2geonomads

Friday 9th May 2014.

Start off the day with a quick trip to the town for breakfast at an alfresco cafe in the main square and subsequently find The Blue Palace which had proved so elusive on our stroll around the town the previous evening. For history buffs this was built during the 1890’s and served as a model for other royal palaces around the country. The heir to the ruling house of Montenegro, Prince Nikola Petrovic Njegos regularly visits Cetinje and he lives in part of the palace when visiting.

On the way back to our flat we are accosted at the bus station by the same driver who took us to our accommodation the previous day. He is very keen to either take us on a panoramic tour of the mountains near Kotor or just take us to Budva, half-way between Cetinje and Kotor, our next overnight stop.

We left him with a promise to contact him we needed his assistance. However, on returning to the flat Branka, the owner, tells us that his neighbour across the road, Milos is a taxi driver and will take us to Kotor via Budva ( where we can have a 2 hour stop ). We take out the offer with some alacrity.

The drive takes us through some superb scenery as we reach a vantage point above Budva Milos stops so that we can take one of the most awesome sights as we look down to the bay far below us and the tourist town of Budva.

We duly get our 2 hour break at Budva , during which we stroll down to a busy and very pebbly beach and make a tour of the interesting old town.

More great scenery between Budva and Kotor and the setting of the latter on the shores of a splendid fjord and under the imposing peak of Mount Lovcen ( 1749 metres ) is really breathtaking. Arrive at the two bedroom apartment owned by the Bogdanovic family and toss a coin to select the bedrooms. Maureen and John win the toss and are rewarded by the view towards the fjord. We are in what Gail describes as The Kiddies Room. Nevertheless it a lovely apartment and the owners could not be more helpful. We decide that it is time to take a bit of a breather so we book the flat for two nights instead of one.

J and I walk down to the magnificent Old Town to check things out and find a likely looking fish restaurant Cesarica which had been suggested to us by Mrs Bogdanovic.

Return to collect the ladies and head off back to town for dinner. Little time after a fine meal to tour the town so returned to the flat to plan following day in Kotor.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Thursday 8th May 2014

Breakfast in the 5th floor restaurant of the hotel with good views over the city.

The evening before G and I had decided that we had brought too many clothes and that trudging around with such heavy cases was proving to be a hassle .  Surely it would be a simple task to pack some items together and send them back to Aus from the local post office. Wrong again!  No help from the front desk at the hotel so I head off to a mega-market nearby to buy the necessary packing paper. No joy there but a very helpful English-speaking shop assistant directed me to a small post office where she thought I would be able to find the required materials. Two very elderly ladies in the post office spoke not a word of English but did get the message through to me that they only accepted letters, anyway. Back to the mega-market to ask ( maybe plead would be a better word ) the same shop assistant for help with a box or something similar. Eventually, get an ideal box to accommodate our surplus clothes and head off back to the Ramada to do the packing.

All packed and ready to go so John and walk down to a larger post office near the bus station. After signing my name at least 7 times on various documents I receive the news that it will cost 131 euros for the postage to Australia! Decide to suffer the financial pain and treat the whole thing as a learning experience. John and Maureen’s cases way 10 and 15 kgs respectively so we supposedly experienced travellers are obviously a bit dumb.

No time to visit the centre of Podgorica so off to the bus station for the short trip Cetinje, the former capital of Montenegro.

Check into flats above this delightful town where we meet the owners Vojo and Branka Stankovic and their friend Bojo Popovic. Bojo is former merchant seaman who is a real larrikin.Take a walk in the centre to view the many fine buildings, most of them former embassies. These appear to have been maintained in excellent condition with the notable exception of the former Russian Embassy which is now in a state of total disrepair. This may be a way of Montenegro making a statement to their former masters.

Dinner at Korzo restaurant on the very attractive pedestrian main street. Join ends up with a mixed grill big enough to solve the Biafra food shortage.

Another quick tour after dinner before heading off back to our flat.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Wednesday 7th May 2014.

Leave flat at 8.00 am and arrive at the train station in good time for our 9.10 train to Podgorica.

We leave behind a city and a country where life appears to be very tough and certainly struggling more in an economic sense than their neighbours to the north. Moreover, there appears to be a continued undercurrent of unease in the relationship with Croatia. Hopefully this will dissipate as time goes by.

Our 10 hour train journey to Podgorica almost didn’t come to pass as while we were in Zagreb we had received a text from Maureen stating, and I quote verbatim ” John has spoken to staff at bank who say don’t take train to Podgorica it’s dangerous and dirty. They said bus is far better.”

