Oct 26 – Katakolon, Greece

Weather – 19º, mostly sunny

Steps – 5,942

oil testing

One step forward, then one step back – or should I say ‘hour’. It was horrifying to find the ‘clocks go forward’ notice in the room last night. Between changing the clocks and time zones, things are ‘in flux’. What I wouldn’t give to be going nowhere but west, gaining an hour each night was amazing when we crossed the Pacific to Japan.

I’ve heard of some cruise lines changing clocks during the day on a sea day. That’s an interesting idea - everyone is awake (mostly), no one loses sleep, an announcement can be made, and everyone knows. Of course, I love gaining the hour of sleep. I would love to do an ocean

olive harvesting tool

crossing again, but only if we head
west, none of this losing an hour each night BS travelling east!

Our ETA to Katakolon today 1PM, so the hour lost was as painless as it could be.

trees thick with olives

This afternoon arrival also gave us a morning to be lazy…reading, blogging, and room service – an omelet, cappuccino, and kiwi that looked surprisingly like berries. The ship is out of kiwi apparently – odd. When I asked for kiwi, the guy told me they were out and suggested melon…MELON! There is so much melon on this ship (and all other ships in my experience)! No sir, I will pass on the melon, but do you have berries? Why yes, madam we do! There is no day when I’ll take melon over pretty much any fruit – I won’t not eat it, but I sure won’t ask for it or pick it when there are

dips, salad, feta, chick peas, wine

alternatives!

It is always interesting to watch the docking procedure. We are on the starboard side of the ship, and that’s the side that is along the dock this time, not all times. Pretty much all ports (that I’ve witnessed at least) do the same thing…someone

1000 year old olive tree

from the ship throws a ball attached to a small rope to workers on the dock, that rope is attached to the big ropes that affix the ship to the dock…that’s it. There’s a lot of yelling, heaving, and hurrying, but the world around…that’s how it goes. That said…it never gets old.

We didn’t bother with lunch as the afternoon’s excursion included lunch. We set off for the Magna Grecia olive grove about 40 minutes from the port.

Once we arrived at farm/oil press and were greeted with delicious olive bread and a glass of white wine – the wine is also produced on the farm. This was a lovely way to start. Then we were shown how the olives

pomegranates like Christmas balls 

are harvested, pressed, and what products are made. This was in a building – pretty typical for this kind of demo, but it would have been nice to see

old olive press

the harvesting where it was happening. Harvest has just started. This is different for us, as we have only ever been in olive producing areas in the summer.

After the demo we samples the different oils including herb and fruit infusions.

Next, was lunch – Greek salad, chick peas, chicken, potatoes, feta cheese, hummus, another dip made with feta and pomegranates, baklava, and fruit salad. This was served with bread (not pita I might add) and washed down with the farm’s red wine.

After lunch it was time for shopping. Throughout the demo, it was made clear

beer while Athena protects us

that all of the oils and many other things were for sale...very clear. Good for them – I bet nearly everyone bought something, including us – some oil and olive oil body cream.

We decided to stay in town for a wander and a beer, before heading back to the ship and support the local economy.

us on the way back to the ship

Katakolon’s dock is completely for cruise ships and other tourist boats – no industrial port here. That meant that it was an easy walk back to the ship and there was a water side strip of bars, restaurants, and shops. It wasn’t very busy at all, and settled on a place where we were enticed by one of the staff to come in. It happened to be owned by a young guy from Massachusetts who opened the place last year. Many of these places weren’t even here when we were here in 2009. We learned from the Mass guy that the dock and water side strip has been

we are here

extended.

Although it wasn’t technically happy hour, the Massachusetts guy said he’d give it to us anyway – 2 for 1. He is clearly from America, where 2for1 means 2 for 1…

fantastic show!

EACH! We told him we appreciated the offer of an additional beer for free, but we would pass on the additional pint! Each beer was 7€, so an additional one would have made it a bit more economical, but sheesh…I didn’t need another beer!

The evening show was by the ship’s entertainment team – Ignite the Night. A show of song and dance that is probably the best show we’ve ever seen on Regent – high energy, great dancing, and current music! PRAISE THE LORD!

Comments re the cats...I KNOW! 

I know a couple of kids who would have been in their glory!

another cat shot

How about a  motorcycle riding cat?

the horrors!

Oct 25 – Kotor, Montenegro

Weather – 13º, rain in the morning, ended before we set out

the fjord

Steps – 10,060

The sail into and out of Montenegro (pop. 623,000) is one of the most beautiful we’ve ever experienced. This is our third visit here. I remember the first time we visited in 2009, feeling like we had somehow sailed into a lake - the Montenegro fjord on the Bay of Kotor make it look that way, completely surrounded by land - stunning.

Montenegro

We missed the sail in this morning as it happened well before we and the sun were up. It was an early sail away at 1PM, so we saw that one.

