Ooompah!
Off to Venice’s Marco Polo airport early this morning to get our daughter off on her flight home and our flight back to Munich where we began this journey. In Munich we are staying at he Kempinski Hotel Airport to make sure we have a relaxed, no pressure exit for our flight home in the morning.
Once we landed, we dropped off our luggage and, since we are now experts at the European train system, we hopped on the S-8 Bahn into the center of town. We spent about an hour riding around (in the open-air second level) one of the Hop-On buses to show Mom the sights. Munich is pretty torn up at the moment, many of the historical buildings are being renovated and the subway system is being enhanced. It was actually hard for the bus to get around a few spots. Apparently this work is in support of the city’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
We ended up in the Old Town at the Marienplatz, walked around a bit and then over to the Hofbräuhaus for an early dinner. As expected, the place was packed, the music was good and the mix of locals in costumes and Saturday evening tourist-crowd was a sight to see. We stayed inside, since the smokers were out in force in the garden portion of the restaurant. It was fun and we had a very satisfying, if totally unhealthy and excessive, meal.
A prominent slogan above the oompah band at the Hofbräuhaus translates to: “Thirst is worse than homesickness.” At this point I can safely say, our thirst is quenched and we are all ready to get back home.
In Saint Justus cathedral.
This morning we are back in Italy, in Trieste, a town I knew very little about. It turns out this city was under Austrian rule for many years (in the 1300s, city fathers cut a deal to avoid Venetian domination), so it’s an interesting hybrid city complete with a wide variety of religious denominations and a coffee-house culture. Restaurants have pasta and sauerkraut. A key fact to discover for me, was to learn Maximilian and crazy Carlotta were from Trieste before they attempted to rule Mexico. Their home (palace), Maramare Castle is a big attraction here.
We took a panoramic bus tour so we could see some of the local sights starting with the city’s central Piazza dell’Unita d’Italia. We drove along the coast and saw miles of sunbathers lounging on cement sea walls and suburban villas with lovely sea views and lush landscaping. Interestingly, James Joyce spent some serious time here before being driven out by the advent of WWI.
A few centuries ago, the Roman’s occupied this area and we saw some ruins including an ancient amphitheater built strategically along the original shore to take advantage of the wind influence to enhance acoustics. We visited the cathedral dedicated to Saint Justus (on San Giusto Hill), and saw the beautiful mosaics inside, as well as how two different churches had been combined into one. Views of the city from the Hill were terrific.
There are many newer buildings from the 50’s due to necessary post-war construction; this area was heavily bombed. Older buildings have been restored, keeping the historical buildings in this seafaring crossroads true to form. Originally the first floors were for storage and built out of stone with higher than average ceilings for maximum space.
Everyone here drives motor-scooters: old, young, moms taking kids to school, friends riding holding their crutches, women dressed in long skirts, shorts, etc, but all wearing helmets and zipping along.
My husband took a walk around town in the afternoon, exploring on his own and eventually working his way onto an Italian tall ship used to train upcoming naval officers. Today it was involved in some sort of ceremonial event with the Italian navy, politicians and other military personnel. He just joined a large group and toured the ship, masquerading as an Italian guest . . . only he could pull that off.
We had another delicious dinner on board the Azamara Quest before packing our bags for the journey home.
First sight when tendering at Korcula Town.
Today was so relaxing. Korcula Town was our shortest port stop, and after a beautiful tender ride to the island, we decided to just leisurely walk around. Korcula is a delightful spot, much less crowded than Dubrovnik, very clean and seemingly very low-key.
This city has lovely, but incomplete walls, and their claim to fame is as the alleged birth place of Marco Polo. I say “alleged” because both Venice and Genoa make the same claim. In any case, Korcula is going with the theory, restoring his home, claiming spots he dines, and offering a large Marco Polo gift shop. Who knows, this area was under Venetian rule, and Marco Polo was captured by the Genoese in 1298. Today, this spot is clearly a beach resort filled with shady cafes, sun-worshipers and those who love playing in the sea.
Back on the Azamara Quest at midday, we saw hundreds of wind surfers and kite surfers off the starboard side of the ship. They looked like glistening butterflies on the water – it was an incredible sight.
We lunched by the pool and had a generally relaxing afternoon on board – each pursuing our own diversions . . . at least two of us were ‘big’ casino winners (at blackjack and the husband winning his second Texas Hold’ Em poker tournament!)
Today was a perfect ending to our visit in the beautiful country of Croatia.
The Azamara Quest on the Adriatic at Korcula.
View of Lovrijenac Fortress from the top of the walled city of Dubrovnik.
Can water get bluer; weather cooler; and medieval towns more magnificent? Apparently so- Dubrovnik’s Old Town is like Kotor on steroids . . . . amazing. Even the crowds were on steroids – they seemed to have multiplied ten-fold; not surprising since Dubrovnik is a port many of the larger ships visit, and there were three ships in port today.
Our scheduled tour was canceled today, so we did a self-tour of the ancient walled town and had a lovely, delicious lunch on the waterfront of the Old Harbour (at the perfectly located Arsenal Taverna).
The amazing thing about Dubrovnik’s Old Town is the wall has been completely restored surrounding the entire city. The first sight is of the walls and ramparts which at 6,363’ long, up to 82’ high and as much as 20’ thick in places are like nothing I have ever seen. It is all much larger than imagined, by far the largest of the medieval towns we have visited. You can imagine how this city flourished as a self-governed city-state and important shipping center for hundreds of years. You do have to buy a ticket to go up on top of the walls, but it is worth every kuna.
Now another UNESCO site, the walls are magnificent. We entered through the main Pile Gate, walking over what used to be a moat and a drawbridge, now placed permanently in the down position, to join the thousands of other tourists visiting for the day. We saw the Big Fountain of Onofrio at the entrance and Onofio’s Little Fountain near the Harbour; walked the Stradun filled with shops hawking pricey souvenirs; took pictures beside the mysterious Orlando’s Column (Orlando might have been an 8th century legendary knight who fought off pirates and saved the city); and saw the requisite clock tower, domes, palaces, monasteries and churches that make every medieval city complete.
All the crowds brought to mind what it must’ve been like in the 14th and 15th centuries when the city was thriving, and most of the population would live, work and do business within the walls. I can only imagine what it must’ve smelled like back then.
But in this city, the best of all was walking on the walls. My daughter and I made it half-way around before deciding if we didn’t catch the shuttle back to the ship we would miss our spa appointments,and my husband gets the prize for completing the entire circuit. We started at the tower called Minčeta Fort and also saw Bokar and St. John’s Fort. From the Bokar Fort we had a good view of the Lovrijenac fortress on a nearby point across the water. The dramatic view down to the rocky Adriatic Sea is interspersed with places to eat, private swimming areas and other spots where people have chosen to picnic and swim from the craggy rocks (no beach in sight). It looked pretty frightening to me.
The evening was spent dining under the stars and listening to the Azamara Quest’s great musicians and singers perform hits from the 70s and 80s.
If I was looking for a knight in Kotor, I would expect no less than a few dozen in the Old Town of Dubrovnik.
