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

Oct 22 – Catania (Sicily)

Sicily flag

Weather – 25º

sepulchre surrounding the site 

Steps – 11,568

Today we are back in Italy for a day on Sicily. We were here once before and visited Mount Etna, so weren’t joining the masses who went there. A visit to Mount Etna is one of those one and done things, at least given the experience we had there…it was super windy and cold that day, so I’m glad I did it, but I’m also glad I’ve done it.

Instead, we visited Syracuse (pop 115,000) which is famous for its 2,700-year

history as a major Ancient Greek and Roman metropolis. Syracuse is a 1-hr drive from Catania where the ship is docked. The thought of a long bus ride never thrills, but in reality, it is nice to have time to listen to the guide tell us all sorts of things about the area (not just about where we are visiting), see the countryside, and have bus naps – there’s nothing like a good bus nap.

natural water source

The highlight of the visit to Syracuse is its archeological site. We follow Matthew, our guide as he described what we were seeing…a massive 5th-century BC Greek Theatre, a Roman amphitheatre, and maybe the coolest of all, a limestone cave known as the

amphitheatre

Ear of Dionysius. This cave is massively tall (23m), sort of shaped like an ear, with acoustics making it possible for Dionysius to spy on his enemies/prisoners.

Next, we were back on the bus for a 10 min ride to Ortigia Island in Ancient Syracuse. This place was settled by Greeks in the 8th century BC. There are ruins here too – the main focus being the Temple of Apollo and the Syracuse

Ear of Dionysius

more of the caves

Cathedral, which was built directly over the ancient 5th-century BC Temple of Athena, preserving much of its original columns. It seems very civilized that churches and temples weren’t destroyed but transformed and built upon. This means that today, we see some of the original structure even though over the centuries the religions that occupied the building changed.

Syracuse’s old town’s streets are very narrow and interesting. Today they are filled with artists’ shops, gelaterias, and restaurants.

other amphitheatre

By now, it was hot and we were chasing shade. Matthew released us for about 45 min of free time. We went inside one part of the church of St Lucia to see a copy of Caravaggio’s The Burial of Saint Lucia. The real thing is nearby but not near enough for us to visit.

temple of Apollo

We had just enough time for a refreshment stop – a couple of beers and the accompanying snack were the perfect finish to our visit to Syracuse. The beers (€4) were served with 6 pizza dough balls 2, filled with spinach, 2 with cheese and tomato and 2 with anchovy. We were semi-convinced we would be charged for these as they were quite substantial to be at no charge, but nope…no charge, and very tasty.

This was a tour with an extra charge – most Regent tours are included in the fare. The tour was good but was it worth an extra charge…don’t think so.

streets of Ortigia

Once back at the ship, the lunch buffet was closed so we had a bite at the pool grill. The pool grill is absolutely sufficient for lunch. The pool grill has a buffet and items to order from a waiter…we did a mix of both.

refreshement break

It was then back to the room to watch one of the enrichment speaker’s recorded lectures. There is a former Anglican priest on board as an expert speaker on art – woot! Often the speakers Regent has are interesting, but not so location specific…his first 2 lectures were on Italian art…we are in Italy, so seems appropriate.

Then it was a nap and chilling room time before the ship’s ‘block party’.

Burial of Saint Lucia

Everybody spills into the hallway outside their room to meet their neighbors over a glass of
wine. This is a very charming tradition that I think is unique to Regent. We met one of the ship’s vocalists, a couple from San Francisco, another from Phoenix, and another from Switzerland.

got it in 3!

Dinner was at the ship’s Asian restaurant. It was good.

The show was Argentinian tango theme with the ship’s singers and dancers. It was OK.

Cathedral of Syracuse

Thanks for the birthday wishes. No one sang to me…they asked how I’d like to be celebrated…in the room or in the wild…I chose the room.

Kathie – the chocolate and rabbit were tasty! Could you do it!

Oct 21 – AT SEA, Cruising the Mediterranean Sea

Happy Birthday!!!

Weather – 24º

they do a great job celebrating me

Steps – 5,766

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Today is the second time I have EVER not been in Calgary for my birthday. Last year we were in New York. I guess I really am retired, when I’m not tethered to Calgary in the fall. I turned 25 in Fredericton when I was at UNB for school, that counts, but having a shot of straight vodka at the Rockin’ Rodeo isn’t exactly the same. That was a great time…I think, but I’m an old more sophisticated lady now.

caviar appitizer

Today was a great birthday. Lots of messages of happy birthdays, the room decorated with balloons, a happy birthday message, a cake and champagne. It was a sea day, so there was no alarm set.

ship's senior staff

We spent the morning at the reading at the pool, lunch at the ship’s French restaurant, more champagne, then a nap.

