Below is the link to my Kodak Gallery album filled with 1504 pictures from my trip to Central Europe....Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=lapmcp6.ckpd2pxq&Uy=7mbyi1&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Returning Home...
Day 28– September 29, 2006 – Back in the USA…
At some point at the Gatwick Hilton, or at dinner I realized our flight home in the morning was at 9am and not at 9:30am. Not a huge issue, but since our room rate included breakfast, and we felt we would want a decent breakfast, it meant we had to get a 5:15am wake up call!
Even though the wake-up call was early I got up and was ready before 6am. I didn’t have the greatest night’s sleep, not because the room or bed were uncomfortable, quite the contrary. The Gatwick Hilton was tops. I just think I was anxious and didn’t want to oversleep and miss our flight. I did get to sleep around 11pm and slept until about 3am and after that sleep came in short spurts.
So, the breakfast at the hotel was great! It was a buffet and had everything imaginable. We loaded up with eggs, sausage, bread, pastry, fruit, cheese, and my very first taste of Greek yogurt…Yummo! I may have to go to Greece now!
We finished breakfast just after 6:30am and headed over to the North terminal. The Hilton is at the South Terminal. That took about 15 minutes, so we were looking good when we got to the check-in desk.
The line to check-in was not too long, maybe 8 people in front of us. We did have to get rid of a package of tums (CL) and some Tylenol and airborne that I forgot were in my carry-on bag. Oh, and only one carry-on bag was allowed.
Once we got our boarding passes we went straight to the line to go through security. It looked worse then it really was. There was one line that went back almost to the front doors of the terminal! But once in the line it was moving and further down it broke into 4 lines. So, maybe it took us 20-25 minutes to get through the security check. And yes, I got pulled to the side and frisked…first time that ever happened and it wouldn’t be the last!
We then walked through the huge duty free area with tons of shops and headed directly for our gate. Being Gatwick (as we learned the night before), it felt like we walked through miles of terminal hallways before getting to our boarding gate.
But we arrived at the gate just before 8am and had to go through a second security check. I got frisked for the second time in less then an hour!
Once we got through the second security check at the gate all the passengers were “corralled” in a waiting area. We finally started boarding the plane shortly before 9am.
To my surprise the plane seemed pretty roomy by coach standards, or maybe it was because the seats on the plane going over on Czech Airline were so narrow! I was on the aisle and the person in front of me never once reclined his seat…bonus for me!
We ended up sitting at the gate for about half an hour, but took off around 9:45am. The flight was uneventful, but it truly felt like the longest flight ever! It was only 8 and a half hour, from London to Atlanta, and my flights from the west coast to Hong Kong and Australia felt shorter than this flight! I can’t figure out why!
I was also surprised at how much food was served on this Delta flight. We had lunch about 2 hours after take off, then 4 hours into the flight they served ice cream and then about 2 hours before landing they served another snack that was a piece of vegetable pizza that tasted pretty good!
We landed at about 1:45pm and had to go through immigration to our passports stamped. Then we went to get our luggage and ended up waiting at baggage claim for 45 minutes. Once we had our bags we went through customs without a hitch and re-checked our bags for the flight to Savannah.
By the time we got to the gate for our Savannah flight it was about 3:30pm. Just enough time for me to grab a Starbucks. And I have to say this…that Starbucks drink that I was so looking forward to tasted like crap! Maybe it was the non-fat milk and I’d been having whole milk in my cappuccinos during the trip, but that drink was very disappointing.
We boarded the Savannah flight without any trouble and it was a quick 30 minute flight. Once we landed in Savannah we got our bags at the luggage claim…YIPEE…No lost luggage for us on the entire trip! And we got the shuttle home.
I finally got to sleep around 11pm Eastern time but my body clock was thinking it was 5am, which meant I had been up almost 24 hours! But I will take the jet lag anytime…What an amazing, incredible vacation!
And now I am ready to plan the next adventure!
At some point at the Gatwick Hilton, or at dinner I realized our flight home in the morning was at 9am and not at 9:30am. Not a huge issue, but since our room rate included breakfast, and we felt we would want a decent breakfast, it meant we had to get a 5:15am wake up call!
Even though the wake-up call was early I got up and was ready before 6am. I didn’t have the greatest night’s sleep, not because the room or bed were uncomfortable, quite the contrary. The Gatwick Hilton was tops. I just think I was anxious and didn’t want to oversleep and miss our flight. I did get to sleep around 11pm and slept until about 3am and after that sleep came in short spurts.
So, the breakfast at the hotel was great! It was a buffet and had everything imaginable. We loaded up with eggs, sausage, bread, pastry, fruit, cheese, and my very first taste of Greek yogurt…Yummo! I may have to go to Greece now!
We finished breakfast just after 6:30am and headed over to the North terminal. The Hilton is at the South Terminal. That took about 15 minutes, so we were looking good when we got to the check-in desk.
The line to check-in was not too long, maybe 8 people in front of us. We did have to get rid of a package of tums (CL) and some Tylenol and airborne that I forgot were in my carry-on bag. Oh, and only one carry-on bag was allowed.
Once we got our boarding passes we went straight to the line to go through security. It looked worse then it really was. There was one line that went back almost to the front doors of the terminal! But once in the line it was moving and further down it broke into 4 lines. So, maybe it took us 20-25 minutes to get through the security check. And yes, I got pulled to the side and frisked…first time that ever happened and it wouldn’t be the last!
We then walked through the huge duty free area with tons of shops and headed directly for our gate. Being Gatwick (as we learned the night before), it felt like we walked through miles of terminal hallways before getting to our boarding gate.
But we arrived at the gate just before 8am and had to go through a second security check. I got frisked for the second time in less then an hour!
Once we got through the second security check at the gate all the passengers were “corralled” in a waiting area. We finally started boarding the plane shortly before 9am.
To my surprise the plane seemed pretty roomy by coach standards, or maybe it was because the seats on the plane going over on Czech Airline were so narrow! I was on the aisle and the person in front of me never once reclined his seat…bonus for me!
We ended up sitting at the gate for about half an hour, but took off around 9:45am. The flight was uneventful, but it truly felt like the longest flight ever! It was only 8 and a half hour, from London to Atlanta, and my flights from the west coast to Hong Kong and Australia felt shorter than this flight! I can’t figure out why!
I was also surprised at how much food was served on this Delta flight. We had lunch about 2 hours after take off, then 4 hours into the flight they served ice cream and then about 2 hours before landing they served another snack that was a piece of vegetable pizza that tasted pretty good!
We landed at about 1:45pm and had to go through immigration to our passports stamped. Then we went to get our luggage and ended up waiting at baggage claim for 45 minutes. Once we had our bags we went through customs without a hitch and re-checked our bags for the flight to Savannah.
By the time we got to the gate for our Savannah flight it was about 3:30pm. Just enough time for me to grab a Starbucks. And I have to say this…that Starbucks drink that I was so looking forward to tasted like crap! Maybe it was the non-fat milk and I’d been having whole milk in my cappuccinos during the trip, but that drink was very disappointing.
We boarded the Savannah flight without any trouble and it was a quick 30 minute flight. Once we landed in Savannah we got our bags at the luggage claim…YIPEE…No lost luggage for us on the entire trip! And we got the shuttle home.
I finally got to sleep around 11pm Eastern time but my body clock was thinking it was 5am, which meant I had been up almost 24 hours! But I will take the jet lag anytime…What an amazing, incredible vacation!
And now I am ready to plan the next adventure!
Farewell to the Pearl of the Adriatic...
Day 27– September 28, 2006 – Good-bye Dubrovnik!
CL and Me...our last look at Dubrovnik...
As usual we were up and at "our favorite Dubrovnik cafe" at about 8:30am-ish. We had our double cappuccinos and sat enjoying them immensely! After about 45 minutes we asked for our check and thanked the waitress who had waited on us all week. We told her good-bye andthat we were leaving today to go back home. She was so nice and shook our hands.
When we left the cafe we headed to the best bakery to get our pastries for the morning and then went just outside the Ploce Gate and sat on a bench, enjoying the view and the pastries. We strolled around a bit more and then went back to the sobe to finish packing our bags. Once the bags were packed we took one last walke around the Old Town before it was time for us to go to lunch.
At about noon we went over to Lokando for our "squid fest" lunch. we had both grilled and fried squid. The grilled was much better than the fried.
The fried squid is on the left, the grilled squid is on the right...
After a leisurely lunch we went for our last gelato at Dolce Vita. I had one scoop chocolate and one scoop mint this time...a great combination by the way!
After finishing our gelato we went back tothe sobe and Petar came in shortly after. It was about 2pm and we told him if he wanted to take us to the airport a little earlier that would be ok with us. So we left for the airport at about 2:15pm.
We got to the airport at about 2:45pm-ish and I'm glad we did because there was the line for check-in at the British Airways desk was fairly long. It took us about 25 minutes to make it through the line.
We stopped to get some water and looked through the duty free shop. Then we sat down to wait. Before we knew it at 3:45pm they were boarding our flight! We made a dash for the toilets and then boarded the plane.
We took off early! The flight was scheduled to depart at 4:35pm but we actually took off at 4:25pm. We landed at London Gatwick almost 30 minutes early at about 6pm. It took us about an hour to get through immigration, get our bags (which were already at baggage claim when we got to the carousel!) and navigate through Gatwick airport tothe Hilton Hotel. We checked in at about 7pm.
Once checked into the hotel and arrived at our room we decided to go back to the north terminal to see where the Delta check-in is and to see how long it will take us to walk there in preparation for tomorrow morning's flight. After we got through all that we ate "dinner" at the airport terminal...it wasn't anything great, just some appetizers. But by now it was almost 8pm and we hadn't had anything to eat since the squid at noon. After the unimpressive dinner we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before we had to be up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight back home in the morning.
Can it really be our last full day in Dubrovnik...Say it isn't so!
Day 26– September 27, 2006 – Our last full day in Dubrovnik!Our last full day in Dubrovnik! I’m sad to see my vacation coming to and end. Yesterday during our wandering about we stumbled upon a terrific bakery on one of the narrow streets. The name of the bakery is Niko and the pastries there not only smell delicious, they are totally out of this world delicious!
So, we went to the bakery first this morning to buy our breakfast pastry and a spinach and cheese phyllo rectangle to take with us over to Lokrum Island for lunch and of course 2 cookies for dessert!
We spent about an hour at our favorite café having cappuccinos, after getting our pastries. After having our cappuccinos we went over to buy the boat tickets to Lokrum. The tickets were 35 Kuna each and we bought a map of the island for 5 Kuna. Lokrum Island is about a 15 minute boat ride from the Old Port in Dubrovnik and the island is a nature preserve. There is an old fort (in ruins) at the high point on the island with great views of the Old Town of Dubrovnik. While we were on the boat we enjoyed the short ride and our breakfast pastries!
We hiked around the whole island (the map came in very handy) and at the “Dead Sea” which is basically a swimming hole/spot that fills with sea water, we stopped and sat on a bench and had our lunch. We caught the 1:15pm boat back to the Old Port and ended our 3 hour morning outing.
Before leaving the sobe this morning I left a note for a fellow fodorite who we were supposed to meet up with tonight for dinner. When we got back this afternoon my note was gone, but the fodorite had left a note for me. Clearly my note never made it into the hands of my fellow fodorite. I called the number on the “new” note to leave a message but had difficulty communicating. I chalked it up to the planets not aligning to meet up with this fellow traveler…but that was not the case! But I am digressing here.
After getting back from Lokrum, CL wanted to go back to the casino and I wanted to just go down to our favorite café and sit, have a cappuccino and write in my journal and people watch. So, I had a very pleasant afternoon just enjoying being in Dubrovnik.
I met CL back at our sobe around 6pm and then headed out to Mea Culpa for pizza. We ordered the Mea Culpa pizza which had tomato sauce, ham, gorgonzola cheese and bacon it was pretty good and after dinner we stopped at Dolce Vita for another gelato. As we walked back down the Stradun there was a lot of activity at the end of the street near the street our sobe was on. There was a concert going on in front of the St. Blaise Church so we stopped to check it out for a while.
As we turned to leave the concert I heard someone yell my name. Imagine my surprise when I turn around and it was the fodorite I had been trying to connect with and her husband! Thank goodness we had exchanged photos via email and she recognized me in the crowd…who would have thunk that!!!! We sat down at “our favorite café” and had drinks and a really nice chat for about an hour. They had just arrived in Dubrovnik the day before.
It was a great way to end the evening! Having drinks with new friends!
Our First Bad Weather Day in Dubrovnik...
Day 25– September 26, 2006 – Cloudy skies and a little rain...
Since it appeared the chances of rain today were pretty good we decided not to go over to Lokrum Island today. It was cloudy most of the day and the sun was trying it’s hardest to peak through the clouds, but the rain won out around 3pm. Fortunately after about an hour of rain we did get a little sun in the late afternoon.
Today was definitely a “lazy day”. We had breakfast at our favorite café on the Stradun and sat there until about 10am. We walked around the town a bit more and checked at Mea Culpa. It’s the pizza place I had heard rave reviews about so we decided we would give a try tomorrow night. We also checked out the Orham Restaurant again and decided to have our “splurge dinner” here tonight. Then we walked up the Hotel Excelsior to check it out since I had heard rave reviews about this place too.
After all this walking around I really wanted a cold drink, so we stopped at the Grads Kavana Café and each had an iced coffee. It was more like a Starbucks frappuccino with ice cream, it wasn’t too bad.
At about 2pm-ish CL and I parted ways for a little while, she wanted to check out the casino at the Hotel Excelsior and I’m not much into gambling so I just strolled around and went back to the sobe to relax, it was a kind of cloudy, slow moving day.
Around 6pm we headed off to the Orham Restaurant, since we were both hungry. We ordered the fish platter for 2 and it came with 2 tuna steaks, a whole (small-ish) trout, 2 large grilled squids and a bunch of mussels and mangold, The best part of the dish was the grilled squid…another pattern forming here…we LOVE grilled squid! But this grilled squid still was not as good as the grilled squid at Lokando. We did not have dessert but we each had a drink and the bill came to 300 Kuna, a little bit less then our awesome meal in Hvar. We walked back to our sobe and called it another early night.
