Monthly Archives: October 2017
Wrapping up our trip in the Dolomites
Since the weather in Germany took a turn for the worse on the 22nd, we decided to look for better conditions for our last few days in Europe. The south side of the Alps had a sunny forecast and we had 1 day left on our rail pass. Plus the train trip was a mere 4 hours from Munich to Trento, Italy. We rented a car from Trento to use for a few days before a flight from Milan to Barcelona on the 26th. The train schedules and prices just didn’t make sense to get back to Barcelona, so a quick flight on EasyJet was our choice.
We booked an apartment up in the hills north of Bolzano, which ended up being a nice farm stay with beautiful mountain views. Took some day trips around the area to explore a bit of the Dolomites. Northern Italy was an interesting combination of Italian and German/Austrian cultures. For any fellow fans of the movie “European Vacation”, a fun-fact is that they filmed the German scenes in Brixen, Italy.
Improvised wine bottle holder for the train ride from Munich to Trento.
Rainy and cold weather on the north side of Alps during our train ride
Beautiful sunny conditions after crossing the Brenner Pass from Austria into Italy
Impressive views from the apartment
Going to miss the delicious olive oil and buffala mozzarella
Solitaire and breakfast in the peaceful, mountain sunshine
Day trip over to Gardena Pass
Throwing rocks at 7,000 feet
Sunset views after playing at the park in Bolzano
Playing ball with the farm cats!
Hanging out by the river in Merano
Some sightseeing around the old town of Merano
Soaking up the afternoon sunshine on a Merano bridge
Our final sunset across the Dolomites
He’s hooked on solitaire
Quick flight from Milan to Barcelona. Definitely glad we chose riding trains for ease of boarding and comfort versus the airplanes and airports.
The hills are alive with the sounds of music
As mentioned in our last post from Croatia, the weather forecast significantly improved further north so we took the opportunity to see a couple destinations which we passed on earlier in the trip due to the frigid temps. The forecast was quite accurate and we had some fantastic days to explore a bit of Salzburg and Munich.
Finalizing our plans now to get back to Barcelona (and keeping on the eye on the Catalonian independence situation) for our flight back to the USA on the 27th. In the meantime, cold and rainy weather returned to Germany, so we are headed south again into Italy. Plan on spending a few days in the Dolomites!
Leg # 1 from Rijeka, Croatia to Salburg, Austria on a bus due to rail maintenance
Leg #2 on the normal train to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Leg #3 from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Villach, Austria
Final leg from Villach, Austria to Salzburg, Austria. Not sure how many toddlers could handle a road trip starting at 9am in Croatia and ending around 8pm in Austria
A bit of sightseeing our first day in Salzburg. Mozart statue for all the fans of the show “Little Einsteins”
Rented bikes to check out some sights further out of town. Fantastic fall weather for a bike ride from Salzburg to Hallein.
Impromptu bus ride out to Bad Durenberg had us enjoying some end-of-season summer toboggan rides.
Beautiful views from the top of the toboggan chairlift
This thing’s FAST!
Might submit this one to the resort to add to their brochure
Worked up a hunger after our toboggan session, so we checked out Stadtkrug in Hallein and it was delicious!
Charlie musta been worn out to sleep through dinner
Second day on the bikes was a shorter trip out to explore Hellbrunn Palace along a splendid bike trail.
A local milk ATM
Ok, picture time but where is that park we saw earlier today??
This Hellbrunn park may take the “best park” prize
Spent a long time at the park, so old town sightseeing was a sunset event
Beautiful old town Salzburg
Mid-day train from Salzburg to Munich in a comfy suite
Halloween cookies on the outskirts of Munich near the hotel
A bit of sightseeing our first night in Munich
Forget the sightseeing, let’s ride escalators all the time!
Big boy riding solo
First day in Munich was a trip to English Garden
Pit stop at a beer garden while searching for parks, then enjoyed some beer, food and live music. (Irish couple from last night’s dinner gave us some intel on this playground next to the beer garden, a perfect combo!)
Why is the kid from Florida the only one wearing shorts on this balmy October day in Munich?
