And we are off
26. april, Canada ⋅ ☁️ -5 °C
Andrew and I are just chilling at our gate at YEG airport waiting for our Westjet flight to Calgary Edmonton has had a mild late spring snowstorm so it is nice to be escaping for warmer climated. After a 3 hour layover we catch a KLM flight to Amsterdam. We arrive at 8 am Amsterdam flight which will be midnight Alberta time. I am not looking forward to the jetlag. After another 3 hour layover we fly Croatian airlines to Zagreb. We will spend 3 days in Zagreb before picking up a car and driving to Ljubljan which is the capital of Slovenia. After 2 days we will drive through the alps separating Slovenia from Italy staying a night in Kobarid. Kobarid is where Ernest Hemingway lived and was wounded in WW1 when working as an ambulance attendant. From Kobarid we will drive to the Asteria peninsula stopping in Skocjan caves. The Asteria peninsula is known for Roman ruins in Pula and the beautiful Mediterranean. Once we have had our fill of the Romans we will drive and spend a night in the Platvice Ntl park which in central Croatia known for it's beautiful cascading waterfalls. We will continue South following the coast to Zadar and Split. We will drop the car off in Split before ferrying out to Korcula which is on a Mediterranean island. From Korcula we will ferry back to Dubrovnik a spectacular walled coastal city. We leave Croatia on May 17 busing to Mostar and then Sarajevo. After our 5 days in Bosnia Hertzogovi we fly to Milan Italy on Ryanair before training it to Bologna and Modena for 5 nights where we will visit the Pagani, Ferrari and Lamborghini car factories and one cheese factory. We fly home on May 28th. This is one of the more complicated trips I have planned with planes trains and autmobiles. Normally I travel much slower than this so I will see how I enjoy this faster paced itinerary.
I will be travelling with my middle son Andrew. Andrew is 21 and has just finished his fourth and last year of engineering school at the University of Alberta. The photo of Andrew and I used for the cover was obviously taken a few years ago when we were both younger. Please keep checking in with the blog as I hope to publish every few days.Please leave your comments. The more people who follow motivates me to blog more.Læs mere
The Flight of the Wailing Babies
27. april, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Andrew and I have arrived safely in Zagreb Croatia. The flights Edmonton , Calgary Amsterdam and Zagreb were pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep on the transatlantic flight. It left Calgary at 3 and arrived Amsterdam at midnight. They turned the lights off after the meal around 6:30. I wasn't terribly tired but tried to sleep but didn't have much success. At times several of the babies started wailing at once. It was a little comical. By ten they turned the lights back on to feed us a breakfast. After the layover in Amsterdam we continued on to Croatia on Croatia Airlines with a co-chair with Air Canada which was a little crazy. I think Andrew and I were the only Canadians on the flight and we were with Westjet.
We arrived in Zagreb at their brand new terminal. Crazily we disembarked on the runway and were taken by bus to the main terminal. Interestingly two European Typhoon airplanes taxied by us on the runway before taking off. Very impressive. The Canadian government should buy some of them rather than the F35s.
The main glitch occurred after we landed when we realized the esim I had downloaded on my phone wasn't working. Without data, one is lost. Navigation and our bus payment was all on the phone. Andrew downloaded an esim card at the terminal. After getting on the bus and paying with the Zagreb bus app he also lost his data as his esim hadn't connected but at the bus stop we had still been connected to wifi from the airport. We only realized this when we transferred to another bus and realized we were without data. Fortunately Andrew got his card working after several minutes and all was well.
Today we were away by nine to do Rick Steves walking tour of downtown Zagreb. I always enjoy doing his self guided hikes. We wandered around learning about the history of Zagreb. The difference between lower town and upper town and Grdec vs Kaptol the two founding towns that grew into Zagreb. Some of the buildings in Zagreb including the cathedral remain damaged from a severe series of earthquakes in 2020. Everything was pleasant and clean. We met an American wearing a Canadian pin on his coat. Andrew asked him where he lived and he said Rhode Island. It turned out he had lived in Calgary for 30 years and after retiring returned to the US. My favorite 2 sites for the day were the Museum of Naive art and the Mestrovic Atelier. The naive art movement referred to a group of untrained peasant artists starting in 1930 who painted very eye-catching paintings. Ivan Mestrovic was one of Croatia 's famous sculptures. I am sure that I have seen his work before. The collection was very large and we had a very enthusiastic docent give us a tour. After lunch and finishing the circular hike we headed out to Mirogoj cemetery referred to by Rick Steves as one of Europes finest cemeteries. It didn't touch the cemeteries in Buenos Aires but had some impressive gravesites and Mausoleums. By then it was pushing at 3 pm and I was flagging a little. Andrew wanted to keep going but we were running out of things to do and I was tired. I think I may have problems keeping up to Andrew as normally my trips are a little more leisurely. We made it back downtown fairly quickly. Our second bus got stuck in rush hour traffic which seems painfully slow. We eventually just got off and walked about 30 minutes home.Læs mere
Rainy Day in Zagreb
29. april, Kroatien ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Rick Steves book states that Zagreb is probably good for one full day, and he is probably correct. Andrew spent the day reminding me of this statement. It didn't help that it was a rainy day. Despite the light rain, we decided to rent bicycles and do our own tour of Zagreb. We biked south of town to the river valley and biked along the river. The Sara river valley is very large treeless river valley with huge berms of land on either side as it is probably prone to flooding. We cycled along the river before returning to the city and cycling up into the hills and villages above the city to an old railway tunnel where we ate our lunches before a wonderful downhill run back into town. Some of their bike lanes in downtown Zagreb were dedicated lanes but some of the bike paths on the sides of the roads were shared with pedestrians and had also been co-opted for parking so it felt like sidewalk biking. The traffic congestion is pretty bad here in Zagreb and taking the buses is a rather slow way of getting around town. I am a little surprised that they have not put more money into their bicycle paths but like everywhere else the bikes are competing against cars for space and the cars always seem to win.
After we returned the bikes we had a hot drink at a McDonald's and wandered around in the rain a little more before visiting a wonderful Botanical garden. Andrew is rather obsessed with Cold war tunnels so we went and found some that were open to the public and used as short cuts beneath the upper town.
We bused back to the airport to pick up our rental car for 6 pm from Alamo. I never like picking up rental cars. Croats seem to have quite an abrupt way of dealing with people which the sales agent demonstrated. He put on a very hard sell for taking out additional insurance stating that North American cards don't cover car insurance in the Balkans.. It was almost like a curse. I declined. We have a nice MG small SUV. It was lacking the trunk cover which I didn't like as one can't hide your luggage. After checking out the car I insisted on a cover and the agent did go the added distance to find a cover from another vehicle that didn't quite fit but will suffice. Andrew drove back to our apartment on a ring road in quite heavy rain and we called it a day.Læs mere
Ljubljana
30. april, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
We had a late start to our morning as we didn't want to leave Zagreb in rush hour. We were away by 10. It was my turn to drive the car and Andrew's turn to navigate. It was a cool but sunny day. Our first destination was Samobor about 45 minutes outside of Zagreb just before the Slovenian border. It was a small pretty town which Rick Steves recommended as a pleasant place to stop. The town was very pretty with a large yellow church overlooking the square. The time is known for it's Kremsnita cream cake. We walked around town a little and checked out the memorial to soldiers lost in their civil war against Serbia. There were quite a few names. Perhaps 20 which is quite a lot for a small town. We stopped and ate a cream cake in the square. I couldn't quite figure out how they had made it as there was a thin layer of pastry crust on both the bottom and top of a pudding middle. It was very nice.
