Thats the cool way to refer to Bosnia & Herzogovina. As I'd hoped, Sarajevo is far cooler than the Croatian coast. Downright cold at night with short sleeves. SaVo is an interesting place. Not a whole lot of charm there but it's had a tough recent past with the Balkan war, etc. Its new for a European city; about 500 years old (I think).
The city is stretching the romanticism of their local urban landmarks. The main square is called Pigeon Square. Not to criticize, but with a few handfuls of bread crumbs, any town can have a pigeon square. There's also an "archeological site" complete with glass floors and architectural lighting that is the ruins of an old market that was built in the early 1600s and abandoned in the 1800s. Even as an American new worlder I'm not impressed.
The most interesting thing about SaVo is the somewhat segregated integration of cultures. There's a big inlay going across the main pedestrian street that says "Sarajevo Meeting Of Cultures" with compass points indicating east and west. All of the delicious smelling middle eastern restaurants filled with lemonade and coke-drinking women in hijabs are to the east and the Irish pubs and pizza places are to the west. It is integrated though because there are plenty of coke drinking hijab wearers at Irish pubs and vice versa.
One full day in SaJo was enough. I'm now headed back toward the heart of Europe. On a bus to Zagreb.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Where Was I?
Ah yes, Dubrovnik. I was there way too long. It's a nice enough place and all but not worthy of a week. It felt wrong to leave there the day before Maria From Cesca arrived so I stayed a couple of extra days. It was fun. She stayed in the old city and I was by the harbor in Lapad. The busses in DuBro are fantastic (I may have said that already).
I actually spent a lot of time in the water. The Adriatic is the perfect temperature this time of year. Mediterraneans seemed to have a tough time easing themselves into the water but it's bath water compared to the Atlantic. Not really being a beach guy, I was bothered by the fact that there are very few good ones in DuBro. The place I swam the most was off of a rock on Lopud island. The water is so bouyant that you can just hang there vertically and bob in the water!
Speaking of Bob, he asked about Sarajevo so since it's only a 5 hour, $20 bus ride I headed there to check it out.
I actually spent a lot of time in the water. The Adriatic is the perfect temperature this time of year. Mediterraneans seemed to have a tough time easing themselves into the water but it's bath water compared to the Atlantic. Not really being a beach guy, I was bothered by the fact that there are very few good ones in DuBro. The place I swam the most was off of a rock on Lopud island. The water is so bouyant that you can just hang there vertically and bob in the water!
Speaking of Bob, he asked about Sarajevo so since it's only a 5 hour, $20 bus ride I headed there to check it out.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Sorry for the lack of updates!
All is well here. Still in Dubrovnik and have been hanging out with Maria from the upper west side. I'm leaving here tomorrow to go to Sarajevo I think. It's much cooler up in the mountains. Then back to Madrid at the end of the week.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Still in Dubrovnik
And I've booked through Thursday night. It is an amazing city with two distinct neighborhoods. Old Dubrovnik is like Pamplona in that it has fortress walls and a drawbridge to access the old town. It is also right on the Adriatic and that makes it even more spectacular. Inside the walls are tons of cafes, restaurants and bars. It's not quite as midevil feeling as Diocletian Palace in Split but it's close.
I'm staying in the other popular neighborhood, Lapad Beach. It's about 3.5 km away from old town and not that nice of a walk. Lapad is fantastic though. Setaliste kralja Zvonamira is the main drag and is about a 1km long pedestrian only boulevard lined with outdoor cafes of all kinds. Most of them have several large flat screen tvs that have been showing the European Cup soccer championships. The most magnificent one has a screen that's about 10 feet wide and super high-def. Last night I had fish tacos at a Mexican place last night that were delicious.
I'm thinking of doing a day trip to either Montenego or Bosnia. They're both very close to Dubrovnik. My big decision now is where to watch Croatia vs Spain in the group of 16 knockout round tonight!
