Adriatic Cruise – Croatia and Slovenia ~ Where are the Jays

We are sailing on a small cruise ship – Windstar’s Wind Spirit with 2 other couples. The cruise is called the Adriatic Icons and Venetian Treasures. As we are visiting the different ports I come to understand why the Veneitan Treasures part – most if not all of these towns were under Veneitan rule at one time. We will visit: Rovijn, Zadar, Hvar, Dubrovnik and Korcula Croatia and Piran Slovenia with one day at sea too. We are big fans of Windstar cruises and have sailed on several of their ships before including the Wind Spirit in French Polynesia (Tahiti) in November 2021.

The sails add a romantic touch as we moor surrounded by multi million dollar yachts

When I said small I meant 148 passengers when full plus 110 crew members. Windstar often refers to them as yachts to differentiate from other larger but still small cruise ships of 600 plus passengers. The adventure kind of started getting to our cruise ship. Our hotel is located near the now closed cruise terminal. In 2021 Venice banned large cruise ships from entering the lagoon. Instead of docking at the former cruise terminal, we find our ship at a small terminal used by a Uniworld river cruise ship. It’s not too far but getting around Venice with luggage and its canals and bridges is always a challenge and the 6 of us are in the same hotel so we decide to get a water taxi to take us there. Very wise move and kind of fun. The hotel staff helped load our bags onto the water taxi and we found cruise terminal staff on the other end to unload our bags and get them to the ship. Honestly it would have been a major pain any other way!

Aboard the water taxi

As the ship departs, we sail through the lagoon past St Mark's Square and the Venetian botanical gardens. Once we clear the lagoon the passengers gather on deck to watch the raising of the sails to the music of 1492: Conquest of Paradise. It’s a magical experience.

St Mark’s Square

Raising the Sheets and moving the boom are all electronically operated

Rovijn

We moored offshore from this gorgeous town

For our first stop we have arranged a private full day tour of the Istrian Coast. Rovijn is a small fishing port on a peninsula; we will not really see the town since we are on the first tender out in the morning and one of the last back. We visit Porec which is a walled city. In fact, there have been multiple sets of walls. In 15^th century they tore down some Roman walls and built new ones. Then in the 19^th century they tore the walls down in spots so they could have more room. There is a gorgeous basilica that we all tour including going up its bell tower. In Venice, you see statutes of lions everywhere because that was a symbol of the Venetians. We see lions here too because the Venetians ruled this area for 500 years.

bells in the bell tower

View from bell tower

Ancient Mosaics from Roman times

Our next stop is Graznhan which is an artist town. Like much of this area, until the early 1900s there were many people living here and they made a nice living off of wine/vineyards. In the early 1900s phylloxera came here and some spider problem which decimated the vineyards and peoples' livelihoods. Many people left for other places in the world – several times we have been told about how many of the wineries in New Zealand, South America and America are run by former Croatians. Anyway, Graznhan lost people in two groups: first was from the loss of wineries and then the 2nd group leftt when the country of Yugoslavia was formed after WWII because many people were Italian and they returned to Italy. This left a very small population until 1965 when a man started encouraging artists of various types to come spend their summer’s here. Now there are a variety of small art galleries, a stream of concerts, plays, and some educational offerings like we overheard an acting workshop. This town too has a Venetian history in that it became under Venetian rule in the mid 14^th century.

Our third town is Montovun in the heart of truffle country. It is a walled city on top of a mountain. When we look down from the top of the mountain, there is a long narrow forest which is where they find both white and black truffles. The forest is alongside a river. We will taste products made from truffles in this town – neither of us are big fans, ok but not great. It is a small town these days with a population of 500. In addition to truffles, their claim to fame is that the man who invented the ship propeller lived here and they have the biggest Romanesque building in Croatia.

