The second half of today was mostly eating! We have a breakfast buffet and a four course lunch each day on the ship – salad bar, entree (soup or pasta), mains, and a dessert. The bar is open from 7am to midnight, and very large bar tabs have been created (though not by me!). There is cocktails from about 10am after the morning swim, wine and beer with lunch, before tour drinks, after dinner drinks etc. I have not even tried to keep up with the other passengers – clearly retirement allows for drinking training!
In the evenings we are in a port and so must go and find ourselves something at a local restaurant (that is fully geared up for tourists getting off small cruise ships!). This level of eating was difficult when we first boarded, but it seems we have been in training to eat …all in readiness for today.
After Mljet National Park (and my post-hike, pre-lunch gelato) we had our usual on-board lunch, whilst heading for the small fishing village of Slano on the mainland. We’ve left the islands behind now. Slano is not really a small fishing village – it is hotels and tourism, though not big, plus a sheltered port in a bay that can cope with lots of our small cruise ships turning up. Traditionally it was the port for the nearby salt works where seawater (still today) is evaporated in ponds.
The other thing close by is oyster farms (European flat oysters), so we took a bus over the hill to Mali Ston (a village with an epic wall) and went on a wee boat out to a local’s oyster farm. It was 28 degrees, with a gentle breeze. The sun was going down, great views – and we were given grappa (toxic alcohol shot!), a local white wine (very nice), three freshly shucked oysters each and a bunch of freshly collected and steamed mussels.
We stayed on the boat (with tables) while the owner, Mario, told us all about how it works, while shucking over 120 oysters by hand. It’s about 3 years from seeding to a sellable oyster – and they’re sold locally, including tours like ours, and in Dubrovnik. I am not a fan of oysters but decided if I was going to try them again (for the first time in 30+ years), then this was the place to do it. I ate two (fresh, raw) and they were actually ok. And then I ate heaps of mussels 🙂
And then we were back to the ship by 8pm, in time for dinner. Since Slano doesn’t have the restaurant capacity of other ports, tonight was our ‘captain’s dinner’ on board. This was an 8.30pm start, and the captain doesn’t actually come, but the crew provided entertainment and we ate for a couple of hours – four more courses. Followed by karaoke and dancing in a balmy summer evening (with no noise limits!!). I don’t have photos of this – but needless to say it was a great night. People from the neighbouring ships joined us as we were clearly having the most fun!
I’ve been really lucky with my co-passengers this week, which apparently doesn’t often happen (according to the bar crew/wait staff who we see the most). Everyone (33 passengers) is relaxed and friendly and there is not one single entitled, whiny, complaining person who demands the crew jump through hoops for them. People swap tables at mealtimes and mix it up, groups form and re-form for different activities, and everyone watches out for each other – making sure the head count is right each time we come back together as a group. This is such a blessing to be surrounded by such a great bunch of people.