I'm staying in the other popular neighborhood, Lapad Beach. It's about 3.5 km away from old town and not that nice of a walk. Lapad is fantastic though. Setaliste kralja Zvonamira is the main drag and is about a 1km long pedestrian only boulevard lined with outdoor cafes of all kinds. Most of them have several large flat screen tvs that have been showing the European Cup soccer championships. The most magnificent one has a screen that's about 10 feet wide and super high-def. Last night I had fish tacos at a Mexican place last night that were delicious.
I'm thinking of doing a day trip to either Montenego or Bosnia. They're both very close to Dubrovnik. My big decision now is where to watch Croatia vs Spain in the group of 16 knockout round tonight!
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Now In Dubrovnik
Just arrived via ferry from Korcula. Did I mention that Korcula is Marco Polo's hometown? Also did I mention that the catamaran ferries have seatbelts?
I hit 8 out of 10 top destinations without seeing this article and word has it that Krka is a poor mans Plitvice anyway. Granted I didn't get off the ferry in Hvar because I was told it was fancy and expensive.
http://www.touropia.com/best-places-to-visit-in-croatia/
I hit 8 out of 10 top destinations without seeing this article and word has it that Krka is a poor mans Plitvice anyway. Granted I didn't get off the ferry in Hvar because I was told it was fancy and expensive.
http://www.touropia.com/best-places-to-visit-in-croatia/
Friday, June 17, 2016
What Could Go Wrong?
I walked around some more this morning knowing there was a 5PM ferry to Korcura. I found a guesthouse there with a 9.4 booking.com rating (that's rarified air!) for €37 and booked it.
I had a decadent afternoon drinking the local Croatian beer which is delicious. A little after three I set out to get my pack from the storage kiosk and buy my ferry ticket. What could go wrong? It was sold out. I had another beer and thought about what to do next. My second trip to the ticket office confirmed that there was no standby.
So I called the 9.4 guest house and the proprietor, Helena told me to go to the ferry and call her from there. I arrived at 4:55 and told her it was mobbed and totally sold out. She told me to get on the boat and give my phone to a deckhand. I have no idea how it happened but I'm writing this post from that ferry! It's a raucous scene because Croatia is playing Czech Republic in the European soccer championships. Big flat screen tvs are are common as good wifi here and the ferry boat is no different. It's a motorized catamaran and the 2.5 hour, 55 mile trip takes 2.5 hours.
I had a decadent afternoon drinking the local Croatian beer which is delicious. A little after three I set out to get my pack from the storage kiosk and buy my ferry ticket. What could go wrong? It was sold out. I had another beer and thought about what to do next. My second trip to the ticket office confirmed that there was no standby.
So I called the 9.4 guest house and the proprietor, Helena told me to go to the ferry and call her from there. I arrived at 4:55 and told her it was mobbed and totally sold out. She told me to get on the boat and give my phone to a deckhand. I have no idea how it happened but I'm writing this post from that ferry! It's a raucous scene because Croatia is playing Czech Republic in the European soccer championships. Big flat screen tvs are are common as good wifi here and the ferry boat is no different. It's a motorized catamaran and the 2.5 hour, 55 mile trip takes 2.5 hours.
Zadar To Split
Yesterday when I left Zadar the weather was overcast for the first time since I arrived in Croatia. Busses leave for Split every hour so I tracked down a laundromat on the way to the bus station, washed my clothes and started to get caught up on this blog. Even the laundromat had wifi. What's country!
There was tons of road construction on the way into Split so the trip took close to three hours.
Trip Advisor is gold. I stopped at a bar once I got into town and found a very unique guesthouse. Diocletian Palace was built in the third and fourth centuries and some of it still survives. It's the undisputed highlight of Split. There is a small guest house, just three rooms in one of the surviving sections. Actually it's in the most famous and well preserved part of the original entry to the palace. At the top of a three story spiral staircase, the room was modern and spacious. A/c and of course, wifi. I felt like a rock star walking out of it. People looked at me like I must be Diocletian's relative. Yeah it set me back €45 but Golden Gate Rooms was worth it.
Split itself is a unique place teeming with bars and cafes. And tourists. Charming as it is I've learned not to stay too long at any of these places unless I go on a proper excursion. So thev plan was to take a ferry from Split to the the island of Korcura the next day - today in fact! I'm all caught up!
There was tons of road construction on the way into Split so the trip took close to three hours.