We drove onto Ljubljana on a beautiful highway with a speed limit of 130kmh. Interestingly the trucks could only go at 100 kmph . I did about 115 but the danger was that if you went out into the inside lane to pass a truck someone going 150kmph would run into you. No collisions. Before we knew it we were in Ljubljana. As soon as we came into Ljubljana we had a good feel. It seemed more prosperous than Zagreb. No snarled traffic. Lots of bicycle paths.
We were to Ljubljana in a very good time. As such we headed down to Preseren Square named after a 19 century nationalist Slovenian poet France Preseren. They don't name their streets after sports heroes here unlike in Edmonton. We admired the three bridges designed by Joze Pletnik Ljubljana's famous architect. The buildings in downtown Ljubljana are all Art Nouveau which I just love. The statue to Preseren was very controversial when it was first displayed in the 19th century as behind and above the writer is his muse a half clad woman. The monks of the Franciscan pink church across the square were insulted by the naked woman and lobbied to have it removed. As a compromise the city would cover the statue at night.
We walked along the river taking in the beautiful market before ending up at the dragon bridge. Dragons are big in Slovania and Llubjana as supposedly Jason of the Argonauts and Golden Fleece slew a dragon here. The dragon bridge is guarderd by 4 dragons. We took a funicular up to the castle which afforded us great views of the city. We walked through squares with beautiful fountains visited the Ntl library also designed by Plecnik, visited the French revolutionary square with an obelisk also designed by Plecnik. We admired the beautiful copper doors on the Cathedral designed for the visit of John Paul the second. It was coming onto 5:30 and we were just exhausted.
For supper we were to meet one of the followers of my travel blog. Actually I think his father and 2 uncles- the Aycock brothers who I met in the UK while hiking the C2C trail 2 years ago are principally my followers. When Sebastian's father realized that I was going to Ljubljana he connected us with Sebastian who generously agreed to join us for supper. We went out to a traditional Slovenian restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Sebastian's stories of life as an ex-pat living in Slovenia. Sebastian's hobby is writing a blog about the Ljubljana professional hockey team so it was interesting to hear of all his experiences in the Slovenian hockey world. Who would have thought that Llubjana was an outpost for Canada's favorite sport. We walked around a little with Seb after supper but needed to tap out as by then with all the walking and sightseeing we were just exhausted.
Today is May 1 which is celebrated as a national holiday here in Slovenia. They just don't celebrate May 1 as a holiday but also May 2 and May 3. It is a Slovenia national holiday all weekend and as such all stores businesses and many museums are closed. Restaurants and some bakeries are open. I really hadn't counted on this and was hoping to do a grocery shop today. Andrew seemed pleasantly amused that we will be eating out so much this weekend. I had booked us tickets for a tour of Jozef Plecnik's eccentric collection of houses he had as a compound. Jozef was a bachelor who lived an austere life shunning publicity and visitors. A genius but a very odd genius. He had designed the house and the majority of furniture in his house himself. Supposedly all of the furniture had been designed to be uncomfortable as he wanted to encourage people to not visit him. The tour was very enjoyable and gave us some great insights into Ljubljana's favorite son. We again rented bikes for the day and cycled for around 3 hours initially downtown but then to and around Tivoli park and then to unsuccessfully find the Canadian consulate. Very bike friendly city. Andrew lost the chain from his bike and had difficulty getting it back on the chain because of the chain guard but finally prevailed. His hands were covered in grease.
We chilled out for a while before heading off to a close by Vietnamese restaurant for supper. I need some variety from the meat kabobs that is the traditional Slovenian meal. Pad Thai for supper.Læs mere
Lake Bled
3. maj, Slovenien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Yesterday we headed off to \lake bled where we have now stayed 2 nights. Lake bled was billed as one day perhaps 1/2 day by Rick Steves so I thought we could spell out the day by stopping in two towns on the way to visit these museums which Steves had given 2stars. The first town we stopped at was Kropa known for centuries of iron working. It was about 1/2 way between Ljubljana and Lake Bled. It took us off the main highway into a pre-mountainous area and was it ever pretty. It was a holiday Saturday and there were tons of cyclists out biking the steep hills. Kropa was an incredibly pretty little as all of these towns are with Bavarian-like buildings and Hapsburg churches with the interesting Austrian style spires present on all of these churches. It felt very Austrian/Swiss. There was a stream running through the middle of town. Kropa's claim to fame was that it was the supplier of wrought iron nails to much of Europe for hundreds of years. We went to the Kropa iron works museum and it was a little lame but they did have an interesting collection of hob nails. Hobnails were a nail used historically on hiking boots to give them better traction. The head of the nail sticks out from the boot. Now the really interesting thing about hob nails for pathologists is that this term is applied to describe malignant cells in a clear cell carcinoma of the ovary. After Kropa we drove farther up hill to a town Jamnik that has a church set out on a peninsula looking down at the rest of the valley. We ate our lunch at the valley and looked down on the surrounding valley. Our next two star museum after the Jamnik church was Radovljica known for having a famous bee museum. Yes bees. Slovenia is known for Carniolan Bee and for many developments that let to the present day field of apiculture. Short of having live beens it is difficult to have an exciting static display about bees. There was a lot about the history of apiculture and the scientists who had led to the developments but it was alittle boring. the town itself was very beautiful and the museum was housed in the town hall where they were having a piano concerto festival so for mmuch of our time in the museum and wandering around town we were accompanied by piano playing.
We headed onto Lake Bled. the closer we got, the worse the traffic became. We arrived about mid afternoon and after checking into our Air BnB we headed down to the lake. The principal things to do at Lake Bled are to wander around the lake admiring the surrounding mountains and forests and the island in the middle of the lake that has a very picturesque church located on the small island. The second thing to do is to take a boat out to the lake. We got inn a line to take an electric boat out to the lake but by the time it showed up there were innumerable people waiting and we couldn't get on. Getting on the boats was not very organized and it seemed that we could wait all afternoon and never get on the boat. We walked around the lake admiring everything and taking endless photos of the island and the little church. It was extremely beautiful. and extremely touristy. It reminded me of Lake Louise in the summer and the ironic thing was that it supposedly is busier here in the summer. Andrew insisted that we walk up to an overlook overlooking the lake for even better views. I was starting to flag but Andrew is quite the taskmaster so up we headed. It was nice as we avoided the tourists and of course had even better views of the lake. After returning to the lake we hit a park with beach access and tried to go for a swim but it was freezing cold. The lake is fed from alpine waters so obviously this time of year it was very cold. We did cool off in the park with a cool breeze blowing off the water before finishing our loop of the lake. It took us about 3 hours as the lake loop is about 6 km. We went out again for supper as of course all of the grocery stores are still closed to Pizzeria Rustica where Andrew enjoyed a pizza and I had a pasta with Bolognese sauce and a salad. We were both quite tired so called it an early night.
