Ferry Crash and Filthy Football
May 9 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Rhonda slept in so it was a rushed pack and fry up of our daily eggs and toast. We clambered down the many steps and saw our ferry rushing in at a great speed of knots and hurried our stride, in our mind’s eye thinking the vessel’s speed rathan unwarranted… nek minut… CRASH, SCRAPE and CRUNCH !! 👀 👀 👀 🫣😳 the ferry had crashed partly onto the solid stone pier!! Then to our amazement it back pedaled at just the same speed, then came in a slightly different angle, and at the expected speed. Our own disbelief mirrored in our fellow passenger’s faces.
The crew disembarked, came and had a look. I think one older fella took a photo and then they proceeded to collect tickets as though nothing happened. I wasn’t the only one taking photos amongst the passengers. Maybe it’s not so bad living in a nanny country. Obviously it had been decided that we wouldn’t sync as the scrape may have only been superficial. I think the shock caused me to forget that I had already purchased tickets, when we handed the wrong tickets and then I purchased another €125 worth of tickets, and then handed the Steward the original tickets. 🤪 (TP Line assured me of a refund).
Moving along, we arrived at the ferry Inlet of Korcula. I thought would take some beating but the truly beautiful tree-lined path, dotted by gorgeous stone washed Michelin restaurants and cafes, looked so much like a scene from my favourite “Durrells” the azure green and blue sparking oceans gently lapping the limestones rock walls.
There was nothing for it but to don our togs and dive into such crystal clear beauty. My first dip was was quite toe-numbing but I could not resist and plunged in. Okay it was Antartically cold but very refreshing, and I managed to convince a few of our tribe to join me.
Our Tribe leader venturing in sandal-less and may have caressed the urchin with his big clod hoppers but this was nothing compared to the refreshing experience. It did however unfortunately prevent some of the rest of the party from joining us as they had shipped out their handheld encyclopedias to check out first aid for sea urchin caresses. It was as I suspected and Croatian sea urchins don’t hurt. Actually, I think it’s just the Australian creatures that are dangerous in pretty much dangerous in every department 🇦🇺 🐙
I reckon I lasted about 20 minutes and then the cold had become too much for even me. I did manage to talk an uninhibited American tourist into joining me but she also did not last long.
I was later approached by some Australian tourists asking if it was me swimming in the ocean and how cold it was. Of course I told them it wasn’t cold 😁
Eric and I found a lovely lunch restaurant and gorged on basil risotto at truffle handmade fettuccine. Not exactly Croatian but very delicious.
With an explored the exceptionally ancient city, climbed the largest bell tower. It managed to ring without me pulling on the wires, which was exciting. I’m not sure how Eric meant to squeeze up the tiny staircases, very impressive!
It was then time to find a bar to watch Manchester city meet some other English soccer team. Took me awhile to realise I was using the wrong term asking for directions and changed my wording to ‘football’. We had previously found a nice establishment but guarantee Wi-Fi, so we found our way to a very dodgy smelly looking room and coerced the bored and surly looking barman into turning on the soccer and then later turning off his loud 80s rock and letting us hear the commentary (which turned out to be Croatian but we couldn’t bring ourselves to get him turn it off) Being loyal fans we understood Mannie’s need to support his team so we enjoyed it even though I kept cheering for the incorrect team. In protest at having had his favourite tunes turned off the barman crashed and banged in the kitchen drowning out the
commentary that we couldn’t understand. Half time couldn’t come quick enough.
Raquel and I escaped to watch the sunset and escape the smelly friends of the barman, the tribe boys sought out the original badly-receptioned bar.
The sunset photograph and our eyes still full of its glow. we headed to find the boys. The hilarity could be heard a few steps away from the bar and the friendly Croatian barman appeared to be joining in the fun of the win 🏆. Pizza for dinner included a slightly eccentric Croatian barman with a fetish for Bob Marley, which he proudly boasted they played all day. He even turned the volume up for us and put on my request of ‘no woman no cry’ which he sang loudly after the song had finished. The pizzas were delicious and we followed it up with some delicious mascarpone and fig gelati!! A great day in all!!Read more
Pharos and the empty taste
May 8 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
With momentum rolling we
made a plan to locally bus it to Stari Grad, Hvar but not before a quick discovery tour of more of my golden city albeit a bit fatter today with its swelled ranks of cruise shippers.
