Metro to L’Enfant; bus to Dulles; flight to Vienna (delay there but
Vienna airport made up for it with a comfortable setup); flight to
Dubrovnik; bus to Pile Gate, met our host, Anton. Good news! Spotted
a gelato within 90 seconds of entering the Old City.
The Apartment was spacious – hot water didn’t last long but
everyone happy with the room and the weather.
After cleaning up we explored the town, visited churches along with
other sites.
For dinner we went to Oliva’s for pizza (Teresa and Christine also
had a Greek salad which they raved about). Shane and I shared a bacon
and ham while Christine and Teresa shared a salami pizza- very good.
Next we found gelato, the chocolate was disappointing but the other
flavors were good. We went to the “Hole in the Wall” for drinks.
It was pretty crowded but we got seats with a view.
Our apartment was nearby and we were in bed by 9:15, about right for
jet-lag night.
In the morning we went to the grocery store to get yogurt and Muesli
for breakfast (and a coke zero.)
Next was the wall walk and we obtained the audio guide which was
informative. After circuiting the city we went back to the room and
made preparations for the afternoon on Lokrum. Again a stop at the
grocery store for bread, two meats, two cheeses, and olive oil. We
then caught the ferry to the island.
We first climbed to Fort Royal and then explored the island. We did
not remember the rocky pathways, Christine’s flip flops did not
work well. We found the place where we took the picture that hangs
above our bed- and took more pictures.
We had encountered peacocks and peahens the first time we visited but
this time they were ubiquitous.
Shane was the only one who swam- first in a lagoon – then,
conceding that wasn’t the Adriatic, he took the plunge again after
walking to the rocky coast.
We found our way back to the ferry and upon arriving back, Shane and
I had gelato. Back to the room to clean up, getting more provisions
on the way.
Christine picked out our dinner restaurant and she made a great
choice- Dalmatino’s. I had a marinated shrimp and anchovy salad,
then grilled pork over mashed potatoes and onions. Teresa had chicken
and grilled vegetables after a green salad. Christine and Shane both
had octopus salad. Christine’s entrée was John Day grilled filet
and Shane had drunken prawns (he got a bib). Everything was terrific.
We strolled a little afterward before
getting gelato.
The next morning we got our car with little trouble- meeting the
agent at the Pile Gate. Carmen the Garmin did not want to take the
same route to Mostar so we did have a few missteps at the beginning
but still got to Mostar by noon. Christine was clever enough to
facilitate finding our apartment. It was huge. Shane claimed the
balcony was as big as Christine’s condo. Shane and Christine did
have to sleep in the same room however.
Mostar was a great city to visit.
We walked down to the Franciscan Monastery passing some
bullet-riddled buildings on the way. Then to the pedestrian
cobblestoned shopping area. I got Mark a t-shirt, Teresa eyed a
ceramic bowl.
We had a huge lunch at Sardvrid- we split a National Plate and a mini
Sardvrid special. Lots of grilled meat, sausages, vegetables,
mushrooms and French fries.
We strolled some more before crossing the new old bridge, one jumper
while we were there. We visited a mosque while walking down another
shopping street on the way back to the room.
After cleaning up and relaxing a little we headed back out. Shane and
I had gelato. Chocolate still disappointing but every other flavor
was good.
The one ceramic place Teresa had shown interest was closed but we
found another with an accommodating owner who took us back to her
storeroom where Teresa found two bowls she liked and purchased.
From there we headed to a restaurant to eat light after the huge
lunch- didn’t turn out that way. Teresa had a glass of wine, the
rest of us had large draft beers. We ordered a la carte, which, based
on the prices, didn’t portend to be much food- wrong again.
I ordered a cheese, meat and mushroom omelet and a tomato salad. The
omelet- gigantic with a ton of French fries and 8 tomatoes gave their
lives for the salad; Christine had a risotto dish; Shane had smoked
meat and Teresa had a pepper, tomato and cheese salad. Christine and
Teresa had baklava for dessert. Drinks through dessert was 24 euros
and we had a picturesque spot on the river.
