Initial thoughts: Hell if I know, it's a major modern city, but it
could be any major port city except for the signage, and even most of
that was in English. I'm not even going to go in to secondary thoughts
because there aren't any.
Tour: F, the guide was
nothing more than a shill. This wasn't a tour, it was a shopping trip
you paid to go on. The first stop was a jewelry maker/shop, which other
than a few antique coins mounted in necklaces had a whole bunch of
over-priced crap. The only thing I got out of this stop was meeting a
nice rather elderly gay man who I would run in to a few more times on
the cruise. Nice guy, and seemed impressed with my manners for holding
the security door at the shop open for the whole tour group to get in
(the guide asked me to, but all I really did was stand there with my
foot holding the door open; I should have followed the advice of the
first guy through and held out my hand for tips). Sadly I got the
impression from his partner's health that this may have been a
bucket-list kind of trip. They ultimately made more of an impression than the city did.
Second stop: More shopping,
this time an open area with various stalls. I spent most of the time
having a watch re-sized (I bought the thing then watched her struggle
trying to figure out how to take a link out of the band for half an
hour).
Third stop was a tram up to the top of a
mountain that was apparently historic, and which involved us standing
around in line for more than an hour. By this time we were about 7
hours in and my blood sugar was crashing; chance of mass-murder: high. I
ate a mediocre doughnut with some OJ and managed to not throw anyone
off the mountain, despite the presence of selfie-sticks. It should be
noted that the bus met us at the top, and presumably beat us there.
Between
stops we got to hear bad jokes and uninteresting facts about how much
it cost to live there. I feel like the homicidal urges would have been
there even with food.
Food: I had a stale doughnut and some OJ after 7+ hours. It kept me from cannibalism, but just barely.
Souvenirs:
I picked up a matched set of chopsticks for next to nothing, and a
decent watch so I could make it back to the ship in time in future ports
(I'd forgotten my watch). Watch is professional looking, is still
running well, and cost me about $20 US, so score?
Chance of getting mugged: ? I don't know, the only places I went were trying to rob you in broad daylight.
Would I go back:
Yeah, I feel like if I wasn't being led in to one tourist trap or
another I might like it. This is another example of why you shouldn't
EVER go on tours through a cruise ship, or maybe on tours period.
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