The local Franciscan monastery with dates in the 1500’s was reconnoitred and an angelic flamenco-style chorus could be heard harmonising which drew us further in. The full performance treat appeared to be only for cruise paying passengers, who champagne in hand gathered to enjoy.
Stari Grad: Very rocky countryside could be seen from the bus window: white limestone outcrops and ‘Van Gogh’ veridian green with the olive trees, dark cypress and pine.
Not much was stirring in Stari but a general feeling of ennui. A quiet but slightly run down collection of stone houses and fairly desperate looking shop entries. Locals, few in number, sporting the Croatian uniform of matching top and bottom side-striped trackie and closely shaved -headed en masse milled in bars and cafes. In our strolling and slight limping (in Rhonda’s case) we discovered a secret gem in the original and a-typically large block foundation of a 4th century site. In 384BC the Greeks from the island of Paros came, conquered and founded a town they named Pharos.
On return back to Hvar, a roof top pizza cafe was espied and warm sunshine accompanied our delicious pizza and ale, a cheeky young waiter adding to the enjoyment.
The Spanish Fortress: this inelegant landmark dominates the Hvar skyline with its long fortressy tentacles reaching down into the town. Previous research has left me less than impressed with Spanish occupation’s ‘pirate-like’ standard of taking what you can and giving nothing back. But still the limestone colours and test of time engineering were passably tolerable and we added more steps to our fit bit tallies. William was also successfully coerced into taunting the English from a parapet!
After a very cold swim on the roof top, we accepted an invitation to join the local high school’s home economics presentation of food and wine in the town square with ‘free’ being the draw card. We first queued to sample Milky Cocktails containing a strong mint/almond concoction which was enjoyed the most surprisingly by Eric. We then watched teams of slightly awkward school boys battle for a win in a gnocchi and sauce competition. The promise of free tasting was marred by the inability of the competitors to keep their spoons and hands out of the pots which resulted in only meagre scrapings on offer for the expectant bowl raised crowd.
The organiser’s microphone call for an English speaking volunteer was answered by our Rach by pushing Manan forward and a familiar voice could be heard over the square’s sound system giving praise and very sensible commentary on the event. This unfortunately did not result in any food and we left to find succour slightly shameful with our unfruitful ‘scabbing’ attempts 😏.
A local bus driver and her daughter run an excellent cheap pizza and homemade wine bistro but with the servings sizes not satisfactory for the boys, it was another trip to a family-run burger and chip shop closer to home. Our foreign-ness must be of some amusement to the staff who all crowded to listen to our orders with slight smiles in play.
We enjoyed a second dinner on our roof top cafe/pool/viewpoint followed by a nostalgic viewing of Narnia movie. It is very pleasing to this mum to see my young enjoying such an innocent diversion 😍
Tomorrow we ferry out to Korcula !Read more
Hvar and the Eye of the Needle
May 8 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
I really pushed the optimism with this one! Our train Ljubljana to Zagreb showed 22 minutes running late at one stage, and we had 1.5 hour bag drop before flight from Zagreb to Split. Abject TERROR!! With growing tension and a few splits of opinion there were splits in camaraderie but the eye of the needle was eyed, square on and faced, and we made it with -1 minute to spare. The 20 kg bag limit seemed fairly flexible thankfully or maybe the check-in clerk wasn’t so interested? Weird mob these Croats. I haven’t quite worked them out. Landing in Split to store our luggage we followed very vague map directions to a pizza restaurant where we could, for the price of €180, store our big suitcases for six days. The owner led us down a garden path to a concrete shed… hopefully they won’t sell our belongings 😏 but if it works why worry? We actually had arrived two hours early for our ferry but enjoyed not rushing and found yummy grub and tried our first native Croatian ale. Everything moved like clockwork and we arrived in Hvar, the most glorious, ancient, golden city. Such a feast for the eyes but not exactly snorkelling weather in 17° with a light spit and gusts. More hiking up steps to our stone villa which afforded us superb views of the Spanish fortress and the town.