Trip Advisor is gold. I stopped at a bar once I got into town and found a very unique guesthouse. Diocletian Palace was built in the third and fourth centuries and some of it still survives. It's the undisputed highlight of Split. There is a small guest house, just three rooms in one of the surviving sections. Actually it's in the most famous and well preserved part of the original entry to the palace. At the top of a three story spiral staircase, the room was modern and spacious. A/c and of course, wifi. I felt like a rock star walking out of it. People looked at me like I must be Diocletian's relative. Yeah it set me back €45 but Golden Gate Rooms was worth it.
Split itself is a unique place teeming with bars and cafes. And tourists. Charming as it is I've learned not to stay too long at any of these places unless I go on a proper excursion. So thev plan was to take a ferry from Split to the the island of Korcura the next day - today in fact! I'm all caught up!
Three Nights In Zadar
After discovering the Sea Organ and Sun Salutation I sat on the wall to reflect on how glad I was that I didn't just hop on the next bus to Split (more about Split later). It was just before 7AM and it the weather was perfect. As I sat there, two lovely young women in sun dresses were walking along the embankment. The only thing better than a lovely young woman in a sun dress is a lovely young woman taking off her sun dress and jumping off the embankment into the water for a swim.
I knew then that Zadar was a special place. On a hunch I took out my phone and went to 'wifi settings'. Yup. Free wifi all over Zadar. From there I pretty much followed my nose into the heart of Zadar. After breakfast I found a place to stay in the heart of town for €37 a night and wandered around until 11:30 when I could be let in.
Like most of the smallish Croatian cities I've been to, there is a charming old part of town surrounded by some modern sprawl. The heart of Zadar is a 9th century church that was built alongside the ruins of a Roman forum. My cheapo room was in a perfect spot in the middle of the old city.
Ive been staying in 'guest houses' in Croatia. They're like pensiones in Spain in that the rooms are good, with a/c and wifi but there is no front desk so you have to coordinate with the owner to be let in. I can't imagine why anyone would pay double the price to stay in a proper hotel.
I realized another benefit of the Dalmation coast over Istria; it's a lot cheaper. Maybe because it's harder to get to from mainstream Europe. I'd say Dalmatia is about 2/3rds the cost of Istria. So anyway I decided to stay there for a couple of days.
The second day was kind of a waste - but a cheap kind of a waste I guess. Just more walking around for the most part. I was thinking about moving on when I read Robbie's message about Plitvice Park. It turns out that Zadar is the perfect place to visit it from. The organized excursions cost €75 and include a guide, transport, entry to the park (which is about €25), breakfast and lunch. The tourist office suggested I take a bus by myself and pay the fee, saving me €30 but I needed to socialize a little so I did the excursion and I'm glad I did.
The park is stunning. I guess it's a rare phenomenon that results in pools of crystal clear water that continually cascade into one another. Apparently the geology results in mineral deposits that define the pools into miniature lakes. Depending on the time of year and the weather, waterfalls form, promoting the cascades and further cleansing the water. I've never seen anything like it. Some of it almost looks man made.
To get from one part of the park to another you have to take a boat. Our guide told us we'd be taking a boat from the lower lake to the upper lakes. I pictured some sort of an uphill lake.
Anyway, thanks Rob! Not only did he read the inflight magazine but somehow remembered the name of the park. I'm very impressed. As Jill would say, what ya guy!
I knew then that Zadar was a special place. On a hunch I took out my phone and went to 'wifi settings'. Yup. Free wifi all over Zadar. From there I pretty much followed my nose into the heart of Zadar. After breakfast I found a place to stay in the heart of town for €37 a night and wandered around until 11:30 when I could be let in.
Like most of the smallish Croatian cities I've been to, there is a charming old part of town surrounded by some modern sprawl. The heart of Zadar is a 9th century church that was built alongside the ruins of a Roman forum. My cheapo room was in a perfect spot in the middle of the old city.
Ive been staying in 'guest houses' in Croatia. They're like pensiones in Spain in that the rooms are good, with a/c and wifi but there is no front desk so you have to coordinate with the owner to be let in. I can't imagine why anyone would pay double the price to stay in a proper hotel.
