Valar Morghulis
Long time since I posted last. Believe it or not, I'm not dead. I'm just not a big fan of writing. However, I did want to capture a few memories of my trip to Croatia, Slovenia, and Venice before I forget.
Day 1: Landed in Dubrovnik (pronounced DOO-brov-nik), Croatia. The taxi driver was really friendly and spoke pretty good English. After looking at the spectacular views on the way from the airport, I kidded with him and asked does he ever get tired of the view. He said he loves the sea. Whenever he goes away for more than a day, he can't wait to return to the sea. My girlfriend and I stayed at Villa Argentina, a 15 minute walk from the Old Town. They gave us a room in the older section of the hotel with a balcony overlooking the Adriatic and Lokrum Island. The sky was crystal clear. The view was amazing. For dinner, we met with our traveling companions, and had a welcome dinner in the hotel. The food was delicious, but this was my first introduction to slow Croatian service.
Day 2: The weather was still great; in fact, the sun was a little intense. We toured Old Town. We walked through a monastery that still showed signs of the shelling it received from the Serbians in the recent war. The streets of Dubrovnik looked like they were polished. After lunch, my girlfriend and I walked the wall around the town on our own. I took lots of pictures posing as a tall Tyrion Lannister. For dinner, we went with our group to a local olive oil maker's home, who served us dinner. Everything was so fresh. Even the wine was homemade.
Day 3: My girlfriend and I stayed in Dubrovnik, while the rest of our group took a bus trip to Montenegro. In the morning we took a boat ride to Lokrum Island. This is where locals go to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of the city. It was very peaceful. There were plenty of peacocks and rabbits, which were quite docile. Most of the animals were happy to let me get close for a picture. I toured the monastery, where the Mother of Dragons met the pureborn of Qarth. After returning to the mainland, I went for a swim at our hotel. This was my first swim in the Adriatic. The water was cool, but I adjusted quickly. What I wasn't ready for was the huge swells. Apparently the waves get quite big between Lorkum Island and the mainland.
Day 4: We regrettably left Dubrovnik to head to the island of Korcula. The bus ride to catch our ferry took a couple of hours. It wasn't far away, but there is no highway, and the roads are very winding. The excitement for the day was that we almost missed our ferry. Our guide said that we had 15 minutes before the ferry left, and we had time to visit the bathroom. However, the bathroom cost 4 Kuna, which I didn't have, so we decided to board the ferry early. 2 minutes later, the ferry left, 10 minutes early! Fortunately everyone was onboard. We visited the town of Korcula. We had a guide who spoke very poor English, so we didn't learn much. The view from the clock tower was nice, but otherwise I feel we could have skipped Korcula. Unfortunately our hotel was on the other side of the island, so we had another long bus ride, and we didn't get to Vela Luka until sunset. We had dinner on our own, but all we found was a tourist trap with ridiculously high prices. The hotel we stayed at was very modern. The bathroom walls were all made of glass, which was awkward if you had to use the toilet. Day 4 was pretty much a waste.
Day 5: We boarded our bus again to head back to Korcula town to catch another ferry back to the mainland. We rode to the town of Ston, which had a fascinating wall, known as the European Wall of China, to protect it from people that wanted to take their salt. We stopped in Mali Ston ("Little Ston") for lunch, including their famous oysters. I would have liked to spend more time in Ston, but we had to continue on to Hvar. We took our bus to another ferry, which took us to the island of Hvar. The ferry delivered us to the opposite end of the island, so we had another long ride across the island to the town of Hvar. We passed many historic stone walls throughout the country side. The early island dwellers took stones from their land, and placed them around the border of their property. And there were no shortage of rocks. I've never seen such rocky soil. We arrived in Hvar to a much more vacation-like atmosphere. Hvar felt like the vacation destination of the wealthy. Our hotel gave us another modern room, with a huge picture of Audrey Hepburn above the bed. The bathroom had what we called the sink from hell. I couldn't wash my face or hands without water splashing everywhere. After cleaning up, we went for dinner. We couldn't choose a restaurant, so we ended up eating at a "shrimp" restaurant at our hotel. When we asked them if they had grilled shrimp, they said no. I ended up ordering the biggest "side" salad of my life. It was big enough for two.
