Saturday June 25, 2011

Strobrec, Croatia; Trogir, Croatia; Kastela, Croatia.

[ is this the morning we awoke to this ...?]

Decided to take a road trip to Trogir, a lovely island off the coast and a short distance north of us. We had looked up people named "Pavkovic," which at the time we thought was our original family name, and found a hotel owner in Trogir.

We got to Trogir and immediately got terribly lost walking around outside the old town area. Finally made it back into the old walled portion of the town, which was quite nice.

 

 

We stopped at an information center and met Ana, who was U.S. educated but had returned to Croatia to live. We were wanting to know how to fine Villa Lavandula, where the Pavkovics lived. She walked us down to a travel agency owned by the Pavkovics. The young man working there told us how to get to the Villa (it was a drive outside of Trogir) and promised to call and tell them we would be stopping by. In the meantime we asked Ana if she could suggest someplace for us to eat genuine Croatian food. She made us a list of dishes to try, and a list of restaurants on the island.

We walked around the down and down to the harbor. We climbed the St. Mark's Tower. Inside there were stalactites and little alcoves with pigeons. The view from the top was mostly of the harbor and was very beautiful. We offered to take pictures for people in the tower, and they returned the favor.

We walked back through town looking for one of the places Ana had suggested, and came upon "Alka." We were welcomed warmly, and accompanied to a lovely quiet garden setting. We placed our order with our waiter: mineral water, black risotto (risotto flavored and colored with squid ink, with chunks of squid), Salad Alka (sheep and cow cheese aromatic with rosemary, cucumbers, tomatoes, red bell peppers, lettuce, onions,) and pasticade with gnocchi (beef marinated in vinegar.) We asked our very attentive waiter to choose a white wine from Istria for us. He tried to talk us out of the black risotto - we think he was worried it would gross us out. He don't know us vewy well, do he? Our waiter was very nice and helpful, but he kept calling us "lady" and it reminded us of Jerry Lewis. Everything was wonderful, and we loved the black risotto. For dessert we had creme caramel. Our waiter said, "it's an aphrodisiac," and he was a little shocked when we said, "You better watch out!" Then our waiter, Theresa, made us have a Port-like liqueur.

We had now had a full bottle of wine and two after-dinner drinks between us and we were pretty tanked up. We walked over to the info office to thank Ana. When she saw us coming she said, "What did I do wrong?" Suzanne made her bend down (she was quite tall) and kissed her on the forehead ala Barry and Ira in "City Slickers." Ana said, very sternly, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING??" We said, right where you told us to! (Another Theresa, always making us do stuff.) We told her what a great experience we had at Alka.

Dancing 'round Stonehenge a la Spinal Tap. That was some good wine.

On the way back from Trogir...

Saturday July 2, 2011

Lake Bled, Slovenia; Salzburg, Austria; Freiburg, Germany

Up relatively early, packed and took off for Lake Bled to have breakfast at the Gregor-recommended cafe on the lake, Vila Preseren. Suzanne had ham and eggs, Jane had a "Miss Mediterranean" sandwich (eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, rocket [arugula], feta on a roll.) We had espresso and capuccino, and we followed breakfast with dessert - the Kremsnita that had been recommended to us by our castle guy. Delicious cream cake! It's a specialty in this region. At approximately 10 am we hit the road again, still thinking of doing a "drive-by" of Liechtenstein.

Friday July 1, 2011

Ljubljana, Slovenia; Skopja Loka, Slovenia, ?, Slovenia; Lake Bled, Slovenia

Got up and had a great breakfast (forgot to get pictures.) Fried eggs, jumbled eggs, mushrooms, eggplant, peppers, little tiny wieners, medium sized wieners, tiny cakes with raspberry and coconut, cottage cheese and 3 sliced cheeses, brown bread with nuts, real COFFEE IN BIG CUPS (Suzanne had gotten a little tired of espresso in thimbles), watermelon, prunes, plums, pineapple, juice. Back at the room we watched police action go down with the street being closed off, bullet-proof vest garbed cops and lots of drama.

