Sizing up Split - November 2, 2017

What will be one of the lasting impressions of our time in Croatia was a chance encounter with a band of black-clad men, in an Split alleyway, on the morning of November 2, 2017. We were hopelessly outnumbered. We would not leave this confrontation without having to reach for our wallets.

It wasn't sinister after all, it was a wonderful group of Croat men singing acapella and selling CDs on the side. Mrs. Gym and I bumped into the group of men in a domed area not far from the cathedral. There was about 10 of them singing away in Croatian and it sounded great, even though we couldn't understand a word. We liked their music so much..... we bought their CD. I'm sure we will pull it out and play it in our well-used CD player, at our next Croatian-themed party back home.

It had been a clear morning when we docked in Split, not far from Diocletian's Palace. Diocletian built the palace here in Split when he retired as Emperor of Rome. Of all the beautiful places in the Roman Empire he could have picked to retire in, he picked Split, Croatia. Today, Diocletian's Palace is said to be the world's best preserved Roman palace and it and the area around it, is a must-see. If it was good enough for a Roman Emperor, it was good enough for Gym.

We would  explore the palace later that morning but first we traveled out away from the marina and into the suburbs. We were to tour the Mestrovic Gallery, located in a chichi residential area, west of the marina. To get there, we drove underneath Marjan Park, through the 870 meter-long Marjanski Tunnel. Ivan Metrovic's former home and workshop is now a museum, housing many of his greatest works. We checked out the gallery laid out on two massive floors inside the house and also found a number of sculptures in the very impressive front garden which faces the sea. The area around the gallery is comparable to many upscale, seaside neighbourhoods in North America but reminds me of most of the Oak Bay district in Victoria, British Columbia.

After checking out Mestrovic's artwork we headed back to the centre of town and walked along the picturesque promenade in front of Diocletian's Palace. The promenade is home to many seaside restaurants and shops, some of which are built into the base of the old palace. We entered the palace in the basement, through a classic roman arch that was part of the palace's foundation. There are shops there now between the arches but during the middle ages this space was used as a dump. When they cleaned out the garbage that had been thrown away over the centuries, they found some very well-preserved artifacts that are now on display in museums up above.

When we climbed out of the basement of the palace, we emerged near the cathedral. Much of what was around us was built on the "bones" of the original roman structure, renovated through the centuries, to fit the needs of the people of the day. The Cathedral of Saint Domnius is the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world that is still in use as such. It was actually built by the Romans as Diocletian's mausoleum. Ironically, after Diocletian, the early christian population turned it into a cathedral named after a Bishop of Dalmatia, that was martyred by Diocletian. It is small for a cathedral but impressive because of the mixture of classical and romanesque architectural styles.

After exploring Diocletian's Palace, we had lunch about 10 blocks away in a nice Croatian pub. It was fun to try 3 varietals of Croatian wine with our meal, that was served family-style in a cozy establishment, not too far from the marina. We walked back to the ship past a local beach where a large group of guys were playing some kind of water sport in the shallow water and other adults were supervising young waders who were still enjoying a warm Adriatic Sea. That evening we pulled out of the harbour and turned north as we passed the island of Solta. We would be in Venice in the morning.

Ivan Metrovic's self portrait. He was a very prolific
artist in several art forms.

Metrovic's pieta with his son as Jesus and himself as Mary. His wayward son's addictions and
his suicide had a profound impact on the artist. Some of the sorrow comes out in this work. 

In the garden, a beautiful figure from antiquity

Metrovic's mansion which became his museum

strolling down the promenade in front of Diocletian's Palace

A Croatian feline friend 

Entering the palace from the "basement"
where shops are snuggly situated
 between the roman arches
that hold up the palace.

St. Domnius Bell Tower attached to the old Roman mausoleum of
Diocletian. You can see the juxtaposition of the classical Roman arches and the
 Romanesque Tower added centuries later. 

Roman art still survives in what used to be the palace but is now a warren of
museums, cafes and even some residences.

