Back in Italy

28 June

Leaving Lake Bled we headed west avoiding the motorways.  I'm very glad we did as they seemed to dive into tunnels at all the most interesting places.  The drive across the top of Slovenia and the north east corner of Italy was stunning with high mountains towering over the lower wooded slopes. The river we followed for the first 40 km was a brilliant cobalt blue.  Annoyingly the roads do not offer pull off points at the places where good photos can be taken, so we have to rely on our memories for the scenes.

Once we were in Italy we left the main route and headed for a couple of roads our map marked as "scenic".  In fact all areas in the Dolomites are scenic!  We climbed up the side of one valley through woodland that was being felled, but not clear felled as in NZ.  The selected trees are cut, stripped and dragged to the side of the road where they are collected at a later date.  This left the bulk of the forest still standing which was beautiful, but frustrating as you could only catch glimpses of the mountains and streams through the trees.  At one point the solid yellow road on the map turned into an unsealed logging road, so we back tracked to a different route which lead up through a skifield and high alpine meadows with large patches of snow beside the road to a pass at 1800m altitude.  We then dropped 1000m on a series of hairpin bends down an almost vertical descent.  Again magical views, but nowhere to stop and enjoy them.  Of course the road quality deteriorated once we were in Italy, but the countryside and the road verges are much tidier and cleaner than we saw in southern Italy.

In the process of the drive we were north of the area where my father was transferred to as a POW from Campo 67 - Gravina. This was Campo 57 in Grupignano . It is a little north of Udine. The road we would have needed to take was south of where we were and it would have skirted the national Park and was long and torturous route - however it was within Northern Italy and I knew my father would have seen a similar landscape as we did. The camp sat on flat ground of a river plain surrounded in the distance by the Dolomites. These Dolomites are truly breath taking viewed thorough our eyes, safely tucked up in our brand new air conditioned car. I do wonder how he would have viewed them, in a POW compound surrounded by barbed wire.  I read the account of this camp. It was run by an Italian Colonel of the Italian cabarabinieri who was a stern disciplinarian , had dictatorial methods and carried out some brutal punishments. Despite being a better run camp than many other Italian camps it is clear there were no comforts.  It is very high and cold  - especially in winter with considerable snow fall.

We climbed again over another  pass at 1800m, but much less steep, and descended into Cortina d'Ampezzo to find our accommodation at an elevation of 1200m and a cool (for us) 19C and a light drizzle..

Dinner that night was at the hotel - an amazing venue - very chintzy with dressed chairs in white and large bows on the back of the seats Around what used to called the picture rail around the entire room were plates, evidently potted and painted by the same artist - depicting an almost caricature of various restaurants in Italy and surrounding countries - depicting some aspect of the restaurant or local area. Very clever. Throughout the entire hotel are local antique  artifacts - household goods mainly - electrolux etc including a set of very old and beautifully preserved skis that would be just right for Lucas!

We had breakfast there also - everything very sweet. I took and egg, thinking it had obviously been cooked some time ago as it felt cool to the touch .Just as I was about to crack it open a heavily accented male voice said 'It's raw'  so I hastily returned said egg to where I found it - lying in a dish with several oval molded depressions to take an egg each. There beside the dish sat the egg cooker! I gave a hoot of laughter and returned egg to its plate! 

Lake Bled

27 June

We headed off from Plitvice following the GPS "shortest" route.  This meant we got up close and personal with the North Croatian  and Slovenian countryside and villages.  To start with we skirted through the top of the national park in woods of spindly conifers, then descended into lush pasture, all cut for hay, and some horticulture.  No livestock was visible and few of the houses seemed to have barns nearby so we wondered where the animals were kept. Gillian developed a thing for the drying rack they use for the hay. We deduced that it must take too long for re hay to dry where it is cut so they hang it on these wooden rack ) with a simple V shaped roof over it - to dry it off before storing it. Storing is sometimes in the cylindrical  bales we see in NZ - some times wrapped in clear wrapping material - open at the end as we saw in Southern Italy - some times completely wrapped . I wish we had a photo of the constructions used for storing the fodder - hard to explain but basically it is a large X with a roof. the top half is used to store fodder and below the small tractors and other farming equipment is garaged.

