Reset search
Diane & Darryl in Europe 2017Diane & Darryl in Europe 2017
SatelliteEdit route
A 27-day adventure by Diane Read more
  • 29footprints
  • 4countries
  • 27days
  • 155photos
  • 0videos
  • 979miles
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 10

    Walled city of Dubrovnik

    July 1, 2017 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    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 several tiers of "streets" (no cars) ringing the city, connected by stone steps. Even the tiered streets have some steps from time to time.

    By going down over 200 steps from the wall, you reach the main plazas, filled with visitors.

    We spent the morning walking the 2.5K-long wall (1.5 miles), getting some amazing views. The maritime museum is up there too, where we learned that Dubrovnik's merchant shipbuilding and trading port rivaled that of Venice.

    The clock tower has two bronze figures inside, "zelenci" (green twins) that strike the bell on the hour and at various times between.

    Despite the humidity and the crowds, we really enjoyed exploring this medieval city and can see why it has long been considered the Pearl of the Adriatic.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 11

    Dubrovnik outside the walls

    July 2, 2017 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    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 a summer Shakespeare festival, and apparently, some scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed here.

    Nearby the fort, even higher above the city and port, we strolled through a park with some nice shade trees, cool breezes and great views.

    Back within city walls, we took in more of the winding pathways, and ran across an archaeological dig site where they were trying to find the remains of an old church, but never found it. We liked some of the whimsical and decorative stone carvings on the buildings and the fountain. Then it was time to get on our ferry to Split back north in Dalmatia country.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 12

    Split, Croatia: Diocletian's Palace

    July 3, 2017 in Croatia ⋅ 🌬 81 °F

    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 brought from Egypt. There had been at least 12 sphinxes in the palace, but only one still has its head. The others were ritually beheaded by Christians who occupied the palace a couple centuries later and didn't like these pagan idols.

    One of the defensive features of the palace was the double gate -- like an airlock. Once the enemy broke through the outer gate they were faced with a second gate to get through, and by that time the palace army could attack them from behind and above in the small space.

    Our walking tour guide said that Split received more damage in WWII than in the civil war of the 1990s. In fact, when clearing the rubble, many old Roman structures were exposed that had been built over and lost to history. One of the artifacts was the mosaic floor from one of Diocletian's swimming pools.

    In the afternoon, we walked to Marjan forest park: a 580-foot climb over a bit more than a mile, mostly with steps. At least Split is cooler and less humid than Dubrovnik. The views of the palace, the city and the harbor are fantastic. See the pirate type ship in the photo? Those are replicas of merchant ships.

    Wandering the city before dinner, we ran across a performance of traditional music by a 15-piece string group. The instruments were guitars, stand up bass and and mandolins (or similar). Finished the day with a tasty pasta dinner in this city which has a lot of Venetian influence.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 13

    Driving to Slovenia

    July 4, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

    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 that placed his life and work in the context of the larger world of politics, science and art during his lifetime.

    Tesla invented the wireless remote, vertical takeoff aircraft, remote control for ships, radar, and so many more inventions! Yet he lived the last part of his life penniless and died alone. We got to see a demonstration of a million-volt Tesla coil which lit up fluorescent bulbs held in the hands of young volunteer visitors.

    The drive along the coast was stunning, and brought back great memories of our REI group tour.

    Tonight we're staying in a very small farming village nearby to the cave we'll visit tomorrow. We are the only guests at the inn, and were the only diners this evening. Our hosts are very welcoming, serving us local wine and beer, and regional dishes like truffle gnocchi (yum!).    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 14

    Cave and Castle day in Slovenia

    July 5, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    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 due to so much of the geology being composed of limestone and other soluble rocks that create sinkholes and caves.

    Škocjan was different from some of the other caves we've visited (and you know we've seen many with our family), because of its very large "rooms"--up to 140 meters in height and maybe 50 meters across. We got to cross a bridge that was 45 meters above the underground river running through the cave. Some years the river floods the cave to as high as 100 meters!

    Photos weren't allowed in the cave because any artificial light causes algae to grow (they did have plenty of light for our walk, but they turn off when not occupied). We took a photo of the bridge we walked on from their sign outside. After about 3 km, we went on our own in a very open part of the cave along the river where we could take photos.

    On the recommendation of one of the guests we met at breakfast (we weren't the only overnighters after all), we drove from the cave to the farm where they breed the Lipizzaner horses. These are pure white dressage horses whose lineage dates to the time of the Habsburgs in the 1500s. They are born brown or black, but gradually turn white beginning around age six.

    Also in the area is Predjama castle, built into a cave. It was built in stages and used by various groups for protection as early as the 13th century. It was an interesting tour because of the ingenious ways they used the cave features to their advantage (cooking chimneys, fresh water collection, and a secret escape route). It was last used by an Austrian family for a hunting lodge until the end of World War II, when it was nationalized by the Yugoslavian government and turned into a museum.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    11
    Day 15

    Ljubljana, Capital of Slovenia

    July 6, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    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's city flag depicts a dragon, who is said to have been defeated by Jason and the Argonauts (or St. George, depending upon who is telling the story). But legend holds that the dragon is just slumbering under the city.

    This is a lively city full of many tourists and young people--there are 50,000 students in a population of less than 300,000. And most of them are riding bicycles on the wide bike/walk boulevards, so you need watch how you walk. At least the old city center is closed to cars. It received the European Green Capital Award in 2016.

