# Eastern Europe



## beejaybeeohio (Sep 3, 2012)

Next November we're taking a port-intensive Adriatic cruise out of Venice, preceeded by a week in Tuscany (ongoing searches w/ both DAE & RCI-fingers X'd).

Ports of call include Koper, Slovenia; Kotor, Montenegro; Split & Dubrovnik, Croatia.  We have 10 hours in each of these and will be DIYing.  We are considering a private tour in Slovenia as the sights we're considering (Ljubljana, Bled area & the caves) are a distance from port.

All suggestions and advice are welcome and appreciated.  Hope that you chime in, Carolinian, as our eastern Europe representative


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## Carolinian (Sep 3, 2012)

If you plan to do all of that at Koper in one ten hour port call, I think that would be a whirlwind trip.  It is better to come back to that area for a few days.  Then check out some of the other historic  towns on the Istria peninsula, most of them in Croatia.  The ancient Roman coliseum in Pula, for example, is more intact than the one in Rome.  You can reach Llubljiana and Lake Bled by rail.  For the other towns in Istria, you need either a car or take the bus.  For a group, I would get a car.

Kotor, Montenegro is a wonderful medieval town.  If you do an add on, I would look at Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro before 1918.  There are a couple of palaces, a medieval monastery, and the former pre-1918 embassies of the great powers, now used as private residences.


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## beejaybeeohio (Sep 3, 2012)

*Thanks ,Carolinian*

Only 1 of the options are under consideration for Koper...in November, thinking that Lake Bled might not be the best choice, so trying to determine the best way to spend our limited time there- Piran is the closest option which I hadn't mentioned in the previous post.  The cruise is very port-itensive with only one sea day so just focusing on one of the many worthwhile sites per port would work well for us.

Thanks!


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## Carolinian (Sep 4, 2012)

Piran is an atmospheric old town and an easy bus ride from Koper.  Going the other direction there is an interesting castle build up against a cave that is between Koper and Llubljana, but it is off the train and bus routes, so you would need a car.




beejaybeeohio said:


> Only 1 of the options are under consideration for Koper...in November, thinking that Lake Bled might not be the best choice, so trying to determine the best way to spend our limited time there- Piran is the closest option which I hadn't mentioned in the previous post.  The cruise is very port-itensive with only one sea day so just focusing on one of the many worthwhile sites per port would work well for us.
> 
> Thanks!


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