Sibenik, then driving to Dubrovnik

After Plitvice, we drove south to a stopover city we'd read about in Lonely Planet...definitely off the Rick Steves' trail. It was interesting though: very old cathedral, delicious dinner, concert after dark, internet cafe.

The largest stone church in the world without reinforcement of brick or wood. And not somewhere to be in an earthquake.

bruschetta anchovy appetizer

Our dinner spot

risotto with basil, cherry tomatoes, and pancetta

outdoor concert by some traveling students

After breakfast this morning we were back on the road. The drive to Dubrovnik, at nearly the southernmost tip of the country, took about 4 hours from Sibenik. Along the way were countless little fruit stands. We stopped at one to buy a peach, an apple, and a plum.

Most of the drive was basically cruising along or near the Adriatic Coast. We even passed through a tiny part of Bosnia/Herzegovina, which required another slowing down and waving our passports at an uninterested border guard.

Erin I. has been a good chatting partner in the car - she has not once fallen asleep, and she even spent the better part of an hour today explaining to me the difference between True Blood and Twilight, as well as catching me up on any major celebrity happenings I may not already know about. Very useful.

Once we arrived, we stowed our car in a garage and caught a ride from Peter, the owner of the apartment we're staying in, to the center of the old town. Truly, the center. Our apartment, which costs less per night than the personality-lacking hotel we stayed in yesterday, overlooks the church and the main square of old Dubrovnik. Even though I had researched it and knew this, actually being here was quite something else.

Our apartment is the top two left windows, one with white shutters closed.

Here's Erin waving while I ran down to the square to snap a photo of her

and she of me.

Our living/dining room

We headed out after a bit to walk around, find some dinner, and preview shopping for gift opportunities for tomorrow. This sign by a little shop downstairs was charming and made us both think of D. Lee.


After dinner (pizza and salad tonight, after the splurgy risotto dinner last night in Sibenik), we stocked up on a few breakfast and snack groceries since we have a kitchenette. Care to try naming all our choices?

Pleet-veet-suh National Park

(How do you all like the handy pronunciation guides?)

Our first major stop in Croatia was to see the lakes and waterfalls of Plitvice National Park. The pictures we'd seen before we came seemed almost too good to be true - how could any place be that magical looking?

But, wow. It was a rare case of life being better than pictures and words. But since you all couldn't be there with us, I will attempt to make pictures and words suffice. Actually, not so much words, just lots of pictures, so I apologize in advance for the sheer amount of them.

Our first view of Big Waterfall

Erin climbed up the rock in front of Big Waterfall.

Erin got kind of stuck coming back down...

Erin I. took this picture of a lady with extremely short shorts, but she said she took the picture because the lady had the most colorful outfit we'd seen so far that day.

We picked out this homemade strudel from a local woman at a stand outside the entrance. After we pointed to it (and paid for it) we asked what was in it. She told us (peaches, sweet cheese, and cherries), and then she laughed and said "You bought something and you didn't even know what you were eating?" We felt a bit sheepish.

Caves and....Croatia!

Hello again to all...I'm writing tonight from a teeny cafe in a teeny square in a Croatian harbor town I'd never heard of before this trip - Sibenik. Erin I. is sitting across from me with her journal and her Fanta, and children are spinning and squealing on old-school playground equipment in the center of the square. Its about about 85 degrees out, but the sun at least has gone down so that it's no longer glaring off the bright white marble that makes up the buildings, streets, steps, and just about everything else. Croatia so far has been a delightful surprise.

But first: yesterday.

We left the little farmhouse and on a last-minute whim, decided to go to the Skocjan caves, which are on the way into Croatia and the largest underground caverns in Europe. (A guy with a Berkeley t-shirt on our tour there asked where the largest ones were in the world, and the guide said, in perfect Slovene-accented English, that they were in Kentucky and New Mexico.)