We resisted gelato on the way back.
The next day Carmen did very well although one stretch of road was
rather dicey. We found our apartment in Split rather early which was
not far from the Promenade and Diocletian’s Palace. We scouted
around a bit before choosing a restaurant. Shane and I had pizzas-
exquisite; Teresa had a Greek salad, Christine’s a Caesar.
We took the walking tour of the Palace and environs before gelato. We
then strolled through other parts of Old Town, then the shops and
then a supermarket before getting back to the apartment.
Christine picked the restaurant for dinner, the Gallega- very good.
Shane had some great pasta and the rest of us had pizzas. Mine was
anchovies with onions and capers- absolutely delicious. No room for
gelato. We promenaded back to the apartment.
In the morning we took a quick drive up to Trogir, one of my favorite
Croatian towns. We visited the Cathedral, the fort and numerous
backstreets. After a while we had gelato and went back to the market
bought supplies for lunch and a few souvenirs.
On the way back we stopped at Salona, the ancient Roman city. The
ruins are still not impressive.
Back at the apartment we ate lunch and relaxed a little before
heading out. First back to Diocletian’s Palace for more exploration
(not only the world’s smallest cathedral but he world’s narrowest
chapel) and then to Old Town for some window shopping and restaurant
hunting. After building up a hunger we found the restaurant “Fife”-
a joint effort, which had been recommended and turned out to be a
busy place. I had grilled chicken- tad dry, and very good Viennese
potatoes. The others shared goulash and stuffed cabbage. Good and
reasonably priced.
We walked to the recommended gelateria where we each had one scoop,
and then one last tearful promenade.
The next day was the drive to Plitvice Lakes. Luckily the A-1 was
finished and Carmen was stellar- 2 ½ hours.
As planned we ate lunch at the boat ramp in the park. I had a
hamburger and strudel, the others each had a half chicken. The photos
will speak for the place. Did meet a fellow Domer due to my garb.
Finding our apartment was a little more adventurous, and then our
preferred restaurant was closed for renovations. We went to a
facsimile. I had rumpsteak, Shane had grilled trout and the girls had
veal with ham and cheese. Shane and Teresa had crepes for dessert
while Christine and I had ice cream.
In the morning, after a quick stop at the mini market across the
street we headed to Pula. The roads had improved greatly since our
last trip.
In Pula we toured the amphitheater, then the Old Town. At a
restaurant, Shane had calamari while the girls had salads. Although
they advertised pizza, they were not severing it. We all later had
gelato and I grabbed a slice of pizza.
On to Rovinj where we found our place, got the car returned and then
went out to work on the rest of our Kunas.
We explored a little before finding our restaurant- great meal, Shane
and I shared fried baitfish and a pizza, the girls shared a capressio
salad and a pizza, they had a double order of excellent (so they
reported) white wine, we had Favorit Beer.
We walked around town before gelato and the walk back to our
apartment.
In the morning we got started pretty early. We were at the Cathedral
before it opened. We climbed the medieval stairs to the top of the
bell tower and took photos.
We did actual shopping after coming down, checking out the art and
jewelry stores.
Kebabs for lunch except Christine who had a sandwich and very
expensive grapes. Gelato followed.
Christine stayed back and relaxed while the rest of us went to the
beach. Shane swam- we read.
Same place for dinner- Maestral- I had shrimp pasta, Shane had mussel
pasta, Christine had whitefish in a truffle sauce, Teresa had a
salad. Gelato followed, back to the room.
The next day we ferried to Venice and then, with some difficulty due
to a sardine tight deck, took a water bus to our hotel.
For lunch we grabbed pizza slices, and
then gelato.
We visited the Doge’s Palace and then explored the city; the
problem was now even the more obscure places were overrun with
tourists. Lemon Soda helped with the heat. We did a little more
shopping and then back to the room and our excellent a.c.
