Homeward bound - June 1

Pity we had to leave our hotel so early this morning as it is ideally situated along the coastline and would have provided a lovely walk, but it wasn't meant to be. We were up at 5.30, suitcases repacked and locked for the last time, down to breakfast at 6.30 just as the restaurant was opening, back to the hotel lobby by 7 and our driver arrived right on time at 7.15 to get us to the airport which was a 30 minute drive. Thankfully none of the horrendous traffic we experienced earlier. At the airport our check in was easy enough. Our cases will go all the way through to Adelaide, but we have to collect our Qatar flight boarding passes on arrival in Athens. We had been able to finally select our seating for the Qatar flights 2 days ago, but our travel agent has since changed the Doha to Adelaide seats so that we were both backwards gacing! Ugh! In trying to change the seating back to our original choices, the site wouldn't accept the changes and so with no selected seats made and very few seats still available we have no idea where on the plane we will be sitting. As this is the longest leg of our journey at over 12 hours, I am really teed off withthe travel agent, and is just one more reason I won't be using her again for any new bookings. However, once booked in, we made our way to the Business lounge which was a bit hard to find but we did it! As the first ones in a bit after 8 we thought we may have the lounge to ourselves, but being the trendsetters we are, in minutes there were more travellers trickling in. Plenty of time for a very light snack and then to make our way to the gate to board our Aegean airways flight to Athens. We are on board and just hope that our luggage is too as it is supposedly booked all the way through to Adelaide but we only have boarding passes to Athens.. Flight time is 1'25 and we are seated in row 4 with a spare seat between us. I certainly didn't expect to be fed as well as we were for such a short flight. Some amazing views too of the countries below.

Arriving in Athens we are bussed to the terminal - as business class passengers we had our own bus with only about 8 other people on it! We had been advised that someone would meet us at the terminal to advise where transfers occur, but that was definitely not the case and we had quite a time finding the Qatar ckeck in counters, thanks to Julie eventually finding them. Check in was easy so we made out way to the business class lounge where we thought we had more time to soak up the atmosphere - Okay...also to eat and drink more, but as it took us so long to find where to check in we didn't even get to finish our first selection!

A bit of a rush to the gate and we were able to board immediately, all set for our 4'25 flight to Doha. We sat on the tarmac for ages though aso were late getting away. It was a very comfortable flight and we were very well looked after in seats 1A and 1B. Great views again, especially of snow tipped mountain ranges.

A later arrival into Doha meant that we didn't get a chance to go to the Business lounge (bugga) so once we got through the scans we headed for our gate. Once on borad we found ourselves in middle pods facing backwards (thanks to our travel agent changing our preferred chosen seating. At least we were on the flight! Anyway, we were once agin well looked after and there was so much food offered that I abandoned even looking at the menu after my tomato and basil soup starter and a main of 5 spice beef short ribs that I could barely make an impression on!

Managed to get some sleep during the 12'40 flight, ariving back in Adelaide about 3.30pm. Remembered to collect my duty free on the way after passport control and then through Customs once our luggage arrived. I need to put it out there, that my sole suitcase did come in slightly heavy at 24 kilos, but Julie had to buy a second bag for all her purchases (mainly from Venice) and she already had a wheel on cabin case so let's be really clear on who is the shopper between us! Anyhow... Julie's son was right on time to pick us up and I was home well before 5pm. And that dear armchair travellers brings to a close our adventures in Morocco, Portugal, Italy and Croatia. It defintiely wasn't a shopping holiday for me, although I am still bemused with myself over the mosaic fountain purchase that should arrive in about a month and I did buy something a little bit special in each country to remind me of my holiday, we definitely fitted so many one-time experiences in and revisited a couple of previously seen places.

Don't despair that this holiday has ended. It has been lovely having you along, and don't put your passports away as we are all booked for our next adventure in October. Stay tuned...

Dubrovnik last day - 31 May

Breakfast done and dusted, bags out and waited for our ride to our hotel. It has been a mixed bag in both the cruise itself and the company. Still never met anyone better than myself, but did enjoy the NZ company and hope to remain in contact with them. Little Louise from Melbourne was travelling alone due to her travel friend having to cancel at the last minute due to a breast cancer diagnosis. We kind of took her under our wing and included her in a number of our wanderings. She will be staying in the same hotel as us and she has another day as well before heading off to Scotland. Time to say farewell to all. The weather has turned quite bleak with low cloud and likely rain so we were very lucky that we never sailed in bad weather. On the dock I noticed the building opposite that is under the bridge. Bullet holes in the building facade were a stark reminder of the war experienced here in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Dubrovnik was besieged by the Yugoslav People's Army for seven months and suffered significant damage from shelling.

After undergoing repair and restoration works in the 1990s and early 2000s, it has re-emerged as one of the Mediterranean's top tourist destinations. Apparently Dubrovnik is the most 'over-touristed' destination in Europe, with 36 tourists for each resident however the tourist season is not all year but desgnated as 1 April to 30 November. I'm jumping ahead a bit but our Uber driver today told us how expensive it is to live here where a small basic 2 bedroom apartment is likely to cost a million Euro. A supermarket employee is likely to earn about 800 Euro per month but pay rent of at least 500 Euro a month. During the war, many left the country due to the danger, and again many left during Covid but this time because there was no work to be had. It is an interesting place, but apart from the old walled city I don't see the attraction. We arrive at our hotel, the Royal Neptun which us 5 star and has amazing coastline views but it is quite a dustance from the old city. We are too early for our room to be ready so are offered breakfast or a drink. I only had breakfast 2 hours ago so opt for the free drinks. We have hours to fill until our room might be ready so decided to get a ride back to the old city where it appears the hop on hop off buses leave from. I am able to book an Uber car that is atthe hotel within a minute. Louise elects to come with us even though she has been able to check into her room. Dropped at the Pile gate we eventually agree to a hour and a half tour for 20 Euro each. We have found out that they aren't actual hop on hop off tours where you can get off at designated spots and then return later from that spot. You are on the same bus the whole time and have 10 minute stops to take photos. Anyway, that's what we do and it filled our morning.

We end up back at Pile gate and as it is now midday we head back into the old city and find a quiet spot for lunch. There are many more people here today now that all the shops are open, and clearly more tour groups.

Finally able to get the internet long enough to be able to book an Uber back to our hotel. This is the driver who told us specifics on cost of living here. Mind you he eas driving a Mercedes sedan that is also a taxi and he does Uber rides like ours for ciffee money! Back in the hitel we are pleased to bookn our room which is lovely. Shame the weather wasn't nicer with clearer skies, but still great views from our little balcony. It was lovely leaving the balcony door open for thefresh air for a couple of hours. About 4 o'clock we ventured back downstairs, collecting Louise on the way, and headed to the bar fir our free drink of Prosecco.

We had thought about going for a walk around the hotel walkway along the coastline but it has started raining so we head back to our room, saying our farewell to Louise. We agree to an early night in. Neither of us want dinner so will finish off our snacks, have a wine (maybe) and hopefully have a good night sleep before our pickup from the hotel in the morning at 7.15.