In amongst the hay there is cropping. There are also often large tracts of pasture left to the wild flowers - wow! they are magnificent. they come in every hue - red, pink, lavender, blue ( corn flowers), yellow, white - lots of cow parsley. Vineyards appear everywhere until it gets to high for them to survive.

Crossing into Slovenia we found the quality of the roads was still great and the villages were little different from Croatia, which is logical as they were the same country until 1991.  As we moved north the houses became more "alpine" with Austrian style chalets high on the steep slopes.  At one point the GPS put us on an unsealed logging road over a range of hills, but after 15km we descended into the next valley and regained the tar seal.

Lake Bled is a nice small lake with an island, containing a church, and a castle high above the lake on a sheer rock.  There were boats to take visitors to the island propelled by the boatman standing on the rear of the boat rowing with long oars.  The water was clear, but the lake bottom around the town was unappealing with cutoff piles and tree branches overlaid with silt.

We drove around the lake and then explored an area where there was lots of seating. In the lake that Stephen mentioned there was evidently a prized tree stump which was situated in front of us and just below the surface of the water.  The ducks vied for possession thereof and moved each other off to gain a perch. Thereupon a frenzy of preening followed until the next usurper arrived. Very funny to watch.

It was a lovely warm sunny afternoon - our contemplation of the beauty of it was was disturbed by the realisation that one , or both, of the couple who lay recumbent on the grass behind us,where about to break the sound barrier with his/ her snoring! Also very funny

Plitvice

26 June

We had been advised not to arrive at Plitvice National Park when the tour groups descended in droves around 10:30, so we made a leisurely start. The drive up was interesting as the landscape changed moving from the coastal barren steep rocky hills to much greener, but not particularly fertile, high plains with more rounded hills.


The park service runs a shuttle "bus" service from end to end of the lakes consisting of a Unimog bus towing 2 trailers with steering designed to track the tractor.  The road is very tortuous and at times the front of the contraption was going in the opposite direction to the rear.

The lakes are set in an area that is in the natural state with spindly woodland and scattered undergrowth. This undergrowth is quite different to ours and very pretty - not dense and there is lots of leaf litter. Despite the nature of the deciduous leaves that make up this detritus  there is still not a lot of top soil.

The lakes are a series separated by wide waterfalls over travertine ledges that are constantly building up.  The lakes are in the region of 11-15 m deep and have a beautiful deep blue colour which is even more vivid when the sun is shining.  The walkways are made of trimmed branches laid across a frame a couple of feet above the water.  With no handrails we wondered how many visitors end up in the lake when the pressure of numbers builds up in the high season.  We opted to do a circular walk around the top lakes and then go down to the lower lake to view the highest waterfall. This park is surely a fairyland on earth - looking at the little waterfalls which are big ones in the making is amazing. Often water will disappear through a sink hole! To reappear further down as a waterfall all of its own.These waterfalls amaze us - they fall from a variety of heights, often around vegetation which is growing robustly despite the torrents of water that tumbles around them.


There are all sorts of fish swimming in the lake - they seem to have their own territory and their own markings.They are quite small - much smaller than those we saw in Krka.

We walked on board walks - as Stephen said ( above) I have renamed them as trunk and branch walks - few boards in sight and lots of views of the water / swamp / etc below your feet  between the so called boards! All very rustic but uneven. You really need to watch as there were step downs without warning and Stephen did a few 'whoops! Didn't see that one"

I was on the look out for 'wild life!" the brochures mentioned lynxes - I saw a cat!  They showed pictures of bears - i found several small reddish/brown mice who were scavenging for food. Really
cute but a poor substitute for a bear. however - one little mouse has the instincts of a survivor - he was collecting peanuts that had been dropped by a human ( they walk at 100 miles an hour and pause to take a photo or two and then  power on as they have to 'DO" the Plitvice lakes! which are several kms in distance and then they surge onto the shuttle to get back to where they started! I sound cynical but... walking slowly -as I have to these days -has meant we have seen lots of little details - e.g. trees that fall into the lakes over time are covered with fascinating calcification.
I hope the photos will fill in the gaps - this was a wonderful adventure and so unique. 