We scouted around for a while before settling on the Marco Polo for
dinner. We all had lasagna Bolognese first- then Teresa and I had
chicken, Shane and Christine had fish- we all had strawberry cake for
our first dessert.
After dinner we went on a long exploratory stroll to get to another
bridge over the Grand Canal. On the way back we stopped in a Murano
Glass shop which had some beautiful stuff, Teresa liked the birds
around a bowl- no sale though.
In the morning we grabbed some pastry on the way to the train station
to buy tickets. Despite Christine’s protests we bought 24 hour
passes for the water bus.
We then visited churches and a garden before getting good pizza for
lunch and gelato.
We went up the bell tower before going into the Cathedral. We kinda
violated the no photo rule, leading Shane down the road to perdition.
We then went really remote to get away from the throngs and did some
real shopping. The kids bought me a mask for Father’s Day. We
visited four more churches on the way back to our room.
For dinner we again tried Mamo’s right away but again it was
filled. They could take us at 9:00 so went across the alley to the
Devil’s Forest for beer, cider, or wine.
The wait was worth it. We each had delicious meals, starting with
bruschetta, I had sea bass- the fish would have happily jumped in the
net if he had known he would end up tasting that good; Teresa had
ravioli, Christine tuna, and Shane fried sea critters. We met a
couple from St. Louis sitting next to us.
We walked for a while, eventually found our way back to St. Mark’s,
then gelato and back to the room.
We took the no.2 -7:00 a.m. water bus to the train station and caught
the 7:43 train to Bologna.
Christine quickly directed us to our hotel, then we went out to check
the sites, including the 5th largest church in the world
as well at St. Dominic’s. We all had salad for lunch, the kids had
beer. We then found gelato that rivaled Cream ‘N Dreams in Prague.
After a few more sites we took the 20 bus to Villa Spada and climbed the longest portico in the world to the sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. After walking back down we hopped the bus to town for a trip to the grocery store and our room.
We walked around (again thwarted finding a recommended restaurant
closed) before we ended up at Ristorante Tinello. Fantastic meal! I
had pasta with sausage in cream sauce and veal with ham and parmesan
(I won) Christine and Teresa had ravioli with cheese and meat with
ham and mushroom sauce with side dishes of grilled cheese and
vegetables. Shane had rabbit and tortellini with sage and butter. No
gelato that night.
We took an early train to Florence for the day. First to the Duomo-
circled the outside to the Duomo museum which contained the original
east doors of the baptistery- the origin of the Renaissance. At 10:00
a.m. we entered the Duomo to view the inside.
By 11:00 we were at the Academy which, of course, house
Michelangelo’s David. Shane again displayed his inability to follow
rules.
We then went shopping. The kids made purchases. Pasta for lunch.
We then went to the Ponte Vecchio, got our tickets for the Uffizi
Museum and spent a couple hours viewing that. Overrated in my
opinion.
More shopping on the way to a brewery where we shared a couple of
pizzas, and except for Teresa tried some craft beers. We waited to
get back to Bologna to get gelato.
In the morning we were picked up for Christine’s treat. This
included guided tours of Parmeggiano- Reggiano cheese, balsamic
vinegar, and prosciutto ham factories.
After the tours (with samples) we were taken to a restaurant for a
“light lunch”. This included prosciutto with fried bread, three
pasta dishes, steak and salad, and then dessert. Red and white wine
flowed freely. There were 14 on the tour- almost all were friendly
and it was a very good time.
We were fearing the logistics for the trip to Verona but they
couldn’t have worked out better. It was a “slow” train but very
comfortable with plenty of room for our luggage.
When we arrived in Verona we checked bags at the train station and
bussed into the city center. After a trip to the TI we visited the
Arena, the 3rd largest coliseum in the Roman world. We
visited a couple of churches on the way to the forum which was now a
market.
