Oct 3, 2018 - Last days in Croatia - photo's added

Saturday 22 September We left Cavtat mid morning – we were pretty well dug in, must have brought up around 10kg of mud. We passed Dubrovnik again and then took scenic routes around the islands. Passed Lopud with it’s church and fortress ruins and then proceeded across the bay and anchored off Sudurad which has a tower which dates back to 1577 and a fortified house, both of which were use to protect inhabitants from pirate attacks. Sunday 23 September Today we took the scenic route around some of the islands. Anchored off Broce and took the...

Oct 3, 2018 - Last few days in Croatia

Tuesday 18 – Thursday 20 September I spent these days in Athens meeting up my high school girl friends, Dianne, Neen, Michelle, Julie and Pinetta. Had a great time. Gen reckons I came back pretty hyper. He spent the few days completing maintenance and getting us ready for the big passage south. Friday 21 September Took the bus to Dubrovnik and a water taxi back to Cavtat. Dubrovnik, what a place. Need I say more?

Oct 2, 2018 - Finis

Day 22 of 22. We are quite tired and ready to be home. That said, we would not have changed anything big - we’ve loved it all! Maybe a day less in one and a day more in another. The main reason for going, the Cycling Croatia bike tour, was off the charts good. And the weather - we were so lucky! We had zero rain and one day of very high wind, but otherwise Chamber of Commerce everywhere. We had a slight drizzle during our ride to the airport “this morning,” but that was it. We reserved a cab for 4:45 this morning, for our 6:45 flight. He...

Oct 1, 2018 - Game of Throngs

September 30-October 1, 2018 Dubrovnik, Croatia Game of Throngs Dubrovnik was originally the capital of the medieval Kingdom of Ragusa. (This, of course, is where Ragu Sauce comes from). From about the mid-1400’s on, the city was referred to as both Ragusa and as Dubrovnik. In 1991, when Yugoslavia broke up and Croatia declared independence, Dubrovnik was besieged by the armies of Yugoslav Serbians and Montenegrins for 7 months and sustained heavy damage during the shelling. Repairs were undertaken through the balance of the 90’s and early...

Oct 1, 2018 - Almost Home

The day started with the breakfast buffet in our hotel. It was included in our room rate, so why not. Next we stopped by the reception desk to set up our cab ride for Tuesday morning. We have a 6:45am flight (what were we thinking?) and should leave the hotel around 4:45. Since breakfast is included in our room, they offered us a boxed breakfast to take with us. Nice! Next, it was time to bring the gas tank up to the level it was when we got the car, about 5/8 of a tank. Our GPS has been worth every penny. Gas is more expensive here, in...

Sep 30, 2018 - Zagreb, Museums and Such

No doubt about, we are running out of gas as our trip winds down. Today was a full day but not an overly ambitious one. After our usual hotel breakfast buffet, we strolled the old town area around our hotel, killing time for a museum to open. The oldest part of Zagreb is located on a hill which can be reached by a funicular. We rode that up the hill and enjoyed the surrounding views. The local church up there, St. Marks, is the anchor for a very interesting area of buildings and gardens, including the museums we planned to visit. The...

Sep 29, 2018 - Almost Home

Today was long and short. Long because we drove most of the day to get from Sarajevo to Zagreb. What started out out as about a 5 hour drive ends up being closer to 6.5 hours - the hour long wait at the border was the biggest issue. Short because we didn’t do much other than drive. We left Sarajevo at around 10 am. Getting out of town was not at all difficult. The traffic was easy, the roads were good for the most part and it was pretty smooth sailing. Until the border. Lots and lots of vehicles, and few lanes open. Oh well, hurry up and...

Sep 29, 2018 - Nothing to Wine about here on Korčula

September 28-29, 2018 Lumbarda, Island of Korcula (Croatia) Nothing to wine about here on Korčula After a couple of days there, it was time to split Split (you knew that one was coming). Croatia has 1,244 islands, islets and crags. 48 of them are inhabited. (Note: A crag is a rugged rock or cliff face. If it juts up out of the sea, it gets to be called an offshore crag. Thank you for that little tidbit from Wikipedia, the source of all known and knowable information, although not always true). We knew that our time here wouldn’t be...

Sep 27, 2018 - We had it better under Tito

September 26-27, 2018 Split, Croatia We had it better under Tito You’ve gotta hand it to someone when they come up with a pretty good gimmick. At Pizzeria Bokamorra in Split, the gimmick is pizza in a box. Well, to be exact, the pizza menu comes in a very fancy box. The menu lists the 6 (count ‘em) pizzas available. You don’t like any of those choices? Go somewhere else. But you will find one you like, trust me. Like the Smokvizza – figs, goat cheese, pistachio & honey. The fancy box also contains the cocktails menu – there is a cocktail...

Sep 26, 2018 - I'd like to buy a vowel, please ....

September 26, 2018 Krka National Park & Split, Croatia I’d like to buy a vowel, please The first few times I looked at the name of the spectacular set of waterfalls in Krka National Park I thought it was called Skradinski Butt which, of course, was simply thrilling for me. A visit to a National Park named for the butt of a guy named Skradinski has got to be an amazing thing. Upon further investigation, however, it turns out that the word is Buć, not Butt. How disappointing. But not for long!! It so happens that in Croatian the word buć...

Sep 25, 2018 - A Full Day!

What a day! We got up early to walk the wall surrounding Old Town. We were told several times that we should do it early before the folks from the cruise ships descended on the city. We were at the gate a few minutes before it opened and are we glad we were. Dennis was in his glory taking photos at every opportunity. It was an amazingly beautiful morning, if a bit windy. Okay, “a bit” is a huge understatement. It was extremely windy! We managed to get it done in less than two hours. By the time we were finished, we could see that the...

Sep 25, 2018 - Croatia – where Tuna is currency!

September 25, 2018 Zadar, Croatia Croatia – where Tuna is currency! Here is what we learned today (and this is big news!) ….. Chamotcha Brecher is Dutch! We finally figured out which letter of the alphabet is “echh “- it turns out it’s in the Dutch alphabet! We know this for sure because during our 2:45 hour flight on EasyJet from Amsterdam to Split, Croatia we heard it correctly pronounced numerous times by the gaggle of Dutch gentlemen who occupied about ¾ of the seats on our plane. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don’t know who Chamotcha...