BootsnAll Travel Network



Czech, please!

October 27th, 2005

24 Oct – 27 Oct, 2005

Sometimes you meet those people who you cannot but help go out of your way to see again. We only met Ludek very briefly in Venezuela, but his invitation could not be turned down. Back to Czech. And what we soon ascertained was that there were a lot of things we did not do ten years ago. Before this re-visit, I personally thought that Czech was one of those countries that was “complete”. Pretty much “done” (whatever that means). Now after 4 days in Pilzen and surrounds, we are wondering when we can come back for a third and detailed visit.

And a car. Thanks Ludek. Oooh, choosing to go where we want, when we want. Nebilovy, Rabi, Klatovy, Svihov, Horsovsky Tyn, Kladruby, Loket, and Karlovy Vary. If your Czech geography is as good as ours, then you wouldn’t know where they were (although some people may be able to place Karlovy Vary if referred to by its German name of Karlsbad). Each seemed to have some amazing castle, chateau, monastery, or similar.

Horsovsky Tyn
Horsovsky Tyn

Loket, near Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad)
Loket

Stebanka, Ludek’s girlfriend, who understands a lot more English than she admits, made us schnitzels to take as a picnic lunch. Yum!

Karlovy Vary is an incredibly beautiful city, with only one monstrous concrete blight. We were a tad disappointed in our “hot spring” experience, as it wasn’t particularly hot, or beautiful. Just a pretty uninspiring swimming pool. Lucky the view over the town was nice.

Wandering through town, we munched on our genuine Karlsbad spa wafers, carried our genuine and obligatory Karlsbad spa cup. We gathered with the sick people and the hypochondriacs at many of the fountains and joined them in guzzling the various hot spring waters. Bloody awful, if you ask me, but allegedly good for you. I gave up after only a few mouthfuls, but Jo persisted. Karlsbad also has a geyser, making us question how much of the information we read in Bulgaria is true, as they allege to have Europe’s only mainland geyser. (Czech is very much mainland, or as mainland as Bulgaria is, anyway).

Ludek

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“SURPRISE!!!”

October 24th, 2005

21 Oct – 24 Oct, 2005

Walhalla
With Tina and Sebb, Walhalla

“SURPRISE!!!” Well, Tina and Sebb knew we were coming. But little did Sebb know about the conspiracy. Don’t you love being “in the know” for surprise parties? So, Friday night in Passau, it was the four of us. Then off to Nürnberg, Saturday, for “coffee and cake” with the family. Then Jo and I were decoys – take Sebb out for a walk, after all, he should show us the local area! While we were out, the house filled up with guests, and the real party kicked in. An excellent night, and really, a great bunch of friends and family. We were never bored or on the outer, with lots of different people to chat to about lots of different things.

Sunday in Nürnberg itself, and Monday off we went.

Nuernberg Cathedral
Nuernberg Cathedral

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Last stop in the Balkans, leaving via Zagreb

October 21st, 2005

19 Oct – 21 Oct, 2005

Zagreb, and a couple of excursions to see fairytale castles and covered wooden bridges. Long amounts of time spent waiting at the roadside for infrequent buses – feels like we are back in South America.

Varazdin, Croatia
Castle at Varazdin, north of Zagreb.

Trakoscan, Croatia
Trakoscan Castle, also north of Zagreb.

Trakoscan, Croatia
View from Trakoscan Castle.

Funny thing with dinner. Went looking for the same restaurant we were in 3 years ago. Found a familiar one, but it was far too pricey – surely we didn’t eat there. Decided to visit the pizzeria next door. That was it, and that was the same process we went to finding it, three years ago, by rejecting the neighbouring overpriced establishment. Fairly certain we ordered the same dishes, as well.

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Drop in to Slovenia, just for a couple of visits

October 19th, 2005

17 Oct – 19 Oct, 2005

A quick dash through Slovenia to meet up with special friends.

Ljubljana
At home with the Kovacs, Ljubljana.

Celje, Slovenia
Celje, with the wonderful Ana Spat.