When we planned this trip, we scheduled an excursion to an olive oil mill. A couple
of days ago we reconsidered – a 730AM start (despite us turning the clocks back due to daylight savings time), in addition to having plenty of olive oil exposure before and after today AND it being Caviar Sunday on the ship, and we cancelled.

fjords

Kotor (pop. 13,000) is a small town on the bay of Kotor. Tourism has increased steadily since the beginning of the 2000s – this is obvious to me,
things seem significantly busier compared to when we were first here in 2009. Many of the restaurants and bars are the same, but they are busier.

caviar Sunday

The many, many cats is the same. Kotor is famous for its cats – they are all over the old town, some places there are hoards of them, I counte
d about 20 and stopped counting. Legend has it that the cats first appeared many years ago, when ships came into port. The cats were on the ships to keep mice away and some made a break for it in Kotor. I’m not sure why this story doesn’t apply to other port towns. Today, long time residents feed these cats, and apparently the population can get out of control. There is a spay-neuter program, but it doesn’t get them all.

arial view of fjord from wikipedia

We were lucky to be docked today. Kotor doesn’t have much for a dock, so ships usually use small tender boats to ferry passengers to and from shore. Apparently, the captain of this ship ‘knows a guy’, so we were able dock. This makes life soooo much easier, especially for us when we are just looking to walk off and wander.

Wandering the old town was all we had planned for today. We set off around 930 - by then the rain had
stopped. Things were getting busy with walking tours and shop owners opening up. Kotor’s old town is fortified, so we walked the steep, narrow, winding streets, eventually finding ourselves at the top of the walls.

fortified wall all the way up

Kotor has 2 cathedrals, but as it was Sunday, we couldn’t go in.

banking cat

Some of the streets were so narrow, and cobbled, they were a serious challenge negotiating. We tried a few, but didn’t go as far as we could have, it didn’t seem worth the potential injury.

We finished our visit with a local beer (točeno pivo, not the name of the beer, but the way to say ‘draft beer’) €6 in a square in front of one of the cathedrals - Saint Tryphon’s Cathedral. The rain had stopped, but it was a bit chilly – thankfully the place we chose for a beer had heaters. It also had a wonderful WC – clean, an actual toilet SEAT, warm water, soap, and paper!

old buildings in the old city

The morning turned out to be beautiful. We were back at the ship just after 12.

yet another cool thing to see

Sail away was at 1PM, this is very early for a sail away. I’m not sure why as we don’t arrive at our next port until 1PM tomorrow which must be far. We could have stayed here longer, left in the evening, had a sea day tomorrow and arrived at the next port 2 days from now in the morning, who knows, I’m not planning things obviously.

up, up, up

We enjoyed our balcony for a bit before lunch which we had at the pool – Tex Mex theme. Then we watched the sail through the fjord from the ship’s Observation Lounge – a lounge at the top and front of the ship with walls of glass, perfect for watching scenery. From Kotor to the end of the fjords (28Km) took about 2 hrs.

us and the exterior of the old town

I enjoyed the 5PM sunset from our balcony.

Dinner tonight was at Prime Seven – the ship’s steak house. Before I went, I pretty much knew what I would have. The menus of each the ship’s a la carte restaurants are the same on all of the ships, so knew what I was getting. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier blog, the a la carte restaurants have a bit of a reputation for being ‘better’ than the main dining room. I don’t agree, to me they are equal. It’s just the scarcity of not being able to go to the a la cartes whenever you want that

more cats

increases the demand. Anyway…we had a good meal. 

We weren’t up for the show tonight. The clocks go forward again, so being in bed early was a good choice.

Oct 24 – Dubrovnik, Croatia

Weather – 19º, partly

Steps – 8,299

wine train

Croatia (pop 4 mil) is a beautiful country. Mountains and the sea, vineyards and olive groves…lovely.

This is our third visit to Dubrovnik, so we chose a tour a bit off the beaten path – a half day of Croatian wine and olive oil tasting. The tour was titled Konavale Wine Train: “Ride a mini-train between several of the most prestigious wineries in the Konavle Valley and enjoy a tasting at each one” We did board a tiny tourist train that ferried us between 2 stops, but it was more gimmicky than necessary. The distance before the last stop was about 200m – we could have walked faster.

pomegranate tree

Anyway…I’m not pooping on the attempt at charm. I am pooping a bit on the puny wine pours. We’ve done innumerable wine tours, and I can count on one hand the times when we’ve left thirsty…today can be added to that list. I’m certainly not trying to up my alcohol intake, but a wine tour with tiny pours of wine, can hardly be called a wine tour.

Anyway, the weather forecast was iffy, so we wore pants, a hoodie, and brought a rain jacket. The jacket was not required, but I was glad to have the hoodie.

We were back on a bus for the 45 min ride to Konavle wine region – there were only about 25 of us on the tour, so Chris and I both had our own seats. On the ride back, Chris

grain mill

had to find a new seat as someone took his. The culture

textile mill

of bus trips is that the seat you claim first thing, is yours for the duration of the day. Throughout the day, if there are open seats people move around, but not into one previously occupied. I guess this woman didn’t get the memo. There were other open seats, and Chris didn’t make a stink, but I clearly told her that seat she was in is occupado, she made an attempt to move, but Chris told her not to bother.