truffle forest is bottom left

Zadar

The next day we sail to Zadar. Zadar has a couple of interesting things at its waterfront right by where we are docked. There is a sea organ, and a solar light panel display that after dark does images (we missed the show). The organ is literally pipes in the sea and 4-inch diameters holes in the boardwalk/promenade. As the waves come in you hear different pipe sounds. Kind of neat. We had chosen an excursion that would either please Jeff greatly or frustrate him. We were sailing and swimming. Happy to report he was pleased. We were part of a group of 10 guests on a monohull (not a catamaran) sailing boat. We had 2 spots where we could swim and then we sailed back to the dock. The first spot was across to Kukljica which is a small village on an island. We played at a “sandy” beach there that we all thought was a little muddy, but most places are pebble beaches. Then we got back on the boat to head for our second spot. Here the boat anchors and we get to swim off the back of it and then have a nice lunch. The water is a nice temperature and salty, so it is easy to swim here. After that it is time to head back to the ship. To Jeff and a couple of other guys pure delight the wind has picked up and we truly sail. I too enjoyed the sail in my favorite way – half asleep against Jeff (I regularly slept on our sailing boat while sailing).

Red arrow on right is pointing to sea organ

Hvar

This picture illustrates why we like very small ships for cruises

For Hvar we have signed up for an excursion called Off-Road Experience. The write up talked like we would be in open aired vehicles instead we are in new Toyota SUV with air conditioning. There was 7 of us on the tour (2 vehicles) so it was easy for our tour guide to tell us what we were seeing. We visited a deserted village called Malo Grabje (little Grabje) and then another village –Velo Grabje (big Grabje) and then up to St. Nikola Hill. While I called the first town deserted that is not completely true. The last permanent resident left in the 1960s, but now a man has turned his family house into a restaurant. First, we walked around the old town. We saw houses, were amazed at how many people once lived there – lots of big families; a building that housed the olive press, the school and a family. The old stones for the olive press were still in place. Then we asked if we could see the restaurant. There is electricity, in case you wondered. There is a very nice relatively modern kitchen with a huge fireplace in one building, a terrace for seating and then another building where they cook most of the meat which smelled wonderful. We learned that the New York Times has written about this restaurant a couple of times. We all wished we could eat there at which point our guide told us that they do tours that include the restaurant in the evenings – would have been nice.

Left abandoned home
Right Olive Press

Top indoor kitchen
Bottom outdoor kitchen

Back in the SUVs and on to Velo Grabje. In this town, after the grape vines died, they started planting lavender and are still known for their lavender. But there was a big fire a few years back and burned most of the lavender so now while there is still some lavender it is much less than before. We stopped here in the middle of a nowhere to find a small upscale hotel with a nice bar overlooking a gorgeous view. Jeff ordered a local wine just so we could taste it – served chilled and a bit thin. There was also a booth selling lavender related items seems a week or so before there had been the big annual lavender festival – would have been nice since I like lavender. After then back in our vehicles to go up even higher in the hills.

Long ago famers set the stones aside to create small patches of earth they could plant.
This left wide stone walls of terraces you see today.

We were heading up St. Nikola Hill, highest point on the island. We got out of the vehicles and walked about 20 feet where our guide pointed out things down below. Above us a short way was a small chapel and an official looking small building. He explained that the small building was for the forestry fire watchers which he had done when he was in college. Then back into the vehicles and return to Hvar.

View from highest point on island

Late in the day our friends and us went on a private walking tour of Hvar. We learned about the history, visited the old arsenal where Venetian ships were once stored and a monastery.

Bottom left is Venetian symbol

Dubrovnik

Walled city of Dubrovnik

We did not get in till around lunch time, but we get to spend the night here so more time tomorrow. Hvar by the port had seemed crowded, turns out that is nothing compared to Dubrovnik – lots of people. The first afternoon the 6 of us have all booked a kayaking trip. We were joined by 7 others for a group of 13. Part of our 13 is a set of grandparents and their 12-year-old granddaughter. We are moored in the bay so after we get off the tenders, we are met by our guide who while he stops and points out some things keeps saying we are late which is weird to all of us because no this was the time set for the tour. We get to the kayaking spot and our met by 2 women who will lead our group and they too say you are late?! We get our lifejackets, a short orientation to kayaking, our kayaks and we are off. Our tour write-up said we would see the city walls (waterside) and then Lokrum Island. To my surprise, we start off by crossing over to the island – so much for city walls. We paddle around about half of the island before we get to the spot where we take our kayaks out. We have an hour or so to explore this small island. Our guide gives us a walking tour – there is an old monastery. Well, it started out life as a monastery, but it has been private homes and now state owned. There is small botanical garden and oh peacocks EVERYWHERE. I have never seen so many in one place and they are all free. We see Peahens with young ones and a couple of pretty males.

