Bari, Italy-A port City

April 15, 2011

The day started with ¾ of a bottle of contact lens solution in my suitcase. Then I stepped in doggie dodo immediately after exiting the car while gazing at the fortress of Bari. Luckily there was no strike 3. Bari is not a tourist town, though it could be. The old city is a busy ordinary place full of the evidence of everyday living. Laundry fluttering from the windows, cafe bars on every corner, lots of young men hanging around...obviously lots of unemployment. But a jewel in so many ways...old buildings, narrow alleys, cobble streets, churches in various states of disrepair scattered around the area. We toured the fortress/castle that is just being fixed to bring it up to standard, so not a lot of it open. Then we just walked the streets of Bari and found a place to have lunch of Italian pasta. After we cruised the waterfront in the car to see a little of the newer Bari before we headed for the ferry at 5 pm.

Croatia to Italy

There is no easy way to make this journey, or should I say fast way. The overland roads across Montenegro and Albania are small and windy. This is complicated by the fact that Albania is the wild west of the European continent. Bad roads, even worse drivers, no signs and no services. Not one person recommended we drive there. So we gave up the idea and decided to travel by ferry. Of course there is no direct ferry, even though Greece is just down the coast from Dubrovnik. One must cross the Adriatic to Italy and then catch a second ferry back to Greece. And to make it more complicated there is no conversation between the different ferry lines. Information was only available on the internet and even that was somewhat sketchy and hard to interpret. Sozon reassured us that there would no problems in the off season which was quite true. .There was almost no one on the ferry...and hardly any trucks.

First we took the Croatian ferry leaving in the afternoon from Dubrovnik, a journey of 7 hours. Even though it was an international ferry, they barely accepted Euros. We had diligently spent all our Kuna's and had only euros. Luckily the dinner in the restaurant was enough that we could use big euro bills. But there would be no after dinner coffee in the bar...bartender only took small euros or kunas. Croatian nationalism! Silly... Maybe when the autobahn is finished to Dubrovnik, there will be more trucks and maybe even that ferry directly to Greece!

We arrived in Bari after a calm easy trip and headed for our pre booked hotel. There was no tourist info at this international ferry dock... the only indication of info were few signs at the entrance pointing to 5 hotels in the city centre. But, we had booked the Best Western outside the centre. So we fired up the GPS..not listed. Best Western was a newly converted hotel. We had an address on a numbered highway and the name of the suburb so we tried that. In the dark, it was very difficult and we were in an industrial area with no one to ask. Finally an hour later we arrived. The next day when we travelled back to the dock to book our ferry to Igoumenitsa, it took us about 15 minutes to drive.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

One arrives in Dubrovnik across a magnificent suspension bridge from which one can look at the new part of the city and the harbour. The old city is hidden behind hills on the far side of the peninsula. The city is so hilly, that the entrance is through a tunnel that snakes down the side underneath the homes and buildings. We arrive in the Gruz or harbour area and investigate accommodation. There are a zillion tourist offices around town selling excursions and linking travellers with private rooms, about 1100 rooms available. The hotels are expensive apparently especially near the old city. We pick two studio apartments where we can get parking and they are about 50E each per night. Nearby is a bus stop that takes us in 10 minutes to the gate of the old city and there is a restaurant 2 min down from our place. We have a beautiful garden with an orange tree that wafts sweet scents around the place. As long as we take short showers we have hot water.
The old town is amazing..the shiny marble main street, the warren of alleys heading up from there on both sides and the walls that surround the whole area. The walls were never breeched and the city state of Dubrovnik only fell to Napolean by trickery in the early 1800's and eventually was taken over by the monster AHE. We walk the walls ..quite a cardio workout. We take the cable car to the top of Mt Srd for the amazing view and we take a boat ride to see the city from the water. There is only one cruise ship here today...so things are not too crowded and we can enjoy everything. We visit the War Museum at the top of the mountain..and see the 1991-2 shelling of Dubrovnik by the Serbs and Montenegrians. One can feel the hatred in the language on the signs..it is too soon to have any dedication to peace. I wonder how these small countries work things out today as they share such long borders...Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro. So much is religion and ethnically based. Even in WW2 Croatia was with the Germans and Italians, Serbia and the others were with Russia and the allies. But most of the city is restored now very skillfully...so the surface looks good.
We spend a few days here and travel down to Montenegro for a day..have to show all the passports and the vehicle registration. Probably because of Albania and all the car thefts, they are more careful. Montenegro is so beautiful...but in the rain we don't see much. Maybe another trip?

