Splendour of the Seas - Greek Isles Cruise 2013 - Day 2

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After a good nights sleep we awake somewhere in the Adriatic. We are not due to dock in Dubrovnik until 11.30am and so we do not need to rush out. We have breakfast in the main dining room. Service is slow as we are seated at a table for 10 and it seems everyone is fussy about what they want and how they want it. I have my favourite, Eggs Benedict. No messing around. As we return to our cabin we notice we are close to Dubrovnik and head up to the top deck to take photos. Costa Magica and MSC Armonia are already docked and we pull up alongside them. We head to the theatre to pick up our group stickers for today's tour.

Our tour guide today is called Ivo. He looks a little eccentric but is incredibly knowledgable about this area as he grew up here. He is also very verbose. A good trait in a tour guide you might think? However his delivery style is a little pedestrian and there is a distinct lack of humour in all he says. It seems we cannot escape him no matter where we turn as he has kindly supplied each of us with an earpiece attached to a two way transmitter which seems to have a very long range. Luckily there is volume control so when he started talking about the Ottoman Empire (pronounced empireey by him) for the umpteenth time I could silence him. We did actually learn something though so not all bad.

Our first stop is a cable car ride to the top of a small mountain overlooking Dubrovnik. The view is spectacular and the weather is gorgeous. Behind us are more rugged mountains that make up the border with Bosnia Herzegovina. After a photo stop ( and more talk about the Ottomans) we head down to the old walled city itself. It's no wonder they film parts of a Game of Thrones here, it's a ready made set. Sadly the film crew for the 4th season had moved on only the week before so I didn't get to see Tyrion, Cersei or slap Joffrey.

There is a photo opportunity around every corner here. After the war that tore this part of the world apart during the early 90's it's nice to see so much of it remains intact despite the constant bombardment it received. Old Ivo is still talking in my ear and I can tell from Peters expression that's he is being worn down as well and so we split from the tour and explore on our own. Within minutes we are ensconced in an Irish Bar downing an ice cold glass of the local beer that I can neither spell or pronounce. We wander the quaint old streets of the city for an hour or so before heading to the rendezvous point to head back to the ship. We pull out of Dubrovnik just after 6 as night is falling. We navigate out through the many small surrounding islands and headed south towards Corfu.

We decided that our Britto Cat that we bought on Allure needed a companion and so we head to the Britto store on board and buy one called Sam (see pic).

The Diamond Lounge beckons and after a few cocktails we head for dinner. Wonderful Crab Cakes to start followed by a Vegetable Moussaka. We were late sitting down and I think the waiters were keen to clear up as the courses came at a rapid rate. Was still very good though. Brandies in the Viking Crown and a couple of strong cocktails followed. Slightly inebriated I managed to press all the buttons in the lift with my backside much to the amusement of my fellow cruisers. Felt sorry for anyone that needed deck 2 as would take a while.

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