Going to the Island was easy, returning what another story

City Walls from Kayaks perspective

There is also a couple of places to swim Jeff does I do not. I have been warned by others the water is cold and the rocks on the bottom are slippery. After a short swim for Jeff, it is time to head back. We have lost 1 couple though since the kayak was bothering his hips; they went back on a ferry that goes between the island and city. It started out so nice, key words. Then when we were close to the end of the island and about to go across back to Dubrovnik itself our front guide warns us that a Mistral wind had come in and it is going to be hard and don’t try to take breaks because you will be pushed back to the island. Um understatement there lady. The wind was strong, and the water is now choppy the only saving grace is that there are no boats interrupting our path. Yikes at one point, I said to Jeff that I felt like I was in a washing machine he agreed and said it wasn’t the gentle cycle. We had tried to be sure we kept our kayak head on to the waves, so we did not tip over. I did have a couple of waves wash over me. As we kayaked pass a couple of bars in the city walls, I mentioned those people must be thinking “look at those crazy kayakers.” The 6 of us did make it back to the kayak dock on our own, but the grandmother/granddaughter team had to be pulled in by a boat so out of 13 only 9 of us completed the route. At the end, they were very apologetic so pretty sure that wind was unexpected. It did give us the right to eat whatever we wanted that night since we figure we had earned it. Downside was I had planned on going back into town for dinner but did not feel quite up to it.

I wish our return had been this calm

Enjoyed the local entertainment performing traditional Croatian Songs and Dance on our ship

Next morning Jeff and I are separating. He was a big Game of Thrones TV show fan and there is a tour of the sites so off he goes. I join Tom and Linda instead. We head for the city walls as soon as we can to start climbing and walking them since we want to do it before it gets too hot. These city walls are different. They were not built to keep human intruders out or people in but rather to keep the sea out. As we explore the city walls (full circumference) we get some great views of the sea and surrounding land, we also see down in people’s backyards since homes are right there in and outside of the walls.

Note the basketball court in lower right

After exploring the walls, we use a city pass we got to explore some of the museums. We went to the Rector’s Palace where there are a variety of artifacts from the history of Dubrovnik including 2 of the original bronze jacks from the bell tower. Bronze jacks you say? – why they are the strikers of the bell and in this case, they are made to look like men. The building itself is quite nice as befitting the leader of the country at that time. Also here was a photographic display from the homeland war and when it came to Dubrovnik. The homeland war is the Yugoslav wars of the 90s to us. On December 6, 1991, there was a devastating attack on the old town of Dubrovnik. It was a surprise because no one thought they would attack a UNESCO Heritage site in fact there were refugees in the town since it was thought to be a safe place. We saw photos of nearby buildings in flames and saw the major street full of ruins. After the war the Croatian government worked hard to restore the damaged buildings.

Rector's Palace

Bronze jack

Back to older times, we visited the Franciscan Monastery which is a nice old monastery itself. There were old vestments and chalices. Also, there was a small one room pharmacy which is the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Europe. From there we wandered into the Church of St. Blaise (patron saint of Dubrovnik) and wandered on the main street and some of the narrow, shady side streets. Around lunch time, we took a break and had a nice lunch at a bistro on a side street. As we were finishing up, Jeff joined us.

church of St Blaise

Franciscan Monastery

After that the 4 of us went off in search of a house museum only to miss it. We did however wander into a gorgeous church- St. Ignatius Church. It was the most color coordinated church I think I have ever been in. After that we all decided the sun was getting a little too strong, so we headed back to the ship. We had a deck bar be que and party that evening to be ready for.

St. Ignatius Church

Deck parties are a traditional event on Windstar, and it is fun when we do it in port because you can see the town as the lights come on in the evening and here, we got to see the big fancy yachts’ colorful lights come on. It was a good evening and then we sailed out for our next port.

YMCA dance routine

KING’S LANDING from GAME OF THRONES

I like visiting locations used by Movie and TV Directors because they are impressive sites. The tour took us through the streets of the walled city, Fort Lovrijenac and traversing the tops of the walls. At each stop our guide would show us scenes from the show, tell us stories of the production both how they accomplished it and fun stories about the actors when not filming. Like a pickup basketball game.