The Roman mausoleum looks nothing like a Catholic cathedral.

a Roman olive press in the bowels of the palace, now a museum

The St. Domnius Bell Tower dominates the old palace  skyline.

The Crusafix hangs at the base of a grand Roman  dome in St. Domnius.

The Cathedral is small but still very impressive 

A public work of art by Ivan Metrovic in Jupiter's Temple,
(down a narrow alley from the cathedral). The early christians used the
temple for baptisms and Metrovic's statue is a likeness
of St. John the Baptist.

Beaches not far from the old town centre

our next stop

Making it to Montenegro - November 1, 2017

Neither Gym or his lovely wife knew what to expect in Montenegro or Croatia, the next two ports of call. We were pleasantly surprised in both these countries. The weird thing was that just 25 years ago, Croatia was at war with Montenegro and it was a nasty little spat. In 1992, these two mostly christian countries were at each others throats, shelling and bombing each other's cities and doing lots of crumby things to each other's citizens. Gym saw no evidence of the war in either country and found the citizens equally charming and welcoming. However, just to be on the safe side, Gym let Mrs. Gym lead the way in both these countries, just in case there were any lingering landmines.

If we had flown in to Montenegro, it wouldn't have been the same. If you have never been to this country before, the best way to arrive in Montenegro is to sail into the Bay of Kotor. This picturesque bay is 28 kilometres long and is very much like a fjord but is technically a sunken river-valley. Like fjords though, the Bay of Kotor is framed by steep mountains on both sides that merge with the water at a steep angle. Beautiful little whitewashed villages and towns cling to these steep shorelines. Each settlement has at least two tall churches painted white, like the other buildings and all the buildings have red roofs. Due to the steep sides of the valley, a town or village may only have 2 or 3 streets paralleling the shore. As we slowly cruised in, we passed small fishing boats trolling between these settlements, alongside the ship.

Then abruptly at the end of the bay, we docked beside the medieval, walled city of Kotor. Kotor is the icing on the cake, of the Bay of Kotor.  Like Corfu, it owes much of its architectural style to the Venetians. It is very cool. Most of Kotor was built between the 15th and 17th centuries when the Venetians were in charge and it was built to keep the Ottoman turks out. The turks were always an issue for the people of Kotor and especially in 1538 and 1637 during which the city was besieged. Both of those major sieges were repelled by the Venetian-backed defenders.

After getting off the ship, we would not initially explore Kotor, as we picked a tour that had us take a little spin around Montenegro, before coming back to Kotor later in the day. We were led by a guide named Bogdan, a very animated young man who told us we could call him "Bob". I would place Bob at around 25 years of age so he had not experienced the war. The first part of Bob's tour was a little hairy. Don't do this tour if you have a problem with motion sickness or heights. Immediately after getting off the ship and onto the bus, we climbed the P1 - Kotor to Cetinje "highway". It is an infamous two-way road, with only one lane. It abruptly climbs up the Orjen mountain range behind Kotor, to a height of about 1000 meters above sea level. There are 30 hairpin turns that we wheeled around before stopping to finally get out and see the view. So, one might ask, what about oncoming traffic? Yes, there was some! As we climbed up, zig-zagging around the hairpins, we came head on with several cars that were going down. They had to stop and back up around the previous hairpin to let us pass. It was quite the thing to witness. Mrs. Gym was ready to jump but we hung onto her and made it safely to the top. The view was spectacular.

In Cetinje, we toured the Royal Palace of King Nikola. Nikola lived in the palace for more than 50 years. It was the seat of the Montenegrin Royal Family from 1867 to 1916. Although it is no castle, it is a massive structure which is now a museum that has several impressive reception rooms and bedrooms enough for the royal couple and their 12 children. Not only was Nikola a productive father, it was said that he was the father-in-law of Europe because 5 of his daughters were married to princes or kings of other European countries. Nicola was also famous for routing the Ottomans in a war from 1876-78. In one room of the palace several captured turk battle flags are on display.