This came as a bit of a surprise as firstly Gail had checked out a site called ‘ man in seat 61’ who had described it as one of the world’s scenic journeys. Even more to the point was John’s reliance on the local bank clerk for expertise on train travel in this part of the world! Whilst we may not be experts in the field experience has taught us that we are safer to rely on such as travel agents, tourist offices and such institutions when making our travel plans! Time will tell.

The train leaves on time, which is a good start , and, although crowded, the carriages and seats are comfortable.

Initially, the landscape is fairly underwhelming but as we travel further south and into Montenegro we come across some truly awesome scenery, especially the Moraca Canyon which is not one for vertigo- sufferers. The train track is in fact perched at an impossibly high level above the gorge and the canyon does not suffer by comparison with the equally spectacular Gorge du Verdun in Southern France.

Montenegro is a singularly beautiful country and Podgorica is in a superb location surrounded by mountains on most sides.

We arrive in the city at 7.30 pm. ( on time ) and the only danger we have encountered has come in the form of the top coming off a feed bottle being administered to a little 7 month old called Pavla by his young Mum Maria who had got on with her friend Diana at Uzice in Serbia! Fortunately, the projectile didn’t quite reach John so he arrived at his destination totally unscathed

Trundled on foot from the nearby station to Hotel Ramada, dragging cases behind us ( more on this later) . VERY jaded from our 10 hour journey so it’s dinner at the hotel and then straight to bed.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Read Full Post »

Tuesday 7th May

Wake up to bright , sunny day  and eggs on toast served up by our travelling chef, John. The flat is in a very convenient location close to the city centre and offers all that we require for our short stay. Set off relatively early to walk into the pedestrian are on Kneza Mihaila. We meet up with a very charming man who had previously lectured at Southampton University in Specialisation, whatever that might be. Firstly offers a quick lesson on Serbia’s use of the Cyrillic alphabet and how to pronounce ‘trg,meaning  square. This requires the speaker to really roll their ‘ rrrs’ so we should have some fun with that one!

New-found guide suggests that we focus mainly on the large Kalemegdan Park and Stefan the Tyrant’s Castle so off we go but not before stopping at a Coffee Bar. Maureen and I settle for a standard cappuccino  but John and Gail have to try the hot chocolate. This turns out to be precisely that, namely 100 per cent melted chocolate.

Kalemegdan Park offers superb views over the Sava and Danube Rivers and on this particular day was crowded with hordes of students lying on the castle’s  battlements doing their sunflower pose and trying to get an early spring suntan.

Visit Ruzica Church and walk by St Petka Church where I mistake the burning of incense candles outside the latter for a wood-fired pizza oven to serve a nearby cafe, much to John’s amusement ! I’ m sure that he won’t miss any chance to remind me of my faux-pas over the coming days but he may find out that hell hath no fury like a blog-author scorned.

Back downtown to Trg Republika for lovely alfresco lunch then proceed to Trg Nikole Pasica then proceed past the very impressive National Assembly and St Mark’s church to the huge St Sava Temple. Started in 1939 and the exterior only finished in 1990 its interior is being done in stages as funds become available.

Evening spent dining at Casa Nova after a professional footballer playing in the Belgian 2nd Division recommends it to us as we walk past the restaurant.

The waiter serving us, Dzeko ( I may have the spelling wrong ) makes it a memorable  evening , regaining us with stories about his 50 year-old  friend who is a taxi driver in Perth and providing us with an insight of  life in Serbia when married to a Croatian wife, with 2 children. There does appear to be a real brain-drain taking place and who can blame the young professionals when the average monthly wage , according to Dzeko is about 300 Euros per month.

We are spoiled with free peach schnapps ( or rakija ) and desserts and leave with a promise to give Casa Nova a glowing reference on Trip Advisor.

Back at the flat I watch Man U beat Hull 3- 1 and see Giggs making what might be his last appearance for the club.

In bed by 11.oo to prepare for next day’s long train journey to Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Read Full Post »

Monday 5th May 2014

First task after breakfast is to return the rental car and on the way back to call in at the railway station. We had tried previously to book tickets for the Zagreb  to Belgrade 6 hour 37 minute journey, a challenge which one would expect to be fairly straightforward. Our first discussions with the railway clerk had taken place on Saturday 3rd May and she had informed us that the 11.15am train which we had planned to take two days later was running over 200 minutes late so she obviously had remarkably prophetic powers.

