Cruising the Three Seas, part 3

Corfu & Kotor, Montenegro

I wasn't sure what to expect of Corfu. I had a preconception of package holiday hotels and concrete beaches. I was not expecting it to be so green and relatively unspoiled. 

Our excursion for the day was "Caves, cliffs and culture" which started with a boat trip from Paleokastritsa, a sheltered cove with glorious white beaches and azure water. 

The boat trip took us to visit three sea caves, including one that included the "blue eye", an effect caused by sunlight going through an underwater rock arch. 

Rock "face" next to St Nicholas's Cave

The blue eye

The local shop had some amusing products on sale. I was tempted to buy some and plant them in my brother's case to see what happened at the airport. 

Our coach then took us up to a restaurant overlooking Paleokastrita. They are big on kumquats on Corfu and we shared a piece of kumquat cake. 

Niamh, the staff member who hosted the introduction to Cymraeg session on our sea day was on our excursion so I asked her if we could take a selfie.

Cymro a Cymraes yn Corfu

The coach wound it's way onward up some very narrow lanes. One village was entirely traffic light controlled, which meant we had a long wait outside. But that was just as well because our bus literally had a few centimetres clearance on either side as we crept through the tight streets. 

We stopped at an Orthodox church that was part of a convent. It was a shrine for healing with it's own well with magical healing properties. However, we were also advised not to drink the water.

The magic healing well - don't drink the water!

The shrine with healing requests

Our guide gave us a brief explanation of the Great Schism between the Roman and Eastern churches. I then had a chat with her about the Cappadocian Fathers, the great saints of the Eastern Church, that I studied back in university. I don't think many tourists name drop St Gregory of Nazianzus while on these tours as she seemed a bit surprised,. 

The gift shop was full of icons. Sarah bought some candied kumquats instead. They have a very strong and lasting bitter orange flavour. It's not unpleasant, but it is persistent. 

Our final stop for the day was Corfu old town. We found a bakery selling amazing doughnuts.

Doughnuts!

There is an impressive solid stump of a castle built by the Venetians when they controlled Corfu. It's another solid-looking fortress. 

Corfu old town is a mix of Venetian, French and Victorian British architecture. Which is why they had a bandstand that reminded me of Grange Gardens!

We didn't have too long in Corfu old town and soon had to head back to our boat, which was now sharing a jetty with three other liners!

Our boat was the small one!

Back on the boat, the evening entertainment was a show called "Forever Country", a medley mix of country songs. I enjoyed it so much I went to watch both showings! (And sang along!)

Our final full day of the cruise was in Kotor, Montenegro. We got up early as we were told that the sail in to Kotor was worth watching. It was impressive as we headed up a very narrow inlet towards the port (it's actually a flooded river valley rather than a true glacier-carved fjord). However, we were up an hour earlier than we needed to be because the ship was delayed after a passenger had to be evacuated to hospital in Albania during the night. (There had been some rough swell at about 2am - it transpired that was the patient transfer.)

Sunrise over Montenegro

Cold enough for a coat!

The delayed arrival meant our boat had been overtaken by another cruise ship that had nicked our anchoring point so we had to anchor further out. This meant the small boat transfer to Kotor was longer than expected, but only a few minutes longer. All the people going on excursions waited in the show lounge auditorium until we were dispatched coachload by coachload. 

Our excursion started at the very new and shiny cable car that goes up over 1,300 metres into Lovcen National Park. 

And in the far distance, our boat!

At the top, Sarah and I rode the alpine coaster, which is like a mini bobsled that swings you over some significant drops. It was great fun.

Victorious alpine coaster riders

We didn't have very long at the top of the mountain before we had to catch the cable car back down. 

