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| MSC Opera |
Venice Lagoon, Adriatic Sea, Strait of Otranto, Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Steno Elafonisou, Aegean Sea, Dardanelles Strait, Sea of Marmara, Bosporous Strait and Black Sea
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A few of the highlights during our 12 day cruise (from a nautical perspective) were :-
- gliding silently past the many world famous Venice landmarks in the Venice Lagoon,
- negotiating the Dardanelles Strait including the approach to the Gallipoli peninsular just before dawn and
- sharing the extremely busy Bosporus shipway whilst squeezing between the European and Asian shores of Istanbul before entering the Black Sea.
This cruise itinerary included return visits to Athens and Istanbul. This was the third and final time we would see both these historic cities during our 200 day adventure. The remaining ports we took in were Bari (Italy), Yalta and Odessa (Ukraine), Katakolon (Greece) and Dubrovnik (Croatia). Here's just a taste.
The southern Italian city of Bari features both the Basilica of Saint Nicholas and the Cathedral of San Sabino and a Norman-Hohenstaufen Castle known as Castello Svevo. All three have been around since the 11th or 12th century. A little known (previously secret) fact - Bari became the only European city to experience chemical warfare during WW2 when German bombs were dropped on US mustard gas stores in the port. Up to 2000 allied servicemen and Italian civilians perished.
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| Castello Svevo |
The Crimea has been a part of the world we knew nothing about until recently. The resort town of Yalta became world famous following the 1945 conference (at the conclusion of WW2) where the Soviet Union, United States and United Kingdom decided the future of Europe. During the 19th and 20th centuries Yalta was a popular holiday destination for the Russian aristocracy then the Soviet elite. Lenin also decreed that the proletariat should use Yalta for recreation and medical treatment. It was very obvious to us that that Yalta is now struggling economically (since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991) as the nouveau-riche are holidaying at other European resorts.
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| Section of Yalta's Esplanade |
The city of Odessa is a major Ukraine port (and former Soviet naval base) on the northern shore of the Black Sea . Odessa is a warm water port, but militarily it was of limited value to the Soviet Union. Turkey's control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus has enabled NATO to control water traffic between Odessa and the Mediterranean Sea.
During the short time in Odessa we enjoyed a stroll up the Primorsky Stairs into the old town centre to admire the exterior of the Opera House as well as relics of the former Russian Empire.
The Primorsky Stairs, constructed by an English engineer in 1840, is a giant stairway incorporating several optical illusions and considered a formal entrance into the city from the port.
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| Primorsky Stairs |
The luxurious rococo style Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre has unique acoustics allows a whisper from the stage to be delivered to any part of the hall.
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| Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre |
Unfortunately we could not convince the door keeper to let us take a peek at the spectacular interior and check out the acoustics.
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| Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre interior |
Sadly the much of the city's beautiful pre-soviet architecture is showing its age. Beyond the facades on the main streets, the courtyards are dilapidated and dark with unkempt play equipment and rubbish as though no one cares or has time to care.
Katakolon is the nearest port for cruise ship visitors to experience ancient Olympia. We chose instead to spend the few hours ashore visiting the Municipal Museum of Ancient Greek Technology which holds 150 operating reconstructions of mechanisms and inventions of the ancient Greeks covering the period from 2000 BC to 100 AD.
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| Explanatory Sign Outside Museum |
Exploration of Dubrovnik's historical splendour included strolling through the narrow streets and around the ramparts of this UNESCO world heritage city.
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| Dubrovnik at night |
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| Narrow cobblestone streets |
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| Walled Dubrovnik from St. Lawrence Fortress |
Despite being an ancient city our focus was on more recent events. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, Dubrovnik was attacked by JNA (loyal to the Serbian government led by Slobodan Miloševic) with a siege of Dubrovnik that lasted for seven months. 114 civilians were killed though the foreign media was criticised for exaggerating the damage sustained by the old town, instead of responding to human casualties. Nonetheless, the historic walled city sustained 650 hits by artillery rounds.
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| Map of Dubrovnik showing damage from artillery strikes and fires |
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We hope you enjoyed this tiny taste of our cruise. After two days in Venice we head to London and then go narrowboat cruising on the Oxford Canal. In the meantime please keep sending in your comments and questions.
If you're unsure which stories you've missed - look for the Blog Archive near the bottom of the page - it's the best way to select the post you haven't read yet (or want to re-read).
