We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The check-in line was short. The process was quick. We got pre-TSA the last few times we flew, so it was a little different having to go to the “regular” line at security. But the regular time was so smooth and efficient. We didn’t have to take off shoes or belts or pull out our laptop. We didn’t even have to go through the backscatter scanner. It was not different from pre-TSA at all. As we walked towards our gate, we noticed that it was snowing and white outside. What a change. We didn’t have snow when we were dropped off at the airport. I took a poor picture of the white snow and now when I look back at it, it took me a while to remember what it was.
We shared a chicken sandwich and had some self-serve yogurt with toppings before boarding.
During the flight, we both watched the movie Florence Foster Jenkins, ate dinner, and slept, not in any particular order, and not necessarily doing the same thing at the same time. I had wine with dinner. Tom had beer. For dessert, Tom was offered brandy and I was skipped. I wasn’t sure if I should have one, so I let it pass. Tom thought we were not treated as well when we flew to Japan, but I think he has forgotten. Tom enjoyed watching the safety instructional video. I think airlines have come up with creative ways of giving us the otherwise boring information over and over again.
Feb 10th
By the time we got to Charles de Gaulle airport, it was the morning of the 10th. I thought we had plenty of time for the connection, which was 1.5 hours, but I was wrong. The walkway from terminal 2E to 2F was long and on the way, we unexpectedly had to go through security again. We were glad we didn’t carry our luggage, one less thing to worry about. We didn’t have to take off our shoes, but I was asked to remove my iPad and the scarf and jacket I was wearing. I had to throw away my bottle of water and I was not allowed to hold my passport and boarding pass in my hand. The process was not quick, once I passed the X-ray machine. I had to wait for my items for at least 5 minutes. I started to wonder if something was wrong, but perhaps that is just how things move at Charles de Gaulle airport. There was some more walking and when we were finally at 2F, we got confused. Apparently we had to go through a passport check before being allowed to enter 2F. We got to the vicinity of our gate five minutes before the scheduled boarding time. We quickly looked for the restrooms. We went to the floor below where it was packed with people and places to eat. The terminal has lots of shops, but we didn’t have enough time for me to wander around in search of a hair brush. I just realized I didn’t bring one. The terminal here reminded me of DC Union Station with its shops and food court.
The flight was on time. We were seated at the emergency exit. The flight attendant gave us some instructions about when to and when not to open the emergency exit door. I’m glad it was in English. I don’t know how she decided that we didn’t speak French or Italian (and she was correct).
We found the Gate1 sign shortly after we got our luggage. Elvis, the tour guide, told us to go relax with our first cup of cappuccino in Italy because he had more people coming in. We obliged and happened to be at the same coffee shop with a fellow tourist from New York. It wasn’t too long before we all boarded the Gate1 bus to head towards Opatija, Croatia, passing through Trieste, Italy and Slovenia. On the highway, I noted that it could pass as any US highway. There are a few clues that it is not. There are large white arrows and city names on the highway lanes, onion domes of bell towers, and non-English signs. There is no border check between Slovenia and Italy, but there is one between Slovenia and Croatia. It’s interesting that we got two passport stamps at the same time, one from Slovenia and one from Croatia. The policemen came on the bus; we did not have to get off. Elvis explained why both policemen had to work when one used to be enough and how both Slovenian and Croatian facilities were combined into one, but the details escaped me. Although I tried to stay awake to see the landscape, I couldn’t keep my eyes open for part of the ride. We stopped somewhere for a rest stop where we split a sandwich and bought some chocolate to take with us.
We got to our hotel, the Grand Hotel Adriatic around 3pm local time. We were still tired. Tom took a short nap while I showered. He’d have wanted to sleep some more before the group meeting at 6pm, but I got him up for a short walk to the market along the water.
We quickly went to bed after dinner. Sleep came easily.
Feb 11th
We had breakfast in the hotel. Then we set off to explore the town on our own. Some tourists had purchased an optional tour to the Istrian Peninsula. We chose to explore Opatija on our own. It rained lightly when we started out, but the rain didn’t last very long. The day was beautiful. We walked along the Adriatic Sea. We stopped at the statue of the maiden with the seagull and used a self-photo machine to take a picture of ourselves. It turned out we didn’t know where to stand, so Tom was alone in the picture and only his head showed up when we looked up the picture later. We spent time at Svetog Jakova Park and Angiolina Park before turning back. The town is known for its camellias and we found some still in bloom. We found a restaurant called Hemingway here and later learned that this is not the only place with a Hemingway restaurant in the Balkans.