Off and exploring we found the prices weren’t exactly Slovenian and opted to buy ingredients to cook in our modern, sparkly kitchen after a quick aperitif at a lovely cafe. Very much enjoying the late dinners and Eric is doing his best to cope with dinner not being at 6 pm. (Old codger!) The night was mild and the heavy scent of climbing jasmine wafted on our private deck.
Two bedroom, 3 bathroom was very welcome to Bill who was on the couch, but very clean 🧽!Read more
Fave pics of Hvar
May 7 in Croatia ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
We sadly said goodbye to this stunning jewel and ferry on the rest of the jewellery box
Emona and the Excellent Pad Thai
May 6 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Emona (Ljubljana): A Roman walled city, later destroyed in the 5th century by Attila the Hun.
Well Attila, you were obviously a twit ! We loved Ljubljana!! Another 1.5 hour drive and despite numerous requests from the tribe for the address of our abode, gravity had taken hold of my eyelids. Eventually the address was discovered when the cold air and city noises revived my mien.
We’ve been in the country so long it was revitalising to feel the energy of the city, enough for me to obtain the keys and walk to my bed and crash 🛌. Meanwhile Tribesmen Eric and Bill took it upon themselves to climb a small mountain, despite the offer of a cable car, and visit Ljubljana Castle.
Still tired and becoming grumpy we searched out the train station. Major renovations happening we circled what look like a station a few times, found an also grumpy ticket sales booth and purchased tickets for Zagreb - platform unknown and we’d have to check in the morning.
An aperitif spot was cleverly snapped and we watched the late sun’s golden hour glow on the river and architecture. I managed to get a great shot across the river (which will be a future painting) and my heart felt lighter. I took a picture of a statue that I really felt reflected the pain this resilient country had endured and it is a relief to see the unaffected smiles and soft faces of the youth having lived in the new era, as we passed them by.
Osha - a veritable gold mine of fresh salads and lime juice, we simpered and slurped our way through 3 x excellent dishes and made friends with the Bangladeshi owner !!
Our next stop the Dalmatian Coast to be transversed by ferries and swimming (hopefully). We distributed our necessary belongings into backpacks and prepared our suitcases for storage. An experiment I hope pays off.
We slept well, most likely assisted by bumping both our heads repeatedly on the attic 45 degree angled roof of our accom.
A bit of a scramble will be required for our 6:50am train (from platform unknown) uber, then a flight, uber, then a ferry to Hvar Island.
I have loved this majestical contrasting county of towering karsts, green streams, trouts, donuts and spiky piercings and we depart with great memories, tighter pants and a few kgs extra 🍩 🩷 ⛰️ 🌲Read more
Wet Cave Abandonmemt
May 6 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
A three hour drive on an empty stomach, squished between two others with a heavy suitcase on your lap was a great preparation for the rigours ahead. There is sizest descrimination happening in our tribe.
Raincoats, beanies and merinos donned, our self-declared vampire 🧛 “Natasha’ led us dripping wet to a large metal dungeon door and the low stone walls swallowed us as we began our descent into the bowels of southern Slovenia.
The cream, waxy walls and ‘tites’ looked like fake 50’s props but there was no faking the cavernous entire Grand Canyon that opened before our guide’s torch. Yes there was the river that sometimes floods and you could hear roaring and you spared a thought for the insanity of the explorers that floated in pitch darkness and carbide, evidence of their historic efforts apparent in tiny iron bridges and cut stairs at heights belying belief. As no photos were allowed i kept it just to 3 or 4 sneaky ones.
So we came to daylight but, no, the engineers, the 4 of them, clamoured for more!!! (Sections 2 and 3) So I bravely offered to find the exit alone feigned enjoyment of the solitude and silence in the multitude of steps as I puffed my way up to some apparent cable lift.. The cable lift being discovered all I had to do was work out what exactly I was supposed to scan on the door scanner to initiate the 5 minute wait for the cable lift to arrive. I guess the entry ticket would suffice if it wasn’t in Manny’s engineering pocket up with the engineering cave conference not meant for typists.