From there we took the short walk to Juliet’s House and balcony and
went through it.
We then visited St. Anastasia’s, the largest church in Verona.
Next to Fuime Adige and a look at the Roman Theater at a distance.
We then went to the Cathedral which was attached to two other
churches, one had a supersized baptismal fount carved out of marble.
We walked back toward the Arena but stopped at a bakery for great
pizza and the gelateria for great gelato.
We snacked back at the room.
Heading out to dinner we walked through the Arsenal. Christine’s
restaurant was inexplicably closed so we
went to mine. Three of us had Duck Ragu , Shane had roast suckling
pig. We all had white wine and salad- gelato on the way back.
In the morning we took the bus to the train station for our trip to
Padua. We picked up our tickets for the chapel, saw a couple of
churches, went to the market, examined the outside of some palaces
and downed some pastry before making it to St. Anthony’s where we
saw his tomb, his tongue, and a piece of the true cross.
We stopped at the largest piazza in Italy before going to Giotto’s
chapel and the attached museums.
On the way back to the train station 3 of us got kebabs, Christine
bought a sandwich. Upon arriving back in Verona we took the bus to
the City Center, got some gelato, bought pastries for breakfast for
the next morning, then walked back to the apartment where we indulged
in beer, limoncello, lemon soda, and cherry brandy.
For dinner we ate outdoors as the weather was nice in the evening. We
selected a restaurant near the Roman Arena and we could half-hear the
opera taking place inside. We all had pizza- pretty good but still
not as good as Croatian. I had beer, the others tried the Spritzes,
they decided they were a bit bitter.
We walked back
to the apartment without the aid of gelato.
In the morning there was no problem getting a taxi to take us to the
airport. We said goodbye to the kids and then picked up our rental
car. The Mercedes C-Class needed a special cord for Carmen which
Hertz lent us.
We headed north (Teresa mentioned I already missed Christine after 10
minutes and one missed turn) but things went smoothly.
We stopped in Trento which ended up being a very tourist friendly
place with hardly any tourists in it. We walked down a frescoed
street, visited Maria Maggiore Church and then to the Duomo, where
the Council of Trent presided as a response to the Protestant
Reformation.
Trento has a history, from Roman times through Germanic tribal
invasions, the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the Counter-reformation
and the Holy Roman Empire.
We toured the Palace next to the Duomo which had housed the
Bishop-Princes but now housed art and artifacts. There was a separate
archaeological section.
The biggest attraction was Castello del Buonconsiglia which was one
of the best castles we have ever been to, It is in great shape and
filled with art and interesting artifacts. Its ceilings were worth
the price of admission. The views from the castle were outrageous (if
Shane had not already wrapped up the photo contest this would have
been a contender). There was a lot of English and it was worth the
extra euro to visit the tower with the paintings of the months of the
year and hear the entertaining audio guide.
After the castle we went to the underground Roman city which was only
okay.
We then headed straight to Ortisei. The weather was pleasant in
Trento, it was chilly in Ortisei (St. Ulrich) Carmen knew where to
take us. It was very picturesque, a valley in the mountains.
We walked down to town for dinner. Teresa had a salad with goulash
with dumplings with bread and bacon. I had bread and bacon dumpling
soup and wiener schnitzel. I won.
In the morning we trekked downtown first and purchased some fabulous
doughnuts. After trying to figure out how to do a mountain walk, we
finally decided to take the cable car to the top of the mountain and
do a walk from there. Beautiful vistas in every direction. After some
advice from a saleslady at a souvenir stand we decided to walk first
to Compaccio; from there we took a chair lift to Panorama, and then
we walked, and at the end, climbed back to the cable car station for
the ride back down.
We stopped for sandwiches for lunch; then the hard slog back to the
room.
We then drove to Balzano, about 45 minutes- Carmen was not her best
arriving in town. We went to the museum centered around the Ice Man,
Otzi. He was there with all his accoutrements. Pretty good museum.