Our guide holding a photo of the scene shot on this street

This small inlet was used for many shots whenever they needed to depict someone arriving or departing by sea. The most memorable was John’s departure for the wall at the end of the series.
It also happened to be the starting point of our Kayake adventure.

Walk of shame location
Evidently drunk tourists at night have a bad habit of recreating the scene from the show

CGI was used to add two towers to create the Red Keep

Dubrovnik in the background

Korcula

The next day we are in a unique island called Korcula. Windstar only comes here occasionally. It is a small spot and we had found a cooking workshop in a neighboring town on the island and have a private van getting us there. When we arrive, our hostess serves us orange juice, lemon juice and a bitter orange juice plus a variety of snacks such as candied orange and lemon peels, a traditional cake and some candied almonds. Then her college age daughter shows up who speaks English well and who will work with us today. We will make a pasta dish, bruschetta, and a dessert. We start with chopping up the ingredients for the pasta sauce and then starting to cook it because it will simmer for a long time with the end being similar to risotto in that you slowly add broth to the dish. As it cooks, we start to make the pasta dough. This is Croatian pasta not Italian, so we use a different flour – good old all-purpose flour. This dough is heavier than Italian pasta dough. We set it aside for a while and work on the dough for the dessert. This is a simple dessert basically fried dough cut in strips and covered in powdered sugar. After the dessert dough is made, we need to make hummus because that will be the top of the bruschetta (remember Croatia not Italy here). I never realized how easy it is to make hummus! Can of chickpeas, some fresh lemon juice and garlic in a chopper till it is blended to the desired consistency and voila you are done. We put it on the bread and in an oven to get the bruschetta baking. Back to the pasta dough. Cut into pieces and then roll into thin rolls, cut that into little pieces which we will roll around a kabob stick so that it is a short tube. Boil the pasta some and then dump in the sauce to mix it all well. We finish with of course enjoying a very nice meal with local wine. After that we hung out on their terrace enjoying the view (up in the mountains) waiting for our ride to come get us. It was another great day in Croatia. When we get back to the port, we realize we have a few minutes before the tender will be in so we check out the local church – St Mark’s. While it was nice inside, it was prettier on the outside.

St Mark's church

Our sea day is the next day, which means a kind of a quiet, relaxing day. This time our captain gave us a very nice addition to the usual sea day. We stopped at a bay on the way and opened up the back deck (marina) and a lot of us went out and swam and played in the water for a couple of hours. Much to Jeff’s delight, the small sailboat is available, and he gets to sail for a little while in addition to stand up paddle boarding. I float and swim with Beth. Windstar always calls their ships ‘yachts” and on this cruise I did feel that way a couple of times and this was one of them. I mean oh, it’s a hot day so let’s just stop for a while and play in the water is something you do on a personal ship or yacht not a big cruise ship. After our fun break it is time to get moving again so off, we go. For us it will be a nice evening since we are eating at Candles that evening. Candles is the reservation only restaurant. It is outdoors on the top deck with lighting heavily by candlelight thus the name. Candles is always fun and always good – seafood and steaks so a traditional steakhouse, I guess.

the watersports set up off the platform at the back of the ship

Time for our last port stop and our only one in Slovenia. It is the port town of Piran. Tom and Linda have been to the area before and have highly recommended that we take the excursion to the cave. The Skocjan Cave is a UNESCO site. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there on bus which is stuck for a while in traffic. Once at the cave site surprisingly we have a long walk to the entrance site where happily we are broken down into smaller groups. This cave is quite deep inside like valley deep and is caused by a river that eventually goes to the Adriatic Sea. When you first enter you see the traditional stalagmites and stalactites then there are other drippings called curtains. We wander some more on the very nice concrete and fenced in walkways and start to see the impressive depth of the cave and then you start to hear the running water of the river. There is a waterfall to see also. An amazing site/fact for me was the really high marks from past floods. To help get my mind wrapped around the height I think of the Mississippi River flood of 1993 when it was up on the Arch steps for a long time. When we finish the tour, we are off to visit a family business where we are wined and dined. They would serve us sparkling wine, lots of appetizers, pasta with truffle and more wine all of which they have grown and made. All very good.