Day 6: My girlfriend and I walked around Hvar, and climbed the hill to the fort, where we had wonderful view of the bay. On the way down, we walked though a park of pine trees, which smelled so good. The weather was still cooperating with us. It was even getting a little hot, so we went for another swim in the Adriatic. This swim was much more manageable. The sea was much calmer in this bay. We swam for hours. And the view was fantastic, including a few topless sunbathers on the shoreline. Croatia doesn't have any sandy beaches, so sunbathers find the most comfortable rock, or they rent a beach chair on the rocks. Hvar is also famous for it's nearby islands, where celebrities escape to get peace and quiet and privacy. One of the islands is also popular with naturists. Regrettably, my girlfriend and I didn't have time to visit the islands, but we had a great time in Hvar.
Day 7: We had to leave Hvar, to head to Split. We got back on our bus, and rode to the ferry. The ferry ride was 2 hours long. Once we arrived, we rode our bus to the Old Town, where we took a tour of Diocletian's Palace, and I got to visit the throne room of the Mother of Dragons. Our tour guide was fantastic. He was so funny. His humor held our attention, and energized us. After the tour, we took our bus to our hotel away from town. Unfortunately, the first rain of our trip arrived, and there wasn't much to do except eat dinner and go to bed. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. I wasn't hungry, but I ate the best caesar salad with tuna I've ever had.
Day 8: There was no time to explore Split, because we were off to Plitvice Lakes, which are a series of colorful lakes and waterfalls along a river. As we climbed the mountains away from the coast, the wind grew stronger. We got to experience the dreaded Bora wind, which is capable of blowing trucks off the road. Our bus got tossed from side-to-side, but fortunately our capable driver kept the bus on the road. The weather was still a little dreary from the night before, but we were fortunate that the rain paused while we explored the lakes. After the lakes, we hopped back on the bus, and headed back to the coast of the Istrian peninsula. As we crested the mountains once again, the skies cleared up. We got out off the bus to enjoy the view, but I nearly got blown over by the Bora wind. We pulled into Opatija, the Monte Carlo of Croatia, as the sun was setting. We checked into our hotel, and went to our room. We opened the door to the room, and it looked like they put us in the basement. The room was spacious, but it was dark, and had no view. We decided to go to the lobby to ask for a nicer room. They gave us one. They moved us to the 6th floor, where we had a beautiful room with a huge window, with a view of the Adriatic. The room felt like an apartment. Lesson learned. If you aren't happy with your hotel room, speak up.
Day 9: While our traveling companions took another bus ride to the Istrian Peninsula, my girlfriend and I decided to stay and explore Opatija. The weather was cooler, but still sunny. We strolled along the Lungomare, their seaside promenade. We walked all the way to the next town. On the way back we stopped at Hotel Miramar for lunch, where we had a pleasant seafood meal. We wanted to go for another swim in the Adriatic, but it was a little too cool. For dinner, we went to an elegant restaurant. We sat outside until the wind started blowing, so we went inside to warm up. The kitchen was extremely slow, but the service was great. I asked the waiter to recommend a nice red wine that wasn't too dry. He said he would check, and get back to me. He brought me a bottle, and poured me a taste. As I was tasting it, he explained that it was a very rare wine, which they only made 900 bottles of. It was delicious, so I accepted it. It wasn't until later that it occurred to me that I didn't ask the price, and "rare" could mean expensive. Fortunately, when I got the bill I found that the glass was only $8.
Day 10: We left Opatija to head for Slovenia. After hearing about the refugee crisis on CNN, I was a little concerned about the boarder crossing. I had even thought I heard that they had closed the border. Fortunately, our border crossing was uneventful. As soon as we crossed the border, the houses changed from Romanesque to Austrian. We pulled into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, around noon. Although the country of Yugoslavia was held together by Marshal Tito for many years, I could see why Slovenia and Croatia wanted to split from Serbia and Bosnia-Hersegovina. Ljubljana looked very modern and civilized. The capital had a very welcoming feel to it. After a tour of the old town, we got together for dinner and entertainment. We got to see traditional Slovenian dancers in traditional outfits. I even got to participate.
