Day 47 (Thursday) Split

Woke to bright sunshine for the first time in 10 days!! Not that we've had such bad weather - mostly just cloudy with occasional drizzle and the odd storm mostly at night but it was great to see bright sunshine and clear skies. Paradoxically, we went underground for our first excursion of the day!

Split (at least the old part of it) is built within the walls of Diocletian's Palace - much of the wall structure, gateways and some of the internal buildings/temples/courtyards/squares remain. Today we went underground to see the foundations of the palace which directly mirror the layout of the original buildings above. Quite amazing to see the way they put so much into just the foundations- it is like actual rooms with all the archways etc and the original sewerage pipes (interlocking stone). Given the size of the palace it was little wonder that took most of the morning!

Headed then for the "green" markets just outside the Eastern wall - a beautiful market area amongst shady trees where they mainly sell fruit and vegetables, flowers, meat (e.g. heads of piglets!!), as well as craft etc. Fascinating place - a couple more purchases to help with the excess baggage. Outside the western wall there is an antiques market which had and the extraordinary variety of stuff - great spot if you were a collector of just about anything.

We then had one of the most extraordinary experiences  - Andreja had said yesterday that the hotel would like to give us a "special gift" - a tour around Split. Fine, we said (and thank-you). It was arranged for this afternoon so we came back at about 3 and the guide turned up. The "guide" turned out to be the man in charge of the Unesco Heritage organisation and all restoration work within the city of Split!! Bevan of course has the MOST extraordinary knowledge of both the history of the city but also the architecture and was able to take us to all the key points of the city and explain in complete detail what it used to look like and how it all fitted together. Just a most extraordinary and unique experience and we still can't work out how or why it all happened!! Can't even start to give all the info here but wait till we get home!!!

trivia: Diocletian was a far worse persecutor of the Christians than any other Roman Emperor. He had thousands put to death - which makes it ironic that his mausoleum later became a cathedral dedicated to one of those he matyred!

Pictures:
*Roman sewerage pipes - in the palace cellars
*"Diocletian's cats" - in the palace ruins
*part of the "green markets"

Day 46 (Wednesday) Split

Doing the blog a bit late (and a bit weary!) after a big day - part in Split and part in Supetar on the island of Brac. Terrific day though - more surprises as usual.

Breakfast was the first surprise. The assistant manager at the "Palac Judita" is a guy by the name of Andreja - we'll have to tell you about Andreja when we get home but he is quite hilarious and as camp as...... - but very helpful and full of great travel advice and makes a terrific scrambled eggs! Good way to start the day.

Collected our free "Split Pass" ('cause we are here for more than 3 nights) and headed for the Cathedral - quite unusual as it is just the converted mausoleum of Diocletian - quite small. They have a treasury display which includes hand-written scriptures and chanting books from the 600's. They also have a bell tower so guess what - we climbed it!! Only 70 metres high but THE most scary tower we've climbed. The steps go outside for a bit and then are just a steel ladder which is inside the tower but the tower is quite open and the ladders hug the interior perimeter so there is not much between you and the outside nor the inside space. Numerous climbers decided to call it quits part of the way up - it WAS a bit off-putting! However, we survived and had a great view of Split from up there.

There had been a couple of showers in the morning but as the sky seemed to be clearing we went back to Andreja to see if an island trip was possible. He recommended Brac so we headed off and caught the 12.30 ferry to Supetar. Brac has apparently been listed as one of the 10 best islands in the world to live on and we could see why - it is absolutely beautiful. Checked in to the Info centre and they gave us a walking guide which we followed for the afternoon. Had just the most enjoyable a'noon - made all the better as we could see a massive cloud descend on Split while we enjoyed a fine afternoon!!

Caught the 6.00 ferry back to Split (it has to be the slowest ferry in the world!) but enjoyed a complete end to end rainbow and a beautiful sunset as well as coming into Split at nightfall with all the lights - how romantic can you get??? Fantastic travel agent.

