So, the trip continues. What I failed to mention in the last blog, is the trivial occurrence, which happened immediately following the last picture, the one of the four of us in front of the beautiful river in the Slovenian Alps. I slipped while removing the tripod and literally threw the digital camera into one of those crystal clear pools. In an effort to rescue the submerged camera, I slid into the pool myself. The water was a brisk 10 degrees Celsius—darn cold. Luckily, the chilly water helped to ice my derrière, which landed rather abruptly on the rocky prominences of the canyon. The camera, after 4 days of drying out, is unscathed! We didn’t lose a single picture. My posterior has been slower to heal, turning an amazing array of colors in the process.
The next day, we boarded a bus to a train to a bus to arrive in Krk, not a typo. There are all kinds of places with no vowels in this part of the world. We understand this is pronounced “Kirk”. Krk is a small medieval city, paved with marble, with narrow, winding alleys, perfect for playing hide and seek. Unfortunately, the second bus was so late that we arrived after the information center closed. We wandered, unsuccessfully trying to find an apartment or hotel, when the distant threat of thunder and lightning turned into the opening of the skies in an absolute down pour. By now it was approaching 9:30 pm, we were drenched, and had neither a place to stay nor dinner. Do you have an idea what happens to marble when it gets wet? Those quaint narrow alleys became completely treacherous, absurdly slippery. Things improved in rapid succession as we found a place (less than half the price we thought was quoted), a great dinner (no more heavy, Eastern European food) and a plan for the rest of Croatia.
We ended up, given our first lousy experience with Croatian buses, foregoing public transportation for this part of the trip, renting a car and heading for the mountains. Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This might be the most spectacular place in the world that you’ve never heard of. Plitvice National Park. We spent a cold, rainy day touring Plitvice National Park. It has a series of lakes, interconnected with countless waterfalls. They’ve built a boardwalk, around some lakes, over others, close enough to the falls to put your hand into the water. The lakes are almost eerie colors, turquoise, sapphire, teal--certainly not colors that normally occur in nature.
From here, we headed to the coast and a string of wonderful cities on the Adriatic. Split, Hvar and Korcula are all beautiful, clean and friendly with great fish and vegetable markets, ancient ruins, red tiled roofs, rising up the steep hillsides, which end in the light green of the Adriatic. You can see the bottom of the sea from the shore, and the water is very swimmable (Word doesn’t like this spelling, but I like it)—about 22 degrees Celsius. Is it possible that this is saltier water than other oceans/seas? We seem to float more easily here, although that may be due to our skipping the dumplings in Slovakia, which reminds me…
Let me digress and tell you about the food on the second part of the trip. I think I already wrote about the food in Great Britain, Scandinavia and Russia. Our entry into Eastern Europe was a return to some seriously hearty foods, way heartier even than in England. We had sausages and more sausages, goulashes (yum), stews, roasts, and fried everything. And lots and lots of “dumplings.” Now, dumplings are usually a favorite of mine, but, here dumplings have an entirely different meaning. Here, they take partially cooked white bread, slice it into 1 centimeter portions, and serve it along side whatever gravy covered meat was ordered. We were talking to some Canadian tourists, who claimed that these dumplings sank faster than a hockey puck when tossed into water. We didn’t actually try this, but we sure did miss vegetables and lighter fare. Once in Croatia, we’ve been living off of grilled fish and seafood, other than the wonderful meal of pig on the spit.
The Beattie Beer Index has a moderate rating for Croatia. The beers are pretty good, a bit lighter and fizzier than we really like, and costing about $3 in a restaurant and $1 from the store for a half liter. But, the real story here are the wines! Especially where we are now, in Dalmatia. And, the bottles are mostly 1 liter, not the typical, skimpy, 750 ml bottles we get in the States. We are presently finishing a bottle of an absolutely fabulous wine, Plavac, from Korcula, the island where we are today. We rode bicycles through the vineyards, arriving at this tiny shack where they make this incredible wine.
As we finish the bottle, we wax nostalgic, as we miss drinking wine with our wine buddies! If you can find any wine from this region, known as Grk wines, please try it, especially the reds. Supposedly, the vines were transported here by the Greeks, saving the grapes from Troy after they destroyed the city. “Grk” is pronounced, understandably given the origin of the grapes, like “Greek.” The picture here, is of a group hand picking the grapes for this wine. They gave us a bunch to taste. So, pour yourselves a glass of good wine, raise it up, and clink with us!
