Madrid - September 10-12 After 2 brief nights in Barcelona, I took the metro to the main train station (Barcelona Sants) planning to just buy my ticket there, as I hadn’t figured out a better option previously. Upon arrival I saw that there were hourly trains to Madrid but the signs indicated many had sold out, or were restricted to VIP passengers. I got to the ticket window and asked for my ticket, and was asked if I wanted business class and I shook my head. The attendant then seemed to be searching for a ticket, and I was thinking I may have a long wait for an available train. However, he said that business class was 40% off, making it only 9 euros more than 2nd class so I eagerly said “yes thanks”. It was ... read more

Bled - day 14-16 - September 5-7 We had the luxury of a private transfer (two cars) to take us to our final stop in Bled, Slovenia. It was a pleasant journey on good freeways. Our driver was a young guy who had a rafting and other adventure sport business, was a taxi/car-hire person, as well as being a policman. Very hard working! We had a long wait in a queue to cross the boarder into Slovenia and back into the Schengen zone. You can see why the removal of border checks is a high priority as it must be costly as well as frustrating for those that need to move frequently between countries. Our driver said that we would be driving across almost the whole width of Slovenia from here - taking about an hour. ... read more

Rab Days 10-12 (September 1-3) We reversed our local bus trip back to the bus station and boarder our coach for the journey to Rab, I managed to stop in the bakery to get some burek (zeljanica) for breakfast they were fresh from the oven. Even more amazing coastline for this stretch of the journery. Visible from the mainland were long thin islands that were denuded of trees due to a wind that came through the area. These islands were a clay pink in colour and they eflecteion they made in the surrounding crystal clear blue waters created a breathtaking view. The road skirted the coast for most of the way similar to the great ocean road. We had a connecting bus to catch that would take us to Rab Isaland. Our leader assured us that ... read more

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 was given to some Romans to return from their exile and to set up insdie the palace area. Accordingly, many of the palace buildings are no longer there, having been replaced by ordinary dwellings, but ... read more

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 like and am going to try to see if I can get it into the English speaking vocabulary. Smooth flight to Dubrovnik, followed by an airport shuttle into town. I was there a day early ... read more