The cable car is emblematic of a country that is rapidly modernising. We passed the shiniest petrol station I have ever seen, complete with gleaming banks of post lockers outside. It felt like Kotor Old Town has had some subtle facelift work done too. It was an incredible jumble of buildings and narrow alleys, with history steeped into its stones. But it felt like the patina had been washed off recently giving it a film set feel. I loved it, but I can imagine a few years ago it would have been more grimy and weathered. 

We were hungry and used our tracking skills to follow the trail of people who appeared with large slices of pizza. It turned out there was a little hole in the wall place doing a bustling trade. 

Our return trip to the Marella Explorer 2 was on one of the ship's lifeboats that had been put into service as a shuttle boat. I suppose lifeboats need to be tested occasionally, so it made sense to use them for this purpose. It was another unusual experience to add to an epic day. 

And so that evening we set sail and headed back to where our adventure started, Dubrovnik!

Cruising the Three Seas, part 2

Sicily & Kefalonia 

Messina wasn't meant to be on our schedule originally, but there wasn't a berth available in Catania so our destination in Sicily was swapped. We decided to forego the planned excursion to Mount Etna, as it would be a very long bus trip to get there for minimal time at the volcano, and instead decided to do our own thing and wander into Messina itself. 

Mum ticked off one of her bucket list items from the trip - eat Italian gelato in Italy. It was a Sunday and several businesses were closed, but around the main cathedral square most of the cafes were open, including one that served coffee and gelato. 

The cafe had an external stall with hot roasted nuts being turned into brittle in a hot mixer full of molten sugar as people watched. It smelled amazing, and not just to us humans. At one point the guy manning the stand went into the cafe to discuss something and two alert pigeons took the opportunity to land on the nuts and start wolfing them down. The fellow returned and gave them a half hearted shoo away with his nut scoop which implied this was not an unusual event, and then carried on selling the nuts and making brittle. 

The secret ingredient is pigeon feet

We were offered some samples of the nuts shortly afterwards. We declined. 

Next to Messina square is a tower with an animated astronomical clock. At noon the various animatronics put on quite a show. The cathedral rises from the waves, Jesus exits the tomb, various saints parade past the Virgin Mary and bow their heads in obeisance, a cockerel crows, a lion roars and Ave Maria gets played at very high volume. Quite a clockwork show. 

With Mum safely parked on a bench, we three sibs climbed the tower. We got great views of the city rooftops and our cruise liner in port just beyond. 

We could just about keep an eye on Mum from the tower!

We also went into the Cathedral. I took a few photos, but then a mass was starting and it felt disrespectful to the worshippers to be taking photos during the service. 

On the way back to the ship, we found a gelato shop that had confirmed gluten free options. As my sister Sarah is coeliac and needs to avoid gluten at all costs, we stopped so she could have an ice cream. I'd had an espresso and no ice cream at our previous stop, so I got one this time. It came with a cone hat.

Overnight the ship rounded Italy and sailed to Argostoli in Kefalonia. Here our party split ways. Dave and Sarah went on a boat trip to beaches only accessible by jumping off the boat. Mum and I went on the "Legends and Landscapes" tour that started with a visit to the Odysseus theme park. 

This was probably the lowest tech theme park I have ever been to, but it was quirky and charming and a whole lot of fun. The set up was a number of different statues showing scenes from the Odyssey and then various animal pens related to the story. "This is Circe, the witch, who turned Odysseus's men into sheep... and here are some sheep." You could buy carrots to feed to the various animals. 

Cyclops in his cave

Various monsters

I sat in Odysseus's vacant throne

"Psst! Got any carrots??"

After the theme park, our next stop was a small village called Efima. It was stunningly beautiful and much less touristy than the village we went to on Malta. 

It also had a small supermarket and I bought some cookies and a chocolate bar to share with Mum. 

The final stop on our tour was an overlook high above Myrtos Beach. The sea was turquoise. No filter required! It was an incredible view.  

We were back on the ship in time to see Dave and Sarah's boat coming back.

Our first day in the Ionian islands had been wonderful. Next we were off to Corfu!