Month: July 2024

Posted on

Seadream: Dining in the Setting Sun

29th July, Durrës, a port in Albania.

After the adrenaline rush of my boat ride in Kotor I decided today was one for taking it easy. I treated myself to a leisurely morning with breakfast in my cabin. All my favourite fruits are available so I am enjoying my breakfast very much.

my breakfast in my room.

I was toying with going with the tender into Duress, but the bleak look of the port and the fact that people were returning very quickly persuaded me that staying put was a better option.

The Port of Durres in Albania

as it was such a lovely evening, if rather hot, it was decided that passengers should dine in the Topside Deck Restaurant. The warm breeze offered perfect conditions for comfortable dining. I had been invited by Nick, the future cruises manager, to dine with him and other passengers. We were allocated a table at the back of deck Five, where the topside restaurant is located. It was perfect for the breeze .

There was a remarkable sunset that evening, the heat haze creating an orange glow.

I hadn’t met any of the guests before, so it was a nice way of mingling.

Tomorrow we are heading for Fiskardo in Greece. We were instructed to put our watches an hour ahead at 2am. As I was hoping to be sound asleep by that time I did mine on retiring.

Posted on

Sightseeing in Kotor by Speed boat

Sunday 28th July, 2024

In my previous post I wrote about the first part of my trip from Kotor. After enjoying Our Lady of the Rocks we sped off to a big cave where submarines hid away from the enemy. The entrance was well camouflaged. And it was really long.

Following on from this we stopped to look at a World War II prison camp. Apparently it has now been turned into a luxury hotel.

From there it was full steam ahead to the blue cave where some of the passengers were going swimming. It was an amazing blue and even the ceiling had this vivid blue colour. The passengers swimming made the most of the beautiful clear, warm water, it were restricted to twenty minutes swimming..

As the next trip was at 3.00pm the driver was keen to get back so off we went at full throttle. I really enjoyed my adventure, but was thrown as to wear to exit

Posted on

Sea Dream II

July 27

Sea Dream II is classed as a yacht. The Crewe are wonderful,; nothing is too much trouble. The Captain is Norwegian and the others from a wide variety of places. There are currently 103 passengers on board, so it is a quite intimate number. Sea Dream has staterooms rather than cabins. They are very roomy and well equipped.

my bathroom

my stateroom

We set sail from Dubrovnik and after unpacking and hanging up the majority of my clothes I went upstairs to explore what was on offer. Champagne is included in the overall cost so I’ve been making the most of that. The first dinner was great and I started to meet fellow guests.

We were advised by the activities manager to get up early the following morning and admire the scenery as we sailed into Kotor in Montenegro, so that was what I planned to do.

Sailing into Kotor

28th July, 2024.

As advised, I arose early, dressed and made my way to the top deck.
Kotor is in Montenegro . I was struck by how hilly it is, limiting habitation to a narrow strip around the bay. It was quite mesmerising watching the sun gradually ascend from behind the hills.

Approaching Kotor in Montenegro in the early morning.

The pilot boat guided us into our docking spot in the Old Port.

I had booked myself on a three hour tour on a speed boat. It was taking in four touristic places, which involved going at great speed in between. I certainly enjoyed the adrenaline rush!!!

Our first stop was at Our Lady of the Rocks. The legend has it that a sailor found an icon of OurLady in the rocks. There after it protected him from being shipwrecked She became the protector of seamen. It was decided to build a chapel in her honour on the spot where her image was found My guide told me they sank 106 ships to build an artificial island. Then the chapel was built on top. All in all it took two centuries to complete.

As with most legends others become part of it. There are a number of icons and beautiful art works inside. The most valuable is a work of embroidery, which took 25 years to complete. It is about a woman who waited 25 years for her husband to return. She embroidered with extremely fine silks and threads of her own hair, hence as with the passage of time her hair became grey and the characters in the embroidery have grey hair. It is very beautiful.

It was certainly worth the visit.

Posted on

An adventure on Sea Dream II

From Dubrovnik to Pireneas Athens.

High on my hit list of exciting voyages is going through the Corinth Canal. This was something my late husband was keen for me to do. I originally booked with Fred Olsen, but COVID then a land slide in the canal and finally the sale of Fred Olsen’s smallest boat put paid to this. Around a year ago I received an email from them offering the opportunity to do a similar itinerary with Sea Dream Yacht Club. It was more expensive than my original itinerary;, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. My itinerary included two days stay in Dubrovnik where I boarded Sea Dream II.

Thursday 25th July

I flew from Manchester airport to Dubrovnik airport after a very early start. I was greeted by my taxi driver, who took me to a hotel, not in Dubrovnik itself, but 22 kilometres away at the opposite end of the bay. When I found I could easily get to Dubrovnik by water taxi, my misgivings were allayed. Cavtat has the most beautiful crystal clear water and the hotel was excellent.

Across the road is a bar and restaurant. In the early evening the cicadas begin to sing. The water is so clear you can see the stones on the bottom. A section is roped off with buoys where people can swim safely without fear of intrusion by boats. I found it an incredibly relaxing place to sit and chill.

Cavtat near Dubrovnik

Thursday 26th July

At noon on this day I had booked a walking tour through the Old Town. I booked tickets for the river taxi at 10am, allowing myself sufficient time to find the meeting time with my guide. Although we were 20 metres apart the rendezvous was somewhat fraught, but we eventually made contact. Our guide was excellent with a rich wealth of knowledge about the history of Dubrovnik. He was also quite an actor and the situation for young girls who had been taken advantage of and fallen pregnant were able to leave there babies without anyone knowing. There was even a system to reclaim them after a number of years had elapsed.

I noticed a number a number of similarities between Dubrovnik and Venetian political systems, so wasn’t surprised to learn that the Venetians occupied Dubrovnik as part of their history. The buildings in Dubrovnik Old Town are magnificent. The Old Town is amazingly clean. The tour was very worthwhile, but it was very hot and crowded, so immediately after the end of the tour I caught my river taxi back to Cavtat.

our guide.in Dubrovnik

clean streets with gutters to take the excess water.