Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Hvala Hrvatska (Thank you Croatia)

It has finally come to pass that we bid our farewell to Croatia and the Dalmatian Coast. We needed to be at breakfast by 06:30 so that we could catch our ferry across the Adriatic to Venice. The Hotel breakfast that morning was probably the best we had encountered, we have been getting a little tired of cheese and salami and bread. There always seems  to be oodles of bread, but no toaster, Murray hasn't found a coffee to call his own and the tea is, at best, mediocre so Jill, who drinks hot water is the only one guaranteed a drink to her liking. Even then they will sometimes put a tea bag in her hot water so even that has it's perils. Back to the ferry trip to Venice...after the aforementioned breakfast we trundled our very heavy bags down to the departure point  by the required 07:00 only to find a lengthy queue winding it's way from a wild west style ticket office where one was to exchange ones voucher for a ticket. As with everything over here there was passport checking to be done by the ticket people and then outdoors once more to a holding pen in a car park type area where the, yet to appear, ferry was to depart. The cheerful man (he had no right to be at this time of day) told us to join a queue and all would move very quickly once it got going. It may well have done but still no ferry, due to leave at 08:00. Finally ferry arrives at about 07:55 and things did happen quite quickly except happy man came and told Murray and Jill there was a problem and took their passports away and only just managed to return them in time for sailing, all stamped but with no explanation as to the problem.

Arrived in Venice just before lunch after our ferry turned into a tour bus and we had to endure a lecture, in German, on what all the people in the tour were supposed to do. We still had to get a water bus to the bus station then a land taxi to our hotel all with our heavy baggage once more. Boy! it is lucky that we like travelling. Anyway mission accomplished we were in Venice.  Oh did I mention returning the rental car in Porec. It was within waking distance of the hotel but took around two hours to accomplish. First Tom tom sent us into an area of roadworks which we tried to by-pass via a churchyard and a bit of a drive along a footpath, the workman just watched on with concealed amusement and still just watched as we had to retrace our steps over their roadworks, along the footpath and back through the churchyard. This was followed by a route around a large car park, one side of which had the name of the street on which Fleet rentals office was located but search as we might on our many laps of the car park Fleet rentals would not show themselves. We resorted to smartphone and google maps which revealed the error of our ways, it wasn't in the street on their brochure but in a small one off the street  off the the one in their brochure. Of course it was, we should have known. Trouble not finished yet, sign on door say closed away doing a delivery, so we had a cuppa at a nearby cafe, Murray's undrinkable mine OK, still no sign of Fleet man. Went back to the office which had a phone number..."no you not bring back until five, and I come to your hotel and pick it up, no can't change it". Oh well might as well return to our wives and wait. Back to the car, looks like there has been a bit of an accident, people standing around looking at damaged cars, old lady gabbling away at me in Croatian, I smiled, not understanding a word of it, then we noticed the dented car was actually in contact with our, as yet, undamaged rental. Fortunately any damage we were able to rub off so no problem. So that is how it can take around two hours to return your rental car a few hundred meters down the road.
We are in Venice and have done a hop on hop off water bus tour over two days, very good.
We now proceed by FIAT 500!



Not All Hotel Views Are Equal


A Croatian Farewell Diner.

Anyway, Venice it was for two nights before proceeding on to Lake Coma by way of Verona and Bellargio. Como is but about 10km from the Swiss boarder and it was the intention to just nip over the boarder for morning tea so that Murray and Jill could tick off another country on their CV but in reality they decided that they could do without it so on to Milan we went. Now Milano was hosting the European Premier cup winners final on this very day so the town was really buzzing which meant that a hop on hop off tour was about as much as we could manage before heading down to Genoa for the night. We have passed Genoa by on a few previous visits to Italy so it was a real pleasure to experience a little of this historic city's delights by way of a noddy train tour.


