Paul & Libby's World of Travel » Croatia

Photos — Europe (2010)

Paul — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:00:02 +0000

Yet. More. Photos!!!

I’m starting to get caught up. I’ve managed to post the photos from last summer’s trip to Italy, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Slovenia!

Here’s the link to the photo album:

Europe (2010), HAL Nieuw Amsterdam (Venice Roundtrip)

Cruise Day #6 — Split, Croatia

Paul — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:30:01 +0000

This morning we dropped anchor offshore of Split, Croatia. Tendering operations began around 8am, and Libby and I were ashore by 9:00. On the tender, we met a couple of nice people from Texas… one of whom was also disappointed about missing San Marino (she’s also interested in hitting 100 countries, current count = 68). In any case, they too are going to try to get to Slovenia somehow tomorrow.

The tender dropped us off at a pier in the middle of the historic city center of Split, directly opposite Diocletian’s Palace. Unlike the ruins of antiquity that we have seen at many ports on the cruise, Diocletian’s Palace has been used, maintained, and ‘modernized’ over the centuries. As a result, it’s something of a hodgepodge of architectural styles and periods. For example, Diocletian’s mausoleum was turned into the city’s cathedral. And, in an ironic twist, the bishop–who Diocletian had executed while persecuting Christians–now rests there (while Diocletian’s own remains are nowhere to be found).

After doing Rick Steves’ suggested self-guided walking tour of Split, we spent a couple of additional hours just exploring the historic city center and Riva (waterfront). We’d hoped to hit one or more of the town’s art museums, but being Monday most were closed.

We returned to the ship in the early afternoon for lunch. We ate in the main dining room today. Service was a bit slow (not that we were in a rush), but the food was decent or better. After lunch, we took a nap… which was a treat.

Tonight is formal night #2, which probably means the Lido again or just room service. We had zero interest in doing the ‘formal night’ thing, because really that’s just an added hassle for a vacation such as this one.

Tomorrow is Trieste and (hopefully) Slovenia!

I’ll end with a picture of Split — this is the cathedral located in Diocletian’s Palace:

One week and counting…

Paul — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:10:24 +0000

I’m writing this aboard a Delta Airline’s flight. This is my final business trip before our vacation next week. I have to say: this vacation has been a long time in coming. It will be our first time back to Europe in about 15 months. That’s probably not long by most standards, but it’s an eternity by that of Paul & Libby, World of Travelers.

We have countries to visit!

I’m excited about Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania. I can’t say that I really have well formed expectations. I don’t. However, that’s usually a recipe for travel success (e.g., our first visit to Prague). Most of all, I’m excited about the prospect of spending a week with Libby seeing the world. I think we could give up most “luxuries” in life… but not travel. We’re simply too passionate about it.

In more practical terms, I’m doing the usual “mad dash” to get ready to go. I think we have things largely in order… both for us and for Emerson. But, I expect the remainder of the week and weekend to be utterly hectic.

Two weeks and counting…

Paul — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:00:03 +0000

We’re off to Venice in two weeks from today!

And then we’ll be on the brand new Nieuw Amsterdam (actually the 4th Nieuw Amsterdam in HAL’s history) for her (semi-)inaugural sailing. I say “semi” because she starts a 10-day cruise three days ahead of us. We’re embarking later on the shorter 7-day sailing in order to limit the time away from Emerson. Sadly, we’ll miss calling at Dubrovnik. But, on the bright side, we’ll visit Split in Croatia instead.

We’re excited to go but utterly unprepared! C’est la vie.