Fortunately, we didn't have to return to Kotor on the P-1. Instead, we descended back to sea level on the highway to Budva. Budva is a modern seaside city that is the anchor of the so-called Budva Riviera, the centre of Montenegro's touristy area. We didn't stop here. The bus continued on a long loop back to Kotor which ended with us traveling back into the valley of the Bay of Kotor, via a long tunnel that terminated on the outskirts of the walled city. There we accompanied Bob on foot and he led us on a walking tour of that tidy little fortified city, tucked underneath the Orjen mountains. It is a place Gym wants to go back to someday to explore at his leisure.

We reboarded the ship and left the Bay of Kotor in the dark. Kotor and the defensive walls that were built in a semi-circle up the mountain, are all lit up at night. It is a breathtaking sight.

looking back towards the Adriaticfrom the Bay of Kotor

a beauty of a village clinging to the shore

looking down on the Bay of Kotor from the top of the P-1

Oceania gets the best parking spot

survivor of the P-1

the viewpoint where we were served a Montenegrin wine 

Nikola's Royal Palace

Bob

quaint narrow streets of Kotor

Venetian architecture

an orthodox church

another church built way up the mountain to save Kotor from the plague

cool stone streets

a Roman Catholic Church

Kotor at night, as we pulled away

Convening in Corfu

Corfu would be our third and last stop in Greece. Corfu is an island in the northwestern most part of the country. If you like to study history, Corfu is the place to hang out. You have everything from ancient Greek naval battles to multiple Ottoman sieges.  Because Corfu was successful in repulsing all of the Ottoman sieges, funding poured in from the rest of Europe to further strengthen and develop the fortifications. And today, tourists can enjoy exploring those cool castles. Gym and Mrs. Gym would only scratch the surface in a single day.

We had booked a short tour but were going to cover lot of ground. The first thing we did after we disembarked at the dock in Corfu was to pass through the city and travel about 10 kilometres up the hill, to the Achilleion Palace. There were two notable former owners of this impressive property and both were important royals in Europe at the turn of the 19th Century. Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, built the palace beginning in 1888 and spent time there until she was assassinated in 1898. She was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I who ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 68 years.  The second owner was Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, who bought it from Elisabeth's family in 1907. The famous Kaiser can be said to have helped bring on WWI. Both owners left their mark on the property and much original artwork and personal belongings from both owners can be viewed there today. Gym and Mrs Gym were most impressed with the statues of Achilles in the gardens and the ornate wooden furniture that was designed for Elisabeth.

the gardens of Achilleion

This is one of several pieces of artwork where Achillies is the subject.
It is a true masterpiece showing the agonizing death of our hero who has
beed hit in the ankle by a poison arrow.

The palace which served as a casino for a while before it was a museum, also served as
a set for the James Bond movie, "For Your Eyes Only".

A life size statue of Elisabeth of Bavaria
who is said to have been over 6 feet tall.
Amazingly she maintained a 20-inch
waist even after having a son.

Mrs. Gym found the current owner of the palace
who was very friendly, arching her back and kneading the  cement.

The second statue of Achilles was donated by the Kaiser
and this one is not life size. It is 10 meters tall overlooking the sea.

This is part of the cool stuff the Kaiser left behind.
The model ship is the Kaiser's yacht  that he used to get to Corfu.
It had a very large crew and apparently to be a member of the
crew you had to be able to play a musical instrument

Elisabeth left the most amazing set of bedroom furniture.
Each piece featured  hand-carved wooden decoration including
the face of Medusa to ward off evil. 

After checking out the palace, we drove down to sea level and back towards the city. Before climbing back up into the city the road came to a stop light where it passed the end of the runway for the Corfu International Airport. Apparently, if a plane is taking off or landing while you are about to cross the end of the runway you get a red light so you don't get landing gear messing up your wax job.

