Serbian Croatian Roman Vacation - RHarrison6

Off to Rome we go

RHarrison6 — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Rome was fantastic! We arrived to the bustle of a big city and wheeled our suitcases to the next apartment which would be our home for the next 3 days and nights. After we had been duly spoiled with our Venice apartment we were a little let down with our Rome accommodation but in the end it worked out just fine. Nothing wrong with having some lovely olives and wine off the end of Lily's bed after all.
We got to the Colloseum early and jumped into a tour which turned out to be a great idea. It was just awe inspiring to walk the ground that had been walked by the great emporers and gladiators. You could really get a sense of what it would have been like to be there in the stands watching a gruesome duel. After the Colloseum we headed to another tour of the Forum led by a chap from Birmingham England who spoke just like Robin Leach. This tour was also a must because we would have missed out on so much information about the importance of Palantine Hill and the Forum.
After lunch my mom headed back to the apartment for some rest and we went out to do a little shopping. That evening we headed to the banks of the Tiber River and had dinner. The next day we decided to visit the Pantheon which was a Pagan temple prior to becoming a church. Of course it would have been destroyed if it hadn't been turned into a church. The dome and oculus were the inspiration for the Basilica in Venice and St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
After a quick walk around Novona Piazza we went for a gelato and ended up running into another family from Santa Cruz.
It was then time to head to the Vatican. We decided again to participate in a tour so we could avoid the lines and have someone help us maneuver through this city. Our guide was incrediably knowledgeable and she seemed to know everything about the Vatican. After 3 hours I felt like I was in the information overload stage and we all staggered out of there ready to sit down to a glass of wine. I am still not sure what to make of the Vatican. Every single inch of the Vatican is magnificent. Every tapestry, painting, sculpture, mosaic and map is pure work of art. It was hard to wrap your head around the fact that everything here belonged to the Vatican. It was so opulent and lavish and it felt strange to have so much wealth and opulance in a place that was suppose to be a place of worship. I am still not sure how to verbalize the feelings I am left with. That evening we went out for some wonderful carbonara and after dinner walked around enjoying Rome's magnificence one last evening.

Final Learnings

RHarrison6 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A couple of final parting thoughts from this great trip. Some things you just can't learn unless you visit in person.

1. There seems to be an old Italian custome, of which we were not aware, to moon walk after using the toilet in Italy.

2. If you don't move quickly, the doors of the Metro in Rome will grab your butt on the way out.

First Evening in Rome

RHarrison6 — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After we arrived in Rome and got settled in, we went out for a walk to get some dinner. We walked down one street and turned left and we found The Colosseum just around the courner!

Colosseum

Home to California

RHarrison6 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We are back home now, safe and sound. A little bit jet lagged but safe and sound. We did not have internet access in Rome and no time to drop into an internet cafe. So we will be posting our Rome reports in the next day or so. So stay tuned. Thanks for all your comments on the blog. It was a lot of fun to put it together, but always nice to hear that people are reading it.

Oh, and the espresso machine has been ordered. It will be here next week!

Food in Rome

RHarrison6 — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Food was a big part of our trip to Rome. All kinds of great pasta and pizza. One night we bought some olives, cheese, and salamie at a local market to enjoy back at the apartment. Lily was amazed by the size of the mortadella behind the counter, so we had to buy some.

Huge Mortadella

Lily was convinced that the mortadella was as big as her head... pretty close!

Mortadella as Big as Your Head

Other Venice Stuff

RHarrison6 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We had been indulging in the espresso of Europe since Belgrade, but now we are in Italy and it is time for some real espresso drinking. A Double Caffe Macchiato was our drink of choice. By the time this trip was done, Rick was drinking single shots just to get to sleep!

Espresso!

In fact, we have already ordered an decided to buy an espresso maker once we are back home.

There is no doubt that Venice is not an easy place to navigate. It takes about half a day just to get a feel for the place with the narrow paths between buildings and of course the canals. We had high hopes to see two or three things on our day in Venice, but before we knew it half the morning was gone and we were still trying to find our first stop. So we gave up and decided to take a Gondola ride through the canals to take a break from all the caotic map reading

Gondolier

Gondola Tour

A Day in Venice

RHarrison6 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Our flight to Venice was quick and easy. The airport is not right in Venice but a little while away. When we landed we took a water bus (boat/bus) to Venice.