Today our second day in Lake Bled we decided to head to Lake Bohinj. Lake Bohinj is billed as a smaller less touristy Lake Bled. I think anywhere maybe even Las Vegas would be less touristy then Lake Bled. When I have been in Lake Louise in the summer, I always try to do some hikes away from Lake Louise and I find they are often just as scenic and almost as beautiful. My initial plan was to drive to Bohinjsko jezero a small town by the lake and hike a gorge to a waterfall. It was supposedly a 3-4 hour hike but we made very good time getting up to the waterfall in1 hour and 20 minutes. What is great about hiking in Slovenia is that there are restaurants along many of the hiking routes. We stopped at one by the waterfall and had a drink and decided what we should do. I wanted to return to the car but Andrew had noticed a second trail which had an elevation of approximately 600 metres that commanded beautiful views of the lake and from which hang gliders embark. I think Andrew has forgotten that I am much older and frail then him but he was able to talk me into doing the hike. Was it ever steep as the climb was over 3km. Just as we made it to the top, a hang glider took off. Thankfully there was a restaurant at the top which after going to the look out we stopped to sit and buy a lunch of sausage, saurkraut and some type of starch perhaps cornflour that tasted a little unusual. It took us an hour to the top. I though it was pretty hard however we did meet one fellow carrying a child and a couple who had walked their Chihuahua dog up the steep path. We chatted with the couple who were locals and they told us that the lookout was a common place for couples to come and get engaged. Curiously when we were coming up the mountain a couple was coming down and Andrew though that the woman was admiring her ring. By the time we made it back to the car we were exhausted. We gave up on visiting the rest of Lake Bohinj as we expected to incur parking problems. We stopped for some groceries at a very expensive small store which was probably the only store open in Slovenia today and headed back to out apartment to chill out. I think Andrew was even more tired than I was.Læs mere
RejsendeIrene and I we must’ve been really lucky a few years ago at Lake Bled - no crowds !
Julian Alps and the Soca Front
5. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Wow have we ever had a busy 2 days since leaving Lake Bled. We have managed to travel to 4 countries during that time including Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Croatia. The drive through the Julian Alps starts about an hour outside of Lake Bled in Kranjska Gora, a ski resort town. Rather than following Rick Steves primitive map in his guide book, I entered the town's name in google maps and the shortest way was through Austria passing through the 8 km long Karawanks tunnel. Of course we didn't realize we had entered Austria until our data plans on our phones went dead and we noticed Agipe gas stations which I hadn't previously seen in the Balkans. Fortunately Andrew who was navigating was able to remember the way and we successfully made it back into Slovenia. The Julian alps are known for their spectacular scenery and also becaus during WW1 this area represented the Soca Front where Italy and the Austrian Hungarians fought trench warfare but on the tops of mountains in horrendous conditions. There are still evidence of fortifications dotting the landscape and the road. The road itself had been built by Russian POWs during WW1 to supply the front. A Russain Orthodox chapel marked one of the early switchbacks to commemorate the several hundred Russains who had died from avalanches, exposure or illness building the road. Our route took us up 24 switch backs to the Vrsic pass at about 1300 metres. The little MG SUV really had to strain to make it up all of the switchbacks. We stopped at a few lookout spots along the way to admire the spectacular views. At the top there were further ruins of a ancient gondola tower used during WW1 and some pill boxes that we wandered around as well as heading up to some overlooks into the surrounding valley. We then headed down the 26 switch backs down to the Soca River for which the battlefront was named. We visited Kluze fortress, an Italian fortress on the west side of the river aand an open air museum where they had refurbished some trenches and bunkers and caves to look as they had during the war. Just down the road there was a massive Austrian cemetary containing thousands of buried Austrian soldiers. We finished our day in Kobarid. Kobarid's claim to fame was that Ernest Hemingway while working as an ambulance driver for the red cross supporting the Italian army had been wounded here and subsequently went on to write about it in a Farewell to Arms. They had a very good museum depicting the Soca Front and demonstrating just how brutal the warfare was. Essentially after Italy invaded in 1915 the battlefield remained static for 2 years until October 24 when the Germans supported the Austrians and used phosgene gas for which the Italian's gasmasks did not work and were able to push the Italians all the way back into Italy and finishing the Soca Battle. After another pizzeria and pasta supper we walked up to a large Mausoleum over looking the town where the bodies of all the killed Italian soldiers had been buried. It was very touching.
We got an early start today leaving at 8:15. This is the earliest that we have got going early. We wanted to hit the Kolovrat Outdoor Museum half an hour southwest of Karbarid very high up in the mountains. An Italian artillery regiment had been stationed here during the war and it also consisted of trenches, tunnels caves and bunkers. Andrew is very enthusiastic to look at this stuff. I am a little worried that I will slip in a cave or bunker so I am taking things slowly. What was interesting about this outdoor museum was that it was located along a mountain ridge and the Italian-Slovenian border ran immediately through the park. The border was marked with white concrete markers and I hopped back and forth across the border before hiking to a peak on the Italian side. No ICE agents. The museum was not staffed and there was no one there. No one cared.
After wandering around the trenches and fortifications for an hour we headed off to our last destination in Slovenia, the Skocjan caves which were 1 1/2 hour drive away . My colleague Ninid who is from Serbia put me on to these caves. I had bought tickets for 1 pm but we were there just at 12 so they let us go on the noon tour. We ended up doing several km of hiking including a 2 km hike to the cave entrance. The first hour we walked through the cave system with a guide but we had problems hearing her as the group was so large. The impressive thing about this cave system is how large it is. It is massive, cavernous, huge. If you ever imagined what the caves were like in Lord of the rings, one only has to visit these caves. I was just waiting for some orcs and dwarves to show up and start fighting. Formed over hundreds of thousands of years by an underground river. After the guided cave tour we continued tromping through a deep gorge with waterfalls and smaller caves. Truly impressive. By 3 pm were were finished with the caves and drove 1.5 hours to Rovinj on the Croatian Adriatic sea.Læs mere
Rovinj and Pula
5. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We have stayed the last two days in Rovinj on the Isteria peninsula. Yesterday we drove about an hour south to the city of Pula known for it's ancient Roman ruins and known for being the navel Port for the Austrian Hungarian empire until they lost the Balkans after WW1. That means Captain Von Trapp in the sound of Music would have been based out of here. The most impressive site in Pula was the Roman amphitheater. It is probably one of the best preserved amphitheaters that I have seen and although not as big as the Colosseum in Rome, it is still very large. We walked around the coliseum in the rain thinking about all of the incredible gladiator fights that had taken place here over the years. It could seat 23000 fans in it's day which I think is more than can be seated in the Roger's Place hockey stadium. Afterwards we wandered around town finding the cathedral, an ancient Roman Temple right on the main square, a Roman triumphal arch and a beautiful Roman mosaic. After we were all Romaned out we headed up to the citadel that commanded great views of the port and explored the tunnels build beneath the citadel by The Austrian Hungarians in WW1. We headed back to Rovinj for a home made supper before heading out to the nearby beach so Andrew could take an evening swim. It's only about 20 degrees Celsius here and the water is on the cool side so I just watched Andrew and read my book.
