SuperRobin!
The Plan:
We're still hanging out in Croatia. Right now we're in Dubrovnik, where hopefully we will finally get some decent beach time! I've been dreaming of a nice warm beach since last November but it just hasn't materialized yet.
The plan is to stay in Dubrovnik for a few days then migrate south towards Athens over the next week. From Athens Robin will fly to Ireland for 5 days to work. After that we're thinking about hanging out in Greece for a while and then heading toward Sicily. It looks like we'll probably stay for at least the summer in Europe. We're even considering buying a (very tiny) car here!
Random Fact:
The Croatian chief of state is President Mesic; how cool is that!
From Split To Dubrovnik:
Bosnia/Herzogovina is a land-locked country, except for a 6-mile section smack-dab in the middle of Croatia. So we crossed the border into B/H while traveling from Split to Dubrovnik, then crossed back into Croatia a few miles later. We did stop for a lunch break while in B/H though. There was a kind of duty-free store that accepted payment in pretty much any currency. While we watched, we saw transactions in Kuna, US Dollars and Euros. A bunch of Japanese tourists from a tour bus went into a spending frenzy, buying a bunch of chocolate for god knows why.
We've traveled almost the entire coast of Croatia by bus. It's a crazy-long ride as the road hugs the shoreline the entire way and it is not by any means a straight coast. Sometimes we would travel 20 kilometers by road to get 2 kilometers down the coast. Despite the long trip the buses are comfortable and the scenery is awesome. It is cheaper, faster, and easier than traveling by ferry or train.
All along the highway we would see nice little restaurants with outdoor seating, each with a giant rotisserie out front. We saw everything from pigs to lamb to chickens to pork chops being grilled. Unfortunately we haven't seen a single similar restaurant within the towns we've stayed at. It's very frustrating and perhaps one of the reasons we're thinking about getting a car!
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Reservations:
Robin and I have learned a new trick for finding a place to stay. Earlier in the trip we pored over web sites trying to figure out where to book rooms. Usually we stayed in shared-room hostels for $15-$25 per person (cheap hotels costing upwards of $65-$75). Now we don't try to find a room until the evening we arrive in a town, and our life is much easier.
We arrived in Dubrovnik at about 8:30pm and as expected were immediately mobbed by a bunch of old ladies trying to provide pansiones for rent. Not being in the mood for bargaining, we just picked the loudest one. She took us to her house which was less than a 1 minute walk from the station. She turned out to have a beautiful brand-new set of rooms complete with an ensuite toilette in ours. There is even a separate kitchen available for guest use. The place is so new that the stove for the kitchen will be put in tomorrow. The bill is 180 Kuna, or a bit over $33 per night. This is very cheap for Dubrovnik, especially over the holiday (May Day) weekend. I suspect we could have bargained and gotten it for cheaper but we both got a fair deal I think.
Both times we have gone with the pansione route we've ended up with very nice centrally-located lodging. The old ladies are very sweet as well, falling over themselves trying to be helpful. The landlady in Split did not speak that much English, but somehow had fixated on the word "super". Every sentence she uttered was super-this or super-that. "This room, it is super!" "The beach, it is super! Super walk to the beach!". Best of all, she took to calling Robin "SuperRobin!". She had to introduce us to her daughter and we had a nice long conversation about family and other random stuff.
The landlady in Dubrovnik was so proud of her new apartment. She (her sister actually) had to show us every light switch, the bed, the new floors, the way the lights went on and off. She made a rather big deal of the electric light switch actually.
Well, it's off to the beach now!
We're still hanging out in Croatia. Right now we're in Dubrovnik, where hopefully we will finally get some decent beach time! I've been dreaming of a nice warm beach since last November but it just hasn't materialized yet.
The plan is to stay in Dubrovnik for a few days then migrate south towards Athens over the next week. From Athens Robin will fly to Ireland for 5 days to work. After that we're thinking about hanging out in Greece for a while and then heading toward Sicily. It looks like we'll probably stay for at least the summer in Europe. We're even considering buying a (very tiny) car here!
Random Fact:
The Croatian chief of state is President Mesic; how cool is that!
From Split To Dubrovnik:
Bosnia/Herzogovina is a land-locked country, except for a 6-mile section smack-dab in the middle of Croatia. So we crossed the border into B/H while traveling from Split to Dubrovnik, then crossed back into Croatia a few miles later. We did stop for a lunch break while in B/H though. There was a kind of duty-free store that accepted payment in pretty much any currency. While we watched, we saw transactions in Kuna, US Dollars and Euros. A bunch of Japanese tourists from a tour bus went into a spending frenzy, buying a bunch of chocolate for god knows why.
We've traveled almost the entire coast of Croatia by bus. It's a crazy-long ride as the road hugs the shoreline the entire way and it is not by any means a straight coast. Sometimes we would travel 20 kilometers by road to get 2 kilometers down the coast. Despite the long trip the buses are comfortable and the scenery is awesome. It is cheaper, faster, and easier than traveling by ferry or train.
All along the highway we would see nice little restaurants with outdoor seating, each with a giant rotisserie out front. We saw everything from pigs to lamb to chickens to pork chops being grilled. Unfortunately we haven't seen a single similar restaurant within the towns we've stayed at. It's very frustrating and perhaps one of the reasons we're thinking about getting a car!
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Reservations:
Robin and I have learned a new trick for finding a place to stay. Earlier in the trip we pored over web sites trying to figure out where to book rooms. Usually we stayed in shared-room hostels for $15-$25 per person (cheap hotels costing upwards of $65-$75). Now we don't try to find a room until the evening we arrive in a town, and our life is much easier.
We arrived in Dubrovnik at about 8:30pm and as expected were immediately mobbed by a bunch of old ladies trying to provide pansiones for rent. Not being in the mood for bargaining, we just picked the loudest one. She took us to her house which was less than a 1 minute walk from the station. She turned out to have a beautiful brand-new set of rooms complete with an ensuite toilette in ours. There is even a separate kitchen available for guest use. The place is so new that the stove for the kitchen will be put in tomorrow. The bill is 180 Kuna, or a bit over $33 per night. This is very cheap for Dubrovnik, especially over the holiday (May Day) weekend. I suspect we could have bargained and gotten it for cheaper but we both got a fair deal I think.
Both times we have gone with the pansione route we've ended up with very nice centrally-located lodging. The old ladies are very sweet as well, falling over themselves trying to be helpful. The landlady in Split did not speak that much English, but somehow had fixated on the word "super". Every sentence she uttered was super-this or super-that. "This room, it is super!" "The beach, it is super! Super walk to the beach!". Best of all, she took to calling Robin "SuperRobin!". She had to introduce us to her daughter and we had a nice long conversation about family and other random stuff.
The landlady in Dubrovnik was so proud of her new apartment. She (her sister actually) had to show us every light switch, the bed, the new floors, the way the lights went on and off. She made a rather big deal of the electric light switch actually.
Well, it's off to the beach now!
posted by John at
1:28 AM
1 Comments:
Fun-Fun! You'll love your "very tiny" car. Even though our golf cart is utilitarian (for cabin use), we've enjoyed our cruises so much. Sunday we had it loaded with seven elated children and we still had room on the canopy for a few more. We enjoyed the closness, the open air and we stopped frequently to observe several herds of deer who seemed to gaze at us wondering "what in the world is that"?
What an experience!
Hope you enjoy your "big people toy" this much!
Love, mom
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