We had some time until check-out so we walked back into town and to the famed market. Beautiful flowers and fresh fruits and veg, and Jane bought a hand-crafted heart pendant.

Back at the hotel we packed up and checked out. Ran into a man as we came down with our luggage. We were looking into the breakfast room (now cleared) and he told us the breakfast was over. We said, yes, we knew, we had breakfast, we just forgot to get pictures of the food. He said (with a broad Slovenian accent,) "Oh you women! JESUS CHRIST, don't take pictures of the food!" We told him we took food pictures everywhere. He said, "Good food is good food everywhere. Shit food is shit food everywhere."  What that means we will never know.

Drove off toward Skovja Loka, stopping first at the grocery store for beer and ice. No ice, but several interesting beers. Tried 2 cheeses, bought 3. Saw a Slovenian Aldi, couldn't resist. Bought orange-chocolate mints which we had discovered on a prior Schwesterfest, but had been unable to find since. (Pics for Ray.)

Stopped at a gas station and asked about ice. The young man told Suzanne to go around to the bar/cafe connected with the station. They GAVE us a big bag of ice. Emptied and rearranged the cooler. Suzanne went back in to thank the young man and ask him if there was someplace he recommended for Slovenian food in Skofja Loka. He gave us the name of a restaurant in a village not far from Skofja Loka.

Drove to Skofja Loka, a medieval village. Went into a church and walked up to the top of the castle. We became very peckish and were unable to find a cafe that served food. We decided to give the village (Retec) that had the recommended restaurant in it a try.

We drove to the village and found the restaurant. We walked in and told the waiter we wanted Slovenian food. He replied, "We only serve Slovenian food." He seated us in a lovely courtyard by garden. He returned and said, "I've consulted with the chef, and we'd like to offer you the choice of two tasting menus." We told him that we always share, and he said it was not a problem. We had a choice of a fish menu or a meat menu. We went with the meat. Our waiter, Gregor, was talkative, knowledgeable and really eager to please us. His "dying wish" is to go to America and bring back a Mustang horse. We were served unbelievably good gourmet food, freshly prepared and served at a leisurely THREE HOUR pace. After we were finished, the chef came to our table to speak to us. The total cost was € 101! We were stunned. It was worth twice that.

Here is what we had:

1st course: Parmesan cheese with herbs as a pumpkin seed lollipop, served in a vase.
2nd course: Pate of young rabbit liver on home-baked cornbread.
Bread: Two kinds of homemade rolls - 2 with corn, 2 with olives
3rd course: Rolladen of grilled zucchini with carpaccio inside of with pistachio and parmesan and olive oil on top, served over salad.
4th course: Duet of soups: pea with ginger, on one side, kohlrabi with ginger on the other, served with a puff pastry filled with Parmesan cheese and macadamia nuts.
5th course: Oat rice risotto with porcini mushrooms and a garnish of Parmesan cheese and chives. We got a nice lecture about the origins of oat risotto and why no one makes it any more. Very interesting!
6th course: (For "refreshening (sic)" our palates: French-style sorbet of blueberries with white chocolate and basil sauce.
Here we were advised that there would be a 30 minute wait while the meats were prepared.
7th course: Lamb filet grilled whole, sliced with pistachio and thyme sauce, homemmade cabbage with tomatoes au gratin and red pepper mash.
Dessert: Apricot strudel, homemade vanilla parfait with cold pressed pumpkin oil
After Dessert: Corretto coffee to be eaten: 100% coffee but in a solid form, with the top being a grappa foam, along with roulade cholate and cookies.

After the meal the chef came to say hello to us. She did not speak English, but Gregor translated and I'm sure our happy faces said everything she needed to know.

We had taken pictures of every course, and made copious notes. By the time we left, Jane was convinced that they thought we were food critics and that's how we got such a great meal with stellar service. Suzanne thinks it was our eagerness to try real Slovenian cuisine, and our obvious enthusiasm. However, Jane's suspicion planted a seed for SF-2012...

