Collio, Italy
Villages in Croatia; Grožnjan
Once all of that was resolved and it became part of Croatia (although everyone here speaks Italian), the government turned it into an artist colony, encouraging artists to resettle the village. We walked the narrow streets, stopped for coffee, then headed home (home is where your clothes are).
Villages in Croatia; Motovun 2
It is also located in the middle of a forest that produces truffles. We saw signs about this in the village.
When we left the village, we traveled a few miles to the house of a couple who are making their living by selling and exporting truffles all over the world. Truffles can be strong flavored by themselves that's why truffles are always mixed with something. Then we had dessert - cream cake with truffles!!!! AMAZING!!!
And we met the truffle dogs; pigs don't hunt for truffles anymore, they eat too much.
Villages in Croatia; Motovun
This part of Croatia is the peninsula off the northern border of that country called the Istria Province.
Motovun is a village in central Istria. It's population is 531 and they all speak Italian. This is, of course, due to WWI, WWII, the end of Yugoslavia, and the conflicts between the borders of the new countries that were formed out of Yugoslavia.
It is a medieval town that grew up on the site of an ancient city. It is situated on a hill 886 feet above sea level with houses scattered all over the hill.
Trieste, Italy
Today was another beautiful day, although it's overcast and a storm is coming.
We left Trieste, Italy and drove south, we passed over its border into Slovenia; then a few miles later over its border into Croatia.
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Trieste, Italy 3 Concentration Camp With A Crematorium
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Trieste, Italy 2
Trieste underwent an economic revival during the 1930s and became an important spot in the struggle between the Eastern and Western blocs after the Second World War.
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Trieste, Italy 1 Gelato Did The Job
Trieste is city and a seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. It is also located near Croatia some 19 miles further south. It is also 30 miles east of Venice, our next stop.
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Central Europe 23 Good Experience
Vienna wins for the best coffee lol and the Czech Republic for the best beer and food. Europeans smoke a lot more than in North America. The Austrians are very efficient. Vienna was the most expensive overall and Prague was the least expensive. I know I’ll think of more, just wanted to mention those.
I also have to mention that I am very proud of myself for doing this whole trip on my own. Visiting with the many strangers along the way really added to this experience. :)
Shawn
Central Europe 22 My Favourite City
My taxi is booked for the morning, a terribly expensive trip, but I don’t want to take any chances of being late. Just trying to squeeze everything into my small suitcase.
Some observations that I’m remembering:
I enjoyed all the places I visited but I think Prague was my favourite big city and Ljubljana was my favourite small city.
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 21 Underground Metro
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 20 Hop On/ Off
The hotel I’m in includes breakfast, which all of them have, but I think this one might be the best. They have a large selection of foods and really good coffee too. Just under 11 kms today so another early evening.
If I remember this correctly about 1/3 of Vienna was bombed during WW2. You can sure tell. Going down streets there are beautiful old structures and next to them plain newer ones. They said in the late 40’s - early 50’s there was a huge housing shortage so they needed to build housing as quickly and as cheap as possible. What an interesting city. A long but enjoyable day of sightseeing. :)
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 19 Schönbrunn Palace
After that I walked around exploring for the rest of the day snacking and of course their delicious cappuccinos.
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 18 Saskatchewan People Are Great
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 17 Wiener Schnitzel
The whole trip was just under 3 hours. I asked some ladies on the train about getting to my hotel. I had the directions I had printed off at home. All the stations/metros are so big with so many exits I wanted to make sure to leave out the right one. They pointed to the right exit and I walked to the hotel in about 10 minutes! It was too early for the 2 pm check in so I left my bags at the hotel and went to the restaurant they recommended. I had Wiener schnitzel. It was really good. I asked the waitress if it was very big and she said no.
Well, the plate was a regular sized dinner plate and the schnitzel covered the whole thing plus another plate of potato salad!
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 16 Vienna
It felt pretty cool wandering the streets with my umbrella in the drizzle today with the church bells ringing. A nice ending to my visit to Salzburg.
I made it to Vienna. I don’t know if I’ll be able to post many pictures here. Only one uploaded onto my iPad. The wifi in the hotel isn’t very good but the hotel is nice. I took a taxi from my hotel in Salzburg to the train station. It was 7 Euro. I thought that was a good deal since my taxi was 15 Euro on the initial trip.
Now I see what they mean about rip off taxis lol. When I got to the train station I bought my ticket and the train was leaving in 5 minutes. I made it on time. Yay!