Around the top lakes the falls varied between cascades and streams of water falling through the vegetation over a width of over 100m.


After leaving the national park our GPS delivered us  perfectly to our accommodation. Stephen did it again. Built after the war (the 1991-5 civil war that is) it is a typical Alpine looking house. The ground floor is a beautifully appointed kitchen and a variety of chunky / Alpine styled  tables and chairs where our hostess cooks a wonderful breakfast from 7.00 - 10.00am. Thereafter she said she does the cleaning! The attention to detail and the quality of the construction is amazing - every surface sparkles and our hostess was on hand with helpful advice. We were right at the top of the building and I relished leaning out of the window - drinking up the view of the green well tended slopes, the fruit trees and the sheep (white and brown with horns) that Stephen told our hostess were goats!! Such peace and quiet - ignoring the sounds of traffic in the very distant distance.

We trundled off to dinner to a restaurant our hostess recommended - and after  huge and gorgeous last Croatian feast we heard "Hello Gillian, it is you!" A teacher from my PAI work was on holiday with hubby and friends. there followed a lovely catch up / isn't this amazing / where have you been/ where are you going etc!

We returned to our accommodation and fell into conversation with an amazing couple. they are Dutch authors and illustrators of children's books as well as composers. We exchanged email addresses and it would be nice to hear from them again - Stephen posted an email to them -so we might hear back.

Zadar

25 June

We had been advised by our host that we had to try the Croatian dish Peka, but it had to be ordered at least an hour in advance.  So we booked into a recommended restaurant for lunch.

After a lazy morning and swim we set out for lunch.  The restaurant had a cart wheel theme with many tables and benches having wheels at each end.  In the inner part the tables were on old treadle sewing machine frames. We were expected and the waiter pointed to our reserved table in the otherwise deserted restaurant.  The peka was brought out on an oval steel dish on which it had been cooked and consisted on slices of pork (belly we think) and segments of potato all heavily salted and swimming with oil and a mixed salad, also salted.  The flavour was rich, the pork was tender, but the 1kg of meat overwhelmed us and we took half of it away with us.  When we got back to the apartment we googled peka and found that it is normally cooked in a wood fired oven under a heavy lid covered with embers.  The meat can be anything (including octopus) and is sometimes mixed and the vegetables can include tomatoes, eggplant, and anything else you can roast.

After a digestive rest and another swim and laze in the sun, we headed into the old town of Zadar and wandered around to the "Salute to the Sun" and the "Sea Organ".  We were too early for the Salute which is a large circular area made up of solar powered lights that pulse in time with the sea organ during the hours of darkness and is particularly recommended at sunset.  We weren't up to going in again so we missed that spectacle, but we did enjoy the sea organ which is a series of steps that capture the wave energy and play mournful notes and harmonies depending on the wave action.  It is in no way melodic, but it has a fascination of randomness and continuity.

The surprise for us in the old town were the remains of the roman forum, which apparently was the largest on the eastern side of the Adriatic and was initiated by Emperor Augustus.  As the town was badly damaged during WWII the centre is a surprisingly modern shopping area with wide store fronts and modern marble paving.

Krka

24 June

Today we spent the day at Krka National Park.  This park extends up the Krka river with a series of waterfalls.  Our  visit didn't go entirely smoothly, which was unfortunate as the falls are spectacular.

There are several entrances to the park - we choose one with a shuttle boat that took us up to the base of the first series of falls.  There was a large crowd waiting for the boat and when boarding was announced it demonstrated that the Europeans don't have the English sense of queuing.  It was the most impressive display of mob mentality I've seen for some time.  However we got on the boat without injury and headed up the river.

We had heard of a boat trip up the top fall at Roski Slap and the tickets were only available at the information office at the top of the first falls, so we made our way up with a few stops to watch the water flow past.  The notable feature of these falls, apart from the width and volume of water, is that the water flows around the trunks of trees and through vegetation with side streams appearing from all directions.   The falls are in in cascade with around 8 separate major falls and a total drop of around 50m and a width of 100m.  They are attractive with crystal clear water and trees down to the water.