I realized another benefit of the Dalmation coast over Istria; it's a lot cheaper. Maybe because it's harder to get to from mainstream Europe. I'd say Dalmatia is about 2/3rds the cost of Istria. So anyway I decided to stay there for a couple of days.
The second day was kind of a waste - but a cheap kind of a waste I guess. Just more walking around for the most part. I was thinking about moving on when I read Robbie's message about Plitvice Park. It turns out that Zadar is the perfect place to visit it from. The organized excursions cost €75 and include a guide, transport, entry to the park (which is about €25), breakfast and lunch. The tourist office suggested I take a bus by myself and pay the fee, saving me €30 but I needed to socialize a little so I did the excursion and I'm glad I did.
The park is stunning. I guess it's a rare phenomenon that results in pools of crystal clear water that continually cascade into one another. Apparently the geology results in mineral deposits that define the pools into miniature lakes. Depending on the time of year and the weather, waterfalls form, promoting the cascades and further cleansing the water. I've never seen anything like it. Some of it almost looks man made.
To get from one part of the park to another you have to take a boat. Our guide told us we'd be taking a boat from the lower lake to the upper lakes. I pictured some sort of an uphill lake.
Anyway, thanks Rob! Not only did he read the inflight magazine but somehow remembered the name of the park. I'm very impressed. As Jill would say, what ya guy!
Getting to Zadar
pula was such a strange place. I stayed in a room above a furniture in a modern office park. It was there that I had a Phone related panic attack. Croatia uses the same kind of electricity as the rest of Europe (except you England! You always have to be different. Drive on the left, £, your stupid electrical plugs. Boy I hope Scotland Scexits the U.K. Aand joins Europe. But where was I? Yes, My phone problem in Pula.) but in Pula, my phone went haywire and wouldn't charge. Whether I was in my room, in the lobby of the furniture store or at a bar downtown, the phone displayed an error message saying that the charger didn't meet Apple's standards and it wasn't charging. Okay, dead phone. Big deal, right? Not when you have to get up at 4:45 to catch a flight to Zadar! The one day that I really needed my alarm and my battery wouldn't charge. When I was at the train station in Milan, for some reason I bought a €12 small battery booster pack, and guess what? It charged - even in Pula!
Anyway, that was a long story. Taxi came at 5, plane left at 6:00 and landed 25 minutes later. I hopped on a bus into town and started walking into town which is about 20 minutes from the bus station. I was not impressed. I randomly took a route that was parallel to the water but not on it. I knew I was nearing the end of the peninsula where the old town is and started hearing an eerie sound coming from the embankment. It struck me that the sound was in sync with the pattern of the waves hitting shore and I remembered reading about a piece of landscape artwork in some exotic sounding place that created harmonic tones from the waves of the sea. It was in fact Zadar. I was suddenly impressed. The sea organ was built as part of a project to reclaim and improve the waterfront at the northern tip of Zadar. The installation includes another, visual piece called Salutation to the Sun. SttS is a big (20 yards?) circle of solar panel that does nothing during the day but lights up in different colors and panels based on the wave activity. Together these two things are amazing.
Anyway, that was a long story. Taxi came at 5, plane left at 6:00 and landed 25 minutes later. I hopped on a bus into town and started walking into town which is about 20 minutes from the bus station. I was not impressed. I randomly took a route that was parallel to the water but not on it. I knew I was nearing the end of the peninsula where the old town is and started hearing an eerie sound coming from the embankment. It struck me that the sound was in sync with the pattern of the waves hitting shore and I remembered reading about a piece of landscape artwork in some exotic sounding place that created harmonic tones from the waves of the sea. It was in fact Zadar. I was suddenly impressed. The sea organ was built as part of a project to reclaim and improve the waterfront at the northern tip of Zadar. The installation includes another, visual piece called Salutation to the Sun. SttS is a big (20 yards?) circle of solar panel that does nothing during the day but lights up in different colors and panels based on the wave activity. Together these two things are amazing.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Croatia
Croatia is not part of the Schengen Agreement and that means time spent here doesn't count toward the 90 out of every 180 day European visitation rule.
