Salzburg and Bratislava

Hi to all of the Frank and Janet Around the Planet readers! I am Staci, and my husband Teddy is Frank and Janet’s nephew. We recently joined Uncle Frank and Aunt Janet on their big adventure. We were asked to be a guest on the site and fill you all in on a couple of our travel destinations on our recent journey! We had so much fun with Frank and Janet and can’t wait to see where the rest of their adventure takes them! 

Bratislava

On the boat

We decided to take the one-hour transfer by boat from Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia. After a little research we came to the conclusion that the train station in Bratislava was a little too far out of the way for our short day trip to Bratislava. The Danube boat transfer was very comfortable and would drop us off in old town, where we wanted to be. It was our first time on the Danube, and even though it was a short trip, it was really enjoyable and relaxing.

Arriving in Bratislava felt different than our other Central European destinations. Bratislava felt more like Eastern Europe to all of us, perhaps a little less traveled. Bratislava is a smaller town, especially for a nations capital. The city was clean, however the buildings were not at tall or as grandiose as the prestigious Vienna we had just come from.

The old town was charming with cobblestone streets and well maintained architecture. We found a wonderful small cafe to have breakfast at while we waited for our free walking tour to start. This modern and artistic cafe had the best freshly made pastries and fresh squeezed juices.

Jana, a very energetic and outgoing young woman, led our walking tour. She was a Slovakian native and studied at a local university. If you’re like us you probably don't recognize the city of Bratislava for anything, maybe you have never even heard of it. Here are a few facts we learned on the tour about Slovakia and it's capital city, Bratislava. Slovakia was combined with Czech Republic until 1993, named Czechoslovakia. Jana was particularly proud to point out how peaceful the separation was in forming the now two countries, and the good relationship between the two countries, commenting that they get along great and only have a sports rivalry in which the Czech Republic usually has better teams. Czechoslovakia was under Nazi party influence in the 1940's and later the communist party until the late 1980's. We were able to see some of the communist influence in a few of the buildings and a large bridge over the Danube. Bratislava is the only national capital that borders two other countries (Austria and Hungary).

There might be one thing you recognize about Bratislava; the movie Hostel was set in Bratislava, although actually filmed in the Czech Republic. If you aren't familiar with the horror movie, the basic concept is American tourists travel to Bratislava, stay in a hostel and get chopped up into little pieces by the locals. Obviously just a movie but there was some serious damage that the movie caused. The year after the movie was released, tourism in Bratislava dropped by 70%. Locals were rightfully upset with how the movie depicted their country to be underdeveloped and have high crime. We found the city to be very charming and nothing like how it was depicted in the film. The positive note is now tourism in Bratislava continues to rise.

We had a wonderful traditional Slovakian lunch, the highlight was a dish called Bryndzove Halusky, which is a type of potato pasta with cheese. The dish was very rich and filling similar to macaroni and cheese. A must try if you ever go to Slovakia! After a day of walking around we had a relaxing boat ride back on the Danube to Vienna.

We had a wonderful traditional Slovakian lunch, the highlight was a dish called Bryndzove Halusky, which is a type of potato pasta with cheese. The dish was very rich and filling similar to macaroni and cheese. A must try if you ever go to Slovakia! After a day of walking around we had a relaxing boat ride back on the Danube to Vienna.

 

Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria is usually known for two things; the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the movie The Sound of Music. Aunt Janet suggested we watch The Sound of Music before heading to Salzburg, so the prior two nights we watched the movie. We split the film viewing over two nights, as it is a nearly 3 hour-long movie. It was Teddy and my first time seeing the movie.  We were glad to have watched it because for the next several days we sang and hummed the songs obnoxiously. Getting the songs stuck in Aunt Janet's head became sort of a fun game.

The day trip to Salzburg was a full day. We took a round-trip bus from Vienna. Including rest stops it was about 4 hours each way. Salzburg is across the country from Vienna and only 5 miles from the boarder of Germany. The Mountains and snow flurries created a beautiful backdrop for this enchanting city.

During our walking tour of the city, we really enjoyed spotting the filming locations of The Sound of Music. We went into the Salzburg Cathedral, the church where Mozart was baptized. It was very beautiful. We even managed to grab the largest soft pretzel we had ever seen about half way through the walk, it did not disappoint. The highlight of the day was the view on top of Hohensalzburg Fortress. We rode the funicular up the mountain to the fortress and then climbed several flights of stairs, but it was worth it to see the city below.

We must say that throughout the trip we were impressed with Uncle Frank and Aunt Janet's minimalist ways, their commitment to grocery shopping (which can be the last thing you want to do after a long day of relocating), delicious cooking in the Airbnb's we stayed in, research of the places they visit, and that they hardly ever seem to tire. Day after day of traveling and moving from one place to the next and they are still ready for more. They are really inspiring and we are so glad to have spent the time with them! Four countries in ten days with them and we were totally exhausted but our memories of the fun we had will be something we will always remember.

