Bear and Jackie’s Travel Diary

Somehow, England are still in the World Cup and the knocking out of a mob that brought us Abba, Ikea and meatballs sends the POMs into delirious overdrive. The sounds of “It’s comin’ ‘ome” echo late into the night! Bit of a slow start the next day, opted to delay our climb up to the fortress by 24 hours!

Kotor is stunning! Wedged between mountains in the far corner of the bay, ancient fortress walls climb into the distance. The old town is literally a medieval maze that is home to more stray cats than people.

Sunset view from our balcony not too shabby either

Off to the party town of Budva next…

Having never been to this part of the world, there were a few places that had to be checked out! Turns out however, that a few thousand other people had the same idea! Prices are off the scale for everything and crowds that would not disgrace a Royal Wedding! Zagreb not horrendously busy unless you approach anywhere with history or a view! The mere sight of a crumbling brick attracts armies of Asians wielding selfie-sticks like Samurai swords! Bad weather helps as standard poncho length restricts their mobility!

Found some bears along the way including one in an iron maiden in the torture museum!

The port towns of Split and Dubrovnik were next on the agenda. Perfect timing to join a few thousand people piling off cruise ships and half of Europe’s tour bus fleet! The Terracotta Army would be utterly swamped by the daily tsunami of bodies that flood into these ancient Cities. Fortunately the tide turns every afternoon and the floods subside!

There is never a bad time for G & T’s when they are this good

Fortunately, our apartment was well enough away from from the selfie stick set. Even with its tiny bath!

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Dubrovnik old town is stunning. We happened to coincide our arrival with Nicole’s parents. Beers and noise ensued

Once the cruise boats leave in the afternoon and the daily, dickhead express departs, walking the city walls and climbing the ancient fort are a must for views and sheer pleasure.

A night or two here is probably plenty for most, although pointing out where Jon Snow took a dump to the endless groups of nerds on Game of Thrones Tours did have its moments! We took a day trip OUT of Dubrovnik on our last day. Cavtat is a small harbour town about an hour away by bus. Better still, take a boat

We decided to chuck the Croatian towel into the ring at this stage and jumped on a bus to Montenegro…

Many of our destinations have had something outstanding to recommend or remember.

Peru for food and Machu Picchu; Brazil for Carnival and Iguazu; Columbia for Pablo; The Galapagos for being in your own nature documentary; Mainland Ecuador for new friends and the Rainforest; Cuba for fabulous diving and no Americans; Mexico for so much but Copper Canyon tops the bill; Paris for Sam’s surprise; Lyon for Paul and Helena; Florence, Sienna, Pisa for being Italian and perfect; Cinque Terre for painted houses, crap food and tourists; Venice for Alex and gondolas; Slovenia for unparalleled beauty, and wonderful people; Pula, and Istria for …. Wild mushrooms and the football world cup. Too many tourists now flood this once beautiful place. Most areas of beauty like the lakes and falls are ruined forever. Pizza and chips does not get into the books as local food! Clowns dressed as Roman legionnaires don’t help either.

Surprise, surprise though! We had a stack of fun. Found ourselves a beautiful pad in the shadow of the amphitheater and avoided the numptys!

Quiet beverage on the balcony with Roman ancestors frowning in the background!

Markets a pleasure as always, wild mushrooms on toast for brekky!

Quick trip on the bus to Rovinj, (Rovigno!). Cheeky little harbour town with half the German population in town! Real shame seeing them sent packing by Korea in the footy!

Managed to watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones when it came out, so off to Dubrovnik via Zagreb next to see what all the fuss is about! …….

 

Piran is a fairytale coastal town. It’s has an exclusive feel to the place, the restaurants ooze elegance and the emerald green water of the Adriatic Sea adds to its dramatic charm and beauty. When we arrived, a brass band was playing the sound track to GOT’s, we watched and listened from the bell tower. Continue reading →

Its no secret that we absolutely loved Slovenia.

BOVEC and The SOCA RIVER.

 

Bovec is a mountainous town found in a valley surrounded by The Julian Alps. The Soca river runs through delighting us with its turquoise water, which is so clear you can happily ditch the drinking bottles and drink directly from the river. In Bovec we found our happy place. It’s magical for beautiful hikes, fresh alpine air, a place to feel vibrant and totally refreshed.

Glamping in Bovec!!

Our home in Bovec. We had the lower part of the house.