This morning we dedicated to Rovinj. Rovinj seems like a high end tourist town. There are lots of high end hotels, restaurants and gift shops. There is a harbour here with lots of very large boats and lots. Fortunately for us it is very quiet here as we are a little early for the season but I get the impression that it is just packed with people in the summer. We did the Rick Steve's walk which starting where we are staying outside of the Old Town was about a 9 km walk. We walked around both the yacht harbour and the fishing boat harbour admiring the beautiful views of the town crowned by the Church of St. Euphemia. St. Eupemia was martyred in Turkey in the 4 century AD but somehow her sarcophagus floated here in 1200 AD and the citizens of Rovinj weren't going to let a good patron saint float by so they grabbed the sarcophagus and installed her in their church. The town was quite pretty with lots of tourist shops and restaurants which were all pretty quiet. After a lunch break back at our apartment we headed out on some of the bikes that the owner of Air Bnb let guests use and we biked along the coast. Pretty quiet but one could tell that they were preparing for the onslaught of tourists. Andrew ventured into the cold waters of the Adriatic and I finished reading my book on the beach.Læs mere
Pletvice Lake National Park
8. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Yesterday we had a long drive day. We drove from Rovinj on the coast to just outside of Plitvice National Park. We stopped at an abandoned medieval Isterian hill town called Dvigrad. It was devastated by plague and malaria in the 17 century and was located at the interface of the Venetian and Austrian Hungarian empire so was not a great place to live. The town was pretty neat as the roads, some gates buildings and a church with some towers were preserved. Everything made of stone. We wandered around impressed with the building prowess of stone and wondered what life was like back in the 17 century. Probably not so good as they were all dying from plague and malaria.
Our next stop was just where we left the Isterian peninsula was a town called Opatija. Op was historically where the aristocracy from Eastern Europe and the Hapsburg empire went for leisure. It seemed a little more ups ale than Rovinj with many older buildings. We walked along the waterfront and it wasn't too busy but one could tell the preparations for the summer had begun. Some nice mariners and restaurants. We ate our lunch looking out at the Adriatic. As far as one could see, the coast was developed for tourism.
After our lunch we kept driving. Relying on Google maps, one can never quite be sure where one will be taken. We travelled on some hwys at 110 kph, toll roads at 130 kph and many back roads at 50 to 90 kph. Andrew did the driving. It is nice to be able to spell off the driving with Andrew. I am also getting used to his driving. Google maps took us off the main highways to come down north onto Plitvice lakes ntl park. We must have driven 50 km through the middle of nowhere pretty close to the Bosnian border. We hit a stretch of road over 20 kms where many of the farmhouses appeared abandoned and destroyed. The land didn't appear great so I didn't think of it. It wasn't until we came to a small village where all the buildings were abandoned and partly destroyed and there were large chips on the walls of the building consistent with bullet holes that the coin dropped. These houses had been damaged in the Yugoslav civil war during the 90s. This is the first evidence in 2 wks that we have seen of the civil war.
Our final stop of the day was Rastoke. The small village of Rastoke is located in the town of Slunj, about 30 minutes from Plitvice Lakes National park. The village lies at the confluence of the Korana and Slunjčica Rivers, creating forks in the rivers that developed calcium deposits, forming 23 waterfalls that flow through the village. The calcium gets deposited on the river bottoms preventing erosion and preserving the waterfalls. The village was built amongst and on top of the waterfalls. I am not sure how often the houses get flooded out but it sure looked neat. In hindsight it would have been fun to have stayed in the village and been lulled to sleep by the sound of the running water.
We stayed just 10 km north of Plitvice Lakes Ntl park in a very nice guest house. Rick Steves had made the area out as isolated wilderness but there were restaurants and markets close to our accommodations. We had brought a bakery supper so we didn't have to eat out. One has to wonder how often these travel guides get updated.Læs mere
Plitvice Lakes National Park
9. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
We were away early today at 9 am and headed south the 10 km to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Plitvice is a series of spectacular waterfalls and lakes created from calcium dissolved in the water which sediments out on the rivers bottom. It prevents erosion and creates these large pools and lakes. It was quite spectacular but also very touristy. One walks on boardwalks and the masses of people move slowly with people stopping very frequently. Andrew and I decided that we had to get away from everyone so we chose to do the route K around the periphery of the park and then back down to look at the main waterfalls. Just as we set out away from the masses a sign indicated the way was closed. We asked why at the info booth and the fellow said mainly for liability as a few trees had come down but he suggested we would not get in trouble if we did the walk. We ducked the rope and continued on the K hike around the largest lake. It was so nice to get away from the masses. After hiking up to look over the entire park we hiked down through some of the major waterfalls but also got back into the masses of people and the very slow pace. Waiting for a boat for a very short ride pack to the opposite side of the river we chatted to a Dutch couple with dogs who confirmed our belief that in the summer the Adriatic coast is incredibly busy and hot. We chatted with an American couple who had 2 young children and were stationed at the large US military base by Trieste. Andrew's Strava said that we had hiked 18km at the park.
We drove the one hour to Zadar on the coast. Rick Steves didn't think highly of Zadar but the old walled town seemed pretty nice. There was a Red Bull wings for life world run so things were hopping as there must have been many athletes in town for the race. We walked along the waterfront with a lot of other people to watch the sunset and listen to these water organs that created sounds from waves striking the pier. It sounded like a whale. After the sunset we headed back to our AirBnB for a well deserved rest.Læs mere
Split
12. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
We said good bye to Zadar yesterday and regretting not having another day there to watch the race. We got going early which was a blessing as when we left town they were setting up for the race and we could have been trapped for the day. Our destination for the day was Split but first we were going to stop at Krka Ntl Park. Krka again is one of these waterfall parks for which Croatia is known for. It was smaller than Platvice Ntl parks having principally one large waterfall but expanded the experience by a boardwalk over a lake and marshy area above the falls. Some seniors groups caused congestion but we were able to squeeze by them. The waterfalls were quite spectacular. I had thought that we would have spent longer at the park but we were done by about 11:30. We had a 45 minute drive to Split airport which was about 20 km out of town. The gas gauge clicked on 3/8 of a tank on the drive which was perfect as we had picked it up with 3/8. I find car companies are not renting out cars with a full tanks of gas which makes it quite difficult to return it without overfilling the tank. It is always a relief to return a rental car especially after one has been cursed by the attendant when we picked it up in Zagreb. All was well with the car and the attendant was impressed that we had returned it with exactly 3/8 of a tank of gas. We took the 37 public bus the 20 k into town.
The principal site to see in Split is Diocletian's retirement palace. Diocletian had been a Roman Emperor from 284 AD to 304 AD to then voluntarily retire to Croatia. He built this palatial palace on the water, probably 200 metres by 200 metres. The outer walls were pretty preserved as was one central courtyard area. He had spent a lot of time in Egypt so a lot of the stone in the central courtyard had come from Egypt as had a sphinx. His crypt had been converted to a church/ cathedral.The rest of the palace had been replaced over the years with apartments. We wandered around before eating at a sandwich shop recommended by some influencer Andrew had seen on Instagram. The sandwiches were good and reasonably priced. We chatted in line with a stewardess for United. She had been working for 50 years. The Split layover was 3 days so she had brought her very elderly husband with her. After eating our lunch on the promenade by the sea we walked around exploring the city and people watching. Not as hopping as Zadar but it was a Sunday night.
