Trilike Bay. There are no excursions for this island. There are no ruins, no city walls, just a sleepy fihsing village on one of the longest islands in the archipelego. We cruised up a channel surrounded by small and moderately sized islands. It reminds me of the San Juans, but the weather is fantastic. The San Juans are hit or miss, often miss.
For us, we had a liesurely breakfast, spent some time in our suite, and headed to the tender around 9:20. The tender took us to a long pier in a sheltered harbor. Across the narrow bay there were 14 identical sailboats all with a large number affixed at the bow. Later we learned that this was a flotilla of Australian bare boat cruisers who booked a cruise from Silt to Athens. We spoke at length with one captain who said this was his second tour with this outfit and that next time he would go it alone with his family. The islands in this area are close together and every inslet has a few houses, a restaurant, and a float or pier to tie onto. I’ll post the name of the company in the forum resources section.
When we first disembarked the tender, we headed toward the sail boat flotilla to check them out, but Ellen saw a narrow street that led straight up the hillside behind the town. Up we went. The steps (and there were very many) led up and into almond and fruit trees repleat with cicadas chirping away. As we approached the top, a randy rooster greeted the morning, the sun, the sky, the afternoon. He would not stop for the longest time. It made the morning’s walk special. We found a signpost a little further on thet pointed out a trail thorugh a park, a path to a botanical garden, and a lake. We headed toward the lake and botanical garden, through acres of planted gardens. There were corn plants, beans, onions, leeks, and a number of crops we could not identify. We found the “lake” a few hunder meters farther on. It was a man made circular wall that encased a natural spring. It is used for irrigation fot the gardens. It also housed a very active honey bee nest. We could see hundreds of bees just clearing the wall’s top and headed out to forrage and the same number of bees coming back laden with pollen. It was fascinating and I would have stayed to watch for a while, but Ellen is alergic to bee stings. We headed back the way we came; there’s no need to risk a medical emergency.
Back on the main road we found the town’s church and its adjoining graveyard. The church was locked (today is Friday), but the graveyard was open and festooned with flowers on marble tounbs dating back to the 1920’s. Oddly each toumbstone had at least two sometimes ten flower arrangements placed on the toumb. The Croats take their ancestry very seriously. I looked for graves from the war with Serbia and found a very few where the death might have been war related.
Moving right along we went further afield and found a steep path back down, but away from the town center. This path went past the poor section of the town then turned right and dropped past rows of planted lavender and potted begonia. The lavender blooms were covered in butterflys and bumble bees. As we descended, we saw that the houses become better cared for and larger. Around a corner, the street opened onto a sweeping panorama of a bay with a smattering of large houses on the surrounding hills. All along the shore there were finished cement decks for water access and sun tanning. In one corner of the bay there were a number of finshin boats in various states of repair. Some sported new paint. This was a boatswain of good quality.
I was quite concerned that we had passed over from one side of the island to the other and would have to hike back over the ridge when we came upon several couples from the Odyssey. After disembarking the tender, they had walked along the shore. I felt relieved that we could simply walk along a beautifully finished cement walkway back to the tenders.
We stopped for lunch at a cafe along the waterfront that was just ok. My swordfish was overcooked and Ellen’s mixed salad was uninspired. The tenders run every 30 minutes between the wharf and the Odyssey. We headed off to board a tender and ran into Rob, Roz, Jim, and Tina who hailed us to stop, chat and share some wine with them. Two tenders came and went while we chatted. At their recommendation we ordered a cheese, fig, and honey dish that was great. We were told later it was meant as a desert.
We’re back aboard now and packing. Seabourn offers a 5% discount for guests who book or make reservations for a future cruise before disembarking. The fee to place a reservation is modest and the 5% discount is good for up to 4 years. The deposit is fully refundable and so we placed a reservation and will book another Seabourn cruise in 2017 or 2018 depending on how other plans develop.
I’m about to pack the computer away. I expect with the excitement of Venice, we’ll be offline until late in the evening.
Until then, happy trails to you…
Ron & Ellen