Venice Bridge

We were then greeted by a man named Christian who walked us to our apartment. Our apartment was amazing! The floors were the original flooring from when it was first built, all marble, the rooms were spacious and it looked like the kitchen had just been remodeled. Christian was very helpful and showed us how to use everything I the House. He told us what a good restaurant was and gave us a map.

Venice Bridge

Looking at the map we all knew it would be easy to get lost all of the tiny alley ways, canals, Bridges and roads it looked very confusing. We went out to dinner after getting situated, playing a few rounds of Solitaire and Roxanne plugging in the hair drying only to get electrocuted, we went out to dinner. But she was fine, only a little shocked (no pun intended.) We went to the restaurant Christian had recommended. The food was great! After dinner we visited the San Marco Plaza

Piazza San Marco

and walked along the pretty, but polluted Grand Canal.

Venice View

Then we headed back to our apartment to get some sleep.

The Girls in Venice

Next stop Venice

RHarrison6 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

it is time to leave beautiful Cavtat sadley. Lily and Roxanne went for one last swim in the Adriatic Sea while Rick and I worked on the blog we are getting ready for our flight ro Venice, italy now!

Rain, rain go away

RHarrison6 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Waking up this morning the weather was looking gloomy. Clouds covered the sun and the sky was gray, not the best swimming weather. Roxanne was sure that the clouds would clear up and it would become as hot as yesterday. The weather wouldn’t get in our way though. We all got our swim suites on and jumped in the water. I admit that the water was cold and our swim was short but by 1:00 the clouds had cleared and Roxanne’s prediction was correct. It was hot!

We swam some more and then walked to the market for a lunch of fruit, cheese and salami. We brought back the peaches, grapes, apricots, cherries, watermelon, cantaloupe, cheese and salami back to our lounge chairs by the water. After lunch, Lily and Roxanne played a game of crazy eights before Roxanne left to watch the Women’s tennis singles at a bar with Elaine. Lily and I played a game of solitaire together and won! After cards, Rick, Lily and I dove into the water and went for another swim. After our swim Rick, Lily and walked to the bar where Roxanne and Elaine were. Lily and I went back to the hotel to shower while Roxanne, Rick and Elaine continued to watch the tennis. After our showers Lily and I played solitaire again, and again, and again. We then walked back down to the bar where our parents were. Elaine had gone back to her room to rest. We walked back to the bar where my parents were. They were ready to go so we walked around town and shopped a little. They bought me a shirt and Lily some Russian dolls that get smaller and smaller as you take each one out.

After shopping, we went back to the hotel and we all played cards outside. It started to rain so we had to go inside. By that time we were all getting a bit hungry so we walked to a restaurant. Lily, Rick, Roxanne and I ordered pizza and Elaine had spaghetti. After dinner we stayed at our table and played hearts for a while. We could hear the rain on the plastic cover we had over our table. After cards we walked back to the hotel in the rain.

First day of Cavtat

RHarrison6 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This morning we woke up around 8:00, packed our bags and went to breakfast. We were going to take a 10:00 boat ride to Cavtat, where we are staying for the next two days. Anyways…so we got up, eat a very European breakfast and rolled our bas down the many stairs towards the dock. Our boat was small but there were only nine people on board so it didn’t need to be big. It was about a forty five minute boat ride to Cavtat. The ride was very pretty and the water was so blue!

When we were getting close enough to the dock to see Cavtat we were all in awe! It was beautiful! Our driver docked the boat helped us unload our bags and then we walked to our hotel which is right on the water. After changing into our swim suites we all walked down to the water. Elaine was not going to swim so she decided to go for a walk and explore this tiny town. Lily my dad and I warmed up on the chairs and then jumped into the water while my mom sun bathed. The first time I jumped into the water it was freezing at first but then I warmed up and it was very nice. After a little sun bathing my mom decided it was time to take a dip in the water. She agreed that the water was cold, but nice.

