Plitvice lakes national park

We did 2 walks today. First one said 2-3 hrs took us 1 1/2 hrs pretty much all down hill. Second walk said 3-4 hrs took us 2 and was mainly up very big hills. I was reminded of walking back from wine glass bay in Tassie without the storm and tempest (and esky).

One thing I must comment on is, there are a few Germans out there that still think of themselves as the master race! Sorry but you lost, grow up and learn some manners!

This place is a must to anyone traveling to Croatia. The colors are pretty accurate, it is just glorious!

The water is so crystal clear, sometimes you cannot tell where the water starts or finishes.

This log is completely submerged by at least 18 inches.

 

 

 

 

 

This was taken but some very nice Americans from Boston & Washington

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we are headed to Zagreb to look around the capital before we take off for Istanbul on Thursday.

Stay tuned loyal readers........✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Trogir today gone tomorrow!

I will take advantage of our current wifi status and get another post out.

To recap where we have been, we started in Dubrovnik, a gorgeous ancient walled city.

We walked the walls, in approx 2 hours, the views are spectacular!

Then we caught the cable car up to the top of the mountain directly behind the town. Note all the roofs are quite bright and new, this is the result of the war with bosnia and Montenegro.

Next we moved along the coast and visited Ston on our way to makarska.

 

It was a bit showery, but the weather is as unpredictable as the beauty of this country, we bought local strawberries in Sto 15 kuna about $3.so sweet and delish.

All the town, the old ones at least have walls most dating back to around the 6th & 7th c AD.

After leaving Ston we ventured to Makarska. This is one of the towns that is a gateway to the islands. From here we went by car ferry out to Korcula.

 

The next island visited was Brac,where the 6th best beach in the world is Zlatni Rat at Bol.

Back to the mainland and off to Brella, one of the favorites so far. This picture can be purchased all over Croatia, as it's a sort of symbol.

This one not so much but it shows what you get when you ask for 3 scoops of ice cream! Greg protested profusely but devoured it!

Onward along the coast to the second largest town in Croatia - Split! Great markets with some things similar to Bali but others like the lovely linen dress that I bought. We found a quaint sobe to stay in right in the centre of everything with somewhere to park the car, it's down this little lane way.

We sat up here in konobo nuttrello eating pizza and drinking beer

This is inside the Diocletian Palace which is now all shops and markets except for the cathedral, museum and baptristy. The palace was built with the same stone as was used for the white house in Washington!

We caught another car ferry, this time out to Hvar. This is the party island as mentioned earlier.while we were driving around we found some out of the way places to sit and ponder, then decided on a short cut to Hvar town to look for somewhere to stay. The short cut was interesting to say the least and at points terrifying!

 

Yes, that is a sheer drop and when you meet someone coming the other way something or someone has to give. The first vehicle actually got past us, it was a medium sized RV. The second one, the red truck actually reversed about 200 meters to find a wider part of the road.

Then we found a spot to de-stress for a while.

We got accosted by an 80 yr old woman wanting us to stay in here sobe, so we obliged and hit the beach.

Hvar town is another walled city, this one had a second fortress built on top of the hill by Napoleon., however the pictures here are from the older one just above the town.

 

So now here we are in Trogir, awoken by the numerous church and town bells that seem to be constantly tolling, I'm sitting in bed it's not quite 8am, Greg snoring beside me ( so if any of my facts are wrong he will need to correct them later) we are both a bit sunburnt from lying on the beach yesterday , and looking out the window It's looking like another fabulous day in this paradise called Croatia!

Stay tuned.....................😃 oh ding dong ding dong !

Blog number 3

So with limited Internet access I am writing and copy/paste when I get a chance.

Since last blog we have travelled from Dubrovnik, up the coast and we are now in Split.

The coast line between Dubrovnik and Split is nothing short of spectacular, and would rival any other coast drives in the world. The fact that you are driving a narrow stretch of land between the waters of the crystal blue Adriatic sea to our left and the barren, towering mountains of white stone on our right is a sight to see. Not far across the water, indeed only a matter of a few hundred meters are the spectacular Dalmatian islands. L

 

Over the past few days we have visited a few, Korcula, Brac and as I write we are on a car ferry to Hvar. Hvar is the party island, Greg will be in his element! We have already met some English uni students also on the ferry, and going over to Hvar to party. Perhaps they will regret meeting us.

