Putting Rob on a Pedestal

Rob on the Rab pedestal.

The Roman columns were reused in the building of a medieval church which is now also a ruin.

Rob is not!

Rab Ravings

We spent this morning wandering the beautiful town of Rab. The old town wall remains including 4 wonderful towers. Each is linked to a church mainly dating from the 12oos.

Rab has less that 600 residents so it is not too large to wander each of the narrow laneways and walk around the delightful harbour. The town square is an old Roman forum and lots of buildings are made of recycled Roman buildings.
View of 3 of the towers taken from the top of the 4th.

Gail and Rob on Rab tower.

Island Hopping

Rab Harbour taken on our way to dinner.

Rijeka town gate

Rijeka fountain

We are now island hopping down the Croatian coast.

We caught the bus from Rovinj to Rijeka and then a catamaran down past the islands of Krk and Cres to Rab where we are now.

Rijeka is Croatia’s third largest city but is not a great tourist destination. We spent a few hours walking about the pedestrian streets and along the waterfront. We checked out the Roman Arch and the beautiful Hapsburg buildings but the St Vitus’ Cathedral was closed when we arrived.
Rab is a beautiful island and a fantastic little town. Lots of marble cobblestones that look great but are hell to wheel your bag along! Our room has a view over the harbour and across to the four city towers.

We depart tonight for our next island, Pag. There is only one ferry per day and it leaves at 6.45 pm.

Celebrating in Croatia

We have just discovered that we will be in Croatia on one of its national holidays. Anti Fascist Struggle Day will be celebrated on 22 June.

We would welcome suggestions on how one should celebrate this significant day.

Au Naturale Croatian Style

Waiting for the ferry to Rovinj

Is this a Japanese seagull?

It's not a church. It's a restaurant.

Gail at the posh resort on Sveti Addrija

All the other photos of people swimming were censored!

Rovinj from the ferry on the return trip. Later we climbed up to visit the tomb of St Euphemia.

We are leaving Rovinj. It is an old style Croatian sea port town that still has the fishing boats come in each morning. We read about this but have not been up in time to verify it.
Arriving late on Sunday from Zagreb, we were fortunate to find a brand new apartment. We are the first customers! It has a fantastic location just up from the harbour with heaps of space. We love it.
We spent the afternoon wandering around the waterfront and the laneways that lead down it. Dinner was at a quiet little spot just back from the water.
The town is quite Italian. It was part of Italy for longer than it has been Croatian! In fact, we are not far from Trieste from where we headed off to Ljubljana and Zagreb.
Today we caught a ferry to Crveni Otok (Red Island). This comprises 2 islands Sveti Andrija and Maskin. There is just 1 huge hotel on Sveti Andrija but we enjoyed a swim in the balmy Adriatic Sea.
We crossed the causeway linking Maslin (a 5 minute walk) and realised we were the only people wearing swimming costumes.
How do you greet a person walking towards you along the track who is only wearing sunglasses and beach shoes? We could have saved space in our bag if only we had realised! We enjoyed a swim in a quiet secluded cove….. no other details provided!
The boat trip was worth the outing without the island visit but we enjoyed the swim, the secluded mausoleum and the castle. (no difficult climb)
After a lunch of pasta back in Rovinj, we spent the afternoon exploring the old town and the church of St Euphemia.
Tomorrow we leave Rovinj and head off to the island of Rab.

Communing with nature but the bird was a seagull!

It's Not the Destination.. It's the Journey.

The castle well.

The destination.

It's not the glass but what's in the glass.

Gail at the Zagreb Botanical Gardens.

Journeys of Note

We travelled to Zagreb by train from Ljubljana. Before we reached the Croatian border, we were joined in our compartment by a large man from Serbia carrying a big suitcase that wouldn’t close. We figured that it was the barrel of a bazooka! At the border, the Croatian customs simply glanced at our passports but he received a thorough search - all in our small cabin for 6. It turned out that it was not a bazooka but a whipper snipper in pieces. A most interesting journey.
Zagreb was wonderful. Great accommodation in a private room in a central location…. With the 2 most popular things - a frig and good washing lines.

The cathedral was beautiful and we enjoyed the many public monuments. We even rode the free tourist train to save our legs. The city was alive with special events and performances everywhere. We enjoyed Croatian music and dance performed in a lovely park.
We decided to make a special journey to Zagreb Castle. This is rarely attempted without a private car. We took a tram to the end of the line and then a bus up the mountain with its many hairpin bends and twists and turns until we finally alighted in the small town of Sestine.

With help from a few local people, we set off through the forest following a track next to a small stream. Up and up we climbed. After about 1 ½ hours, they continued on their hike and we turned up towards the castle. One of the men in the group was surprised we were going to the castle. “Why would you want to go there? It isn’t finished” Did he mean the restorations?
Another in the group, having heard we came from Australia, asked us did we have a kangaroo for a pet and was surprised when we said no.

Finally arriving at the castle, we knew it was the journey that really mattered and not the destination. We had enjoyed the beautiful “bush” walk.

After a few photos on the ramparts and some of the very distant views of Zagreb, we headed back. This time, we followed a different path. Finally we arrived in a village… but it wasn’t Sestine. Our return bus didn’t go from wherever we were, so we had to walk to the correct village. We caught the bus and tram and returned to our room exhausted.

We enjoyed the journey…. and the destination.

PS. Sorry we don’t have a picture of the bazooka

Bled Picture Gallery

The castle at night taken as we ate our dinner at a restaurant on the opposite side of the lake.

Long drop at the castle. Very handy if you get caught short.

The castle chapel. Never did find out wheere they kept the horses.

The swan family.

Robert by the lakeside taken this morning before we returned to Ljubljana.

More boats. Note the fish.

Leaving Ljubljana for Zagreb by train tomorrow morning. Back on schedule.