    The dominant architectural feature is their 11th century castle on a hill reached by a funicular with great views of the city and of the mountains where we're heading tomorrow. The castle was never used for nobility, but for military purposes and later for holding prisoners during wartimes. It is now part museum and part event space, like for weddings and art exhibitions. It has been creatively and beautifully renovated most recently in the 1990s--juxtaposing glass and brushed steel with medieval stone walls and timber ceilings.

    The river features predominantly here too. There is a wide promenade along the banks with so many restaurant tables, all full of people any time of day. We took a 45-minute tour boat ride to cool off in the afternoon and saw Nutria, or river rats, swimming (remember them, Erin?).

    At the end of the day we played around in their new Museum of Illusions. Fun for all ages!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 16

    Driving to Lake Bled in the Julian Alps

    July 7, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌙 66 °F

    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 down a bright green steep hill. Turns out they have practice ski jump runs here. We did a U-turn to go back and watch for awhile.

    After less than an hour's drive, we arrived at Radovljica, a well-preserved 12th-17th century village with both a gingerbread museum and a beekeeping museum--both part of Slovenia's traditions. We learned that to make one kilogram of honey, the bees have to visit 4 million flowers and fly four times the distance around the earth. Busy as a bee! The museum also had on display many decorative hives -- a form of folk art unique to Slovenia.

    Arriving in Lake Bled after a short drive, we were met by our innkeeper for our 4-night stay in a lovingly restored alpine-style pension. We walked down to the lake and got caught in a deluge of rain, wind, hail, thunder and lightning. It was pretty amazing to watch the placid lake turn turbulent, and we watched it all unfold from under the shelter of a tree. After an hour the show was over, the sun began to show, and we took a pletna (like a large gondola) to the island church, following behind a wedding party. There is a tradition here that the groom carries the bride up the 99 stone steps that lead to the island's church--unfortunately we missed seeing that spectacle. From the boat we could see the Bled castle high on the cliff above the lake.

    We ended the night with an amazing dinner at our own pension--truly fine dining! Think Chez Panisse with outdoor tables, and just as professional wait-staff. The tasting menu we chose started with lox-type salmon, garnished with berries, then a roasted duck and mini-cheese-filled "ravioli" stew, followed by medallions of venison that were so amazingly tender and flavorful in a red wine sauce with roasted vegetables. Finishing off with a dessert of the restaurant's version of the traditional Lake Bled cream cake -- kind of a custard -- accompanied by fresh berries.

    All in all, a memorable start to our stay in the Julian Alps.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 17

    Biking to Vintgar Gorge and villages

    July 8, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    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 crowds at Vintgar Gorge. We did miss some of the hordes and would have missed more if we hadn't gotten a little lost on the way. Well, I guess you could say Diane lost Darryl and spent time riding in circles and gesturing to villagers instead of continuing to the gorge straightaway where he was waiting. Oh well. The turquoise river and falls are definitely worth it, although some of the Oregon rivers and falls come close (and don't have tour buses).

    We didn't actually use the power-assist that much, as the roads weren't that steep most of the time. But as we got lost with more frequency on our continued ride around the countryside, it was nice to know we could have help going back up that lovely downhill we'd just taken that wasn't the right way. All told, we covered about 20 miles and a dozen small villages, all while traveling through green, green farmlands and a quiet, wooded trail along the river, with a bonus waterfall thrown in. We got some nice views of Lake Bled again as we passed by on our route to the lower valley.

    Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant, just for a break from figuring out menu items and to get more vegetables. Then we got in a game of mini-golf where Diane won almost every hole, with 2 holes in one -- what a switch.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    Day 18

    Biking the Radovna Valley

    July 9, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    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 as yesterday (some multiple times as we struggled with our directions), but traveled farther up the river valley along stunning meadow/farmland. Wildflowers are everywhere right now, and the fields are dotted with the traditional straw-drying racks. The sheer-walled glacier-carved valleys prevalent all around us are reminiscent of our Sierra Nevadas.

    We came across the stone ruins of a home, left as a monument, of a village destroyed by the Nazis as punishment for Slovenian resistance.

    Biking is a popular activity in this country, and the cars have been very accommodating. Also, other bikers have offered help with directions and suggestions for scenic rides. It's worth noting here that nearly everyone we've met in Croatia and in Slovenia speaks at least a little English, if not completely fluent.

    After a delicious lunch and more scenery-gazing, on our return to Bled, we took advantage of the e-bikes and powered up to the castle overlooking the lake. The castle interiors have mostly been modernized and are occupied by shops and a museum, but the views are what make the trip worthwhile.

    We finished the day with a "summer toboggan" run just down the road from our pension.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylDiane & Darryl in Europe 2017
    1
    Day 19

    Into the Triglav National Park

    July 10, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    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 the deeply-carved river gorge. It reminded us of a hike we took with Ryan at Glacier National Park or the slot canyons in the southwest, but this was filled with green-blue water.

    This gorge is a bit more remote and was not overrun with tourists. The lake we'd come to see, however, was tourist-filled, and strangely had trees blocking the view of the lake all along the road, and what little parking there was, was expensive. We did find a nice place to stop for a brief picnic and view of the lake, but we were soon sent on our way by a friendly policeman who said we couldn't park where we had stopped.

    In the countries we've visited on this trip, we've noticed a different concept of support for parks and environmental sites. Instead of paying a one-time entrance fee, you pay to park at each parking lot separately, and at each trailhead.

    We returned to our own Lake Bled and took the e-bikes around the lake to a swimming spot (where we didn't have to worry about parking).    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English