Cres

Our run of bad luck seems to be continuing, first of all we joined the cruise, not at the start, but at its first stop as we could only leave Split at midday as we had to wait for two other couples coming up from Dubrovnik.

Then the Captain had to change the itinerary (do the trip in reverse order, miss some swimming stops etc) due to high winds, rough seas, and … well crappy weather (cold, overcast and raining). Meanwhile … down in the Split area where we were meant to be – 29 degrees and sunny skies.

Our first stop was Cres (pronounced nothing like you’d imagine) and miraculously the rain stopped about 30 seconds after getting off the boat but it was still quite windy. It’s a lovely little place and we took a walk along the shore to the opening of the harbour. En route we came across quite a few beaches that were protected from the wind and had the most beautiful, clear, blue water.

All quite lovely, no loungers and beach umbrellas and no paying and reserving spots like you-know-where. Which reminds me – the hotel in Alberobello which I chose because it had a pool … we had to reserve a spot and pay to use the pool!! I think we can safely say, I’ve made a decision regarding paying for beaches and pools.

What Jarrah did find quite disturbing was a lady stripping off her bikini as we approached to go swimming in the sea naked. She was about 70yrs old, so not the most appealing sight. 🙂

Had dinner at a lovely little restaurant on the harbour where they brought us a complimentary drink at the end of our meal. Was absolutely delicious … turns out it was pear liqueur (Kruskovac). And then we were treated to a lovely sunset before going back to the boat for the night.

Speaking of the boat, we’re on a lovely new one, not a huge big cruise liner (what I like to call “Floating RSLs”), but a boat (ship?) that has about 18 cabins (but there are only about 26 of us on this cruise) and our twin is bigger than some hotel rooms we’ve stayed in (Munich) and the shower is one of the biggest we’ve had since the Airbnbs in Central America. The boat is only about a year old (cost around Є3 million if anyone is interested) and owned by a family. The crew of 10 are all lovely and we have breakfast and a three course lunch on board every day (I’m never weighing myself again). Then we do our own thing for dinner on shore in whichever place we are moored for the night (all nights are spent in port). There is also a sun-deck with loungers … that you don’t have to reserve or pay for (although that doesn’t stop a certain nationality from reserving loungers with their towels as they are infamous for doing … they have even come prepared with special giant-sized clothes pegs to stop the towels from blowing off FFS!!! And there are more loungers than there are people!!!) There is also a jacuzzi/hot tub on board … all quite horrible really 🙂