Blogs from Dalmatia, Croatia, Europe - page 15

I am sitting in the café at Skradinski Buk, an indescribable torrent of waterfalls. The others have gone for a boat trip, and I am skipping the experience and avoiding feeling ill. Louder than any of the many visitors is the cascading roar of the water. We were almost alone for the first hour of strolling amongst a lace of waterfalls. By the end of the second hour, we rejoiced that we had finished before the big bus tours arrived. Part of the Krka National Park (pronounced as spelled), a vast quantity of water tumbled from the surrounding mountainous hills through a long downhill stretch of rocks. Over long ledges it rolled into the raging Krka River. Down craggy cliffs it crashed into thick foam. Rivulets traced tiny lace patterns among the plants. Gr... read more

Our full day tour of Dubrovnik was fascinating. For two hours, Jakica led us through the old city centre, combining facts with stories and personal memories. Most of the buildings that survived conquest, war and earthquakes are from about the sixth century, the fourteenth century, and the eighteenth century, plus twenty-first century new builds. Many of the historic buildings were damaged, some severely, in the early battles of the war with Serbia and Montenegro 1991-1994. Almost everything has been restored, which makes the buildings look fresh and well-maintained. Jakica pointed out that the whiter limestone blocks are newer, because they come from a different quarry than the traditional blocks, and that the redder clay roof tiles are new, in contrast to the yellower old ones. Two rival theories explain the origins of Dubro... read more

After more than ten hours of sleep, it was the alarm clock that woke me. I had set it to get up in time for breakfast, and to adapt to the nine hours of change. Breakfast was buffet style in the restaurant. I chose muesli, apple juice, deep-orange fried egg, an unknown sausage, bacon and light rye bread. Although the bacon was terribly salty and apple juice was made from a concentrate in a machine, I enjoyed the meal. The manager came by part-way through, greeting all the patrons with bonhomie and urging us to come to the sea-side restaurant for lunch. He told me that the season was just starting – they had only a hundred rooms occupied today, but by tomorrow that would be up to four hundred! Indeed, on my walk, most shops ... read more

Flying to Frankfurt was uneventful, luckily aided by the empty seat between me and the other virtually silent fellow in the aisle seat. I think I really slept for about an hour, during a short night of trying to persuade my brain to be still. The long walk and short tram ride from the arrival terminal to the next departure terminal was a relief to my constrained muscles. Immigration was no trouble, but security was exceedingly tight. The full body scan highlighted my money pouch under my clothes, even without any metals. In a slightly private half-booth, an official gave me a pat-down, and unsatisfied she took me to a fully private booth to examine the pouch. She thought it “very good”, but “very dangerous”! She went on to pat all over and specifically examine the ... read more

For our 2019 spring break trip, we looked at several different places. One of those was Riga. I have been wanting to go there for quite sometime now. Well, the weather played into our planning. Riga was forecast to have temperatures in the 20s, and snow. I saw that we could get to Split via Paris, and that the temperature would be sunny and in the 70s. The planning began. We flew on the nonstop Indianapolis to Paris again. We cleared for business class, and I was in seat 1A. The flight was Delta 500, a 767-300 aircraft. The flight had delayed due to a mechanical issue. We did not have a lot of time to transfer in CDG, so I was very concerned. We could change the trip to Riga, however, we did not pack ... read more