Jivili! (Croatian, for Cheers!)
The Beatties
The next day, we boarded a bus to a train to a bus to arrive in Krk, not a typo. There are all kinds of places with no vowels in this part of the world. We understand this is pronounced “Kirk”. Krk is a small medieval city, paved with marble, with narrow, winding alleys, perfect for playing hide and seek. Unfortunately, the second bus was so late that we arrived after the information center closed. We wandered, unsuccessfully trying to find an apartment or hotel, when the distant threat of thunder and lightning turned into the opening of the skies in an absolute down pour. By now it was approaching 9:30 pm, we were drenched, and had neither a place to stay nor dinner. Do you have an idea what happens to marble when it gets wet? Those quaint narrow alleys became completely treacherous, absurdly slippery. Things improved in rapid succession as we found a place (less than half the price we thought was quoted), a great dinner (no more heavy, Eastern European food) and a plan for the rest of Croatia.
We ended up, given our first lousy experience with Croatian buses, foregoing public transportation for this part of the trip, renting a car and heading for the mountains. Where in the world are Ethan and Siena?
This might be the most spectacular place in the world that you’ve never heard of. Plitvice National Park. We spent a cold, rainy day touring Plitvice National Park. It has a series of lakes, interconnected with countless waterfalls. They’ve built a boardwalk, around some lakes, over others, close enough to the falls to put your hand into the water. The lakes are almost eerie colors, turquoise, sapphire, teal--certainly not colors that normally occur in nature.From here, we headed to the coast and a string of wonderful cities on the Adriatic. Split, Hvar and Korcula are all beautiful, clean and friendly with great fish and vegetable markets, ancient ruins, red tiled roofs, rising up the steep hillsides, which end in the light green of the Adriatic. You can see the bottom of the sea from the shore, and the water is very swimmable (Word doesn’t like this spelling, but I like it)—about 22 degrees Celsius. Is it possible that this is saltier water than other oceans/seas? We seem to float more easily here, although that may be due to our skipping the dumplings in Slovakia, which reminds me…
Let me digress and tell you about the food on the second part of the trip. I think I already wrote about the food in Great Britain, Scandinavia and Russia. Our entry into Eastern Europe was a return to some seriously hearty foods, way heartier even than in England. We had sausages and more sausages, goulashes (yum), stews, roasts, and fried everything. And lots and lots of “dumplings.” Now, dumplings are usually a favorite of mine, but, here dumplings have an entirely different meaning. Here, they take partially cooked white bread, slice it into 1 centimeter portions, and serve it along side whatever gravy covered meat was ordered. We were talking to some Canadian tourists, who claimed that these dumplings sank faster than a hockey puck when tossed into water. We didn’t actually try this, but we sure did miss vegetables and lighter fare. Once in Croatia, we’ve been living off of grilled fish and seafood, other than the wonderful meal of pig on the spit.
The Beattie Beer Index has a moderate rating for Croatia. The beers are pretty good, a bit lighter and fizzier than we really like, and costing about $3 in a restaurant and $1 from the store for a half liter. But, the real story here are the wines! Especially where we are now, in Dalmatia. And, the bottles are mostly 1 liter, not the typical, skimpy, 750 ml bottles we get in the States. We are presently finishing a bottle of an absolutely fabulous wine, Plavac, from Korcula, the island where we are today. We rode bicycles through the vineyards, arriving at this tiny shack where they make this incredible wine.
As we finish the bottle, we wax nostalgic, as we miss drinking wine with our wine buddies! If you can find any wine from this region, known as Grk wines, please try it, especially the reds. Supposedly, the vines were transported here by the Greeks, saving the grapes from Troy after they destroyed the city. “Grk” is pronounced, understandably given the origin of the grapes, like “Greek.” The picture here, is of a group hand picking the grapes for this wine. They gave us a bunch to taste. So, pour yourselves a glass of good wine, raise it up, and clink with us!Jivili! (Croatian, for Cheers!)
The Beatties
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