This was our 10th and 11th Gate1 trips. You could say we like "more of the world for less." On this trip we would go to Budapest, Prague, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Venice.
We flew out of ATL on a Lufthansa A340-600. It was our 1st time on that type of aircraft. We were surprised to see the toilets downstairs, one level below the main deck and there were lots of them.
After a short layover, we arrived in Budapest at 1030 am on Thursday. We were at the hotel by noon and walking the streets an hour later. We walked about 2 miles along the Danube River from our hotel to the Chain Bridge. That entire stretch of the River was lined with river cruise ships.
From there we went to St Stephens Basilica.
After that we went to a traditional Hungarian restaurant, the Hard Rock Cafe, for dinner, because Cathy wanted a salad and it was conveniently located a block from the church. After that it was a stop at a wine store, where we bought some Hungarian red wine for $3 a bottle. We were concerned about how it would taste. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good.
From there we meandered through the shopping district, then back to the hotel.
After a good night's rest, we were ready for ..
Day 2
What a great day! We did and saw so much. The city is so clean; no one throws trash here like the so many Americans do, who have no respect for their country or community.
Our first stop was the Cave Church.
From there we climbed the hill to the Citadel and the Hungarian Statue of Liberty.
As we went down the hill on the other side we stopped in the Garden of Philosophers to see the Buda and Pest statue, something that few tourist see or even know about.
From there went to The Buda Castle, a massive place that had many parts rebuilt after WW2. Additionally, all the bridges connecting Buda and Pest were destroyed during WW2 and had to be rebuilt along with many other structures.
It was a short walk from there to Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion right below the Church.
We went back down the hill to the Danube River, went to the Pest side and had dinner. After that we roamed around till dark, so, we could take some night pictures of Buda Castle and other places.
10 hours and 30K steps later our day was over. We spent most of the day in Buda; tomorrow will all be in Pest.
Day 3
Day 3 didn't go as planned. We started the day with a visit to the local ER. Zach had a knee issue. Our Tour Manager, Daniel drove us and stayed with the whole time Zach was checked by the Dr. On the positive side, it only took 2 hours and only cost $20 including x-rays. The was our first visit to a hospital outside the US and, hopefully, our last .
After that Daniel dropped us off at the Hungarian National Museum. Fascinating place, which traces the history, people, events and artifacts of the country from earliest times to present day.
Our next stop, just down the street was the massive Market Hall, which unbeknownst to us, inexplicably closes on Saturdays at 3pm.
Just a block away was the Green Bridge. There was a 10k race going on with over 25k runners. We were at the 8k point where the runners crossed over the bridge.
A few blocks later, we stopped for dinner and sunset on the Danube.
Day 4
A boring 9-hour bus ride from Budapest to Prague. 99% of what we drove by was farmland.
The last part of Hungary had hundreds of wind turbines.
The boarder between Hungary and Slovakia was unmanned. (Is that sexist?)
The exciting part of the day was passing several large Czech army convoys.
Day 5
We decided to visit everything we could today in Prague and we did a good job of it. We Ubered to Old
Town with some ladies who were on our bus the day before. We were dropped off at the Powder Tower.
Our 1st stop was Old Town Square with the Astronomical Clock, Our Lady before Tyn Church and
St Nicholas Church.
After that we went by several synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. We couldn't get in though
because they didn't take credit cards and we didn't have enough Koronas for entry.
We were going to venture on the west side of the Vitava River, but, saw the sign for the Rudolfinum, the
home of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, so, we went there.
Then we saw the Prague Castle and decided to walk across the bridge and visit that.
We walked up the Old Castle Stairs and had to wait in the security line before entering the Castle complex.
First we went to Golden Lane with its Medieval and Renaissance weapons collection. Also the torture chamber.
The Basilica of St. George was next.
Stop 3 was the Old Royal Palace.
Then we went to St Vitus Cathedral.
After that we went through the rest of the Castle area and then spent 40 minutes wondering why we were walking through the Royal Gardens when all that was there was a wall grass, trees and some paths.
From there we walked down the stairs on the other side of the Castle and walked to the Charles Bridge.
On the way to the Bridge we stopped at the oldest pub in Prague.
We started to cross the Bridge and were reminded that we still needed to see the Lennon Wall.