A bit more sightseeing on the way home on Day 1, but still no working glockenspiel
Day 2 weather turned colder and cloudy/rainy, so indoor activities were best. Headed to the Deutsches Museum which was humungous!
Live demonstration of an automated miniature brick factory
A bit of walking in the blustery weather
Never too cold for ice cream and this stuff was worth the chilly walk!
A scenic walk through the Hofbräuhaus was a must, but we drank and ate at other beer halls.
ROAR it’s cold!
A week in Northern Croatia
After a few days in Split, we picked up a one-way car rental to make our way around some other areas of Croatia. Some folks who own an Italian restaurant in Cape Coral, Florida were originally from the Istria peninsula and highly recommended we visit it on our trip. We chose a couple towns in that area along with a couple days near Plitvice National Park. Quite the noticeable differences in terrain, culture, language and average height of people between the areas of Croatia. You can go from sunny and arid southern coastline to mountainous fall foliage in just a couple hours of driving. Many people in Split seemed to be of NBA stature. The great weather continued for us throughout Croatia and glad we took the time to explore a number of areas.
We’re into the last 10 days of this trip and need to be back in Barcelona for our return flight on the 27th. Our latest itinerary was to stay south for some spots in central Italy, but a weather check showed that things had warmed up again further north and we hadn’t booked any travel or accommodations yet. A quick check of train schedules from Rijeka showed that we could make our way to Salzburg in a single day, so we went for it! Looking forward to seeing at least one of the destinations we passed over last month.
Day 1 near Plitvice National Park was chilly and rainy, so we chose to explore the area a bit.
Appropriate weather and safety gear for Charlie’s first cave exploration at Baraceve Špilje
The skies cleared later in the day and we found a lovely cafe with a view and heat lamps
Our hosts in Jezerce kindly greeted us each morning with homemade treats.
Day 2 was beautiful weather for hiking around Plitvice National Park for splendid fall foliage.
Very peaceful park with fewer tourists this time of year.
Lunch stop along a lake at Plitvice National Park
The BIG waterfall!
A never-ending amount of scenery to enjoy at this park!
Our cheap but lasting umbrella stroller wasn’t cut out for this terrain, so we got a workout walking for about 4 hours to explore the park.
Our next destination was a return to the coast to spend a few days in Rovinj.
So many sculptures!
Keeping an eye out for scallywags from a bunker
Choo Choo rides at a park around the bend from Rovinj
Beautiful sunset strolls along the riva
Cold beverages after a day of sightseeing and watching the “Watermelon Moon”
Day trip to Motovun to explore the hilltop village
Lunch at a Motovun cafe
Hooray for scenic cafes! We’d find this to be the first day of hazy/foggy conditions for the rest of our days in Croatia. Has to do with warmer air temps and cooling sea temps.
Post-lunch chocolate ice cream leads to antsy pants
A sunset in Porec with a local beer
Pit-stop in Bale on our way from Rovinj to Pula
Bale was a very quiet village in this off-season Saturday
A deserted camping resort called “Mon Perin” on the way to Pula. Things really shut down here after the summer high season.
No one to be seen for miles, is this some sort of Walking Dead episode with a deserted park?
Our next step was sightseeing for a few days in Pula (our last stop in Croatia)
Charlie and Charlie
A number of historical Roman buildings in Pula which are quite well preserved
Learning a bit about the game of Monopoly
The ferry boat we took over from the mainland to Brijuni National Park
Scenic train tour of the Brijuni Park
Golf course with greens made completely of sand, interesting..
A decent size safari park on the northern end of the island, which was mostly a collection of animals from Tito’s reign back in the Yugoslavian era.
That’s a big bull behind a tiny stick fence.
Dinosaurs roamed here a few thousand years ago
If only it was a bit warmer, we’d be swimming in this clear water!
Roman ruins needing a bit of rehab
Quite serene riding bikes around the island in the late afternoon with a light fog. (This light fog turned into a nerve-racking drive home later that night in the densest fog we’ve ever seen.)