We saw a poster advertising walking trails of Opatija. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get information about the trail to Veprinac, a medieval town at 1,640 feet above sea level. We were told we could also take the bus there. I never even thought of asking about the elevation gain. I did consider taking the bus uphill and walking back downhill but the bus didn’t run that often on a Saturday, and I didn’t realize that the elevation gain of 1,640 feet (Opatija is at sea level) would be only 131 feet less than the Cloud Rest Trail in Yosemite, which I had difficulty with. I was ready to walk, with an empty stomach, but we had a hard time finding the trail.
We decided to stop for an early lunch at Ruzmarin, recommended by Elvis. We inquired about being served quickly so we could catch the next bus. The waiter told us we wouldn’t be able to catch the next bus if we stayed for lunch. We stayed for lunch. Since only pizzas were served until noon, we ordered a seafood pizza. It happened that we found the trail head very close to the restaurant. So after lunch, we embarked on the Veprinac Trail. We were told it would take 1.5 hours one way and that was not an exaggeration. The trail was not always clearly marked and it takes many forms. At times it is like a hiking trail in any US national park; at times it is a road or a highway; at times it is through a residential area; and at one time it is through a one-car-lane tunnel with no sidewalk. I thought of Hansel and Gretel when I occasionally took pictures of the places we passed so that we could consult them on the way back, if we were to walk back. These are my bread-crumb pictures.
The trail was a lot steeper for the last half hour. I learned that people used to carry milk, vegetables, fruit, firewood,… on this trail during the medieval time. I marveled at their fitness level. I was getting tired and began to wonder how this trail’s elevation gain compares to that of Cloud Rest Trail in Yosemite. But the hill wasn’t the entire reason I didn’t want to take the trail back. I normally don’t have problems with walking downhill, but I was afraid that my bread crumb pictures would not be sufficient to ensure we would not get lost and that we could be hit by a vehicle, especially through the one-way tunnel. The end of the trail took us to St Mark’s Church. I had decided to check the bus departure times as soon as we reached Veprinac. So I did, and opted to take the 2:25pm bus rather than waiting until 4:25pm. We had some time to walk around the church ground, take pictures, walk down to the bus station, and have an ice cream cone while waiting. I think the lady at the little shop where we bought ice cream was the only one who didn’t speak English among those I tried to communicate with during the entire trip. Afraid to miss the bus, we did not explore the town further.The bus went downhill fairly speedily to me. At a tight curve, it veered to the left and took up the entire opposite lane to turn right. I wonder how it would be driven when there is more traffic. Another scary thing is that it went through the same one-car-lane tunnel we walked through and it took up the entire width of the tunnel. I don’t think there would be room for any walkers. But other than that, it was a fun ride and we got to see an expansive view below with the Adriatic Sea in the background.
After the bus dropped us off in Opatija, its last stop, we walked back to our hotel and on the way, I bought a hair brush. We had stopped at this grocery store the day before but they had only very large brushes. But since I hadn’t found any other store, I thought I’d buy it anyway. But today, they showed me smaller brushes. I don’t know why they didn’t the day before. It was mid-afternoon when we got back to the hotel. Tom rested in the room while I tried to go to the hot tub. The hot tub was closed when a few of us tourists tried to check it out after dinner the night before. But I didn’t have luck today either. Despite being off-season, the hotel had plenty of guests. Perhaps because many other hotels in town are closed, including the casino next door (at least that’s what it looked like because it was not lit up the way our hotel was). Both hot tubs in the pool/sauna area were full and the pool was also being used by many guests. I checked out the saunas but was confused as many other guests seemed to be (based on their bewildered looks and the lack of participation) when we saw signs with a crossed-out swimsuit at the sauna doors. The written instructions were that no swim suits are to be worn in the saunas and that the guests have to put a towel under them where they sit. I wasn’t sure exactly how that worked. I did take off my swim suit and entered a sauna (the saunas are in the open public area, so I had a robe on when I walked in). I was the only one in the sauna, but I didn’t stay when I thought it’d be awkward if a naked man would enter. (Don’t ask me why I entered it in the first place). I now wonder if you are allowed to leave your robe or towel on, but then what’s the point of not allowing swim suits? So I didn’t get to use the sauna or the hot tub, but I did sign up for a sport massage and it was wonderful. My masseuse was very impressed that I do sports, especially after learning of my age (I guess they don’t have a taboo about asking for ages because I didn’t volunteer to disclose my age without being prompted).