After crossing back over the Bridge, we started looking for a restaurant on the Vltava River where we could
watch the sunset. We ended up at the Klub Lavka Restaurant. It had good beer and food but the sunset
was a bust. Still an awesome view and being together experiencing all this was wonderful!
After dinner, we walked back over the Bridge to get a chocolate Trdlo, a cone shaped cinnamon pastry
that could be filled with many things like ice cream and fruit. We had ours filled with Nutella! Excellent! From there we walked to Old Town Square and rode the METRO back to the hotel.
Day 6
Another busy day in Prague. We rode the METRO to Wencelas Square. It was chilly and overcast.
From there we meandered over to the Benedictine Abbey Emmaus. Like many buildings in Prague, it had
been damaged and rebuilt as needed in WW2.
We also found a war memorial behind the Monastery while we were waiting for it to open and the church
across the street.
Then we walked down and along the River for a while.
We crossed over a bridge heading to Petrin Hill.
We had our sandwiches next to a sculpture. Not quite sure what it was memorializing, but it was a popular
photo spot.
From there we walked to the Funicular and rode it to the top of Petrin Hill. Had Zach's knee not been
hurting we would have walked up. On the ride up a little boy sat next to Zach and for some unknown
reason was fascinated by Zach. They took a selfie and his mother took a picture of them together, as well.
We discovered beautiful gardens on top of the Hill next to the Observatory.
After that we made our way to the top of Petrin Tower for a panoramic view of Prague. The Tower is suppose to be a replica of the Eiffel Tower.
It was a short walk from there to the Strahov Monastery. We stopped at a little beer garden to enjoy
beer brewed at that Monastery, Klaster. It was the best beer we had on this trip.
Then we headed down toward the River looking for Loreta, a monastery now museum. We had signage
mostly keeping us on the right path. Loreta was a pretty amazing with Catholic Church treasures including
a silver altar in a chapel and the main church that had gold leaf everywhere.
We then went down the hill and crossed over the Charles Bridge to Wine O'clock, a place recommended
by Anna. Alas, they only took reservation and kicked us out. Fortunately, we found a nice Czech restaurant,
V Cipu, where we had traditional food. Goulash in a bread bowl and Roasted Duck with red cabbage!
It was back to the hotel via the METRO (by the way they have the fastest escalators we have ever seen!).
We stopped in the bar for a complimentary beer,then headed up the room to pack and get set for our 4 am
wake-up and shuttle to the airport.
Day 7
We had our 4 am wake-up and departed via taxi to the Prague airport at 430 am. Our flight on Brussels
Airlines departed at 650 am. Never direct, we flew to Brussels, had a short layover and then flew to Venice.
It was OK since we had never been in Belgium before.
Unfortunately, our flight out of Brussels was delayed enough that we arrived in Venice 20 minutes late. Late
enough that we missed the 1st bus to Opatija. The 2nd bus left almost 4 hours later. It was a boring 4 hours
in the Venice airport; not much there. With the 3 hour bus ride, we didn't arrive in Opatija till almost 7 pm ,
thus missing the opportunity to walk around the coastal resort on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
However, we did drive through Slovenia for the 1st time on the way to Croatia.
We had our travel group orientation and welcome dinner that evening. After that it was time to get ready for
the next day.
Day 8
We traveled in the Istrian Peninsula today. We went along the coast to Pula. In Pula we visited the Arena. It has more of the original still standing today of all the arenas built by the
Romans. It's capacity at the time was 23k.
We also walked through parts of Pula to see the old wall and arches.
From there we went to Rovinj. What a nice little town; very scenic and colorful. The water is crystal clear! Just beautiful!
We walked up the hill to Saint Eugenia church.
From there we walked down to the harbor.
On the way back to Opatija we went through the Ucka Tunnel which is about a mile long and was completed in 1981.
Once we returned to Opatija, we walk along the path along the sea. There the beach area; is all concrete, no sand. In fact, there all no sand beaches in Croatia.
the sea.
Day 9
We rode the Adriatic Highway toward Split, our destination for the night. We took a side trip into the mountains to get to the major highway and had a stop on the mountain where it was degrees colder. On the ride back down the mountain toward Split we took a stretch break in the small town of Fenja.
Then drove through the 6 kilometer long Saint Rok Tunnel, 2nd longest in Croatia.