This amazing town is known for its many activities like rafting, hydro speed, canyoning, climbing and zip lining. It even had a lively drop zone, where a boogie was being held whilst we were there. Massive landing area right in the middle of the valley.

 

Actually quite sad leaving this vibrant place, off to the coastal town of Piran next.

On our way to the mountains, we stopped for a night to check out the Medieval Town of Radovljica. Never saw a single wizard, nor found the opportunity to pelt rotten fruit at people in stocks! Did however find a delightful town, some awesome ale and a truly hunger satisfying burger.

Off to the mountains next…. Continue reading →

Back on the bus again. Didn’t fancy the prospect of another FlixBus disaster so gave them the flick and headed North on the local bus. Predictably, the local bus stops at every chicken coop along the way! Eventually, having exhausted most of the one liners regarding bled time, single or double bled etc, we arrive…

No way! Places like this still exist? Picture perfect Lake Bled and Castle are merely the entree

 

Took a gentle stroll around the lake before a couple of cheeky blasts down the summer toboggan course..

  

Bohinj is even more remote than Bled so we trotted off for the day to do a lap of that lake too. We were impressed with Bled but nothing had prepared us for the perfection and sheer colours on display..

 

Off further North up into the mountains next, to Bovec and The Soca River.

Amazing experiences and new opportunities arise through travel. Watching a Netflix documentary on an amazing restaurant in the Slovenian Mountains is not generally a reason to go there! So, we jumped onto a bus in Venice, next stop Ljubljana, Slovenia!

Arriving at 2am in a Country you have barely heard of and a City that looks like the set of Hostel may seem foolish. Sadly for us, a cheeky, four hour, FlixBus fuck-up gave us little say in the matter! We borrowed a phone from a fellow passenger and called our host! Surprisingly he answered the phone and told us to jump into a cab to meet him at the apartment. Few places look attractive at 2.30 in the morning, Soviet style apartment blocks in deserted neighborhoods should remain in a category marked risky! Even the rats around the bins were nervous.

Soon enough, a sad looking Lada pulls in. Denis the apartment manager had been up anyway, dealing with a mass arrival of bible bashing Americans in a downtown block. Without a drill or sharp object in sight he happily checked us in and drove back into the night.

Morning announces itself a few short hours later with bright sunlight through the windows and the most amazing view. Hostel, firstly, was filmed in Slovakia and secondly, was a film! Views of rolling hills covered by lush pine forests were not what we expected. A fairytale castle overlooking the town a short walk away looked picturesque and inviting. What a fabulous place.

The City is clean and beautiful. A stack of fabulous restaurants and largely free of the armies of selfie stick waving tour groups that infest and ruin so many places.

Sunday afternoon beverages by the river with local DJ!

Hisa Franco, the restaurant in the mountains got voted out of our agenda, mainly because it is too fu(king expensive! Loving Slovenia so far, heading North to Lake Bled.

Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Verona.. Where next? Venice is less than an hour away. Off we go….

Neither of us have been to Venice by train! Not exactly strangers to this stuff by now, but exiting the station to an open Corso and a bunch of ferries is like Circular Quay on steroids! Just like Sydney Ferries however, these guys absolutely love the rucksack set! Few things light up their lives beyond the barge of an oversized backpack full of a few month’s memoires! Knock in a few comments about the accuracy of certain climate change predictions, lucky we weren’t told to swim!

We checked into an amazing apartment in Cannaregio. In the Northern District of Venice, away from the selfie stick set but close enough to have gondolas passing by our windows.

Alexandra joined us for three days of fun. Murano and Burano got a visit each, as did the occasional eatery. Oh! Did a Gondola ride too. $80 for 35 minutes and our bloke failed to sing or eat a single Cornetto ice cream! Still managed however to deliver us back to our point of departure bang on time!!

Famous for being the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet’s balcony (below)

A beautiful city, well worth visiting if you are on your way to Venice from La Spezia. We actually missed our train due to some confusion regarding platforms. Just as we realized our mistake and grabbed our rucksacks, we saw our train gently cruise off without us!!! Feeling slightly stupid and annoyed at ourselves we found ourselves a cafe and waited another few hours till our next train!!!

Verona is a beautiful city where we relaxed away from the tourist madness of Cinque Terre. We booked into a stunning Airbnb, walking distance to everything. We used this time to chill out, catch up with emails, FB and our blog. The first picture below was our front door!!

Next stop Venice, very excited to meet up with Alex for a fun filled 3 days.