Croatia and Dalmatian cruise

 We left Hvar at 7:30am, and had breakfast underway. Today was slightly cooler as there was more breeze. Not many towns, and the slopes look steep and arid. We had another swim stop about 11:00am, then enjoyed the hot tub. (Sasha the tour director says the water temperature is 19C, but I don't believe it!) Another lovely lunch, homemade tomato soup, pork, potatoes and pea vol-au-vont, and chocolate-banana cake. At this rate we're not going to need dinner! We arrive in Korcula about 3pm. A very charming fortified town, although most of the walls, and half of the towers have gone. Korcula is know as the birthplace of Marco Polo, and was ruled by the Venetians for many years. (they also had the Greeks, the Italians, Napoleon, the Austro-Hungarians....) We had a wonderful, funny guide for our walking tour today, then had lots of free time to explore the town. The streets on one side are curved so the prevailing winter winds can't blow through, on the other side the streets a...

Buffet breakfast underway to the small town of Bol. We cruise along among the small islands with many small boats and the occasional cruise ship. It reminds us a little of the Gulf Islands! These islands are quite dry, but you can see many small vineyards and a few olive trees. We land at Bol, a charming small town very popular with tourists because of "Zlatni Rat" or Golden Cape beach near by. It's a lovely 2 km walk on a path under the pine trees. The beach is a spectacular curved spit of white stone with blue/green water. Apparently in summertime it is very crowded. Not so today. I went for a short swim, the water a little cool yet but very buoyant. Back to the Captain Bota, and we have a huge lunch of shrimp pasta, fried fish, salad and pana cotta while underway. We stopped in a lovely spot for a swim off the boat. Later in the afternoon we head into the town of Hvar. A very busy port, many boats are rafted up and anchored out. We have a guided walking tour, apparen...

We are now on our 7 day cruise on the Captain Bota. The ship isn't quite full, about 28 passengers. (room for 36). There are several couples from Germany, also from Norway, Belgium, and Australia. The cabins are very comfortable,and larger than on many of the cruise ships I've been on (especially the bathroom!) The public rooms and decks have lots of seating areas and great views. Food so far is excellent. We left Split at 7:00am this morning, and are heading for Bol on the island of Brac.

Tonight we walked around Split after dinner to look at the illuminations. I'ts surprising how different the monuments and buildings look at night! And the town center is just as busy.

Despite the difficulty getting to the hotel (38 stairs etc) we've really enjoyed our stay. There are only 4 rooms, 1 per floor. Rooms are very spacious with a lovely cross breeze. Wonderful location with-in the old palace walls, but quite quiet. Great breakfast in the small lobby area.

Had a lovely relaxed day exploring Split. There are several markets, a large food one with beautiful produce, baked goods, meats and flowers. Cherries and strawberries are in season. We even saw someone selling live snails. The fish market was interesting, a huge variety of fish and shellfish, and very fresh.There are also souvenir markets with many lavender , honey and olive oil products as well as the usual trinkets. The unique feature of Split is the well preserved remains of the Diocletian's Palace. This takes up a great part of the old city, and over the years shops, hotels and restaurants have been built into it (including our hotel). A good part of the outer walls remain. The streets inside are narrow and twisting, fun to explore. It gets very busy here in the afternoon with lots of tour groups from all over the world. In the evening we took a walking tour to learn the history of the Palace, and ended up with a tasting of excellent Croatian wine. Afterwards for dinner to a ...

Had a smooth journey, flights mainly on time. Enjoyed the Premium Economy service on Lufthansa. It was a bit of an epic getting from the airport to our hotel. First of all there was construction, and we had to take a long detour, then the driver had the wrong hotel to drop us at, finally all straightened out. Our hotel is in the Old Palace area, so not easy to find and many stairs. Thank goodness we had someone to show us the way! Lovely small hotel with only 4 spacious rooms. Great view of the swallows swooping over the rooftops! We went for a short walk along the waterfront to get our bearings, now for an early night.