From Trieste I took a bus to Rovinj, the most convenient location within Croatia. As Jill explained, the border crossing between Slovenia and Croatia is old school. It used to happen between all European cities. The bus stops at the Slovenian side of the border where an agent boards to stamp you out of the E.U., the bus pulls forward 20 yards where the Croatian agent boards to stamp you into the country.
Rovinj (or Rovigno as Italians call it) was Italian until the end of WWII. Although the town is very nice, looking back I stayed there too long. It is on the Istrian peninsula, which juts down west of the mainland and once you get south of Rovinj there is only one more city, Pula, before the end of Istria. You pretty much have to go to Pula not because the Roman amphitheater is so impressive (it is) but because mass transit doesn't go anywhere else. Rovinj seemed inexpensive while I was there. I paid €42 / night for a small studio apt in the heart of the old town. Only once I got to Zadar did that seem pricey. But expense wasn't the reason my stay was too long; it just was. There's not enough to do in any of these towns to spend more than a night or two unless you're taking day trips.
Anyway after three days I went to Pula. Great Roman amphitheater and great transportation off of Istria but that's about it. The next morning I got up at 4:45 to catch a 6:00 flight to some place called Zadar. All I knew about Zadar was that it was on the mainland and that it had an airport.
From Trieste I took a bus to Rovinj, the most convenient location within Croatia. As Jill explained, the border crossing between Slovenia and Croatia is old school. It used to happen between all European cities. The bus stops at the Slovenian side of the border where an agent boards to stamp you out of the E.U., the bus pulls forward 20 yards where the Croatian agent boards to stamp you into the country.
Rovinj (or Rovigno as Italians call it) was Italian until the end of WWII. Although the town is very nice, looking back I stayed there too long. It is on the Istrian peninsula, which juts down west of the mainland and once you get south of Rovinj there is only one more city, Pula, before the end of Istria. You pretty much have to go to Pula not because the Roman amphitheater is so impressive (it is) but because mass transit doesn't go anywhere else. Rovinj seemed inexpensive while I was there. I paid €42 / night for a small studio apt in the heart of the old town. Only once I got to Zadar did that seem pricey. But expense wasn't the reason my stay was too long; it just was. There's not enough to do in any of these towns to spend more than a night or two unless you're taking day trips.
Anyway after three days I went to Pula. Great Roman amphitheater and great transportation off of Istria but that's about it. The next morning I got up at 4:45 to catch a 6:00 flight to some place called Zadar. All I knew about Zadar was that it was on the mainland and that it had an airport.
The Great Thing About Venice ...
You can get the Venice Experience without ever leaving the train station. After a nice train ride of less than two hours, I walked around Venice for an hour and decided to continue on to Trieste. Venice is obviously a very unique and nice place but it was over-run with young tourists. It's exactly as I imagined except maybe smaller. I'm embarrassed to admit that I never really knew that it was an island until I got there! I'd like to go to Venice in the off-off season. Dead of winter.
Back on the train, headed for Trieste. Fairly recently, Lonely Planet named Trieste the most under rated city in the world. It's nice. Given the prices I think it's rated plenty high. It's an interesting location though. Barely still in Italy. A couple of minutes from Slovenia.
Back on the train, headed for Trieste. Fairly recently, Lonely Planet named Trieste the most under rated city in the world. It's nice. Given the prices I think it's rated plenty high. It's an interesting location though. Barely still in Italy. A couple of minutes from Slovenia.
Lake Garda with Silvia
Remember Silvia from the Via de la Plata? Before she went home she kept saying that I should visit Italy before I left Europe. I wasn't sure whether this was an invitation or just a suggestion but she subsequently committed to 'showing me around a little'.
From Milan I took a train to Brescia where she picked me up at the station. We stopped back at her apartment in Salo to introduce me to her boyfriend Andrea and her cats.
She then drove us pretty much all the way up the western coast of Garda, stopping at some of the little villages along the way. It was a stunningly beautiful day and the scenery was as well. As far north as Garda is, the west coast is known for its lemon groves. I think it's been that way since the Roman era because some of the ruins are ancient structures for supporting lemon trees.