There Are Still Gondolas Available For Those That Can Afford Them


Murray Engaged In Some Serious Retail Therapy


Milan's Beautiful Cathedral


Chris. Columbus's Birth Place In Genoa


His And Hers


Historic Waterfront Genoa

One of the highlights, at least for Jill and I, was the Cinque Terre walk, taking in the five towns along the coast between Levanto and La Spezia, hard work but well worth the effort. Many thousands do this walk every  year. We were lucky in that we had an overcast day and it was a bit cooler than the 30 + C that we had been having so all was good. Only problem was that the last two legs were closed as they have been now since flooding in 2011 but these are quite short so never mind.


The Villages are Spectacular


The Track Can Be Demanding, Especially The Steps


These Two Aussies Couldn't Let A Bar Go By


The Emergency Evacuation Transport


Another Of The Cinque Terre Villages

Murray and Lee were to meet us at the last of the Villages we were doing, Corniglia, but texted us to advise a change of plan in that they would now see us at the railway station. We could see why.


Some of the hundreds of steps up from the station to Corniglia

And so that was Cinque Terra, it was just simply fantastic.

We have moved on now to Rome, it has been a whirlwind tour of Italy, but this has been of necessity as Murray and Jill must fly out of here on Thursday and so there will be only Lee and I then so maybe there won't be happy hour each evening and I shall be able to keep my blog up to date, just maybe. But we will miss them, there I have said it, but it's true.
Going for an audience with Papa Francisco tomorrow, at least Jill and I shall be. Murray and Lee said something about lightening and being struck down, so it's just Jill and I again.
And so that is that for now,

All the best

David  





Saturday, May 21, 2016

Slovenia

Our last day in Slovenia, a country we have all agreed on that has far exceeded our expectations. It has been great fun, but didn't start out that way as just after crossing the border from Croatia, our passports were handed over then handed straight back and we were in Slovenia. It must be Kiwi Passports as other cars had taken much longer. Anyway in we were and soon buzzing along the highway when there was a Police roadblock. We, amongst many other cars were signaled to pull into a parking spot and a young lady from, I think, the transport ministry came to us and explained how we were liable to a 800 to 1000 euro fine for who knows what crazy offence we had committed. I was instructed to accompany her and to bring my passport and car's papers with me as another officer photographed our getaway car. It transpires that one must purchase a sticker, a form of road tax, from a petrol station before crossing the boarder and this means you don't pay tolls on the motorways as you do in most other countries. I pleaded my ignorance, which was truthful, and liberally praised her country, which was a bit premature, but to no avail. We were still fined 130 euros, the minimum for this offence, for which we got a green sticker for our windscreen that would last us for 5 days. The officiating officer even came back to the car with me to proudly affix said sticker to my windscreen. I must say it is a pleasure not to be paying tolls several time a day but at what price?
Today though we have swapped water activities for sub terrestrial ones with a spot of Speleology in a fantastic cave at Postojna. This cave goes for some 24 km and is toured by way of a small railway system and then shanks's pony for 1.5 km. A great day out and quite amazing, I have been to other caves but this one was quite different because of it's sheer size and the efficiency of moving so many people through it.





Postajna Cave System Slovenia

Travelling on another 10 km or so brought us to the Predjama Castle, described as amongst the 10 most spectacular in Europe, well I guess it is the eye of the beholder, but it was pretty neat all the same.


Yogi Bear and Booboo


Predjama Castle ( the Lord and Lady)



A couple of Beauties we came across on our way to the castle.

The day was rounded of bu a quick flick into Trieste, Italy, then finally onto Piran, back in Slovenia, where we have overnighted A lovely town and to treat ourselves a lovely hotel, the Barbara.


The view from our window at the Barbara


Not all Beaches are lovely, and maybe some people shouldn't wear bikinis, just saying like.


A bit of rock art on Piran Beach

And so here we are for another night and very content with ourselves as I hope you all are as well.

