Adriatic Explorer Ports and Excursions 21.09.12

[Cymro1953]

Adriatic Explorer on Majesty 21.09.2012

Koper Slovenia

We did the Caves and Castles excursion here, it goes in the morning and afternoon so you have a choice.

It took about 50 min to drive to the caves and then we had time to look around the shops and cafes outside before going in. You go in the 1st 2 kilometres by train and have a ticket for the right train. Ours was 10.am. So we had time for a browse, coffee and the loo before meeting the guide outside the caves. Once aboard the train goes like one of those runaway train rides in the theme parks.

Warning here, take a warm jacket or jumper with you as it is only 8 to 10 C inside the caves. The caves themselves are amazing and you walk through for just over 1 kilometre, but it seemed further. The path is concreted but the 1st part is very steep and then goes around and downhill before taking you back to the start to catch the train back.

Your calves and thigh muscles will feel it tomorrow after this.

For those with walking problems you can bypass the 1st steep part of the cave and join it further on where it is more level.

We stopped at the castle for pictures from the outside, very picturesque like something from a Dracula movie. There is nothing inside so just a stop for pics.

Back to the ship for lunch and then we wandered into town. Lovely Meiaeval town. As it was Sunday most places shut apart from cafes and the ice cream parlour. Lovely ice cream.

 

Venice

We were going to go in on our own here as we'd been before but Delyth got it into her head she wanted to see the Murano glass blowing. So we ended up doing the Murano, Burano and St mark's excursion. Would not recommend it as there is too much boat and not enough time to see the islands. It took 45 min to get to Murano. Another 30 min to Burano and the 1 hour back to St. Mark's. If we'd known how much boat time was involved we would not have done it. I don't do small boats and deisel fumes, makes me want to throw up.

Burano was beautiful but we only had 50 minutes there. Everyone we spoke to waiting to board in Burano said they would happily have missed Murano and gone straight to Burano for about 2 hours then on to Venice.

Next time we will do it DIY

Once we got to Venice it was lovely as always, we stayed well clear of St. Mark's and Rialto and wandered the small streets and had a lovely time. We had lunch in a small cafe where the locals ate and drank with a gondolier sat outside the window waiting for customers. Later found a small cafe that did not insist on selling just lunch and enjoyed some excellent local red wine

The sailaway was spectacular, but not in the expected way. We sailed into this fog bank and had continuous sheet lightning while sailing through it. Then came out the other side into choppy seas and a proper thunderstorm with forked lightning and thunder.

 

Split

This cruise is just one beautiful place after another. They say it takes 5 min to walk to town but it took us 10 to walk around to the broad promenade with cafes on it.

But 1st we did the Croatian Flavours excursion. Off to Trogir the Mediaeval town and then wine tasting. a nice morning excursion. Trogir is wonderfully preserved and we had a guided walk then free time for a wander and coffee and time to browse the fruit and veg market by the bus park. You should see the size of the produce, we get nothing like that in ASDA.

I nearly missed out the wine tasting. The old mill is nothing special but the red wine was very drinkable and the ham and cheese on bread that accompanied it was yummy.

Back in time for a leisurley stroll around the old town of Split, Dioclecian's summer palace, beer on the waterfront promenade and donughts and coffee in town later. Like Venice every corner you turn is a new photo opportunity. I just hope this Sibenik they are replacing Split with is as nice.

Dubrovnik

We'd been here before and walked the walls and streets and decided beforehand to treat it as a sea day and enjoy the ship while it was quieter. A good job we did as we'd been to the Bistro a la carte the evening before and had excellent food and wine and then later into the Rendezvous bar where we did not emerge till 1.30 a.m.

Kotor

I don't know where to start here apart from to say it's about one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. For us it beat Dubrovnik. We did the morning walking tour and our guide was about the most fun guide we've ever had. He even made the museum visit part fun, where normally you'd be going zzzzz.

It was an early start and all done by 10.30 so we found a pavement cafe and had coffee and beer. It was nice being able to relax knowing we did not have to rush to meet a guide.

We wandered the lovely streets and had lunch sat on a bench by the old city walls then off to climb the dreaded steps up to the fortress. We had been told you get nice views from the church so we were determined we'd stop there. It is very uneven underfoot going up and some of the steps are missing or loose so you have to watch your footing. But well worth the effort for the view. As Kruzseeka mentioned somewhere you need the agility of a mountain goat and she wasn't wrong

Back down then to the same cafe as this morning for 2 well deserved large beers.