While we were waiting between courses, Jane made us a low-cost reservation for a hotel in Lake Bled. It was raining when we left but it was not a long drive to the hotel. We checked in (brand new hotel, small, clean, but with too many rules to suit us, plus we had to hump our bags up a narrow twisty flight of stairs. Also lacking in some basic amenities, like a drinking glass, and there was a 1/2 bottle of Softsoap as the only soap!) There was a nice view of the Alps from our room, however.

Drove over to the lake to take some pictures. It is clear why this is such a big tourist destination - it is incredibly picturesque - a big beautiful lake surrounded by the Julian Alps, clear green water, an island in the middle with a charming church, and a castle on a hill above the lake. We walked around a little but it was chilly and nearing twilight. Looked for the cafe that Gregor had recommended to us for breakfast.

Back at the hotel we made martinis and finished The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Thursday June 30, 2011

Rovinj, Croatia; Ljubljana, Slovenia

Woke at 5 am because of RAIN. Too early by 3 hours to check out so went back to sleep. Rain continued. Finally got up at 8:30 because of Lota, the crybaby next door, who was wailing and wailing. Between her father's snoring and her bawling, it's a wonder anyone in the campsite ever got any sleep.

With lots of maneuvering, we finally got our wet remaining gear packed up. Several men with umbrellas stood around and watched, but no one offered any help. I guess chivalry is dead globally.  Once the sleeping bags were packed, we removed the stakes on the tent and just lifted it up and walked it over to the bathrooms and under an overhang, where we shook it like a dog to get as much rain off as possible. It was a sight. Folded and put away the tent, then went for showers and dressed and checked out for a total of 620.60 Korndogs. Ate some dried figs to tide us over. Yum!

Got on the A9 tollway and got off immediately at a coffee bar for cappuccino, espresso, big sandwich with ham, cheese, smushed tomatoes and peppers and cheese, a cheese strudel and a cherry strudel. It was 11:30 am, but there were already men in the cafe drinking beer. Almost every gas station in Croatia and Italy had some sort of nice cafe attached - usually with a bar, pastries, sandwiches, clean bathrooms, and sometimes a children's play area.

At 12:40 we crossed the border in Slovenia, flirting with the hotties at customs. We pulled over and bought a vignette which would allow us to travel the highways in Slovenia.

On the way to Ljubljana we saw a sign for a cemetery (in Koper), and never ones to pass by a foreign cemetery, we stopped for a photo op. The mosquitoes were terrible, the cemetery was beautiful. There were lizards everywhere. We saw one "Paulovich" grave.

In Slovenia we went through 5.5 tunnels, one a 5865 meter tunnel that was half in Slovenia, half in Austria.

Blew into Ljubljana and went in circles until we decided park and check out hotels. The first one we went into, a very nice place (Central Hotel) gave us a good rate, for a capitol city and in the center of town. We also had to pay € 19 a day for parking garage.

Dumped out our stuff, hung out all of our wet stuff from the morning. Found out that the view from our room was directly on the police station, and there was a constant stream of Cop Hotties. It became our habit to gravitate to the window and spy on the motorcycle cops, bike cops and any and all cops, most of whom were babes. Our room was clean and pleasant, with two double beds, and on the screen of the large flat-screen TV it said, "Welcome Suzanne Hye." The only thing that was a detraction was that in the midst of a pretty high-class hotel (soaps, lotion, sewing kit, shoe polish, shower caps, etc.) the toilet paper was like sand paper! There was nice Kleenex, so we used that!

We hoofed it over to the town center, the tourist/pedestrian area. We had watched a Rick Steves video podcast on my iPod and had some good ideas on places to see and things to do.

We stopped at a church (not the cathedral) with beautiful Rococo art and architecture.

We crossed the famous three bridges by Ljubljana's most famous and beloved son, Jože Plečnik. He designed many of the most beautiful and memorable bridges, streets and buildings, including the Triple Bridge.

When you cross the bridge you come to yet another lovely pedestrian area with a beautiful fountain. We stopped to admire an incredible sculptured door on the Ljubljana Cathredral and went inside. We were amazed by the trompe l'oeil frescoes that made it appear that the paintings were actually standing on pedestals in recesses, the gilding and the statuary. There was a wax figure in a casket which was the Tomb of St. Deodatus. We bought some postcards and a book about the church.