Take care with whatever you are doing, all the best


David


      

Friday, May 20, 2016

And So Forth

Our journey continues, but in a slightly modified way. We have found that, in general, the roads in Montenegro and Serbia to be so bad that progress is at times quite slow. It was then that our tour of Serbia turned into a half day affair and we decided to concentrate on the more developed Croatia. Not to be missed though were a couple of gems in Bosnia Herzegovina starting  in Sarajevo, a city we all became familiar with during the Bosnian war. It was here though that the beginnings of WW1 took place in 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on the Latin Bridge which turned out to be right outside our Hotel, the Latinski. Today though the main attraction seems to be the Grand Bazaar which has been running for some 500 years.

                   Murray and Jill enjoying the Grand Bazaar in Sarajevo.


Next on the list was Mostar, a town whose claim to fame is a bridge destroyed in the war but rebuilt by the UN and still a hot tourist spot. Last time we were here I was fortunate enough to capture one of the bridge divers with my camera, this time a diver but missed him.



The World Heritage Mostar Bridge.

One of the features for me has been the amazing water based sights that are in this area.



The River Here Just Emerges From The Cliff






Plitvice Lakes

The Plitvice National Park consists of six interconnected lakes with waterfalls between, in fact the ground must be absolutely saturated as there are waterfalls everywhere you look. You can walk the entire park or use the various forms of transport provided, we chose a combination of both.
Today we were treated to a white water river at Vintgar Gorge. This would be challenging to most kayakers, impossible for me, but great fun for those who are able.



Going Down The Vintgar Gorge.

They have built a walkway alongside the river by hacking out the rocky cliff and building a wooden walkway.


Mrs Currin on The Walkway at Cave Cr..opps Vintgar Gorge.

Another great stopover today was at Bled where we happened upon the first day of their summer fair. Bled is very near the Austrian Border and getting into the alps so summer is a little later around here.










A Foodies Paradise in Bled

The lakeside was also a great place to enjoy lunch. I was attracted by the Sausage and Cabbage dish on offer at one stall as I have been in serious vegetable deficit for some time now, but the cabbage turned to be a sort of soup with a sausage gamely floating around in it.



Bled Lake and the Castle Overlooking it.

We are currently in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, and about to go off for a Chinese Nosh so I shall post this and hopefully get some more done in the next few days. There is so much happening that it is hard to keep up.
 So long for now and keep well.

David








Wednesday, May 11, 2016

I Lost My Photos


Oh dismay! I copied all my photos of our last day in Berlin and our time in Dubrovnik ro my laptop and somewhere in the translation they were lost for all time. My fault, I should have copied rather than Cut and Paste, never mind.
We spent our last day in Berlin on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour and were very impressed by it, many familiar landmarks such as Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag and many not so familiar to me such as the fine Concert Hall. All in all Berlin is a wonderful city. A little story we learned about the area in which our hotel stood, Rosenstrasse, was that in 1943 the ladies of the area marched in protest about the deportation of the Jews and Goebbels himself signed off the order for the deportation to stop. Ok all of these women had Jewish husbands, and hence children, and so had a vested interest in saving them, but at least some Germans were doing something. Meanwhile the protest that we had witnessed in it's infancy the day before made the main news slot that evening.
Later in the day we left Berlin for Dubrovnik aboard a Germanwings flight. This is the Budget subsidiary o Lufthansa..  the one that the deranged pilot flew into  a mountainside a year or so back. Great flight, plenty of legroom drinks and an ok little food goody bag. It's only an hour and a half down to Dubrovnik but by the time we had arrived at our Guest House it was around 9:00 pm and Murray and Jill had taken to their beds after an exhausting day in the Old Town. Murray though must have heard our arrival and was soon knocking on the door in his PJs. Lee and I had been to Dubrovnik before a couple of years ago, but it remains a favourite so was no hardship to revisit. Two nights in Dubrovnik and we had booked a car in which to complete our Balkans tour. Murray and I were dispatched to collect same, an Opel SUV, but alas, on arrival back at Guest House our suspicions were confirmed, it was too small. We could not fit our baggage in it and so with a large case separating our loved ones in the back seat we returned to Fleet Rentals in the hope that they had something a little larger. We are now touring the Balkans in a Peugeot 10 seat Mini Bus. Plenty of room now.
First stop down the coast was a small town called Cavtat where we stopped for coffee and a stretch of the legs.