Monday we were a bit slow.to.get going. They were calling for some heavy rain which never really materialized. I walked down to the ferry terminal to figure out where our ferry was leaving from the next day while Andrew slept in. It gave me another opportunity to wander the palace as it was a lot less busy. After getting bake to the apartment Andrew was up but was engrossed with planning his trip to Japan next month so I headed out to the Archeology museum as the majority of the museums were closed because it was Monday. They had a lot of sarcophagus es and tombstones from the Roman era but very little explanation or translation of the latin. Like many of the museums we have been to on the trip it was as my kids would say "mid". When I got back to the apartment, no rain had occurred so we headed out for a 12 km hike around the Marjan peninsula, a very large forested park just beside the downtown. It was good to get away from the tourists. Curiously they appeared to be thinning out the trees in the park which we thought was probably for fire abatement. We stopped at a beautiful beach and I made my first swim in the Adriatic. It was cold but the water was incredibly clear. We walked back to Split and had a movie night.Læs mere
RejsendeBeautiful and very interesting ! Who’s that girl in a blue bathing suit you were photographing on the beach ?
Tour de Korcula
12. maj, Kroatien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Our last two days have been spent on the Island of Korcula in the town of Korcula. Korcula is a group of islands off the coast of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea located about 1/2 the way between Split and Dubrovnik. Korcula was also the most southerly point of the Venetian empire. As such it has a beautifully walled medieval old town. Our ferry from Split left at 8 am which made for an early start. We took a very fast cataman boat and got to Korcula by 10:20. Our Air BnB host had been very insistent that we not check in until 3 pm so we wandered around the old town but that didn't take too long. We then chilled out by the sea before going for a swim. Lots of boats to watch. Yachts, ferries, sailboats and fishing boats. Very busy maritime scene. We checked into our very nice Air BnB which is in the new part of town in a new building that commands a spectacular view of the old town. Korcula seems a lot less touristy than many of the other places which makes it feel more laid back.
Today Andrew and I rented 2 very nice Trek Merlin mountain bikes and cycled for about 50 km and still only covered a small fraction of the island. Both of our routes were out and back and we cycled along the coast for much of the journey. We had lunch on a stony beach before heading back to Korcula and past to a very sandy beach and some cliff jumping. It was all very pretty and on the shorter leg we paddled through vineyards. Lots of upscale vacation homes on the island and we passed several very large yachts anchored in various bays. At the sandy beach I chatted to a fellow who was from London Ontario and on holiday with his wife. Talk about a small world as originally I came from London. The one observation I made was that there were multiple "back roads "groups on the island bicycling around all dressed like they were in the tour de France but they were all on EV bikes. We were even passed by a fellow by himself on an EV bike and when he went by, I realized that he had an Ironman backpack on. It seemed odd that someone who could finish a Iron Man Triathlon needed an EV bike. That said they all seemed to be having fun which is the important thing.Læs mere
Pearl of the Adriatic-Dubrovnik
16. maj, Kroatien ⋅ 🌧 12 °C
We left Korcula on Thursday taking a very fast catamaran to our next destination Dubrovnik. Surprisingly the boat trip wasn't that exciting as one couldn't go outside and we travelled pretty far from the coast and other islands so there wasn't very much to see. The ferry was pretty full so Andrew and I had to sit apart and I was three seats from the window. I sat beside a very interesting woman from Denver Colorado. She was a democrat and dedicated reader of the New York times so we had a lot in common. it was interesting to hear her perspective of the current political situation in the states. She recommended a Youtube video by Rick Steves in which he discusses his insights into American politics and I have now watched it and it was very good. Rick Steves is traditionally known as a writer of tourist/travel guides which I have enjoyed using to plan my trips. The link to the Youtube video is a follows and I think that he has done a veery good job catching the essence of American politics. I think that it is worth a listen.
https://youtu.be/E20u5y7CJZQ?si=UguwrfRoNJULZKw8
Dubrovnik is a medieval city that appears to come right out of some fantasy novel such as Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. It is a large walled city filled with medieval buildings with lots of old stone churches, palaces, monasteries and interesting civic buildings. It was a significant city state during the 16th and 17th century competing against Venice for control of shipping and trade in the Adriatic Sea. It was unfortunately significantly damaged by an earthquake in 1667 but rebuilt. Some may be familiar with Dubrovnik as it was used in the television series Game of Thrones. Because of it's beauty, association with the tv series and ease of visiting for cruise ships,it is very popular with tourists, in fact it is packed with tourists. The Croatia weather service all week has been calling for significant rainfall although it has yet to materialize. I keep telling Andrew that we are going to get heavy rainfall only for nothing to happen. Thursday was the one day this week that they were not calling for rain so after arriving in Dubrovnik and dropping off our luggage at the Air BnB we headed out to do the obligatory Rick Steves walk of the old city of Dubrovnik. The tour covered much of the old town and we were able to take in many of the monasteries from outside, the rector's palace(mayor of Dubrovnik),the squares and the churches and learn a little about the history of Dubrovnik. We had purposely saved the best thing to do for the late afternoon. the best thing to to in Deb is to walk the walls of the City. The city walls are tremendously thick and in areas are up to 25 metres tall. They are truly some of the most impressive walls of a castle or walled city that I have ever been on. It takes about 45 minutes to complete a circumference of the walls. As it was late in the afternoon, the cruise boat tourists had all departed and it wasn't too busy. We did about 1.5 loops of the wall. Normally one is supposed to only do 1 loop of the wall but the attendent let us do another loop. About 3/4 of the way around the wall Andrew became quite excited. I thought it was because there were all these young women in bikinis subathing and swimming at this one spot beneath the wall but what was actually exciting him was the opportunity to go cliff jumping beside this bar area where all these young people were hanging out. We made a beeline for this spot as soon as we got off the wall so Andrew could experience jumping off this 4-5 metre cliff into the water. While I sat down to watch in the midst of all of these bikini clad beauties. No sooner had I sat down then I was engaged in conversation with these two young Irish woman and the conversation quickly transgressed into discussing sourdough bread, favorite cake recipes and the benefits oof fermenting foods. If one ever talks to an Irish person and tells them that you attending the Ballymalloe cooking school, the conversation immediately becomes very food focused. The Irish are very passionate about their food. We were having such a very in depth conversation about Ballymalloe relish that we didn't even realize that Andrew had made his first leap off the cliff. I paid greater attention to Andrew's 2nd and 3rd leap. I had decided not to leap off the cliff as I don't want to get hurt on this trip. The one Irish lass showed me this massive bruise/hematoma on her hamstring that she had acquired after jumping from the cliff and landing wrong on the water. This only reinforced my deciding not to jump. I suggested that she get some ice on it but I think she was jsut going to have another beer. After Andrew was finished throwing himself into the water we said goodbye to our Irish friends and headed back to the Air BnB.
