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More Adventures!

maio - julho 2024
  • Julie Bielenberg
A log of our adventures from May to July 2024 as Russell and I get to experience a little more of this beautiful world. "Every Day Is An Adventure". Leia mais
  • Julie Bielenberg
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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Postojna Caves, then Opatija.

    13 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We left Zagreb this morning and popped over the border into Slovenia to visit the Postojna Caves. It's a massive subterranean world of stunning stalactites, stalagmites, columns and curtains. We've been to caves in Australia and Hungary which boast stalactites and stalagmites etc but they pale in comparison. We travelled deep into the caves for 3.7km in their cave train, then walked about an hour and caught the train back again. It was an amazing place, chilly at 8 degrees centigrade. At the deepest spot we were 120m below ground.

    We then drove back into Croatia to the lovely seaside town of Opatija, our home for the next 2 nights. It was a bit hazy but nevertheless our first views of the Adriatic Sea were still very pretty. Our day ended with a very fancy buffet dinner and a short stroll.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Pula and Rovinj.

    14 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Our day started with rain as we drove along the coast to Pula but cleared up. Pula is the biggest city in the Istrian Peninsula. There we visited the well-preserved first-century arena, scene of brutal gladiatorial battles in Roman times.

    My favourite part of the day was when we visited the really charming town of Rovinj. We wandered through the cobbled streets up to St Euphemia's Church. This really sweet town seems more Italian than Croatian with its pastel-colored buildings and Venetian styled buildings. We enjoyed a light lunch in a very pretty setting.

    We drove back to our hotel in the late afternoon. The countryside is a bit different from the previous couple of days. When we came back to the coast the view was much clearer than it had been in the rainy morning. Not perfect but clearer. We could see a few of Croatia's many islands - they number around 1200!

    Back in Opatija, 17 of our group booked takes at a local restaurant. The meals were delicious and we had a great time. We haven't laughed so hard in ages.

    (Photo#2. The lower photo showing Rovinj from the air is not my own - all else are. I loved this photo, seeing how the town is situated, so included it. )    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    The Plitvice Lakes.

    15 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The Plivice National Park is one of the 2 most visited places in Croatia. Dubrovnik is the other hotspot. The National Park has a series of lakes, waterfalls and caves and is incredibly beautiful. Our 3 hour walk around some of the lakes was the standout event of our day. A beautiful way to spend the afternoon. It really is an incredible place.

    The drive southwards this morning along the coast was very pretty. The little town we stopped at for morning tea was Sinj. The Bura winds can get incredibly fierce in this little town, but not today. Gusts sometimes reach over 200km/hr. Roads get closed. After Sinj we headed inland driving to the Plitvice Lakes. We drove through an area that had very fierce fighting in the early 90's when the Yugoslav army—largely composed of Serbs and controlled by Slobodan Milosevic—invaded Croatia. Bullet holes etc are visible in some houses that remain.

    Tonight we are staying in the fairly new and very modern Lyra Hotel which is located in the Plitvice National Park.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Zadar and Trogir.

    16 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Today we drove to the area of Croatia called Dalmatia. The countryside has changed. We visited 2 cities.

    Zadar. It is known for the Roman and Venetian ruins of its peninsular Old Town.
    It's also famous for its Sea Organ which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps. Check it out here.
    https://youtu.be/n86pF-wQKrw?si=CxtR0AihJVIGCDld

    Trogir was first founded by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC. We had a lovely couple of hours in this preserved old town, known for its mix of Renaissance, baroque and Romanesque buildings. It's on a small island incredibly close to the mainland and connected by bridges. It's very touristy, full of restaurants and shops amidst the very old buildings and little laneways, but very charming.

    Tonight we are staying in the Hotel President in Solin, a town and outer suburb of Split. It is lovely; very traditional as opposed to last night's very modern hotel. .... but how many jets does a bath/shower need?    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Split and a ferry to Hvar.

    17 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We have booked into our room in the town of Hvar (on the island of Hvar). We will be here for 2 nights and will explore tomorrow. Soon it will be dinner time. The view from the hotel (first photo and video) is incredibly gorgeous as we look across to other islands. I'm feeling very spoilt.

    I'll go back and describe the earlier part of our day.

    Before leaving our hotel in Soltin (Split area) this morning I walked to the park right next to the hotel. There were 2 beautiful churches, one very old, one very modern.

    We spent the morning in Split, the 2nd largest city in Croatia, population approx. 160,000. The Roman Emperor Diocletian built his palace here, and today it forms the heart of the Old Town of Split. We explored the 1,700 year-old palace cellars and learnt the story of the infamous emperor. Our guide then led us through the labyrinthine streets and arcaded squares to see St. Duje's- originally Diocletian's Mausoleum, and the Temple of Jupiter, which today is a baptistery, as well as the Golden Gate. After our walking tour we had almost 3 free hours. As we'll be coming back here after our tour ends we took it easy and decided to leave the further sightseeing until then. We strolled along the main walking promenade and checked out where our apartment will be next week. Another perfect location. Then we found a great restaurant and sat under cover enjoying the mild breeze. At 2:30pm we left Split on a ferry to the island of Hvar. It was a very pleasant 2 hour trip.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    The Island of Hvar.

    18 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We toured much of the island of Hvar this morning. In mid 20's sunshine we enjoyed a walking tour of the town of Stari Grad. We spent quite a bit of time there. The town has an incredible history and is one of the very oldest towns in Europe. A bonus for us is that this town is on flat ground!! We really enjoyed visiting and learning about the place. We then drove to a village called Vrboska for lunch at a winery. Apart from us and a couple of other non drinkers the rest of our group were able to try a few local wines, a dessert wine and then grappa. We were happy with our meal and water!! Dessert was particularly good.