Vienna Austria

Schloss Beleverde Fountain

Example of Baroque Fountian

A little history if you please. Austria was the epicenter of the mighty Hapsburg empire that for 6 centuries used strategic marriages, not conquests, to maintain their hold over much of central and eastern Europe. However, the country was subject to military threat by the Ottoman in the 1600’s, then defeated by Napoleon in 1805, and suffered the Prussian war in 1866

WWI started after the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand (a Hapsburg), and being on the losing side of the war, it was the ultimate end of the dynasty.   Austria was occupied by the Nazis.  Austria and Vienna were heavily bombed during WWII, but recovered well and display the beauty of the Baroque style of architecture favored by the Hapsburg monarchy. Among the most amazing Baroque highlights that we saw were in Vienna and Salzburg. 

Vienna is beautiful. The palaces and museums that the Hapsburg's built are just amazing. Concentrated in the “ Innere Stadt 1” aka Old Town, are some, but not all, of the most impressive buildings. We and the kids started our exploration by first walking several blocks from the 2 bedroom Airbnb to shop at a local outdoor market haggling and purchasing pastas, cheeses, olives, and bread.

 

Later, we jump on the Tram that circles old town on the “Ringstrasse” route. Starting and ending at the 19th century Opera House, from the tram and with a little help from the audio tour Janet downloaded we get a great sense of where all the most important exhibits can be found for future return. For example, we observe the neo-Gothic City Hall, the Greek-revival Parliament, the Museum of Fine Art, and the Hapsburg Palace.  We would also like to extend a thanks to the young lady who voluntarily spoke up and told us we needed Tram # 2A, not Tram #2B. The palatial home of the Hapsburgs is called the “Hofburg”. We exited the tram there and walked through the surrounding park planning our return route and stopped at a large “state of the art” pizza joint, where the menu and ordering is computerized. Slick!

The Opera house we toured

The next morning we started our action packed day with another self-walking tour using a downloaded audio tour. We visited St. Stephens Cathedral, with its dazzling tile roof and high spires. The stone pulpit and baroque high alter are striking.  We walked the streets, popping into a church here and there and stopped for some odd little open face sandwiches recommended by our audio guide.  At the end of the route we stopped for Vienna's famous cakes.  You order from a display and they bring them to your lovely little table.  See some great photos

Our cake shop was in front of the Hofburg Palace complex.  What a beautiful site

 

Then we visit the enormous Museum of Fine Arts, aka “Kunsthistorisches” Museums. There are 2 beautiful identical building directly across a plaza which houses Anthropological and historic relics. We chose to see classic works of art, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Caravaggio. The entry way and foyer of this multi floor building is just spectacular. We thought the Sculpture Museum building in Berlin was grand, but this was its match or more. We ended our day at the Imperial Treasury. We had a very informative guide, but the subject matter was just too dry, and we felt exhausted. We returned home for a self prepared meal from the goodies we bought in the market. We also started to watch ½ of“Sound of Music” to get ready for our future day Trip to Salzburg.  Teddy and Staci are good sports to watch a 1965 movie musical. 

It is Easter Sunday. Another day another palace. We take the train to the Hapsburg’s summer Schloss Beleverde Palace for the day. It is considered one of the world’s finest Baroque styled Palace designed by Johann Hildebrandt. It is a masterpiece of art and decoration, with richly frescoed state apartments. The manicured gardens, sculptured fountains and semi-curved Colonnade are equally regal. We were smart to arrive in the early morning; as we returned to the train station to leave we avoided the crowds and still had time for afternoon sightseeing. 

 

 

 

 

Always on the move and ready for action, we returned to Vienna proper and pushed on to see the Opera house and the “Hofburg” Imperial Palace, the home base of the Hapsburgs from 1273 to 1918.

This palace exhibition includes the royal dishes, boring after the 20th set, the furnished Kaiser Apartments, once occupied by Franz Josef I, a popular ruler, and his beauty obsessed Empress Elizabeth, nicknamed “Sisi”. The dwelling is splendid, maybe not Louis XIV level, but grand. There is a separate “Sisi Museum” which presents an audio tour biography of Sisi, referencing her letters, as well as displays of gowns and personal items. Surprisingly, the exhibit portrays a rather negative image; she is a celebrity but not pumped up like a rock star.  Fascinating, but a missed meteoric marketing campaign or just unvarnished truth?  Finally we visit the Imperial Treasury which displays Crown Jewels and the 2860-carat Columbia emerald and alleged thorn from Christ’s crown. 

We returned home for a wonderful Easter dinner prepared by Janet and Staci.  That night we finished watching “Sound of Music”. Enjoyable, and Staci was humming the tunes all the next day. 

The next day it snowed in Salzburg. Teddy and Staci will tell you about the trip. On our last  day we cruised down the Danube River to Bratislava, Slovakia. Teddy and Staci planned the trip and will tell you about that too.