After lunch at Café Cavtat my sister dad and I jumped back in the water and had a blast! We dove in from a stone walkway jetting into the water, swam to a buoy, and splashed each other with the saltiest water my sister and I had ever tasted! It was a lot different than the Pacific Ocean we usually swim in. When we were all tired and a little chilled we went back to the hotel cleaned ourselves us and took a walk. We then met up with Elaine to watch some tennis at a restaurant. We are now about to go out to dinner.

The Walled City

RHarrison6 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today was our frist full day in Dubrovnik,Croatia. Instead of waking up around 8:00 like we thought we would we all woke uo arounf 11:30 am! I guess we were all pretty exhausted! When we finally got out of our apartment it was already 12:30! Elaine decided that she would do her own thing today, (I guess she got sick of us!) so she left Rick,Roxanne, Lily and I to have lunch by ourselves. After lunch my parents sister and I walked around the wall of the old city. On top of the wall we could see everything! The water, old city and an Island off the coast. It was amazing view!

After our walk along the wall it was time to explore Dubrovnik more. Since Dubrovnik is so much more tuoristy everything costs money! To get into a historical building or walk the all you had to buy a ticket! The tickets are cheap but still...
my parents, Lily and I bought ice cream, went shopping and checked out the beach. We then met up with Elaine again and shopped a little bit more. My dad and I bought shoes my grandma and sister bought bags and my mom bought a ring. Then we came back to the room chilled out a bit, my mom listen to her podcast my dad and I worked on the blog a little and my sister and grandma read their books. Elaine had a very interesting wayt of reading her book, since her room has no light in it she has to read while holding a lamp.

Then we went to dinner, got more ice cream and came back to the room. Our first day in Dubrovnik was very nice. Tomorrow we are moving apartments because of location problems but I will let my mom explain that in another blog!

Coming Soon...

RHarrison6 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Rick and I just got home from our after dinner drinks and found grandma and Lily still awake and Lily was giving grandma a tutorial on her extras on her ipod. Lily was teaching her how to use solitare and her pedometer on her ipod. We are heading out of the old town in Dubrovnik tomorrow and will spend the next two days in Cavtat. I actually thought we were staying in Cavtat all along but apparently I booked the Old Town of Dubrovnik with Jelka our travel agent. Not to worry we are taking a boat tomorrow am to Cavtat to get in some beach time and relaxation. The old town in Dubrovnik was very cool and the beauty is breathtaking. The Adriatic is so blue and the old town and its walls are something to be seen but I have to admit though it didn't feel very authentic to me. I get that some of it had to be restored after several earthquakes and a war but there were so many people and I kinda felt like we were at the Venetian in Vegas because everything was so touristy and dumbed down. Hoping Cavtat has a more traditional feel to it. Off to bed now, hoping to not wake up at 4am!
Rox

Pit Stop in Bosnia Herzegovina

RHarrison6 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Just a short entry to prove that we were in Bosnia Herzegovina. The drive from Slunj to Dubrovnick took us briefly through Bosnia Herzegovina.

BiH was given about 12 Miles of coastline after all the Yugoslavian countries broke apart. The town of Neum is Bosnia's Adriatic coastal hotspot. We had been in the car a long time now and it was time for a pit stop. Roxanne Lily and Grace were getting carsick, some worse than others and poor Rick had been driving on the windy road the whole time. Time for a break. Not much else to say or show from BiH. Bathrooms are reported to be fair. Finally we reached Dubrovnik, returned the car and found our apartment. We had dinner, got some ice cream and now we are about to go to bed.

Just keep driving, Just keep driving

RHarrison6 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We had originally thought that we were going to spend the night in an area that our waiter, Toni had recommended, because it was supposedly beautiful but, as the day drew on we realized that that spot was too far away. So we settled on something closer. A National Park named Plitvička Jezera. We knew the park had hotels nearby but, we were not sure if they would have any vacant rooms. While we were driving towards the park we spotted a large waterfall and a river where kids were swimming. We decided to get off of the highway and drive around this pretty spot a little. As we were driving we came across a women named Andrea who had rooms that we could stay in, so, we decided that instead of risking not having a room to stay in at the park we could stay there, near the river and waterfall, only a half of an hour away from the park. it was called Slunj and It had a beautiful river, small waterfalls, a big waterfall and lush vegetation.It looked like it was right out of a fairy tale.