There is a road off that western coast of Garda that was the location for a famous James Bond car chase scene in Quantum of Solace. A winding one lane, but TWO WAY road with hairpin turns. Silvia is an excellent driver. I honestly don't know that I would drive it myself unless I had to. The view from the top is spectacular. I wish this damn Google blog platform didn't make it so hard to attach pictures.
Most restaurants in Salo are closed on Mondays so for dinner, Silvia and Andrea took me to there third favorite pizza place in all of Salo. It's called Adamello and is attached to a car wash. I'm not the pizza connoisseur that some of my friends are but this might be the finest pizza I've ever had. We split three of them and the favorite was one with some roasted vegetables and pancetta sprinkled with a little grated Parmesan.
The next day Silvia and I went on a hop on, hop off boat tour of the lower half of Garda. The highlight of this trip was Simione, at the tip of a long peninsula extending from the middle of the south part of the lake. There are the ruins of an ancient palace that was built around the year zero. i was coming down with a cold (forgot to take my vitamin C) so I was really tired after the boat tour. Silvia drove me back down to Brescia where I'd take a train further east the next morning.
From Milan I took a train to Brescia where she picked me up at the station. We stopped back at her apartment in Salo to introduce me to her boyfriend Andrea and her cats.
She then drove us pretty much all the way up the western coast of Garda, stopping at some of the little villages along the way. It was a stunningly beautiful day and the scenery was as well. As far north as Garda is, the west coast is known for its lemon groves. I think it's been that way since the Roman era because some of the ruins are ancient structures for supporting lemon trees.
There is a road off that western coast of Garda that was the location for a famous James Bond car chase scene in Quantum of Solace. A winding one lane, but TWO WAY road with hairpin turns. Silvia is an excellent driver. I honestly don't know that I would drive it myself unless I had to. The view from the top is spectacular. I wish this damn Google blog platform didn't make it so hard to attach pictures.
Most restaurants in Salo are closed on Mondays so for dinner, Silvia and Andrea took me to there third favorite pizza place in all of Salo. It's called Adamello and is attached to a car wash. I'm not the pizza connoisseur that some of my friends are but this might be the finest pizza I've ever had. We split three of them and the favorite was one with some roasted vegetables and pancetta sprinkled with a little grated Parmesan.
The next day Silvia and I went on a hop on, hop off boat tour of the lower half of Garda. The highlight of this trip was Simione, at the tip of a long peninsula extending from the middle of the south part of the lake. There are the ruins of an ancient palace that was built around the year zero. i was coming down with a cold (forgot to take my vitamin C) so I was really tired after the boat tour. Silvia drove me back down to Brescia where I'd take a train further east the next morning.
Milan
it ends up that Silvia did graciously invite me to see Garda Lake, where she lives. First though, I had to fly to Milan so I figured I'd spend a day or two there, see the Duomo, etc. as luck would have it, Maria - a fellow regular at Cesca back on the upper west side - was there.
I flew Ryanair into Bergamo airport. Ryanair is a great product. No frills but they do exactly what they say they're going to do. My only negative experience with them was my own fault. I booked online via my phone and somehow reserved a flight for two weeks later than I meant to. Jill and I had discovered a great new (to us) Indian restaurant on Goya near her apartment and that's where I discovered my blunder. I decided to kick the can of fixing that until the next morning and was relieved to learn that the error would only cost me €50.
Anyway, I took the bus from Bergamo to Milan but not without incident. The bus crashed. Some dope stopped halfway into the right lane while apparently deciding whether to hit Burger King in the rest area. The dope pulled into BK but left a car behind it, who also had to stop, exposed to traffic. We slammed into that car pretty hard, but the woman who was driving seemed okay. Not so much for her car though. We waited about 45 minutes for a replacement bus to come, and the national police came onboard to photograph all of our ids. Then we were on our way.
I walked around Milan for the rest of the day and Maria invited me to meet her and two Italian guys for aperitivos (kind of like Italian tapas hour I guess) at a happening place called Radetzky. She told me their names were Gabriele and Stevie and for some reason I thought they were going to be woman. They're really nice guys who run with a fancy crowd. Stefano (Steveie) kept pushing for us to go with them to his friends apartment to sing karaoke. Not my bag, and I tried hard to bow out gracefully but eventually relented.