Day 11: We left Ljubljana in the rain to head to Lake Bled. We visited the castle overlooking the lake from a cliff. Unfortunately, the clouds and rain obscured our view. The clouds cleared only for a brief moment. We also took a pletna boat, a traditional Slovenia row boat, across the lake to a solitary island. In the rain and fog, it was like a scene from The Holy Grail. The island is home to just a church. I got to ring the church bell and make a wish. After the boat ride, we rode in the rain to a town called Bohinj in the Julian Alps, where we had a fantastic lunch of mushroom soup, fried chicken, beef, and ice cream. After lunch we visited a cheesemaking museum, and got to taste fresh cheese at a local's home. One of the cheeses was Mohan cheese, which made everyone hold their noses. It stank like dirty gym socks. I was brave enough to taste it. I don't understand what anyone finds appealing about the cheese. Later on, I think my dinner waiter was a fan of the cheese, because he seemed to sweat the cheese. He had the worst B.O. I've ever smelled. I didn't want to ask for the check.
Day 12: We boarded the bus for the last time to head to Venice, Italy. This was my first time to Venice, and I was fascinated by the water taxis. It was so strange to visit a city where the only traffic was on the water. It was fascinating to see lanes in the water marked by pilings. I thought that the ride would be very rough with all of the boat wakes, but I found the boats to be very stable. Venice was fascinating. I've never seen a cathedral so old. But the city was so overcrowded with tourists. I never really wanted to travel to Venice as a primary destination for this very reason. I heard that it was overcrowded; and what I heard was right. But it was nice to visit Venice as part of a larger tour. That night the group got together for our final farewell dinner. The dinner was delicious and the wine was plentiful.
Overall it was a great trip. I could have done without all of the bus rides, but it would have been difficult to visit all of the spots in Croatia on my own. The logistics of getting from town to town are too difficult. But now that I know more about Croatia, it might be possible to rent a car and travel by ferry. But if I return, I think I'll skip Korcula. I'm also happy that the tour introduced me to Slovenia. I probably wouldn't have visited the country on my own, but I'm glad I got to visit it. I'm also happy that I got to see Venice. Like I said, I wasn't interested in visiting Venice because of the crowds, but I'm glad I got to experience the city for one day.
Day 1: Landed in Dubrovnik (pronounced DOO-brov-nik), Croatia. The taxi driver was really friendly and spoke pretty good English. After looking at the spectacular views on the way from the airport, I kidded with him and asked does he ever get tired of the view. He said he loves the sea. Whenever he goes away for more than a day, he can't wait to return to the sea. My girlfriend and I stayed at Villa Argentina, a 15 minute walk from the Old Town. They gave us a room in the older section of the hotel with a balcony overlooking the Adriatic and Lokrum Island. The sky was crystal clear. The view was amazing. For dinner, we met with our traveling companions, and had a welcome dinner in the hotel. The food was delicious, but this was my first introduction to slow Croatian service.
Day 2: The weather was still great; in fact, the sun was a little intense. We toured Old Town. We walked through a monastery that still showed signs of the shelling it received from the Serbians in the recent war. The streets of Dubrovnik looked like they were polished. After lunch, my girlfriend and I walked the wall around the town on our own. I took lots of pictures posing as a tall Tyrion Lannister. For dinner, we went with our group to a local olive oil maker's home, who served us dinner. Everything was so fresh. Even the wine was homemade.
Day 3: My girlfriend and I stayed in Dubrovnik, while the rest of our group took a bus trip to Montenegro. In the morning we took a boat ride to Lokrum Island. This is where locals go to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of the city. It was very peaceful. There were plenty of peacocks and rabbits, which were quite docile. Most of the animals were happy to let me get close for a picture. I toured the monastery, where the Mother of Dragons met the pureborn of Qarth. After returning to the mainland, I went for a swim at our hotel. This was my first swim in the Adriatic. The water was cool, but I adjusted quickly. What I wasn't ready for was the huge swells. Apparently the waves get quite big between Lorkum Island and the mainland.
