Cruising the Eastern Mediterranean Part I

Venezia! What a joy! Beginning with
A mad speedboat ride to the Grand Canal.
A walk through the Jewish Ghetto, no longer
Locked at night to keep in the ghost of Shylock.

A tour of the Rialto and the Piazza San Marco.
Respite in the cool, subdued confines of
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection of modern art,
Its garden courtyard, museum cafe, and buried dogs.




Dinner at our Hotel Principe
With candlelight, music, and sights of the canal.
Boat ride to Murano to see glass blowing,
Fabulous and expensive glass objects for sale.

On board the Norwegian Gem on Saturday,
An immense floating hotel for 2,400 guests.
First shore excursion to Split, in Croatia,
An ancient resort on the Dalmatian coast.













The tour centered on the palace erected by the
Roman Emperor Diocletian in the third century,
Now containing a tiny Orthodox cathedral,
Restored vaults, and modern apartments.













Next a drive in Corfu, a seedy and rundown island,
Past dealers for every car and motorcycle on the planet,
To visit a late nineteenth century palace built by
A deeply neurotic Austrian Empress who was bored in Vienna.

She was whacked by an anarchist in 1898.
The palace was then bought and occupied by the German Kaiser.
None of which we much cared about, except for photographing
The gardens and the statuary surrounding the palace.