Charlie’s Updates
Charlie here for an update since I snuck onto the computer while mom and dad were asleep…
It seems that I have been away from home for a long time now, but I’ve seen so many things and met so many people from other places. I do miss my family back home, but we’ve been able to FaceTime pretty often.
I’ve mastered the day-time undies thing, but Mom and Dad still give me “good job” treats, so I’ll keep working that angle.
Checking out all these new houses is a blast and so far I’ve had my own room every time. Some even had a couple beds for me to choose. Sometimes Dad tries to greet me in the mornings, but I tell him “hasta luego” and ask to see Mom instead.
I’m really enjoying math and numbers with so many things to count, like stairs and statues. I’ve learned how to play solitaire (“It’s a match!”) and Monopoly, but that game never seems to end. I’ve also learned how to read (ok, I’ve memorized) all of the books that my mom brought. I “read” them to her every night now. I asked for some new books but I haven’t been able to find any in English anywhere, so my mom can’t read them to me. I can also spell my name now- C-H-A-R-L-I-E, and I can type it on the keyboard. Woohoo!!!
Whenever we get to a new place, one of my favorite things to do is check out the local grocery store. I’ve gotten pretty good at pulling the cart around the store while my mom and dad pick out the groceries. While I’ve eaten so much good fish back in Florida, I definitely enjoy these European fish sticks. I gobble them up and keep Mom and Dad happy by also eating some veggies they put on my plate.
Desserts have been great in every place! Italy had the best gelato and Slovenia and Croatia were a tie for the best cake.
Looking for parks each day is a blast! Trying so many new types of slides, monkey bars, merry go-rounds, swings and some zip lines which are my most favorite! Most of the kids talk to me at the park, but I haven’t a clue what they are saying and my counting in Spanish, French and German only goes so far.
Another one of my favorite things is sunset time. We stop at the grocery store so mom and dad can get drinks and then they find a place to sit while I run and jump around and watch the sunset. The sunsets have been really beautiful, especially over the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. Sometimes the sunset looks like a “watermelon moon” because the sun is so big and red.
Until next time, hasta luego!
A week in southern Croatia
While figuring out an itinerary for 2 weeks in Croatia, we quickly discovered that train travel in this country becomes more challenging with limited options and routes available. Another challenge was a reduced ferry schedule for our next move into central Italy, as most ferries run in high season which ends in late September or early October. Finally decided to start in southern Croatia and move north for a land-based route into central Italy, thus skipping an overnight Adriatic ferry.
While an overnight travel leg has interested us to try once, the thought of boarding a train or ferry around 10pm and arriving around 7am seems like a recipe for a disastrous night of toddler sleeplessness.
Once we locked in our first move from Ljubljana to Split, the fun began with a full-day day of travel starting at 8am. Leg #1 was a train voyage from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Zagreb, Croatia. This would be our least favorite European train so far and thusly named it the “stink train”. Luckily it only lasted a couple hours with a minor delay crossing the border for passport control (Croatia is in the EU, but not in the Schengen area and utilizes Kuna instead of the Euro).
A decent layover in Zagreb allowed us to walk around a bit to grab a bite to eat and explore some sights, but the weather was windy and rainy which limited our enthusiasm for covering much distance. Leg #2 started around 3:30pm for a 6-hour train voyage onto Split. Lucked out again with a much cleaner train and very few people aboard the train. Even had our own compartment for Charlie to run free, which became crucial as we approached the last hour of the trip. I am guessing the woman at the ticket office knew our situation with a toddler could require such a setup and appropriately booked our reservations in that area of the train.
We arrived in Split around 9:30pm, all quite tired and hungry. Our gracious Airbnb host offered to pick us up, which was a welcomed offer after a full day of travel. It was all worth of it for the next week of activities!
Quickly discovered that vegetarian options in Croatia are quite limited, bring on some meat!
Hoped to see a whale mural here, but it was under construction. Queue the sad faces..
A bit of sightseeing in Zagreb in the drizzle before our next train
Just getting underway on the train voyage from Zagreb to Split
Tons of interesting things to see in the old town of Split
A massive statue!