Walked over to where the funicular was that would take us up to the castle. Before we got there, we crossed a square where there was a clock tower and the clock had little figures that came out when the clock struck, so decided to come back later and record it. We were too famished to go up to the castle, so we walked over to find something to eat. Saw a restaurant we liked, but it was closing. We asked a man coming out where we could go to get real Slovenian food, and he suggested a restaurant, "Chompa," but it wouldn't open until 7, and we couldn't wait, so we went next door and got a Yufka Kabob and two Bitter Lemon sodas. It was great. We then walked around trying to find "Chompa," which we later found out was "Compa." There was a bead shop on the street where we eventually found Compa, and of course Suzanne couldn't resist going in. It was a tiny closet of a shop and the proprietor was sitting working on a piece. We were completely ignored. No greeting, never even looked up. Needless to say, we walked out. An unfriendly bead shop is such an oxymoron.

Walked back to the funicular but stopped in the clock square and got video of the cool clock with the figures. Took the funicular up to the castle and did what we do best, climbed the tower. At the top, Suzanne saw a man taking a picture of 3 of his friends, so she offered to take a picture of the four of them. As Suzanne took the picture, Jane popped up behind them with a goofy smile and a wave so she was in the picture. But then he took the camera from me and took a look at the image! The look on his face when he sees Jane as part of the picture was priceless! First shocked, then he looked angry, and he turned around, and Jane was right there in the same spot! She started laughing sheepishly and pointed at me and said, "I'm her sister!" That got them all laughing like crazy and we ended up having all of our pictures taken together and getting into a conversation about the Czech Republic. They were amazed that Suzanne knew all about the town of Louny, which isn't exactly a tourist destination.

The view from the tower was wonderful, and down in the courtyard of the castle there was a couple in native costume doing the Polka.

We then did a 3D Virtual Museum tour, which was okay, and met some nice Polish guys. There was a kiosk where you could take your picture and e-mail them directly from there, but we were so short we couldn't get our faces all the way up to the camera. Jane asked one of the Polish guys if he'd lift us up and that produced a laugh.

We went into the tourist office where the young man who had taken our tickets for the tower climb was flirting with the young woman there. We mentioned that the following day we would be headed out to Lake Bled, and where could be go for authentic Slovenian food? He suggested we make a stop in the village of Skofja Loka, and be sure to have Kremsnita, a local cream-cake specialty.

We took the funicular back down and it was now chilly. Suzanne got a sip of water from The Marble Boobie.

As we walked back there was a group of dancers having a great time - it was a kind of mamba or samba or something, with a caller, like a square dance. The sun had set and the town was beautiful.

We weren't really interested in going to a restaurant, so we went back to the car, pulled out all the picnic stuff and went into the hotel. Suzanne got on the computer in the lobby for a while and Jane set up a picnic of Gorgonzola, goat Pag, olives (from the Plodine, Trenton brand, now known as "magic olive,") cabbage salad, yogurt, boiled eggs, crackers and water. Watched a little of "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and went to sleep.

Wednesday June 29, 2011

Rovinj, Croatia; Vrsar, Croatia, Porec, Croatia

LONG side trip today to Vrsar, a vowel-challenged town north of Rovinj on the coast. An interesting thing about this side of the Istria is that every town has 2 names: one Croatian, one Italian. This entire area was under Venetian rule at one time.

Found great parking right on the top of the town, which turned out to be reserved for residents. Had to drive to the marina to park, stopped at a marina restaurant for a couple of Coke Zeros with ice. Jane went to use the bathroom, and there was no toilet paper. She went and told the woman behind the bar who said, "OK." Jane stared her down until she handed her a couple of napkins. After our Cokes, our very nice, cute and chatty waiter brought us complimentary pear Schnaaps.