Since it appeared the chances of rain today were pretty good we decided not to go over to Lokrum Island today. It was cloudy most of the day and the sun was trying it’s hardest to peak through the clouds, but the rain won out around 3pm. Fortunately after about an hour of rain we did get a little sun in the late afternoon.
Today was definitely a “lazy day”. We had breakfast at our favorite café on the Stradun and sat there until about 10am. We walked around the town a bit more and checked at Mea Culpa. It’s the pizza place I had heard rave reviews about so we decided we would give a try tomorrow night. We also checked out the Orham Restaurant again and decided to have our “splurge dinner” here tonight. Then we walked up the Hotel Excelsior to check it out since I had heard rave reviews about this place too.
After all this walking around I really wanted a cold drink, so we stopped at the Grads Kavana Café and each had an iced coffee. It was more like a Starbucks frappuccino with ice cream, it wasn’t too bad.
At about 2pm-ish CL and I parted ways for a little while, she wanted to check out the casino at the Hotel Excelsior and I’m not much into gambling so I just strolled around and went back to the sobe to relax, it was a kind of cloudy, slow moving day.
Around 6pm we headed off to the Orham Restaurant, since we were both hungry. We ordered the fish platter for 2 and it came with 2 tuna steaks, a whole (small-ish) trout, 2 large grilled squids and a bunch of mussels and mangold, The best part of the dish was the grilled squid…another pattern forming here…we LOVE grilled squid! But this grilled squid still was not as good as the grilled squid at Lokando. We did not have dessert but we each had a drink and the bill came to 300 Kuna, a little bit less then our awesome meal in Hvar. We walked back to our sobe and called it another early night.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Montenegro....Here We Come!
Day 24– September 25, 2006 – Bay of Kotor, Budva and Sveti Stefani, Montenegro 
The Bay of Kotor, Montenegro
Another gloriously sunny day! Today was our day to explore Montenegro. We were out the door just before 8am and had breakfast at “our” café on the corner. The only change I made I made was ordering a double cappuccino – it was Delish!
We headed over to pick up the rental car around 8:45am and we were on the road shortly after that. We had no trouble getting out of the city (the rental car agency was just outside the Ploce Gate) and we left Croatia without a hitch. Crossing into Montenegro took about 15 minutes. The guard wanted to see the rental car papers and it took me a few minutes to understand what he wanted. Once he reviewed all the papers he stamped our passports and gave us everything back and we where on our way to the Bay of Kotor.
The rental car agent gave us terrific directions and we took the road along the coast and then up into the mountains going around the bay. It was the natural beauty was simply remarkable. We rode through Kotor, but couldn’t find where we could park, so we didn’t get out to have a look at the town. We drove over the mountains andinto the town of Budva. Budva is a good siz
ed town, but it didn’t seem all that spectacular, just an average town.
Our ultimate goal was to go to Sveti Stefani, which is an island resort off the coast of Montenegro with a small causeway from the mainland to access the island. We parked our car in the parking lot on the mainland and walked over to the island. The island is pretty small, but it is a resort and we paid 7 Euro each to walk around. Good thing I carried some Euros with me…Montenegro is on the Euro.
We walked around a bit and took some pictures. We thought we would stop at the beach here, we even came prepared with our swimsuits, but by 1pm after being there about 45 minutes we were ready to head back to Dubrovnik.
It had taken us about 4 hours to get to this point by taking the road around the Bay of Kotor (to see the great views!). On the way back we took the ferry across the short portion of the bay (as suggested by the car rental agent) and it took off almost 2 hours of our trip! Going back through the border crossing was a snap. They looked at our passports in Montenegro but did not stamp them and at the Croatian border they didn’t even look at our passports.
After stopping to gas up the car, we used about half a tank of gas; we got back to Dubrovnik around 3:45pm. On the road back into town we stopped at a pull off that had astounding views of the Old Town and took some pictures.
We took the car back to the rental car lot and locked it up. The office didn’t open up again until 5pm, so we stopped back at our sobe and then headed out to get something to eat.
We decided to have our big meal of the day at Lokando. It’s a seafood place right in the Old Port. We ordered grilled squid, seafood risotto and salad. They also served great foccacia bread…the best bread of the trip! The grilled squid were EXCELLENT!!! The risotto was just so-so (Hvar risotto spoiled us!). We agreed we should have had 2 orders of the grilled squid!
After eating we went back to the car rental office to return the keys and settle the bill. The cost of the rental car for the day was 490 Kuna, about $85 and the gas was 150 Kuna, about $25. With the entrance to Sveti Stefan and some other expenses for the day our total for the day for both of us was about $110, so it was slightly less then what we would have paid for doing the Atlas tour to Montenegro.
After we returned the rental car we stopped for some gelato at Dolce Vita. I thought the gelato here was A LOT better then the gelato we’ve had the last 2 nights at another place. I had 1 scoop of chocolate and 1 scoop of tiramisu…hey, if the calories are going right to my thighs it is going to be with chocolate!
The rest of the evening we just spent strolling around and then called it an early night.
The weather Gods are shining down on us!
Day 23– September 24, 2006 – Dubrovnik, Croatia...The Pearl of the Adriatic!
Here I am walking the walls of Dubrovnik!
The weather Gods are really shining down upon us here in Dubrovnik! We woke up to another sunny, clear blue sky, to match the amazing blue color of the Adriatic Sea!
I got up at about 6:30am and got ready for the day. CL and I were ready to get moving by about 7:30am-ish. We decided to go to the café at the corner of our street and the Stradun that Petar recommended yesterday. They didn’t open until 8am so we sat outside a few minutes and just before 8am the waitress took our order.
We had omelets and coffee. It was a vegetarian omelet for me and it was great, filled with
cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers. And the cappuccino was good too!
One of the nice things about this café is that being on the Stradun it has great people watching opportunities. Since we were there so early the Stradun was fairly empty and I was able to get some nice pictures.
As we sat having breakfast the groups of cruise ship passengers began to arrive and they were being led by different guides based on what language they were speaking. Luckily today there was only 1 cruise ship in the harbor. I can only imagine what it’s like when there are multiple ships in port. Petar told us in the summer months there can 12-15 ships will all their passengers descending upon Old Town! The ship here today had 3 tenders started bringing people to Town at 8am.
After our very delicious breakfast we decided to walk the walls in the morning, for a few reasons: 1- the light would be good for picture taking opportunities, 2- it would be cooler than in the middle of the day, and 3- we hoped to miss the big crowds. And we accomplished all three!
We decided to enter the walls at the Ploce Gate because we were closer to it and felt fewer people would use it. We were right. There was no line at all. We just walked right up to the ticket booth, paid our 50 Kuna each and started the walk.
It was ABSOLUTELY one of the most amazing experiences, again, just breath-taking views. I can’t even describe the color blue of the water and the red tile roofs of the homes of Old Town. I am trying to sear these colors into my mind while walking.
It took CL and I about 1 and a half hours to walk the entire wall and that was with lots of picture taking. The walk isn’t too difficult, but lots of steps up and down along the wall itself.
After walking the walls we made a stop back at our sobe and then walked around a bit more and headed over to the Buža Bar by following the “Cold Drinks” sign. This bar entrance is literally in a hole in the city wall that leads to a Cliffside bar that sits above the Adriatic Sea and below the wall walkway. It was great to just sit there, have a drink and soak up some sun and the amazing view.
CL and I each had a drink and sat back and relaxed, seems to be what we are doing best on this portion of the trip! As we were leaving the bar at about 1:30-ish we hear this big horn sound and look up to see the giant cruise ship that had been anchored just off the Old Port area moving back out to sea. It was so close to us, it felt like we could reach out and touch it. I thought, “No wonder all the passengers were touring the Old Town at 8am, they left at 1pm, not much time to see Dubrovnik”!
After drinks we walked around some more and found a place for lunch, which we had our main meal at today. We ate at Spaghetteria Toni, since we both wanted something other than fish. The food was pretty good, but not spectacular.
After lunch we did a little shopping and then stopped for some gelato. By now it was about 4:30pm and I wanted to go back up on the walls to take more pictures in the afternoon light. While I did this CL went to rent a car for tomorrow. In our walking about today we found a local car rental agency that had a car available for tomorrow.
Instead of going to Montenegro on one of the “canned” tours with Atlas we decided to drive ourselves down to the Bay of Kotor, Budva, and Stveti Stefan. This way we can follow our own timetable and not a group tour. Plus to rent the car will cost less then what we would have to pay for the Atlas group tour.
I went back to the walls at 4:30pm and spent about another hour and a half up there taking pictures. I used the camera so much today that I depleted a fully charged battery in one day! After we got back to our rooms CL reported success completing all the rental car paperwork. All we have to do is pick up the car in the morning.
Since we weren’t hungry we decided to go for a walk and check out the Pile Gate side of town. We found the Orham Restaurant, another recommendation from Petar. At 8pm the place was packed both inside and out and people were waiting to be seated. There was no menu outside, but we decided this would be our Dubrovnik “splurge” restaurant.
We decided to call it an early night and headed back to the sobe. What a great first full day in Dubrovnik!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
A Long Ferry Ride but the Pay Off is Sweet!
Day 22– September 23, 2006 – Ferry along the Adriatic...Dubrovnik here we come!
Well today is the next to the last leg of this trip…boo hoo! I can’t believe a week from today we will be home. The time has just flown by for me.
I did not have a restful night’s sleep last night. Maybe it was because I knew we planned to get up at 6:30am and I had set my alarm. Or maybe it was the blasted church bells chiming right next door, or the person banging on the front door of the house to be let in. Anyway, CL said I pretty much tossed and turned all night long.
We did roll out of bed at 6:30AM, did last minute packing and left the apartment shortly after 7am. The bus from Hvar Town to Stari Grad didn’t leave until 7:45am, but we went up to the bus station early anyway and got there about 7:20am. I’m glad we did! The driver stowed our bags under the bus and CL went to get our seats while I popped over to the bakery one last time and got apple strudel for me and a chocolate croissant for CL for our breakfast. By the time I got back to the bus it was really starting to fill up and the driver was now stowing baggage in the doorway of the rear of the bus! The bus was standing room only with people standing in the aisle. I’m glad we got there early to get seats. And CL thought the bus wouldn’t be crowded.
The bus ride from Hvar Town to Stari Grad was pretty uneventful but there were some nice views. It wasn’t the newest bus and since it was loaded down with people and luggage going up and around the mountains was a slow go. But it got us to the ferry port at Stari Grad with plenty of time to spare. We pulled into the ferry terminal area at about 8:20am and we could see the ferry in the distance. The ferry docked at about 8:30am and unloaded lots of people and vehicles. Then we boarded and found our way up to the Salon Deck and found a table and chairs by the window, near the front of the boat.
After settling in, CL got us 2 cappuccinos and soon we were underway. I did a short wander around the boat and went to the outdoor deck…some spectacular views and not too windy. So now we are on the ferry until about 4:15pm when we dock in Dubrovnik.
I am much more relaxed on this travel day then I was on the travel day from Bled to Hvar. Partly because I’ve talked to Petar (sobe owner) in Dubrovnik and today we only had to take a bus to the ferry and get on. Petar will pick us up at the ferry terminal and take us directly to the sobe.
The views along the Dalmatian Coast were absolutely spectacular. I’m glad we took the ferry; it was great being able to step outside and have such a beautiful day and stunning views to help pass the 7 hour ride. Around 1pm the ferry docked in Korcula for about 20 minutes. CL and I went to the bar and got ham and cheese sandwiches, nothing too exciting but we were hungry and didn’t have any other alternative.
The ferry was right on time into Dubrovnik and we made our way through the hordes of people trying to rent sobes. In the distance I saw someone holding a sign with my name on it…”Hello Petar” I was very happy to see him. We put our bags in his car and hopped in. It was a Volkswagen Golf, good thing we didn’t have big suitcases!
Petar whisked us through the streets and to a parking lot just outside the city walls, not far from the sobe. The house he has is located near the top of the wall, so it wasn’t a far walk from the car park. Petar has 3 double rooms (sobe) and 2 single rooms in the house. He does not live on the premises.
After CL and I got situated (we each rented a single room) we met Petar downstairs in his office, which is just below the house. He gave us each some homemade grappa and it was Delish! And then proceeded to ask us what we wanted to see and do while here and gave us tons of brochures, maps, and restaurant suggestions.
Then he showed us around a small part of the walled Old Town pointing out some of the restaurants he recommended. He really went beyond what I had expected. After we parted ways CL and I walked up the main street (Stradun) to check out the Atlas tour of Montenegro. It costs 380 Kuna per person, almost $70. So, we are considering renting a car for a day and driving to Montenegro ourselves. Based on the rental car brochures Petar gave us, it looks like renting a car would be cheaper and we would be on our own time schedule.
Then we decided to have an early dinner, it was around 6pm. We went to one of the restaurants Petar recommended and it was also in our guidebook. The place is called Konoba Kamenice and it is located on the market square. CL wanted the little fried fish (aka sardines). I really wasn’t up for it so I had the squid risotto. Admittedly it was not nearly as good as the squid risotto we had in Hvar, but at least I have something to compare it with.
At dinner we talked about what to do tomorrow and we are going to get an early start and walk the city walls first thing in the morning. Then have our cappuccino at a café Petar recommended at the end of the street we are staying on.
After dinner we decided it would be a gelato night. I had a cone with 1 chocolate scoop and one coconut, it was good.
A few thoughts about our sobe…I love it! Yes, it is a bit noisy but like in Hvar we are in the Old Town and there is a lot of activity here, but at least we are not on the “main drag”. It seems like the houses on the other side of the street are occupied by people who actually live and work here. So, hopefully the noise won’t go on all night. The location of the sobe is very central to just about everything and the owner, Petar, has been great. I can’t say enough good things about this place. The name of the sobe is Villa Ragusa and their website is http://www.villaragusa.netfirms.com/. The double rooms are 60 Euros per night and the singles are 30 Euros per night.
