Final farewells on Saturday morning as we all leave Princess Aloha and go our separate ways. For us, it's the bus to Zagreb and a return to "our" Esplanade Hotel - it feels like home!!!!
What do we say about Princess Aloha cruise - great!!!! Yes, the weather could have been better, but I doubt our fellow travellers could have been (and we were not drowned by crowds). A really good group with excellent interaction (and benefiting from our small numbers). Cruise Director, Martin, came to admit that we were his favourite group ever!!!!!!! Would he say that to others??????
Terrific crew, from the Captain down (it's his own boat - or his wife's, according to her - and he tends it lovingly). It would be unfair to single other crew out because they were all so good - but front of house, Emil was just superb and a great role model for his sidekick, Renato. Would we recommend it???? - absolutely, but possibly a couple of weeks earlier (although you will have a full boat and much bigger crowds). Just make sure Martin is your Cruise Director.
An easy 3.5 hours on the bus to Zagreb, through the mountains (around 20 tunnels) and beautiful scenery - amazing how the trees have coloured up in the lat 3 weeks.
Down to the heart of Zagreb for the afternoon and dinner but the drizzle had started and our ever attentive Concierge insisted we take the Hotel's designer umbrellas - guess what!!!!!! Pat manages to have hers switched for a bodgy at one of Zagreb's upmarket stores!!!!!
Beautiful dinner at Paparazzo - fettuccine with forest mushrooms and shrimp. Tomorrow is the Zagreb marathon. It has only 400 entries plus 1000 for the half. Talking to one of the pacemakers, she seemed to be aware of Melbourne Marathon legend, Shane D - but it turned out that she had Cliffy Young in mind!!!
The Esplanade is pure luxury and we love it - back to champagne for breakfast on Sunday, but I had to open it myself this morning!!!! A last walk downtown and saw the marathon start (interesting to see more than a few starters have their final cigarette before the gun - and then the airport bus and flight to Doha.
Our overall impressions of Croatia and its people are very positive. People are well dressed, pleasant to deal with, respectful (young woman even offered me a tram seat!!!!) and there is no evidence of serious poverty. Seemingly it's very safe and its people are keen to be outdoors.The Country is however among Europe's poorest, with little manufacturing, a declining population (particularly in rural areas) and high youth unemployment. EU membership will be a challenge. Very much it is a gem, just in need of a polish that economic circumstances are unlikely to permit. It's a great holiday destination and you will get great value for your money.
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