Veneto

We went to the Veneto region to catch up with Sylvia and Krantz at their family home in Illasi. We were to meet in Cortina in the Dolomites, but with maximum temperatures of 8 degrees in summer, further south seemed a better idea. It was a much nicer place to end each day with an aperitivo!

Our first day we spent walking in the hills above Verona and Lake Garda through breathtaking scenery.

The next day we went to Vicenza. This is known as "the city of Palladio" and we were not disappointed with the number of villas we saw but were especially pleased to see his "Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theatre):

and his Villa Capra "La Rotonda" :

The next day we went to Marostica which has a live chess game played every two years - we have to wait a year as I really want to go to that and Malcolm was excited about the billy cart race from the castle above the town finishing in the main piazza. Unfortunately there were not enough of us to play, but Krantz got to be King, Sylvia Queen and me a bishop! The pawn took the photo.

Later that day we went to Bassano del Grappa which is where grappa was first distilled. Krantz and Malcolm enjoyed a shot.  The town's symbol is the covered wooden bridge designed by Palladio.

The next day we headed back home via Treviso - home of Benetton, bridges and busty statues.

Click here to see more photos

Bamberg

The last month or so has been pretty hectic so it has taken a while to gather our pictures and catch up on our blog. In July we went to Bamberg, a Unesco World Heritage site, for the weekend in search of two places to get two more blue dots for our Schloesserland poster. 

We caught the train up and spent the Saturday walking around Bamberg, taking in an organ concert in the cathedral and a tour of the Neue Residenz. Being difficult to get accommodation in Bamberg we stayed at the nearby town of Memmelsdorf to see the Schloss there early the next morning. Dinner in the hotel was good with Malcolm having Willy schnapps (Williams pear schnapps) and me having Nutella schnapps.

We had a very sunny and lovely day on the Saturday and non stop rain Sunday - aaah Bavarian summer! The rain did not stop us though and when we got back to Bamberg we walked around to visit more of their famous breweries.

Mind you with all these different breweries the roads did look wonky!

Click here for more photos.

Budapest

Budapest is somewhere we have wanted to go to since arriving in Europe two years ago. After Croatia we drove across the border to Hungary. It is a large, very interesting and very beautiful city on the Danube.

We drove through Buda towards our hotel in Pest and left our car in a large carpark for the duration of our stay. It is not a place to drive in and the public transport system is excellent so there is no need. We spent a lot of time wandering the amazing streets. It was very hot when we went but we persisted as much as we could and slipped into some of the large buildings there when we needed some cooler air.

On the first day we did a walking tour of Pest which has many beautiful buildings built in the late 19th century when it was co-capital with Vienna of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the afternoon we went to the Szechenyi Baths and in the evening we went to a recital at St Steven's Basilica.

The second day we did a walking tour of Buda, on the other side of the Danube around Castle Hill. The views from the Buda Hills were amazing. In the afternoon we went to the Underground Military Hospital (Hospital in the Rock) which was used in 1944-45 and again during the revolution in 1956. It was fully operational and used as a bomb shelter until 2000. It was amazing to see and hear about how they overcome hardships down there.

In the early evening we went to Gellert Hill to get more amazing views of both Buda, Pest and the Danube.

Click here for more photos.

Zagreb and Varazdin

Both of us were so delighted by the Croatian coast but were not too sure about whether to go to the capital, Zagreb. We are so glad that we did. It was a delightful town full of lots to see and do. The people were friendly, the Austro-Hungarian architecture interesting and there seemed to be an endless number of statues around town.

The tourist office was fantastic and gave us detailed walking tours that we could do ourselves. We were fortunate to hear a choir in the cathedral on the night we arrived and spent the first day wandering around the Upper Town with Malcolm climbing the tower for great views (for Malcolm a must at every town):

The next day we went to the Lower Town where the architecture was the most wonderful:

After a couple of days we headed towards Hungary but not until we stopped at Varazdin which used to be Croatia's capital from 1756 to 1776. It is known for its white, turreted Stari Grad (Old city) as well as its cemetery which is said to be one of the most beautiful in Europe.

Click here for more photos.

Plitvice Lakes

After we got off the boat and spent the night in Cres we headed towards Plitvice Lakes. Ever since Craig and Sue visited us last year and we heard and saw their experiences here we were determined to come.

We stayed at the same B and B they did (included evening meal), arriving in the afternoon and meeting the proprietor's mum. After lots of attempts, mainly in Italian, we think she realised that I did not eat fish and that Malcolm did. When we sat down for dinner a large meat platter came out - way too much for us and we thought she had interpreted no fish at all but a couple of minutes later out came a large platter of fish for Malcolm - all to himself!!

The next morning we got up early to beat the crowds. It was looking like rain so we got going and were amazed by these beautiful waterfalls and lakes. Even though grey and overcast the water was still an amazing turquoise colour. It was great to walk along man made paths without rails that fit beautifully into the environment.

We spent all morning there even in the rain but happy to have beaten the crowds - busloads were arriving after we had walked all the way.

Click here for more photos

Cruising In Croatia

When we caught up with Pucci and Aldo in Bolzano they asked us to go sailing with them in June. I was a little wary (I get sea sick on ferries) but have always wanted to do this so was keen. Pucci warned me it would be like camping, she was wrong - it was way better than camping!! 

Getting ready to go.

Here are my thoughts and I'll get Malcolm to add some detail as well:

If you are going sailing, go with Italians - they apologise for what they perceive as basic food whilst I'm thinking - wow it doesn't get better than this! Pucci, Aldo and their daughter, Stefania, were wonderful, they made me feel very welcome and comfortable, they made sure that they took us to places were the water was not too rough. No journey between bays lasted more than a couple of hours, most shorter, so I had not time to get sick. Surprisingly I slept extremely well for the 9 nights on board. My berth was only as wide as me but I slept much better than I have in a long time. It was an amazing 10 days, we got to relax, read, swim and go for walks. The water and surrounds were as beautiful as I kept hearing. When we finished though it was great to have a shower in fresh water and wash my hair!

On the last day.

Malcolm:

It was exactly thirty years ago that I had last cruised these waters with Pucci and Aldo on board "Jole". Sadly, Pucci's father Vittorio was not with us this time, but we had the delightful addition of Stefania. Whilst the political situation has changed markedly in the interim, the outlying islands of Croatia are still starkly beautiful and sparsely populated as before - perfect for cruising.

"Jole" is a traditionally planked wooden Sparkman & Stephens 36 footer, immaculately built and maintained by the Morri & Para boatyard near Rimini. Her build commenced in 1961 alongside Aldo's family's 46' yawl "Gemma II". So painstaking was the yard, that they were both launched around 6 years later.

Dinner on shore

Click here for more photos.