Well today is the next to the last leg of this trip…boo hoo! I can’t believe a week from today we will be home. The time has just flown by for me.
I did not have a restful night’s sleep last night. Maybe it was because I knew we planned to get up at 6:30am and I had set my alarm. Or maybe it was the blasted church bells chiming right next door, or the person banging on the front door of the house to be let in. Anyway, CL said I pretty much tossed and turned all night long.
We did roll out of bed at 6:30AM, did last minute packing and left the apartment shortly after 7am. The bus from Hvar Town to Stari Grad didn’t leave until 7:45am, but we went up to the bus station early anyway and got there about 7:20am. I’m glad we did! The driver stowed our bags under the bus and CL went to get our seats while I popped over to the bakery one last time and got apple strudel for me and a chocolate croissant for CL for our breakfast. By the time I got back to the bus it was really starting to fill up and the driver was now stowing baggage in the doorway of the rear of the bus! The bus was standing room only with people standing in the aisle. I’m glad we got there early to get seats. And CL thought the bus wouldn’t be crowded.
The bus ride from Hvar Town to Stari Grad was pretty uneventful but there were some nice views. It wasn’t the newest bus and since it was loaded down with people and luggage going up and around the mountains was a slow go. But it got us to the ferry port at Stari Grad with plenty of time to spare. We pulled into the ferry terminal area at about 8:20am and we could see the ferry in the distance. The ferry docked at about 8:30am and unloaded lots of people and vehicles. Then we boarded and found our way up to the Salon Deck and found a table and chairs by the window, near the front of the boat.
After settling in, CL got us 2 cappuccinos and soon we were underway. I did a short wander around the boat and went to the outdoor deck…some spectacular views and not too windy. So now we are on the ferry until about 4:15pm when we dock in Dubrovnik.
I am much more relaxed on this travel day then I was on the travel day from Bled to Hvar. Partly because I’ve talked to Petar (sobe owner) in Dubrovnik and today we only had to take a bus to the ferry and get on. Petar will pick us up at the ferry terminal and take us directly to the sobe.
The views along the Dalmatian Coast were absolutely spectacular. I’m glad we took the ferry; it was great being able to step outside and have such a beautiful day and stunning views to help pass the 7 hour ride. Around 1pm the ferry docked in Korcula for about 20 minutes. CL and I went to the bar and got ham and cheese sandwiches, nothing too exciting but we were hungry and didn’t have any other alternative.
The ferry was right on time into Dubrovnik and we made our way through the hordes of people trying to rent sobes. In the distance I saw someone holding a sign with my name on it…”Hello Petar” I was very happy to see him. We put our bags in his car and hopped in. It was a Volkswagen Golf, good thing we didn’t have big suitcases!
Petar whisked us through the streets and to a parking lot just outside the city walls, not far from the sobe. The house he has is located near the top of the wall, so it wasn’t a far walk from the car park. Petar has 3 double rooms (sobe) and 2 single rooms in the house. He does not live on the premises.
After CL and I got situated (we each rented a single room) we met Petar downstairs in his office, which is just below the house. He gave us each some homemade grappa and it was Delish! And then proceeded to ask us what we wanted to see and do while here and gave us tons of brochures, maps, and restaurant suggestions.
Then he showed us around a small part of the walled Old Town pointing out some of the restaurants he recommended. He really went beyond what I had expected. After we parted ways CL and I walked up the main street (Stradun) to check out the Atlas tour of Montenegro. It costs 380 Kuna per person, almost $70. So, we are considering renting a car for a day and driving to Montenegro ourselves. Based on the rental car brochures Petar gave us, it looks like renting a car would be cheaper and we would be on our own time schedule.
Then we decided to have an early dinner, it was around 6pm. We went to one of the restaurants Petar recommended and it was also in our guidebook. The place is called Konoba Kamenice and it is located on the market square. CL wanted the little fried fish (aka sardines). I really wasn’t up for it so I had the squid risotto. Admittedly it was not nearly as good as the squid risotto we had in Hvar, but at least I have something to compare it with.
At dinner we talked about what to do tomorrow and we are going to get an early start and walk the city walls first thing in the morning. Then have our cappuccino at a café Petar recommended at the end of the street we are staying on.
After dinner we decided it would be a gelato night. I had a cone with 1 chocolate scoop and one coconut, it was good.
A few thoughts about our sobe…I love it! Yes, it is a bit noisy but like in Hvar we are in the Old Town and there is a lot of activity here, but at least we are not on the “main drag”. It seems like the houses on the other side of the street are occupied by people who actually live and work here. So, hopefully the noise won’t go on all night. The location of the sobe is very central to just about everything and the owner, Petar, has been great. I can’t say enough good things about this place. The name of the sobe is Villa Ragusa and their website is http://www.villaragusa.netfirms.com/. The double rooms are 60 Euros per night and the singles are 30 Euros per night.
Our Last Day in Sunny Hvar
Day 21– September 22, 2006 – Our Last Day in Hvar!
This is our last full day in this sunny paradise. It started much the same as the last few days. Getting up around 8am to clear blue skies. We didn’t really have anything on our agenda other than to do another load of laundry and ask about the bus to Stari Grad to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik on Saturday.
The laundry was uneventful and the bus leaves from Hvar Town at 7:45am for the 9am ferry. All we have to do is show up at the little bus station and buy the tickets from the bus driver. After taking care of that item on our “to do” list for the day, we headed to the “morning café” we’ve been to the last 2 mornings for our cappuccino and we sat and waited until our laundry was done.
Before venturing out for the day today, I went over to the bakery and grocery store to get some breakfast, apple strudel and bread, some tomato and cheese for an evening snack, since we decided we wanted to have our main meal in the middle of the day today.
Once the laundry was finished we came back to the apartment to hang it out to dry and then we took a walk along the harbor in the opposite direction from yesterday. We followed the path along the waters edge and then took a side street up into the hilly section. We worked our way back into town and by now it was about 1pm and we were getting hungry so we stopped for lunch. We ate at a place called Marinaro and it wasn’t too bad. We had a mixed green salad with fresh tuna on top and fried calamari.
After lingering over lunch for a few hours and chatting. We came back to the apartment to start packing our bags. Once we had most of our packing done, we decided to go for our afternoon drinks. Pivo (aka beer) for CL and iced coffee for me. We went to the same outdoor café as yesterday afternoon and did some people watching for a few hours.
At around 6pm we went back to the apartment and chilled out on the balcony soaking in the last day of this beautiful place. We had our evening snack of bread, cheese, tomato and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet evening.
Hvar has been absolutely beautiful even though we did not get to see any other parts of the island, or any of the surrounding islands it has been great just to kick back and relax at the cafes and not have to wake up to an alarm clock for a few days!
Tomorrow is the all day (7 hours) ferry ride to Dubrovnik. I have already called Petar the sobe owner there to confirm our arrival on the 4:15pm ferry and he will be at the ferry terminal with a sign with my name on it. A little less stressful than our arrival in Hvar!
This is our last full day in this sunny paradise. It started much the same as the last few days. Getting up around 8am to clear blue skies. We didn’t really have anything on our agenda other than to do another load of laundry and ask about the bus to Stari Grad to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik on Saturday.
The laundry was uneventful and the bus leaves from Hvar Town at 7:45am for the 9am ferry. All we have to do is show up at the little bus station and buy the tickets from the bus driver. After taking care of that item on our “to do” list for the day, we headed to the “morning café” we’ve been to the last 2 mornings for our cappuccino and we sat and waited until our laundry was done.
Before venturing out for the day today, I went over to the bakery and grocery store to get some breakfast, apple strudel and bread, some tomato and cheese for an evening snack, since we decided we wanted to have our main meal in the middle of the day today.
Once the laundry was finished we came back to the apartment to hang it out to dry and then we took a walk along the harbor in the opposite direction from yesterday. We followed the path along the waters edge and then took a side street up into the hilly section. We worked our way back into town and by now it was about 1pm and we were getting hungry so we stopped for lunch. We ate at a place called Marinaro and it wasn’t too bad. We had a mixed green salad with fresh tuna on top and fried calamari.
After lingering over lunch for a few hours and chatting. We came back to the apartment to start packing our bags. Once we had most of our packing done, we decided to go for our afternoon drinks. Pivo (aka beer) for CL and iced coffee for me. We went to the same outdoor café as yesterday afternoon and did some people watching for a few hours.
At around 6pm we went back to the apartment and chilled out on the balcony soaking in the last day of this beautiful place. We had our evening snack of bread, cheese, tomato and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet evening.
Hvar has been absolutely beautiful even though we did not get to see any other parts of the island, or any of the surrounding islands it has been great just to kick back and relax at the cafes and not have to wake up to an alarm clock for a few days!
Tomorrow is the all day (7 hours) ferry ride to Dubrovnik. I have already called Petar the sobe owner there to confirm our arrival on the 4:15pm ferry and he will be at the ferry terminal with a sign with my name on it. A little less stressful than our arrival in Hvar!
The tale of the orange and THE BEST meal of the trip!
Day 20– September 21, 2006 – Relaxing in Hvar!
I believe I have had one of the best meals of my life tonight, but I will get to that later.
Today was another “no alarm clock” day but between the church bells going off and the birds singing at the crack of dawn CL and I were up by about 8am.
I believe I have had one of the best meals of my life tonight, but I will get to that later.
Today was another “no alarm clock” day but between the church bells going off and the birds singing at the crack of dawn CL and I were up by about 8am.
Hvar Town Harbor
View of Hvar Town harbor from the fortress
Hanging out on the apartment balcony at sunset
We woke up to another beautiful sunny day with hardly any humidity. We took our time getting the day started and I had some juice on the patio. Once we were ready we headed to the café we had breakfast at yesterday (can’t remember the name). Today we just had cappuccinos and sat there for a while chatting. By 11am I was getting hungry and we went in search of spinach burek. Apparently spinach burek sells out pretty fast…the first 3 bakeries we went to only had cheese burek and I really wanted spinach. We found a place that had meat burek and settled for that and also got a small pizza. We went back to the apartment to have our lunch. CL sliced the bread from yesterday and we also had the end of the red pepper, onion and mozzarella with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus a variety of cookies. Guess you could say it was a carbohydrate fest!
After lunch we decided to check into doing a Jeep tour of the island, but there were none available for tomorrow and the same for the half day kayak tours, everything for tomorrow was booked up. We learned our lesson…book day trips as soon as you get into town!
We took a nice little stroll along the pathway that goes along the water to the Franciscan Monastery. There wasn’t too much to see, except the brilliant views of the Adriatic! We decided to plop ourselves down at another café on the main square and CL had a beer and I had a mineral water. At a table not far from us the couple ordered these great looking coffee drinks and I asked the waitress what it was. Turns out it was iced coffee with whipped cream, so I ordered one and it was delicious!
After sitting at the café for about 2 hours CL headed back to the apartment and I checked my emails. I met CL back at the apartment around 6pm. During our walk about today we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants one block off the main square. My pick was to have dinner at Palazzo Paladini and I am really glad we choose that restaurant! There is an indoor dinning room, but the best place (in my humble opinion) to have dinner is on the terrace at this restaurant.
It is an open courtyard with orange trees growing and the trees create a canopy over the whole terrace. As nice as this atmosphere is, the food and service are even better!!!
I had read the Black Ink Risotto is the thing to have here. So for our starter we had the Black Cuttlefish Risotto…it was beyond delicious! Then we had a local dish called Gregada, which is a fish and potato and onion dish served in a broth, again, the taste was excellent. The fish was served whole so we had to deal with bones, but it was sooooo worth it! As a side dish we had mangold, which we’ve been having here without knowing what is was called. It is swiss chard wilted and served with potatoes and of course pretty much drenched in butter. It was great! We each had a glass of the house white wine and I thought it was good, since I’m not a big wine drinking, I probably wouldn’t have realized if it was bad or not! The waiter even gave us a “complimentary” after dinner drink of some kind of clear alcohol, he never did tell us what it was. The waiter was pretty funny when he set down the glasses he said, “some water for you”…it was in a rocks glass and the glass only had a small amount of liquid in it…I’m thinking…”water…right!” J I didn’t care for the taste, but CL drank it. For all this food the bill was 400 Kuna with the tip which was about $70. Yes it was a splurge meal, but it was SO worth it! I really enjoyed everything we had.
Now for the comical part of the meal. At the end of the meal after the plates were taken away CL and I were talking about what happens if the oranges fall from the trees. Shortly after that we start to hear a rustle in the trees up above us. The other diners around us (and us) all look up and from up above, down comes a careening orange, right onto our table, just inches away from CL’s head! Of course we died laughing since we had just been talking about this happening…one of the more memorable events of the trip!
On the way to dinner we past a shop that was selling some pretty unique necklaces. On the way back from dinner I decided to buy one. It’s very different than anything I would find at home and what the heck, I’m on vacation!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Hello Hvar....Time to RELAX!
Day 19– September 20, 2006 – Hvar, Croatia…Is this Heaven On Earth??
These are the views from our balcony in Hvar!!!! 
Have I really been traveling for 19 days? I feel like I haven’t been. No television, no newspapers, a couple hotels we have stayed at had TV’s but we only turned them on a few times.
Today dawned bright with clear blue skies here in Hvar. I actually opened my eyes at 7am and promptly turned over and went back to sleep. I did pull myself out of bed at 8am and come out onto the balcony/patio to take some pictures. As magical as Hvar is at night, it is just as beautiful in the daylight!
After letting the water heater warm up for about half an hour, I jumped in the shower and managed to not soak the entire bathroom! It felt great to have a clean body and hair after a day of marathon traveling. After CL woke and got dressed we headed out in search of the tourist office for a map and a café for breakfast.