We walked up the hill to the town. There is a castle, but people live in it, so you can't go in. There was a nice church (St. Martin) with a tower, which, of course, we climbed. Walked through the town and saw two men selling olive oil and schnapps. Jane bought olive oil for Marky-Pig from two brothers on a corner just below the church. While we were walking, we saw a sign with a misplaced apostrophe. Jane stopped to remove it. "Jane Calhoun, Grammar Patrol."*

Went back to the marina restaurant for a very good veggie pizza, diet cokkes and MORE complimentary pear Schnaaps. Sadly forgot to take a picture till it was gone. Our waiter was a big fan of both Clinton and Obama, so we got along great, but he wouldn't validate our parking ticket. Still, we had a lovely time with him and decided our new motto was, "Jane and Suzanne: Charming Croatian Men Since Thursday." Parking: 24 Korndogs. Pizza and sodas: 75 Korndogs.

Drove on to Porec, the next town North of Vrsar. Parked for free next to a farm market, but the vendors were so aggressive we couldn't get away fast enough. Too bad - there were many things to be interested in, but you couldn't look at anything without being pummeled by the sellers!

The main draw of Porec is the Basilica of St. Euphrasius. The basilica 6th century Byzantine church. It was built for bishop Euphrasius between 539 and 553. It was built by enlarging the existing St Maurus martyr, which had been on the sight since the 4th century. Some of the original floor mosaics still survive. The basilica was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1997. We toured the basilica, which included a bell tower, our third tower climb in 2 days. The floor mosaics were fantastic. It was a very nice self-guided tour and well worth the drive.

There is a picture of a well that was within the old Basilica - we took the picture because we couldn't see to the bottom of the well (and Muley was not with us to reach in), and we were dying to know if people were throwing money down there.

Walked back through the town and had some gelato. Jane bought a sausage for Mark. Left Porec and on the drive back, along the Limn Canal we stopped at a panoramic overlook and climbed a small tower (now making it 3.5 towers in 2 days.) Bought olive oil infused with garlic and rosemary for Mark and tried 9 cheese and bought a goat Pag cheese and some really freshly dried figs - they were practically a cross between fresh and dried. Later we filled a plastic glove with them and Suzanne gave them to Ray and Jan when she got home as "figs from the five finger region."

Went back to camp, made no stops, changed into bathing suities and grabbed our chairs and our books and went to swim and read. NO DRINKING. Enjoyed the beach until nearly dark.

For dinner we had 2 kinds of cheese, salad from a jar, olive spread, olives, fig jam, toast, chutney, crackers. Made toast whie we boiled eggs for morning. The weather was predicting rain so we rearranged and packed everything but the tent and sleeping bags. Got into our jim-jams and tucked ourselves in and started watching The Girl Who Played with Fire. Had trouble sleeping because the neighbor with the early-rising children was snoring so loudly.

*Vice-Versa

Tuesday June 28, 2011

Rovinj, Croatia.

Drove into Rovinj and found parking. Decided to take a break and sit in a cafe in the harbor to have a beer while we read Virtual Tourist reviews of restaurants.

While we were making our brekkies of espresso, cappuccino, fried eggs, jam and toast, a man came around with a tray of fresh strudel and donuts! We got a nice cherry strudel. Before Jane had seen him coming around with flowers, singing out, "Flowers for me, flowers for you!" We washed the dishes and some clothes and hung the clothes on a small tree to dry. We were definitely winning for smallest tent, as long as you don't count the people who were camping in their car.

We went to the camp store, but it was closed for the flu. Picked up a converter from Igor, and got a hot tip on an Ajvar brand from him (turned out to be Plodine brand!). We are hooked on Ajvar.

We drove to Rovinj and decided to get some drinks and read some Virtual Tourist reviews in order to decide on a good place to eat. One review which intrigued us turned out to be the very restaurant in which we were sitting! (Maestral Restaurant) The review recommended the grilled sardines which Suzanne was hot to try, Jane...not so much. We ordered the Maestral Salad (which quickly became known as the pre-menstrual salad) and a plate of grilled sardines. The pre-menstrual salad was fresh greens, tomatoes, shredded Croatian cheese, cubano peppers, ham (similar to proscuitto) and anchovies. The grilled sardines were served with the most delicious fried potatoes and some kind of sauteed greens. The sardines were delicious, even Jane really liked them. Nothing at all like a canned sardine - fresh, easy to bone, very tasty.