 

The photo here is from the car ferry leaving Makaskar on the way to Brac island (by the way, that white stone in the cliffs is all over Brac. They excavated that stone from this island to build the White House in Washington!) The town of Bol is on the island of Brac and at Bol is a famous beach with the unfortunate name of 'Zlatni Rat'. Rat being the word for beach, this is a small peninsular that is a pebble beach on both sides. The white pebbles and the blue green waters make for a spectacular scene, indeed so to do the European naturalists sunning themselves on their designated side of this narrow strip of beach. You can hire a sun lounge for a mere 25 kuna a day and in the high season it is easy to imagine this place would be packed as it is a major tourist attraction. It has been voted the best beach in Europe and the sixth best in the world. Pretty as it is, they are dead set kidding themselves! It ain't no Bondi, let alone Whitehaven etc etc.

 

 

 

Over the past few days we have noticed that one of the favorite desserts is pancakes filled with nutella. I took this photo of the biggest jar I have ever seen, in the walled city of Dubrovnik. David, you would be in your element!

 

Oh em gee

After quite a long time om planes through several different airports,we arrived in Dubrovnik. Upgrade to the car was immediately apparent, remember I mentioned the kitchen sink! Clearly a Chevrolet spark was not going to accommodate the 2 enormous bags plus carry on. With the upgrade sorted, we enquired of the young lass, directions to the hotel Neptun? She muttered something and with a smile said "follow the signs" The views from the coast road on the approach to Dubrovnik town, are spectacular. Our first Foray into European driving was interesting and a bit stressful, narrow roads and driving on the opposite side to what we are used too made for a confusing start! There is a place we visited called Copacabana, it looks to be a man made area on the lake for water sports, the water is pristine and so clear you can see the fish. So after some 4 flights, 36 hours from door to door most in very enjoyable business class we arrive at our hotel aquaint ourselves freshen up and head off for dinner. Oh em gee, to use a current vernacular we went behind the wall of the old city.....what a truly beautiful place. This is over 600 years old, and we forgot the camera! Not to worry we will come back tomorrow. Dinner was in one of the many restaurants behind the walls and was superb. over dinner we met a lovely young couple around David our 2nds age who had been here for a day or so with no luggage. They flew in from Chigago and the airline cannot seem to locate their bags. Croatia or more precisely Dubrovnik is not what we expected at all and we can't wait to see more!

Live your life without regret, don't be someone who theyll forget.

Here I go!
and just quietly, way out of my comfort zone!

6 countries in 7 1/2 weeks?

50 year old man and his 49 year old wife. Nup not saying it till i am, besides he will be 51 before I turn...ah....you know!

We love to travel, Bali has been the spot since 2005, and its time to branch out so, on Saturday we are off to Europe for the first of many sojourns, we hope!
Over the coming days and weeks we will be traveling through Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Malta and Italy and the obligatory Hong Kong shopping and racing stop on the way home.

Don't get me wrong we are under no illusion that will we cover all parts of each country, but hopefully we will do each place justice and secretly I'm hoping this will only increase our appetite and create a yearning that will lead us to return.

This trip,however, will be a mix of driving ourselves (insert sign of the cross), cruising parts of the Mediterranean, a short coach trip, visiting family and doing the cities on foot.

In the end we hope to have had some adventures and seen many things we can't presently imagine and perhaps made a friend or two along the way. We will I suspect, have many memories hopefully all good, many photos and experiences never to be forgotten.

Packing

Packing started with earnest the other day, into brand new suitcases purchased specifically for this trip, we place all the things we are likely to need over the next 7-8 weeks plus no doubt a few that will never leave their relative security between the sunscreen that is always forgotten  and the book you said you really would read this time! The particular brand of shampoo and conditioner that is sold everywhere but they might run out, the first aid kit, extra batteries enough underware for 8 weeks and a nice warm coat for those balmy mediterranean nights....well you just never know!

My version of packing has always been the same, put in everything you think you might possibly need plus the things you know you probably won't. That sits draped all around the house for a couple of days, getting added and subtracted more often than a grade 3 maths class. Then it is culled.....violently! reducing the load by at least 1 pair of jeans a pair of socks (thats actually 4 items) and that extra pair of shoes....... oops what was I thinking, shoes go back in. The kitchen sink is removed but the cutlery and cutting board stay!

Cath