We found the tourist office with no trouble, it’s right on the main square and got a map and asked the all important question….where is the self-service laundry? The woman behind the desk pointed us in the right direction and then it was time for the second most important thing…breakfast! We found a little café with good looking pastries and opted for a long cylindrical phy1lo pastry stuffed with cheese and a cappuccino, what a great way to start the day, sitting outside on the harbor on a picture postcard perfect day!
By now it was 11am-ish so we went in search of the launderette and found it with no problem and it was practically empty. We headed to the grocery store to buy some “provisions” and laundry detergent.
We came back to the apartment, put the groceries away and gathered our dirty laundry and went back down to the launderette, good thing it was just across the square from the street our apartment was on! We consolidated our laundry loads but we still had 4 washers going. We chose to do the short cycle which was only 50 Kuna per machine so that cost us 200 Kuna, about $30, BUT well worth every cent…after 17 days of doing laundry in hotel room sinks, we were ready for a real washing machine! We decided not to use the dryers at the launderette (would have been another 40 Kuna per load) because on our balcony/patio we have 4 clothes lines and with the breeze and no humidity our clothes were dry in a little over an hour. While the clothes dried we just chilled out on the balcony taking in the view.
At about 3pm we decided to walk up to the fortress and check out the view from up there. Again, jaw dropping gorgeous! It was 10 Kuna to get into the fortress, but it was worth it just for the view of the Old Town and harbor below.
Of course prior to our climb, while we were chilling out at the apartment CL put together a great lunch of bread, cheese, tomato, onion, pepper and mozzarella salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and to top it all off fresh nectarine slices…it was DELISH!
On our walk up to the fortress we stopped for our first gelato here on Hvar. I had one scoop chocolate and one scoop tiramisa…YUMMO!
After taking in the spectacular views from the fortress we walked down the trail through a park-like area and walked along the streets of the old town, the town square and harbor and did a little shopping. I got a few postcards and a tee shirt. We also found a place for dinner that was listed in one of our guidebooks and made a reservation for dinner.
We came back to the apartment at about 6pm and relaxed and watched the sunset…truly fabulous. Just before 8pm we walked back down to the restaurant we had a reservation at, it was not far from the apartment. We had a fish soup that wasn’t too great, salad and shrimp risotto. It all ok, but nothing spectacular, I think we just ordered the wrong things because the couple next to us looked like they had really tasty food. Oh well, live and learn! My mantra…”Don’t let great be the enemy of good” came in handy for this restaurant experience!
After dinner we took a short walk along the harbor and in the main square so I could take some night photos with the buildings all lit up…it was so pretty! We called it an early night and went back to the apartment and drifted off to sleep, in between the ringing of the church bells. Yes, our apartment is practically next door to the church, so every hour we heard the church bells…but there are worse noises to have to go to sleep by or wake up to!
This was a great relaxing day after almost 3 weeks of non-stop moving!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The question of the day....Will we EVER get to Hvar??????
Day 18– September 19, 2006 – Back to Croatia…Travel Day from Hell!
The plan for today was to catch the 5:21am train from the Lesce, Bled train station that goes directly to Zagreb, rent a car and drive to Split where we would catch the 5pm fast catamaran to Hvar. It seemed like a good idea in the planning stages… “on the ground”…maybe not so good after all.
We got to the train station by 5am…quite a challenge getting up at 4am! While waiting on the platform, since the station was locked up tighter than a drum, there was an announcement. Thank God a young girl (we think she was a student) who was also waiting for a train (although not the one we needed) was kind enough to translate for us and told us the train we were waiting for would be 2 hours late…oh joy!
Another woman who was also waiting suggested we take the next train (a local commuter train) to Ljubljana and catch a train to Zagreb there. She seemed to think there might be a train leaving for Zagreb earlier then our late train and it would be better to wait at the larger train station in Ljubljana…ok, it made sense to us.
We hop on the next train that stopped at the station and yes it was definitely a local commuter train. Having spent several years as a commuter taking trains in and out of NYC, there was no doubt in my mind this was a commuter train, it was packed with people on their way to work and school. And yes, it made every stop between Lesce and Ljubljana…it took us about one hour. But these trains were kept impeccably clean and it was interesting to be sitting there with our suitcases above our heads and directly across from the toilet (ok, not prime seats!) people watching all the Slovenes going to work.
Once we got to the Ljubljana train station and disembarked the train we made our way to the information desk and arrivals/departures monitor. We asked 2 different attendants when the next train to Zagreb would be arriving and got 2 different answers, at least the answers were only 30 minutes apart(8:30am and 9am). So, it turned out the next train to Zagreb was the train we were supposed to have caught in Lesce! On the bright side, we were now at least in a bigger train station where we could get a cappuccino! And we were really lucky, because the night before we were very diligent in trying using up all our Slovenian Tolars and we couldn’t have planned this better if we had tried…we had the exact amount of Tolars for 2 cappuccinos, about $5.00! Let me tell you, that cappuccino was the best I had tasted, well, at that moment it tasted like the best! So, we settled into the chairs at the train station café and drank our coffees and waited and waited and waited.
When we thought the train would be arriving soon, we walked over to the platform and waited some more. And here is the funny part, as we were standing there waiting up the stairs comes 4 figures that look very familiar! It was 4 of our tour-mates who were also headed to Zagreb, but were going to take the later 7:25am train from Lesce which was also late! They had taken a taxi from Bled to Ljubljana. We all had a good laugh and a little while later the train arrived and we all jumped on. We had no trouble finding a compartment and settled in for our 2 and a half hour ride to Zagreb.
The train arrived in Zagreb shortly after noon, only 3 hours and 45 minutes after it was supposed to arrive in Zagreb, but better late then never! We said another round of good-byes to your tour-mates and were off the train and out of the station by 12:15pm. Now this is where some of my pre-trip planning starts to pay off. I had reserved a rental car with Avis from their location at the Sheraton Zagreb. I had cracker-jack directions on how to walk from the train station to the Sheraton and we were there in less than 10 minutes.
The rental paperwork process and all the stuff that goes with it took about 30 minutes give or take. I was a little worried at first when we walked in to the Avis office because when I told the agent I had a reservation he gave me a funny look and then starts tapping his computer keyboard and sighing an making faces, but after a few minutes he has the forms for CL to sign. I made the booking, but because CL was driving they needed her credit card and information. All that was taken care of and we went off to the front of the hotel to wait for the agent to bring the car around to us. CL and the agent went over the car to mark down any dents and we were ready to roll.
The agent had given us a city map of Zagreb with directions how to get out of the city and onto Highway A-1. He also gave us a great road map of Croatia that I used the whole way to the Split airport so that we could know our location and how close we were getting to Split.
We did an excellent job of navigating out of the city (thanks to pre-trip planning I had also gotten some tips from people who had driven this route before!) and once we were on the highway we took it almost straight to Trogir, the town the Split airport is in.
When we were out of most of the city traffic in Zagreb, but not quite on the highway yet, I checked my watch and it was 1:18pm, so from disembarking the train to getting on the road, it took us about an hour.
We rode down the modern A-1 Highway passing by some beautiful scenery and going through some very long tunnels. We made a pit-stop at about 2:30pm and another stop for gas about 30km from Trogir. We used about half a tank of gas.
We took the exit that said Trogir and had the airplane symbol, since I didn’t know the exact exit for the Split airport and that was where we needed to drop off the car. The toll on the highway from Zagreb to Trogir was 146 Kuna, about $25 US Dollars.
Once we exited the highway we followed the signs for Trogir. There were some pretty twisting roads and at times I was holding on for dear life since there were no guardrails. Once we rounded a mountain I could see Split in front of us and the control tower of an airport…hallelujah! It was probably 20 minutes from the highway exit to the airport.
I’m glad during my pre-trip research (can you see a pattern forming here!) I read about how to handle the car drop off. We just pulled into the airport parking lot, and got a ticket from the machine at the entrance, pulled into a spot near the front of the terminal and got all our stuff out of the car. We rented from Avis and their desk is actually located outside the terminal building, off to the side.
When we went up to the Avis window they were closed. CL went inside and asked another car rental agency if there was an Avis agent. He said they just went on a break. I waited for them to open up again which was truly only a couple minutes. The extent of the agent checking the car was asking me if there were any dents, I said no, and he said ok! He never physically went to check the car. The one day car rental coast about $100, which was less then what it would have cost for each of us to purchas train tickets from Lesce to Split and we got to see some interesting scenery!
By now we were at the Split airport and it was 5pm... so much for catching that 5pm catamaran to Hvar! Both CL and I agreed we did not want to take the public bus to the ferry terminal in Split since we were starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. We asked the woman at the information desk to call a taxi for us. The taxi arrived in about 10 minutes and loaded us in. I asked how much the ride would cost and he said about 300 Kuna, he did set the meter.
The taxi driver did drive a bit like a maniac, but it was rush hour traffic. He even made a call to find out when the ferry was leaving and took us right to the ticket booth and made sure we got tickets for a fast catamaran! There was one leaving at 8:30pm and it went right to Hvar Town! I hadn’t come across that one in my research and thought we might have to take the regular ferry that left at 8:30pm and takes 2 hours! The taxi ride did cost 287 Kunas and I gave him a decent tip for getting us to the fast catamaran ticket booth!
By now it was about 6pm and the catamaran leaves at 8:30pm. I took this time to call the apartment owner in Hvar to let her know when we would be arriving. I called her mobile number and got a recording, in Croatian of course, then I called her home number and got the same recording. I got the feeling it was a “generic” recording and may have been saying “you are out of the calling area”.
At this point I was starting to get upset and thinking, “My God, will we have a place to sleep tonight?” So, I called the agency I booked the Hvar apartment through (http://www.hvar-travel.com/). I got a girl who spoke English, but I don’t think she understood me very well. I gave her a message to tell Marija (our Hvar apartment owner) we would be arriving at 9:30pm. The girl told me the owner did not have her mobile phone with her but to call the owner in 2 hours and she would have her phone then. Now this is sounding fishy to me and I am really starting to panic. Thank God CL was staying calm, or at least she appeared to be staying calm!
We decide to check our bags at the train station left luggage, which is right across from the ferry terminal, and walk over to have something to eat since we hadn’t really had “real” food all day, even though the hotel in Bled had packed us a boxed lunch with a yummy ham and cheese sandwich and we did have some food for the 4 hour drive, like bananas, popcorn, cookies and water! So, we walked over the the busy harbor front area (the Riva) and checked out a couple cafes and decided to just get a pizza and capresse salad. We ate at and outdoor café/pizzeria, and I can’t even remember the name of the place, but it wasn’t bad. Once we finished eating we walked over to the DM (aka drogeria) to take my mind off things and look for nail polish a friend had asked me to bring back that is only sold in Europe…thank God they had it, I don’t think I could have taken another bungled experience this day!
After the nail polish buying expedition we picked up our luggage and sat by the harbor until we could board the catamaran. It’s too bad I didn’t enjoy Split more, or get to see much of it! Well, that gives me the excuse that I need to go back to Croatia since I didn’t really see Split. While we waited to board the boat I tried calling the Marija in Hvar again, and still had no luck. But by now CL and I had a plan, if I couldn’t get in touch with Marija we would just find the most expensive hotel in Hvar and spend the night there and deal with it the next morning. After all, we have been up since 4am and it is now 8:30pm, we were just about running on empty!
The catamaran left right at 8:30pm and there were maybe 20 people on the whole boat! I’m so glad it was only a 1 hour trip and unfortunately since it was dark out we couldn't see what we were passing and I felt very disoriented. We arrived and got off the boat at the harbor in Hvar Town at 9:30pm-ish and even though panic and exhaustion were kicking in I had to stop and soak in the atmosphere... this place at night is jaw droppingly gorgeous…I can’t wait to see it during the day.
We start walking and there is a hotel we pass right on the harbor and looks expensive, again all my pre-trip planning/research is kicking in and I’m thinking that’s one of the swanky hotels I have read about. CL asks me if I want to call the apartment owner again. I am reluctant and don’t really want to, but I do. This time I get a ring, actually 6 rings, but no answer. We keep walking down the harbor and then turn around to start walking back to the first hotel we saw and my phone starts ringing. For whatever reason, I decided to keep the phone on, when I normally would have turned it off. I am really glad I kept in on; it was Marija our apartment owner calling me back! Thank God!
I told her we were in front of the Hotel Palace and she said she would be there in 10 minutes. She showed up about 20 minutes later and walked us to the house the apartment is in and the whole way there I am praying the place will be ok. We turn down a narrow street just off the main square with a bakery on it…how appropriate! Then we go up a couple sets of steps to the house. Then the trudge with our bags up 3 flights of stairs to the studio apartment with an AMAZING BALCONY…..THANK YOU GOD!!! was my first thought, then complete relief.
The place was clean, there are 2 beds and it is the exact apartment the pictures showed on the website, sometimes you just never know what you will get when booking via the internet! But the best part other than being clean is the wonderful balcony/patio we have with views of the entire old town and the bell tower and the fortress on the hill all lit up at night. Even in my worn out state I knew this place was magical! By now it is about 10:30pm and all we want to do is go to sleep…and there will be no alarm clock tonight!
The plan for today was to catch the 5:21am train from the Lesce, Bled train station that goes directly to Zagreb, rent a car and drive to Split where we would catch the 5pm fast catamaran to Hvar. It seemed like a good idea in the planning stages… “on the ground”…maybe not so good after all.
We got to the train station by 5am…quite a challenge getting up at 4am! While waiting on the platform, since the station was locked up tighter than a drum, there was an announcement. Thank God a young girl (we think she was a student) who was also waiting for a train (although not the one we needed) was kind enough to translate for us and told us the train we were waiting for would be 2 hours late…oh joy!
Another woman who was also waiting suggested we take the next train (a local commuter train) to Ljubljana and catch a train to Zagreb there. She seemed to think there might be a train leaving for Zagreb earlier then our late train and it would be better to wait at the larger train station in Ljubljana…ok, it made sense to us.
