Today was basically a driving day. We left Dubrovnik at about 9:30, and headed north. We drove up the coast, which was incredibly lovely. At one point we stopped to get coffee, and bought some local wines, along with olives, peppers, and other tasty treats. Later on we saw so many stands with the same things, and also watermelons with some sort of sprinkler system which poured water over them. And garlic … huge huge bunches of garlic!
The drive … many photos via the window of a car so not great!
Eventually we arrived at our final big destination. TROGIR! One we will share with Greg and Jan, Vanessa, Avni, Levin, Maya, and Hannah (all family members). We were with the same group in Kosovo, and of course Greg and Jan were in Dubrovnik with us as well. (Thank you, Greg, for all your driving!) Family is so wonderful, and I am so glad we get this special week with everyone. (I’m sorry to miss others, though … you know who you are!)
To have dinner with everyone, and to have such fabulous cooks … we are truly spoiled!
Now, though, I’m exhausted. Perhaps I’ll write more tomorrow. But who knows? Family first, and all that!
VERY few photos today. But oh well … sometimes I’m just not in the mood!
We began the day very slowly. After yesterday’s drive I think we all are a bit weary. In addition, it is just extremely hot here. I know Greg and Jan ended up walking back to the car to put some things back in the car and bring other things out.
Greg and Jan came to our room and we all had coffee and our choice of bread treats (croissants and the like) Greg had bought.
We walked to where you can see, in a distance, the cruise ships. We could also see smaller boats close by. I guess if we wanted we could but a ticket for some of those, but we merely wandered. The water is just lovely: a very pretty blue green.
While Kosovo had street dogs, this area appears to have a ton of cats. Maybe it’s because of the fish? Dunno!
After walking a bit we walked to where Greg and Jan would spend the next two nights (the place we continue to have didn’t have a space for them when their plans changed). Their room is fabulous and while I might try to kick them out I guess I shouldn’t. (Kidding!) After that it was definitely time for a cold drink as we were again dripping wet.
Next up was getting back to our place to collect their luggage to put it at their new place. (I know, I know, this is boring stuff: I write these not only for people who might be interested, but so I can remember what we did!).
And soon it was lunch time. We went to an air conditioned place — it looked a bit cave-like — and had tapas. It was nice and relaxing, and the food was light and tasty.
Then (hooray!) we had siesta time. I had missed our wonderful siestas. What with the 90° temperature outside it really was rather necessary to get out of the heat and humidity for a while, too.
After our break we met back up with Jan & Greg and went out to get a glass of wine before dinner. We first went to a place where you walk down some stairs outside the wall and sit at tables overlooking the water (on a bit of a cliff area, I think) but Greg went down and said we’d never get in so we walked a bit more and came across a bar/restaurant that looked very nice. We asked if we could go in for just drinks and the person seating us didn’t look all that happy with us but she did show us to a table. We ordered a lovely bottle of red wine and the server was quite fun. After sitting for a while we agreed perhaps we’d just stay and have dinner, and an excellent dinner it was!
From there we went back down and said goodbye to Jan & Greg. I thought to check the spot where a concert is scheduled for tomorrow, beginning at 10PM and they were in the process of tuning when we arrived. Eventually they began to play … Respighi! Last movement of Pines of Rome, in fact. It was a fun listen.
(I have a video but there is no way it would load with this wifi connection!)
Now, back in our room, we are readying for a good night’s sleep. Laku noć! (At least that’s what google suggests I say for “goodnight”.)
I’m going to try and add a few photos at a time and see what happens … these are the first photos I shot. The one of Greg & Jan and the church are right in front of our lodging door.
No leisurely breakfast today, believe it or not: we wanted to be on the road by 7:00, so we woke early, had a coffee, said goodbye to Vanessa, Avni’s father and step-mother, and headed out.
It was easy to get out of the area, and we headed up a mountain. And up. And up. And yes, I had to look down or to the side where there was no drop-off much of the time. I am amazed at these mountains and also rather scared … or, to be honest, VERY scared sometimes! Cars pass by so closely. Cars pass us to get ahead even at what I would consider very dangerous times.
