Vis, Croatian Island, Mid Dalmatia coast

Took the 3pm ferry to Vis.  Drove to the other end and back, about 10km.  Dinner at Vista Klub, seaside, yummy lamb.  Found Milna, about 10pm, am overcharged but this place is gorgeous.  I'm sitting on a balcony in the middle of the Adriatic.  My view is two small islands.
First day here, I shopped for food and rested.  Watched Star trek, took an afternoon swim at the rocky beach.  The proprietor, Antonia came by with a plate of salted fish with tomatoes and green peppers, drizzled with olive oil.  Incredibly good! The only thing missing was the wine.
Next day I went to get wine.  First a dip in the sea at the sandy beach.
Pulled into a winery.  Found a table with 4 men and two woman.  One of the men, cute Belgian journalist, offered to translate.  Tried red wine, crno, prosek, port like and a grappa.  Bought the first two for 100 kunas.  The closure is the old bottle cap type.
Then I drove into Komiza, to check on grotto tour, internet cafe and booked a hotel in Dubrovnik.  Finding a hotel at night with a dog in a new city is not always fun.
Stopped in what I thought was a winery but really was a restaurant and asked for both red and white wine.  They looked at me funny.  Took a dip at Razunac beach before heading "home" to Uskok.  It has cooled down tonight.  It is beautiful, sitting by the sea, noisy cicadas, voices carrying from the village but calm.  Being on vacation is great!

Split July 11

Hot! Arrived and couldn't find a hotel. Sunday the tourist office is closed.  After walking around, I stopped at a hostel.  They don't take dogs but Sheva called a friend, Mariani.  I rented an apt for the night for 60 euros, it was supposed to be 50.  It was the laundry that sold me!  I only planned to be gone two weeks and I was running out of clean clothes.  I put the laundry in and fell asleep in a nice A/c apt.  Woke up after 7pm and decided to go for a walk.  There is a wonderful park on a peninsula there. I walked for hours,  much further than I thought.  Reached the Riva, riverfront at 10 pm.  World Cup finals, lots of people out. Pizza and a taxi home.  Charming town, the doge was here!

Zadar and Skradin July 8, 9 10

Drove to Zadar, interesting sea organ, terrible lasagna lunch and a delightful pet shop owner recommended Skradin. (I hope he enjoys his trip to CA  for his niece's wedding in Sacramento!)

I could stay here for a while.  Hot, by a lake, kids, but not too many.  Water is cool, calm, gravelly bottom, quite refreshing.  Blue skies, yachts, swans, ten right in the middle of the lake in front of me.  Boats leave here for the national park. Krka. Thanks to the nice man in the pet shop, I have an amazing room with a/c, and internet for about 20 euros.  There are 3 beds, a stove and refrig and a warm friendly English speaking waiter/host, Denis, the best.

www.visovac.com

In Skradin, you take the boat up the lake and take a walk, much like Plitvice Lake, following a trail.  It was beautiful and less crowded, also only 1.5 km, I think.

July 4th, 5,6 Plitvice Jezero, Croatia

Jen and I don't get moving early and I drive back roads.  It took us 9 hours to get to Plitvice Lakes.  We had an amazing storm along the way.  I pulled off because I couldn't see to drive.  It only lasted about half an hour.  Then windy roads until dark. Driving with no civilization in sight.  It was 9 or 10 before we finally stopped at a "sobe" room.  We were only 10km from the park.
Checked into the Bellevue, one of only 2 hotels, the fancy one wouldn't take a dog.
The park/lakes are beautiful but very controlled.  There are 2 main walks, along wooden pathways, (beware bifocal wearers, the steps are invisible).  Boat loads of people more along the 2 1/2 hour path, took me 3 but I waited until everyone had gone ahead.

The next day Jen left and I took the boat across the lake to the other path.  but I didn't do the walk on that side.  Drove to Pog Island, stopped in Graca for coffee and tried to visit the caves, but couldn't. The woman at the coffee shop gave me a photo taken in the cave. Beautiful picture, warm hospitality and a connection made, without much English.
 Pog is small cute, island town.  Hotel Belvedre, last room was a suite with a huge balcony, 70 euros.  I took it for two nights.  Hung out at the small pool with three Brits.  Pool in the morning, shopping in the afternoon, water shoes, two pair of earrings, blue blouse and pizza.

July 2, 3, Lake Bled

Hot!  Nothing but an air conditioned room will do. 60 euros a night, I love Best Western, coffee in the room, a terrace, yummy bruscheta with artichokes and cheese.
Walked around Lake Bled, 6km.  Went swimming three times along the way fun!

July 1st

Drove to Ljubljana, the town of three bridges, a castle on the hill top.  A great walking town, lively, picturesque.  Didn't get to the library, supposed to be special.  I may have to go back.

Summer 2010

Even though this blog is called Odetoaustria, I post mostly about my trips outside.  So this is more like, my two years at VIS and my adventures.

Jen and I took off from Vienna on June 30th, car packed, Susie Q in the back seat.  We didn't have much of a plan, both of us wanted to see Plitvice Lakes, Croatia and Lake Bled, Slovenia.  Jen had to be in Split, Croatia on July 7th.

Took off about noon, stopped at a Hundertwasser rest stop grill.  George, my GPS system, quit on us and I got lost.  Not a news flash.  We wound up in a spa town called, Rogaška Slatina. Delightful spa town, with disgusting tasting water, heavy on magnesium.  It is supposed to clean you out, we got on the road instead.