We hop on the next train that stopped at the station and yes it was definitely a local commuter train. Having spent several years as a commuter taking trains in and out of NYC, there was no doubt in my mind this was a commuter train, it was packed with people on their way to work and school. And yes, it made every stop between Lesce and Ljubljana…it took us about one hour. But these trains were kept impeccably clean and it was interesting to be sitting there with our suitcases above our heads and directly across from the toilet (ok, not prime seats!) people watching all the Slovenes going to work.
Once we got to the Ljubljana train station and disembarked the train we made our way to the information desk and arrivals/departures monitor. We asked 2 different attendants when the next train to Zagreb would be arriving and got 2 different answers, at least the answers were only 30 minutes apart(8:30am and 9am). So, it turned out the next train to Zagreb was the train we were supposed to have caught in Lesce! On the bright side, we were now at least in a bigger train station where we could get a cappuccino! And we were really lucky, because the night before we were very diligent in trying using up all our Slovenian Tolars and we couldn’t have planned this better if we had tried…we had the exact amount of Tolars for 2 cappuccinos, about $5.00! Let me tell you, that cappuccino was the best I had tasted, well, at that moment it tasted like the best! So, we settled into the chairs at the train station café and drank our coffees and waited and waited and waited.
When we thought the train would be arriving soon, we walked over to the platform and waited some more. And here is the funny part, as we were standing there waiting up the stairs comes 4 figures that look very familiar! It was 4 of our tour-mates who were also headed to Zagreb, but were going to take the later 7:25am train from Lesce which was also late! They had taken a taxi from Bled to Ljubljana. We all had a good laugh and a little while later the train arrived and we all jumped on. We had no trouble finding a compartment and settled in for our 2 and a half hour ride to Zagreb.
The train arrived in Zagreb shortly after noon, only 3 hours and 45 minutes after it was supposed to arrive in Zagreb, but better late then never! We said another round of good-byes to your tour-mates and were off the train and out of the station by 12:15pm. Now this is where some of my pre-trip planning starts to pay off. I had reserved a rental car with Avis from their location at the Sheraton Zagreb. I had cracker-jack directions on how to walk from the train station to the Sheraton and we were there in less than 10 minutes.
The rental paperwork process and all the stuff that goes with it took about 30 minutes give or take. I was a little worried at first when we walked in to the Avis office because when I told the agent I had a reservation he gave me a funny look and then starts tapping his computer keyboard and sighing an making faces, but after a few minutes he has the forms for CL to sign. I made the booking, but because CL was driving they needed her credit card and information. All that was taken care of and we went off to the front of the hotel to wait for the agent to bring the car around to us. CL and the agent went over the car to mark down any dents and we were ready to roll.
The agent had given us a city map of Zagreb with directions how to get out of the city and onto Highway A-1. He also gave us a great road map of Croatia that I used the whole way to the Split airport so that we could know our location and how close we were getting to Split.
We did an excellent job of navigating out of the city (thanks to pre-trip planning I had also gotten some tips from people who had driven this route before!) and once we were on the highway we took it almost straight to Trogir, the town the Split airport is in.
When we were out of most of the city traffic in Zagreb, but not quite on the highway yet, I checked my watch and it was 1:18pm, so from disembarking the train to getting on the road, it took us about an hour.
We rode down the modern A-1 Highway passing by some beautiful scenery and going through some very long tunnels. We made a pit-stop at about 2:30pm and another stop for gas about 30km from Trogir. We used about half a tank of gas.
We took the exit that said Trogir and had the airplane symbol, since I didn’t know the exact exit for the Split airport and that was where we needed to drop off the car. The toll on the highway from Zagreb to Trogir was 146 Kuna, about $25 US Dollars.
Once we exited the highway we followed the signs for Trogir. There were some pretty twisting roads and at times I was holding on for dear life since there were no guardrails. Once we rounded a mountain I could see Split in front of us and the control tower of an airport…hallelujah! It was probably 20 minutes from the highway exit to the airport.
I’m glad during my pre-trip research (can you see a pattern forming here!) I read about how to handle the car drop off. We just pulled into the airport parking lot, and got a ticket from the machine at the entrance, pulled into a spot near the front of the terminal and got all our stuff out of the car. We rented from Avis and their desk is actually located outside the terminal building, off to the side.
When we went up to the Avis window they were closed. CL went inside and asked another car rental agency if there was an Avis agent. He said they just went on a break. I waited for them to open up again which was truly only a couple minutes. The extent of the agent checking the car was asking me if there were any dents, I said no, and he said ok! He never physically went to check the car. The one day car rental coast about $100, which was less then what it would have cost for each of us to purchas train tickets from Lesce to Split and we got to see some interesting scenery!
By now we were at the Split airport and it was 5pm... so much for catching that 5pm catamaran to Hvar! Both CL and I agreed we did not want to take the public bus to the ferry terminal in Split since we were starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. We asked the woman at the information desk to call a taxi for us. The taxi arrived in about 10 minutes and loaded us in. I asked how much the ride would cost and he said about 300 Kuna, he did set the meter.
The taxi driver did drive a bit like a maniac, but it was rush hour traffic. He even made a call to find out when the ferry was leaving and took us right to the ticket booth and made sure we got tickets for a fast catamaran! There was one leaving at 8:30pm and it went right to Hvar Town! I hadn’t come across that one in my research and thought we might have to take the regular ferry that left at 8:30pm and takes 2 hours! The taxi ride did cost 287 Kunas and I gave him a decent tip for getting us to the fast catamaran ticket booth!
By now it was about 6pm and the catamaran leaves at 8:30pm. I took this time to call the apartment owner in Hvar to let her know when we would be arriving. I called her mobile number and got a recording, in Croatian of course, then I called her home number and got the same recording. I got the feeling it was a “generic” recording and may have been saying “you are out of the calling area”.
At this point I was starting to get upset and thinking, “My God, will we have a place to sleep tonight?” So, I called the agency I booked the Hvar apartment through (http://www.hvar-travel.com/). I got a girl who spoke English, but I don’t think she understood me very well. I gave her a message to tell Marija (our Hvar apartment owner) we would be arriving at 9:30pm. The girl told me the owner did not have her mobile phone with her but to call the owner in 2 hours and she would have her phone then. Now this is sounding fishy to me and I am really starting to panic. Thank God CL was staying calm, or at least she appeared to be staying calm!
We decide to check our bags at the train station left luggage, which is right across from the ferry terminal, and walk over to have something to eat since we hadn’t really had “real” food all day, even though the hotel in Bled had packed us a boxed lunch with a yummy ham and cheese sandwich and we did have some food for the 4 hour drive, like bananas, popcorn, cookies and water! So, we walked over the the busy harbor front area (the Riva) and checked out a couple cafes and decided to just get a pizza and capresse salad. We ate at and outdoor café/pizzeria, and I can’t even remember the name of the place, but it wasn’t bad. Once we finished eating we walked over to the DM (aka drogeria) to take my mind off things and look for nail polish a friend had asked me to bring back that is only sold in Europe…thank God they had it, I don’t think I could have taken another bungled experience this day!
After the nail polish buying expedition we picked up our luggage and sat by the harbor until we could board the catamaran. It’s too bad I didn’t enjoy Split more, or get to see much of it! Well, that gives me the excuse that I need to go back to Croatia since I didn’t really see Split. While we waited to board the boat I tried calling the Marija in Hvar again, and still had no luck. But by now CL and I had a plan, if I couldn’t get in touch with Marija we would just find the most expensive hotel in Hvar and spend the night there and deal with it the next morning. After all, we have been up since 4am and it is now 8:30pm, we were just about running on empty!
The catamaran left right at 8:30pm and there were maybe 20 people on the whole boat! I’m so glad it was only a 1 hour trip and unfortunately since it was dark out we couldn't see what we were passing and I felt very disoriented. We arrived and got off the boat at the harbor in Hvar Town at 9:30pm-ish and even though panic and exhaustion were kicking in I had to stop and soak in the atmosphere... this place at night is jaw droppingly gorgeous…I can’t wait to see it during the day.
We start walking and there is a hotel we pass right on the harbor and looks expensive, again all my pre-trip planning/research is kicking in and I’m thinking that’s one of the swanky hotels I have read about. CL asks me if I want to call the apartment owner again. I am reluctant and don’t really want to, but I do. This time I get a ring, actually 6 rings, but no answer. We keep walking down the harbor and then turn around to start walking back to the first hotel we saw and my phone starts ringing. For whatever reason, I decided to keep the phone on, when I normally would have turned it off. I am really glad I kept in on; it was Marija our apartment owner calling me back! Thank God!
I told her we were in front of the Hotel Palace and she said she would be there in 10 minutes. She showed up about 20 minutes later and walked us to the house the apartment is in and the whole way there I am praying the place will be ok. We turn down a narrow street just off the main square with a bakery on it…how appropriate! Then we go up a couple sets of steps to the house. Then the trudge with our bags up 3 flights of stairs to the studio apartment with an AMAZING BALCONY…..THANK YOU GOD!!! was my first thought, then complete relief.
The place was clean, there are 2 beds and it is the exact apartment the pictures showed on the website, sometimes you just never know what you will get when booking via the internet! But the best part other than being clean is the wonderful balcony/patio we have with views of the entire old town and the bell tower and the fortress on the hill all lit up at night. Even in my worn out state I knew this place was magical! By now it is about 10:30pm and all we want to do is go to sleep…and there will be no alarm clock tonight!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
A Fairy Tale Lake and Fond Farewells to New Friends
Day 17– September 18, 2006 – Lake Bled…A Boat Ride, a Walk In The Rain and Bidding Adieu To New Friends!
Today started out cloudy, grey and drizzling, and it never really got much better, but there were a few short bouts of sunshine here and there.
Today started out cloudy, grey and drizzling, and it never really got much better, but there were a few short bouts of sunshine here and there.
The group met in the lobby at 8:45am to walk to the lake for a Pletna boat ride to The Island (Otok). This is the little island in the middle of Lake Bled where the Church of the Assumption is located. The Pletna boat ride was fun even in the less than perfect weather. The boats are manually rowed by one oarsman and for a special treat we had our very own accordion player. He was a young boy about 14 years old and he was a terrific musician. 
When we arrived on the little island we got off the boats and there were 98 steps in front of us to get to the church. Of course there is a story behind the steps and it goes something like this…tradition says the groom must carry his bride up these steps, if they are successful; they are then fit for marriage.
The church was not ornate inside, but there is a bell and there is a notion that says if you ring the bell, your dreams will come true. When you hear the bell ringing you know the tourists have started arriving on the island! 
After spending a little time in the church and around the island we got back in the boats and headed back to shore. The rest of the day was ours to do as we pleased. CL and I found the Brown Bear Bakery and got a couple cookies, and water and then took off for a walk around the lake. The walk around the lake is about 3.5 miles and we were walking at a relaxed pace and it took us about an hour and a half to walk completely around the lake.
Since the weather really wasn’t cooperating we decided a hike up to the castle wasn’t something we wanted to do. Yes, it probably would have been a nice walk, but it was so cloudy the views would have been obscured. So we stopped and got some postcards and snacks for the next days “marathon journey” to Hvar. Then we just chilled out in the room reading and relaxing.
At 6:30pm we all met in the lobby to go to our farewell dinner. Luckily for us the restaurant we went to was literally right next to the hotel. The restaurant was Okarina Etno located at Ljubljanska cesta 8. The food again was excellent and there were copious amounts of it. We started with wine and little hors’ devours on a little outside patio. Len did a funny toast and we took a group photo with all our glasses raised.
Then we moved into a private room for dinner. On the tables were an appetizer tray of fresh vegetables, ham, salami, and bread. Then there was a buffet for dinner with 2 soups, tomato or barley and a capresse salad. Several entrée dishes were offered and they were, turkey steak with mushrooms, pasta with vegetables, a fish dish that I can’t remember the name of but it was very tasty and potatoes and spinach. And I can’t forget to mention the apple strudel for dessert and that was great too! It was all accompanied by lots of wine. Both red and white were flowing freely. The waiters kept them full and the glasses were enormous. Honestly, I have no idea how much I drank, probably about 2 big glasses all tolled. The waiter was funny about keeping the glasses full…good thing we only had to walk next door to get back to the hotel!
Once dessert was over Etelka passed out little bags of paprika with the recipe for goulash soup…she is such a great lady!
The culmination of the trip began when Ben asked Linda, a retired music teacher, to “do her thing”. Linda had put together little songs about each place we went to using the tunes of familiar songs, that was great fun!
After Linda did her “thing” Ben asked each of us to mention something on the tour that was memorable for us. As I listened to my tour-mates tell their favorite tour moment I was thinking about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to leave my own “imprint” on the group. When it got to be my turn I really threw everyone for a loop and said something I knew they would not expect me to say and it would be funny. In as serious a face as I could muster (remember I had 2 BIG glasses of wine!) I said the best thing that happened to me on the trip was “getting a husband and my parents will be so happy now”! That got an uproarious laugh from everyone because it was so unexpected coming from me, since I rarely mentioned the “faux proposal” and would shrug it off whenever anyone would comment to me about it. But my true memorable moment was walking into the Main Market Square in Krakow at dusk with the buildings lit up and the sidewalk cafes bustling.
As we were all saying our good-byes and hugging each other I realized what a great group of travelers we had in this group. As Ben said, “There are tour groups, and then there are you guys”. I really feel that’s true; there weren’t any grumps on this trip.
By now it was 10:30pm and although not too late by typical standards since we had to get up at 4am the next morning it was time to call it a night. We went back to our room, packed up our bags and tried to get some sleep before the alarm went off indicating the start of part 2 of our Central Europe Adventure!
Another Rainy Day and Some Beautiful Horses
Day 16– September 17, 2006 – Slovenia…an undiscovered gem of a country!
The rain persisted for most of the day today. In a way I’m glad we were on the bus for a good part of the day.
After getting off the ferry we headed north on the coastal road. Ther was beautiful scenery even in the rain, but lots of twists and turns. We got to the Slovenian border at around noon and crossed in record time. I think this was the fastest border crossing we had so far. We continued on for about 45 minutes to get to our lunch spot. We had a picnic lunch provided by Ben and Etelka in a covered area at the Škocjan Caves in the Karst region of Slovenia. We did not go into the caves but did take a little walk around and the area is truly spectacular. Luckily for us, the rain had stopped just in time for our picnic.
