Monthly Archives: August 2024
The tomorrow that almost never came
Ilze and I now hold the Dandenong Ranges Orienteering Clubs record (admittedly with jackets in the hold baggage) for the longest Thursday the 29th of August ever endured. It began conventionally enough, sleeping through till about 6.30am and then up for a final pack and a quick breakfast before we drove to Melbourne Airport. Leaving […]
Slow Bus to Lake Bled
No sign of rain today, so we took the bus to Lake Bled. Slovenia may have many Austrian influences, but bus “queues” are very definitely Italian, and it was something of a free for all to get on board. If you try to get on the wrong bus, the driver just shakes his head with […]
Here Be Dragons
Our last night in Trieste was not pleasant. The wind got up. As usual we had all the windows open, trying to catch the cooler night air. The doors all started slamming, sounding like gunshots. Ian had to prop them open with whatever came to hand – saucepans, trail shoes, etc. In the end we had […]
A long time coming.
Ilze and I have not been able to add to DIPIDY’s overseas adventures since we returned from Iceland in 2019. We had planned for an adventure up North America’s inside passage in 2020 on Hurtigrutens then brand new expidition ship, the Roald Amundsen. But covid happened and the ship got stuck returning from an Antarctic […]
Bella Trieste
We’ve adopted the eminently sensible Mediterranean habit of siesta, followed by pre-dinner passegiata (evening stroll). Last night we passegiata’d to the Molo Audace, or pier, to see the sunset, and the lights of the Piazza. Most of Trieste was doing the same; the outdoor cafes were buzzing. We retreated to eat our chicken schnitzel (gluten […]
Castle By The Sea
Wanting to minimise any physical exertion, I booked a ticket for a hop on hop off bus tour. The first thing I learned was that my clever rhyming heading from the previous post was incorrect. The locals pronounce it Triest-ay (as if there was an accent on the final “e”). After a nice circuit of […]
A Rest in Trieste
We left the ship in the usual unceremonious fashion at 8.30am. Checkin time at our apartment, less than 10 minutes walk away, was 3pm. How to kill 6.5 hours in Trieste? Our luggage could be dropped at 11am so that was something. Ian found some shady bench seats in a small, quiet piazza, so we […]
Colourful, Cat-Free Koper
Koper is a small but growing city on the Slovenian coast. From here, many people take excursions to places like Piran, Ljubljana, or the Slovenian caves. Koper’s old town is tiny – you can walk from one side to the other in 15 minutes. I looked at many options for our final port, but in […]
Into The Forest
Our second Croatian port was Split. It was a mixed morning. Clean clothes arrived from the laundry service – yay! Then Ian’s back spasmed, and it was looking doubtful that he’d be going anywhere. Thanks to the wonders of ibuprofen and fisiocreme, he managed to get up and moving. From the deck, we could see […]
A Little Bit Venetian
After passing Montenegro, we sailed into Croatian waters, making our way north up the Adriatic. We had an early start in Dubrovnik, with a tour to three panoramic lookouts. This began with a stop at the nearby, and quite new, bridge, then two stops overlooking the old city. The third stop was just below Fort […]
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