Prague Czech Republic

Prague was the first stop in an 11 day visit from our nephew and wife, Teddy and Staci.  We arrived one day early and had time to stock the frig, do some washing and make tour plans.  

This area of central/eastern Europe is a cauldron of past and relatively present turmoil, much of which took place in the Czech Republic. Brief historic background is important to appreciate the country’s current growth. Czechoslovakia was created after the fall of the Hapsburg Empire in 1918. Hitler’s 1938 annexation of the western borderlands of then Czechoslovakia triggered the final slide toward WWII. The country fell to a communist coup in 1948 and remained under Soviet influence. The “Prague Spring” of relaxed censorship and release of prisoners was quashed by the Soviet invasion of 1968. Finally, in 1989 the bloodless “Velvet Revolution” kicked out the communists. Today, the people of Prague seem to be very happy and have warmed to capitalism.

The river view from the end of our street

View from our Airbnb

We chose an Airbnb in the Old Town District close to the Charles Bridge that expands over the Vltava River to the Castle District. Since there are now 4 of us we chose a large 2 bedroom flat which had been nicely refreshed for rental. The first day we walked the riverside looking at all the Baroque styled 5 story buildings that line the river and fill most of the city.  We crossed the pedestrian Charles Bridge which is decorated with large copper statues, long turned greenish in color, of noblemen and gargoyles. The bridge looks medieval. We gaze up and down the river which is very wide with slow current, and just take in the ambience of the city.  

Teddy and Staci arrived mid-day and after hugs and chatting we were off to explore the city.  The weather is cool but dry and we take a slow walk down the river to the old town, many stops for photos and lots of chatting. Boy we have really missed our family, how blessed we are to have visits.  

Start of our river walk

Start of our river walk

This town is really beautiful.  It seems like each building is more ornate than the next.  Every column is a statue, surprisingly most with bare breasted greek goddess'.  The old town is a labyrinth of narrow streets and shops selling tourist stuff, food and fine glassware.  Prague is also know for nightly chamber music.  Before going out we discussed a plan and agreed to walking, talking, dinner and taking in a Mozart concert in one of the fine churches.  What fun we had.  Prague is also known as the Pork capitol of Europe, it seems like every few feet there are vendors selling some odd pork product.  Teddy and Staci are the proud owners of 2 adorable pot-belly pigs, they eat no pork and very little meat.  So with help for our guidebooks and a few wrong turns, we find a vegetarian cafeteria for dinner. We think they are impressed with the amount of good food you can get for less than $10 per person.  Then off to the music. Its scheduled for only and hour, with violins, cello, bass, and coronet. it was great.  Later in the trip, both did admit to us how hard it was to stay awake on their first day listening to chamber music!  After the concert we tried a Prague favorite, a dough that is wrapped on a cylinder and roasted over an open fire.  Then it is rolled in sugar and filled with fruit or creme.  They are delicious.  See some great photos. 

 

 

Frank's Fish for lunch

Frank's Fish for lunch

Our second day together was action packed.  We started out on a free walking tour of the old town, right after the tour started the skies opened to pouring rain. We quickly purchased rain ponchos and carried on.  We took a break for lunch in a small place below the castle complex, great food.  Then we caught the tram to the castle complex, but wait, we were way passed the castle and had to race down the hill and wait in a long line, in time for entry but they would not let us purchase the audio guide.  

One of the top attractions is St. Vitus Cathedral.  It is Easter week and the churches have short hours.  Even without the audio guide the Cathedral is wonderful, with flying buttress and lots of spiny spires.  Next we went to the Royal Palace, nice but not furnished, the Basilica, the Golden Lane (a Greenfield Village type attraction) and the grounds.  This is a huge complex and we pushed to covered it all in a few short hours.  

Frank and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get from one place to the next and returning back from the castle complex was no exception.  After several attempts for a Uber we finally gave up and the 4 of us walked down to catch the local tram back to our place for an easy Mac and Cheese dinner and an early bedtime. Tomorrow, we leave for Vienna.

The view from the Castle 

Split and Dubrovnik Croatia

Split  

The bus stop to Split

We took a local bus to Split. We left the Pitvice hometel by rumbling our cases down the country road, crossing the road to a wooded shack on the west side of the main road and crossing our fingers the bus, “Croatiabus”, would come on time. This was also a favorite spot for the few taxis in the area who tried to sell us a lift. In any event, we were joined by other travelers, almost all Asian, in the wait. The bus finally came ½ hour late, which is actually pretty good. The bus was filled so Frank sat next to a young woman from Taiwan who was traveling with her older sister, the only english speaker. We conversed by using Google Translator—just the basics, all with smiles and some verbal attempts, but not long as the google interaction on a moving bus does/did bring on headaches. 

View from the bus

We arrived in the seaside town of Split after six hours. Apparently this bus was not the express route we expected at 3.5 hours. We made the most of the trip by enjoying the coastal road. The countryside and shoreline consists of jagged hillside rocks and cliffs that reach the blue aqua water. There are islets that pierce the water near the shore. The seaside towns ofSibenik and Trogir have causeways connecting the mainland to the islets, with chapel towers spearing the air on these islets. The drive in is just gorgeous. We wonder: What will Split be like?