Ben and Etelka did a great job with the picnic lunch. There was lots of cheese, proscuitto, and delicious bread, tomatoes, and spinach and cheese burek. Speaking of burek, CL and I had this tasty treat for lunch yesterday. It is a big Croatian dish. It’s lots of greasy phyllo dough layered with cheese, and spinach (or it can also have meat), it’s kind of like a pie and they cut off wedges of it. We found it in a bakery (of course we were in a bakery…what bakery didn’t we go into?). It makes a great lunch.
After all the picnic bits and pieces were packed up and securely stored back in the bus we were off to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. But as we drove on the rain was coming down in buckets!
On the way to Ljubljana we stopped at the Lipica Stud Farm (http://www.lipica.org/), this is the training farm for the famous Lipizzaner stallions. There are performances throughout the day and what better way to spend a couple hours then watching these beautiful horses. Now for most people this is a big treat and I also enjoy watching the horses perform, I’ve even seen them when I was in Vienna many years ago. However, I am very allergic to horses (or pretty much anything to do with them…hay, stable, horse hair…you get the picture). But I thought since the performance was only 40 minutes I could “man up” and tough it out. I should have remember my experience in Vienna watching these horses when I had to get up and leave half way through the performance, but I was being obstinate. I did make it through this performance with only one sneeze, however on the walk from the show ring back to the bus; CL could tell my breathing wasn’t normal. It was just some coughing and weezing and I was ok after about half an hour, but I should have learned my lesson, stay far away from horses, or bring some kind of allergy medicine!
We left the farm at about 4pm and were on the road towards the Julian Alps and you guessed it, more rain and it was another torrential downpour the whole way to Ljubljana.
When we arrived in Ljubljana, since it was Sunday most all of the shops were closed. Usually we would have spent 4 hours exploring the city and having dinner. But the majority of us, including me, just wanted a quick driving tour around the city and then head for Bled, our final stop and we could have dinner there, and this is what we did. Ljubljana looked like a pretty little city, from the windows of the bus, but because of the rain I just wasn’t up for walking around getting all soggy.
We arrived in Bled at about 6pm and Bojan took us around the lake in the bus to get a quick overall view of the town before checking into the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Lovec at Ljubljanska Cesta 6 (http://www.lovechotel.com/). The hotel is part of the Best Western chain and although that may be a turn off to some people, it was nice hotel in a good central location.
After saying our goodbyes to Bojan since we wouldn’t need the bus any longer we got situated in our room and then ventured out to find any ATM. With money in hand we braved the rain to find a restaurant for dinner. We were trying to find a place that was highly recommended in our guide book, but quickly gave that up because the rain was pouring down and it was very dark and I forgot to bring a map, so we ended up going to the first place that looked good to us.
And that place was packed with locals, which I love because that tells me a place is usually good if it’s crammed with locals. There were no tables available inside and the owner said we could wait and we said ok. Then we noticed a couple people sitting at the outside tables that were on a covered patio/porch area. Even though it was a little chilly we decided to sit outside and it wasn’t too bad once we started eating!
Maybe it was because I was hungry, or because the waiter was so darn nice (and cute!) but I really liked the food at this restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Oštarija Peglez’n at Cesta svobode 19a in Bled. We started with the cauliflower soup, which wasn’t too great, but it was hot and warmed us up. Then we split a steak with fries and the most delectable mushrooms(of course soaked in garlic and butter…how can that be bad!) and a tagliatele seafood pasta, it was all great! The waiter suggested a dessert sample plate with chocolate mousse (was the best!), tiramisu, and charlotte cake with fruit…how could we pass all that up! This was one of the best meals on the trip so far. The bill for all this food and great service was $40 total…not too bad!
A great meal for the end or a rainy, long bus day in a gem of a country!
The rain persisted for most of the day today. In a way I’m glad we were on the bus for a good part of the day.
After getting off the ferry we headed north on the coastal road. Ther was beautiful scenery even in the rain, but lots of twists and turns. We got to the Slovenian border at around noon and crossed in record time. I think this was the fastest border crossing we had so far. We continued on for about 45 minutes to get to our lunch spot. We had a picnic lunch provided by Ben and Etelka in a covered area at the Škocjan Caves in the Karst region of Slovenia. We did not go into the caves but did take a little walk around and the area is truly spectacular. Luckily for us, the rain had stopped just in time for our picnic.
Ben and Etelka did a great job with the picnic lunch. There was lots of cheese, proscuitto, and delicious bread, tomatoes, and spinach and cheese burek. Speaking of burek, CL and I had this tasty treat for lunch yesterday. It is a big Croatian dish. It’s lots of greasy phyllo dough layered with cheese, and spinach (or it can also have meat), it’s kind of like a pie and they cut off wedges of it. We found it in a bakery (of course we were in a bakery…what bakery didn’t we go into?). It makes a great lunch.
After all the picnic bits and pieces were packed up and securely stored back in the bus we were off to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. But as we drove on the rain was coming down in buckets!
On the way to Ljubljana we stopped at the Lipica Stud Farm (http://www.lipica.org/), this is the training farm for the famous Lipizzaner stallions. There are performances throughout the day and what better way to spend a couple hours then watching these beautiful horses. Now for most people this is a big treat and I also enjoy watching the horses perform, I’ve even seen them when I was in Vienna many years ago. However, I am very allergic to horses (or pretty much anything to do with them…hay, stable, horse hair…you get the picture). But I thought since the performance was only 40 minutes I could “man up” and tough it out. I should have remember my experience in Vienna watching these horses when I had to get up and leave half way through the performance, but I was being obstinate. I did make it through this performance with only one sneeze, however on the walk from the show ring back to the bus; CL could tell my breathing wasn’t normal. It was just some coughing and weezing and I was ok after about half an hour, but I should have learned my lesson, stay far away from horses, or bring some kind of allergy medicine!
We left the farm at about 4pm and were on the road towards the Julian Alps and you guessed it, more rain and it was another torrential downpour the whole way to Ljubljana.
When we arrived in Ljubljana, since it was Sunday most all of the shops were closed. Usually we would have spent 4 hours exploring the city and having dinner. But the majority of us, including me, just wanted a quick driving tour around the city and then head for Bled, our final stop and we could have dinner there, and this is what we did. Ljubljana looked like a pretty little city, from the windows of the bus, but because of the rain I just wasn’t up for walking around getting all soggy.
We arrived in Bled at about 6pm and Bojan took us around the lake in the bus to get a quick overall view of the town before checking into the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Lovec at Ljubljanska Cesta 6 (http://www.lovechotel.com/). The hotel is part of the Best Western chain and although that may be a turn off to some people, it was nice hotel in a good central location.
After saying our goodbyes to Bojan since we wouldn’t need the bus any longer we got situated in our room and then ventured out to find any ATM. With money in hand we braved the rain to find a restaurant for dinner. We were trying to find a place that was highly recommended in our guide book, but quickly gave that up because the rain was pouring down and it was very dark and I forgot to bring a map, so we ended up going to the first place that looked good to us.
And that place was packed with locals, which I love because that tells me a place is usually good if it’s crammed with locals. There were no tables available inside and the owner said we could wait and we said ok. Then we noticed a couple people sitting at the outside tables that were on a covered patio/porch area. Even though it was a little chilly we decided to sit outside and it wasn’t too bad once we started eating!
Maybe it was because I was hungry, or because the waiter was so darn nice (and cute!) but I really liked the food at this restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Oštarija Peglez’n at Cesta svobode 19a in Bled. We started with the cauliflower soup, which wasn’t too great, but it was hot and warmed us up. Then we split a steak with fries and the most delectable mushrooms(of course soaked in garlic and butter…how can that be bad!) and a tagliatele seafood pasta, it was all great! The waiter suggested a dessert sample plate with chocolate mousse (was the best!), tiramisu, and charlotte cake with fruit…how could we pass all that up! This was one of the best meals on the trip so far. The bill for all this food and great service was $40 total…not too bad!
A great meal for the end or a rainy, long bus day in a gem of a country!
Monday, October 23, 2006
A vacation from our vacation...Rab Island, Croatia
Day 15– September 16, 2006 – Rab Island, Croatia
The view from our room in Rab
On the other Rick Steves’ tour I have been on, they incorporated what they call a “vacation from your vacation” stop. It’s usually a 2 night stop in a place that’s laid back and relaxing. This tour was no different and Rab Island was our “vacation from our vacation” destination on this trip.
CL and I “slept in” and didn’t get up until 7am, I know, that’s early for some, but it worked for us because we could have an unhurried breakfast and set out for adventure when we wanted. Around 9:30am we stopped at the ATM to load up on Croatian money since we would be coming back into Croatia for the second portion of the trip, “a la” Marcy style. Then we walked along the harbor and up into one of the several bell towers that are in Rab Town and traipsing through the old winding streets. Since it was still fairly early there were very few people out and a
bout. The picture to the right is of 2 of the bell towers of Rab.
Later in the morning we walked along the main shopping street, which were mostly lots of little touristy shops. We bought some postcards and of course we had to have some gelato…the chocolate was delicious. We also walked through the park that runs along the water and have several pathways within the park. During our walk we found a cute little art gallery and although I was not looking to purchase anything in particular, I found a small oil painting of a pretty scene of Rab. What I liked about this painting, aside from thinking it was very pretty, was that it was done by a local artist and his wife ran the gallery. How could I pass that up!
Early in the afternoon CL and I went to the grocery store to get some provisions for the Happy Hour we were having tonight. That was a comical event. We had purchased some cookies at a bakery that we intended to bring since we had the reputation on the tour for sniffing out the best local bakeries. So we wanted to bring a sweet dessert wine to go with the cookies. Well, neither of can read or speak Croatian so we stood in front of the shelves lined with wine bottles trying to figure out which one to buy…what a dilemma! We didn’t want to get the wrong kind of wine! Looking back now, there probably is never the wrong kind of wine to buy, someone in the group would have drunk it! But instead we purchased a huge bottle of pivo (beer) and even though beer does not go with cookies either, somewhere along the line the bottle got emptied!
After the grocery store, wine shopping, pivo buying excursion, we went back to the hotel. I just wanted to chill out and sit by the pool and read my book. Of course the minute we sat down in the deck chairs it started to rain. We trekked back to the hotel room to lay on the bed and read and promptly fell asleep!
We woke up about 4:30pm, just in time to freshen up and head downstairs to happy hour. Since it was still raining our outdoor happy hour got moved inside, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time.
We had fun eating and drinking in a laid back setting. And several tour members brought their “most useless” item they brought on the trip. Some of the things were pretty funny!
At about 8pm we had dinner at a local place, which I didn’t catch the name of but I had the most delicious grilled sea bass. The restaurant was filled with locals and because while we were having dinner it started to rain, actually it started coming down in buckets; we stuck around, had another liter of wine and waited out the rain. It was almost 12:30am by the time we got back, but one of the best meals I have had! It was a perfect way to end a great stay in Rab.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
A Rainy Start in a Magnificent Country...Dobar dan Croatia!
Day 14– September 15, 2006 – Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
We woke to cloudy grey skies and drizzling rain. Not the best conditions for a hike through a national park!
CL and I got up and were ready for breakfast a little after 7am. As with last night’s dinner, my expectations for breakfast were surpassed. There was quite a nice variety.
Since I knew we’d be hiking for a bout 3 hours I had a fairly substantial breakfast. I had eggs, coffee, grapefruit juice (pink), ham, cheese, bread, and a pear. It was all very good.
After breakfast we loaded our bags onto the bus and met in the lobby at 8:45am. We left the hotel and went to the shuttle bus stop to take the shuttle to the top of the lakes. I went with Ben’s group on the longer more “vigorous” walk and CL went on the walk with Etelka, in the end I think both walks ended up being about the same.
We woke to cloudy grey skies and drizzling rain. Not the best conditions for a hike through a national park!
CL and I got up and were ready for breakfast a little after 7am. As with last night’s dinner, my expectations for breakfast were surpassed. There was quite a nice variety.
Since I knew we’d be hiking for a bout 3 hours I had a fairly substantial breakfast. I had eggs, coffee, grapefruit juice (pink), ham, cheese, bread, and a pear. It was all very good.
After breakfast we loaded our bags onto the bus and met in the lobby at 8:45am. We left the hotel and went to the shuttle bus stop to take the shuttle to the top of the lakes. I went with Ben’s group on the longer more “vigorous” walk and CL went on the walk with Etelka, in the end I think both walks ended up being about the same.
The boardwalk at Plitvice
A Plitvice Waterfall....Unforgettable!
See, I am not joking when I say the color of the water is amazing!
We walked the upper section of the park and met Etelka’s group at the boat dock for the boat ride across the lake that connects the upper lakes with the lower lakes. The water was such a pretty blue color. We finished walking through the lower lakes and clearly that area was where the majority of the tourist were. Many people just take the shuttle to the middle point of the lakes and only walk the lower part. But I think it we were going to be there we should walk the whole place and I’m glad I did.
The lakes, waterfalls and just the natural beauty of Plitvice Lakes National Park was great to experience. Their website is http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/default.aspx?lan=en
While we were waiting for everyone to finish their walks and we were sitting at the entrance I bought 2 massive pieces of strudel. One was peach and cheese and the other was apple. CL and I tried the peach and cheese first and it was pretty good, not sweet at all. We saved the apple for later, but I never tried it, too many other tasty treats to try!
After leaving the park we stopped for lunch about 30 minutes away. It wasn’t anything too fancy. CL and I split tomato soup, salad and grilled lamb, it was all good.
After lunch it was back on the bus for the ride over the mountains to the Island of Rab on the Adriatic, this would be our first look at this incredible coastline! The ride took about 3 hours and the views along the coast road were fantastic even with the cloudy sky.