Gail had subsequently checked out the website and true enough the 11.00 am train was showing up as leaving at 14.50.

Armed with this information we approached the same afore-mentioned clerk again and she now confirmed that the train was leaving at 15.20.

With no other options available to us Gail bought two tickets ( I left it up to her as my patience was running rather low) and left the station to return to the hotel to check out. On the way out of the station we noticed that the 11.00 am was still showing on the departures so we asked another information clerk to check this out. She confirmed that the 15.20 was the only train leaving for Belgrade that day.

Totally confused, we walk back into the centre of Zagreb, check out and enjoy a few hours strolling around the lovely Old Town. This led to a re-appraisal of our views on Zagreb as the Old Town is delightful with some very pretty tree-lined streets and an ambience a far cry from the more frenetic newer part of the town.

Arrive at the station in good time for our train, having bought some food to eat during the long journey as we had been advised that no restaurant car was available. Wrong again as we found the the said restaurant car next to our own carriage!

A very uneventful but comfortable trip through some fairly uninspiring scenery although Gail did offer a moment of light entertainment with a ‘Gailism’. She was checking the details on the journey’s duration and casually remarked that having checked the calculations the train ” was in fact on time but 4 hours late”.  Mrs I’ s logic is always a source of joy and amusement.

Train chugged into Belgrade shortly after 10 pm and after short taxi ride we arrive at the flat we are sharing with Maureen and John, our friends from Busselton. Too tired to have more than a quick cup of tea then off to bed feeling decidedly jaded.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Read Full Post »

Sunday 4th May 2014

After fine continental breakfast served up by polyglot Ana we check out of the B&B  and drive the short distance to the entrance to Plitvice Lakes. Murphy is making his presence felt again as we face incessant rain, still worse the news that many of the boardwalks around the lower lakes are flooded and closed. Moreover, the temperature has dropped to just above 2 degrees. Hopefully Murphy will die of frostbite.! The recent torrential rainfall has an up and a down side. On the plus side the volume of water has made the waterfalls even more spectacular than usual and has created more small waterfalls coming down through the woods above the various lakes. The downside is that we do miss out on viewing some of the lakes at close quarters.

However, nothing can detract from the magnificence of the Plitvice Lakes which thoroughly deserve their Unesco listing. The photos which will be coming through on the blog shortly will do far more justice to this natural wonder than any of my words. In spite of the weather the crowds are huge and a true United Nations melting pot although one nation seems to dominate. I don’t like singling any country out but suffice it to say that I now understand why Craig says spring is a good time to visit Japan. Apart from the flowers the country must be empty at this time. Coming from a sparsely populated like Australia we find it quite a shock when hordes of mainly Japanese treat getting on a shuttle bus tantamount to the fight to obtain a place on a Tokyo train during rush hour.

We spend about 6 hours at the lakes and leave feeling that we have truly experienced one of the world’s unforgettable natural sights.

 
Take a slightly different route back to Zagreb  and see some evidence of the previous night’s snowfall on the hills near to Plitvice.

The scenery on the way back is pleasant without being spectacular , a comment which could equally apply to Zagreb itself.

Best Western Hotel in great location and as we are probably looking like two worn-out, fragile old codgers we are given an upgrade to a suite.

Decide on a return visit to the fish restaurant Ribice I Tri Tockice and once again have a lovely meal at very reasonable prices.

Coming back reminds us that on the previous occasion Gail gave us one of her now famous ‘Gailisms’ when she referred to a .5 litre carafe of wine as really 2 glasses short of a bottle! This could go down alongside ‘ two sandwiches short of a picnic’ and other such sayings to describe the intellectually-challenged.

Gail returned to the hotel while I went on a short stroll through this unremarkable city.

Next stop will be Belgrade tomorrow after a 6 hour train journey.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Saturday 3 rd May 2014

Breakfast at hotel fine and afterwards it’s off to Onyx Car Rental to pick up a vehicle to travel to the Plitvice Lakes.

Plan had been for me to walk to the Onyx office, collect the car and then pick Gail up from the Sheraton. This was thwarted by the teeming rain so we take a cab to collect our Opel Astra and start towards the southwest and the iconic lakes. Lunchtime stop at Slunj which is located on a hilltop on the old Zagreb to Split road,above the Korana Gorge with its series of small waterfalls and rapids. Very tasty lunch at Rastoke, an old water milling settlement in a very picturesque location.