Arriving at the top information office we were met by a man ( shouting loudly, hoping we spoke German)who said that we could get on the boat that was supposed to have left a few minutes before.  When we queried this he said that it was OK as he was the captain.  Anyway a brisk 0.5km walk to the quay and we were shown onto a very old and small boat with 8 others and took off up the river.  It was difficult to talk over the diesel engine, but the captain and a group of Germans managed it ( in German)at 120dB - in other words very loudly.  The other boats we saw on the river were newer, larger and probably quieter.

There are a lot of reeds lining the river and at one point they form a complete wall across the river with a small gap for the boats.   We called into an island called Viscovac housing a Franciscan monastery ( very beautiful and tranquil. It was built by Franciscan Monks from a lump of rock. Apart for their exile during the Austro / Hungarian regime they have lived there continually - gardens, church, cloisters residences , peacocks, pea hens and chicks - brown peacocks! We have not seen those before. The church has a double high altar - it is a small but intimate feeling place of worship)
We resumed our trip with the captain shoouting at the Germains - "Wo ist meine beire?" and they responded in mega - decibels.

En route we took a wee detour to see a tress which had fallen down onto the edge of the lake - there basking in the sun were several turtles - 2 who were happily making babies . Not surprisingly our loud Deutsche fellow passengers got very excited at this sight and much Germanic shouting followed about 'SEX" over and over again.

Then we entered a limestone gorge leading up to the falls at Roski Slap.We saw more falls at the end
of the lake -  Again the falls run through the vegetation with a lot of the width hidden from view.
We landed there for a 2 hour break - our ears were very grateful. We have a lovely sandwich each of local ham and cheese in a beautiful spot with trees framing the lake - ducks, possibly grebes, white swans and their signets. There are also a series of flour mills here with one of the mills in operation to demonstrate the milling process (corn) using old style mill stones.

On the trip back down the river the Germans got even rowdier. There was a young female on board from Tokyo who was keen to jion in the antics. She and the loudest of the Deutsch Herr decided to flick handfuls of lake water on the captain. Said person was reclining forward of the wheel under the bow    on a mattress. He had surrendered the piloting to a young apprentice( who was anxious about docking...). During the ensuing horse play the young pilot moved the boat around so they lost their balance and  the very large Herr fell heavily onto Gillian's right knee which was excruciating painful -  he lurched off and then stood on both her feet.( Gillie here - I admit to a few tears at this point - knee swelled up more and was very painful on the long trek back to our car). The silly young thing landed in Stephen's lap. Nothing daunted the water fight continued - until the dumphkoph realized what he had done.

We reached the end of the trip - which was extraordinarily beautiful and different to our previous experiences - putting the behaviours of fellow human beings to one side!
There followed a trip via motor way to Zadar - arriving around 7pm

 Our accommodation tonight is an apartment in Zadar, which turned out to be bright, clean and attractive, but with fewer facilities than  we have been used to so far.   However the swimming pool is nice as was the lovely dinner we had at Delfin ( dolpin) restaurant  which as local venue. We watched a beautiful sunset from our seats - GB ate a lovely tomato soup and mozzarella bruchetta - and Stephen also ate the bruchetta and  a lamb dish. A lovely young man who was a waiter shared his home made cherry brandy with us at the end of the meal - wow!

Central Croatia

23 June,
Another easy over start - we drove first to Trogir, old parts - this is a fascinating small settlement established around 7th Century by Croats and in 14O9 Venice bought Dalmatia - and Trogir refused to accept the new ruler and so Venice bombed the town into submission.This waa evidently not complete submission as  they were able to  pursue their own interests in art etc. The old town is situated on a small island separated from the mainland by a canal - which we walked over via a road bridge one way and a gorgeous curved pedestrian bridge the other way.

We saw a local market with sellers anxious to sell! thence into the old town where there were delicious winding streets threaded through the ancient sites of cathedrals , churches  - we followed a bridal party as they made their way to the very old and gorgeous Town Hall for their  wedding!


