood and string instruments. In the late afternoon at the San Moise church there was a concert of children’s orchestra playing violins. The church has painting and images of Moses receiving he commandment and crossing the Red sea. There are also images of Christ and on the outside is a plaque to soldiers of San Marco Island who died in WW1. Most of the churches today are well preserved and used as theaters and museums. Watching the gondoliers is interesting as it is quite a skill standing with one ore. Venice is a car-less society and you see boats bring all the good including DHL deliveries. 16th June Friday There was a strike so the water bus was not working and we had to take a water taxi to the station luckily we shared with a Colombian family. Took a train to Milan and from there a full bus to the airport as those trains were not running. The train goes at 210 km per hour and on the screen you see the speed, this part of Italy is flat and well developed. Saturday 17th June took Easy Jet home and was lucky it was not affected by the strike. At Ben Gurion airport it is easier for Israelis to get through passport control. You put the page with your picture on the glass look into the camera and it prints you a ticket that allows you through the turnstile, this does not work for children.