On arrival at Plitvice we check out the two entrances to this Unesco-listed area and obtain ticket details at Entrance 1 for the next day.

Eventually arrive at our B&B in Rastovac, to be greeted by the owner Ana who claims to speak 3 other languages in addition to Croatian, namely German, English and Italian, listed in order of proficiency. She , in fact , speaks a mixture of all three and at the same time but we manage to get by one way or another. 

We meet up with a lovely couple from Hobart, John and Sue and compare notes on our respective trips to date.

They have had a late lunch so we drive to a restaurant nearby recommended by Ana for a pizza.  

Finish what has been a filthy day weather-wise by bringing the blog up-to-date and Gail sorting out various matters on the computer. The two of us also select photos for the website which will be coming your way soon, folks.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

2nd May 2014.

I hope that you picked up my April Fool’s Day joke  when I wrote April 1st rather than May 1st!

Check out of the very fine Cubo Hotel with their excellent reception staff Luka and Sacha and head off for last quick walk along the Ljubljana River and Old Town. Calorie time again when we finally get to enjoy ice creams from the Cameo Cafe which we had admired a few times during our strolls around the city.

The weather for once is glorious and shows off this great city at its best.

The 2.45 train to Zagreb leaves almost 30 minutes late although it does make up some time along the way during the 2 1/2 hour journey.

A bit of a novelty when we have our passports stamped on leaving Slovenia and entering Croatia. This is an all-to -rare occurrence these days with border controls often non-existant, especially in Europe.

The weather returns to normal and by the time we get to Zagreb the skies are looking very threatening.

Sheraton Hotel not on a par with Cubo and a typical large chain hotel. However, the girl at reception, Nev, is very helpful and suggests a small restaurant in the Old Town, Ribice i Tri Tockice, which really lives up to her praise, offering some quality seafood at very reasonable prices.

Although the various guidebooks had hardly offered glowing endorsements of Zagreb G and I decide to talk a short walk towards the Old Town and the superb gothic cathedral area. As it turns out we are pleasantly surprised because , whilst it doesn’t immediately impress in the same way as Budapest and Ljubljana, it has a great atmosphere in the evening with so many alfresco dining establishments and some lovely open large squares.

All in all a fairly routine day but look forward to next day’s visit to the Plitvice Lakes which are Croatia’s greatest tourist attraction .

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

Read Full Post »

Thursday 1st April

Breakfast at hotel superb, although a little too calorie-laden for our own good.

City blanketed in fog but with the prospect of a sunny day.

If I come across Murphy I’ll kill him as we have arrived in Ljubljana on a National Holiday and many museums and most shops are closed.

Fortunately, the City Museum( apparently the best one for Slovenian history) and the Castle are open so after a quick visit to Preseren Square before the crowds arrive we head off to the City Museum. This brilliantly showcases the Ljubljana in all its good and bad colours throughout history. Probably in an effort to avoid offending us the girl at the ticket office offered us Student’s tickets rather than Seniors.

Parliament House Ljubljana

3 bridges Ljubljiana

  one of the ‘3 bridges’ LjubljianaDragon Bridge

With our egos suitably intact we spend about 2 enjoyable and instructive hours before setting off to the river for a 45 minute trip on a river  cruise. On board I meet up with some Italians from Sicily and after I had attuned my ear to their dialect I was able to have a fairly lengthy conversation, good preparation for our Italian stay later on in this trip.

Views from the river cruise

Under very threatening thunder clouds we take a VERY steep funicular up to the Ljubljana Castle, high on a hill above the city.

Missed out on a discounted ticket for the Castle as the obviously short-sighted girl at the ticket office didn’t ask us whether we were seniors.

We start off the tour by a visit to the Outlook Tower but only Gail is brave enough to tackle the 100 cast- iron steps to the viewing platform. Even Gail admits that it certainly was not for me!

Spiral Staircase Ljubljana Castle

After viewing a Virtual Castle video showing the history of the castle we stop off to shelter from the pouring rain and another calorie intake.

Time to book train tickets to Zagreb and book a table at Julia’s restaurant, recommended by Luka at the hotel. Top-class meal in great ambience and return to hotel to prepare for departure for Zagreb the next day.

We would heartily recommend a visit to this delightful city which can best be described as a Slovenian Lucca, full of history, character and small enough to cover easily on foot. Slovenia itself has been a revelation and one can only hope that the Government manages to overcome the current serious economic problems and avoid the same fate as such as Greece. Disturbingly, we heard quite a few comments form locals which suggested that a return to the previous pre-independent days would not be such a bad thing.

