Sardinia, is beautiful,

So was absolutely overjoyed, when this cruise had Sardinia on the itinerary. I very much wanted to book a tour to The World Heritage Site Barumini and the moment I boarded Queen Victoria on 4th Sept, I did.

The tour did not do this incredible site justice.

The 5 hours were far, far too long.After an hour of listening to minor details of pure conjecture of what may or may not have happened only God knows when and looking at numerous painted reproductions of what a thousand year old abode may or may not have looked like, I lost concentration and after another hour I lost the will to live.

When DH Lawrence came

To Cagliari in the 1920s, he compared the Sardinian capital to Jerusalem"strange and rather wonderful, not a bit like Italy."

Yes, the old town a little train took me around on the 8th May is quite wonderful, but the rest of Cagliari is very, very disappointing.

Trieste

was a great disappointment to me."The uncrowned capital of Italian coffee culture" as touted by Cunard?  My foot. Nowhere have I seen little  inviting cafes  serving  delightful pastries. Everywhere large establishments with dirty tables  and overspilling astrays.

And no wi- fi, let alone  free wi - fi.

Run of the mill shops selling run of the mill clothes.

But I liked this little chappie😊

You want my money. I want value for my money in return.Trieste needs to clean up its act.

 

Hvar was our next port of call.

Tenders were used to ferry us ashore as the water near the island is too shallow.

I walked, I shopped ( a dress, a top, a bag, all by the same Croatian designer), had the most delicious smoothie  at Kantun served with grace and smile,  walked some more, had the most excellent be it not  very hot latte at the immaculate , comfortable Carpe Diem, enjoying their internet that was faster than the speed of lightening.

I never wanted to leave.

Hvar, you are beautiful.

I  will be back.

0n 12th September 2022 Queen Victoria docked in

Dubrovnik,capital of Croatia, which is in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The walls around The Old City run almost 2km  (2.4miles). On the landward side the walls are from four to six metres thick, on the seaward side they are much thinner. 

I walked the walls during my very first visit to this "Pearl of the

Adriatic" when I was a university student.

Dubrovnik is one of the best examples of a medieval walled city in the wold.

I had booked a tuk-tuk tour of the city, the very pleasant and knowledgeable driver and guide took us to the cable car station high above the town, the picture postacard views unforgettable.

After the tour I took a shuttle bus to the Old Town, walked a little, had latte and took the shuttle back to the ship.Wonderful day.

I sailed on Queen Victoria

around the world in 2019, this time it is around The Med, Cartagena being the first port of call.I visited Catagena on a day trip with my husband years ago and truth be told I remember nothing of that outing.Cunard offered a "Tale of two cities" tour, Cartagena and Murcia being the cities and I booked it.Ten minutes after we drove off towards Murcia I knew the tour was going to be a nightmare. I was not wrong.The tour guide being the worst guide I had ever encountered, he pipped to the prime position the  one in Vietnam  and that, I was hoping, would never happen.

Never say never.

In Murcia we stopped at the Santuario de Nuestra Senora de la Fuensanta, perched above the city.Quite lovely outside and inside.In the city centre sits Catedral de Murcia.There is a religious ceremony in Murcia when half a million of believers carry a statue of the virgin from Santuario to Catedral (or vice versa) and back again.

The Santuario is as lovely inside as outside.

When we were inside the Catedral a lady turned towards me and said-I can't see the virgin.Don't look at me, I said. And I do not think there is a single virgin in the church, I added. She burst out laughing and was still chuckling an hour later.

From Murcia we drove back to Cartagena and after a 45 minute  walkabout returned to Queen Victoria.One day I would dearly love to return to Cartagena.It is beautiful and steeped in history.

What I liked about the Catedral is that it is a fully working church and during the day people go to a  confession. On the left you can see a woman

 kneeling  and there is a priest' s hand resting on the frame.

This is a part of the road in Cartagena that dates to Roman times.And I wish I could tell you more, but that is all I know.What the tour guide knew he took with him, he left none of us  any the wiser.