Once down the mountain we were on the Dalmatian Coast part of the Adriatic Sea on the way to our extended
visit to the historic town of Zadar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It had extensive damage in World War 2
and the Balkan War in the 1990s.
We went to the Greeting to the Sun which was under renovation.
Then we went to see the town square with its Roman ruins,
Our last stop was to listen to the unique sound of the Sea Organ. The Sea pushes the water through holes and it plays music!
Then we drove to Split. Had dinner and entertainment that night.
Day 10
Split is the 2nd largest city in Croatia and is on the Dalmatian Coast. We spent most of the day in the Old Town of Split. The Old Town is built in and around the Palace of Diocletian.
This Roman Emperor built the Palace for his retirement home. Since he lived to 74 it was a good investment
for him, but, not for the 4000 "workers" who spent 10 years building it. Much of the original wall, 3 of the 12 towers and a lot of the interior walls are still standing. Over the years, parts have been torn down and converted to homes, churches and shops. Today over 3000 people live within
the original walls of the Palace.
The temple of Jupiter and his Mausoleum are still intact but have been converted into parts of the Cathedral
of St. Domnius. His black sphinx still guards the entrance, although over the years it lost its head.
After we saw some other sites in the Old Town, we decided to climb the Marjan for a panoramic view of the
Old Town.
Steve and Rose from our group went with us and after we came down we had a beer and lunch together on
the Promenade.
After we left Split on our way to Dubrovnik, we passed through Bosnian-Herzegovina and had a short stop
there. It was a nice surprise, since we didn't know that Croatia was split in 2 by this little 9 km part of Bosnian-
Herzegovina reaching to the Sea. We had to pass through it to reach Dubrovnik. Now we can add that country
to our list of countries visited; so, we will have been in 10 countries on this trip.
We stayed at Hotel Valamar Dubrovnik President, same one the cast of "Game of Thrones" stayed in. We
could hear the sound of the waves with our balcony door open. Delightful!
Day 11
Today we spent the whole day in Dubrovnik, a 800-year old UNESCO World Heritage site and a place where
some of "Game of Thrones" was filmed! It was the city of King's Landing.
We entered the Old Town fortress through the Pila Gate. Immediately in front of us was the Onifrio's fountain,
which has been supplying the fortress with clean drinking water for over 700 years. To the left was the Franciscan Monastery, which has been compounding medicines since the Middle Ages
and is the 3rd oldest continuously functioning pharmacy in the world.
Next was Orlando's Column. He was a knight that saved the city in the 9th century and things in the city were
measured based on the length of his forearm. Behind the Column was St Blaise Church.
Down the street were the steps to a former monastery now a local high school. The steps were used as the
entrance to the Great Sept of Baer in "Game of Thrones." Shame! Shame! Shame!
From there we went for a walk around the one kilometer fortress wall.
We saw the old harbor.
The Quarantine was across the harbor. This is where all visitors to the city had to stay for forty days before
entering the city to ensure they were not sick.
Looking over the city we could see a few dark terracotta roofs, but mostly lighter orange ones. During the
Bosnian War the city was shelled for many months. Much damage was done and many people were killed
or injured. The lighter orange roofs are replacements because of the shelling. Other parts of the city had
to be rebuilt, as well. This war was in the 90's.
After our return to the hotel we went out to the beach for a while. Note the "sand" is gravel. The beaches in
Croatia are gravel and/or concrete. The Europeans are OK with them. They probably haven't been to Florida
or other US beaches.
Day 12
This was our day in Montenegro. The hardest part was getting out of Croatia. It took over a half hour at the
border crossing. Not everywhere is open borders in Europe.
Our first stop was at Muzej Crkve Gospe od Skrpjela, Our Lady of the Rocks Church in Perast. It's built on an
artificial island. It was started in 1452 and took 100 years to build the island and another 100 to build the
Church. The picture above the altar of Mary and baby Jesus was, according to legend, found by two fishermen on a big rock in the bay, The island and Church were built around it. It's interior is decorated with paintings
by Tripo Kokolja, a 17th century Croatian painter.
From there we went to Kotor, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has an impressive wall that is 4.2
kilometers long reaching to the top of the mountain and back down. We would have loved to climb the 1100+
stairs to the top. Fortunately, we didn't have time, because Zach would have done it with his knee still hurting
from Budapest.