It's not a large place but a lovely well preserved one and we could have spent all day just sitting and wandering the narrow streets and alleys.

The last tender back was 3.15 and all too soon it was time to go back to the ship. We just wished we could have stayed longer.

Then time for the spectacular sailaway up the fiord. We were lucky and got a position on the promenade deck right at the bows and it was well worth it. It's very long, but such scenery!!

 

Berwyn

[kruzseeka]

Thanks Berwyn, excellent review. ;) I'm living it all again reading of your exploits! Great ports of call - I don't think you could tire of this itinerary.

 

Don't know about Sibenik but it looks promising from the images on-line. Thomson do try to put in a few new PoC each year - Brindisi wasn't too popular (although the trip we did to Alberobello was great) so it was to your advantage that Kotor got substituted. Agree - it's gorgeous and also the problem with short legs like mine did make getting to the church a bit of a challenge - but worth it!

 

If we ever get to go on this trip again I think we'd try the caves visit as from your description I think we'd enjoy it.

 

Glad you enjoyed it all so much. :)

 

(P.S. Have you tried the Fjords yet? If you liked Kotor you'll be blown away by Norway - only trouble is it's likely to be quite a bit cooler! Another one for the wish list?)

[Cymro1953]

Thanks Berwyn, excellent review. ;) I'm living it all again reading of your exploits! Great ports of call - I don't think you could tire of this itinerary.

 

Don't know about Sibenik but it looks promising from the images on-line. Thomson do try to put in a few new PoC each year - Brindisi wasn't too popular (although the trip we did to Alberobello was great) so it was to your advantage that Kotor got substituted. Agree - it's gorgeous and also the problem with short legs like mine did make getting to the church a bit of a challenge - but worth it!

 

If we ever get to go on this trip again I think we'd try the caves visit as from your description I think we'd enjoy it.

 

Glad you enjoyed it all so much. :)

 

(P.S. Have you tried the Fjords yet? If you liked Kotor you'll be blown away by Norway - only trouble is it's likely to be quite a bit cooler! Another one for the wish list?)

 

Thanks Kruzseeka, glad you enjoyed it. Every port a gem!

I keep trying to persuade Delyth to give Fiords a go but she likes it warm. We've not long seen pics of someone's cruise there in August and it was wet, grey and she had a thick coat on in almost every outdoor pic. So it will take a bit of persuasion there.

 

My friend did her 1st cruise from Venice around the Adriatic with Royal Carribean last year. Loved the cruise but not impressed with Brindisi either.

 

Berwyn

[mtt]

The caves is a good trip we did it last year, but in the afternoon and went to the castle first and into the caves about 4pm, didn't get much chance to look around after, everywhere was closed, we had a little look around koper in the morning, we went on a monday last year

[Julessmiles]

Thanks Kruzseeka, glad you enjoyed it. Every port a gem!

I keep trying to persuade Delyth to give Fiords a go but she likes it warm. We've not long seen pics of someone's cruise there in August and it was wet, grey and she had a thick coat on in almost every outdoor pic. So it will take a bit of persuasion there.

 

My friend did her 1st cruise from Venice around the Adriatic with Royal Carribean last year. Loved the cruise but not impressed with Brindisi either.

 

Berwyn

 

I loved the Fjords; just did a week with P&O but visited some beautiful places - we went in July & had "pleasant" weather. I love my sunshine & warmth but I absolutely loved the scenery & the experience. It was the first cruise I went on with my Mum; left the children & husband at home and I was determind after that to go again with my family - it's the Fjords that started me with my love of cruising :)

[maystar08]

Berwyn, your excellent review of the adriatic explorer cruise took me back to our time on the majesty just over a month ago, as you we thought it was stunning and would choose to go back on it in a heartbeat.we really enjoyed the caves and castles tour in koper, the caves were stunning and we were impressed with split also.Here`s a picture i took in the caves for anyone thinking of doing the caves and castles trip in the future it will give you some idea what it`s like in there.

So glad you and delyth had a great time on the majesty,Del.

[Cymro1953]

Wow Del that's a fantastic pic. My camera would never have taken one like that. The flash would have vanished into nowhere.

They said no pics, so we didn't though others were flashing away

 

Thank you, we had a wonderful time.

 

Berwyn

[maystar08]

It was more luck than judgement berwyn with the picture they also told us you could take pictures but you had to turn off the flash so i was really lucky with the photo:D

[mtt]

Thats a brilliant photo