We got to the border crossing and said goodbye to Kosovo (where they DID ask Greg to show the insurance so I’m sure glad we bought that the second time we entered Kosovo!), and then said hello to Montenegro. Again, such beautiful country! It began with so many trees and the mountains were beautiful. We drove and drove and the terrain did eventually change. The road continued to scare me a lot. The road was so narrow at times. When we turned on to one road we thought it might not be right it was so narrow but as it turned out it was just a narrow scary road for a good (or bad) long time. As I told Greg, I had a lot of time to look at the floor of the car, and I held on to the the bar on the door (or whatever it’s called) to help hold the car on the road. I thanked Greg later for not killing us, too! We had a few extremely scary moments … just crazy drivers!
Eventually we got to the next border, saying goodbye to Montenegro and hello to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Any photos I got were from the moving car so they are pretty awful, but there was really no choice.
Here are photos from the drive … I’m sorry I can’t label them at the moment … just dropping them here and hoping they will load!
More photos … (doing only so many at a time):
Heh … never mind. Internet crashed. It’ll have to wait.
UPDATE: Here you go … just a few at a time, though … don’t want to crash this thing!
Did I mention that the sign photos are mostly so I can look back and figure out just where we were? And tunnels … TONS of tunnels on a very new road in Montenegro.
BUT there was something else I wanted to mention and now I’m drawing a blank. Argh … I hate when that happens. This will be my place holder in case I finally recall what it was. I need to take notes while I’m in the car, I guess.
Finally, there was our country destination: hello Croatia! We continued the drive for a rather short time and got to the city we will spend the next few days in: Dubrovnik is the city, and we are staying in the historic old town. What a place. First we had to find the parking garage. It’s absolutely horrendously expensive. The most we’ve ever spent for something like this (they say it’s best not to have a car while here and I would agree!). THEN we had to find our way down to the old town. Turns out we would have fared better getting a car to take us to a gate, but not knowing that we hiked with all our luggage down stairs and stairs and more stairs. Greg and Jan had wheeled luggage and that was more difficult than our backpacks, but even the packs were painful with the heat, humidity, and stairs. When we reached the gate we weren’t close to our final destination so we continued to walk and take more stairs. But we did eventually get to the rooms. We are situated in a nice place and I’ve neglected so far to take photos, but suffice it to say we are content to have rooms with air conditioning.
After washing up we went out, had beers and a snack at the restaurant right across from our door, and then walked a while. It’s quite a place and of course we’ll spend a lot more time checking it out tomorrow. Then it was dinner time.
I really wish I could post photos now … so sorry you can’t see this wonderful city!
UPDATE: The next post shows the Dubrovnik photos.
We looked at a number of places and eventually opted to go to a spot on our street, because we saw a server showing customers there the choices of fish for today, and because (hooray!) they had a room with A/C and we were just so darn warm. The dinner was super, and our server was really fun … she had a sense of humor we could relate to! What a fun, fun time.
So here we are in our room, and I’m typing and hoping I can post some photos, but the internet connection is so weak I’m guessing they won’t work so first i will post this and then see if I can add those after it’s published. If photos don’t work I’m guessing I’ll have to wait until our next destination.
Side note: This trip is ending too soon. I could go on and on and I’d be a happy camper. But of course one does have to finally get back to real life and (sigh) work.
Do I surprise anyone by saying we had a leisurely breakfast again today? Probably not.
Not many photos to share today, but oh the mountains are gorgeous here!
After breakfast we took a drive to another mountainous area nearby. The road … ack! … so narrow and sometimes trucks came towards us. One tunnel is too narrow for more than one way traffic, but there’s nothing to tell you to go so you honk the horn and hope for the best. Some of the road was crumbling and the drop off was not a fun one. I just look toward the side where there is no drop off and manage to stay fairly calm.
Photos at the start:
When we got to destination number one we got out of the car and walked up a gravel road. We reached a point where there were large concrete blocks so if you had gone up in a car it wouldn’t be passable. And welcome to Montenegro! We didn’t go many steps into it, as we were told there could possibly be border control police nearby (and, in fact, there were!). (Family shot was taken across the border!)