Right after entering the harbor gate we were in the main square, which held several palaces.
After that it was time for some lunch. We ate with Steve and Rose at a cafe and enjoyed the local dark beer,
similar to Guinness with pizza. Very good! Soon after it was time to head back to Dubrovnik .
Day 13
We left Dubrovnik at a good time; the cruise ships were coming into port.
This was our 1st nature day. After driving several hours we went to the Krka National Park area. 1st we stopped at an overlook of the Krka River and the 2000 year old town of Skradin, the gateway to the Park.
The Park is basically built around the 37 cascade falls that are part of the Krka River. The boardwalk through
the falls does a great job of highlighting the cascades and protecting the environment. It was very picturesque.
The Mill house is above the 1st cascade.
The cascades became progressively became larger and larger as we meandered down the boardwalk.
The walk down culminated at the bottom with the biggest and most impressive Skradinski Buk Falls.
The River also has 30+ varieties of trout.
That night before dinner we walked around the waterfront of Votice. We and the barbed wire Crucified Jesus at the Parish Church of St Cross.
Day 14
Today was our longest travel day. We also left the Adriatic behind. We had to travel over 500 kilometers from
Votice to Bled, Slovenia via the Croatian capital of Zagreb. We did a walking tour of the old city center of Zagreb starting by the Parliament.
We then went by the Museum of Broken Relationships, which has items donated by people with broken
relationships. They have to submit their story with the item.
Next was one of two still standing city towers, another church, other stuff and a statue of St. George and the
Dragon. Note the red cravat around the neck. Croatia invented the cravat and all the statues in the city were
wearing cravats. The cravats were used by troops during the Thirty Years War in the 1600s. It was adopted
in other countries after that.
We passed through the Stone Gate, which has become a religious site.
We then headed west to Slovenia. At the boarder we had to stop for a passport check, since Croatia is not
yet part of the European Union's open borders. So, at the border we all had to get out of the bus in Croatia,
go into a building and show our passports and get them stamped. Then it was back on the bus for 100 feet
and do it all over again in Slovenia. In between the borders is called no mans land!
From there we traveled into the Julian Mountains (named after Julius Caesar) to the Alpine resort of Bled. We had a welcome on the television when we arrived at the Hotel Park.
Day 15
Today we went to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia for a city tour. We walked around the city for 3 hours.
Saw lots of sights. We had a great local tour guide named Boris! What a sense of humor!
The most memorable place was another St Nicholas Church. Another amazing church interior.
From there we went back to Bled Castle. After seeing all the Castle, including buying a take-home bottle of
wine from their wine cellar, we went on the 4-mile walk around Bled Lake with Steve and Rose.
On our walk around the lake Zach felt compelled to buy a small painting from an artist on the walk. His name
was Bobi. After Zach bought the painting Bobi painted our portrait on the back. He was taken with Zach's
name and kept saying Zach and laughing while he painted our portrait. Regret we didn't do a selfie with Bobi.
That evening we had our farewell dinner for our group, but we still had two days in Venice. We did take some
night pictures of Bled Castle and the nearby church.
Day 16
We traveled 4-hour to Venice and took the water taxi form the airport to the train station. After hotel check-in,
we went roaming through the city streets. It had been 7 years since our last visit there. We still remembered our way around. We enjoyed another day of beautiful weather.
We meandered to the Rialto Bridge and back up the other side to Campo Recco and eventually to Piazza
Roma and back to our hotel.
This was our view from our room. I thought the dog was stuck on the small balcony, however after sunning himself he just got up ant walked into the home!
That night we went to a restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto. Not the one below! They get annoyed with all the cruise ships in season, almost as many people from the ships as the people that live in Venice!
Day 17
Our last day in Venice we took the boat to Morano to see the world renowned glass-blowing.
From there we took the boat to Piazza San Marco with its unique Byzantine, Roman and Venetian architecture.
Passing by the 17th century Bridge of Sighs, we visit the pink Doge's Palace and the attached prison.
Then we visited the Golden Basilica of San Marco. You can't take pictures inside however it was amazing to see all the mosaic tile in gold!
The clock tower with the Zodiac cycle was next to it.
On the other side of the Square was Museum Correr and the Archeological Museum.
We flew home via Frankfurt. We were on another Lufthansa A340-600 with the downstairs toilets.
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