I rang all four engineers but not a chance of being answered. I rang the group messenger chat and ‘lo and behold the angelic musical dolcet tones of Bek the Violinist in Brisbane calmed my panicked typists heart and the machinations of the cable lift began lowering into the depths to save me.
Nothing for it but a homemade beer as I waited for the nerds to come out of the depths.
Onto Ljubljana…Read more
Slapping Brda
May 5 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
Slow start to the day and to cut costs Mum is now frying eggs for breakfast. As we hadn’t seen anything remotely green or red for days frozen spinach smushed its way into the mix 🌱
After much deliberation and pulling over, reversing for cranky tractors we decided to brave the 3 hour trip south to the “must try” Brda wine region at the recommendation of our rafting guide, despite the inclement weather.
A quick slap to the face from Slap Vjdre’s waterfall spray was needed to wake us up from our morning stupor and a steep gradient hike reminded us of every muscle used the day before. Our reward: a very deep green waterhole caused by obviously lots of slaps.
Crossing the border to Italy seemed the quicker route and the border guards appeared more interested in their mobiles as we drove slowly though the border crossing. Eric got to show off his newfound Italian proficiency and ordered us burger+beer+coffee and I think made a friend. The rain was turning a bit slappish as we drove on.
The winery turned out to be a large round concrete Cold War-style concrete structure in a hive of activity and vehicles. Our fast talking broken English guide led us through giant concrete and steel vessels with proud stories of the local nobility’s invention of trellised grape growing 🤔 The cellar was very large, dark and mouldy and like a kidnapping scene from a James Bond movie. A round-spectacled, one glass-eyed, heavy set scientist with clipboard was expected at every dank turn. On we went through the underground tunnels until finally we were led into a bright, modern tasting room with lovely views and shining crystal glassware. Fresh breadsticks and olives and an encyclopedia info kit and note paper had been prepared and we were given an €18 euro credit card that slotted into machines in a self sip setup. The Rubela was very nice and light with steel, enamel and brick (?) not oak being the preferred method of winemaking.
A small Krosnian baker girl had been discovered by tribesman Manny and we shared and scoffed more pastries and an amazing kebab. Eric had to be returned to squish us in the backseat for the return trip home due to Rach’s ‘apparent’ carsick.
In the cold rain a call for soup was overruled by the hungry meat eating Neanderthals of our tribe so I sipped my soup alone, at my table for one at the Stiff Trout Cafe and grumpily tried not to overhear the Americans at adjoining tables loud and proud recantations. Youngest tribesman Bill lent some comfort and escort 🩷
Tomorrow it’s the very large caves and late afternoon exploration of Lujbljana our capital on offer.Read more
Alps, Paddles and Stiff Trouts
May 4 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
I’ve been uneasy ever since I made the entry in the itinerary for Slemenova špica 😭🫣😳 Elevation Gain: Approx. 350–400
meters. I had planned on becoming so very fit like the rest of the tribe but best laid plans and motivation all mysteriously went astray.
Still, I strapped on my $20 secondhand boots (planning to donate tomorrow to the town) prepared our packs and our nerve and Passated through the hairpinned Vrsic pass to the feet of the giant mountain ⛰️
Info: from Kranjska Gora to Boveç: The Vršič Pass (1,611m) is Slovenia's highest road pass, renowned for its 50 hairpin turns and deep connections to WWI rather than WWII, having been built by Russian POWs between 1915–1917.
Adding to the drama was the very narrowness of the pass but our fearless driver Mannie handled it with ease, despite my squawks and gasps from the backseat! Mind you I did have 101 kg and a fat suitcase pressing on me squeezed next to Eric in the middle of the backseat.
The time came to see if I was made of more than Irish bluff and Dutch courage and we tentatively approached the start, where a large group of very fit looking young hikers were jostling to be the first to show off their fitness and prowess.
The dyspnea started much earlier than anticipated and the terror of being the weakest link forced me to puff and pant and gasp through the 200m climb on crumbly limestone. To the relief of my fellow scramblers I did not have air enough to complain. But reach the summit we did and our reward was to photograph (at long length) the very fit and young bunch of Latvian hikers!
I had achieved the summit, and not embarrassed myself, in spite of the ill-fitting, cheap boots and lack of oxygen and fitness.