Friday dawned and despite the weather report predicting rain it was sunny and windy. Andrew didn't feel like he had exercised enough yesterday so today he decided that we should hike up Mt Srd, the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik. It was 6 to 7 hundred metres in elevation. It took us about an hour of hiking. Mt Srd was quite important during the 1990s civil war as The Yugoslav Army had invaded and captured all of southern Croatia except for Dubrovnik. Whoever controlled Mt Srd controlled Dubrovnik. In the city we saw a memorial to all of the Croat soldiers who had died fighting over it. Very sad. Despite the sad story, it commanded beautiful views of Dubrovnik. We walked down on a road which allowed different views of the city before heading onto Fort St. Lawrence which was a large stone fort beside the city. It's claim to fame was that some of the scenes from Game of Thrones had been shot there. Andrew was eager to recreate some of the scenes.
The Dubrovnik pass allows entrance to several museums in Dub. We went to the Franciscan monastery museum and the house off a 17 th century playwright. They weren't very good. Maybe if you had done a PHD on 17 th century playwrights you would have enjoyed them but they were just boring but busy with other tourists who had a Dub pass. By then I was starting to flag. Andrew annouced when we had got back to the Airbnb that we had walked 18 km and 700 metres of elevation gain. No wonder I was so tired.
Saturday the weather services were calling for 45 mm of rain in the morning clearing on the afternoon. We had planned to do a possible excursion but with the weather we decided against it. We chilled out in the morning and it was cloudy but no rain. Andrew had given up on the museums so I headed out by myself in the afternoon just when it finally started to rain. I did 3 of the art galleries included on the pass and they were very good. Croatian artists of the 20 century painting Croatian scenes. I also took in the Rector's palace, the maritime museum and the ethnography museum but they were all duds. Probably why they were included on the pass. I navigated around the old town using all of the back alleys rather than the tourist thronged larger thoroughfares which was more fun than many of the museums.
Tomorrow we are off to Bosnia Hertzogovi and Mostar.Læs mere
Mostar
17. maj, Bosnien-Hercegovina ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
We left Dubrovnik on Sunday for Mostar on the 8 am bus. It doesn't seem terribly far between Dub and Mostar however there are now major highways and it is a very windy route through very hilly land. Bosnia is not part of the EU and as such the infrastructure including the road system doesn't seem to be that well developed. We had to stop for a border inspection and what I found amusing was that we spent more time on the Croatian side leaving Croatia than on the Bosnian side entering Bosnia. We continued on our journey and with all of the hills and turns, I became a little nauseous by the time I arrived in Mostar. It really didn't seem as prosperous as Croatia and Andrew observed that all of the houses and towns were flying the Croatian rather than the Bosnian Herzegovina flag.
Please forgive this explanation as I find understanding things here is a little confusing. The explanation for this is that BH is a conglomerate of three religious groups. The Croats (Catholics)were to the south along the border with Croatia, the Bosniks-Muslims were in the centre and the Serbian population-Orthodox Christain formed a crescent to the north. This distribution is attributed partly to the fact that the Balkans was the interface between the Austria Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empire. Under Tito and Yugoslavia things were stable but when Yugoslavia started to break up in the early 90s all hell broke loose and there was major sectarian violence with the Bosnian population seemingly getting the worse end of the stick. Torture camps, ethnic cleansing, mass Graves, 2 million people displaced 40000 civilians killed. This was not a great place to be. Mostar was on the front line as in the 19th century the Neretva river separated the Austrian Hungarian empire from the Ottoman empire and as such it was a battlefield waiting to happen. Croat forces took the high ground above town on the west side of town and lobbed artillery down on the Bosniks
The Ottoman empire had controlled the east side of Mostar for hundreds of years and as such the old town has abundant stone mosques and the buildings have a Turkish flair to them. Much of the east side of town had been damaged during the 90s by shelling and these buildings had not been rebuilt. It was very touristy with lots of tacky tourist shops leading up to the old bridge. Who buys this junk. It really distracted from the ambiance of the old town. Mostar is known for it's iconic arched stone bridge built in 1557 by an Ottoman Sultan. The largest single span stone bridge in the world. As soon as you see my photo you will know the bridge . Of course during the civil war Croat troops artillery destroyed it. After the war it was important for Mostarians to rebuild and it was rebuilt over a decade and completed in 2004. It was just swarming with tourists. As like with all things it was more beautiful from afar than near. Other than wandering around the old town, we visited a Mosque which was built at the same time as the bridge and visited a horrific museum that chronologicaled many of the terrible atrocities committed during the civil war. They had display cases containing personal items of people from the war some had survived while many had not. It was very sad.
After lunch I went in search of an ATM that didn't charge a one time fee. MF bank was located in the West part of Mostar and Gemini said it didn't charge the 15 dollar fee. I walked around the West part of Mostar and was it ever pleasant. No destroyed buildings, no tourists, bus trips or glitchy shops. It felt very Austrian. It seemed that the town had given up the east side to the tourists and the west was where the locals hung out and lived. Rick Steves had poopooed the west side of town but I really found it very pleasant. We went back to eat supper at a restaurant named for Pablo Neruda the famous Chilean poet whose house I had visited in Santiago Chile. Before supper we had the opportunity to visit a Franciscan monastery literally across the street from where we were staying Destroyed and rebuilt in 1997, I had low expectations but was it ever beautiful inside. Beautiful mosaics and paintings covered the walls. I sat and listened for 30 minutes one of the monks perform some organ and guitar music. It was very nice.
Today we are off to Sarajevo.Læs mere
Sarajevo
19. maj, Bosnien-Hercegovina ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
We left Mostar on Tuesday and were treated to a very windy bus ride on our way to Sarajevo. The bus was an hour late arriving but we found a comfortable shaded park bench to wait on. The air conditioning wasn't turned on the bus probably in an attempt to save energy. I felt nauseous again. Fortunately half way through the journey we got on a more highway which smoothed the journey out. Driving through the countryside one can tell that Bosnia is not as prosperous as their EU Balkan neighbours.
We have now spent a very interesting 2.5 days here in Sarajevo and really enjoyed making the effort to come here. We recognized from the moment we checked into our air BnB how unique Sarajevo was. Looking out our windows we could see multiple minarets of various mosques, multiple churches of both Serbian and Orthodox denominations and the very large Sarajevo brewery which was right behind our apartment. Not a typical sight for an Edmontonian. Our apartment was vintage 1980 but very comfortable and perfectly located to see all of the sights just across the Latin bridge.
Our first evening we wandered around the downtown before coming across the site where Gavrilo Pricip a Balkan separtist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand the crown prince of Austria on June 28, 1914. There were foot prints on the concrete marking the exact site that the assassin had stood and a replica of the car that the Archduke and his wife had been driving in. The assassination led to the outbreak of WW1. Interestingly the assassin survived the war imprisoned in Czech which was part of the Austrian empire only to die shortly after the war from TB he had acquired while in prison.