We hiked back down (or should I say “strolled”?) and then got back in the cars to head to destination number two, which was also our “lunch & dinner combined” spot. We had the most amazing view, and a delicious, final Kosavan meal.
Then it was back down the same route we came and, sure enough, that tunnel was a bit of an issue … we were nearly out when two cars started to come in! Surely they could see us? So they had to back out. Soon after a huge truck came by and I just can’t imagine it getting through.
But we made it back “home”, and after a short while we all sat outside and enjoyed one final evening together. I’m grateful for our hosts!
So not as much to write today, but it was a fun time seeing more natural beauty. (But I’m sad to see all the litter out there.)
Couple of notes: We very rarely see women in hijabs here. I’ve seen only a few. We DO see tons of men sitting around enjoying each other’s company, but the only time I saw women sitting down somewhere was with men as well — never any tables with only women. Of course I might just have missed them. The men, for the most part, all have very short hair, and it is nearly shaved on the sides. I’m not used to seeing so much short hair! The only time I saw a man with a ponytail was in another city … and he was by a VW van! Reminded me of the 70s! Oh … and I mentioned “stray dogs” yesterday, but they are called “street dogs” here. Very sad to see so many.
We woke in a leisurely way — kind of works well when we are now with others, including some children! After a bit of time we had our coffee (“mocha” here in Kosovo doesn’t mean chocolate and coffee, btw.) and shortly after we ate outside for breakfast.
Eventually we headed out, for to the town of Peja, where we walked a bit (including a mosque) and eventually had lunch, and then we headed to the mountains. I’d love to tell you what the place was called but I can’t remember! I can tell you it took eons to get through and park: the line of cars getting in and those attempting to get out was a bit of a mad house. We had two cars and we ended up in different locations but we managed to connect and walk up on a path. What a huge crowd! I guess everyone in the area heads to this place on a weekend. But we had a nice walk, and then went back to a place right there for dinner. Believe it or not … I ate too much! I know that comes as a complete surprise.
When we got back to the house we were greeted but a number of people already there and so we ended up sitting around a table outside. There was a lot of conversation of which I could understand virtually nothing! It’s interesting to be the outsider as I am. Dan can catch bits of sentences and figure out what they are talking about, but I sure can’t. Ah well. I can smile. I can nod my head. And I can enjoy that they are enjoying each other’s company!
Sooo … while on the road it hasn’t been easy to write, due to a number of things. We are no longer on our own, and I don’t want to leave our happy group just to write. I also am pretty darn weary after long travel days. So I am going to try and write about the past two travel days and see if I can get it right (I’m sure I’ve already forgotten things!).
OH … and “last night’s” post was written so late it was today already. In case there was any confusion.
So back to our travels. I did write about getting to Hungary, but left it rather short. Greg drove (this would be on Friday, August 18. We planned on taking shifts, but it just didn’t happen. He drove fast, as one does (because one can) on the Autobahn. They have smart rules, like only passing on the left and getting out of the fast lane when you aren’t going as fast (or something like that), and it really does make sense. We left Germany, went into Austria, and then it was Hungary. Nothing of great significance to report, honestly … just lots of country to see, and it seems like both days we traveled were full of corn and sunflowers. I honestly can’t remember crossing the borders (even while I did note that we crossed them on Facebook). I’ve read that one doesn’t have to show a passport when going through Schengen countries. Funny that we DID have to show ours going to Austria on the train!
When we arrived at our Friday night hotel in Hungary we opted to eat right there for dinner (no more driving for Greg!), and then we ate breakfast there as well on the 19th. Then it was back in the car for a long drive again. As we got out to the car we saw an ominous sky. Sure enough, we had rain at the start, but we were driving out of it and it ended somewhat soon.
Going from Hungary into Serbia we were required to show passports. The lines to do that weren’t too long, but there were people selling various things — sunglasses, games, and who knows what else — none of which were of interest to us. You show your passport to both Hungary border control and then Serbia. (Okay, I think I’m getting that right … but my car companions can correct me if I’m wrong!) At some point we got gas and were very likely ripped off (well, Greg was), told it was cash only and no change was given to him. Odds are we should have refused the guy’s help, but we really didn’t know the rules there. We also had a bite to eat and that was the last stop we made for food until we arrived at the house in Kosovo.
