2025 Sep. 25; Sibenik, Croatia.

Today we are in the small, but old town of Sibenik, located about half way between Split and Zadar.  For this the captain had to make some speed  as he had to sail outside the islands to the North of Dubrovnik and then re-enter again as Sibenik is located Inland.

By 8 am, we were at the pilot station in the Sibenski Kanal and then sailed into a (fairly) narrow channel called the Pasmanski Kanal. The Croatians use the name Kanal for a waterway between 2 islands but it is not a “Canal” in the English sense of the word as a canal has locks at either side (like the Panama Canal) but more of a channel or a fairway with land at either side. So we sailed in the Pasmanski Channel which was very scenic. I can understand why the Romans, Greeks and the Venetians were excited about this space, as one Fort (located at the entrance) can keep any fleet away from coming close. You are then forced to land troops and the mountain ridges and crevices do not make that easy.

The Fortress of St. Nikolas. This defense point is one of a series of Venetiian Forts located along the islands to protect Sibenik and the surrounding area. It is open to the public via boat tours and seems to be under renovation as there was a large pile of big stones stored at the other side.

Sailing in, is about a mile and not unlike the more narrow part of the Panama Canal. The ship had two pilots on board, one on the bridge to guide the ship and the other at the stern to see if it made the turn safely. Once through you end up in a large body of water with the  old city of Sibelink perched against the hill side. The whole of the old town is now given over to tourist shops, restaurants and holiday apartments. On each side, outside the city walls, is the new city which is built on the more flatter parts of the land.

The sail through. The Azamara Onward is not the biggest ship that goes through. When we came to the anchorage we saw that the Viking Jupiter (1000 guests 60,000 tons) had come through as well and was docked at the main terminal.

It is a very sheltered anchorage and during the day our ship barely drifted around on the anchor. This gave for a very scenic view of the city which in the old days was protected from inland invasions by several big forts. Apart from that the old town has 16 (!) old churches on what I think is barely a quare mile and several palaces as the Venetians knew how to live well. So we went ashore by tender. This was a 2 tender distance and 2 tenders were in  use, with this time the waiting times for the tenders being not so long as Security was wise enough not to stick to 30 minute departures but worked more on the “demand and supply” method. I complained about the bad tender service in Havr (a 4 tender distance with only 3 and after 1300 only 2 tenders going) so maybe somebody listened.

The view of the old town from the ship.  The fortress of St. Michael is towering above the town on top of the hill and there are two more of them nearby. To the right the cupola of the Cathedral  of St. James is clearly visible.

We had plans to find the “main” shopping street but there is not really one in the old town. Each row of houses is on a different level so leaving the boulevard along the water means climbing 10 or 15 steps, finding a small square surrounded by houses/and maybe a shop and then another 10 to 15 steps to the next level. Getting that way to the top, the Fortress of St. Michael, is about 300 steep steps in small increments. But you can take a taxi.  The only larger square is in front of the Cathedral (yes another one) of St. James is about 20 steps above boulevard level. But then one does need some space to get processions lined up and you do need a location where the local magistrates can address the population. Now it was filled with several tour groups from the Viking Jupiter and Tui- tourists as TUI has a resort nearby.

This is the end of the main square outside the Cathedral.  The people standing here are listening to their tour guide via their bla-bla box and it seems something  exciting about the roof is being explained. Behind them, the next set of steps up to the next small street of houses.

We tried a few of the small streets on the various levels and then walked back along the boulevard where some of the very expensive yachts were docked. It was interesting to see how the owners or guests (most of these yachts are out for charter if the owners are not on board) were going ashore. Of course at that level of luxury you do not order an Uber, Bolt or regular taxi, no, 3 porsche SUV’s were used to whisk them away.  I wonder if your life becomes really boring if you can afford anything you want and there is nothing left to long for.

The ms Azamara Onward at anchor in the bay. The gap just of the left of the ship is the channel through which we came in and would leave.

By 12.30 hrs. we were back on board and in the Lido, the Windows Cafe, and here we had our next interesing exchange with the crew. It looked to me that the food on display did not change very much from day to day. Not that this is unusual but normally when you are on a 5* to 6* ship you see a bit more variation. So we asked the waitress, who felt  very uncomfortable about the question and was going to pass the message on. No less then 5 minutes later a sous chef popped up with the question if anything was wrong.  No that was not the issue, it was just a genuine question out of interest. Then came the explanation that about 90% is standard / the same every day but depending on the port, or sea area, they change one or two stations to local speciality dish. With Croatia this seemed to be a little bit more difficult so it was sort of limited to one fish dish. But they had 3 new flavors of ice cream for the day and a different selection of cheese. (which is quite an extensive selection, bigger than on many other much larger ships) And with me being “Jan Kaas or John Cheese” from Holland I had absolutly no problem with this.

Departure, all on board at 16.00 hrs., was slightly delayed due to two guests who missed the last tender. Luckily the tender was still in the water and could return after the ships agent spotted them at the now deserted tender dock.  Most companies have the policy that they pay the Agent to stay behind for an hour or so, when guests are missing and then get them back on board in the next port.

One of the two holes in the wall. A relic from World War II.

When sailng out through the Kanal/channel we could see the other side of the shore line and here the rock formation is a little bit higher. Because of the location, the Germans dug a tunnel into the rock during WWII so their torpedo boats could sail in and out of Sibeniks harbour while the  sea mine barrier in the channel could be left untouched. The in/out entrance and the out/in entrance together are called locally “Hitlers eyes”.  It was in use for quite a while after the war but with the collapse of Yuguslavia the navy left the base behind. (In the back of the island there are still a lot of Nissen Huts and other military facilities visible).

A view inside. The entrance is blocked off for boats but pedestrians can walk through via the pathway on the side. ( Photo courtesy: Camera Obscura Website)

Evening entertainment started early today. One of the castmembers, Linda Fitzgerald gave her own show at 17.30 in the Cabaret Show Lounge. She is from Irish decent and sang a number of songs which influenced her career. She studied in London and joined the cruise ships in 2016. Not a bad move as the days that you “had to make Broadway” are gone as the entertainment on the ships is as good and sometimes of an even higher standard.

A very good show by one of the talented cast of the ship.

Then it was off to dinner in the dining room where as usual the food was pleasant and the service friendly. Next stop was “The Den” where another cast performer was given a solo performance. Now it was “Richie” an American from New Jersey who had two Master degrees in modern music/musicals. So he sang for 45 minute some of the well known and not so well known songs from various Broadway shows. Again very good. Then we had the option to go to the main show in the Cabaret Lounge by the Cruise Director Emily Love. Again a very talented singer with a very powerful voice as we had heard  during the White Night. But as we knew that we could see her show on the TV tomorrow we decided that we had enough culture for one evening and called it a day.

Tomorrow we are in Fusina for an overnight stay. This port, where we boarded, is about 30 minutes by car and 45 minutes by Vaparetto from Venice. So those who wanted to see Venice could buy tickets for transfers. Weather tomorrow: Overcast with a chance of showers and temperatures around 21oC / 70oF.  We should be docking around 09.00 hrs. so we will be able to gorge ourselves on the wonderful skyline of the Mestra  industrial area. (see day 1)