The apartment was pretty near the center of town and I knew the apartment was gonna be great when after pushing the elevator button to the top floor, the door opened into a nook in the living room. There were about 15 people there - some of them English speakers. It was the nicest apartment I've ever been to - only beating Daves old place because of the elevator and the terraces. The living / dining room is about 20 x 50 feet with sliding glass doors that open onto a 15 foot wide wrap around terrace. There are big trees and all sorts of plants and flowers and small lounge area with couches and chairs, all beautifully lit. On the far side there's a view of the Duomo and a staircase that goes up to another terrace with more trees, more Duomo views and a humungous hammock under a tent like thing. So after a couple of drinks, Stefano and Gabriele fired up the karaoke machine and got at it. They were fantastic.
This was the ultimate batchelor pad. The host, Christian had a bunch of guitars, a small electronic drum kit, flip-down piano keyboard and a violin: I guess for impromptu jam sessions. They played from about 10 til 1:30. Maria only introduced ourselves to Christian on the way out to thank him for letting us hang out. Super nice guy. Great night thanks to Maria who seems to attract very nice and interesting people!
I flew Ryanair into Bergamo airport. Ryanair is a great product. No frills but they do exactly what they say they're going to do. My only negative experience with them was my own fault. I booked online via my phone and somehow reserved a flight for two weeks later than I meant to. Jill and I had discovered a great new (to us) Indian restaurant on Goya near her apartment and that's where I discovered my blunder. I decided to kick the can of fixing that until the next morning and was relieved to learn that the error would only cost me €50.
Anyway, I took the bus from Bergamo to Milan but not without incident. The bus crashed. Some dope stopped halfway into the right lane while apparently deciding whether to hit Burger King in the rest area. The dope pulled into BK but left a car behind it, who also had to stop, exposed to traffic. We slammed into that car pretty hard, but the woman who was driving seemed okay. Not so much for her car though. We waited about 45 minutes for a replacement bus to come, and the national police came onboard to photograph all of our ids. Then we were on our way.
I walked around Milan for the rest of the day and Maria invited me to meet her and two Italian guys for aperitivos (kind of like Italian tapas hour I guess) at a happening place called Radetzky. She told me their names were Gabriele and Stevie and for some reason I thought they were going to be woman. They're really nice guys who run with a fancy crowd. Stefano (Steveie) kept pushing for us to go with them to his friends apartment to sing karaoke. Not my bag, and I tried hard to bow out gracefully but eventually relented.
The apartment was pretty near the center of town and I knew the apartment was gonna be great when after pushing the elevator button to the top floor, the door opened into a nook in the living room. There were about 15 people there - some of them English speakers. It was the nicest apartment I've ever been to - only beating Daves old place because of the elevator and the terraces. The living / dining room is about 20 x 50 feet with sliding glass doors that open onto a 15 foot wide wrap around terrace. There are big trees and all sorts of plants and flowers and small lounge area with couches and chairs, all beautifully lit. On the far side there's a view of the Duomo and a staircase that goes up to another terrace with more trees, more Duomo views and a humungous hammock under a tent like thing. So after a couple of drinks, Stefano and Gabriele fired up the karaoke machine and got at it. They were fantastic.
This was the ultimate batchelor pad. The host, Christian had a bunch of guitars, a small electronic drum kit, flip-down piano keyboard and a violin: I guess for impromptu jam sessions. They played from about 10 til 1:30. Maria only introduced ourselves to Christian on the way out to thank him for letting us hang out. Super nice guy. Great night thanks to Maria who seems to attract very nice and interesting people!
Monday, June 13, 2016
40 Years of Shadows
Did I tell you about my 60km day?