While I say it wasn’t a long wait to get through border control for us, it was horrendous going the other direction! Those poor people in line were most likely there all day if not longer. People are coming back from vacations, and I just can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to get home.
Next up was getting from Serbia to Kosovo. Again, there were very few cars in front of us, but it took us over forty minutes to get through. For us it was just showing passports and being told to go to the next border control, but some cars in front of us took eons. No clue why. After getting in to Kosovo we pulled over so Greg could get the necessary insurance, and a man came and chatted with us. They love Americans, it’s clear. When they heard Greg was associated with the military one guy bowed … they loved him the best. As you drive through Kosovo you see their flag, and frequently the American as well.
We had directions to the house where we are staying, but the car took us to a different spot, having not plugged in the spots between the final destination. Turns out there are a few places with the same name. So when we thought we had arrived we had about another hour and a half to go. Even then we were unable to locate the mosque that was to be the spot where my niece would meet up with us so we shared our location on WhatsApp and she did manage to get to use and lead us to the house.
We are staying at Vanessa’s husband Avni’s father’s house. Vanessa, Avni, and their three adorable kids are here as well. There is room for all of us, as Avni’s siblings who live here (sometimes? always? I don’t know!), are gone for the time we are here.
We had dinner out on the back patio, and talked for a long time. Then we went into the living room and talked even longer. It’s just so great to see everyone! (But I’m missing other family members and I hope they know we would have loved to be with them as well. NEXT TIME, everyone?!)
Then to bed with us. After midnight.
This morning at about 7:45 there was what I am assuming was a call to prayer at the mosque. When I looked that up, though, the times were different, so I’m not sure if that’s what it’s called. We are still hanging out in our room … but it’s after 8:00 now and I’m getting anxious so I think I’ll get dressed and go downstairs to see what the plan is for today.
Now … photos … hm … only have things from the car. Nothing great. But it’s all I’ve got! The first images are in Belgrade. The last is the border control from Serbia to Kosovo. I promise I’ll eventually get back to better photos. I hope!
I will have to save writing more for tomorrow, but today we went from Hungary, into Serbia, and finally to Kosovo, where we are staying in a house with extended family. It was quite a long day (and again Greg drove, for which I’m thankful!), and the border entries were interesting. So was filling the tank at one spot, but more on that later. If I don’t get to sleep soon I’ll go nuts with my antsy legs.
We are spending a very quick night in Hungary. Kecskemét, Kadafalva, to be exact … I think! I haven’t quite figured out how places work in Hungary.
We spent a lovely evening with Greg and Jan (my brother and sister-in-law) last night, and then enjoyed one night’s stay at their place. Early this morning we woke, packed the car, and departed for our next destination. Greg drove the entire time (thank you, Greg!), we went through Austria, and we are now in our hotel room in, as I mentioned at the start, Hungary. It will be the briefest of our stays, aside from the Frankfurt airport hotel on our first night: we are just passing through and didn’t get to visit Budapest. Had we gotten there I certainly would have tried to meet up with a few people. Maybe next time!?
I really have no photos to share aside from our dinner photos from last night, and then one from my spot in the car. That’s it. I am going to guess tomorrow’s long drive will be close to the same kind of thing, but we’ll see.
One thing I didn’t know was that you have to purchase something (Vignettes) to drive the highways (or whatever they are called) in Austria and Hungary. We keep learning as we do this trip! I don’t know if that will continue as we head through two new countries tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Oh … and I did learn one other thing: Hungary doesn’t use the Euro. More money conversion. It is, instead, the Hungarian Forint. (I’ve read that some place might accept the Euro, but it’s better to stick to the Forint.) Just so you know!
Last night and today:
Oh … and it rained today. That was a surprise!
What a joy it is to spend time with Greg and Jan. (And to the other Emerson sibs … next time, maybe?! Carolyn, Timothy, Margaret … think about it!)
Jó éjszakát! (I hope that is “goodnight” in Hungarian … but perhaps someone out there will let me know if I’m wrong … or even if I’m right!)
