Back to all-inclusive and a day in Split.

On 22/09/2021 By J RossieIn Uncategorized2 Comments

We booked into the hotel with some trepidation as it seemed incredibly cheap online (£68 a night for the room and board etc) but we were surprised to find that the room is really nice, the people are lovely and the food amazing. Unfortunately, we are doing the whole 3 meals in 1, as always at an all inclusive, as it’s all so tempting!

Many pounds might be being saved but we will put the other sort on!

The weather has been pretty good but we woke on Tuesday to a fairly strong wind so decided to drive into Split for a bit of sightseeing. We’ve seen quite a lot of pretty towns now and this was lovely too. The old town ( basically Diocletian’s Palace) means that there are lovely old streets around every corner. Callum has made the decision that from now on he’s going to try the ice cream and spend his entrance fees into churches on that whilst I go in and wander round. Apparently, the strawberry gelato was far better than the crosses and crypts! Not sure I agree.

We sat by the harbour and people watched for a while and were very surprised by the number of people who have full leg tattoos – seems to be a thing here for many men and women. I’m not convinced they went with the pretty dresses and heeled shoes!

We got back late afternoon and sat for a bit in the beach before pre showering drinks followed by a lovely meal. We were stocking up the calories in readiness for our canyoning trip. We couldn’t take our phones for obvious reasons but took a quick pic before we set off! Here’s a taster of how amazing we looked! We’ll add some more about it when we get our pictures from the group.

You can‘t make a waterfall without breaking clouds…

On 19/09/202119/09/2021 By J RossieIn Uncategorized1 Comment

And the clouds really did break! We decided after our days of laziness we ought to get some exercise so we headed to Plitvice National Park and it’s famous lakes. We checked into our camping bungalow and then drove to the park for a short late afternoon walk. We were surprised by how busy it was at the start but eventually got rid of a Polish tour group, enjoyed a boat trip across the lake and a couple of hours of walking.

The next day, we knew that the weather was not meant to be great but set off anyway under ominous but quite warm skies.Just as we started our hike (18k route), the rumbling began which was closely followed by lightning and torrential rain. We decided to keep going anyway although we were already very wet. It did mean that we had the trail mostly to ourselves which was lovely. We saw fire salamanders, a water snake and lots of fish but no bears.The walking was quite easy with beautiful scenery and the lake colours changed with the changing weather. We finished our walk just before the next downpour which lasted the rest of the day. Although we had gotten very soggy, it had definitely been worth it and we’d recommend a visit if you’re in Croatia.

The camping was ok ( if you don’t have your own toilet, it is camping in my eyes!) Our little bungalow was quite cosy and Callum moaned more than me! Tonight, we’re back to an all inclusive for a week so normal service is resumed!

On the way south, we stopped off at Krka National Park to see the waterfall that Kate had visited. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy and the weather had improved a lot. We walked up to it rather than take the boat and although the water wasn’t as beautiful, it was still a nice way to break up the journey and spend a few hours.

Croatia

On 15/09/2021 By J RossieIn Uncategorized

Umag- lazy days!

We’ve had a chilled few days here. We arrived and thought we were staying in an eastern block gulag but thankfully we drove past those and ended up with a nice apartment in some pine and oak trees.We enjoyed watching the red squirrels busily working each morning. Willow would have loved it! We’ve lazed on the beach and the pool, swam in the sea (with some jellyfish😬), done a bit of stand up paddle boarding and a bit of running. There has been entertainment due to world seniors tennis tournament here too and we have just watched Argentina beat the bad tempered USA to get to the semi’s. When we arrived, it was really busy here but after Sunday the place emptied which has been lovely and we have felt very young!

Venice

On 12/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn Italy

We set off early for our day in Venice and found our hotel surprisingly easily though it did annoyingly fib about the parking! (€32 for 23 hours instead of for free!) We dumped the bags, got the train in and stopped immediately for a coffee and croissants. Callum was pleasantly surprised by all the prices here- we had both remembered it being much more expensive. As we had both been here before, we decided to just wander and enjoy the ambience. It wasn’t too busy despite the Venice film festival of which we saw no sign of except on social media – we did keep an eye out for celebs though. As always with Venice, there were amazing views everywhere we looked and we enjoyed an Aperol in several locations! We deserved them after all the walking!

Just a few of the many pictures we took.

The next day, we set off for Croatia driving through Slovenia. We have been constantly surprised by how easy the travelling has been (🤞 it continues). In fact today was the first time we have had our passports checked since Bilbao and that was in entering Croatia. Before leaving Italy, we stopped at Prosecco, where the wine originally comes from but were surprised to find absolutely no mention of it in the little village.We had hoped to buy some so that was disappointing. Instead, we found a small local port with a little beach to wander around and have our lunch. We were in 3 countries today and are now going to have 5 days by the beach and a pool. Loved Italy, the food, the people, the everything and are looking forward to part 2!