I wish I had better pictures of the caves, but we weren't actually allowed to take them so I have just this illegal photo I took of a stalagmite that's most likely a few hundred thousand years old:


Here are a few other photos, mostly taken as we were in our last little bit headed towards the exit and then hiking back up to the visitor's center:


Then, it was time to hop in our (very hot) car and head south. We've nicknamed our car Poky, as it's not the most powerful model on offer, especially when headed up long inclines and being tailgated within inches by impatient European drivers. But here's one thing that makes us, well especially me, I suppose, VERY happy about Poky:


I brought that cord just in case the car might have an aux input - I've never rented one that did - and lo and behold, there it was. So great. So is Euro Mix 6, by the way - thanks Sissy and Pete!

We crossed the border without incident; at one stop we literally waved our American passports as we drove slowly by.


At first, Croatia and Slovenia seemed exactly the same - pine forests, some farms with rocky fields and rolls of hay, cute villages with people that waved at us as we drove by. But some of the villages did start to have less of the alpine style houses and neatly-kept fields and more abandoned brick homes - or often a mix of both.

typical brick house, roadside cheese and honey stand, mountainside memorial

We got stuck behind two very slow campers and thus had lots of time to look around as we wound our way to Plitvice National Park. We stayed in a small guest house, and almost as soon as we pulled up and got settled we were asked what we wanted for dinner by the host and her daughter. We chose trout and settled in to watch the World Cup pre-game, which in Croatia consisted of a wedding-dress fashion show and some kind of trivia call-in game...cutting to the actual game was more of an afterthought, it seemed. Erin I. was pretty happy when Spain finally scored, especially since she'd been wanting to go to bed almost since the beginning of the game...

Dinner, Croatian pre-game show

More tomorrow before we head down to Dubrovnik!

Lake Bled, 3 Ways

How might one advertise an authentic farm house breakfast? This morning's offering met every expectation I might have had. We enjoyed fresh eggs, crusty homemade brown bread, home-cured ham and salami, fresh apple juice, and various other treats. Keeping with our plan, we loaded up at breakfast, then packed a clif bar and apple each for our days activities, but we didn't even need the clif bar. Breakfast eating - we're good at it. Anyway here's what we did:

First, the very traditional boat ride out to the island with its church in the middle of the lake. For 12 euro, we got paddled along with a boat full of others by a very skilled oarsmen. These boats have been made and used the same way for hundreds of years.


Once on the island, we checked out the famous 100 steps that Slovene grooms must carry their brides up to get married in the church. It's not joke - later that day we saw a wedding party setting off for the island and wished we could have seen the carrying attempt - apparently about 80% of them make it all the way. Here we are on the steps:


Once at the top, more legend awaits: apparently if you can ring the church bell in 3 pulls, your wish will be granted. Here were the instructions:

OK, got it. I made my attempt, but I was kind of nervous I wouldn't so in the process forgot to make a wish. :(


Erin, on the other hand, was more entertaining:



We walked around the tiny island for a bit, and even asked someone to take our picture:

After about 30 minutes, we headed back to where our boat guy was waiting patiently. On our boat were two Portuguese families, a Spanish couple from Barcelona, and older English couple, us, and a few couples whose nationalities we just couldn't figure out. We're always listening and trying to guess these things, though...good thing we both enjoy doing that.


Hopping off the boat, we decided it was definitely time to stop for Lake Bled cream cake. It was very good - creamy but with the puff pastry layers for texture. Erin I. said it would have been perfect with a little fruit - I agree. But still - very tasty.


Now, not content with being rowed about on the lake, I was very set on renting a wooden row boat to go back out there. Erin was game, but while I rowed:

Erin I. did this:


Let's just say she was better at doing that than I was at rowing. (Really - it takes a lot of coordination...um, and strength). But I did get us out to the island and back in our allotted hour or so, and it was fun.

We came back to the farm, said hello to the farm creatures:

and then, since we were dusty and hot, we changed and headed back to the lake, yet again, this time to swim. It was perfectly refreshing.

Some of you have requested dinner pictures, so we took some tonight. On the menu was the best spinach soup either of us have ever had:


Followed by buckwheat with mushrooms and some extremely tasty roast chicken:


more of our favorite lettuce:

and a marble cake for dessert - didn't get a picture.

We're pretty sun-baked and sleepy tonight. Tomorrow we head into the Croatia part of the trip, which should be interesting. We've heard good things from other travelers, but that it's definitely different from Slovenia. Not sure what our internet situation will be for the next few days, but see you soon!

E&E