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Archive for June, 2009

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Krka

Friday, June 26th, 2009

That’s not a spelling mistake, but it is the name of a national park here in Croatia. It may be short on vowels, but not on views. After a few days of rain in Dubrovnik, we headed up the coast to visit Split and Trogir. The weather finally cleared up and we had some great sunshine on the waterfalls of Krka. Here’s one of the many throughout the park.

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Posted in Croatia, Travel | 2 Comments »

Baked

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

We’ve been making our way along the Dalmation coast and spent the last few days in Dubrovnik in the very south of Croatia.  As we drove along the rocky shore and spent a day at Lapad Bay, we’ve noticed something about Europeans on holiday.  I’ve come to believe that either there is a different sun here or they haven’t heard the news about skin cancer yet.  It’s incredible that any flat stretch of concrete next to the water will invariably have people sunbaking, er… sunbathing, and in as little swimwear as possible.  I have never seen so many seriously sunburned people since we got to Greece, Italy, and Croatia.

The coastline is lovely, so I understand their desire to be near it.  However, a little SPF 15, hat, and sunglasses would go a long way.  We escaped the beach for a while and visited the old city walls of Dubrovnik.  They are totally intact and provide fantastic views of the both the city and the sea.

View of the wall, from the wall:

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The cruise ship was out of range of this cannon and sadly we weren’t able to defend the city from the onslaught of tourists: 

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Posted in Croatia, Travel | 2 Comments »

First blog from Croatia

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we need some time outside of the Schengen visa area.  After some research on the possible destinations in or near Europe, we came up with only choice that sounded safe, interesting, and in which our car is insured to drive. We headed off for Croatia and spent two days in Opatija, a nice resort town, and then 3 more just south of Zadar.  The coastline is very pretty and the atmosphere relaxed.  So relaxed, in fact, that I’ve been having trouble trying to figure out what to write about.  We’ve been spending our days by the Adriatic doing as little as possible, off the visa “clock” for the next week or two.

On the way to Croatia, we had to drive through northern Italy and Slovenia. The route made us realize that there’s something else we miss about California…freeways!  It may sound crazy given the notoriety that “the 5” has for traffic, but the tolls in Europe are budget killers.  Italy has superhighways called the Autostrada which are great to drive on, but they also have huge tolls (10-20 Euros a pop depending on how far you go).  It reminds me a little of NJ.  Slovenia, on the other hand, doesn’t mess around with toll booths.  They just sell you a “vignette,” which is a little sticker for your windshield, as soon as you enter the country.  It was 35 Euros, but now we can drive on any road, bridge, or tunnel in the land.

That’s it for now, but here’s a parting view of Zadar:

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Posted in Croatia, Travel | 1 Comment »

Sfoglia

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

We couldn’t come to Italy without taking a cooking class.  The first one we took in Piemonte was a little unusual in that we didn’t learn to make any pasta.  The food we made there was regional, traditional “summer” food which didn’t include too many things that had to be cooked for a long time in order to keep the kitchen cool.  While the dishes were interesting, I’m not sure that I’ll be replicating them any time soon for guests back home.  The one exception was a dolce/dessert called Mottone, which means ” the brick” and is made with about a pound of Mascarpone cheese.   (We already made it again the first time we had an apartment with a kitchen.)

While that class was fun, it still left us unfulfilled in our quest to learn how to make pasta.  Our route east from France brought us near Bologna, so we decdided to stay there a few days and try another cooking class.  This one was at a bigger cooking school and was all about fresh pasta, in particular a type called Sfoglia that is made in this region.  While I need a lot more practice with the rolling pin, I’m still pretty proud of my first attempt.  We spent a lot of time learning to make the dough, the techniques for rolling it out, and how to make different shapes, including Tortelloni, Tortellini, Farfalle, Tagliatelle, and Garganelli.  The Tortellini are particularly tricky, but ours survived the cooking and tasted great.

Here is the “before” picture of the Tortelloni.  I got a bit too excited and ate them, so there is no “after” picture. 

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Posted in Italy, Travel | 1 Comment »

Downs and Ups

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Looking back on our blogs and photo galleries, I think you could get the idea that our trip has been all sunny beaches and beautiful views.  After more than seven months on the road, I can assure that is not the case.  There is no where else that I would rather be or nothing else that I would rather be doing than traveling, so please don’t think I’m complaining here.  However, there are just some days that are better than others.

Sometimes just doing errands or things you take for granted at home can be the most frustrating.  The dryer at the laundromat doesn’t work and you have 8 kgs of wet laundry hanging in your hotel room.  You are hours overdue for lunch, it’s raining, and there isn’t a sandwich shop open for miles.  You need a haircut, don’t want to spend 50 Euros, and can’t communicate well enough to explain this to anyone who could possibly help.

Those are the days can get you down, but traveling turns you into an eternal optimist.  Things work out and you get through them.  In this case, we made it to Chamonix in the French Alps and found some comfort in a nice apartment with views of the mountains.

The weather cooperated, so we took the two cable cars to the top of the Aiguille du Midi station at 12,600 ft.  The views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding areas were fantastic.  We had a picnic lunch near the mid station and then walked along a mountain ridge to Montenvers where there was a cog train that brought us back to Chamonix.  A perfect day that made me forget they could be otherwise.

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Posted in France, Travel | No Comments »

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