We will be sorry to leave Slovenia but hopefully Croatia will be equally welcoming.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Wednesday 30th April

Check out from hotel and say goodbye to the staff, Petra, Dejan, Alexander and Sebastjan who have been fantastic hosts.

Finally manage to convince a very work shy gondolier to take us out to Bled Island in the middle of the lake. We had tried the previous day to make the trip but to no avail. Even today we had to wait about 20 minutes so that he could load up the gondola with 15 passengers. At 12 euros each person it’s not bad money, although with his work ethic he may only make one trip per day!

Take the 1.30 bus from Bled fro the 90 minute trip to Slovenia’ capital, Ljubljana.

Check into Hotel Cubo which is a well-appointed hotel very close to the city centre.

Walk to the Old Town to plan the next day’s itinerary and book dinner at Spajza Restaurant. Superb meal with me winning the award for Messiest Diner when tackling the Scampi dish.

1 of the many fabulous Restaurants we had dinner at in Slovenia

End the evening on an interesting note when we hear a lady at the next table order an Australiano coffee. She turns out to be a polish woman , now living in Australia, who refuses to order an Americano as the coffee is always too insipid. She has a real supporter in my better half.

Short walk along the river in this lovely small city, of which more tomorrow.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Tuesday 29th April

Great breakfast at hotel and then we await the arrival of our rental car booked on the previous day. The brand new VW Golf is duly delivered and we set off to Kranska Gora, apparently Slovenia’s best-equipped and most popular ski resort. It’s an attractive small town reminiscent of Whistler in Canada but it is set against a superb backdrop of some of the highest mountains in Slovenia, including Mount Triglav, at 2864 metres the highest peak in the country.

,                        

However,our main reason for being here is to start off on the famous Russka Cesta across the Vrsic Pass ( 1611 metres ). This miracle of road building was ordered by the Germans during the Second World War, using over 10,000 Russian POWs, working under brutal conditions. 400 of the Russians were killed in an avalanche and this is commemorated at the Russian Chapel on the way up to the top of the pass. The scenery is stunning and the descent to the south and to the town of Bovec requires full concentration from the driver ie yours truly.

Based on advice from the girl in the tourist office in Kranska Gora we had decided to travel back to Bled via a town called Podbrdo.

As she had explained the road actually ends at this town and seemingly to avoid the very high cost of extending it they now offer a car train through a tunnel to Bohinje Bistrica where we pick up the road back to Bled. The 10 minute journey on the VERY old train is quite an experience and a real throwback to a bygone era.

Sitting in trailer on ‘car train’

Before heading back to Bled we visit the Bohinje Lake and the Slap Savica. A steep hike up to this spectacular Waterfall is well worth the effort. Bohinje Lake is a real Mecca for hikers but high season must be a bit of a nightmare, judging by the tourist numbers even at this early stage..

Slap Savica

Usual superb dinner at Vila Preseren and early night.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »

Monday 28th April.

It’s difficult to find enough superlatives to do justice to this magnificent lake and the surrounding mountain scenery. With the imposing Bled Castle perched high above the lake and Bled Island set against a backdrop of incomparable beauty it is no wonder that it has become the most popular tourist destination in Slovenia.

Gail and I decide to head off up into the hills above the lake to visit Vintgar Gorge. The walk is fairly taxing but we are spurred on by the prospect of seeing what from the brochures at the hotel appears to be a spectacular location.  Murphy comes into play again as the gorge walkway is closed due to some landfalls along the banks of the river. We have to be satisfied with a few glimpses of the gorge from afar and set off back to Bled.

Beautiful Springtime Lilac

Just before our arrival in town we fins a pleasant surprise in the form of The George Best Pub, complete with numerous photos and an Irish National Team shirt which GB had worn. Apparently, the owner, an Irishman and an avid GBG fan decided to make the pub a bit of a shrine to Georgie but it was certainly the last thing we expected to see in this corner of Slovenia.

Just to give our aching muscles one last test for the day we climb the steps to Bled Castle. The castle itself is not exactly a world-beater but its position above the lake is breathtaking, quite literally for this long-term vertigo sufferer.

Get back to town to organise a car rental for the following day and to finish off our exercise regime for the day we take the 6 kms+ walk around the lake.

Finally, another great dinner at the hotel then turn in to be ready for our long trip the following day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

Read Full Post »