We arrived at the car ferry port and Bojan maneuvered the bus onto the ferry, and I can’t believe how he can get this huge bus into some of the tightest spots I have ever seen. If I wasn’t witness to how Bojan got that bus onto the ferry (since I was in the bus!) I would never have believed it!
The ferry ride to Rab was not very long, maybe 15 minutes. While on the ferry I called Dori to wish her a happy birthday and it was wild to be standing on the ferry deck the wind whipping through my hair chatting with Dori who was at home sitting on the beach…mobile technology, ya gotta love it! Before I knew it we were at the dock in Rab and ready to disembark and it was a short drive to Rab town and our hotel.
The hotel in Rab is one of my favorites. It is very well located right on the harbor with stunning views. This is considered our vacation from our vacation while on the tour. So we have no planned activities expect for a group dinner tonight and happy hour tomorrow night. The name of the hotel is Hotel Ros Maris at Obala P. Kresimir IV and their website is http://www.rosmaris.com/ .
Tonight we all had dinner together and it was a seafood extravaganza! We had salad, wince, tuna, calamari, and a lemon tart for dessert, another good meal. We lucked out with another meal with great table-mates and the wine flowed!
One of the nicest things about being in Rab was the really pleasant breeze off the water and the fact that there is very little humidity. Well, at least for me, a girl living in the SC lowcountry the coast of Croatia felt as is there was no humidity at all!
Another Long Bus Day....
Day 13– September 14, 2006 – The bus ride to a natural wonder!
We left Budapest promptly at 8am. As days on the tour go, this one was uneventful. We were on the road for about 8 hours. But it did take us an hour to cross the border from Hungary into Croatia. Not from us, but we were behind a tour bus from Serbia and according to Bojan the Croats will sometimes give the Serbs a hard time at the border crossings.
Once we crossed the border, literally 3 minutes down the road was our lunch stop at cute little restaurant in a picturesque setting. The lunch was “picnic style” cold cuts for sandwiches and such. It was all pretty tasty!
After lunch it was back on the bus for about 3 and a half hours and we made it to Plitvice National Park by around 5:30pm. We stayed at the Hotel Plitvice, located right inside the park (http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/). By the time we checked in and got to our room it was 6pm-ish.
CL and I took a little walk around the lake and came back to the room to hang out. We met the group in the lobby at 7:30pm for dinner in the dinning room at the hotel. Dinner was pretty good since my expectations were pretty low to begin with. We had a non-descript brothy noodle soup, salad, and grilled seafood kebobs (which were really yummy), with spinach and potatoes and some kind of wedding cake looking dessert…hey, it was sweet, and I wasn’t going to complain about it!
The hotel was clean and it was nice and quiet, which doesn’t sound important, but for the last several nights we had been in the center of Budapest with all its “city noises”. So I slept like a baby in Plitvice! And since the hotel is located right in the park it’s very convenient for our walk through the park that will be tomorrow.
We left Budapest promptly at 8am. As days on the tour go, this one was uneventful. We were on the road for about 8 hours. But it did take us an hour to cross the border from Hungary into Croatia. Not from us, but we were behind a tour bus from Serbia and according to Bojan the Croats will sometimes give the Serbs a hard time at the border crossings.
Once we crossed the border, literally 3 minutes down the road was our lunch stop at cute little restaurant in a picturesque setting. The lunch was “picnic style” cold cuts for sandwiches and such. It was all pretty tasty!
After lunch it was back on the bus for about 3 and a half hours and we made it to Plitvice National Park by around 5:30pm. We stayed at the Hotel Plitvice, located right inside the park (http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/). By the time we checked in and got to our room it was 6pm-ish.
CL and I took a little walk around the lake and came back to the room to hang out. We met the group in the lobby at 7:30pm for dinner in the dinning room at the hotel. Dinner was pretty good since my expectations were pretty low to begin with. We had a non-descript brothy noodle soup, salad, and grilled seafood kebobs (which were really yummy), with spinach and potatoes and some kind of wedding cake looking dessert…hey, it was sweet, and I wasn’t going to complain about it!
The hotel was clean and it was nice and quiet, which doesn’t sound important, but for the last several nights we had been in the center of Budapest with all its “city noises”. So I slept like a baby in Plitvice! And since the hotel is located right in the park it’s very convenient for our walk through the park that will be tomorrow.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Welcome to Budapest...too much to see and too little time!
Day 11– September 12, 2006 – Budapest, Hungary…Ahhh…the Blue Danube!
Can it be there is only 1 week left of the group tour? It’s going by so quickly!
Today we left Eger at 8:30am, made one stop and arrived in Budapest at about 11:30am, yes, there was traffic getting into the city. Bojan took us directly to the Buda Castle area where we met our loca
l guide, Petar.
We walked around the area, saw the castle grounds, wonderful views of the Danube and Parliament, and Fisherman’s Bastion. Then we had lunch on our own for about an hour and a half.
Instead of going to a restaurant CL and I found our way to a grocery store and picked up some picnic stuff, bread, cheese, fruit, drinks, and chocolate and settled on a bench in the park right across from the grocery store. It was great and I enjoyed negotiating around a Hungarian grocery store. It’s always interesting to see what is on the shelves and the different foods that are popular in other countries.
At about 2:30pm we all met-up at the park to continue the walking tour on the Pest side of the city. We got on the metro, went one stop, which took us under the Danube and came up near the very impressive Parliament building.
We walked through the banking district of Pest and to St. Stephen’s Basilica. The church was beautiful inside. We ended the walking tour at our hotel where Bojan was with the bus and our luggage.
We were on our own for dinner and CL and I went to place I had heard about while doing my research for the trip, and Etelka also recommended it…bonus, 2 thumbs up for this place so we gave it a try. The name of the restaurant is Fatal and it is not far from the hotel, it was located at 67 Vaci Utca. CL and I had the French onion soup, the bowl was big enough for us to share and it was scrumptious! But unlike the onion soup I am used to, this one was creamy….MMMMM! I am pretty sure the soup had both sweet and red onions in it. We also had a huge and I do mean HUGE garden salad, this salad could have easily fed 4 people. We had 2 beers to wash it all down.
We met with the “gang” back at the hotel around 7:30pm to go on the evening Danube boat cruise. Talk about magical, seeing Budapest lit up at night from the river was astonishing. It was such a pleasant evening sitting on the boat sipping champagne cruising down the river…what more could we ask for…it was brilliant!
Believe it or not, we actually skipped dessert tonight! But some of the cafes we passed looked like they had yummy cakes, hopefully tomorrow night we can taste some of them!
This was a great first day in Budapest!
Day 12– September 13, 2006 – Budapest, Hungary…Time to “Take the Waters”!
Today is a laid back day. We had a leisurely breakfast and met our tour-mates in the lobby at 9am for a walking tour. Ben handed out maps and a day ticket for the metro and trams. We left the hotel at about 9:15am and walked through the old part of Pest and then took the metro to Hero’s Square and then through the big city park and to the replica of a Transylvania Castle. We ended the tour at the famous mineral baths.
The bath complex is huge and thank God we had Etelka there to help us with purchasing the tickets and getting a changing cabin and towels (which seemed more like bed sheets then bath towels!). It would have been difficult to navigate through all that on our own. We soaked in a couple different indoor baths and I kept telling CL I knew there had to be some outdoor pools, since I had seen pictures of them! Etelka came to the rescue! She showed us to the outside pools.
It was beautiful and crowded! They don’t allow pictures to be taken, so my description will just have to do. Outside the 2 pools are really big, one is half circle shaped with a fountain spraying water and it is heated. The second outside pool is a very large rectangle that is not heated and used for lap swimming. The surrounding buildings are painted white & yellow with columns and arches and lots of hanging potted flowers.
CL and I spent about half an hour in the large outdoor heated pool and it felt great. It was wonderful to relax and float around in the water, and my muscles felt invigorated afterward! It was heaven! We were probably in the baths (indoor and outdoor) for a total of about 45 minutes/1 hour. Once we felt significantly “soggy” we climbed out of the pool and went back to the changing cabin to dry off and change back into our street clothes.
When we were finished at the baths we and another tour-mate tried to find the metro stop near the baths, but we walked right by it (it was in the park and we were walking along the street), and ended up walking back to the metro at Hero’s Square, it wasn’t very far. From there CL and I took the metro (we even managed a train transfer!) to Ráday Utca, which is a street lined with lots of outdoor cafes. Our tour-mate left us to go in another direction and CL and I walked down the street checkingout various menus. We found a nice café called Trattoria étterem located at Ráday utca 16.
We decided on an Italian place because we were both in the mood for pasta. For lunch we had: cold peach soup (I know, weird for an appetizer, but Ben said if we saw any cold fruit soup on the menu in Budapest to order it…and we did!), the Bangkok Hilton salad (which we order because the ingredients sounded interesting, but the name of it sounded more interesting!) it was a bit too spicy for me, but CL liked it and last, but certainly not least we had rigatoni with chicken and zucchini in a cream sauce, which was very good. As we had been doing we shared all 3 items and with 2 bottles of water the bill came to just under $20.
After our meal in such a pleasant setting we walked over to the Great Market. I was really looking forward to seeing this place and it was interesting, but the upper level is crammed with tourist souvenirs and elbow to elbow tourists. I got some paprika and 2 other small gifts, but there was nothing really great there. Except…the bakery on the ground floor that we found. Clearly it was a place that served more locals then tourists and the baked goods were wonderful, well, at least the cookies we bought there were wonderful! We got 6 small cookies for less then a dollar and they hit the spot after our lunch!
The plan for the rest of the day was to just do a little more window shopping and find a nice place for dessert tonight…who cares about dinner! We wandered around the main “tourist” pedestrian street and found a pretty outdoor café to sit at and have our evening dessert and use up our last Hungarian Forint (since the next day it’s onto Croatia!). We had it calculated right down to the very last penny, ooops, I mean Forint. But we had just enough to pay for our 2 desserts and 2 waters.
After enjoying our sweets and doing some people watching (there seemed to be lots of Americans at this particular café), we went over and walked along the Danube at dusk. We found the Shoes along the Danube not far from the Parliament building. It’s was between the Chain Bridge and Parliament and there is no sign indicating what this memorial is. So, you have to know what to look for. It’s a small stretch right along the grassy path along the river. The shoes are bronzed and it is the site where (I believe) Nazis shot Jews and let them fall into the Danube. Such a sad story.
After taking some pictures, we turned around and started walking back along the river and the lights on the Chain Bridge and the castle came on. It was truly a magical moment.
Some thoughts on the trip so far…In Prague Ben’s advice was to “Get Lost” and we happily obliged; in Krakow Ben’s advice was to “Just Be” and we did; in Budapest Ben’s advice was to “soak in the energy” and soak we did do! As Ben said Budapest is a very cosmopolitan city and I definitely have the big city vibe here, much the same as NYC. There is no “town square” per say like in Prague and Krakow, but there seems to be some pretty cool areas, the street we had lunch on being one of them.
Can it be there is only 1 week left of the group tour? It’s going by so quickly!
Today we left Eger at 8:30am, made one stop and arrived in Budapest at about 11:30am, yes, there was traffic getting into the city. Bojan took us directly to the Buda Castle area where we met our loca
l guide, Petar.We walked around the area, saw the castle grounds, wonderful views of the Danube and Parliament, and Fisherman’s Bastion. Then we had lunch on our own for about an hour and a half.
Instead of going to a restaurant CL and I found our way to a grocery store and picked up some picnic stuff, bread, cheese, fruit, drinks, and chocolate and settled on a bench in the park right across from the grocery store. It was great and I enjoyed negotiating around a Hungarian grocery store. It’s always interesting to see what is on the shelves and the different foods that are popular in other countries.
At about 2:30pm we all met-up at the park to continue the walking tour on the Pest side of the city. We got on the metro, went one stop, which took us under the Danube and came up near the very impressive Parliament building.
We walked through the banking district of Pest and to St. Stephen’s Basilica. The church was beautiful inside. We ended the walking tour at our hotel where Bojan was with the bus and our luggage.
We were on our own for dinner and CL and I went to place I had heard about while doing my research for the trip, and Etelka also recommended it…bonus, 2 thumbs up for this place so we gave it a try. The name of the restaurant is Fatal and it is not far from the hotel, it was located at 67 Vaci Utca. CL and I had the French onion soup, the bowl was big enough for us to share and it was scrumptious! But unlike the onion soup I am used to, this one was creamy….MMMMM! I am pretty sure the soup had both sweet and red onions in it. We also had a huge and I do mean HUGE garden salad, this salad could have easily fed 4 people. We had 2 beers to wash it all down.
We met with the “gang” back at the hotel around 7:30pm to go on the evening Danube boat cruise. Talk about magical, seeing Budapest lit up at night from the river was astonishing. It was such a pleasant evening sitting on the boat sipping champagne cruising down the river…what more could we ask for…it was brilliant!
Believe it or not, we actually skipped dessert tonight! But some of the cafes we passed looked like they had yummy cakes, hopefully tomorrow night we can taste some of them!
This was a great first day in Budapest!
Day 12– September 13, 2006 – Budapest, Hungary…Time to “Take the Waters”!
Today is a laid back day. We had a leisurely breakfast and met our tour-mates in the lobby at 9am for a walking tour. Ben handed out maps and a day ticket for the metro and trams. We left the hotel at about 9:15am and walked through the old part of Pest and then took the metro to Hero’s Square and then through the big city park and to the replica of a Transylvania Castle. We ended the tour at the famous mineral baths.
The bath complex is huge and thank God we had Etelka there to help us with purchasing the tickets and getting a changing cabin and towels (which seemed more like bed sheets then bath towels!). It would have been difficult to navigate through all that on our own. We soaked in a couple different indoor baths and I kept telling CL I knew there had to be some outdoor pools, since I had seen pictures of them! Etelka came to the rescue! She showed us to the outside pools.
It was beautiful and crowded! They don’t allow pictures to be taken, so my description will just have to do. Outside the 2 pools are really big, one is half circle shaped with a fountain spraying water and it is heated. The second outside pool is a very large rectangle that is not heated and used for lap swimming. The surrounding buildings are painted white & yellow with columns and arches and lots of hanging potted flowers.