The general sense was of people who are currently living in this historic site. We just stopped and goggled at the merge of ancient and current.People live in these ancient buildings - signs of modernization do not intrude and almost all of the old 'attics' which look like they are about to topple over  are not inhabited.


We reached the sea front which gave us a great perspective of the extent of the old city - Palm trees line the sea front and many beautiful boats and launches bobbed about in the harbour.


Time to reflect - Croatians young and old seems very proud of their country - little graffiti - flags fly everywhere - there seems to just be a sense of who they are and my goodness they have fought for this and paid the ultimate cost. Today in one small church there was a small memorial - 2 flower arrangements with Croatian colours draped over them, above them photos of 30 or more people who had lain down their lives to defend their country in the civil war - along with a plaque listing their names - we were so moved.
They seem exuberant people but not the in your face raucousness of Southern Italians. Lots of dads appear in charge of small children. The young men seem very tall and the young women likewise - and slender but not always for wither gender.  In Italy the Roman nose is very evident - I haven't noticed a national feature characteristic for Croatia.

After Trogir we drove up to Primosten - a less well known settlement which seems to be more affluent than we have yet encountered. We found a nice long stretch of beach to relax on after our lunch in the shade of tall pine trees. Not a lot of people around which was nice. The beach of course was pebbly / small stone / small rock . We were pleased to find no debris floating in the water - nice and crystal clear - a steep slope which was indicated by the change in colour of the water from pale turquoise to indigo blue. We relaxed and swam - sea not as warm as expected but perfectly delightful all the same.

We returned to our Apartment via the coastal roads hunting for the 15th century fortified mansions built but the Split aristocrats who feared Turkish invasions that were rampant across Europe at that time. Well - we think we might have seen a couple - we followed the sign posts from the main riad and then they disappeared! No worries - we went of a wonderful tour of tiny roads as wide as the car - past huge properties -all with fences and prolific growth of plants / flowers and tress - along side very nice if more modest houses - all of which had gardens - some laid out like market gardens - and immaculate maintenance - quite different to what we have seen in inner Split - which is a jungle of high rise modern apartments ( new and in immaculate but a faceless jungle none the less) or out here in our suburb which is lovely and mainly geared to the tourists - with houses scattred hither and yon in the midst of the 'aparmani.'

The other aspect we enjoyed was the sight of local people - around 4.30 - 5.00pm enjoying their local beaches that lined these wandering narrow streets. They walked together - bevies of young men, young women , young adults with children and extended families and older people blobbing out - so cool and just what we love to see.


So - back to our very comfy apartment with all the amazing views and facilirties - and off to find a specila place to eat - earlier we spied Amigos on the waterfront - so we will see if we can get a table.  

Through Bosnia and Herzegovina

21 June

Headed off to look at Mostar, but our GPS refused to take us by our chosen route.  We phoned our last landlady who gave us enough instructions to find our way to the border.  From the border post you can see how thin this area of Croatia is - in places less than a kilometre between the coast and the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Once over the border we found the area not very developed with steep rocky hills and small villages that did not look prosperous.  However the road was excellent and we made good time.  Once we reached Stolac (half way) the land improved with big areas under intensive market gardens.  One notable feature was a big concrete lined canal (irrigation we think) that paralleled the road for 30km. 

We noted the signage in this area was in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.  Also there were an increasing number of mosques in the towns as we moved north.  The gravestones in the Islamic cemeteries are very distinctive being tall square stones with a pointed top.

Arriving in Mostar we found a carpark and a local trader swapped a Euro coin for the required local currency to feed the meter.  Here the everything is available in multiple languages and currencies.  We walked over the main road that had been the front line during the siege in 1993 and saw several buildings still bearing the marks of the conflict.