Croatia from top to tip

It is our last night in Dubrovnik and I am sad to leave this part of Europe. It is absolutely beautiful and in many places unspoiled by tourists...though war has taken a toll for sure.
Our first stop was Rijeka. Not a tourist town, but could be. Beautiful AHE (Austro Hungarian Empire) buildings and a wonderful pedestrian walk covering a lot of the old area. As well, there was a marvellous lookout with an old castle above the city. Apparently hotels are not the greatest yet so that keeps tourists away.

Gave the GPS one more try and headed for the Plitvicka Jezera..a national park that is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Again we seemed to meander up the mountain sides on small treacherous curving roads..wonderful little villages and views..but not necessarily how we wanted to make the trip. Finally the GPS ended up in the glove box and the map plus brain became the way to navigate. We headed back to the edge of the Adriatic and followed the curves along the water...the land is almost desert like in its sparse vegetation and rock that defines the huge hills, but the blue of the sea is magnificent. Lots of development of resorts and upscale places happening.

We then headed cross country toward Plitvicka and travelled through areas where the aftermath of the war was evident. Lots of ruins with new houses..quite simple in design...springing up in the midst. In the towns we could see buildings still with bullet holes in their walls. Over lunch in a roadside restaurant, we talked with a Slovenian man who said the whole area was “ethnically cleansed” and all the Serbs had been driven out. People who had lived together in peace for centuries...killed each other and then many fled to find safety somewhere else. This tragedy that seemed so far away seems to come to life for me and I feel so sad for such hatred and bitterness that has defined this place.

Tonight we are staying in a room outside the park entrance. All accommodation in this area is in private rooms and gives income to the locals. The familia Luketice seems to have about 4 houses on their property with 3 of them just with rooms for tourists. No breakfast...will have to travel down the road to a local restaurant. But, clean and spartan with our own bathrooms. The owners speak some German so we can converse somewhat.

The Plitvicka Lakes are a Unesco World Heritage Site and they sure deserve the designation. A whole series of beautiful blue green lakes with waterfalls between them cascading down through forests. There are a lot of walkways made of tree branches with hard to see small steps up...makes for a few trips on this magnificent trip. To do the whole thing by foot would be 18 km, but there is a boat trip and a "bustrain" that shorten the connections. Jurg and I took the chance to have a good walk and of course I took a zillion pictures. The final bustrain was not running yet so early in the season, so we didn't go round the last lake..But, it was wonderful!
In the afternoon we drove through more of the countryside with its small farms and windy hilly roads and headed back to the coast again. This time we stopped at Zadar to see the sea organ. One sits on these steps at the side of the sea and listens to an "organ" that is played by the waves as they move the air up through holes in the concrete. It was quite wonderful! This city also has lots of Roman ruins that are interesting.
The night was spent at the Best Western in Split. It was such a long drive on the windy roads along the coast that it was 8 pm before we arrived. And there was an autobahn...
In the morning we toured the most amazing Diocletian Palace...roman ruins intermingled with middle ages and AHE buildings. It is another Unesco site.
And then on towards Dubrovnik...on the newly opened portion of the autobahn. Wow...sailing along at 130 km with huge sweeping bridges across the valleys and above the towns. Then 80 km later it all ended. Back to the small roads and the little villages that provide the services for the travellers. I do wonder what will happen to this small local economy when the A1 is finished all the way to Dubrovnik. For the cities it will be a win as more tourists will be able to come...but it will be death to the people who rent rooms and sell food along the way. This road is financed by EU money and will mean that perhaps there will be a ferry from Dubrovnik to Greece and more hotels in Dubrovnik. It all reminds me of Rome coming...the bridge towers look like aqueducts marching across the valleys.

Cavallino-Treporti, Italy to Opatje Croatia

April 8, 2011

Cavallino-Treporti to Upatje

Our day started with a castle drive. A visit to the Castle Duono where the “royal family” from the Austrian Hungarian Empire times had opened up the castle to the public...supposedly for sharing purposes. We guess it was more to help finance the upkeep of the place. It was a beautiful setting on the shores of the Adriatic with sweeping views over the coastline and its rugged cliffs. Beautiful gardens went down to the water's edge hidden way below. A family that supported the arts, they had all sorts of instruments on display that seemed to be very valuable. And then we followed the coastline to another castle...Miramar. This was set in a large garden of many hectares owned by the state now. The Important personage who built the place was appointed Emperor of Mexico before all the furniture was finished for his very elaborately decorated castle and he died over in Mexico. The Austro Hungarian Empire Home is now owned by the people..and I am sure is very expensive to maintain. The furniture looks like it was hardly used(probably cuz the guy died) and most of the castle is maintained as it was.

