6/2 Koper, Slovenia, Part I

Ah, today is not so lovely.  Skies are overcast and threatening, and it’s a tad chillier than Italy. Oh well, we have a car today and plan to explore as much as we can within it’s comfy, warm environ. 

We’re off the ship at first call and head off toward the address we have for the car rental place. After a couple of false starts, we find the address only to find that another rental car agency is located there.  We ask if they know where Avis is located, and of course, are not helpful.  We then asked if they had any cars, and of course, they tried to tell us they only had a BMW convertible.  Bye bye!

Out on the street, we called Avis and they said, stay right there, we will pick you up.  3 minutes later, here they come and off we go to get our car.  We had made the reservations so long ago that the office had moved in the meantime and we didn’t know!  Thank heavens for cell phones (even at $2.49 a minute!). 

All signed up and organized we hop in our little car, complete with GPS (yay), and head out onto the highway and up into the Alps. The roads are fabulous – better then in the states!  The only slightly confusing thing are the tolls.  Tolls?  No tolls?  You come up to the tolls and the signs seem to indicate that only buses and trucks pay (it’s all a pictograph, so…who knows?) and on the lanes themselves, there are pictures of cars in the left lanes and trucks/buses in the right lanes.  we follow the cars and whip through the unmanned toll booths.  this will either be a bonus, or a very expensive driving tour!

Up into the mountains we go, through the mist and the fog.  We reach Bled, the little alpine village, after about an hour and a half.  This is the most adorable little place.  Situated around a beautiful lake, with a castle up on a high bluff overlooking the town, Bled felt like a beautiful little place to spend a day or two.  Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury on this trip, so we tried to soak up as much of the ambience as we could in the time we had. We walked around the lake, taking pictures of the little boats that would row you out to the island in the middle, the wedding party getting ready to get onto the boats, then sat at a cool place called “the devil” and warmed up with cappuccinos.  Fun!

		Bled VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We had to drag ourselves away from this cute little place – we were actually only a few kilometers from Austria, and we really wanted to go cross the border, but knowing we had to get back down to sea level, we headed south toward the capital city of Ljubljana, our next stop.  And, our next blog entry….dividing this entry into sections so we can get it posted!

Stay tuned….

6/1 Ravenna, Italy

Beautiful sunny day again today.  No plans, once again, just strolling the old town and looking at all the Mosaics. We bought the shuttle passes (argh, at least this port we are 25 minutes away from town, so $14 each isn’t that ugly…but…it’s the principle thing….) and were on the first shuttle into town.  Smooth as silk.

It’s a great medieval town, all block and cobblestones and famous for their glass mosaics.  Even the street signs were done with Mosaic!

We aren’t typical cathedral goers, but this town was the exception. We wandered through the main square, then headed out to the Basilica di San Vitale and the Galla Placidia, two of the more renowned places for the mosaics. We bought a combo ticket for those and 3 other  places for 11.50 euros and began our tour. 

Basilica de San Vitale VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The mosaics were amazing. Such detail.  Such artistry.  Simply beautiful.  It’s incredible how someone could have the talent and the patience to do this.  Beautiful!  the most spectacular though, was the Galla Placidia.  It’s a small unassuming little building behind the Basilica, but the mosaics within were the most beautiful and intricate of everything that we saw throughout the day.

		Galla Placidia VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Outside, we wandered the back streets of the town, just exploring and soaking up the Italian warmth (both culturally and temperature-wise).  Next stop was the Battistero Neoniano – an ancient Roman bath that was converted into a Baptistery.  Small, but interesting.  More marble than mosaic, but still cool!

		Battistero Neoniano VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We circled back around the town, passing Dante’s tomb…

…then back into the main square which was now bustling with people.  We stopped for a snack at a local deli type place – had panini but in pita bread. Odd but good nonetheless. Then we continued our tour to the last Basilica – Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo.  A gorgeous old structure, just as interesting on the outside as on the inside!

		Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuove VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Now mosaic’ed out, we head back to the shuttle bus for an afternoon of rest on the ship!  Next stop – Slovenia!

5/31 Venice Sail Away

Happy Birthday to Ed – celebrating with a full day in Venice and then sailing out past San Marco and all of Venezia – probably one of the most magical things you can do! Great BD present!

The day went by more quickly than we’d thought – we stayed on the ship in the morning just getting caught up, organizing and relaxing. Then went out in the afternoon for wi-fi and blog uploading.

Back aboard we scooted up to the 12th deck in front of the gym to watch the sailaway.  Gorgeous day, warm with a good cool breeze and we really had the deck mostly to ourselves. It’s sort of hidden, so not too many people know about it.   

And sail away we did…..

		Venice Sail Away VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Night time falls and we fall into our normal cruise ship routine…drinks at the Captain’s Club, dinner, show, then bed.  This cruise is the every day port cruise, no late nights for us for the next 13 nights!