Predinner was the captain's welcome - this isn't always my favourite, but we

knew the general manager from way back - a Canadian, so were able to reconnect with him.

All in all, a great birthday!

birthday celebration

Oct 20 – Valetta, Malta

first 12 days

Weather

one of the coolest embarkations

– 25º, much less windy than yesterday

Steps – 8,189

Cruise embarkation day is always exciting. The anticipation of stepping foot on the ship, unpacking everything, knowing how the ‘system’ works - not wondering if I’m being scammed in anyway, tasting the first glass of

champagne, and settling in for the cruise – in this case…for the next 19 days.

The Regent Seven Seas Grandeur is docked in Valetta, so we have to make our way once more from St Julien to Valetta. Check out time at the Westin was noon and our check in time on the ship was 1230 – seemed perfect. Post-covid, Regent has assigned check in times for boarding day. These are never strictly adhered to and usually you can’t

last 7 days

unpacking

even tell when you are checking in – the common understanding is that if you show up any time after 11/1130 when check in starts, you’ll get on. What you want to avoid is arriving just after a busload of other passengers – we slipped in just as a bus was unloading – whew! Otherwise, we’d have been behind 50+ other passengers.

Because of the number of nights we’ve been on Regent we’re big deals…being big deals means we are still assigned an embarkation time, but there should have a special line for the special folks that we are. Embarkation was so smooth today, we barely had to swing our bigdealness around.

Security was in the terminal but check in was on board – this was fantastic! We’ve checked in a few times on a ship, but the vast majority of the time it happens in the terminal. Today there were only a

a lovely sight

few people ahead of us checking in, but once we told the woman managing the check in line, she made very sure we were the next ones to check in. It really isn’t that obvious that we are cutting the line. There are a bunch of check in people, so she just took us to the next available.

not a bad place for a spritz

Even if without priority embarkation, we would have been checked in super fast.

Another perk that comes with being a big deal is being able to access our room sooner than other – us at 1, others around 230. It was nice to go straight to our room to begin settling in rather than waiting for a while. We could certainly check

in later in the afternoon and go straight to our room, but on embarkation day we want to get on with things.

Malta and the moon

Laundry service is included on Regent. This used to be a perk for bigish deals but recently has become included with every fare. In my opinion, this is a huge advantage of sailing with Regent – to be able to put a bag of laundry outside your door in the morning and it coming back perfectly clean and pressed in the evening (at the latest the next day) feels like a miracle!

There is always the option for DIY laundry in the ship’s launderettes. Having been on the road for the last 6 days, means we’ve accumulated some dirty laundry that is nice to just take care of on our own. The day-or-so turn around for Regent to do it is hard at the beginning when we have a bunch that is dirty. After

we get to our room, we head straight to the launderette.

The Grandeur is Regent’s newest boat – built in 2023, capacity of 750. This is the only Regent boat we haven’t been on.

Regent Signature Orchestra

The rest of the afternoon is spent unpacking, eating lunch, meeting Julie (our room attendant), changing and adding a tour for the next week, and having our first spritz at the pool bar made for us by Eshwar, the pool bar bartender.

We quickly slipped into our cruise routine of a predinner cocktail while listening to the duo. Each Regent ship has a musical duo who play pre-dinner oldies, post-dinner more upbeat tunes, and post-show more current stuff. Vivace duo is fine…typical, nothing that knocks my socks off, but fine.

Dinner was in the main dining room – Chris made our usual request for a table by the window which is always nice in a busy dinging room.

always available

tonight's menu

Icons was the name of tonight’s show, and showcased the ships singers and dancers around Hall&Oats, Celine Dion, Pointer Sisters, songs. It was good, the theatre was packed.

Since tomorrow is a sea day and we have nothing to get up for, we decided to go to the Meridian lounge to see the ship’s orchestra. The orchestra is a 7-member group who tonight played mostly jazz

tunes. These orchestras usually have a front man
(we have only in the history of Regent orchestras seen one female player) who talks a bit but only says what’s necessary. This front man is a-typical – definitely over the top and almost uncomfortable.