Split - Day 6-8 (28-30 August) We left Korcula at 5:45am taking a Catamaran Ferry for a few hours journey to Split. Split is a larger town on the Dalmatian mainland but it too has an old town, or more correctly a palace compound. We stayed right in the heart of it. The palace was of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who loved Split for it’s beautry and therapuetic thermal spas. He built himself a palace here in the late 3rd century, for holidays and later for retirement. However, after his death it became disused and some time later (7th century) permission [View Full Entry]

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Korcula day 4-5 (26-27 August) We took a local bus to the bus station to catch our coach to Korcula. It was a scenic ride along the coast to the small town Orebic where the bus got on the Ferry to take us to the island of Korcula after a few hours drive. We had private rooms again here, which were right in the old town. Korcula is a very pretty place, with clear and calm waters that invited you to just spend the day watching the sea from the waterside cafes. Of course we did more than that. The first [View Full Entry]

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Dubrovnik - Day 1-3 (August 23-25) Lovice was kind enough to get up at 5:30am to drive me to Dusseldorf airport in Germany (as the trains wouldn’t get me there on time), which is about the same distance as Amsterdam. We got there with me being a nominal navigator but it was fairly straight forward, and of course no border checks as we were inside the Schengen zone. We had a final breakfast of croissant and brie and said farewell for now (or as I had learned the casual good-bye in the Netherlands is “doei” (pronounced do-ee) which I really [View Full Entry]

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Week Three - Including Amsterdam and Nijmegen In the final week in the Netherlands we did many of the usual daily things, but also made the trek to Amsterdam and Nijmegen. Wijchen is about 2 hours by train to Amsterdam and so Lovice and I left Jos and kids behind for a day out. We left early, expecting to catch 3 trains, only to find that there were works on the line and our train had been replaced by bus. This afforded a different view of the countryside on the way to our first connection. Once we got to Amsterdam we [View Full Entry]

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The Netherlands It was wonderful to arrive at an airport and have a friendly face to great you. The flight from Gatwick was uneventful and going through Dutch passport control fast despite the queues. No questions asked and I was soon out the door and enjoying a coffee with Lovice. It was about an hour and a halfs drive to reach Lovice's home in Wijchen, toward the west of the Netherlands. It was wonderful to know that I could unpack and just be in one place for a while. To eat home cooked meals and just get to see how Lovice [View Full Entry]

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London day 1-7 (July 25-31) Arrived at Stansted airport in London and headed off to passport control. I was very happy that the queue was small and thought that this would be quick. How wrong could I be. The only place that actually asked me questions about my trip was London. The lady at the counter when she heard that I had left Australia in February began asking lots of questions. I showed that I knew about the Shengen Visa rules (which UK is not even party to) and she very officiously wanted to see my itinerary. I said it was [View Full Entry]

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Barcelona day 14 (July 24) We were happy that the trip to Barcelona was by train after the long bus journey to Valencia. It is always more comfortable to be able to get up and move around. A short trip in yet another impressive European metro service to get to our hotel. We had an orientation walk around Barcelona taking us to La Rambla (Barcelona’s famous street), past several Gaudi buildings, the Cathedral and finishing at the Familia Sagrada. All the Gaudi buildings incluiding the Familia Sagrada were as impressive as they had seemed from photos. As I will be coming [View Full Entry]

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Valencia day 12-13 (July 22- July 23) It was a long day of travel to get to Valencia, 9 hours by bus. The bus had a no eating or drinking policy and only planned one stop after about 4 hours. There was no toilet on board. However, the reality was that the stop was after only 2 and a half hours, and there were several 5 minute stops at bus stations along the way. The trip was less painful than anticipated, bus usually being not as comfortable as a train, but it was highways most of the way and having the [View Full Entry]

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Granada day 10-11 (July 20- July 21) Another pleasant train trip on Spanish rail’s comfortable and smooth trains, with olive groves most of the way, and craggy hills in the background. Granada is a bigger city with the famous Alhambra being the main attraction. We had a late afternoon orientation walk, past some interesting graffiti art and of course up and down stairs and narrow cobbled streets. Dinner was on top of the hill with a wonderful view of the Alhambra and great food (gazpacho, potato and onion tortilla, crème brulee). My ticket for the Alhambra was for 1pm [View Full Entry]

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Ronda day 8-9 (July 18- July 19) An easy start of 10:30am to make the short bus ride to Algericas, and then the 2 hour train trip through some lovely Spanish countryside, with mountains and valleys, orange and olive groves. Ronda is a small town, one of the last of the Moorish towns to be taken over by the Catholics. It has Roman ruins, as well as the old and new bridges (the old from the 17th century and the new the 18th. I had heard that the architect of the impressive new bridge had fallen to his death when he [View Full Entry]

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