Enjoying a Cuppa in Cavtat

This is a very pretty town and we enjoyed quite a long walk around the headland.

It was good to stretch our legs after being in the car on the way here. Next day we were  to be confined to the car for much longer, but that is another story for another day. From Cavtat we needed to cross the border to enter Montenegro where we will spend the next couple of days. There are not many of these road border crossings left in Europe now, but in this area there are still several. At the crossing Police check and stamp your passport and send you merrily on your way and then about a km down the road the same procedure is carried out by the country of entry. This is all a bit of a novelty for us travelling Kiwis but must become a little monotonous for regular border crossers such as those which live on one side of the border and work on the other.

 Our next stop was a revisit for Mrs Currin and I having visited Kotor bay on our previous trip down here
but it is so lovely that once is never enough.


                                                                    Mrs Currin Skylarking About.
Kotor is a very large bay and is probably the gem in Montenegro's tourism crown and to reach the old town of Kotor one must either catch a ferryboat across the bay or drive right the way around it. We chose the later and so it was time for another cuppa on arrival. Above the town are the remains of an old defensive wall and it has become quite the thing for the young, and the not so young, to walk the trail up to the top. Not us on this occasion, much to hot for that carry on.


Murray And Jill Enjoy Taking The Weight Off Their Feet In Kotor


The Old Wall Kotor






The mountains in the region are of a very rocky consistency and the rocks  themselves quite porous allowing the rain to soak through them rather than run off. This has the effect of keeping the hillside quite dry but also as there is no soil washed down with the rain and the water is in fact filtered through the rocks it makes for a very clear sea which must be a delight for divers.
We traveled from here to Cetinje, the old administrative capital, where there are still many embassies and government departments. We overnighted in Cetinje, but it has little to offer to make one wish to linger too long, except  fine apartments which set one back the princely sum of $50 NZ per night. Eating is also delightfully cheap here, breakfast for three about $10 NZ. It was after breakfast that our adventures took a new turn. Our GPS, which we have christened Maria, had us along the most diabolical roads on our way to the capital, Podgorica, and after an hour or so of this the more astute amongst us, the ladies of course, happened to notice some flowers adorning a fence that seemed familiar. We had traveled in a big circle. A passing traveler noticed somehow that we looked lost and offered directions which we gratefully accepted and once more set off on our way. We decided to give a couple of places in the south a miss to make up the time and pressed on to Podgorica, another forgettable town except for a fine lunch in a local shopping Mall.
We are to finish up this evening in Zabljak, a ski resort high in the mountains, but on the way we waned to visit a cliff side Monastery at Ostrog which involved a bit of a detour but was well worth the effort as tomorrow was one  of the three feasts which cause pilgrims by the thousand to make the walk up the 3000 ft mountain side to pray at the site of the reliquary containing the remains of the founder, The Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina. It is said that many are cured of dastardly illnesses as a result. This is all suposed to be done barefoot but most we saw had shoes on. The pilgrims all camp at, or near, the summit. There is a bit of rain tonight so the ones with just a blanket will not be happy campers I suspect.






                                Getting Up To The Monastery Was Worth The Effort
                                     (Note the queue to get into the Monastery)


The drive up, or as far as one could go was very exciting as there were innumerable switchbacks and on a road not much wider than the car (it was two way) and all the walkers it took over half an hour for the 8 km ascent and about the same on the way down. So that was our day and it was a happy one, we are in a four star hotel suite tonight, fabulous meal $120 NZ per night.
Oh I must retell a story Jill was telling us of an incident when on the Hop on/off bus in Athens. They had finished one of the sections and wanted to transfer to the next bus to do the next section. Murray noticed the bus was on the other side of the road and urged Jill to run, which she did, and he follow. Jill looked back to see Murray running, hobbling clutching his groin still telling Jill to run and tell the driver to wait for him. They finally arrived and found the driver looking rather strangely at them, it was the same bus that they had just gotten off. Oh how we all laughed, well almost all.

That's all for today.

All the best

David