 

 

 

Split Bay

Split is located on a bay and has a developed waterfront of shopping and restaurants with dockage facilities for cruise ships. It is the second largest city with a population of 180,000 and is known for ship building. The bus station is at the waterfront so we could easily wheel to our Airbnb in old town. First impressions are that Split is on the verge of becoming something special, but that it is a bit too gritty and is in need of polishing. Split may need more time to recover from the economic strain of the Croatian/BosnianWar.

 

 

Croation Folk Singers

Some authors have said that “Split has a split personality, as it struggles to decide how it fits into Croatia’s tourist mecca image.” There are some new seaside structures being built that may have higher end stores and restaurants. There was also boat show in progress with many large sailing Catamarans and sailboats, and a few power cruisers docked. But, there is also a closed Casino. In any event, the top attraction is the Villa and fortified Roman town developed by Emperor Diocletian. Our Airbnb, and most of the city itself, is integrated within the walls of the fort. Our Airbnb was a newly renovated first floor efficiency apartment. It was very nice, cozy and cutely decorated; good hot water, washer too, and a close walk to the waterfront. The Villa, a summer home, displays ancient mausoleum, crypt, Jupiter’s Temple, and a partial palace entry. We took a paid walking tour of the palace and city which was informative.  A treat was hearing this acapella sextet sing Croatian folk songs in the domed area of the palace.

 

Our best meal yet

We then stopped for an outdoor lunch. Here we wanted to try the local cuisine and dove into a light stew of cuddle fish, broad beans, and homemade pasta in a thin sauce of squid ink. When the cuisine was spooned onto the white plate the sauce was black, but how so tasty with coarse bread, fresh grilled veggies, and a local home brewed beer. We told the waiter our memory of Split and Croatia will always include this meal. He was so pleased that he provided us shots of Schnapps. Lots of good Schnapps in Croatia. We completed our stay by going to see a film at the city’s original movie theater opened in 1907, argued to be the oldest “still operating as a theater” in Europe. The popcorn we were craving was really good. Tomorrow we are off to the gem of the Croatian coast. 

Dubrovnik  

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Our Airbnb up 146 steps

Our Airbnb up 146 steps

Our bus again travelled along the “Dalmatia” coast of Croatia with its beautiful views. We arrived and we we were met by our hosts that offered to pick us up. They parked at the secondary gate that is at the high point of the walled city and which made our walk with luggage easier. Our Airbnb was at the top end of “Petilvrenci” street,  only 146 stone steps down to the main street known as “Placa Stradun”. Our Airbnb was another efficiency apartment and again with brand new fixtures and decorating. It was very nice and conformed to the photos and representations made in the Airbnb website.  The sun shone bright so we immediately started to explore the Old Town.  The Placa Stradun is a wide marble street with Baroque buildings running on both sides for its considerable entire length. There are store and restaurants and a lot of people in this pedestrian only town. To the left and right are cross streets with additional restaurants, cafes and shops. A small portion of the buildings have carved stone hangovers which are very elaborate; apparently the entire street had these awnings until an earthquake destroyed them. No rebuild was done so as to not display taxable wealth to the Ottoman. Our walk around was inspiring; our walk back up to the apartment was tiring.

Game of Thrones Tour

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This morning we where to meet our “Game Of Throne” guide in order to explore the city’s filming sites from our favorite HBO series. This is geeky we know, but when you are vacationing in “Kings Landing”, why not relive some of the incredible scenes. Our Guide, Molly, was an extra on the set for several years and was fun and professional in her presentation. For example, she was in the crowd for “Cersi’s walk of shame” and took us to the site of that filming and then many other sequences.  Check out some of our photos. 

We took a short boat ride to Lokrum Island that is close to Dubrovnik. This is mostly a nature preserve and park. Here we were able to walk through the gardens of Bravos, the “greatest city that ever was” where Dany meets the shape shifters. There is a building with some GOT stuff as well. We ended our tour and had a wonderful lunch on the island watching many peacocks spread their feathers and then we walked on the wide sunbathing rocks of the shore line. 

Montenegro

On our second day, we took a day trip to the neighboring country of Montenegro and the cities of Kotor and Budva. Montenegro, named for its location by the Black Mountain range, adjoins the border of Croatia and is mostly a Serbian Christian Orthodox state that was historically aligned with Yugoslavia entities, until 2006 independence. The drive around the shoreline of the Kotor Bay displays majestic limestone cliffs and beaches merging with blue waters. 

Our favorite stop, though unexpected, was the one street village of Perest, on the shore. We took a small local boat across the narrow bay to the the 15th century artificially created “Rock Island” and its small chapel called ‘Our Lady of the Rock Island”. The chapel was magical with a mysterious mythical story about sailors being saved in a storm. We were treated to the back story by an on-site guide who was really excited about sharing the history. It was just plain fun on a beautiful site. 

