The journey home

Friday 30^th August

We needed to be out of our rooms by 8:30. I stayed in mine until the last minute and then went to breakfast. I saw the others but there was a bit of a mix-up. I thought we were meeting up in the lounge from which we would depart the ship, and went there to save seats. However, the others stayed on the top deck taking photographs and came to me at the last minute, just as our group was named for departure. (Seeing I was reading, I had not worked out how people knew when to depart; it appears that someone walked around with a sign, so you needed to be looking up at the right time.)

Feeling rushed, I was slightly disoriented and at first could not find my cruise card. Sue had even more trouble finding hers but at last we were both sorted and in the port looking for our suitcases. I found mine easily, as did Margaret and Wadia, but Sue’s could not be found. It took about another hour and many deliveries later before hers came along. It had lost its luggage label! (Although all three of them had followed the instructions on the label, the others had been lucky enough that theirs did not separate, though a slight tug would have pulled them off!)

We had missed our transport to the airport by then, and had to wait an hour for the next one. In typical Italian fashion we were first told: ‘Wait 10 minutes for four more people to join you’, then told ‘Wait 15 minutes’ and then ‘Wait 20 minutes’. Eventually we managed to leave in a full coach.

We had a 3-hour wait at the airport before we could hand in our cases. Luckily I have a Priority Pass card that allows me to use lounges at airports for a £15 per person fee, and Venice has a business lounge before immigration (very unusual). It was not super fancy but we were the only ones there. How wonderful to have arm chairs to ourselves, free internet access and cups of coffee by request. (Anyone could use this, but would generally pay €10 per hour.)

The flight went well. Sue was met on arrival by a wheelchair and we were all put into a motorised vehicle, and got through immigration ahead of the crowds. I thought we were racing crowds all the way through, but perhaps we went a longer way and were slower than others, as our suitcases had been taken off the belt by the time we arrived in the luggage hall.

The other three had planned to stay in the Gatwick hotel but I wanted to get home. I missed the 8:15 coach to Oxford by about 2 minutes, so sat in Costa with some coffee and food and waited for the 9:15 coach. This got me to Oxford just before 11pm, leaving me at a bus stop about 10 metres from my local bus. Wonderful. I was home by 11:15. That really suited me. Sue returned the next day and I collected her by car from the local Park and Ride.

Kotor (Montenegro)

Thursday 29^th August

It was lovely to have the clocks put forward for this day, seeing it was an early start. Our tender ticket had us leaving the ship at 8:30!

The part of Kotor that we visited is a pedestrian area, the old town dating back to the 12^th and 13^th centuries. It was beautiful. The whole time we kept saying how much we wished we had more time there. (The ship arrived at 7am and departed at 1pm.) It was a town for wandering. We could have gone on an open top bus tour for 2 hours, and that would have been wonderful, but there was no time. I would have enjoyed going on a boat tour to see the tiny islands, but again there was no time. However, we greatly enjoyed our wandering. We were amazed at how tiny it was, and how quickly we could walk across it. We were frustrated, though, when we tried to find one particular spot, the river gate. We asked the locals and were directed in three right turns, so ended up back in sight of where we had started! We set off and asked again and finally found it, just a few steps away from where we had been. Kotor is full of narrow alleys and winding lanes, and the instruction to ‘Turn right’ only takes you twenty steps before another instruction is needed.

Almost wherever you go in Kotor, the mountains loom over you. You catch frequent glimpses between the houses. It is amazing to see just how narrow are the strips of land on which all the towns and villages are built.

The queue for the tenders was quite long, but at least we were not on the last one.

Back on board the ship, we rushed through our lunch and then headed out on deck to take photos as the ship sailed out. Kotor is at the end of what looks like a fjord, but technically is not one as it was formed by a river, not by ice. It takes about 90 minutes to sail out to sea. (Some members of our group had got up early enough to film our arrival, but I had looked out the window at 6am and seen heavy fog so had stayed in bed for another hour!)

Being the last day, we had to organise ourselves and pack for going home. Of course we had a last afternoon tea and snaffled some cookies to eat the next day.

The cases had to be left outside our door before going to bed (any time before 2am - mine was out at 10:30). I had some trouble with the luggage label, as I did not feel the instructions on it were very clear. In the end I disregarded their instructions as I could see the label could fall off if I did it their way.

Cephalonia

Wednesday 28^th August

It was another early morning, as we did not have too long in port (departing 2pm so on board by 1:30). We met at 9am and walked off the ship shortly thereafter.

We had been told that this was a beautiful town, but at first all I could see was tourist tat! We looked in a few shops and then decided it was time to see more of the island (largest island in the Ionian Sea and sixth largest island of Greece). We took a ride on the tourist road train. It was advertised as taking 25 minutes but we were only on it for 17 minutes! At least it showed us around the town and let us see the main square and the main shopping street, for later reference.

We walked along the harbour to see fishermen selling their catch, and managed to see a few friendly sea turtles swimming around the boats and occasionally rising to the surface to breathe.

Next we attempted to find a taxi to see as much of the island as we could in an hour. The first taxi explained that his licence only allowed him to drive in the town, not in the country. Others were obviously not interested, one of them quoting €150 for the tour! Eventually we found a taxi with a fantastic driver who had lived in Alaska for 10 years and who was obviously a deep thinker. We had a lot of discussion about the political situation of Greece and the world as we drove around, seeing the spectacular coastline and finishing up at Saint George’s fort, an old Venetian fort. He explained that the 6 Greek islands that were not taken over by Turkey (Ottoman Empire) were very different from the rest of Greece in terms of architecture and attitude.

After our ride we wandered through the shopping centre, finding a shop with good jewellery at half price. The others made multiple purchases but unfortunately I could not find anything to suit my needs. We set off for the ship at about 1pm, finding it a longer walk than we remembered. Wadia set off in the opposite direction as he wanted to buy some figs at the local market. He found that to be further away than he remembered, and the rest of us were panicking when it was almost 1:30 and Wadia was still not in sight. We thought we had the distinction of being last up the gangway, but then another family arrived after us!

We just had time for a late lunch before rushing out on deck to take photos as the ship sailed away.

At dinner, dessert was preceded by the Parade of the Baked Alaska, and a small parade of chefs for us to show our thanks. The evening was billed as formal, but I felt I was over-dressed in my black sequinned dress. I’m glad I didn’t pack my long skirt!