We swam in the river for a while until we were cold then, walked back to the apartment to clean ourselves up a little After having dinner and catching lightning bugs it was time for bed.

In the morning we drove to the park ready to explore. We had heard that the park was pretty but, we never imagined anything like what we saw today. Huge waterfalls, crystal clear water, fish feeding in the lakes, people speaking English! It was all so beautiful! We all have so many great photos from the park but, none of them can sow the true beauty of the park.

After spending part of the morning and afternoon at Plitvička Jezera we started to drive to Dubrovnik. The first part of the six hour drive was great. We all slept a little and kept ourselves occupied. We stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road that I did not think was going to be very good but to my surprise this chain of healthy homemade food was delicious. I wish that the states had restaurants like that! Healthy, cheep and fast.

After lunch/dinner we continued our drive towards Dubrovnik.
Grace

Belgrade Synopsys

RHarrison6 — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Our visit to Belgrade was great. We stayed in the old part of Belgrade close to the cafes and restaurants and the beautiful fortress built by the Romans around 900 AD. The first night we visited the area of Skardarska and ate at the oldest restaurant in Belgrade. Our waiter let us know George Bush Senior had eaten there in 1983. The food overall was excellent. The traditional Serbian salad consists of tomatoes, feta, basil, green and yellow peppers and red wine vinegar and oil. This was delicious as well as all the proscuitto, olives and cheeses. The second night we ended up in a trendy area eating delicious pizza and cheesecake. The service was excellent and people were very helpful. Everyone we interacted with from our shuttle driver from the airport who was a national table tennis champion for Serbia to our waitress in the café where we had our morning espresso. The apartment we stayed in was over a chain grocery store called Maxi and the grocery store was immaculate and had wonderful selection of produce, fresh fish and bakery items.
Rick had met a tour guide at the conference he was at and had arranged Barney as he called himself (Branislov) to give us a tour of Belgrade on Monday.

Danube

Barney knew everything about Serbian history and he was not going to leave out anything for us. We were all on overload after about 4 hours he was a bit like Tour guide gone wild….regardless we ended up seeing things we wouldn’t have on our own and learned a lot about the Turks and the Austria-Hungarian empires.

Saint Sava

The men and women were very cosmopolitan and dressed beautifully. Many men wore suits and the men are very tall with incredible long legs. Rick looked small by comparison next to the men. The people in Belgrade are very good looking and the men were very manly. To me Belgrade has a great opportunity to increase their tourism business. They have a beautiful European city sitting on the banks of the Sava and Danube rivers with great shopping, restaurants and cafes and the whole city is anchored by the fortress.

Lily by the banks of the Danube

They have several hotels that have been bought by foreign investors and are sitting empty because they need to be renovated. There are many projects that have been started and appear to have run out of money to complete.

Danube

We are now driving across to Zagreb and then into an area of Croatia that our waiter Toni tipped us off to yesterday. We were planning on staying in Zagreb but Toni said an area called Instra farther west is so beautiful we decided to head that way. As we drive across Serbia Rick and I are amazed how much the landscape looks like Iowa. It is very flat and there are fields of soybeans and corn everywhere. So many Serbs settled in and around Chicago (it has the largest population of Serbs outside Serbia) I wonder if the Midwestern landscape reminded them of home.

Serbia's country side

One more thing, who doesn't love a country that on every tv in a bar they have Wimbledon playing. This is a tennis loving country and they support Novak Djokavic in a big way! BTW, we didn't make it to Istra so see Grace's blog for information and pics on Slunj where we ended up before we hit Dubrovnik.
Roxanne

The man who never stopped talking

RHarrison6 — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After breakfast we walked back to our apartment to meet our tour guide Branislav, a very talkative man. VERY talkative. When you asked him a question he would skim over it and go back to talking about 500AD and the Turks for another hour. When he was driving us to the next place where he would talk about something for another 30 minutes he accidently dented and scraped someone’s BMW. Instead of getting out and leaving a note like he should have, he zoomed off. Basically a hit and run. I would not call Branislav the best driver. By the end of 5 hours with a man who would never be quiet we were all very hungry and ready to ditch this guy. I thought that Elaine was going to go off on Branislav any moment so she hung back most of the time. Before lunch we took a picture with Branislav so we would always remember our time with him...
I probably sound very un-grateful so I do want to tell you that we all learned a lot and we got to go to places that we would not have been able to go without a car. I’m not sure how much of the information I’m going to remember, especially all the dates but all the places he took us were very interesting and beautiful. I think Branislav knows everything about Belgrade and nothing about listening.

