Saturday April 10, 2010

As planned we dropped Teresa and Greg at the airport at 1:00 I must say I felt really bad as their plane did not depart until 4:00. The drive to Split where we drop the car and catch the ferry is suppose to be about 3 hours and everyone assured us there is a nice freeway. What people didn't tell us is that for several miles we would once again be on country roads with limited passage and marginal guard rails. After a grueling 5 hours of driving we arrived at Kastel once again in search of the Villa Sullay where we had been just a week ago. As we turned down the street to approach the area of hotels we were stopped in our tracks by a wedding party marching up the street with all their finery. The next street we took was a dead end and when turning around without Greg directing, Bob managed to plow directly into a little old lady's flower pot. She was screaming at him and Bob is telling me to not worry. I got out of the car and scooped the dirt, rocks, plants and little twigs back in the pot for all I knew she could have had the ashes of some animal in there. Proceeding down the road we past the Pink Panther one of our choices a week ago but that is where the wedding party was staying. The Villa Sulluay was dark and no one was home so we ended at the Villa Katel right up the street. Upons arriving we were informed a handball team was staying there consisting of 20 young men ages 22-25 and they were on their way to a local soccer game. Sometime about 1:00 they all returned and continued to party like rock stars, not a restful night but nice hotel. Once again the weather has gone sour on us and it is raining and really windy the ferry ride on Sunday could be very interesting. We certainly miss our navigational team and I really don't care for the front seat.

Friday April 9, 2010

It has been one complete day since Bob has driven the car and I am pretty sure he is in withdrawl. So this being said Bob and I head to a small town called Cavtat it is about a 20 minute drive from our apt. There is much history surrounding this town that dates back to around 228 BC. Throughout the middle ages it was part of Dubrovnik republic and shared cultural and econmic life with the capital city. The city was a Greek settlement and when they were invaded by the Slavs they relocated to Dubrovnik. Leaving the little town of Cavtat on it's own. Today it is not a tourist attraction like many places we have visited, the streets are small and restraunts line the harbour. The town is going through a big renovation and I decided Bob could proably be hired on to supervise the job site, he felt totally at home. Teresa and Greg took a boat tour around the island of Lokrum the island is located right off our apt. window and is one of many Nationa Parks. Once again they ,learned more history of the war and were able to tour some caves by the boat. They learned the history on a hotel that sits high above the cliffs that is called the Belvadere it has not been repaired since the war in 1992. Bob and I walked up there and it was erie to say the least.

After returning from our car trip I was on a mission to buy a painting I had spotted the day before. This is the man who drew the painting of the old town, he was the rudest man I have ever met but I liked the painting so I purchased it. Once again there was no discount for his rudness and I am pretty sure this is the most expensive painting I have purchased

After a great day we ventured to a restraunt called Levant located in an area that is not in the old city, the area is called Lapad. The decision is to take the bus there and taxi home. We manged to succesfully take the #5 bus to the end of the line and only had to ask 1 time as to the location of the restraunt. The view was once again breathtaking and we felt like we were sitting on top of the water. Dinner was very good, this is the first time I have had beefsteak since our arrival and it was superb. The taxi picked us up as planned and once agin he shared stories of the war. At the time of the war he was a soilder fighting for his country. As he said there was no purpose to the war and the devastation was more than we could imagine. On saturday April 10 we start on to our next part of the trip. Teresa and Greg leave us to return to Germany and the JOB. We will truly miss our traveling friends it has been the best. Bob and I will drive back to Split were we will hop on the ferry and proceed to Italy where we will spend our next 3 weeks before heading to Germany, Austria and Swizerland. The internet at our apt has been the best and I have no idea what the next few days will bring. I am thinking I might have to search for the internet more than I have in for the past 2 weeks.

Thursday April 8, 2010
The location of this apartment is the best, only a short walk downhill to the old town and the bus line is directly in front of the place. This picture is taken from the street and dosen't give it justice as to the height from the ground below. The apt has a washer so after being on the road for 10 days we knew that this was going to be really nice feature. After a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, and the works our housekeeping chores go into action. Bob finished doing his laundry as Teresa had already done all of the other laundry, mine included.

Teresa and Greg headed off to the old city of Dubrovnik and we would be soon to follow. The old city dates back to the 13th century when the walls were built to keep the Turksh armies away. When entering through the city I was so impressed by how well it has been preserved and how clean it is. During the war in 1992 several bombs had destroyed roofs in the city and many houses were burned. There is a walking tour on the great wall so with some reluctancy Bob agreed to do the tour. I had no idea that the heights would once again be so freightening, it seemed like forever from the wall to the water below. While walking and observing the vista we came across a Maritime Museum I decided not to go in and stayed and chatted with a woman selling goods in a little stand. She was born and raised in Dubrovnik and had much sadness in her voice when talking of the war. Her house had been burned down to the ground and the scares of the war still were imbeded in her. Lavander soap was one of the goods she was selling so feeling bad about her story I purchased a bar to the tune of 10 eu probably the most expensive bar of soap I will ever own.

We met up with Teresa and Greg and then took the bus down to the old city for dinner. The restaurant was called the Dubravka located outside the old city. The food was very good, beefsteak was recommended and turned out to be very tasty. I opted for lasagna and Bob had pizza. After missing our return bus we managed to get a taxi that would charge us 40 kn or $2 a piece to transport us up the hill. Another great day.