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The city of Kotor has ancient walls that are now almost indiscernible. We actually huffed and puffed our way to the high point of the city where the Fortress walls stood out and for our efforts got an amazing view of this city. Within the city are marbled streets with churches boutiques and cafes. We visited St Tryphon’s Cathedral which is an impressive 12th century structure, a little plain but certainly Byzantine in its décor. 

Seaside lunch in Budva

Seaside lunch in Budva

The City of Budva is the larger and more modern city with many high rises and fancy hotels. This is the playground of well to do Russians. The waterfront is nice, the seafood we had for lunch really great, and it appears to be the place to party. It is an example of modern urbanism on the waterfront; impressive but maybe not where you want to relax.  

 

 

 

Back in Dubrovnik on day 3, we took the cable car ride from the gates of the city up to the top of Mt. Srd. There is an old fort built by Napoleon which looms over the city. Interestingly, the Croats never built a fort here for fear the leaders of the surrounding Ottoman Empire would consider it provocation for war. Part of Dubrovnik’s success was to avoid conflict and be a non-belligerent trading partner with the Ottomans and Italian Venetians. This same sense of preservation worked in negotiations with Napoleon who did not fire cannon on the city, but did build the fort. But times do change and in recent times the Croats manned the fort to impede Bosnian advances on the city. The fort, in its rustic condition, houses a small war museum and memorial regarding the battles fought in this area in what we know the Croats call the “Homeland War”. Though the Bosnians did not invade, they did surround the city on land and sea and shelled the city with 20th century weaponry. It was a moving presentation. There are also maps in the city itself that show the bombing strikes in the city and other war memorials. 

On our last day we took a leisurely walk around the top of the ancient city walls that protected the inhabitants for 5 centuries. This may have been the best for last. We started at the low city gate and the path led us up and around to the lookout over the shimmering Adriatic Sea. From the heights of the cliffs the multi colored water was postcard perfect. We even had a beautiful sailboat moving slowly near the cliffs. As we walked we could look over the maze of streets, church towers, and orange roof tops. In some places, more modern amenities like small athletic fields and B-ball courts were fit into the gig-saw pattern of this ancient city. Also, there were some sporadic areas of bombed out structures, which you could only see from this high vantage point. We did one last audio tour of the city using a “Rick Steves” application in order to touch base on remaining sites. Still probably missed some. 

Our trip to Croatia was over. The next morning our hosts agreed to drive us to the airport which is quite away out of town for our flight to Prague in the Czech Republic. We flew Turkish Air, always the cheapest, but with new planes. Our Airbnb hosts were a very nice couple and we would recommend there Airbnb. Dubrovnik is just glorious. 

 

Northern and Central Croatia

 

Zagreb

Our first stop in Croatia was the capital city of Zagreb.  We traveled by train from Ljubljana, Slovenia.  The train looked like an old Soviet Union throwback, with old tattered seats and filthy toilets. When we got to the border 4 armed officers boarded the train, checking, and stamped our passports. They were puzzled by our new passports with no stamps in them, so we pulled out the original passports changed in Paris and that seemed to do the trick.

City Central Park

City Central Park

We arrived in Zagreb--the capital city of Croatia. Exiting the station we were able to walk through the Central Park which is very nice and displays some flamboyant Austrian architecture. Mostly, the new town has rough looking socialist structures. The city started out as two competing towns--Gornji Grad with the church and religious sector and Donji Grad with the merchants and most peasants, divided then by the river and blood bridge, the site of many battles. Today, the  "blood Bridge" street still exists.

We walked through the park to our "Cool City Hostel". It had been awhile since we did a hostel, but here we had a nice room and large kitchen in the downtown area. Our host Ivana was simply charming. She offered directions to some of her favorite city sites. First, was the Times Square of Zagreb called Jelacic Square bustling with crowds and city buzz and tram stops. The squares' namesake " Govenor Josip Jelacic" united the Croats within the Habsburg Empire.

The city square was very busy. We took a historic walking tour of the old town and saw the open market and museum of Broken Relationships, ie. mostly letters between significant others. We also viewed the famous St. Mark's church with the tiled roof of Croatian insignias and red/white checker board panels, now the style of there soccer uniforms and flag. As well the city had a gigantic Cathedral of the Assumption, which was nice with three spires.

The city maintains the tradition of firing a cannon every day to remind the town folk of lunch time. This practice started for the farmers. We witnessed the firing along with a class of elemertary kids and our tour group. Although only fired one time daily it is apparently a full time job; as is the job of the two guys who light the gas lamps along the city walk each night. 

The technical museum was back by the train station, a pretty good walk. It reminded us of a stereotypic, old time museum. Kind of like the Henry Ford Museum but not nearly as nice or complete, or large. Very Soviet. If anything we most enjoyed the WWII vintage American fighter planes with Croatian insignias. For example, the P 47 fighter and yellow Trainer were surprisingly large up close. We did not look closely at the trains, turbines, or generators. There was an interesting 1950’s Chevrolet Fire truck on display, and some 1960’s space stuff, but we could have skipped it all.

