First blog from Croatia
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:
As
halftime
June 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am
They do seem to have a penchant for orange