We visited George Washington’s Mount Vernon on the Fourth of July to see the Independence Day festivities. I hadn’t been to Mount Vernon since a Christmas visit in 2005 when the visitor center was still under construction, so I was interested in seeing the finished estate.
Mediterranean Trip Roundup (Summer 2012)
Travel Log Entries
- IAD-AMS
- Amsterdam Layover
- Venice: Arrival
- Venice: Art
- Venice: Touristy Stuff
- Venice: Departure
- Cruise: Welcome Aboard
- Cruise: Dubrovnik
- Cruise: At Sea
- Cruise: Athens
- Cruise: Ephesus
- Cruise: At Sea
- Cruise: Split
- Cruise: Disembarkation
- VCE-CDG-IAD
Photos
Videos
- Venice Grand Canal
- Venice cruise departure timelapse
- NCL Jade balcony stateroom
- Dubrovnik Cable Car descent
Addendum: NCL carbon offsets
VCE-CDG-IAD
Two things I never want to do again: go through Venice Marco Polo Airport on a Saturday, and fly Air France. With thick crowds and long lines in the terminal, plus crashy Air France check-in machines (without ground staff at a desk for backup), by noon I wish we’d stayed an extra day or two in Venice just to avoid departing with every other cruise line passenger who had arrived with us that day.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 8: Disembarkation
The night before arrival, we fetch colored tags from the atrium to indicate our disembarkation time: light blue for 9:20 AM. These go on our bags left out in the hallway after 10PM, for claiming in the terminal after getting off the ship at port the next day. (NCL cruises out of Venice don’t offer freestyle walk-off disembarkation, for some reason.)
It’s a gray, hazy morning as the ship crawls back into Venice, carefully easing westward through the Canale di San Marco. We watch San Giorgio and Giudecca slide past our balcony, then walk over to the opposite promenade to see the Doge’s Palace and San Marco.
Continue reading Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 8: Disembarkation
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 7: Split
- Full Split photoset on Flickr
- Split.info
- Muzej Grada Splita
- World Heritage Centre: Palace of Diocletian
- Discover Split
Last port of call on our cruise is Split, Croatia, another popular summer destination on the Dalmatian coast. NCL Jade is a bit too big for the cruise port so the ship anchors a mile offshore and tenders ferry passengers to and from the Riva, Split’s scenic waterfront promenade.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 6: At Sea
Another day at sea as the ship returns across the Aegean from Turkey back to Croatia. Highlight of the day is a Behind-the-Scenes ship tour with officers and crew of Norwegian Jade. The tour doesn’t come free, though: it costs $55 per person in onboard credit, kind of a shipboard excursion.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 5: Ephesus
After a night crossing the Aegean Sea, we arrive at Izmir, a sprawling port city on the Turkish coast — but our real destination is a bit farther south: the archaeological site of Ancient Ephesus. Uncertain of our transit options I’ve booked a full day with No-Frills Ephesus Tours, a tour agency that promises excursions without the shopping stops so common to these trips. We’re here for history, not high pressure rug sales.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 4: Athens
The port suburb of Piraeus is a chaotic, bustling mess. It takes a while to figure out which pier we’ve docked at, and how to get to the Athens Metro on foot (about a 20 minute walk). At the Metro I lack coins for the machines and stop by a small cafe to buy an over-sweet frappe for change. I have trouble operating the first Metro ticket machine before belatedly realizing that it is out of service.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 3: At Sea
Day at sea between Dubrovnik and Athens. Another morning doing about a mile around the jogging track. Later in the day, ship’s officers host a Cruise Critic member meet-and-greet in Le Bistro, the ship’s French specialty restaurant.
Norwegian Jade Cruise, Day 2: Dubrovnik
The next morning I go for a few rounds around the ship’s jogging track and reward myself for this accomplishment with three breakfasts on the ship’s Lido buffet deck. Today we visit our first port of call: Dubrovnik — an old medieval walled town on the Dalmatian coast, now one of Croatia’s most popular summer destinations.