Our next day we headed out for our Rick Steves walking tour. I felt like a time traveller We started our walk in the old Ottoman town . The Ottomans had controlled Sarajevo for 450 years and had left their marks on the city including mosques, madras, bath houses, fountains and bazaars. It felt very Turkish. Of course it was also pretty touristy with lots of gift shops. Then very abruptly we entered the Hapsburg era. The Hapsburgs controlled for 75 years ending with WW1. The architecture was immediately Austrian. Then we transitioned to the 19 century and finally after an extended walk to the more modern day Sarajevo. As some may be aware Sarajevo withstood the longest siege of a city. Between 1992 and 1996 Serbian forces controlling the hills around Sarajevo reigned artillery shells and sniper fire on the 300000 citizens of Sarajevo. It was horrific. 10000 killed, 75000 wounded, 1600 children killed. That was 30 years ago and although things are much normalized there are still remnants of the siege. Some buildings outside of the downtown are still pock marked by artillery and gunfire. Throughout the downtown the holes on pavement were filled in with red resin if people were killed by the shell. These are called red roses and are present throughout the downtown. They have been preserved even if the street has been repaved. There are still some vestiges of the 1984 winter Olympics. In one of the downtown squares we found the logo in the pavement used at the Olympics. We took a break in a park and watched some seniors playing chess on a large chess set while their friends watched on and gave advice. The central bank had been built in the 20th century and had a feeling of Soviet brutalesque architecture with the doors guarded by female and male Atlases who looked like they had been on Testosterone replacement therapy. We visited a market where a Serbian artillery strike had killed 60 civilians and injured countless others. The world horror at this civilian targeted strike had lead Bill Clinton to start airstrikes against the Serbian forces which eventually lead to the Dayton accord and the wars end.
The most modern part of town had the sites most significantly associated with the civil war. We walked down sniper alley where Serbian snipers reigned death down on Sarajevo civilians. We saw the Bosnian parliament which had almost been captured by the Serb forces at the beginning of the siege only to have been fought back by Bosniaks. We visited the Romeo and Juliet bridge where a Serb/ Bosniak couple had died in each other's arms after being killed by snipers. We finished the walk with a visit to the monument to canned beef erected to recognize the role of the UN food drops and to the Tito Cafe dedicated to Josip Tito, the post war dictator of Yugoslavia. There was lots of Cold War military stuff outside for us to look at.
What a day. We walked 16 km. We weren't done yet. I noticed that we were very close to the national theatre. The ballet Giselle was on that night with a full pit orchestra. Tickets ranged between 8 and 16 CDN dollars. Andrew was game so we got box seats and took in a beautiful ballet in a beautiful Hapsburg built theatre. How cool is that. The pit orchestra was very good. I haven't taken in much dance but it also appeared to be of very high quality. The communists were always very good at supporting their symphonies and ballet and this must be a holdover from those times.
As Andrew had been so willing to come to the ballet with him I agreed to accompany him for his adventure. His adventure was to hike up the 600 metres above town to the 1984 Olympic bobsled track which you were allowed to walk on as it was no longer used. It was the last time at an Olympics that the bobsled track was not refrigerated. It was the closest I have ever got to a bobsled track and there were some pictures showing what it had looked like during the Olympics. At the top, Andrew wanted to keep hiking snort 600 metres up and I wasoso g steam so I headed back to our apartment for a break.
Today, Friday we are flying to Milan Italy on Ryanair. Further adventures to follow.Læs mere
Milan
22. maj, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We have had a whirlwind 2 days in Milan having flown from Sarajevo to Milan on Ryanair. I was quite impressed with flying on Ryan air. No luxuries but very efficient. I had also paid up front for 1 checked luggage, 1 carry on and seat selection. It didn't cost that much more and then we weren't in the situation where if you show up and your carry on luggage doesn't fit you are being nailed with higher fees. Out of curiosity Andrew checked our carry on before we checked it and it was slightly too large. The flight went seamlessly and we were on the ground 1.5 hours later. Now what was crazy was we ended up standing in line for 1.5hours to clear custom s as non EU residents. Heaven forbid what would have happened if I had been old and frail. Early in the trip if you have been following my blog I jumped across the Slovenian Italian border multiple times without anyone knowing or carrying of course both these countries are in the Schengen zone/ EU so you can pass freely between them.
We chilled out for the afternoon after getting to the Air BnB. It is unseasonably warm this week with temperatures of between 30 and 35. On the first evening we ventured out and walked to the centre of Milan where the large Duomo cathedral is located. They were having a concert for teenagers so the square was just packed. We walked around the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle. This is a beautiful high end shopping mall right beside the Duomo which was built in the 19th century and has an impressive roof made from glass and metal. We walked around checking out all of the high end stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Rolex etc. Behind the galleria is the Scala, the famous opera house which we also took in. Andrew had more energy than I did so I hopped on the metro and he kept walking around downtown Milan and eventually ran home.
Having had a pretty sedentary Friday we decided on Saturday to rent some bikes. I ran into a snag booking the municipal bikes as one needed a functioning cellphone number. I should have set up the app in Canada before the trip. Fortunately we found a nearby bike rental shop and rented 2 bikes for the day. The bike lanes are pretty well set up here and we cycled around for about 3 hours including a loop of downtown Milan with 2 bakery breaks.
As we had limited time we chose to do one art gallery, the Ambrosiana. Known for having a large collection of Leonardo Davinci drawings and Raphael sketches. It's tough to do justice to a gallery in an hour but we tried to look at everything including documents signed by Galileo and Napoleon and the gloves Napoleon had worn at the battle of Waterloo and the Leonardo Davinci documents with the backwards writing for which Leonardo was known.
At Andrew's insistence we then went to the Leonardo Davinci science and technology museum. It was huge covering all of mankind's technological developments. One could have spent weeks in the museum as it seemed cover pretty well all of mankind's advance from steel manufacturing to aerospaceto nautical to computers. Andrew the engineer seemed quite impressed by the exhibits.
We were pretty well all played out so we cycled in the 30 + degree heat back to the bike shop and our Air BnB. There was a highly rated Indian food restaurant across the street so we did Indian food for supper. It was very good
This morning we took a high speed train to Bologna. The train was very fast moving at 300 kmph. The trip took only 1 hour and 20 minutes. We then hopped on a monrail from the train station to the airport where we picked up our car and drove to Modena where we spend the next 3 days visiting high end car factories and some foodie sights.Læs mere
TopGear
24. maj, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
We have now spent 3 days in Modena just outside of Bologna to principally visit some high end car factories but to also squeeze in some foodie tours. This was our principal reason for taking the trip but somehow the trip morphed more into a Balkan vacation. The name for this footprint is Top Gear named after the BBC television show of the same name. Jeremy Clarkson and his too sidekicks would go on automotive related adventures which is similar to what we have been up to this week. In the 2010s, kids and I when we were on vacation really enjoyed watching this series. It was quite silly and brainrot but it appealed to us.
We started out on Monday morning at a parmasene cheese factory called4 Madonne Caseificio dell'Emilia. We had booked a tour and learned all about the manufacturing of large 50kg wheels of Parmesan cheese ranging in age from 1 to 10 years. Any older and it doesn't add anything to the taste of the cheese. We learned how after a few days in a mold the wheels of cheese are immersed in a salty brine imparting the saltiness to the cheese and also creating the thick out rind. We then entered their refrigerated warehouse where there were 33000 less than 12 month old wheels of cheese. Very impressive. After a year the wheels are moved off site for further aging. We finished the tour with some tasting of some pretty wonderful cheeses.