We then went to the Cathedral and a few piazzas before going to Rick
Steves’ recommended restaurant. I had delicious pork shank, roasted
potatoes and sauerkraut, Teresa had an endive salad.
We then drove back to our base but stopped for some mediocre
chocolate cake on the way.
First light in the morning looked dreary but as the fog lifted we
could see it had snowed during the night and stuck beginning about
halfway up the mountains, dusting the trees.
We intended to go to Bressanone but a detour took us first to
Castelrotto (a recommended R.S destination) which we had considered
visiting so we stopped, went to the supermarket, then visited the
church, bell tower and the Calvario stroll up a small hill.
Next to Bressanone which had a cathedral with a magnificent interior
with accompanying cloisters. During our visit we ate our picnic of
very good bread (I picked it out) cheese, salami and tomatoes. For
dessert I had a huge doughnut with custard, Bavarian cream and
chocolate. Teresa had some cakey, puddingy, fruity thing.
Between the detour still in place and Carmen not having a good day we
took a very convoluted, backtracking, scenic ride back. We parked in
town, did a little shopping then ate before going back to the room. I
had a “complete” meal which was cold cuts and cheese. Teresa had
a salad and a spicy pasta dish. No dessert tonight.
The next day was Dolomite Road Day. We were very lucky. We had
sunshine after a snowfall two nights before. The result was prime
optimal. The photos will do most of the talking but I will point out
some high points.
We went through St. Christina and then stopped at Selva where we had
our first snowball fight. We went through Sella Pass before getting
to Competello and taking the cable car up to over 3000 meters.
We backtracked to Canazei and picked up picnic items. Next to Pordoi
Pass where we had our picnic.
The last pass was Fulzarego and not very high.
Finally to Cortina, a somewhat sleepy town. We strolled to the
Olympic Stadium where a junior hockey team was practicing, then took
the long way back.
We ate a 5 Torri for dinner. I had a pizza with anchovies, capers and
black olives. Teresa had a Buffalo pizza. We shared a salad. I had
very good apple strudel for dessert, Teresa had tiramisu. Good meal
with some unplanned entertainment.
The next morning we were making such good time to Udine we detoured
to Acquileia. We rented the audioguide and visited the forum, the
ancient harbor docks, the basilica with the largest ancient Christian
mosaic in the Western World and the archeological museum.
After our walking tour we both had bruschettas for lunch and then
drove to Udine. After checking in, we walked around before making it
to the Palace/Museum which featured works by Tupielo.
We then went to the castle and Old Town as a rainstorm came upon us.
We sought refuge in a bar where I had a Corona and Teresa had a white
wine.
We again had a fruitless search for a recommended restaurant before
stopping in at Adeon’s. We both had bowtie pasts with sausage and
rocket; I had a Nicoise salad; Teresa a Brazilian. Back to the room.
After breakfast we headed to Cividale where we saw the Duomo and the
Temple of Santa Maria which was touted to be the best example of
Lombard architecture. Not worth the trip.
We crossed the border into Kobarid where we went to the WWI Museum.
This was the scene of epic fighting during The Great War and the
museum showed both the misery and futility of it.
We then went up to the War Memorial and then took a pleasure walk
through the forest to the waterfall, which was reminiscent, though on
a smaller scale to Trammelbach Falls in Switzerland.
We drove through the Julian Alps over the Vrsic Pass, not as
impressive as the Dolomites.
On the way to Lake Bled we were pulled over for not having the
sticker required to drive on the highways – a 150 euro fine. We
were on the highway for 10 minutes.
We found our B&B easy enough – our room overlooked the lake.
We cleaned up and headed out. We walked halfway around the lake
before deciding on a restaurant. We chose Gostilna Pic Planicu Pub
and Restaurant- recommended by Rick Steves. I had garlic soup and a
mixed grill; Teresa had a mixed salad (with pumpkinseed oil) and
grilled pork. I won again. Mine was fantastic. We both had roasted
potatoes but neither of us had room for many. On the way back we
stopped at a pastry shop for Kremna Rezina and Grmada, they were out
of Gibonica.