For dinner, we were partly lazy and I partly didn’t want to walk to the main part of town in the dark, we paid over $20 per person for a buffet in the hotel. We had a buffet there the first night, too, but the first dinner was included in the tour. (It got dark around 5:30pm and the streets were not lighted. Given it was off-season, the streets were pretty much deserted).What I like about The Grand Hotel Adriatic is that it has a really neat heater in the bathroom that is not hot to the touch, but was very effective in drying out my swim suit, socks, and underwear. (I wash my socks and underwear when I can on my trips so that I wouldn’t have to pack as much).
Feb 12th
We woke up with a sunrise view from our room. We decided to go back to the statue of the maiden of the seagull to try our luck with another picture of us using the self-photo machine. We figured we had only twenty minutes to spare before breakfast, so we ran part of the way. We stood at the right place this time, although we should have taken more than one to have a chance of having a better picture.
After breakfast, we left Opatija for Split. On the way, we stopped at Zadar where we had some free time to walk around. We visited the old city section where there are ruins of a Roman Forum, saw the “Sea Organ” and listened to the music made by the waves hitting the pipes cut in different lengths, climbed up a hill of a beautiful garden for a view of the city, and walked around in leisure. This is where I saw clothes hung on balconies and that reminded me of Vietnam. But of course the Roman municipal square which was built between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD does not look like Vietnam at all.
We were supposed to have dinner on our own in Split, but because one party was delayed in JFK airport due to the storm that occurred the day we departed, our whole group of eleven tourists were treated to dinner. We had a choice of seafood (octopus salad and grilled fish) or meat (cheese and prosciutto plate and veal under the bell). We both chose the seafood option. Our tour guide arranged for wine being served instead of tea/coffee. No one complained about that.
Feb 13th
We woke up with the view of a beautiful sunrise from our room.
After breakfast, we went on a tour of Split with a local guide. We saw the Palace of Diocletian, the largest and best preserved Roman place in the world. It is amazing that this place was built right on the sea as a retirement place for Diocletian. That means workers had to somehow drain the sea water and wait for the ground to dry before building. We were told the reason was that Diocletian wanted an easy escape route to the sea. His palace was enclosed by walls on four sides. People have built dwellings outside and inside of the walls. The basement of the palace was not used. It was built only as a means to raise the main living level to the street level. Now it is a museum which we toured and The Game of Thrones was filmed here.
Before the tour ended, we enjoyed a performance of two songs of a quintet. Tom bought their CD.
With our free time after the tour, we walked up the many stairs to Park Suma Marjan where we saw wooden structural puzzles that we thought were children’s climbing structures and interesting wooden benches. The park sits high up and allowed us a beautiful view of the city and the bay below, including the palace and the market on the Riva.
We passed through picturesque towns and beautiful sceneries. One time we were stuck behind a carnival truck which went slowly. Our driver was able to pass it eventually. Then when it got dark, we saw a beautiful sunset.
Feb 14th
Today we had a local tour guide show us the city walls in the Old City of Dubrovnik. The walls are on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They were built during the 14th and 15th centuries and encircle most of the old city. Like many other places we visited on our trip, there are churches, administration buildings, shops, restaurants, and narrow passages.
We signed up for the optional day trip to Montenegro. We departed after breakfast around 8am and got back around 5pm. We crossed the border and stopped at two check points. No policeman came on the bus. We just had to give our passports to Elvis and he talked to the police. Border crossing was no problem either going or coming back. Montenegro became an independent country in 2006. It was part of the Serbia-Montenegro before that. It was referred to it as the “Jewel of the Mediterranean.” We passed beautiful mountains along the “longest and deepest fjord” in southern Europe, though Elvis said technically it is not a fjord because it wasn’t carved by glacier. I believe Elvis explains Montenegro means “black mountains.” We went through some beautiful scenery.
Feb 16th
This morning we leave for the capital of Croatia, which is Zagreb. I believe we passed The Walls of Ston, which according to Elvis, is the third largest walls in the world.
En route, we stopped in Pakovo Selo for lunch at Etnoland, a theme park that showcases the heritage of Dalmatia, a historical region of Croatia on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. We were greeted with a shot of dark cherry wine and were told to down the whole shot after toasting “Zivjeli” to each other. Then we had a tour of a traditional house and learned tidbits about their culture before partaking a lunch with chicken and pork cooked “under the bell,” served with potatoes and cabbage. A Dalmatian man would indicate his availability by choosing which side of his hat he shows when he puts it on his head. A Dalmatian woman would indicate her availability by the size of the handbag she wears. A man, when courting a woman, may call her “my little mouse.” Etnoland has a large lavender garden and sells many lavender products. I bought some lavender oil and cherry wine.