Verona

On 10/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn Italy

We arrived in Italy and Verona after a long drive (mainly due to roadworks that weren’t being worked on) and were pleasantly surprised by how lovely our B and B was. It had fab view across Verona and we were just outside the old town wall. We dumped our bags and went off for a wander and some pizza. Someone got slightly carried away when ordering beer much to the amusement of the waiter!

We spent the next day exploring the town which was just lovely. We indulged in too many Aperol spritz at lunch – had to be done as they were a third of the price of those in Antibes. Having done lots of city breaks, this town is right up there in number 2 spot just behind Rome even if the amphitheatre was hosting music awards and full of teenyboppers!

Piazza del Signori

Eze the hard way.

On 08/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn France1 Comment

Such a peaceful spot.

Our train ticket allowed us to get off at several stops and so on the way back we decided to visit Eze (we’d seen on “Below Deck” that is a pretty village on the top of a cliff).There was a beautiful beach next to the station so I convinced Callum that a swim would be good. We then spent a few hours there as it was so peaceful and the sea was amazing. Albeit, as it was a pebble beach getting out made us look like Bambi on ice but so did the locals.

At about 4, we decided to see the village and walked up to the road where there was a bus stop to get a ride up the cliff. Bearing in mind, that I was wearing my sandals this seemed like a good idea. But no, we had to walk despite the signs saying the path needed sturdy shoes. We met lots of people coming down the path; a few of whom clearly thought we were mad. One old man actually tutted at me! We stopped to admire the view many times during the 450m climb (the same as the hike we had done in Spain, when we were organised with correct footwear and drinks of which we had none!). There was talk of an Aperol spritz at the top but when we got there, there were only very posh restaurants ( and one less than salubrious place which didn’t fit my bill). We ended up with filling up water bottles for free and a very crushed packet a snacker jacks! Not at all what I had been hoping for. The really annoying part was that we couldn’t find the route to the castle at the top as there was no WiFi and we had no map! Felt like we had gone all the way up for no reward. 😡 I came down very gingerly with Callum ready to catch me.It was definitely a “brace , brace” situation. To add insult to injury, we then had to run for the train.

It was steeper than it looked. The beach we’d sat on looked a very long way down.

Tuesday, was meant to be a trip to Nice but after the previous day’ s exertions, some legs (mine) were definitely not up for it. Instead, we both exercised and then lazed on the sunbeds. ( Callum went down to the seafront, ran 10k and swam whilst I did yoga and jumped about!) Late afternoon, we drove down to Cap d’Antibes and had a people watch and swim on a nice sandy but busy beach. Very lazy but lovely. Nice will have to wait for another trip as it’s Verona next!

A morning in Monaco

On 08/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn France

We got up fairly early and made our way down to the station at Biot. It took a while to master the ticket machine but it made us feel better to meet an Irish couple having the same issues. It was a pretty journey on the top deck of the train along the coast through Nice.

We made our way through Monaco to the palace for the changing of the guard. We knew about that because I had made Callum listen to a podcast by a boring American on the drive across France. Have to say it was not as impressive as the one at Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards that I saw a few weeks ago. We wandered the streets of the old town, bought some lunch and sat with a lovely view. I made it into the cathedral where Callum had a nice sit while I looked round. Next, we found the casino which, of course, Callum wasn’t allowed in despite his unbeatable formula for winning. Callum marched determinedly past Cartier as quickly as he could and wouldn’t allow any window shopping there at all.

Lazy days and boat shopping in Antibes

On 06/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn France1 Comment

We made good use of the sun loungers and even dipped into the pool over the next couple of days. We enjoyed quite a bit of boat shopping and set off for Saturday night in Antibes! Unfortunately, nobody invited me on a yacht and so we had to make do with an Aperol in the old town. The next day, we headed out to the beach at Juan Les Pins for a few hours on the beach and a bit more “shopping”. I was very excited to finally find my boat, the Sirocco from Below Deck Mediterranean! We ended a lovely Sunday with family FaceTime. A fab weekend!

Arles

On 02/09/202113/09/2021 By J RossieIn France3 Comments

As we entered France, it began to cloud over and we were expecting rain though nothing like this! It was pretty scary for a while but everyone slowed and put on their hazards. We decided that the planned stop at Arles should still happen so we donned the coats and set off for some culture. The amphitheatre was pretty impressive and then we wandered round in the footsteps of Van Gogh!

Arles, a surprisingly nice bit of culture! The amphitheatre could hold 21,000 amazingly , 1/3 the size of the Coliseum!

We had another few hours of driving and then we arrived at out little Airbnb in Biot, a quaint village above Antibes.Have to say we were pretty tired so a French Just Eat ordering of pizza was called for. The Airbnb is much nicer than it looks here!