Zagreb: First Day in Croatia

It is hot in Europe this week--it was 90 in London for our half-day layover yesterday and the same here in Zagreb. Nevertheless, we walked all around the old town. Today is a nationalRead more
Museum Day in Zagreb

With everything being closed yesterday we kind of packed today with museums. We started off with the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art. Most of the paintings were done on glass, and even though these areRead more
Plitviče Lakes National Park

Today we left Zagreb and drove 3 hours to Croatia's oldest and most popular park. It is a chain of 16 terraced lakes, connected by waterfalls, surrounded by forest. We walked among the turquoise lakesRead more
Biking the villages around Plitviče

We set off from Korana village on hybrid mountain bikes to cycle rolling backroads through small farms and villages. At one point we were around 6 miles from Bosnia-Herzegovina. After about 10 milesRead more
Kayaking the Zrmanja River

Kayaking the Zrmanja River
We said our farewells to Korana Village and our excellent cook, Mariana, and set off for the river kayaking adventure with planned stops along the way.
The first stop wasRead more
Hiking in Paklenica National Park

Today we hiked about 10 miles in another of Croatia's national parks--a river canyon in the Velebit mountains. The trail was rocky and steep for 5 miles--about an 1,800 foot elevation gain--but alwaysRead more
Krka National Park

After leaving our harborside town of Novigrad, we drove south past an agricultural area with olives, nectarines, grapes, cherries and a field of yellow Chamomile flowers for making massage oils. ThisRead more
Kayaking to Zlarin Island

Today we drove about an hour south to the open sea side of Šibenik, where we picked up kayaks and paddled about 45 minutes to a small car-free island. The water was clear blue-green, and the wind andRead more
Farewell evening in Trogir

After paddling back from Zlarin island we had just a short drive to our hotel at Trogir, a UNESCO-protected city. The city was founded by the Greeks around the 3rd century BC. The oldest structuresRead more
Bus ride to Dubrovnik

We were a bit sad to move on from our new friends and wonderful guide, but excited about what lay ahead for us.
We'd reserved seats on Croatia's equivalent of Greyhound (with a little city busRead more
Walled city of Dubrovnik

Our apartment is within the old city walls, affording easy access to the narrow walkways filled with restaurant tables. This city is built like a bowl, with the fortification walls on top with severalRead more
Dubrovnik outside the walls

For our second day in Dubrovnik, we spent much of the day outside the city walls. We walked to Fort Lovrijenac (aka St. Lawrence) to get some great views of the walled city. The fort is also home to aRead more
Split, Croatia: Diocletian's Palace

The Roman emperor, Diocletian, ruled from 284 to 305 AD, and built a nice summer home for himself (and about 1,000 others) in Split. In the central plaza (Peristyle) are columns and a sphinx broughtRead more
Driving to Slovenia

Today we picked up a rental car in Split to drive up the Croatian coast to Slovenia. Along the way we stopped at the museum and boyhood home of Nikola Tesla. The exhibit featured a chronology thatRead more
Cave and Castle day in Slovenia

We started with a 2-3 hour walking tour of Škocjan Caves, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the world's largest known underground river canyons. Like Croatia, Slovenia has over 11,000 caves dueRead more
Ljubljana, Capital of Slovenia

Back to 90-degree temperatures made it a little hard to appreciate walking around pavement and city buildings, but we had a great 2-hour guided city walking tour before it got too hot.
Ljubljana'sRead more
Driving to Lake Bled in the Julian Alps

Leaving Ljubljana, we opted for a back road route to Lake Bled, which took us through rolling farmlands and deeply forested areas. At one turn in the road we were startled to see someone hurtling downRead more
Biking to Vintgar Gorge and villages

We were surprised to find that our Pension Berc (highly recommended, if visiting Bled) offers the use of free electric bikes. We used these in the morning to avoid what we'd heard would be big crowdsRead more
Biking the Radovna Valley

On the recommendation of our innkeeper, we ventured out again on bikes to a farmhouse that serves traditional Slovenian fare for lunch on Sundays only. We passed by some of the same villages asRead more
Into the Triglav National Park

Triglav is Slovenia's only national park, and we drove here to see Mostnica Gorge and Lake Bohinj. An 8-mile out-and-back hike took us through more wildflower-filled meadows and along theRead more
Farewell to Lake Bled

Our 4-1/2 days in Bled were so memorable, mostly because of the time we spent away from the actual resort area -- biking in the alps, hiking in the gorge, and our wonderful pension and friendly host.Read more
Arriving in Austria

The first bummer of our trip happened today. The gorge we'd planned on seeing, which was the initial focus of our planning for this trip, was closed due to a big rockfall they'd had in May. They won'tRead more
The Austrian Alps: Atop and Underground

We spent our day high above Hallstatt, visiting lookouts and caves. The day started with a cable car ride and 1-mile uphill walk to the Dachstein Ice Caves, where the temperature is always slightlyRead more
Driving to Salzburg via lake villages

Driving to Salzburg via the lake villages
Between Hallstatt and Salzburg there are many lakes and historic villages. It has become more common to see building frescoes now that we are in Austria, andRead more
Salzburg's Residenz Palace

We decided to buy umbrellas today, reasoning that maybe that would be enough to get the rain to stop (it did, from time-to-time). We started with a brief concert of a Mozart piece from theRead more