We probably could have skipped the entire town from the sightseeing point of view, but the historic references we learned about this country where important. The citizens seemed proud and happy after surviving the war with their neighbor Bosnia.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Our Hometel

We left Zagreb and bused to the the center of the country where it has a wonderful national park. The park is called“Plitvice” aka Pleet- Veet-Seh. We were dropped at the 2nd entrance and crossed the road to our “Hometel”. The property owners live in a dwellingon the premises but the rooms and separate community kitchen are at the enjoining structure. We were greeted with shots of Schnapps liquor and sweet dessert. We had a nice room with balcony looking out at the rolling wooded mountains. We would stay here again. The area looked very much like “Boyne Country” in northern Michigan, US. But this area is also known for its attached lakes and waterfalls. We decided to stay several days in this area for recreation and relaxation. We would walk the country roads through the village to the entrance.  The park is magnificent. The two main courses are about 5 KM and each circle a variety of glistening lakes of aqua and blue, multiple waterfalls, and caves. The paths are well marked and include lengthy footbridges over the water. This area has large calcium deposits which filter into the lakes and retard the growth of plankton, thus the water is crystal clear. There are some trout, but not nearly as many as you would expect in this large body of running water. There are tougher trekking areas deep into the woods, but these were closed to us this early in the new season. Our photos may not do the place justice, but we hope you enjoy the views.

P.S. Significantly, when we walked through the winding roads of the village we observed several bombed out homes. This area was the site of some unfortunate military action in the Bosnian/Croatian war, which the Croats call the “Homeland War”. As you would imagine here, the presentation of the events and fighting are pro-Croatian, but these damaged homes are evidence of distasteful neighbor -vs- neighbor conflict arising from ethic cleansing. Even in the Park, though unused and unspoiled for the 5 year period of the war, we observed small camouflaged bunkers. These type of sights remind us of the recent conflict, but also the stridesthe Croatian people are now making.

Slovenia Eastern Europe

Frank in Ljubljana

Frank in Ljubljana

Our trip is taking us into “Eastern Europe”and the former Soviet controlled nations. Slovenia, not to be confused with Slovakia, abuts northern Italy, is wedged between the Alps and Adriatic Sea, is predominantly Catholic, has a population of 2 million, and asserts it should be recognized as “Central Europe”. This journey should be interesting. We had no real idea of what to expect. After being in Paris and Rome, the most popular world tourists sites, we are going off to the the back woods of Europe in the former area of Yugoslavia. It was not until 1991 that Slovenia broke away and achieved independence. We found that Slovenia has had very strong ties with Germanic culture as it was controlled by the Austrian “Habsburg” Family for centuries--so it is more akin to Austria than the other Slovak neighbors. Subject to Nazi, then Soviet control as part of Yugoslavia after WWII, finally after centuries of looking to the west, Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004. It uses the Euro currency, but things are much cheaper, and it has a parliamentary government. There will be more insights to come as we explore and sample.

 

Our trip started with waited with the kids until their train left for Rome to catch a flight home, after not seeing them for 6 months it was a hard goodbye.  

Then we took another water taxi to the bus station, rather bus stop, on the “countryside” of Venice. Our reliable FlixBus bus arrived on time for 8:00 PM and we arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia at midnight. The guide book writes out the name as “Lyoob-lyee—AH-nah”. That is impossible to say. Forget it, quickly speak as the natives: “Lu-be-lay-na”. Our host offered free pick up and transport; good deal. He showed up in his old SKODA hatchback and joyfully crammed our luggage into the hatch. It was late and he let us in without securing payment and left us promising to be back in touch. 

The street of our apartment 

Ljubljana

The apartment was an upstairs flat in a common family neighborhood.. It was rather new and comfy. We had planned to stay only 2 nights, but liked the place and the town so booked 2 nights more. This gave us an opportunity to take in more sights and to rest after our whirlwind outing with Charlie and Gabrielle in Italy. 

We found the city of Ljubljana tremendously inviting and super clean. The river runs through the town and the river banks are paved with wide sidewalks filled with restaurants, bars with outdoor seating, and nifty shops. Farther down the river a Grecian Agora type market place with columns is fully active with fruits, veggie and meat stands. Apparently, you can buy horse meat as a staple. We could walk, and did, from our flat to the center of town several times without delay. With a mayor pushing modern urban planning, the city center is a no car zone with pedestrian only walkways to the main public square named France Pedersen Plaza, after their favorite poet. We walked all around including taking the funicular to the hilltop Ljubljana Castle. We checked out the living areas, chapel, and dungeons with virtual video about life of prisoners, as well as strolling the parapets for the views of the old city and the far out suburbs. 

