Awesome Allura

We are now on board the Oceania Allura on her inaugural cruise.  The journey to Allura started on Friday morning when we took a pre-booked van transfer from Ljubljana to Trieste, Italy (country number 15).  In Trieste, we met up with our friends from Long Beach, Yasuko and Marc, who would be joining us on the cruise.  After a bit of a walk around Trieste, we had dinner at a restaurant that Linda and I had eaten at 3 years ago.  Still good.

On Saturday morning, we were greeted with a view of Allura from our hotel window.

Upon embarkation, we did a lot of exploring around the ship.  She's beautiful, just like her sister, Vista.  We were also treated to a nice sunset.

On Saturday, we were in Rijeka, Croatia (country number 16).  It is a port that we had not previously been to.  Linda and I went for a walk around the town, checking out the highlights.  After walking along the waterfront, we made it to the Central Market.

I particularly appreciated the wine stall with its wine for as little as 3.20 Euro per liter!

After visiting the market, we made our way to the Korzo, the main street.

After reaching the end of the Korzo, we walked back down to the waterfront to make our way back to the ship.  Along the way, we saw many mullets and a couple of big yachts.  I had yacht envy 😉.

Our busy day continued with a cooking class in the culinary center, Passport to Greece.  

And then drinks at the Captain's Welcome Reception.

Sunday we were in Ravenna, Italy.  Since we had been there before and it was a shuttle bus ride into town, we decided to just walk to the beach.  It was a busy Sunday on the beach.  The water temperature was warm enough for Linda to go in!  It was a unique beach because it was very shallow for a long way out.

In the afternoon, it was wine tasting time.

This morning we are sailing into Dubrovnik, Croatia.  It always interesting to watch the pilot come on board.

So, this has been a long story, covering many days.  That brings to mind one of the quotes from the park in Ljubljana:

"Listen, and you will realize that we are made not from cells or from atoms. We are made from stories."

Mia Couto

Peace, blessings, and stories,

Linda and Larry