Day 4: We regrettably left Dubrovnik to head to the island of Korcula. The bus ride to catch our ferry took a couple of hours. It wasn't far away, but there is no highway, and the roads are very winding. The excitement for the day was that we almost missed our ferry. Our guide said that we had 15 minutes before the ferry left, and we had time to visit the bathroom. However, the bathroom cost 4 Kuna, which I didn't have, so we decided to board the ferry early. 2 minutes later, the ferry left, 10 minutes early! Fortunately everyone was onboard. We visited the town of Korcula. We had a guide who spoke very poor English, so we didn't learn much. The view from the clock tower was nice, but otherwise I feel we could have skipped Korcula. Unfortunately our hotel was on the other side of the island, so we had another long bus ride, and we didn't get to Vela Luka until sunset. We had dinner on our own, but all we found was a tourist trap with ridiculously high prices. The hotel we stayed at was very modern. The bathroom walls were all made of glass, which was awkward if you had to use the toilet. Day 4 was pretty much a waste.
Day 5: We boarded our bus again to head back to Korcula town to catch another ferry back to the mainland. We rode to the town of Ston, which had a fascinating wall, known as the European Wall of China, to protect it from people that wanted to take their salt. We stopped in Mali Ston ("Little Ston") for lunch, including their famous oysters. I would have liked to spend more time in Ston, but we had to continue on to Hvar. We took our bus to another ferry, which took us to the island of Hvar. The ferry delivered us to the opposite end of the island, so we had another long ride across the island to the town of Hvar. We passed many historic stone walls throughout the country side. The early island dwellers took stones from their land, and placed them around the border of their property. And there were no shortage of rocks. I've never seen such rocky soil. We arrived in Hvar to a much more vacation-like atmosphere. Hvar felt like the vacation destination of the wealthy. Our hotel gave us another modern room, with a huge picture of Audrey Hepburn above the bed. The bathroom had what we called the sink from hell. I couldn't wash my face or hands without water splashing everywhere. After cleaning up, we went for dinner. We couldn't choose a restaurant, so we ended up eating at a "shrimp" restaurant at our hotel. When we asked them if they had grilled shrimp, they said no. I ended up ordering the biggest "side" salad of my life. It was big enough for two.
Day 6: My girlfriend and I walked around Hvar, and climbed the hill to the fort, where we had wonderful view of the bay. On the way down, we walked though a park of pine trees, which smelled so good. The weather was still cooperating with us. It was even getting a little hot, so we went for another swim in the Adriatic. This swim was much more manageable. The sea was much calmer in this bay. We swam for hours. And the view was fantastic, including a few topless sunbathers on the shoreline. Croatia doesn't have any sandy beaches, so sunbathers find the most comfortable rock, or they rent a beach chair on the rocks. Hvar is also famous for it's nearby islands, where celebrities escape to get peace and quiet and privacy. One of the islands is also popular with naturists. Regrettably, my girlfriend and I didn't have time to visit the islands, but we had a great time in Hvar.
Day 7: We had to leave Hvar, to head to Split. We got back on our bus, and rode to the ferry. The ferry ride was 2 hours long. Once we arrived, we rode our bus to the Old Town, where we took a tour of Diocletian's Palace, and I got to visit the throne room of the Mother of Dragons. Our tour guide was fantastic. He was so funny. His humor held our attention, and energized us. After the tour, we took our bus to our hotel away from town. Unfortunately, the first rain of our trip arrived, and there wasn't much to do except eat dinner and go to bed. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. I wasn't hungry, but I ate the best caesar salad with tuna I've ever had.
Day 8: There was no time to explore Split, because we were off to Plitvice Lakes, which are a series of colorful lakes and waterfalls along a river. As we climbed the mountains away from the coast, the wind grew stronger. We got to experience the dreaded Bora wind, which is capable of blowing trucks off the road. Our bus got tossed from side-to-side, but fortunately our capable driver kept the bus on the road. The weather was still a little dreary from the night before, but we were fortunate that the rain paused while we explored the lakes. After the lakes, we hopped back on the bus, and headed back to the coast of the Istrian peninsula. As we crested the mountains once again, the skies cleared up. We got out off the bus to enjoy the view, but I nearly got blown over by the Bora wind. We pulled into Opatija, the Monte Carlo of Croatia, as the sun was setting. We checked into our hotel, and went to our room. We opened the door to the room, and it looked like they put us in the basement. The room was spacious, but it was dark, and had no view. We decided to go to the lobby to ask for a nicer room. They gave us one. They moved us to the 6th floor, where we had a beautiful room with a huge window, with a view of the Adriatic. The room felt like an apartment. Lesson learned. If you aren't happy with your hotel room, speak up.
