We had intended to visit Slovenia, Trieste and Croatia during a single holiday but later decided to split the trip into two parts, with visits to Slovenia and Trieste in May (land based) and this trip a few months later on a ship. It was the right decision, because we enjoyed both trips very much. We had visited the bigger cities of Split and Dubrovnik previously, so this cruise, focussing on a relatively small area in northern Croatia including the Istrian Peninsula was exactly what we wanted. A beautiful, comfortable vessel, combined with a good itinerary, provided a really good mix of sailing and time ashore, where we able to dine in local restaurants on several occasions.

The ports of call indicated below and the places we visted got changed during the course of the holiday, mainly due to local weather conditions, but the alternatives provided didn't disappoint.

Firstly, we didn't go to Cres or Lubenice. Instead we sailed directly from Mali Losinj to Rovinj, from where we visited the charming inland village of Bale.

Secondly, we didn't visit the hilltop town of Motovun, because on the previous visit there, passengers had reported difficulty getting on to the public transport needed to get up to the town and said that the best way to see the town from the bottom anyway, which we got to do from the nearby wine estate later. Instead, we went to the quiet and very picturesque village of Groznjan, which was also on a hill and our coach could go all the way up to it.

Finally, due to a brisk northerly wind, our ship was unable to dock in the harbour at Brijuni, so we sailed directly from Porec to Pula, from where we were taken by coach for a short drive to Fazana and from there on a ferry across to the Brijuni Islands.