After we checked out of our room in Venice, we had all day to explore more of Venice, so we went out the door and attempted to go in the direction of the first restaurant (Dan’s birthday dinner spot) because we hadn’t investigated that area as much. In true tourist form we took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost. We were, in fact, “lost” for much of the day. But it was great fun. We did finally end up at a place Dan had seen on our first day here, the Santa Maria della Salute. From there we went back to our inn (yes, struggling with just how to get there), and waited for our water taxi to take us to the train station.
Photos from the day:
One incident at the train station reminded us to be cautious: two guys were following us, or at least Dan felt like they were. I had noticed them earlier, as they were taking selfies and photos of each other. When we took a different path, they did as well. So we stopped. They then had to keep going … perhaps in order to avoid suspicion? I noticed them after he pointed them out to me, and I saw them go up to four other guys and chat for a moment, and then head off again. Later, when we were eating dinner, I saw two guys that might have been them standing around taking selfies for the longest time. Were they doing this to pretend to be tourists as they were scouting out the area? Maybe. And maybe they were truly innocent and we over reacted. Who knows? But we had read in several places that the train station is the spot for pick pocket, so we figure it was better to be cautious.
Dinner!
We finally got into our night train (it was late), and got situated. I had read that we’d be greeted with small bottles of sparkling wine. That didn’t happen immediately, but it did eventually. Trouble was, no glasses were given to us … we had to drink straight from the bottles! Then, when I was climbing into the top bunk, I tried to figure out the safety straps. It’s quite likely no one uses them … they were a bit tattered and torn, and we never could fully figure them out, but Dan set something up, just to be sure I didn’t tumble out. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but I’d rather not fall out of a top bunk so I was fine with them there, as pathetic as they looked!
And then it was lights out … but keep reading since I’m writing about today as well!
We had a somewhat restless night — Dan more so than I. There were times the train stopped for a long while. We think they must have split the train in two: one section going elsewhere. But we don’t know for sure. Then, at 4:30 AM or so, we get this very loud knock on the door. Dan opens it, both of us bleary eyed and in pjs, and a blonde young man says something we can’t understand and then, realizing we are Americans, says, “Your passports. I need to see them,” or something like that. We had no idea we’d have to show passports in Austria, but sure enough we did. It was such a lovely way to wake us, don’t you think?
I did get back to sleep, and Dan woke me around 7 since breakfast was to arrive soon. So we got up, got dressed, and waited for the attendant to bring us breakfast. It came later than we expected, but I’m assuming it’s because the train was late. She first handed us one breakfast tray and said something in German. She seemed upset. Dan took that tray but we said we did have another one as well. She seemed upset (again). She did bring the second tray. We sat there wondering what to do: the attendant was supposed to be making up our beds into a bench seat with a table so we could eat. Finally I saw her again and asked. She looked like she was about to cry, and said something about “Not now. Later …” and I honestly thought she was going to lose it so we told her not to worry, we’d eat on the bed. She never came back to fix things for daytime, but did eventually return to collect our trays. Dan had taken one sip of the OJ and said it was awful, so I didn’t even bother to open mine. She suggested I hang on to the box and when I said I wasn’t interested she looked like she was going to cry again. I think the poor young woman was too stressed and I do believe she has a job she isn’t made for. In any case, we sat on the bed until the train arrived in Stuttgart. Then, after figuring out what to do to get a train (or whatever it’s called — trolley? Light rail? Dunno) that got us near to our destination we managed to get to my brother and sister-in-law’s place (thanks, Greg & Jan!) in … Heidelberg.
After getting settled, showered, and one wash load started we went to get lunch. In typical D&P fashion we took over an hour to find a place. But lunch was nice, and then it was back to the house again, so we could do the second load of laundry. (My load: I hope I didn’t ruin anything, as I suspect I maybe have set the temperature incorrectly. Oops!)
Photos up until what I’ve written so far:
Now we are waiting for Greg & Jan to get here from work. I hope it’s not too crazy to deal with us and the long drive we have tomorrow. If I have time and energy I might post more photos tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow for our next destination!
