EUROPEAN VACATION – WEEK 5

 

Last week, I entered my seventh decade of life when I turned 60.  A half-deaf, half-blind epileptic, I’m proud to have all my own teeth and enough hair to cover most of my head.  I can still get out of bed every morning without holding on to anything, and there are no signs of arthritis yet.  I get up a few times in the night, but figure that’s better than the alternative.  Most everything still works. 

On my birthday, Elva wished me “Bonne fête!” and told me “Tu me fais pas zire!”.  The latter comment, for those of you who don’t know Acadian, is a back-handed compliment, one I’ll gladly take.

Our first port of call this week was Dubrovnik, Croatia, a spectacular port city on the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea.  For those who may not know, Croatia is one of seven countries that formed the former Yugoslavia, the others being Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo.

The old city of Dubrovnik is one of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites we’ve seen thus far, and it’s quite charming.  We got there early in the morning, before the worst of the crowds arrived, and the first thing we noticed is that the stone pavement of the main street literally shines!  It’s that clean!  The streets are narrow, many consisting entirely of stone steps.  The only vehicles we saw in the old city were of the battery-operated golf cart variety.

We took the cable car to the top of Mount Srd, dominated by a fortress built by Napoleon in 1812.  We visited a very interesting museum in the old fortress that tells the story of the 1991 military conflict between Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro, when Dubrovnik was bombed and held under siege for a time.  The people suffered terrible hardships and much damage was done to the old city.  You’d never know it today as everything has been repaired.  Dubrovnik is the most interesting city we’ve seen to date.

We spent two days this week in Venice, a beautiful and interesting place, covering most of the essentials: St. Mark’s Square, the Rialto Bridge, the Doge Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, and the Museums.  We travelled by water bus and walked many kilometres, getting a sense of how this unique city is laid out and how it functions.  And having a little fun, of course, as demonstrated by the “Pigeon Lady of Saint Mark’s Square”.

Imagine a city constructed totally on islands in the middle of a lagoon: no motorized vehicles on the streets, no bicycles, no utility poles or overhead wires, and no asphalt.  Imagine a city where people get to their destination by water bus or taxi, where goods are delivered in the narrow streets by hand cart, and where everything of any size moves by water through the extensive canal system. 

We watched with fascination as gondolas travelled the same canals as water buses and taxis.  There are no traffic lights or stop signs, but everyone seems to get along.  Boats carry cement, construction waste, lumber, furniture, laundry, and suitcases.  There are ambulance boats, police boats, and even an armored boat, a substitute for the Brinks truck.  No one in their right mind would ever build a city in such an unlikely locale, yet it exists and continues to function.

Next, it was off on a bus excursion to San Marino.  When I attended la grande école in Wellington, Madame Orella would let me look at the map of the world when I’d finished my assigned work.  In this way, I became familiar with the countries and their capitals.  For some reason, I was fascinated by the smallest countries.  On this trip, we’ve visited Andorra, Monaco and Malta thus far, and will see Vatican City before it’s over.

San Marino is the world’s oldest and smallest republic, founded in the year 301 AD.  Its total area is 61 square kilometres, making slightly larger than Charlottetown, I’m guessing, and with a similar population: 31,000.  The country spreads out on the slopes of Monte Titano, and the oldest part consists of narrow, spotless streets lined with hotels, restaurants, and high-class shops.  We walked along the crest of the hill and visited the three castles, the oldest dating from the XI century, but stayed away from the Torture Museum, said to house the “most disquieting collection in the world”.

San Marino is very prosperous, due mostly to tourism; it welcomes over 2.5 million visitors a year.  Our guide told us that residents pay income tax at the rate of only 15%, and there’s no sales tax!  The country accepts no immigrants, except women who marry citizens of San Marino; they must remain in the country for fifteen years before becoming eligible for citizenship. 

It’s the only country in the world that does not have a single traffic light; it functions entirely with round-abouts.  Now, I know where Ronnie MacKinley and Clifford Lee got the idea!  What a neat place!

Next, it was off to Split, across the Adriatic, and west of Dubrovnik.  The city’s claim to fame is that it was the site of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s palace when he decided to retire there in the fourth century.  As was the case in Dubrovnik, Elva and I opted to tour the city on foot rather than take an excursion and shuffle along with all the old people.  We find that we get to see much more this way, and the exercise helps to burn off the calories we inevitably consume onboard ship.  Split was beautiful!  It is not a large city but the old section features an impressive seaside promenade. 

We were lucky to be there to see a cultural fair of some sort, with young people displaying their singing and dancing talents.  The, a group of a dozen or so mentally-challenged young adults came onto the stage.  Several of them participated in a song-and-dance routine, and each one then gave a short, emotion-filled speech.  We were touched!

Next, we wandered through the streets of Old Split, surrounded by the walls of Diocletian’s palace, and came across a group of four men singing a beautiful folk song.  It all seemed so natural and unscripted; beautiful voices, fine accompaniment, people sitting around to just listen and join in.  Before boarding the tender to take us back to the ship, we lazed on a bench on the promenade and just enjoyed the sunshine and the 25-degree day.  What a life!