CL and I spent about half an hour in the large outdoor heated pool and it felt great. It was wonderful to relax and float around in the water, and my muscles felt invigorated afterward! It was heaven! We were probably in the baths (indoor and outdoor) for a total of about 45 minutes/1 hour. Once we felt significantly “soggy” we climbed out of the pool and went back to the changing cabin to dry off and change back into our street clothes.
When we were finished at the baths we and another tour-mate tried to find the metro stop near the baths, but we walked right by it (it was in the park and we were walking along the street), and ended up walking back to the metro at Hero’s Square, it wasn’t very far. From there CL and I took the metro (we even managed a train transfer!) to Ráday Utca, which is a street lined with lots of outdoor cafes. Our tour-mate left us to go in another direction and CL and I walked down the street checkingout various menus. We found a nice café called Trattoria étterem located at Ráday utca 16.
We decided on an Italian place because we were both in the mood for pasta. For lunch we had: cold peach soup (I know, weird for an appetizer, but Ben said if we saw any cold fruit soup on the menu in Budapest to order it…and we did!), the Bangkok Hilton salad (which we order because the ingredients sounded interesting, but the name of it sounded more interesting!) it was a bit too spicy for me, but CL liked it and last, but certainly not least we had rigatoni with chicken and zucchini in a cream sauce, which was very good. As we had been doing we shared all 3 items and with 2 bottles of water the bill came to just under $20.
After our meal in such a pleasant setting we walked over to the Great Market. I was really looking forward to seeing this place and it was interesting, but the upper level is crammed with tourist souvenirs and elbow to elbow tourists. I got some paprika and 2 other small gifts, but there was nothing really great there. Except…the bakery on the ground floor that we found. Clearly it was a place that served more locals then tourists and the baked goods were wonderful, well, at least the cookies we bought there were wonderful! We got 6 small cookies for less then a dollar and they hit the spot after our lunch!
The plan for the rest of the day was to just do a little more window shopping and find a nice place for dessert tonight…who cares about dinner! We wandered around the main “tourist” pedestrian street and found a pretty outdoor café to sit at and have our evening dessert and use up our last Hungarian Forint (since the next day it’s onto Croatia!). We had it calculated right down to the very last penny, ooops, I mean Forint. But we had just enough to pay for our 2 desserts and 2 waters.
After enjoying our sweets and doing some people watching (there seemed to be lots of Americans at this particular café), we went over and walked along the Danube at dusk. We found the Shoes along the Danube not far from the Parliament building. It’s was between the Chain Bridge and Parliament and there is no sign indicating what this memorial is. So, you have to know what to look for. It’s a small stretch right along the grassy path along the river. The shoes are bronzed and it is the site where (I believe) Nazis shot Jews and let them fall into the Danube. Such a sad story.
After taking some pictures, we turned around and started walking back along the river and the lights on the Chain Bridge and the castle came on. It was truly a magical moment.
Some thoughts on the trip so far…In Prague Ben’s advice was to “Get Lost” and we happily obliged; in Krakow Ben’s advice was to “Just Be” and we did; in Budapest Ben’s advice was to “soak in the energy” and soak we did do! As Ben said Budapest is a very cosmopolitan city and I definitely have the big city vibe here, much the same as NYC. There is no “town square” per say like in Prague and Krakow, but there seems to be some pretty cool areas, the street we had lunch on being one of them.
Friday, October 20, 2006
How do you say "Cheers" in Hungarian?....Egeszsegedre! Of Course!
Day 10– September 11, 2006 – Eger, Hungary….School visit and Wine Tasting Plus a marriage proposal….WHAT????
Today was another day we could sleep in since we had the morning free. We got up around 7am and went to breakfast at about 8am. We had a nice leisurely breakfast and then went off to see the sights of Eger.
Our first stop was the folk art shop we had seen the night before and I found ,with the help of CL a pretty embroidered peasant blouse. Typically I probably wouldn’t have bought it but it was made in Eger and it’s a clean shirt I can wear at some point on the trip! We hadn’t been to an ATM yet, so we asked the shop lady to hold the blouse and went to the ATM, got some cash, and went back to get the blouse and some post cards.
We then walked through Dobo Square, the main town square, and to the castle. We took some fun pictures up around the castle grounds and then went back to town. We walked through the market checking out the flowers and produce and I bought some of the pasta we had the other night with the sour cream and cottage cheese. For a good sized bag it was just about $1.00!
After the market we went back to the hotel to meet the group for our afternoon adventure.
We went to a local elementary school in Recsk, Hungary to meet the students and a teacher who is friends with Etelka, our assistant guide.
We had lunch in the school canteen (aka cafeteria) and it was pretty good. We ate goulash soup, bread, fried pork cutlet, fried chicken stuffed with plums and ham, and rice pudding for dessert. At each place setting there was a postcard written in English by one of the students. They are ages 9-11.
After lunch we went to the language lab classroom and got to meet our student and talk to them a bit. I had a little boy named Csaba who was 11 years old. I brought some postcards from home to give to him so he could see where I lived and that went over really well! He couldn’t speak much English, but he really tried. It was lots of fun to meet the students and I think they enjoyed it as much as we did.
The picture to the right is me with Csaba my Hungarian student buddy!
When we were finished at the school we stopped briefly at a Gulag (work camp) for about 30 minutes. It still amazes me these types of places were in use just 60 years ago.
Then it was onto the wine tasting which was a lot of fun. There were 3 white wines and 3 red wines for us to taste. And it was not the tiny one sip type of wine tasting, the wine was really flowing and the glasses were being filled with healthy doses of wine!
The winery had great views of the Hungarian countryside and we all sat in the glassed in tasting area…a very pleasant atmosphere…especially with the Hungarian fiddle player creating more ambience with music!
Etelka, dressed in traditional Hungarian clothes and taught us traditional Hungarian songs and dances and we had a blast! But the most entertaining part of the wine tasting was the comical marriage proposal "event" performed by me and Ben.
The story goes something like this… the day before on the bus while doing buddy introductions, my buddy Joy mentioned several interesting facts about me. At least 2 had to be true and one had to be false and the rest of the bus was to try and figure out which was the lie, we had all done this as a way to break the ice, get to know each other and pass some time on a long bus ride. One of the things Joy mentioned about me was that I am an Irish Citizen and have an Irish Passport.
At the end of Joy’s dialogue Ben piped in by saying something to the effect of “What you all don’t know is that Marcy and I will be getting married so I can get EU status”…Ha Ha Ha, we all laughed at this and I thought nothing of it. However, several of the ladies took up the cause and proclaimed the wine tasting would be the engagement party. So, all in very good fun, Ben dramatically got up at the wine tasting and announced, “This is a very special day in 2 peoples lives”…then he twirled me in a circle, started singing some song, got down on one knee and really hammed it up by “faux proposing”…it was lots of great fun, and a good photo opportunity and it probably didn’t hurt that everyone had at least 5 huge glasses of wine by this time!
After we were all pleasantly full of wine, we headed back to the hotel and were “let loose” on the town. After such a big lunch, CL and I decided to set out to find a café on the main pedestrian street for a variety of sweet desserts. We met up with 2 other tour-mates and enjoyed several delicious desserts together. We had 2 different chocolate cakes that are specialties of the town and I had a cappuccino. It was a nice way to end a fun day.
Today was another day we could sleep in since we had the morning free. We got up around 7am and went to breakfast at about 8am. We had a nice leisurely breakfast and then went off to see the sights of Eger.
Our first stop was the folk art shop we had seen the night before and I found ,with the help of CL a pretty embroidered peasant blouse. Typically I probably wouldn’t have bought it but it was made in Eger and it’s a clean shirt I can wear at some point on the trip! We hadn’t been to an ATM yet, so we asked the shop lady to hold the blouse and went to the ATM, got some cash, and went back to get the blouse and some post cards.
We then walked through Dobo Square, the main town square, and to the castle. We took some fun pictures up around the castle grounds and then went back to town. We walked through the market checking out the flowers and produce and I bought some of the pasta we had the other night with the sour cream and cottage cheese. For a good sized bag it was just about $1.00!
After the market we went back to the hotel to meet the group for our afternoon adventure.
We went to a local elementary school in Recsk, Hungary to meet the students and a teacher who is friends with Etelka, our assistant guide.
We had lunch in the school canteen (aka cafeteria) and it was pretty good. We ate goulash soup, bread, fried pork cutlet, fried chicken stuffed with plums and ham, and rice pudding for dessert. At each place setting there was a postcard written in English by one of the students. They are ages 9-11.
After lunch we went to the language lab classroom and got to meet our student and talk to them a bit. I had a little boy named Csaba who was 11 years old. I brought some postcards from home to give to him so he could see where I lived and that went over really well! He couldn’t speak much English, but he really tried. It was lots of fun to meet the students and I think they enjoyed it as much as we did.
The picture to the right is me with Csaba my Hungarian student buddy!
When we were finished at the school we stopped briefly at a Gulag (work camp) for about 30 minutes. It still amazes me these types of places were in use just 60 years ago.
Then it was onto the wine tasting which was a lot of fun. There were 3 white wines and 3 red wines for us to taste. And it was not the tiny one sip type of wine tasting, the wine was really flowing and the glasses were being filled with healthy doses of wine!
The winery had great views of the Hungarian countryside and we all sat in the glassed in tasting area…a very pleasant atmosphere…especially with the Hungarian fiddle player creating more ambience with music!
Etelka, dressed in traditional Hungarian clothes and taught us traditional Hungarian songs and dances and we had a blast! But the most entertaining part of the wine tasting was the comical marriage proposal "event" performed by me and Ben.
The story goes something like this… the day before on the bus while doing buddy introductions, my buddy Joy mentioned several interesting facts about me. At least 2 had to be true and one had to be false and the rest of the bus was to try and figure out which was the lie, we had all done this as a way to break the ice, get to know each other and pass some time on a long bus ride. One of the things Joy mentioned about me was that I am an Irish Citizen and have an Irish Passport.
At the end of Joy’s dialogue Ben piped in by saying something to the effect of “What you all don’t know is that Marcy and I will be getting married so I can get EU status”…Ha Ha Ha, we all laughed at this and I thought nothing of it. However, several of the ladies took up the cause and proclaimed the wine tasting would be the engagement party. So, all in very good fun, Ben dramatically got up at the wine tasting and announced, “This is a very special day in 2 peoples lives”…then he twirled me in a circle, started singing some song, got down on one knee and really hammed it up by “faux proposing”…it was lots of great fun, and a good photo opportunity and it probably didn’t hurt that everyone had at least 5 huge glasses of wine by this time!
After we were all pleasantly full of wine, we headed back to the hotel and were “let loose” on the town. After such a big lunch, CL and I decided to set out to find a café on the main pedestrian street for a variety of sweet desserts. We met up with 2 other tour-mates and enjoyed several delicious desserts together. We had 2 different chocolate cakes that are specialties of the town and I had a cappuccino. It was a nice way to end a fun day.
Hello and Goodbye Slovakia...Let's Have a Hungarian Feast!
Day 9– September 10, 2006 – Levoce, Slovakia and Eger, Hungary
Group Photo in Slovakia
Today was the marathon bus ride through 3 countries (Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary). It wasn’t too bad, but it did feel like we were riding forever.
We left Krakow at 7:30am and headed south through the countryside and to the Slovakian border. It took maybe 20 minutes for the border guards to check our passports and we got 2 stamps, 1 for leaving Poland and 1 for entering Slovakia…I am sure collecting passport stamps on this trip!
We arrived at our lunch stop at about 11:45am. It was the town of Levoce in Slovakia. We walked around a bit and had a group lunch which included turkey, vegetables, cabbage, and French fries followed by a fruit crepe topped with orange sorbet. It was all pretty good and CL picked a great table for lunch. We sat with Wanda and Mike and Rosemary and Dick 2 couples from California who occasionally travel together, they were so nice and as the journey progressed became a few of our favorite people on the trip.
After lunch we all had a look inside the church with its big altar and then tromped back to the bus at 2:30-ish. We continued the marathon bus ride and the roads were incredibly twisting, I don’t know how Bojan, our driver does it! I’m glad he is driving and not me!
We got to the Slovak-Hungary border around 4:30pm and another passport check took about 20 minutes. 2 more stamps in the passport, 1 for leaving Slovakia, and 1 for entering Hungary. At this rate my passport pages will be full!
After crossing the Hungarian border we made a pit-stop and then headed to our final destination for the night, Eger.
I was never so glad to get off a bus! Plus I wasn’t feeling well from all the twisting roads through the Tantra Mountains. I usually don’t get motion sickness like that but luckily it was just a headache, so I took some Tylenol and was fine.
We got to our hotel in Eger around 6:30pm. It’s definitely not the best, but certainly not the worst place I have ever stayed in (youth hostel days in college!). The location was good, directly across the street from the Town’s Minaret, hence the name Hotel Minaret.
Etelka gave us our orientation walk here in Eger because she went to high school and college here. The sun was setting so we didn’t see a whole lot, but we have a free morning here tomorrow.
For dinner it was a group affair and it truly was a Hungarian Feast! It seemed like the food never stopped coming! We had goulash soup, and a sampler plate of sausage, pork cutlet, stuffed cabbage, and then another plate of beef with pasta, cottage cheese and sour cream (sounds weird, but tasted magnificent) and then goose liver with mashed potatoes and apples. Now I am not a "fan" of liver, but at CL's suggestion, I tried this goose liver and ...Oh My God! This stuff was amazing with an capital "A". I am not goose liver expert, but this stuffed just melted in our mouth...very, very, very tasty! And we washed it all down with Hungarian Bull’s Blood wine and a white wine, of course we had to have both! And last, but certainly not least was the apple strudel and apple pancake covered in chocolate for dessert. It was all deliscious! Then I took a little walk, or should I say I rolled, around town.
No alarm clock will be set tonight…I can sleep in tomorrow!
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