Several months ago when planning the trip, I had secured one of the rare openings for a tour at the Pagani. Pagani is the maker of very very expensive and very limited number of high end vehicles. 3:30 pm on Monday May 25. There were no other openings. The whole holiday was planned around this. Unfortunately the cheese factory tour was only available for 9 :30 and was over by 10:30 which gave us 5 hours to kill.Andrew noticed that Ducati, a manufacturer of high motor bikes had a museum in Bologna 50 minutes away so we drove on very windy roads to Bologna. Andrew enjoyed the visit but I am not really into motorcycles so the significance was lost to some extent on me. We had our lunch in a pleasant cemetery beside our car park. It was shaded, there was a park bench and bathrooms. I don't think the cemetery was dedicated to motorcyclists who had killed themselves on Ducati bikes but it could have been. It was quite warm probably 33 C. Anyhow we then proceeded on to the Pagani museum arriving at 2:30 but they were generous enough to let us go on the 2:30 tour. We learned how Horacio Pagani had started his own automobile company in the 80s and 90s after stints with Ferrari. His main niche was carbon fiber titanium reinforced ultralight streamlined bodies for which he bought AMG engines from Mercedes Benz. He was one of the first luxury automobile companies to start using carbon fibre The vehicles sell for millions of dollars and they make maybe 72 a year all custom jobs. The factory was designed to resemble an Italian piazza with no assembly line but 4-5 cars being built in place. It was very interesting to get a view of the manufacturing process and probably the neatest of all three high end car company tours that we did. Topgear had awarded Pagani car of the year in 2015 and the award was a bronze mask of Jeremy Clarkson's face which Andrew and I found rather amusing.
Tuesday was Ferrari day. Although Ferrari got started in Moderna, they had moved their manufacturing and test track a 30 minute drive south of Moderna to Maranello. We had a bus tour booked of the manufacturing facilities but it was rather lame as we just drove around the outside of the various buildings with the guide describing what went on inside. I felt a little disappointed after the Pagani tour the previous day. Ferrari is really into formula 1. The museum at the factory was given over to Formula 1 cars and racers. Andrew was a member of the Formula 1 U of A club so really enjoyed the museum. It has been very hot all week here in Italy with afternoon highs of 35 degree. Unseasonably hot. We decided to chill out for the afternoon back at our apartment. I got my haircut at a barbershop and we walked over to the second Ferrari museum at 5 pm. It was on the original site of the Ferrari business and had incorporated the historic original building with a modern addition. I think I enjoyed this museum better as they were highlighting the Ferraris owned by famous musicians such as Madonna, John Lennon, Eric Clapton. I think they had acquired the original vehicles owned by these individuals. They had a nice audiotour explaining the stories behind the various vehicles.
Our final car factory was the Laborrgheni factory. Laborrgheni had originally started as a tractor manufacturer but after having an argument with Enzo Ferrari in the 60s, Laborrgheni decided that he could make a better car than Ferrari and so came about Laborrgheni. The plant was located about 1/2 the way between Modena and Bologna about 30 minutes from where we were staying in a town called Bolognese. My worry for the day was car breaking. Tourist cars at these automobile factories seem to be targeted by thieves and there are various anecdotes on line of people having their cars broken into and signs in the car parks near the museums about car theft. At the other museums we had taken the cover off the hatchback trunk so potential thieves could see that there was no luggage in the trunk. Unfortunately as we were staying in Bologna we would have to have luggage with us. It seemed that the break ins were occurring in the car parks close to the factories so our workaround was to park the car in a car park in town used by the locals about a 15 minute walk away. We covered the trunk with the cover and took all of our valuables including passports with us and all was well.
I wasn't sure what to expect for the Laborrgheni factory tour after the previous did at Ferrari. The Laborrgheni tour was very good as it took us right onto the floor of the assembly plant and we could walk along the assembly line looking at all 33 stations of assembly. The cars are moved on electronic carts from station to station. The crew at each station have 28 minutes to complete their tasks. Bringing the drive train up beneath the chassis takes the longest time to hook up and this takes 2 stations. The workers are all between 20 and 40. Older workers move on to other jobs. They have lifts to help move heavier components but only one robot which applies glue in a perfect bead to the front windscreen. I have never seen a car assembly line so it was pretty neat to see such a state of the art assembly line. Laborrgheni prides itself on handcrafted vehicles and not using robots which are all part of their image. I can't think that robots would be more reliable making a vehicle. It also struck me that significant components of the vehicle were being assembled elsewhere probably by parts suppliers and we're merely being put as whole components into the Laborrgheni vehicles. Perhaps the parts manufacturers are using robots. The tour was excellent and afterwards we toured the museum looking at beautiful Laborrgheni vehicles. my favourite being a range Rover off road vehicle. Andrew has a model of a Aventador at home and he was able to find the true life version. We were done at 11 and it was another scorcher of a day. Our last tour was back on Moderna at 2:30 so we had time to kill. We wandered into town and had a cold drink and chilled at an outdoor cafe before moving on to an air conditioned pizzeria.
After our leisurely lunch we drove back to Modena for our final tour which was of the Acetaia Giusti museum. Acetaia Giusti is the largest manufacturer of balsamic vinegar in the world. It was tough to follow up on the Laborrgheni museum but this was still a pretty neat tour to learn how Balsamic vinegar is made from grapes through a multi-year process of dehydrating and rehydrating the vinegar over 12 to 25 years for the traditional balsamic vinegar. The Costco balsamic vinegar that we are used to is made in a less intensive process of aging and dehydration with addition of grape vinegar. They had a name for it, perhaps PGI. We finished with a tasting of variously aged and types of balsamic vinegar which were very interesting.
Having finished our last tour, we drove to Bologna to drop our stuff off at our b and b 15 minute walk from the airport and then the car off at the airport. Andrew drove and did a good job as the traffic was very busy. The thermometer on the car was reading 36.5 for much of the trip but the highway clogged with traffic was probably warmer than off the highway. We did manage to enter a toll booth that didn't issue tickets so Andrew had to backup in a very busy area surrounded by transport trucks. I was happy to drop the vehicle off unscathed at the airport. We ate out at a restaurant and called it an early night and we were happy for our in room air conditioner. This morning we were away by 7:10 and walked back to the airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam from there we will have a direct flight back to Edmonton. Hurray for direct flights.
This will be my last post for the trip. All the planning for the trip paid off. If I were to have done things over I probably would have spent maybe one less day in each of Dubrovnik, Split and Rovinj and maybe had a few more days in Italy. That said it was nice to have some extra days to rest up as the travel days could sometimes be quite tiring. If one goes too quickly one just gets tired out and nothing is interesting. I think that I enjoyed Slovenia and Sarajevo the most in the Balkans. The best tours were the Parmesan cheese factory, the Skocjan caves, Pagani and Laborrgheni in no specific order.Læs mere
RejsendeI really enjoyed all of your blogs. It will good to have both of you back home shortly, xo CB
RejsendeWell done Rob and Andrew surviving a mammoth trip together father and son! Brilliant once in a lifetime opportunity. I love fast cars too great ending. Thanks for making the effort to record and share your stories.
Rejsende
Have a great trip!
RejsendeRob I look forward to following your trip. It sounds very interesting, lots of exciting places to visit that are off the beaten track. Tim’s eldest son lives in Ljubljana. Have a great trip.
Rejsendelookin good !