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It’s Istria

October 17th, 2005

15 Oct – 17 Oct, 2005

Our return to Istria was prompted by the weather. In 2002, we did the “sights” of Istria, Porec, Pula, and Rovinj. But, oh how it rained back then. The marvellous sunny week we have been having was what helped us decide which way to go. “Wouldn’t it be nice to see Rovinj without ankle deep water running down the cobblestones?” Definitely the right choice to return.

Stopped for a few hours on our way through at Labin, mainly to visit it’s extremely interesting museum, built on top of an old coal-mine entrance.

Labin, Croatia
View from Labin museum

Then on to Rovinj for a couple of days.

Rovinj

Rovinj

Rovinj sunrise
Sunrise on Rovinj. One advantage of having to catch a horrendously early bus.

Even did a boat excursion to nearby Lim Fjord. This is the most touristy thing we have done in a long time. And at the rate which the crew were providing the locally made alcohol, it turned out to be a real bargain 😀

Lim Fjord, Croatia

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Back on the islands

October 15th, 2005

12 Oct – 15 Oct, 2005

Pag island, famous for its cheese. Then through a series of islands with fishing villages made up of pastel houses overlooking incredibly tiny ports squashed full of boats. Cres, Veli Losinj, Mali Losinj. This time, accompanied by Natalie. Guess what – She’s Australian!

Veli Losinj, Croatia

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Autumn colours in Plitvice

October 12th, 2005

10 Oct – 12 Oct, 2005

Wow! The most unexpected surprise of Croatia, the Plitvice Lakes National Park. At this time of year, it is almost permanently enveloped in fog, (or maybe somebody just told us that to make us feel better). Not too thick, so an occasional sunny break did fall 0n the billions of red and yellow leaves that bordered the dozens (if not hundreds) of waterfalls. So picturesque. We spent almost as much time deleting excess photos as we did taking them!

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Leaves, Plitvice
Autumn is definitely here…

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Yay! The rain stopped.

October 10th, 2005

8 Oct – 10 Oct, 2005

8th was a public holiday. Arriving in Sibenik, we were not greeted by any ladies with rooms to rent. Walking the streets, we did not find any “sobe” signs. Heading to travel agencies, we found them all closed for the day. We asked other travellers, and all seemed to be on day trips from other places. The only hotel in town was well over our budget. It seems most travellers do not stay in Sibenik, but head to neighbouring villages.

To cut the long story short, we did end up in a wonderful and cheap apartment! Two balconies, one facing the town, and the other facing the sunset over the sea. And a kitchen! Deb and Trim came for dinner. Did I mention that we bumped in to them, yet again?

The church in Sibenik is definitely worth a detour. Expressive sculptured everyday faces of locals beautiful incorporated into the exterior.

Church exterior, Sibenik

Sibenik, Croatia
“I want to be a lion!”

Sibenik, Croatia

The 9th was our first rainless day in a week! Excellent timing! Day trip to Krka National Park. We had our bathers with us, but Trim and I decided we weren’t going to be the only bunnies in the water at the foot of the waterfall. Beautiful park, accessed by boat arriving at the foot of the falls. Easily filled the hours wandering at the nearby falls.

Krka National Park, waterfall

Krka National Park, frog
Rrrribit…

And then, it was time to finally say goodbye to Deb and Trim – they’re off to Italy the next day.

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And just when you thought the rain was going to lift…

October 8th, 2005

8 Oct, 2005

We did some internet, today. The photo sums it up…

Trogir

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Split, and it’s still raining :(

October 8th, 2005

6 Oct – 8 Oct, 2005

It was only a half hour until we bumped into Deb and Trim. Seems like we are destined to spend the rest of this trip with them! Lucky they’re nice.

And once again, Split needed to be enjoyed during the breaks in the weather. Good news is, that it should be improving.

Split, Croatia

St Gregorius of Nin, Split
St Gregorious of Nin

In fact, we stayed fairly dry on the 7th, our day trip to the Roman ruins of Solin.

Ampitheatre, Solin
Roman ampitheatre

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