I've been pretty busy since then. I finished the Camino Primativo on Wednesday night and our "40 years of shadows" celebration began with Dave's arrival on Friday morning. Bob got to Madrid on Sunday and when Frank landed on Tuesday morning we hopped in our renta-car and headed north to Pamplona for lunch. We ate at Cafe Iruna - one of Hemingways favorite places. After lunch we drove the last hour & a half to San Sebastián. Hats off to Frank. Granted he was able to sleep on the plane but he put in a full day and night. He was losing steam until we walked past a bar on the way home that A) served bourbon and B) had a bartender who looked like Bernie Sanders. Somehow that combo revitalized him.
The next morning we took a cab to Irun and walked the 26km back to San Seb. I was in great walking shape and I'm pleased to report that the other shadows handled that walk - which was one of the more challenging of all the camino days I've experience - with no problem. Bob did it wearing jeans. He regretted that. It was muggy!
We had a stand-up steak dinner with tomatoes and peppers at Bar Nestor that night and the next day we drove to Castro Urdiales & stayed at another AirBnb.
We had a very good but very expensive lobster paella for lunch. The fact that it was almost 300€ didn't bother us as much as the fact that we didn't know it would be anywhere near that.
Anyway, we walked back to the apartment and hung out at a local bar called 'Donde Fran'. We had some fun with that!
To me, the highlight of the trip was the next day when we drove to Somo beach, took a cab about 15km back east and walked back to Somo via the coast. I was pretty thrilled to take my three best friends on my two favorite days of Camino walking.
Somo is totally beachy. It could be on the cape. But from there it's about a half hour ferry ride to the heart of Santander. We lucked out and scored four €50 rooms at a phenomenal hotel right on the harbor that usually go for €200 each.
We made it home by about 3pm the next day, had lunch at Asturian, down the street on Menorca and then, thanks to Jill, enjoyed the other highlight of the trip. Real Madrid played Atletico Madrid for the European championships in Milan. Jill reserved the bar area at Stefanos and invited a surprise guest - Rosa! Real won on penalty kicks after 30 minutes of overtime so we got a full experience!
That was it. The next morning the other shadows left for home. I think we all agree that the 40 Years of Shadows trip was a big success!
I've been pretty busy since then. I finished the Camino Primativo on Wednesday night and our "40 years of shadows" celebration began with Dave's arrival on Friday morning. Bob got to Madrid on Sunday and when Frank landed on Tuesday morning we hopped in our renta-car and headed north to Pamplona for lunch. We ate at Cafe Iruna - one of Hemingways favorite places. After lunch we drove the last hour & a half to San Sebastián. Hats off to Frank. Granted he was able to sleep on the plane but he put in a full day and night. He was losing steam until we walked past a bar on the way home that A) served bourbon and B) had a bartender who looked like Bernie Sanders. Somehow that combo revitalized him.
The next morning we took a cab to Irun and walked the 26km back to San Seb. I was in great walking shape and I'm pleased to report that the other shadows handled that walk - which was one of the more challenging of all the camino days I've experience - with no problem. Bob did it wearing jeans. He regretted that. It was muggy!
We had a stand-up steak dinner with tomatoes and peppers at Bar Nestor that night and the next day we drove to Castro Urdiales & stayed at another AirBnb.
We had a very good but very expensive lobster paella for lunch. The fact that it was almost 300€ didn't bother us as much as the fact that we didn't know it would be anywhere near that.
Anyway, we walked back to the apartment and hung out at a local bar called 'Donde Fran'. We had some fun with that!
To me, the highlight of the trip was the next day when we drove to Somo beach, took a cab about 15km back east and walked back to Somo via the coast. I was pretty thrilled to take my three best friends on my two favorite days of Camino walking.
Somo is totally beachy. It could be on the cape. But from there it's about a half hour ferry ride to the heart of Santander. We lucked out and scored four €50 rooms at a phenomenal hotel right on the harbor that usually go for €200 each.
We made it home by about 3pm the next day, had lunch at Asturian, down the street on Menorca and then, thanks to Jill, enjoyed the other highlight of the trip. Real Madrid played Atletico Madrid for the European championships in Milan. Jill reserved the bar area at Stefanos and invited a surprise guest - Rosa! Real won on penalty kicks after 30 minutes of overtime so we got a full experience!
That was it. The next morning the other shadows left for home. I think we all agree that the 40 Years of Shadows trip was a big success!
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