Another great bonus this morning was listening to a quintet of male singers performing in the Diocletian dome - magnificent harmonies and just a magic sound (we bought the CD!). Split is really a beautiful spot and we're just loving it. We do the guided tour tomorrow. Another recommended local family restaurant dinner tonight - the food again just beautiful, Oh dear, there will need to be some discpline when we get home........

trivia: Diocletian was the only Roman Emperor to retire - he bacame sick so planned his retirement and commenced the palace here as a "retirement home" It was finished in 350AD exactly on time for him to retire here from Rome. Some Senators later tried to convince him to return to office but he refused.

Pictures:
*The Split fish markets
*half-way up the bell tower (looking down at the bells)
*our a'noon tea spot at Supetar ("Supetar" is Croatian for St Peter)

Day 45 (Tuesday) Crikvenica to Split

As said before, no two days are the same!! Think we were about the only guests at the "Grand Hotel" as breakfast was pretty sparce and we were outnumbered by staff members - their season is almost over apparently. Woke to heavy rain but it settled down as we set off and we just had occasional drizzle and later one good shower before we arrived in Split. Would have been great to have bright sunshine for our drive down the coast but it was still incredible.

The coast road of Croatia must be one of the great drives of the world. Massive and multiple mountain ranges hug the coast so the road sits on high cliffs with views acrosss the Adriatic  to similar mountainous islands (with wonderful names like KRK) -also with verticle cliffs. Its a bit like the Great Ocean Road on steroids! The islands are often connected to each other by massive bridges.

In the inlets are little fishing villages, some of which appear way below the roadway while for others you drive down and through - just the most beautiful trip imagineable. Unfortunately the coast road from Zadar south to split appears to have been replaced by a motorway (more tolls) so we couldn't do the last 100k right along the coast - got sent on a boring motorway, but although the scenery was comaratively ordinary there was some fun as the speed limit is 130kph!! Where is the Passat when you are allowed to enjoy such travel - and not a policemen or speed camera in sight!!!  ...........and me in a non turbo diesel Fiat.

Into Split by about 4. Our hotel is actually within the walls of Diocletian's old palace walls which is a Unesco heritage listed site (no cars) so we had to park outside the heritage area and notify the hotel who sent and electric cart to pick us up. Had abit of trouble finding the spot in the myriad of tiny narrow streets but it was worth getting here - Split is just beautiful. We are here for 3 days so you will hear more about it, but we had a wander around the palace and waterfront and it is VERY impressive in every sense of the word. Croatian waiters have a lot to learn if they are going to seriously challenge on the tourism front - some a really rude so we've already worked out where we are NOT going!

Our hotel is, however the best yet - beautiful room, all beautifully appointed and great staff. Think we'll be OK. On the recommendation of  Marija the hotel manager, we went to a small family run fish restaurant for dinner - lovely fresh tuna.

trivia: Last one on Venice - there are an amazing166 islands making up Venice. The flooding which occurs on spring tides is not caused by the ocean rising - it is caused by Venice sinking! they found some years ago that the sinking of many wells for water lowered the water table and the city began to sink - since the banning of wells, the sinking has ceased but they still have the problem - huge floating barriers are due for completion in 2014 and this (hopefully)  will help

Pictures:
* Coastal fishing village - Jablanac
*The Dalmacian coast
*entry to the "Palaca Judita" (our hotel)

Day 44 (Monday) Venice to Crikvenica

You just never cease to be amazed in this travelling gig. The most incredible scenery and day's travel unknowingly awaited us when we sadly left Venice (in the rain) this morning - poor old Venice looked quite miserable as we headed (200metres) to the railway station from our lovely hotel and our wonderful breakfast host and master coffee maker Ranaldo (self-proclaimed "The Michaelangelo of coffee")

Train journey (2 hrs) from Venice to Trieste was quite interesting - more beautiful flat farmland, irrigation canals, grapes, corn etc and cute Italian farmhouses and vilages - and another area of marble quarries and cutting plants. Very fertile all the way - the Italian rural production must be (should be?) huge.