 

We also took a walking tour offered by an enthusiastic PhD candidate who obviously loved his city. The university is in the middle of town and the buildings are both historically Baroque or rather unusually modern.  The Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary is also lovely. As you know, we see a lot of churches. The fun and interest is to see the artistic imagination demonstrating piety by all the various peoples. 

This City is just so easy to get around that you are put at ease immediately. Watching moms and dads and kids walking along enhances the friendly feeling, but keep your head up for the bicyclists.  

You could easily extend the stay in Slovenia, but we were limited so we signed up for a full day tour which provided transportation and allowed us to see 3 great sites in one day.

The driver /guide was a very handsome young lady from Ljubljana who spoke impeccable english, but with an Australian accent. Apparently she studied “her guide books down under”. Our small tour group included 4 Australians, an Argentinian, an Iranian, and us. Phil and Helen, open and inviting Aussies actually from Tasmania, were on a 2 month trip, but had traveled globally before. They were very helpful with sightseeing ideas for our upcoming trip to Australia. Everyone was friendly and the group was animated.  The morning trip was to the giant caves of Postojna, aka a lot of different spellings. As we drove, the guide gave us demographics lessons which lead to many questions, which lead to a rather in depth history and humanities lesson. It was apparent that Ivana was a very intelligent lady, and a decent driver too.  The country side was beautiful, especially with the “Julian Alps” in the background. It is near to this area of these Alps, in the Soca River Valley, a site of gruesome WWI fighting, that “Earnest Hemingway” drove his ambulance for the Red Cross, was injured, sent to Milan to recuperate and fell in love with his nurse, as he wrote in “A Farewell to Arms”

The view from our tour bus

Postojna Cave Park

There are hundreds of caves throughout Slovenia, carved out by underground rivers. One of the biggest and best known, and close to the capital is Postojna. Our guide told us to use our imagination for this experience, BUT we still would not imagine the magnitude and beauty of this place. She was right. OMG, this excursion was worth the entire trip to Slovenia. This excursion is as close to a Disney World ride as you could expect in a former Soviet satellite. Once you enter the mouth of the cave, a tram system is set up to ride deep into into the cavern, about half a mile, where you exit and walk on prepared sidewalks for another 2 mile trek through gigantic caverns of back lighted stalagmites and all sorts of cave wonders and formations. There is one cavern so big it is called the “concert hall” and in fact live music is played there. Historic note: the Nazi stored ammunition in this cave and resistance fighters detonated some of the cache which left a tell tale area of rubble. Words can’t adequately describe the images. Check out the photos. 

 

Cliff Castle

We took a quick trip to another mountain valley and found a hunting lodge used by the royal family Hapsburg. This lodge was part cave and part castle, too rough and rugged to be a summer home, but certainly a fortress none the less, with caverns behind the parapets. Apparently, a Robin Hood type character took over the fortress and held off the siege by a displaced Hapsburg for many months. The castle’s fatal design flaw placed the privy as an outhouse which was shelled with cannon fire while “Robin” was refreshing—he died. This was a fascinating structure, the way it was constructed and the different living levels and dungeons.     

Lake Bled

We then drove to Lake Bled---Slovenia’s leading mountain resort. Here we where treated with Alpine panoramas, a fairy tale island monastery, and large hilltop fortress.

We started with lunch on the shore. Our friendly group sat at a large table and just chatted away.  We finished lunch with a special dessert, vanilla cream pie, a local favorite. Yummy.

The group loaded on to a “Pletna” Boat where the special oarsman rows and strokes us across the water to the island. This is a century old business, much like the gondoliers in Venice. The island is capped with a super cute church with a tower and bell. The church has painted frescoes, lovely alter, and interesting ceiling construction. We pulled on the tower rope that hangs by the alter and had the bells ringing, then others stepped up and did the same. Legend has it that if the bell rings 3 times on one pull (not possible) your wish will come true. We also were able to climb the 91 steps of the church watch tower for great views of the island and surrounding countryside.  The pendulum clock has been restored. We then walked the paths around this little island enjoying more views, especially the cliffhanging fortress overlooking the area. Check out some photos. 

Bled Castle

We boated back to land and drove the winding road up to the Bled Castle. Initially built 1000 years before in lesser form, it has expanded over the centuries and was the government seat of Austrian Bishops. The views along the parapets are fantastic and the frescoed chapel is original. Some areas are early shops, such as the wine and print shops. Still, the experience was worthwhile, and of note was the replica Gutenberg Printing Press that first brought the printed New Testament to the peasant population of Slovenia.  

As we drove back to Ljubljana, our guide talked more about the culture of her country. Historically, Slovenians were peasants, hard working and practical. Their language was considered crude, not worthy of printing, and in fact forbidden to be printed. It was Mr. Primoz Turbin who printed an alphabet primer and the Bible for his people. The education the population led to the popularity of the Poet “France Preseren”. His statue stands in Ljubljana. His poem “Toast”, really a drinking song, but inspiring brotherhood, became the National Anthem. He wrote the phrases to take the shape of a wine glass. He wrote other love poems and lived a life akin to “Romeo and Juliet”. Unfortunately, his Juliet did not return the affection. Apparently, other Slovenian authors were more pessimistic, and after centuries of being under the control of foreign powers, our guide thought some of that pessimism lingered. In our opinion, it likely would be a heavy lift moving from dictatorship to democracy. To us the current Slovenians seem easygoing, stylish and fun, the “type of people you would like to chat with over a cup of coffee”. By the way, First Lady Melanie Trump was born in Slovenia.