From here we went into Trieste, a beautiful city with one of the largest squares in Europe...It is graced by a fountain that is a tribute to the 4 continents..seemed a few weren't discovered yet! Australia and one of the Americas. This was the main port of the Austrian Hungarian Empire up to WWI and is graced by beautiful buildings and a cafe culture. We had coffee in one that has existed since the 1830's and the prices were reasonable- thought not quite at the cost of the original.

We let the GPS be our guide as we tried to cross from Italy to Slovenia and onto Croatia. Seemed simple enough- but what looked like an hours drive to Rijeka turned into at least 2 hours travelling these back roads that snaked back and forth across the sides of the hills, through small villages and countryside and every once in a while provided magnificent vistas. Of course the mood in the car was not great...GPS vs the human brain aided by maps. Lots of strife and stress..must have been leftover bad feelings from the Balkan War. We finally pulled into Opatja and decided to find a hotel.

Opatja is a beautiful seaside resort and was quite soothing to the soul...once we found a hotel as many were still not open for the season. But our rooms overlooked the Adriatic Sea and beautiful mansions from the AHE graced the roads of the town. Lots of German tourists shopped and walked the streets and filled our hotel. Along the edge of the sea was the most beautiful flagstone walk, through the town and along the stone walls of the old villas. In the town, we had wonderful gelato and watched the night descend over the sea with a beverage. Renewed our spirits!

Venice

April 7, 2011

Venice

The perfect way to arrive in Venice...by boat. A very crowded boat from Punta Sabionni filled with young people on a school trip, that took 20 minutes or so to cross the bay and arrive in San Marco. We disembarked on a beautiful sunny day in the midst of lots of other tourists and the usual souvenir stands. As we only had one day to explore Venice we stayed in the San Marco section and did a lot of walking. The city is straight out of the past with very few modern additions other than stuff to buy. Beautiful buildings with the ornateness of the 18th and 19th centuries, narrow streets, exquisite things for sale in the shops and no cars. It has a vibrancy that is everywhere. We splurged on a 25 minute gondola ride...everyone who goes to Venice has to do that! Our gondolier took us under the Rialto bridge on the Grand Canal and around some of the back canals in a big circle...but he didn't sing any Italian opera.

We did the grand tour on the cheap...took the city “bus”...another boat...the went round the outside of the city and across to several other islands and then down the Grand Canal back to San Marco. Other than no commentary it was great.

Then we had a coffee at Cafe Florian in the big piazza with live classical music from a trio. Little did we know until we got the bill that 6 E's each would be charged on top of the expensive coffee prices for the music. We could have had that for free just by sitting somewhere else.

We waited until after sunset to catch our boat- again filled with youngsters- back across the bay. Had a bit of a look at the lights of Venice as we pulled out to the water. An hour later we were back in our hotel in Cavallino-Treporti. Dinner was the final meat and cheese brought from home in our hotel.

Pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/jsriet/Venice2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCK7sj_6Us62DcA&feat=directlink

European Road Trip Day 1

When the alarm went at 5 am this morning in Winterthur Switzerland, it was dark and quiet. We crawled out of bed hoping that such a wakeup would mean we would miss the traffic that crawls along the autobahn around Zurich. By 6 am we were leaving just as the bells in the local church called us to prayer..not a chance that we would show up.
It doesn't take long in Switzerland to reach the mountains and by 7:30 we were sitting in a small roadside restaurant along the edge of the Vierwaldstettersee gazing at the snow covered peaks, and the sparkling waters. Beautiful..and the very centre of Swiss democracy. On the edge of the lake is the Rutli Meadow where the first 4 cantons in 1291 swore allegiance to the Swiss Republic. It was on this lake as well that the whole story of Wilhelm Tell took place. How do I know?? because I got the whole history lesson from Jurg today as we walked from the restaurant down to the William Tell chapel. Now that I have a Swiss passport, he feels I should know all this stuff.
Anyhow, we travelled on from there through the St Goddhard tunnel. The pass itself was geschlossen due to snow...so we travelled through the 19 km tunnel and arrived in the warmth and sunshine of Ticino-the italian part of Switzerland.
We were in Italy by 11:30 on the Autostrada and its tolls and heavy traffic and then on to Lago Garda where we had lunch.
We are now staying in Cavallino-Treporti on a spit of land opposite Venice. We will take a ferry over tomorrow and spend the day exploring the city.
Arrivaderci!