Croatian ice cream is also delicious
Delightful sunset stroll along the Split riva, but no photos please!
I believe this would be the epitome of southern Croatia
The Marjan peninsula is a great place to escape the Split touricanes (tourist hurricane)
The equipment at this playground was a combination of free and paid amusements, but most everything seemed to be from the Yugoslavian era.
Back to the same ice cream cafe to try one of their cakes.
Another beautiful Split river sunset. A great place to stroll, purchase a couple beers from the grocery store nearby, then people watch while Charlie jumps around.
In 2032, Charlie may come back here to try their 1L cocktail buckets.
Some interesting local art at the Sibenik library, which was a great stop for the first rainy evening.
Skies are clear for day 2 to explore Sibenik (pronounced Shibenik)
Fantastic sunsets on the porch of our Sibenik apartment.
Day trip to Krka National Park and met a new friend from Madrid. Comparing notes on the English and Spanish versions of the park map.
Fantastic waterfalls at Krka national park
Skies cleared for a delightful afternoon stroll around the park
Having trouble seeing the sights, anyone have a hair tie?
Ending a great day at Krka with a boat ride back to town.
Our Airbnb hosts in Sibenik greeted us that evening with homemade Tiramisu.
Closing out the day with some relaxation and new “educational” games on the iPad.
Splurged on a nice lunch during a stopover in Zadar. Vegetarian for Cindy and meats for the boys.
Wonderful week in Slovenia
We thoroughly enjoyed our second week of beautiful fall weather while we stayed in Ljubljana, Slovenia (pronounced lube-ya-na as we understand it). Got a chance to spend some time with our gracious Airbnb host and family, explore one of the nicest European cities we’ve been to so far plus a bit of the country outside the capital city.
While a number of places seem over-hyped (at least for our interests), we found Slovenia to be a wonderful place!
Day 1 was a bit cloudy and cooler, so took the opportunity for some much needed shopping for Charlie at a nearby mall
After numerous failures to find the right size and type of shoe, we came across the right pair of new shoes! All the hiking the last couple months did a number on his old sneakers.
Convenient playground outside the mall for a lunch stop. Tiring day of shopping since we’ve gotten used to Amazon deliveries instead of mall shopping.
Riding the bus like a local and always on the lookout for a neighborhood park!
Cool see-through bridge
So many bridges to explore in this city!
Day 2 was a free walking tour around the city center to learn some history. Charlie did awesome for 2 hours of walking and listening!
So many statues to see for a counter pose
Another beautiful day along the downtown river
Interesting historical photo of the canal construction
The tour guide recommended a shop for the local dessert, called Potica. So we had to try it!
A leisurely hike up to the Ljubljana castle for some great views of the city.
Our Airbnb host recommended a park across town and it was awesome! Climbing up to the big slide with the big kids and some help from mom,
Delightful view of the staircase in Nebotičnik, a local high rise with a cafe on the top floor. We had a chance to meet our Airbnb host and family that night, plus they graciously invited us over for breakfast another day and loaned us a car seat!
Exploring the sights and looking for playgrounds at Tivoli park
Another beautiful day for locating more playgrounds around the city
Lunch at Julija restaurant for some delicious stew and the homemade apple dessert
Rented a car the last 2 days for day trips outside the city. First day was out to Lake Bohinj. Very quiet this time of year with most folks visiting during the summertime.
Found a grasshopper!
Cool beach with tons of rocks to throw into the stream and lake.
Unbelievably clear water feeding the lake.
Our second day with the car was a trip to Lake Bled. Gorgeous fall day in the low 70s, light winds and no clouds.
Halfway through the 6km walk around the lake, let’s throw some rocks and take some photos!
Great spot to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature in northwest Slovenia.
Worked up an appetite for treats after that walk around the lake. Triple the fun with ice cream, Bled cream cake and the best hot chocolate ever!
Cafe with the best treats near Lake Bled
Clean plate club, so let’s go back to the playground and work off this energy!
The inevitable post-dessert crash/coma on the ride back to Ljubljana.
Chris, Cindy, Charlie and Cecily’s Adventure Blog 