Wednesday April 7, 2010

Since we have arrived on the island of Hvar we have been exploring the option of taking a ferry back from the town of Drvenik which is only a 30 minute ferry ride but 1 1/2 hour car drive to get there. We all finally decide it will be worth the time to see other parts of the island of Hvar. The ferry has a pretty tight schedule and can only capacitate 30 cars so we want to be early not late. We head out of Hvar town, past Stari Grad and soon we are out of the road that is most traveled. The next 60 km took over 1 and 1/2 hours. There were times when Bob was driving that only one car could be on the road 2 cars would result in someone going off the cliff as there were only 2 wooden guard rails the entire trip. There are little villages scattered along the way and it looked like there means of income was olives as there were olive orchards along the entire trip. The above picture is Drvenik a post card town with fishing as there main activity and of course the ferry. It was always good entertainment watching Bob and Greg drive the car onto the ferry. We have manged to be first in line on both excursions across the water the trip is uneventful and we start our drive to Dubrovnik.

We arrived at our new apt. where we will spend the next 3 nights. The place is very nice 2 bedrooms, kitchen, 2 baths and a view that is by far the best we have seen from a room. The views are from every room, and we are located 100 meters up and it makes my fear of heights come into play every time I go on the deck. We fire up the GPS and find our way to the supermarket to buy food for the next few days, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The meal of baked chicken breast, pasta, tomatoes, brussel sprouts and fine wine was prepared and enjoyed by everyone.

Tuesday April 6, 2010

Once again wait one day and the weather is beautiful. After a very restful night we woke up to blue skies and not a cloud in sight, this seems to be the patter we have been experiencing. After I spent some time at a local hotel using the internet, looking like I was living there we hooked up with Teresa and Greg. We all made the decision to have a Hvar picnic for lunch. Once inside the grocery store the work began making the decisons as to what the sandwiches would consist of. Instead of ordering luncheon meat and cheese by the kg because our ability to convert to pounds was not so good we ordered everything by the slices. The picnic was a success, set by the sea, nice wine, great friends and good sandwiches. After a very fulfilling lunch the decision was to split up and do whatever activity we would want to do on a beautiful day.

Through out the entire day I had my eyes on a castle on top of a big steep hill my activity was to get there somehow. There was a nice walking path straight up to the top but to my disappointmet the castle was closed but the views were amazing overlooking the entire town of Hvar. My friends chose to fill there time relaxing and reading books.

The plan was to meet up at 4:30 at the Riva Hotel this is a place in Teresa's book called small luxury hotels of the world. Upon arriving we were greeted by a big cruise ship that ruined our view but not our fun.

Dinner tonight was in a restaurant called Macondo this place was over type as far as the food. It was the best red snapper I have ever had. When we were leaving we managed to meet the owner, the fisherman who caught the fish, the cook and assistant, cook. We ended our night at a place called Garifuls where there is an aquarium beneath the floor stocked with sharks, lobsters and many other fish. We proceeded up 190 steps to our Guesthouse.

Monday April 5, 2010

Before leaving the Kastel area we walked around in search of the sites that were recommended by Donna. The little towns surrounding our villa were all within walking distance. The area is noted for a 1500 olive tree so while Bob and Greg sat and had a beverage, Teresa and I went on a mission to find the giant olive tree. After walking for some time this charming little lady came out of her house and we asked her for directions. She spoke no english so we tryed to show her the picture on our map and she took our arms and led us down the street. We were headed for the bus stop best as we could figure when she opened a yellow gate and motioned for us to come in. Reluctantly we did so and there was the large tree. Teresa I are were surprised to say the least and there was no way we would have found it.

Our next stop on this route is to get to the ferry in Split so we can transport our car over to Hvar where we will stay for 2 nights. Everything goes without a hitch the ferry takes close to 2 hours, but is very comfortable and dry as it is still raining. We arrive at a port called Stari Gaze and then follow the road to Hvar town. In the summer this town occupies about 30,000 people I can't imagine what it is like. There are no street signs and hotels are very expensive according to the book we have. After going through streets that were barely big enough for our small car we found the bus station where we could get information on hotels. Teresa went to get information and was greeted by an old lady who said she had a rooms for rent. We read in the book if the aprtment did not have a blue sign Sobe don't go there as they were renting without permission. The lady hopped in the car and gave us directions to the rooms for rent. Upon arrival there was a big metal gate and she just kept telling us she was a nice lady, after seeing the rooms that were marginal we made the decision to look elsewhere. Teresa called a guesthouse that was recommended in the book and they came and escorted us to our new place for the next 2 nights. Intially the owner only had 1 night but after she met us charming Americans she said we could have 2 nights.

We ate at a place called Junior in the harbor recommended by our host I can't spell her name, the dinner was good and I had to take a picture of my dinner (small fish) just like smelt.

Sunday April, 4 2010

Happy Easter and we enjoyed a very nice ham brunch at our Hotel Plitvice. Bob and I decided we needed to see as much of the park as possible in a short period of time. The bus took us to the other end of the park to see the grand falls then to the upper falls, our intention was to walk back to the hotel but the trails were flooded do to the high water so the bus was a good means of getting places fairly fast.

Our next destination was to be somewhere close to Spit. We drove the freeway and were able to make up some time even though the travel along the coast has been beautiful.

We stopped at a Renasance town called Trogir, there was a small island that was the old town called Crovido there we had some wine and talked with the locals about the history of the town.

There is a town on the map called Kastel, just south of Trogir which is a small dot so we went in search of the perfect little place to stay. The weather has changed and once agin it is raining. There are several signs along the way that say Sobe which means rooms for rent. The first place we stopped Bob and Greg went in and some lady offered them an aprtment in her house with a great view. We decided to continue our search and landed at a very quiet Villa Soulavy. The womans name was Donna and I swear she was Leranda McNulty's twin. She directed us to a fabulous restraunt on the water called Balentna Skola. In the area of Katel there a 7 villages. We stayed in Katel, Luksie.