We ate our pastry in the morning for breakfast. I purchased a Coke
Zero and we decided to go to the island where we circled it and
toured the church. We both rang the bell more than the required three
times. I rowed out and Teresa rowed back. This was quite a hit with a
boatload of Asian tourists who snapped numerous photos of me lounging
in the back of the boat, sipping on my coke zero while Teresa tugged
at the oars.
We then drove to Vintgar Gorge which was described as the “poor
man’s Plitvice Lakes”. That may be an apt description but it
featured white water more than waterfalls, of which it only had two.
We drove back, went to our next door market for picnic items. Because
it started to drizzle we ate our picnic in our room before walking
around the lake. We made a few stops; one to listen to a band playing
vintage American and British Rock, and a tour of the castle which
involved a climb to get there. After finishing circumnavigating the
Lake we went to the Park Terrace for dinner to hear what turned out
to be a Slovenian Group play Celtic music. They were very good. I had
trout and chocolate pie, Teresa had a sausage salad and chocolate
mousse pie.
In the morning we first drove to the castle in the mouth of the cave
that used to be the castle in the cave. Rick Steves said don’t
bother going in so we didn’t. Teresa will tell you about the
Erasmus legend.
Next we went to the Skocjan cave- think the Grand Canyon on a smaller
scale and indoors. The Reka River formed it and it was remarkable but
no photos were allowed and there was not enough light to sneak any
non-flash ones.
We then drove to Trieste. Getting to our hotel was difficult- getting
out of town to return our car to the airport was more difficult. We
took a bus back and saw what sites we could, including the cathedral,
the outside of the castle and some Roman ruins.
We went back, cleaned up and went out for Chinese for the first time
on the trip. I had sweet and sour duck; Teresa had sizzling duck. For
some reason getting steamed rice was a problem. On the way back to
the room we had very good gelato.
In the morning we went to the taxi stand and got a cab to take us to
the Sezana train station in Slovenia, not knowing when the trains
ran. We were over an hour early for the first train of the day, We
had to switch trains twice on the way to Ljubljana (those trains were
waiting for us) but we got there by about 12:15. We found our Hotel
Allegro which was very nice.
After checking in we explored the city a little before finding lunch.
We didn’t each want a whole pizza so we ordered a large one to
split. We ate half of it. We had gelato later- I tried black sesame
seed.
We saw more sites and did the Roman Emonam walk which included a
museum and two archeological digs. We then went to the Dragon Bridge
before heading back to the room to clean up.
We went Greek for dinner; both of us had a gyro and a salad.
In the morning we first went to the market and then to the guided
walking tour. The tour was very informative; our guide was fluent in
English and quite humorous. Although it was an English speaking tour
there were two couples from the US, one from Canada and the rest were
from countries that did not have English as its primary language.
We saw City Hall, went up to the castle, the bridges and the
Predersen round square.
After the tour we watched a slack rope walker, examined some more
architecture then took a break.
After lunch we found the French Square, visited the library, did some
more shopping; I ate some gelato, went in some more churches; took a
break to people watch, went to the American Embassy (no pictures
allowed) and the Eastern Orthodox Christian Synagogue- more shopping
and back to the room to clean up.
Going out, as we approached the Triple Bridge we saw a crowd which
turned out to be a celebration of Croatia entering the EU. We had
just missed first the Slovenian dancers, then the Croatian dancers
and then their dancing together. They handed out food afterward which
was gobbled down by the multitudes-us included. I tried to photobomb
a TV interview but I don’t know if I made it.
For dinner we both had salads and apple strudel which was excellent.
I followed up with Snickers and dark chocolate gelato on the way
back.
We took a van service to the airport and had an uneventful flight
home through Frankfurt. I watched 3 movies, Teresa 4.