But what we faced… a towering cathedral ring of mountains, soft patches of white snow clinging to ledges and ridges and an icy beenie-defying wind whispering tales of long forgotten bravery and solitude.
But then there was the ice. Foot deep, slushy and very slippery! Our sneakers improvising into skates, we hesitantly slid further down the track, our sandle-clad tribe member dancing with the cold toes.
An impromptu health and safety meeting ensued and with changed the conditions the only risk left to eliminate was going forward. Ha! My relief was immediate and total. We retraced steps and began the knee jolting, toe changing slide down the scree, still hailing the majesty of the blue church of stone.
As if we hadn’t used enough adrenaline already, the tribe were mad keen for an afternoon of being tossed in a storm of raging white water. Lunch was quickly inhaled and we were picked up in a flashy van and taken to not the newest shed, where a young assistant scrolled and tapped my phone, nodding and then we parted with €275 🤑. A wetsuited ‘guru’ threw overall-shaped wetsuits, helmets and boots at us and after pinning our countries on a world map we careened in our green van to the rapids.
After the briefest of briefings and raft seating allocation we were floating on calm green swirls and educated on “forward” “back” and “stop” with the volume issuing determining how hard and urgent we needed to row.
The Dachstein limestone rocks beneath and above us artfully created a striking emerald-green and turquoise color, driven by limestone particles (rock flour) reflecting light in the water: I was in colour heaven!
About halfway we pulled up at a big rock, flipped the raft on top and proceeded to slippery slide down the raft to crash into the icy verdant swirl (Eric the grey included) The group already occupying the large rock failed to follow instructions and four giggling helmets could be seen floating away down the stream, and had to be rescued. Needless to say after the shock of ice hitting the face it was a big priority to surface and madly flail to grab the rope and haul your wet rubber weight out of the freeze.
We then progressed to the more dangerous rapid levels 3 and 4 which resulted in louder yelling, frantic paddling and much bouncing into boulders. One more violent bounce proved too much for my small feet purchased in the footstraps and airborne I became.
Thankfully I recalled the previous instruction to hurl yourself in the boat and landed on the bottom, still with paddle in hand. Our authoritative local guide gave praise but I really think it was more that he had given good instructions.
With no further close calls we safely arrived in calmer waters, with the tribe celebrating with a wrestle and dunking match in the still freezing aqua playpark.
Trout being the celebrated local fare we ordered differing styles of serving from the menu, the local creation consisting of a long, stiff, salt crusted, unappealing looking offering but looks aren’t everything and we thoroughly enjoyed our postrv!!Read more
Wow! Scenery looks a lot like the Dollomites in Italy and we had to navigate snow there also - much easier with walking poles. The green water looks incredible. Great adventures, and a great read. Will pass onto Dad over the weekend 👏 [Monica]
Donuts and Trout
May 3 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Slovenian breads and pastries bread 🍞 Being Sunday we had to travel a bit further for our carb-fuelled fast break. Pistachio donuts yes please !!!! Soft folds of filo encasing fresh cheese, Milka filled croissants. We were in pastry heaven and weren’t even allowed to buy the bananas, no they were whisked away as we didn’t write the price on them. Would just have to be donut manna for today 🥳
Feeling guilty we planned a trek after finally waking sleeping beauty as 10am. Bill suggested we check Eric was breathing. Nice 9k hike, dodging cyclists and some hearty beef goulash and sausage for lunch after visiting the ‘springs’.
Intrigued by the apparent wildness of your Slovenian 🇸🇮 Unusual tattoos and piercings, to say nothing of crazy undercuts. Note to self to check previous Eurovision entries 😝 There is also very little eye contact which is a direct contrast to the ‘baleful’. But they have been friendly and helpful and we loved them, antics and all ! After more pasta and mushroom soup we gladly crashed after successfully staying up late enough to beat the jet lag. Managed to catch the culprit of the poo smells! A late afternoon walk to the church in the cemetery resulted in strange looks from the locals who had not seen people sitting in the paddock before 🫣Read more
The Podkoren Princess and the peas
May 3 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
With the sun setting we passated up the altitudes to our alpine accommodation, marvelling at the Julian alps and crisscrossing slip streams through our sun roof. Podkoren, with roots potentially dating back to Roman times, with many homes in the village retaining late Gothic structural elements and a distinct bovine manure smell of barn housing. As we had been travelling for almost 48 hours pasta is some sort of faint memory and clambering up the most uneven, giant size steps of our 500-year-old hotel.
