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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!

    Adriatic Travel Advice

    The wife and I are taking a cruise from Venice to Athens this fall. The cruise line offers excursions in every city we stop but it is hard to tell what we should do in each place. Here is the itinerary. It any of you have been to these places (or near them) and have advice about the "must see" stuff in each city, please let me know:

    • Venice, Italy - I already have a pretty good idea here: Grand Canal tour, Murano glass blowing, St. Mark's, Bridge of Sighs and the prisons, gondola ride
    • Koper, Slovenia - leaning toward seeing the underground Postojna caves
    • Korcula, Croatia
    • Dubrovnik, Croatia - wife wants to see where Game of Thrones was shot
    • Kotor, Montenegro - I hear the Blue Cave is pretty cool
    • Corfu, Greece
    • Katakolon, Greece - Need to know what I need to see of the Ancient olympic sites
    • Nauplion, Greece
    • Athens, Greece - Again, I have a pretty good idea of what to see in this famous city


    Any advice would be much appreciated!!!
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Mount Kisco, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    [*]Venice, Italy - I already have a pretty good idea here: Grand Canal tour, Murano glass blowing, St. Mark's, Bridge of Sighs and the prisons, gondola ride
    I just got back and had a very aggressive 3 days of touring and wish I had spent a lot more time just "getting lost" in this wonderland unlike anyplace you will ever be again. I think if you simply found the places in this article and had some food and drink in each, and spent the rest of the time just trying to walk around the whole island, you'd have the best time. In doing so, you'll see ever angle of the canals, including the Grand Canal. St Marco's church is fine, but if you had to see one place, I'd say the Doge's palace is better...but, again, if your time is limited, I'd opt to just "get lost" and wander as much as you can by foot.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/t...ll-plates.html

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Seattle
    Regarding Dubrovnik:

    It's gets quite crowded during the day. The city walls tour is a must and will let you see almost all of the GoT shots without booking a specific GoT tour. To see the throne etc, you'll have to book a trip to the small island just off the bay.

    You can take a cable car up Mount Srd and get a breathtaking view of the city. I also did a ~3 hour kayak trip that took me out around the island and into a cove to do some snorkeling. It was gorgeous.

    There's also a brewery (Dubrovnik Brewing Company) justttttt outside Old Town that makes pretty tasty beverages

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Toronto
    Montenegro was one of my favorite stops on a similar cruise. It is incredibly beautiful. If the ship arrives in port in the morning, it is worth getting up early for the sail into the bay.

    We hired a private guide whom I can highly recommend.https://toursbymilo.com/en/ Milo is very personable, knowledgeable about the history, culture and politics of the country, and his English is excellent. He drove us to the top tourist spots, but best of all, took us up into the mountains, into isolated villages where his family has lived for centuries. The whole experience gave us an insight into a fascinating country that we could not have gotten exploring on our own or with a group tour.

    I don't remember what he charged, but it was quite reasonable.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by luburch View Post
    Regarding Dubrovnik:

    It's gets quite crowded during the day. The city walls tour is a must and will let you see almost all of the GoT shots without booking a specific GoT tour. To see the throne etc, you'll have to book a trip to the small island just off the bay.

    You can take a cable car up Mount Srd and get a breathtaking view of the city. I also did a ~3 hour kayak trip that took me out around the island and into a cove to do some snorkeling. It was gorgeous.

    There's also a brewery (Dubrovnik Brewing Company) justttttt outside Old Town that makes pretty tasty beverages
    Did you ever tell us about them here:

    https://forums.dukebasketballreport...?3840-Ymm-Beer

    (I seem to recall this brewery vaguely .)
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Dat View Post
    I just got back and had a very aggressive 3 days of touring and wish I had spent a lot more time just "getting lost" in this wonderland unlike anyplace you will ever be again. I think if you simply found the places in this article and had some food and drink in each, and spent the rest of the time just trying to walk around the whole island, you'd have the best time. In doing so, you'll see ever angle of the canals, including the Grand Canal. St Marco's church is fine, but if you had to see one place, I'd say the Doge's palace is better...but, again, if your time is limited, I'd opt to just "get lost" and wander as much as you can by foot.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/t...ll-plates.html
    I concur with Billy Dat's recommendations, including a visit to the Doge's Palace, and in particular would agree that the best way to experience and absorb the spirit of Venice is to immerse yourself in its timeless character by spending at least half of your time wandering aimlessly away from the heavily trafficked areas. Just be sure to download the Google Map of the island to your phone before you set out so that you can use GPS to locate your position, track the direction of your movement, and thereby find your way back to a familiar place at any time even when offline. One more suggestion: Make a reservation (or, to improve your chances of securing a table, ask your hotel concierge to make a reservation) for a dinner at Osteria l'Orto dei Mori [https://www.osteriaortodeimori.com/i-nostri-piatti/]. It's a small place, off the beaten path, where you'll join a pleasant mix of locals and some lucky tourists enjoying splendid food and wines at relatively modest prices.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    The wife and I are taking a cruise from Venice to Athens this fall. The cruise line offers excursions in every city we stop but it is hard to tell what we should do in each place. Here is the itinerary. It any of you have been to these places (or near them) and have advice about the "must see" stuff in each city, please let me know:

    • Venice, Italy - I already have a pretty good idea here: Grand Canal tour, Murano glass blowing, St. Mark's, Bridge of Sighs and the prisons, gondola ride
    • Koper, Slovenia - leaning toward seeing the underground Postojna caves
    • Korcula, Croatia
    • Dubrovnik, Croatia - wife wants to see where Game of Thrones was shot
    • Kotor, Montenegro - I hear the Blue Cave is pretty cool
    • Corfu, Greece
    • Katakolon, Greece - Need to know what I need to see of the Ancient olympic sites
    • Nauplion, Greece
    • Athens, Greece - Again, I have a pretty good idea of what to see in this famous city


    Any advice would be much appreciated!!!
    Have you considered this place? And, thanks for getting this song stuck in my head.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_tT-q8EF0

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Stray Gator View Post
    I concur with Billy Dat's recommendations, including a visit to the Doge's Palace, and in particular would agree that the best way to experience and absorb the spirit of Venice is to immerse yourself in its timeless character by spending at least half of your time wandering aimlessly away from the heavily trafficked areas. Just be sure to download the Google Map of the island to your phone before you set out so that you can use GPS to locate your position, track the direction of your movement, and thereby find your way back to a familiar place at any time even when offline. One more suggestion: Make a reservation (or, to improve your chances of securing a table, ask your hotel concierge to make a reservation) for a dinner at Osteria l'Orto dei Mori [https://www.osteriaortodeimori.com/i-nostri-piatti/]. It's a small place, off the beaten path, where you'll join a pleasant mix of locals and some lucky tourists enjoying splendid food and wines at relatively modest prices.
    That's funny - my trip to Venice was 25 years ago. I was going to chime in with that explanation, and then say exactly the same thing. Go get lost somewhere and wander. That was my most memorable part of my day there.

  9. #9
    The luxurious Daniela Hotel, on an island, used to have a free motorboat/shuttle from the main island. Great for drinks at the hotel bar at night. Google Winston Churchill's favorite hotel and is great for a nightcap.
    I bought a detailed map of Venezia and tried to use in the Rialto area to get back to St. Marks. Duh, ended up in a dead-end residential courtyard with 20+ cats hanging out.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    • Dubrovnik, Croatia - wife wants to see where Game of Thrones was shot


    Any advice would be much appreciated!!!
    The summer between high school and freshman year at Duke, 1972, I went on a 7-week student tour of Europe that included 5 days in Dubrovnik, right in the middle of the 7 weeks, and we were told that it was the "vacation within the vacation". Dubrovnik was called the Jewel of the Adriatic. We stayed in a lovely seaside hotel. At that time, it was still in Yugoslavia. I remember walking on the wall, but after the revolution that split Yugoslavia into two countries, I'm not sure that any touristy recommendations I have from 47 years ago would be relevant.
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

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