The day consisted of visiting 2 wineries, 1 grain/textile mill, and one winery/olive oil mill.

We had actually visited the grain/textile mill when we were here 10 years ago. We

admiring the view

suspected as much when we booked the tour but were certain when we arrived. I wasn’t sad about that because it is one of the most charming places I’ve ever visited…

EVER! I told Chris I’d like to move here, exactly here to the mill, in the woods, I don’t think he took me seriously!

local snacks

Turistički obrt "Mlin" (Konavle, Dubrovnik Region) is a system of eight watermills for flour and for oil. We had a snack of dried and candied fruit (no wine, but none was promised.) Then we watched a demo of the mill and wandered through the forest along the Ljuta River which is not wide, but crystal clear and flowing over a series of waterfalls. I remember when we were here before it was very hot and I sat with my feet in the water…not today.

This place is extremely charming with tall trees providing shady coziness with the rushing water delivering the soundtrack. Today we

explaining their 13.5% rose

followed the guide through the woods, the last time we were given a glass of wine and encouraged to wander on our own. Today was lovely, but a wander alone with a wine was divine!

 

 We next visited the Brajkovic family vineyard to taste 3 wines - white, red, dessert and an olive oil. Then we tasted a rosé, liqueurs and a lemon cake.

I think the best part of today was the scenery.

We had planned to visit Dubrovnik’s walled old city after the tour - that wasn’t to be. The ship is not docked within walking distance – the ship provides a shuttle, but it was about to rain even without the rain, it wasn’t warm.

olive trees everywhere

We opted for lunch at the pool, and the rest of the afternoon on our balcony (me) the room (Chris) with a boozy coffee, a French coffee with cognac, Grande Marnier and whipped cream (me) and a coffee Nelson with Baileys, Frangelico and whipped cream (Chris). We

Chris and the ship

made the right decision to not go into town as around 4:00 it started to pour – I loved being on the balcony, under just enough cover to enjoy the rain, without getting wet.

not a bad place to blog

We opted for dinner tonight at the ship’s Italian restaurant – Sette Mari. This is the buffet restaurant that changes to Italian at night - al a carte main courses and buffet appetizers. They also bring antipasti to your table. We have learned from experience that you leave this place completely stuffed, so take it easy! Easier said than done.

beautiful new bridge post rain

It is nice that Regent posts the daily lunch and dinner menus on the TV, so you can
decide where you’d like to eat. There really is only the Compass Rose (main dining room) or Sette Mare – the other restaurants are by reservation. There is the pool grill also at night, which is new for Regent, but that’s a bit too casual for us.

WOAH!

The show tonight was “Women of Rock” by the ship’s entertainment team. It sounded appealing and we weren’t getting up early tomorrow – what wasn’t appealing was the trio of ladies who decided tonight’s show was a good time to have a conversation, we were too far away to say anything, but not far enough away not to hear them – I was

the moon watched our sail away

surprised at how many people who were obviously disturbed by them and didn’t say anything…not even one.

This part of Europe is changing clocks tonight, so we gained an hour of sleep!!!

Oct 23 – Gallipoli, Italy

we are here

Weather – 24º

a slice of Gallipoli life

Steps – 11,550

Gallipoli is a small fishing village of only 18,700 people. We spend the morning on a walking tour throughout the old town. The tourist infrastructure isn’t terribly developed, so there are few guides. I suppose we are lucky to be on this tour, originally, we were on a wait list. The lack of guides may account for the large number with each guide – about 40 with each guide! That is a huge number, but we all had listening devices and no having to get on and off buses, this isn’t terrible.

Gallipoli sea side

The first thing we stop to see are the many fishermen bringing in their catches

fresco in the entry way to a building

and selling. It was interesting to see them pulling fish from nets and arranging the fish to be sold. All of this took place right on the dock.

There are many churches in Gallipoli despite the small population – we visited 3 - the 17th-century Cathedral of Saint Agatha was the highlight.

St Agatha Cathedral

We also visited an ancient underground olive oil press and the exterior of Gallipoli Castle.

A local beer or spritz is usually on our agenda, but we weren’t really feeling it today, so we headed back to the ship for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.

St Agatha interior

Dinner was with the ship’s captain tonight. Whenever we are invited to eat with any of the ship’s staff we accept. We aren’t ones to ask to share a table – that is a lot of a commitment. We are happy to chat at the bar, on a tour, or randomly to the people who sit at the table next to us. In fact, we chatted with a lovely couple from Manchester, England at lunch today who sat at the table next to us. We predicted that dinner with the captain would be a large crowd and we were right. This doesn’t make for easy conversation. Nonetheless, it was a fun evening.

olive oil press

The show tonight was the comedian who we saw a few nights back. Neither of us loved him, so we passed on his show tonight.

Diana - STARE works a lot of the time, lots of good letters. Then the trick is...what's your word #2? Depending...I like ADIEU.

my store

St Agatha side alter