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 15 Salzburg
I’m short on photos today. It rained pretty much the whole day so I walked around and spent a lot of time eating and drinking coffee. I had some apple strudel, very good! We saw Red Bull factory yesterday. I guess it originates in Austria.
Our guide yesterday said they are extremely wealthy. Not only do they have their own plane but they also have their own runway. She said a number of years ago they flew in the real Marie VonTrapp in from the US for some special dedication. She was over 90 years old. That is the daughter Marie, not the mother. The real VonTrapp family actually moved to the US after their escape from Austria. Some interesting trivia. :)
My last train ride tomorrow. Vienna. The forecast is looking good so that’s a bonus.
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 14 Hallstatt
My new hotel is very nice. It’s just at the edge of the historic district. I walked and grabbed something to eat nearby. Roast pork with dumplings and a cabbage salad (which was more like sauerkraut) It was yummy.
A great day today. I went on a Sound of Music tour today. There were only 3 of us so it was fantastic. My wifi isn’t cooperating so I couldn’t add more photos but oh my goodness the scenery was absolutely amazing!! I am spoiled with all the beauty I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks. The tour guide did a great job of showing us all the locations filmed in the movie as well as the picturesque village of Hallstatt. On the way back to Salzburg she played some songs from the movie. We were out for almost 8 hours. A perfect day. :)
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 13 America not so good
Once we arrived in Salzburg I told him thank you so much for your help and kindness. He said “I am a gentleman and I’m from Central Europe, what else would I do.”
I had written instructions before I left home how to take the bus to my hotel but I had had enough of public transportation for the day so I grabbed a taxi. I couldn’t have cared less how much it cost. It was $15.00 Euro to my hotel. The taxi driver asked where I was from. He said, oh Canada good country, America not so good. Another point for us Canadians lol.
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 12 I Had Some Of His Sandwich
We had an hour and 45 minute wait there before catching our next train then another train ride before having to get off again. Then onto a bus for an hour then another train to Salzburg!! The man on the train turned a potentially awful day into a very pleasant day. He stayed with me the whole way, loaded my suitcase numerous times onto the overhead bin and even bought me a coffee. At one point he offered me some of his sandwich. I said oh no but thank you and he said in his broken English, no please. So I had some of his sandwich. :)
He was traveling from Zagreb. He was a professor and was going to Salzburg to present at a conference regarding immigration issues. It was so interesting talking to him. He had a great sense of humour and we laughed a lot too. Running into him really made the day.
Shawn (to be continued)
Central Europe 11 At Least That Was What I Thought
I walked to the train station in Ljubljana and boarded the train. I thought I have 4 hours to sit, relax and enjoy the view. About an hour out of Ljubljana the train stops and the man is telling everyone to get off the train. At least that Was what I thought since I didn’t understand a word he was saying. The man sitting across from me spoke pretty good English and explained they must be doing work on the track because our train was changed. He came in with me to the station where they printed us off a new timetable, in German lol.
Shawn (to be continued) Photo: Crusaders' Church - Janin
Slovenia 10 University Is Free Here
It is a university city. School started at the beginning of October and you can tell. There are a lot of young people out and about. University is free here. He said students also get big discounts at restaurants. They can eat cheaper than the working families.
He said they are still experiencing a lot of growing pains. Government contracts are often given by favouritism instead of price or qualifications. It was an enjoyable day spent around the city.
Shawn (to be continued) Photo: Janin
Slovenia 9 City Walking Tour
For supper I went to a place nearby recommended by the owners here. I just had an appetizer of mussels in a cream pea sauce since the orders are so huge here. It was delicious and just enough.
This morning I had breakfast at a cafe on the river. I remembered that the British couple had told me about a free city walking tour this morning at 11 so I walked over and joined that. It was really interesting. It lasted a little over 2 hours.
Shawn (to be continued) Photo: Janin
Slovenia 8 Ljubljana What a beautiful city!
I had
some of the famous Bled cake which was very good but I was bombarded by
sparrows trying for my cake lol.
On the bus back I was seated by a couple from
just outside London. We had such a fun visit we ended up going for a walk
together once back in Ljubljana and then for a coffee. I really enjoyed
visiting with them. They have done a lot of traveling and shared many stories.
The man said yesterday in Ljubljana he was walking back to their apartment and
at a cross walk there wasn’t any traffic so he crossed on a red. Well the
police called him over and accompanied him to their apartment to get his
passport info and he got a $20.00 euro fine. Good to know!
Shawn (to be continued) Photo: Janin
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