    By the time 5pm came around for our short walk into town the blue skies were gone and a very light drizzle was falling but not really enough to need an umbrella. We had a great time walking around this charming town and exploring some of the alleys before settling on a restaurant for dinner. Hvar is apparently the sunniest island in Croatia and attracts the very rich and famous as well as ordinary tourists like us. Many movie stars, royalty, and mega rich have been here. When our local guide started rattling off their names we wondered when she was going to stop! It certainly is a lovely spot.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Next stop, Korčula.

    19 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Today was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot but quite hazy. We have left the island of Hvar but experienced a bit of a roundabout journey to get to the town and island of Korčula.

    First off we drove 77 km from the town of Hvar to Sućuraj. Sućuraj is the smallest town on the island of Hvar in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea, only 5 km from the Dalmatian coast. After a break there we boarded a ferry for the short trip to the mainland. We then drove south for about an hour. We drove through a very fertile area which was once swamp land. A bit further south we crossed a fairly new bridge across to a peninsula - still on the mainland, continued to Orebić and boarded another ferry. This too was a short 15 minute ferry ride which took us to another island which is home for the next 2 nights. Korčula is one of the 48 inhabited islands. (There's 1244 Croatian islands.) We are staying in the town of Korčula, the largest town on the island of Korčula.

    After settling into our accommodation we had a walking tour of the old town. Like all of the other incredibly old towns we have visited, Korčula is quite charming. The history of these towns is amazing. Like many this too was a walled town. It is so close to the mainland, the views are quite lovely in every direction. Here are some photos from our walking tour, a couple of random photos plus a shot of our hotel. Croatia had proven to be a very beautiful country.
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    1. The couple in a photo with us are Merran and Arthur from Canberra.
    2. The last photos mix: Hydrangeas are obvious as are the interesting clocks. The unusual photo is showing a pile of black sea urchins visible through the very clear sea water.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Korčula continued.

    20 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Until 3:30 it had been a free day. As I have a ticklish throat and am feeling a little off colour today we had a restful morning then made the short walk into the old town. We enjoyed a pleasant lunch right at one of the many restaurants in the boulevard that runs along the wall. Then we had a quiet stroll through some of the alleys. I feel for the old and mobility limited residents who have to negotiate so many steep alleys and countless numbers of steps on a regular basis. I could see how tough it was for some. It's not easy for us either just quietly; we come from a very flat suburb in Melbourne!

    Late this afternoon we enjoyed a scenic coastal cruise. We passed the old port town of Korčula seeing it from the sea now. We continued past the island of Badija, known for its Franciscan monastery & stone quarries as well as several other islands. Eventually we landed in Lumbarda back on the island of Korčula and made our way to the heart of the oldest settlement on the island. We finished with a home-made dinner in a family-run venue. Back to the mainland tomorrow.    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Ston and Dubrovnik

    21 de maio de 2024, Croácia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    We are in Dubrovnik. This city is why we decided to come to Croatia. Why? ... It's because I was captivated by a really huge painting of this walled city while attending the Croatian Hall in Geelong. I went there each week, for several weeks, a couple of years in a row. It was a long time ago, when my oldest girls were in their latter years of high school. I was organising debutante balls for North Geelong High and the practices and the ball itself were held there. For some reason I was really taken by the enormous painting on the wall. Dubrovnik was not a tourist hot spot at all back then. Many people had probably never heard of it. It was long before Game of Thrones - which incidentally I have never seen. I look forward to seeing more of this beautiful and captivating city. (By the way I didn't have to force Russell to come - he too was very happy for us to plan this trip!)

    We left Korčula this morning and headed back to the mainland. Our first stop was at Ston. We were amazed to see a wall in the hills that looked like the Great Wall of China!! On a much smaller scale of course. The Walls of Ston are a series of defensive stone walls, originally more than 7 kilometres long, that surrounded and protected the city of Ston, in Dalmatia, in southern Croatia. Their construction began in 1358. While in Ston we visited a local oyster farmer, to learn about the cultivation and harvest of oysters - and mussels too. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of prawn risotto and then a sea-to-table tasting of the fresh shellfish.

    After lunch we had a scenic drive as we continued on to Dubrovnik. This walled city is known as the Pearl of the Adriatic. George Bernard Shaw called it 'Paradise on Earth'. A local guide took us in behind the walls for a glimpse into local life. We explored the stone-paved streets inside the 16th century bastions of the Old Town. We had a little time to explore further but will have to go back to have a better look. We were lucky today that there were no cruise ships in town - so the old town wasn't wall to wall tourists. Dubrovnik didn't disappoint!    Leia mais

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  • Julie BielenbergViajanteMore Adventures!

    Kotor, Montenegro.

    22 de maio de 2024, Montenegro ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    It rained last night and we woke to a clear sky, no haze and a beautiful blue Adriatic Sea. It has been a long day. We left early for Montenegro. It's not all that far away but as it is not in the EU nor part of the Schengen area we had to go through border controls which adds an unknown amount of time in both directions. The scenery was beautiful as we travelled along the coast. As you can tell by the photos, the sky turned grey and cloudy as we edged closer to Kotor and in fact we had a heavy rain shower while we were eating lunch. Kotor is not big but is wonderful. It's yet another beautiful old town. There are so many!Leia mais

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