Looking back on the cruise ship from above the airport

It was warm and sunny when we came to the last part of the guide's itinerary, a walking tour of the medieval city centre. The centre of the old city of Corfu is where you see some really cool narrow streets paved with well-worn, marble paving stones. The streets are lined with Venitian-style three and four story houses hewed out of native stone and adorned with balconies and tile roofs. There are many churches in town but the coolest one is the Church of St. Spiridon. It has the tallest bell tower in the Ionian Islands and contains the remains of St. Spiridon himself. It is a very beautiful church on the inside but is rather unassuming on the outside except for the bell tower. Gym and Mrs. Gym did not get enough time to fully explore this historic part of the city and were not able to check out the fortresses that protect it. We will have to come back.

bridge from the old town to the Venetian citadel which
stands guard over Corfu.

Mon Repos Mansion of Sir Frederick Adam, 

Lord High Commissioner

Church of St. Spiridon Bell Tower

narrow marble paved streets and angular medieval buildings

greek musicians in one of the city squares

That evening we sailed out of Corfu city and to the north and passed through  the narrows which separate Corfu from Albania. Our next stop would be Montenegro. The waters were calm and Mrs. Gym was enjoying the calm seas.

Keying in on Katakolo

Katacolo, is the closest port in Greece to the ancient Olympia. This is the place where the Olympics began and the place where the flame for each modern day Olympic competition is lit before being carried to the various host countries, to display at the games. Gym and Mrs. Gym would board a bus with our excellent guide Panagiota, to tour ancient Olympia, on the morning of October 30th. First, we toured the remains of an ancient Gymnasium and also walked through the sites of the ruins of the temples of Zeus and Hera that stand outside of the ancient Olympic Stadium. We passed under the the same archway that the ancient competitors passed, on their way to compete in the stadium and stood on the marble starting line which is still there. That marble has persevered through the ages. For Mrs. Gym, standing on the starting line meant something special as she has competed in 8 marathons. For Gym, he wondered if maybe he should have used marble on the patio, instead of exposed aggregate. 

Olympia would just be the early highlight. Later on, we would join dozens of our shipmates for a traditional Greek lunch and a bit of Greek culture. There was a nice light lunch waiting for us in one of the local hotels and if you wanted, lots of local wine and just enough ouzo to get our more enthusiastic shipmates to consider joining the professional greek dancers, for a spin around the floor.  We watched as the dancers twirled around and kicked high in the air, slapping their hands with their feet and contorting their spines, in the process. Having completed a twirl, kick and slap, the dancers would yell, "Opa", at the top of their lungs. Gym believes that Opa means that a dancer has kicked so high and so hard that he has actually cracked his own back.  It is for this reason that Chiropractors find it difficult to land a practise in Greece... after the lunch we re-boarded the buses for one last stop.

Our final stop of the day, was at a very cool local vineyard where we were shown around by the Patriarch of a fourth-generation wine maker.  And you guessed it, at the end there was a wine tasting so that my shipmates and I could keep our buzz going all afternoon. However, before tasting the wine we got at tour from the owner, who showed us around a museum of old farm equipment that he had on display in one of the barns, the beautiful vineyards and the whole wine making facility. This wine was much better than the stuff that we had had at lunch and I highly recommend you give the product a try as it is exported all over the world. Mercouri Estate is a fourth generation winery currently operated by brothers Christos and Vassilis Kanellakopoulos. Check out there website at www.mercouri.gr and look for their wines that are apparently available in many countries, including Canada.

The Marina would leave the Greek mainland for the second time and set a course for Corfu. 

Panagiota

this is where the flame is lit for each Olympics

the archway to the athletes tunnel that comes out on the "playing field"
of the ancient Olympic Stadium

looking down on the playing field from up on the side of the bowl
above the athletes entrance

Mrs. Gym posing on the marble starting line with the athlete's
tunnel in the background

this is not a headstone it is a tribute to a
former olympian from the ancient games

apparently this creek used to be a river that was navigable by
tiger ships that would bring bring people to the Olympics from all over antiquity

Opa!

there is something so wrong here, you would think the
Greek bus drivers parked these after a party

Mr. Kanellakopoulos of Mercouri Estates, a real character

older farm equipment that has been preserved by the estate

The Mercouri Estate Mansion that needs some renovations but is still magnificent