It was a great news when my daughter told me that we are going on Cruise on luxury liner Costa Fortuna starting from Venice to Islands in Italy, Greece and Croatia. We had the suites reserved for us and for almost eight days we would be living in a world on the Sea. With endless fun and entertainment assured, we waited for the day when we boarded the flight for the Cruise world.



Bill board in Streets of Venice,the place where we stayed for two days before boarding the ship

Venice is expensive in the Tourist season but then everything good is expensive.



Picture of morning Breakfast in our Hotel.Breakfast was complimentary.

On the Grand Canal Venice,near the Rialto Bridge.Rialto is commercial and financial center of Venice.Our Hotel was just touching the depicted Bridge.



Hotel Des Balances Venice.This is the place where we stayed for 2 days. It is almost 100 years old though restored and renovated.



Piazza San Marco Venice aka St. Mark's Square is the principal public Square of Venice.A Great Urban Space where Human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized trafffic.Also called the drawing room of Europe.

St.Marc's Basilica.It is on the eastern edge of the Piazza Square with a height of 251 ft and width of 237 ft and has 5 Domes.The height of outer Dome is 141 Ft and the inner height is 92 ft.It has some of the finest architecture and one of the most revered and visited Catholic sites.A sea of humanity visits it everyday and yet it is so sublime and serene.There is Peace within the Portals.



ON THE SHIP COSTA FORTUNA

(Picture from the website)

The ship has 13 Docks,can carry 2720 passengers or more, maintained and looked after by a crew strength of 1027.It is a world by itself and once one enters it, one is in his own world.He goes to his bunk or suite only at night and perhaps at late night, since there is so much of entertainment and schedules.It has casinos,discos,numerous bars and lounges,multi media areas,massage parlours,spas,multi purpose sports and outdoor jogging tracks and Theatres on each level.People save throughout the Year to go on this cruise.



A part of our Suite with two dedicated attendants.

It had a private deck(Patio) behind the Curtains giving a grand visual of the blue green waters.



An earmarked Table for Evening dinner for all the days,with two dedicated attendants. One of them was Mr.Saha a sweet little guy from Kolkotta India.





On the deck first afternoon. After check in and all other formalities. Check In was smooth and fast though there was a huge rush of passengers. Incidentally the Security contract was looked after by some India based Company and hence all the staff was from India.







Our two friends (Hosts) at the Evening dinner...everyday.From Phillipines and India



The Michelangelo Restaurant and some of the many Guests.



The Raffael Restaurant on the Ship.

Painting Classes. This displayed T-Shirt was painted by my wife on the last day of the Training Class on the Ship.












The Town of Bari: First Stop.



Alberobello (Italy) small town and commune in Province of Bari Italy. Alberobello is known for unique Trulli constructions which are now part of UNESCO world heritage sites since 1966,Trulli's are small dwellings built from local lime stone with dry stone walls and conical roof. Initially they were devised to fool the local authorities to evade Taxes.


The inside of the House is made of local limestone and is maintained cool.
The buildings are usually square and have very thick stone walls, constructed without mortar. The thickness strengthens the structure and also helps regulate the internal temperature. The roof is actually a dome, as you can see when you enter one of the buildings, but is almost invariably built up on top into a cone shape, topped with a spire. There is generally a central room, with additional living spaces in arched alcoves. Residential trulli are smartly whitewashed, and their roofs are often decorated with fanciful painted symbols supposed to have religious or superstitious significance. The fanciness of the spire decoration was something of a status symbol: it showed the builders' skill and thus the spending power of the owners. Frequently the houses consist of more than one trullo roof: they are more like trullo complexes crowned with several roofs







Oia Santorini: Oia, pronounced ‘Ia’, is the most famous of all villages of Santorini. It is known throughout the world for its quiet life and fantastic sunset, and is certainly the most beautiful and picturesque village of Santorini.(Greece)

The village is also situated on top of an impressive cliff and offers a spectacular view over the volcano of Palia and Nea Kameni and the island of Thirassia.
It is a traditional village with charming houses in narrow streets, blue domed churches, and sun-bathed verandas. Its streets have plenty of tourist shops, taverns, cafés, and other shops.



Pyrogos:Greece: built on the Hill,was till 1800 the capital of the Island of Santorini.The village has about 33 churches.The Easter celebrations are well known here,when on Palm Sunday the whole place is fragrant with scent of Rosemary that decorates the 17 metre Cross.



Thira or Santorini:Greece. The most beautiful Island of Greece.



At a Cafe in Santorini.Greece. Santorini is an island in South Aegean Sea about 200ks SE of Greece mainland. It is remnant of Volcanic Caldera. It has hot desert climate but most beautiful and colorful throughout the year. It is the home of small but flourishing wine industry, the most notable being Vinsanto(Italian:Holy wine). Santorini is also known for its rich cherry tomatoes, eggplants and cucumber.



Rhodes Island:At the Central dock waiting to be taken to the City.The Island of Rhodes is one of the most popular tourist destination of Europe.

The island is located SE of Athens and SW of the Coast of Turkey.The above is part of the old Town of Rhodes declared as World Heritage Site.



The Old Fort of Rhodes in the background.





Inside the Old Fort

In ancient times Rhodes(Colossus of Rhodes)was home to seven wonders of the world.

Back to the ship to go to Dubrovnik(Croatia) the last destination of the 8 days Cruise.It may be recalled some of the outdoor Scenes from the The Guns of Navronne"were filmed on the Island of Rhodes.

Below are the pictures from Dubrovnik, a city on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia,one of the most beautiful place and one of most liked place for tourists. In 1979 City of Dubrovnik joined UNESCO world Heritage Sites



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This Church in Dubrovnik tells the story of the events in 1991 when Yugoslavia was broken up into almost 7 new countries. The City was beseiged by Serb-Montenegrin forces for seven months and received significant shelling damages.

Dubrovnik is one of the 10 best best medieval cities of the world and also among the 10 best places for fairy tale proposal of the Valentine's Day



FAREWELL TO

D U B R O V N I K



FARE WELL DINNER AT THE SHIP COSTA. A WONDERFUL EVE.



All pictures are mine.Karor is my pen name.