I awoke at 5.30am in my 500 year old pea-filled mattress and marveled at my ability to first, sleep and second, to not be covered in bruises. Surprisingly my husband was still asleep blissfully unaware of the rock on which he slept, but as usual in his typical angel-touched snoreless repose with hands clasped under his square jawline and cheek. Such perfection 😏 and never in contention for the Kearney Fishing Trip Snoring Trophy - that would be me.
The morning sun fulfilled the previous night’s promise of stunning scenery and I marvelled at the jagged peaked alpine scenery and tip toed out, camera in hand.
I’ve decided that a horse is responsible for the malodorous assault on my nostrils, not that any could be seen, but I did hear a few stomps as I passed many a shingled ancient barn. Makes you feel sorry for the Australian beast of burden that will never feel the comfort of a barn and straw but is left to brave the elements and eat prickly pear.
I was alone in my uncoordinated ramblings and very much enjoyed sharing the crisp start to the day with the purple mountaintops, resisting the strong urge to break into a Julie Andrew’s sonorous praise of their beauty. My hands numb I headed back to my water heated castle in anticipation of the bakery delights these alpine country produce!!Read more
Lake Custard Slice
May 2 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
It wasn’t really a layover in Istanbul, but a cheaper way to obtain our final destination of Ljubljana with hours to kill and Istanbul to cross.
‘Baleful’ a new word I’m applying to the Turkish personnel when I ask for help, followed by a vague gesture to some far unachievable destination as we manoeuvred the labyrinth of large airports, fast moving buggies and dodgy lounge buffets.
Lounge we did, dining on mainly mashed potatoes and 5 types of cheese, one turning out to be butter but still quite as tasty!
Pretty sure we slept the entire last leg but were jolted into consciousness with some strong Slavic tail winds and turbulence and a bumpy landing, awarded with lots of claps and cheering from our youthful co-passengers.
Optimistic estimating being my superpower 💪 I estimated a VW Golf would be the ticket for 5x🧍♀️and 5x🧳 and also estimated that 4 engineers would mecano them all in but it was retraced steps back to the rental office with the keys for a bigger car being my fate. Then a good 30 mins of futuristic high tech interpretation ensued to decipher the mystical workings of a sun roofed, back massaging Passat, with seats that slide you around at will.
Manan was given the task of flicking and adjusting to right-hand-side driving and we wound our way through postcard villages to the picture postcard perfection of Lake Bled.
A quintessential fairytale-like scene shimmered before us as the full expanse of Lake Bled lazily unfolded into view. The ‘must-try’ wobbly custard slice and cold pints of Radler were our prize as we managed to a bags an instagram-worthy lakeside umbrellard table in an old-worldly haze of jazz and historic nostalgia.Read more
Flying in the zone
May 2 in Turkey ⋅ 🌧 4 °C
Departing Brisbane our Uber XL not being so XL some new yoga positions were discovered!
A jolly flight was had by all thanks to the size of the unmeasured slugs of aperitif administered by the stewardess’ 😉 21 hours of eating, movies and snoozing very easy way to spend a day 🙂↔️
Flying into Istanbul and interpreting the map through bleary eyes I think we were flew over Pakistan, Turkmenistan, all the stans and then the southern part of Türkiye and finally over the Black Sea into Istanbul. I was devo, one again, to cancel Mesopotamia from our trip - next time!
Istanbul Airport: Early morning pistachio lattes in 10°C waiting for our airport shuttle. Crossed the Bosphorus!! 🌉 (see pic
)
Our itinerary is Slovenia (with lunch in Italy) Croatia: Hvar-Split-Dubrovnik, Italy: Sicily, Greece: Corfu-Athens then a final two days in Istanbul!!
So hang on to the braided tassels of our Turkish silk magic carpet ride and hopefully some funny, not too scary, anecdotes ensue!!Read more
