Blogs from Rijeka, Istria, Croatia, Europe - page 3

We are traveling south along Croatia on a ferry in the Adriatic Sea. We took a 2 hour bus from Rovinj to Rijeka. The driver was smoking below a no-smoking sign, so we didn't feel guilty about eating and drinking below the no eating or drinking signs. We then took the ferry. The overnight ferry from Rijeka to Dubrovnik was sold out of private rooms, so we slept on deck. It departed at 8pm and arrived in Dubrovnik at 3pm the next day. Yes, a 19 hour ferry ride. We slept on the floor below a table and read books. It stopped four times along the way as new sets of people came and went. We got some nice pics. Kim said she will be planning the trips in the future. She said she is not ... read more

We left Italy after driving from Rome Monday 2nd June earlyish. We set GiPS and he decided to take us due east to Pescara, then up the coast. The drive over the mountains was one to remember. You would drive directly towards a mountain, enter a tunnel maybe 2 km long and come out on the other side directly onto a very high bridge, straight into another mountain. The mountains still had a little snow on them but this was a lot higher than we were. It was quite spectacular. When we got to Pescara, we turned northwards up the Adriatic coastline. A couple of hours, we were in Ancona. The Adriatic is very calm with few beaches and those who know the area will know they are not beaches in our sense of the word ... read more

April 20, 2008--- Tonight at midnight my Eurail pass expires. It's weird to think about it and it feels like a big moment in my European experience. This weekend marks the beginning of the end. I'm ready. It's been great to see so much of the world God created for us, but now the creations I'd like to see most are the faces of family and friends back home. This past weekend was really nice though; I added my final two countries, Croatia and Slovenia, to my European semester abroad list. The grand total sits at 11 countries. Pretty awesome! ******************************************************** After a 13 hour night train (tiring!) we arrived in the seaside city of Rijeka, Croatia. Rain and large ferry boats greeted us. We didn't exactly know what lay ahead for our day-long adventure but ... read more

After transplanting myself from my swanky digs at Zagreb’s Regent Esplanade to considerably more humble surroundings at the hostel just outside town, I convinced my German roommate, Angelika, to accompany me to the Mirogoj Cemetary. It is called the most beautiful cemetery in Europe by travelers, while Croats smirk in their characteristically dry way that the souls buried there are housed better in death than they ever were in life. We set out to see for ourselves. The cemetery dates back to the 1860s when the little graveyards in Zagreb were getting full, and the government needed a fitting place to bury dignitaries and the nobility (although there are plenty of commoners buried in Miragoj too). They set out to build an ornate, gargantuan memorial for the dead, and they succeeded. Today, a century and ... read more