 

Tomorrow we are off to the neighboring Slavic state of Croatia. 

Venice Italy

Venice

The main island of Venice is shaped like a fish. It is connected to the mainland or “countryside” by a parallel train and auto causeway. When the train stops, we dragged all luggage to the Water Taxi stand, paid to jump on, and then took the boat to the wrong landing and still have to drag the luggage across bridges and steps to get to the correct neighborhood. Actually, it is kind of fun winding through the narrow streets, viewing the reflections from the watery canals, seeing the cute little shops, and the multiple plaza. It is easy to get lost even with a map. Thanks to google maps and Charlie to get us settled.

Charlie and Gabbi going out to the gondola ride

We stayed in a small hotel, nothing fancy but certainly clean and convenient to the the main square of Piazza San Marco. That first afternoon, Charlie and Gabrielle left us to explore a little but mostly to take a private gondola ride. Several years ago Janet and I took the same gondola ride, but with our moms in the back seat. Oh yeah, I don't lie! We got back together and went to Piazza San Marco for early drinks and live music, soaking in the atmosphere and the surroundings. We then were off to dinner at a restaurant highly ratedby Trip advisor. The wait was too long. The host offered to take us to another restaurant that he said had the same owner and menu except no fish. OK, we want pasta anyway. He then walked us to the hidden restaurant of the same name. This place was in need of refresh, but the food was good and there was live music. The evening ended well.

We started the day with a paid guided walking tour; no free tours here. The guide was very knowledgeable and directed us around the Venice landscape, streets and exterior sites. We all got a nice overview of the tremendous history. Our walk took us by Marco Polo’s family home, on “Milion” street. There is a big sign affixed to a particular home which is readily seeable by gondola passengers; however our guide thinks the actual home is farther down the street, but still on Milion street. Apparently, as revered asMarco Polo was he was also ridiculed by fellow Venetians as being a grand “exaggerator”.  They chided his address and his stories of a million Chinese, a million towns, a million this and a million that, etc, etc. What a funny story.

The next tour was with the same guide and we travelled through the Doge's palace, the dungeon, over the bridge of sighs and its cathedral. The actual halls of power are amazingly decorated. Venice, unlike Florence and the Medici clan,  wanted to retard the growth of power within one family. The Venetian council selected it leader every 2-3 years from the elder statesmen of the group.  Should the leader get too uppity, he would be exercised, and his portrait removed from the wall of the Doge palace, and replaced with a painted sign indicating his transgressions. 

We finished the afternoon by visiting the out of the way “Basilica Dei Frari”. This church had some bizarre sculptures and then some fantastic main altar paintings. The most renowned painting is Titian’s “ Assunta” (Assumption of red cloaked Madonna). This is a Titian gallery of sorts. The side altars are something else as well, with one which had a giant sculpture of 4 Africans carved with black stone acting as pillars holding up the roof of a moseleum. 

This day was concluded by an In-house dinner with cooking lessons at the home of a Venetian couple. They were lovely, friendly people who had a very large 3 story home. Their living quarters were on the 2nd floor. We agreed to a meeting point and Giorgio came to lead us through the winding streets to his home. He spoke no english but seemed friendly enough.

When we arrived we were greeted by Santina who spoke little english and a charming young Brit named Anna. She was going to be our facilitator. Everyone thought we had booked through the “Italian Language School”. Surprise, no speak Italian. Thankfully, Anna was there to keep the friendly chatter going. The menu was varied, the cooking methods simple and the ingredients healthy. There wine was good too.  Santina and Giorgio had been conducting a greet and meet cooking class for several years. Anna had stayed with them as her host family on her study abroad program. She loved Venice and had returned to live here and maintain her friendship. She really was a sweet person and made our evening thoroughly enjoyable. We would recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and experiencing the same thing.  See some photos below of our great time.

On our final day we water taxied over to slender Murano Island to view all the artful glass stores and factories. We had purchased a signed glass sculpture when we were here before, but our kids purchased some nice items. Murano is much calmer then Venice, so our waterfront meal was more relaxing. We did notice some signs protesting the invasion of Chinese made glass products warning against damage to the island’s reputation. From our eyes, there is some glass that looks rather mass produced, but clearly the really artistic glass work with flair stands out; just be careful where you shop. 

We water taxied back to Venice to pickup the stored luggage and then tagged alone with our kids as they waited for their train to Rome and the flight home. We greatly enjoyed spending time with family. We may be more home sick now, but there are still many adventures ahead. See some more pictures of our great time in Venice.