Dubrovnik and Changing Ships

Arrived in Dubrovnik at 11:30 and got off the ship quite quickly. Secured a cab for what was supposed to be a 10 Euro ride to the old city but it turned into a €90 tour above the city and a seaside village called Cavtat - and well worth it indeed. The weather was a pleasant +/-20 but I'm told it gets mid thirties plus in summer and quite cold in winter so timing is everything.

The cab driver was very knowledgeable about this town of only 40,000 people which, following the Bosnian war became a eco-green zone with almost no manufacturing and relying 90% on tourism. In a good month he says he can earn ten thousand Euros but there a four months of the year with no activity. Twenty three percent of tourism comes from the UK with the rest spread around.

In his past life he was a casino manager and is in the process of securing a license for a casino in Dubrovnik and was looking for investors. I may have been interested until he told me the license fee would be €500,000 a year plus 25% of the gross take. Very high on both counts.

The view from the Napoleonic fortress above the city is breathtaking and Dubrovnik is a place I would certainly consider for a chillaxing type holiday.

Interestingly Dubrovnik is just 3km from the Bosnian border with people in Croatia having a comfortable lifestyle while those I. Bosnia clearly do not.

While at the seaside village we thought we would be clever and take a shortcut back to the cab by walking e backstreets. Well this end up walking through pathways in bushlands and scrub - interesting looking back but not funny at the time.

After the two hours he dropped us in the 'old city' where we had a great, albeit slow meal - not cheap but excellent. We then meandered down many of the back alleyways to appreciate the living breathing city that this still is.   

Getting back to the ship was - we'll let me say interesting. We went to get a cab but the queue was long, nay VERY long. So we decided to try to get the ship's shuttle - no go there as we hadn't purchased a return ticket. So now we were down to public transport. Got on the bus 'ah no sorry only local currency'. Off the his to buy a ticket kerbside 'ah no sorry local currency'. Go to the currency exchange 'ah no sorry only notes and no change in Euros'. Well finally changed money and bought tickets and got the local bus down to the port or should I say the very crowded local bus.

I guess it would have been nice to have a better understanding of the history of the 'old city' but I have to leave something for next time. In summary Dubrovnik was a great find, something like the Italian lakes were in 2011. 

That night I decided on the specialty restaurants where we had a GREAT meal. We then went to the restaurant where I tipped the waiters and said goodbye and exchanged contacts with our Irish friends. I think I have a tour guide and maybe even place to stay in Dublin when I get there. Now the ship charges 7 Euros a day gratuity but it became general knowledge that very little of this found its way to the staff. I therefore asked for it to be removed from my bill and tipped them directly.

Got to sleep about 23:00 in readiness for what I thought would be a tough day. Woke at 06:45, breakfast and disembarked at 09:00 on the bus to Mestre Station and seeing a queue of about 30 minutes to buy tickets I ventured a no ticket ride for the one station to Santa Lucia Station in the heart of Venice. Checked the bags in for the three hours we would be there and went for a wander around Venice buying a data SIM card for the train journey. I actually bought two as our first two ports are Italy so will use there too. That was lucky as one didn't activate but I fixed that at Milan station.

Back to the station, collected bags (€6 each) and boarded the train.  I had managed a two for one deal first class ($US119) and it was amazingly comfortable with drinks included, power for devices and everything to make the journey comfortable. Changed trains at Milan and then 1:40 more to Genoa. 

The hotel in Genoa was 200 metres from the station. Usual impressive marble lobby, tiny lift built into the stairway atrium, and rooms less impressive than the lobby. But not bad at all by European standards. We ended up walking around the city for about 2.5 hours eschewing pizzeria after trattoria for something better, before finding quite by accident what would turn out to be a superb seafood restaurant - an outstanding meal and back to the hotel for a good nights rest after a very tiring day.

Today we will board the MSC Splendida with 4,000 new friends and head for Naples, Messina, Tunis, Barcelona and Marseille where we will leave the ship before it returns to Genoa, the reason being that airfares out of Genoa are VERY expensive and quite cheap out of Marseille.

I'll leave it here and more soon

Hope all is well in what I believe is a somewhat bleak Sydney

Ciao

XD