Walking down to the "old bridge" (now reconstructed after being destroyed in the war) the road was paved with polished marble stones - uncomfortable to walk on and slippery.  Each side was lined with gift shops and tourist traps, but the hawkers were not pushy for a change.  I bought a lovely table cloth ( Gillie here) and The bridge itself was an engineering masterpiece in its time as it crossed the river with a single span. Here the river runs fast and deep.  The paving on the bridge is polished marble slabs with ribs to give traction.  The footing is treacherous and I can only imagine how many people slip when it is wet.  As it was many people were hanging on to the handrail with grim determination.(GB -  I took off my shoes and it worked well!)

We ducked into a local restaurant to try the "National Plate" - a selection of local food.  All very nice, but enough to feed us for a couple of days.  It included small sausages, meatballs, lamb, stuffed vine leaves, stuffed peppers, grilled vegetables, rice, a very nice capsicum pesto, yoghurt and flat bread.

Heading off again our GPS took a different route than we expected and we headed down to the coast.  Seeing a sign for a motorway we found a newly constructed motorway that the GPS didn't know about.  With clear signs that the construction was not complete it was still an education on how to plan a new through route. With wide lanes, a continuous emergency lane, clear signage, perfect surface and a 130km/hr limit it makes the NZ major roads look second rate.  We saw very little traffic on the road so it probably does not yet have an economic return.

We had trouble finding out apartment in Split as we had not realised it was tucked in behind the casino.  However once again we were in for a pleasant surprise as the accommodation is great - fully equipped, sea view and a beach in front of us.

 GB story of the day:
We traveled to Mostar from Dubrovnik - into Bosnia Herzegovina and up to Mostar - all I can say is that it was a revealing experience and the geology very variable and we gained some insight into the historic and not so historic conflicts. 

Mostar was amazing.. we have yet to write the blog but seeing the bullet holes sites in the buildings / bomb remains in the city was salutary for we who live in cotton wool. As I made a purchase for Lucas in Mostar Stephen talked to the owner who was in Mostar when it became the front line in the war. As I said - huge challenges to our comfortable background. My challenge is to not forget.

We had the most gorgeous Herzegovina lunch in a Turkish restaurant in the old city - beautiful  site dripping with grape vines and waiters - all male , in traditional Turkish dress!The hostesses who invited us in were the females! The meal we selected was a traditional Herzegovinan platter - so yummy and was my birthday meal. The wine here has a fuller bouquet than in Croatia - and believe me - there are grapevines everywhere - no matter how poor the soil.

Off we went on another adventure to Split to this gorgeous apartment - yes! Stephen has done it again. We are in a modern, beautifully appointed apartment with a view to the Mediterranean- went for  walk and passed the tennis court we can play on / the gorgeous swimming pool we can swim in . the pentanque area we might play in and the mini golf course we will avoid! below this the sea laps into the beach so guess where we will be tomorrow? This apartment is gorgeous - has dish washer XX and clothes washing machine xx - having said that we gave 2 huge bags of washing to our lovely hostess at Apartment Silva in Dubrovnik and they came back fragrantly clean and beautifully folded and she wouldn't take payment - said it was her present ! Amazing people in the Croatian Tourist industry.

Add to that - a knock on the door a few minutes ago and there was the lady who was at reception and showed us to our apartment - she came  with a traditional Croatian cake for a celebration and a bottle of local celebratory bubbly as  she saw today was my birthday from my passport - how amazing is this! 

22 June

Got up late and drove into the old town of Split.  The centre is the remains of a palace built by the roman emperor Diocletian.  Some of the outer walls remain, but the interior is now filled with a jumble of narrow streets and houses built over the last 1600 years.


We returned to our apartment ( Anamaria) and had a swim at the beach  - bit disappointing as the water was a bit murky and some flotsam floating in the gentle lapping waters. Lots of pepole there who seem to relish lying on the bumpy stony beach and wallowing in the waters. Not to worry - better was in store the next day. I had a lovely swim in the pool outside our apartment and went happy back to shower and go out for a lovely dinner - we walked to it via an underpass - Arkady. It looks very picturesque - we dined outside - not may other guests -when you look more closely you can see how they have covered up and  dressed up what is actually quite an old and a bit dilapidated area. Good for them! We were told by Silva when we arrived in Croatia that people have a very low basic wage and there is little to come and go with.