June 24 – 26

We are almost to Split, Croatia, it’s about 8 a.m. and we are sailing in through an archipelago area, the water like glass except for a few ripples.  We are two hours away from docking again, so this promises to be a lovely sail-in.

The last two days we were in Trieste again.  There were not as many jellies but a few.  The first day Al went into town to walk around.  I really hit the wall this time and literally slept most of the day and largely fasted as my belly was in revolt  – although the food is good it is because there is too much salt and everything is cooked in oil, including the veggies.  It was much a much needed reset day for me.

We were in port overnight, most of the passengers would be disembarking the next day after being on the ship since Barcelona.  The night life on the dock was rockin’ and fun to listen to.  There must have been a karaoke bar right there because some of the “singers” were pretty good and some should stick to the audience, but then again that’s what karaoke is all about – finding your inner Aretha or Adele or McCartney or Timberlake, depending on your age. 

I want to know which Russian oligarch owns the sailing yacht that was docked next to us.  Speaking of sailing yachts, I’m kicking myself for not getting a photo of the Christina O which was docked in Athens when we were there.  I just didn’t think to do it but it was, indeed, the one and only Christina O that used to be owned by Aristotle Onassis and that Jackie herself lounged around on.  Maybe it will still be there but I doubt it. It was a little bitty thing compared to today’s mega-yachts.

Made an accidental Facetime with my brother, Don (77!) – accidental because I always forget his birthday and it was no exception this year and it wasn’t until he said his kids were taking him out on a pontoon boat for his birthday I remembered. It was good timing anyway.  As many of you know he is on hospice and his birthday was a good day, not all of them are. It was nice to see him smiling and talkative and joking.  The photos that came back the next day of them all on the lake on a beautiful Minnesota summer day were very special. 

After that I made the mistake of checking the news.  Two horrific Supreme Court decisions in two days has me, for the first time in my life, seriously wondering just how much a little house in Italy would cost me.  I can’t and won’t because I have family in the states, but my heart is heavy and my mind even heavier.  That’s all I can say about that right now as I don’t want to ruin this gorgeous sail-in with a stomach ache. 

Yesterday we went over the border into Slovenia and what a pretty country that is!  Our destination was the second largest cave in Europe.  Al and I love caves and have visited many in our time together.  Al figured this would be a nice diversion while the ship did its business of disembarking passengers and embarking new ones before a 7 p.m. set sail.  

It was not a nice diversion.  It was probably the most awe inspiring experience and I can only compare it to hanging and interacting with mama and calf whales in the lagoons of Mexico in terms of it being surreal.  I will try to describe it best as I can, and I will include photos – each one I took I was saying “this can’t possibly capture the scale of this”.   When you look at them I urge you to try to place yourself there and look at the people for some sense of scale.  

There is a little Disneyland – like electric train that takes you fifteen minutes into the cave.   It starts with a tunnel but then opens up into a cathedral room – wow! We’ve seen these before.  Very impressive.  Then another tunnel – and another cathedral room.  And another, and another.  Then you get off the little train and walk for an hour – cathedral room after cathedral room after cathedral room.  Captivating stalactites and stalagmites and pillars, hundreds of thousands of year old, pure whites to Grand Canyon orange to black and even blue. Curtain stalactites, one room called the “spaghetti room” and hopefully that photo captures the reason it is named that.  

A small aquarium is set up that houses a couple of the white salamanders that live in the cave – no photos allowed.  Al and I just left shaking our heads at the enormity of it and how our expectations were limited by our imaginations.  Never in a million years did we think this would be what it was – the cave formations were typical cave formations for the most part, but it was the size of the cave itself and the size of the rooms that was beyond anything we might have imagined and certainly struggled to comprehend.  The beauty of this planet knows no bounds. 

Before we went to the cave, we visited the castle in a cave.  The outside of the castle is attached to another seemingly endless cave – I have taken a photo of a sign that shows how much we didn’t see that was beyond the scope of what is open to regular folk. The part circled in red is what we were able to access. The rest of it is inaccessible unless you want a guide and go spelunking for real.   These people had it goin’ on (and there were different people depending on who dropped a cannonball on whom – one when he was in the loo). It was quite the fortress and cleverly protected the inhabitants.  The height of the rooms in the cave allowed for several stories – lots of stairs – and included a water collection system from the top to the bottom as well as the loo which was basically a cave outhouse.  We only saw the doorway to the secret exit that would take the inhabitants deeper into the cave and let them exit elsewhere including the cave we would see next, if need be. It’s as if the mountain is hollow.  The cellar is the last room which houses a small trinket shop, but it wasn’t until 1991 that excavation revealed treasures under the wood flooring that had been wrapped in fabric and survived all these years and is now in a museum. 

When we returned to Trieste we spent a few hours hanging in the quintessential piazza, surrounding by beautiful old buildings sharing a “toast” (which was the best grilled cheese and ham sandwich ever) and some tea. Al bought a little sweet treat just because.  Then walked some more to see some Roman ruins (No way! Really?) – a little arena that had been found under a bunch of houses.  Up some shaded stairs to church of Santa Maria Maggiore.  It was a run of the mill old church, we stepped inside and the Rosary was being said – in Italian – but I ran through a few rounds in my head in English for the justices of the Supreme Court who have to look in the mirror every night and face what they’ve done.  Anyway, a wedding had just taken place and I was charmed to see rice on the steps.  I was probably one of the last people in America who had rice at my wedding.  It worked!