The restaurant was right on the harbor with a view of Katerina Island to the left, and the Old Town with the St. Euphemia tower to the right.

Our waiter had shaved his head. But when we were ready to order, we couldn't decide whether our waiter was Cue Ball or Regular Ball. It was Cue Ball.

The table next door was from England. Jane asked them if they were from the Isle of Man (no), and Suzanne told them we were from the Isle of Lucy. We had a nice chat with them (the let us tell them the entire Tounj story), and another British couple took our picture. Jane said if you ride your bike to the restaurant, it's a "Menstrual Cycle."

The total meal was 120 Korndogs ($23 or €16) and a 12 Korndog tip. Suzanne calls the bag of coins from different countries, "chump change."

We walked through the Old Town, which had very steep and slippery streets. We turned a corner and saw a cat. Then another cat. And another. We were taking pictures of a white cat who had one blue eye and one green eye, when his owner came around. He told us all about his many cats and showed us one which was high up in a window sill, waiting to be let in. His family came as refugees from Hungary in the 1950s. When we said goodbye, he kissed Suzanne's hand.

Just before we got to the church and tower, we went into a tiny gallery with watercolors of Rovinj. Suzanne liked one of the watercolors, but didn't want to carry it to the top of the tower. The artist agreed to hold it but wouldn't let Suzanne pay for it first.

We went into the church which was quite beautiful. Euphemia was born a noblewoman in the 3rd century. She was caught practicing Christianity and tortured and eventually killed by a wild bear in the arena of Diocletian. (We visited Diocletian's Palace in Split our second day in Croatia.)
Today it is believed that the majority of her relics are kept inside Saint Euphemia's basilica in Rovinj, Croatia.

The legend (which we heard several times from different sources in Rovinj) says that during a stormy night the marble coffin containing the remains of St. Euphemia disappeared from Constantinople. Possibly fishermen who were believers loaded it onto their boats hoping that they could transport it to a safe place. In the same year (800) by a miracle it arrived at Rovinj in the sea. The local story says that the inhabitants tried tremendously hard all day using oxen and horses to remove the coffin from the sea. Finally, a young boy was able to achieve this with a pair of young untrained calves.
We saw the sarcophagus in its special place, and people came through and kissed the coffin and prayed to St. Euphemia.

We walked over to the gift stand. Suzanne had a question about a sculpture of a saint - we had seen this same saint depicted in other churches, and weren't sure who it was. The man at the gift counter said it was St. Francis, but Suzanne eventually determined that it was St. Anthony of Padua. We both needed to use a bathroom, and were directed outside, and down a hill to a clean lavatory with a male attendant who was very nice to us. Back in the church, we bought our tickets to climb the Campanile.
We climbed to the top of the Campanile, one of our more difficult climbs because it was not only very high, but the steps were wooden and extremely narrow. (It is 60 meters high.) The tower stands at the top of a high hill, and dominates the down. The view from the top was spectacular. There were swallows flitting through the top of the tower and all around the tower you could see and hear the swallows. Suzanne made a movie of them. Eventually we climbed down and went back to the gallery.

 

We walked back to the gallery, where the artist told us that she thought we had changed our mind about the picture! When we told her we had climbed to the top of the tower and spent some time up there, she said she had never done it. Her gallery was the very last shop before the tower - she works right under the tower every day and has never climbed it!

We wound our way down the narrow street, full of shops with art, jewelry and clothing. The streets are very steep and incredibly slippery. In our pictures they look as if they are wet, but they aren't - they are just so polished from years of footsteps. Once in a while you had to just stop in front of a store to get your balance. Jane said that the shopkeepers come out and wax the streets so you have to stop and look at their wares.

Back at camp we put on our bathing suits, each grabbed a bottle of wine, our books and chairs, and headed down to the beach. We sat and read and drank, and Suzanne waded way out into the clear green water. We stayed until sundown, watching a small boy fish off the concrete slope.

Eventually we made our way back to our campsite and prepared dinner of steak, fried onions, fried peppers, cabbage salad and Avjar, with wine. Back in our tent we watched some more of our movie and went to sleep.