Day 9: While our traveling companions took another bus ride to the Istrian Peninsula, my girlfriend and I decided to stay and explore Opatija. The weather was cooler, but still sunny. We strolled along the Lungomare, their seaside promenade. We walked all the way to the next town. On the way back we stopped at Hotel Miramar for lunch, where we had a pleasant seafood meal. We wanted to go for another swim in the Adriatic, but it was a little too cool. For dinner, we went to an elegant restaurant. We sat outside until the wind started blowing, so we went inside to warm up. The kitchen was extremely slow, but the service was great. I asked the waiter to recommend a nice red wine that wasn't too dry. He said he would check, and get back to me. He brought me a bottle, and poured me a taste. As I was tasting it, he explained that it was a very rare wine, which they only made 900 bottles of. It was delicious, so I accepted it. It wasn't until later that it occurred to me that I didn't ask the price, and "rare" could mean expensive. Fortunately, when I got the bill I found that the glass was only $8.
Day 10: We left Opatija to head for Slovenia. After hearing about the refugee crisis on CNN, I was a little concerned about the boarder crossing. I had even thought I heard that they had closed the border. Fortunately, our border crossing was uneventful. As soon as we crossed the border, the houses changed from Romanesque to Austrian. We pulled into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, around noon. Although the country of Yugoslavia was held together by Marshal Tito for many years, I could see why Slovenia and Croatia wanted to split from Serbia and Bosnia-Hersegovina. Ljubljana looked very modern and civilized. The capital had a very welcoming feel to it. After a tour of the old town, we got together for dinner and entertainment. We got to see traditional Slovenian dancers in traditional outfits. I even got to participate.
Day 11: We left Ljubljana in the rain to head to Lake Bled. We visited the castle overlooking the lake from a cliff. Unfortunately, the clouds and rain obscured our view. The clouds cleared only for a brief moment. We also took a pletna boat, a traditional Slovenia row boat, across the lake to a solitary island. In the rain and fog, it was like a scene from The Holy Grail. The island is home to just a church. I got to ring the church bell and make a wish. After the boat ride, we rode in the rain to a town called Bohinj in the Julian Alps, where we had a fantastic lunch of mushroom soup, fried chicken, beef, and ice cream. After lunch we visited a cheesemaking museum, and got to taste fresh cheese at a local's home. One of the cheeses was Mohan cheese, which made everyone hold their noses. It stank like dirty gym socks. I was brave enough to taste it. I don't understand what anyone finds appealing about the cheese. Later on, I think my dinner waiter was a fan of the cheese, because he seemed to sweat the cheese. He had the worst B.O. I've ever smelled. I didn't want to ask for the check.
Day 12: We boarded the bus for the last time to head to Venice, Italy. This was my first time to Venice, and I was fascinated by the water taxis. It was so strange to visit a city where the only traffic was on the water. It was fascinating to see lanes in the water marked by pilings. I thought that the ride would be very rough with all of the boat wakes, but I found the boats to be very stable. Venice was fascinating. I've never seen a cathedral so old. But the city was so overcrowded with tourists. I never really wanted to travel to Venice as a primary destination for this very reason. I heard that it was overcrowded; and what I heard was right. But it was nice to visit Venice as part of a larger tour. That night the group got together for our final farewell dinner. The dinner was delicious and the wine was plentiful.
Overall it was a great trip. I could have done without all of the bus rides, but it would have been difficult to visit all of the spots in Croatia on my own. The logistics of getting from town to town are too difficult. But now that I know more about Croatia, it might be possible to rent a car and travel by ferry. But if I return, I think I'll skip Korcula. I'm also happy that the tour introduced me to Slovenia. I probably wouldn't have visited the country on my own, but I'm glad I got to visit it. I'm also happy that I got to see Venice. Like I said, I wasn't interested in visiting Venice because of the crowds, but I'm glad I got to experience the city for one day.