In Zagreb, we stayed at the hotel Westin which does not have a sauna and its hot tub was only lukewarm. I figured it must be the same temperature as the pool because both of them are in the same steamy area. I did not use either one. Our group walked to a local brewery for dinner. The potato soup Tom ordered was very good, but it must be tomato based because it was red. Westin turns out to be the least impressive of all the hotels we stayed at. It was a good thing we were there for only one night.
Feb 17th
We had a walking tour of the Old Town in Zagreb before leaving Croatia for Slovenia. It was foggy and we were told that was the norm. We walked by the open market, the Museum of Broken Relationship, the Jesuit Church of St. Catherine, St. Mark’s Church with its tiled roof decorated with two sets of coat-of-arms, the Stone Gate with plaques thanking the Virgin Mary for her kindness, the Old City Hall with a plaque of Nikola Tesla, the Lotrscak Tower where the canon on the top floor is fired at noon each day, the statue of St. George on his horse on top of a slain dragon. We walked inside Zagreb Cathedral which has an ornate interior of beautiful stained glass windows and a Baroque altar. There was a line of people waiting for confession when we were there. The town has the shortest funicular in the world, so we were told by our tour guide, linking Upper Town and Lower Town. We stopped at the only McDonald we saw on our entire trip, but did not eat there. We wanted to try the burek at a place called Burek, pointed out by our guide, but we were out of kunas and the place wouldn’t accept either euros or dollars. Tom was content to go to a restaurant that would accept a credit card, but I wasn’t. So we withdrew money from an ATM machine. We bought the bureks from Burek and took them to Plac, a restaurant next door, and ordered coffee there. They didn’t seem to mind, especially since we just sat down at chairs vacated by some of our group members to join the ones still eating there. I had a burek meso (meat) and Tom had a burek sir (cheese).
At a rest stop, I posed on a neat swing.
It hit me a bit harder that we actually were leaving Croatia behind as we got to the border. The border crossing took some time because there was another bus with passengers ahead of us. For the first time, we had to walk off the bus to show our passports, first to a Croatian policeman and then to a Slovenian one. Both of them stamped our passports.
As we approached Bled, we could see the Alps ahead, but most was hidden by the clouds.
From the bus, Lake Bled looked large; we didn’t think it’d be possible to walk around it, but we were told it’d be doable and take about 1.5 hours. We didn’t start walking until about 4:30pm, so we didn’t think we’d complete the loop before it gets dark at 5:30pm. But when we turned around at the rowing center, we found Debbie and Hana from our group who wanted to complete the loop. We joined them and continued on. We got back in the dark in the rain. Debbie and Hana duck in somewhere to grab a drink before dinner. We didn’t follow suit, but found a pizzeria and had dinner there.
Lake Bled is the most beautiful setting for postcard pictures of all the places we visited on our trip. Tom exclaimed, “Did they save the best for last?” There is a beautiful medieval castle clinging to a rocky cliff. There is an islet with a church in the middle of the lake. Part of the lake was frozen, but the non-frozen part allowed beautiful reflections of the castle and the church. I kept snapping pictures after pictures.
Feb 18th
We had a beautiful view of Bled Lake in the morning when we woke up. It had been a treat. We had great views from all the rooms we stayed at.
After breakfast, we set out for a sightseeing tour of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. En route, Elvis had the bus turn around at a traffic circle to point out the Three Peaks, the highest mountain in Slovenia. The sun was out and the views were spectacular, but we were on the bus and there was no good angle for me to take pictures. I thought I’d have another chance to do that on the way back, but I didn’t.
We walked into the Baroque-styled St. Nicholas’ Cathedral. As with any other grandeurs, I failed to completely capture its beautiful interior on camera.
When we heard that there is a Dragon Bridge, we had to head there to take a picture. This one is for Drakeson.
We spotted a Tesla being charged. This one is for George.
We spotted a wooden bike. This one is for Tom.
Our local guide pointed out places to eat and they all sounded good. There is a Café Romeo, across from Julija. How romantic! Then there’s a Marley and Me. But since I wanted to try both the gibanica and the Carniolan sausage, we didn’t eat lunch at any restaurant. We joined some group members at Gujzina. While the rest had lunch, we ordered the Prekmurska gibanica, a delicious 3-layer cake (which, by the way, would take seven hours to prepare as I just googled a recipe), with coffee. We also asked to sample their pumpkin seed oil and bought a bottle. After dessert, we went to the place with the sign “The best sausage in town” and ordered a whole Carniolan sausage to go since we didn’t have much time. I didn’t think it was that special then, but now I’d like to have it again. It was served with turnip slaw which I liked very much.
The trip was a delight. It was beyond what I’d expected. We were lucky to have beautiful weather during our tour. And I’m so glad my sweetheart was with me.