Branislov Popovic

-Grace

Jet lag takes it toll

RHarrison6 — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

When we all went to bed last night we were all exhausted and full with our Serbian dinner. We all went to bed around 10:00 Serbian time. Roxanne woke up around 2:45 hungry and unable to sleep. Her body felt like it was 12:00 pm, almost time for lunch, or a snack. Lily also woke up around 4:00 am because she also could not sleep due to someone’s snoring...*cough Elaine *cough ...She came into Rick and Roxanne’s bed room to explain her problem to Roxanne and was surprised to find Roxanne still wide awake. Together they talked and ate Trail-mix while waking up Rick at the same time. After being told to be quiet and Roxanne taking some aspirin they once again tried to go to sleep...which was not a complete success.
Once everyone else was awake and ready to go get breakfast we all walked to a cute European cafe for some delicious coffee and the best croissants Grace and Lily have ever had. Our waitress, a serbian girl learning English was amused by us trying to speak a tiny bit of Serbian while we were very impressed with her ability to speak English.

Cafe Belgrade

Belgrade Cafe

Elaine noticed that Old Town Belgrade resembeled Chicago, which is where the largest number of Serbians settled in the United States. We are all picking up on the European trends such as retro high tops and baggy parashute pants.

Day One

RHarrison6 — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today, my mom, lily and I flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt, Germany, then after a quick layover in Frankfurt we took another flight to Belgrade, Serbia. The time change from California to Europe made it seem like it was 2:00 am when it was really 1:00 pm. We were all exhausted.

Jet Lag

Rick came and met us at the airport with a driver to take us to our apartment. Our driver was going to pick up Elaine at the airport later because she was flying in two hours later. When my family and I arrived at our apartment, my mom lily and I all took naps. Elaine was dropped off at the apartment around 4:00 pm and my mom dad and sister were all awake to greet her. (I had slept longer than I was supposed to.) Around 6:00 all of us went out to dinner. In Europe most people don’t eat dinner until 9:00 so, the restaurant was pretty much empty. All of our meals were good and we were able to enjoy some music from the live band while we ate.

Belgrade Dinner

By the time we were all finished with our meals, we were all getting tired so, we started to walk home. On the street there was an ice cream vendor that Lily was eying so my dad stopped and bought her an ice cream. Now I'm sitting on our couch writing this blog while my sister reads her book and we listen to the music that is playing outside our window. I would call our first day in Serbia a success.

-Grace

Waiting for the Family to Arrive

RHarrison6 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

OK, so the family arrives tomorrow where we will meet in Belgrade. I am still in Zlatibor. The business part of this trip has just ended. The bus just left with most of the conference participants. It was a nice meeting. Yesterday, we toured the western part of Serbia looking at the rapsberry production here. Believe it or not, Serbia is a huge world supplier of frozen raspberries. We had lunch in the small town of Ivanjica which is the Raspberry Capital

of Serbia. They had a nice lunch for us and filled us with food and Slivovitz, plum brandy. In fact we sampled brandy made from just about anything you can think of including raspberries. Here is a picture of the small little production farms. Each family has a little raspberry patch. The family picks it and brings it down to the local freezer where they get paid.

There are people bringing wheel barrows full of hand picked berries from all over the town. Eating has been a big part of the trip so far. We were barely done with lunch and it was time for dinner. The hosts had set up some traditional dancing for us.

. When they brought out the little kids, it made me homesick. But the girls will be here soon.

. Later that night, we were all given some lessons in Serbian dancing. I am ready to teach the whole family when they get here tomorrow. Pictures of the whole family dancing are sure to follow over the next few days...

Beautiful Mountains

RHarrison6 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The meeting is going well. Tonight they took us on another hot bus ride up higher into the mountains to a very small village where they had rebuilt the ancient village at it was based on some archeological information. You can see the old wood buildings in this picture.

There was also a beautiful old church up there as well. Really a beutiful place.