This year it was Lady Anns turn to pick our holiday (since I picked last years epic road trip to Ireland) and she had other ideas about what a holiday should be. So she booked us a cruise around the Adriatic visiting all sorts of places we would never think of visiting.
To some people cruising could be seen as your worst nightmare, stuck at sea with lots of people who you may not like. The reality is far different.
Imagine staying in a luxury hotel and it moved every night to a new location whilst you sleep so you get to explore another great location every day. We did a cruise several years ago and most of the places we visited we have been back to for holidays so it’s a great way to explore holiday options for the future.
So what did I discover on this trip?
I discovered that coincidence is still alive and kicking. On the first night, the head waiter sat us at a table with a random set of people only to find out that the guy sat next to Lady Ann went to the same primary, junior and secondary school as her and lived in the next street to her when she was growing up.
I discovered that the Italians are still as cool as ever making me feel quite inadequate in the fashion stakes.
I also discovered that Croatia and Slovenia are beautiful places that are still relatively unspoiled by tourism which I found very refreshing in this day and age.
My only disappointment was Venice. We visited it about fifteen years ago and it was a magical place full of deserted back streets and interesting squares with local people eating and drinking in the cafes.
What a change, it was rammed full of tourists in every corner (that’s rich coming from a tourist) which made it more of an ordeal than a visit. According to the guide who showed us around it gets busier in August and I was thinking to myself how can you get even more people in his magical city without destroying what makes it unique.
Having said that we had lunch on Burano, one of the islands in the lagoon and that was fantastic.
The only saving grace of the visit to Venice was that when leaving the ship travelled down the Canale delia Giudecca which meant that I could take all the photographs of Venice from the comfort of the balcony with my camera in one hand and a drink in the other.
I think on reflection my favourite destination was Hvar in Croatia. A busy little port which hopefully will not turn into another Venice in years to come.
So after a busy week of cruising, we arrived home feeling a little rested only to drop into the highly stressful preparation for Saskia’s School Prom. I think stressful may be an understatement, never have I seen such levels of anxiety about hairdo’s, makeup, dresses and the like of which I never knew existed. I hate to think what it will be like if she ever happens to get married, one thing I am sure of I will need a longer holiday to prepare for it.
But when she was ready and the Pre prom Photographs were taken it was well worth all the stress (according to the women in the family) but to me, she always looks fantastic but then again I may be biased!
John D Eccles 