Arrived in Trieste on time and had a bit of trouble tracking down the "maggiore" car-hire office. Two unpleasant surprises - "No we don't have any GPS and no we don't have any maps" This is car-hire Italian style. Also had car full of food scraps, paper, someone's hat!!! Found a nice shop in the station where I purchased a good road map of Croatia and then we set off following the car-hire fellow's direction "Croatia is that way" Fortunately we navigated our way out of trieste without getting lost (Yeah!!!!)  and eventually went through Croatian passport control (no problem) so we knew we were on track.

This is the MOST amazing country. The road system is unbelievable. We travelled on a superb motorway nearly all afternoon and never had another vehicle closer than about 100 metres. Massive viaducts across fijord-like inlets, high mountain ranges, through tunnels, one of which must have been 4-5 km long, past beautiful little villages, forests, green farmland - it is just the most picturesque place. We went down the West coast, then across through the Istra Peninsula and again down spectacular coastline to the village of Crickvenica where we are  staying in a beautiful new hotel (The Grand) with everything that opens and shuts, Very friendly and helpful manager - learning a bit of Croatian - which is not easy!!!

Only problem occurred when we arrived at a toll point (what do you do???) but the system is that you just get a ticket at first then pay whenenever you exit - that was about 8 euro after about 2 hrs travelling!

Interesting introduction to Croatian dining tonight. Went down to the local "Domino's" restaurant - ordered the chef's special - Turkey and mushrooms plus soup plus the usual red house wine, but the neighbouring group got going and their behaviour was terrible - no one else in the restaurant could hear themselves talk - hope that isn't an indication of what's instore! Food was beautiful though and we got a free schnapps at the end (compensation???)

Off to Split driving down the Dalmatian coast tomorrow. We have a Fiat "500" diesel which must be the ugliest car ever built - inside and out - but is OK to drive and doesn't use too much fuel (definitely not turbocharged though!!!)

Cheers all

trivia: We had a first at breakfasts in Venice - Coffee flavoured yoghurt!!! Sounds terrible (especially on cornflakes and muesli) but was actually OK. Only the Italians would come up with that idea!

Pictures:
* the famous Ranaldo - the "Michaelangelo of coffees"
*The Island of Krk (correct spelling) - from our hotel balcony - weather is actually fine here but just looks a bit crook.
*how many taps does a shower need??? - not sure what they're all for!

Day 43 (Sunday) Venice

A wet and cold Sunday in Venice would be pretty miserable, right? No, not at all - we've actually had a lovely day.

Being Italy, we were of course woken with the sound of church bells - and there are a LOT of churches in venice!! Not much musicality with the bells here - just a lot of noise really. The lovely Sabrina at the front desk mapped out the day for us and we headed off towards the "Accademia" where the Leoardo da Vinci exhibition is on. A couple of churches and other museums along the way and then we were to end up at the "Santa Maria della Salute" church which is acros the Grand Canal from St Mark's Square.

Had one of those magical touring moments when we arrived at a church near the "Casa del Goldoni" museum - we were completely on our own (it WAS a wet and cold morning) and walked into the church and the organist was obviously practicing for the 11 o'clock mass - just the most beautiful music in a very beautiful church and we had it all to ourselves! Just able to sit and listen to the most beautiful music.

Did the Goldini museum (he was famous as a puppetier) with displays of antique puppets. The rain continued and we called into the da Vinci exhibition - models of many of his "inventions" - hard to believe how many machines he either developed or drew for later generations to actually see working - such as helicopters and submarines.

Unfortunately the huge "Santa Maria" Basillica was closed so we took the easy way out and caught the water-bus back to base where we had a lunch beside the canal and watched the incredible amount of water traffic going past. An appropriate lunch for the day - spaghetti/seafood (sounds incompatible but is actually beautiful and becomming a favourite) and a bottle of red wine - all beside the Grand canal in Venice!! - doesn't get much better.

Our time in venice is over - off to Croatia tomorrow after a train ride to Trieste to pick up the car. Venice certainly lives up to its reputation for being absolutely unique and  beautiful.

An unforgetable experience!!

Trivia: Leonardo da Vinci (as we all know) invented some amazing machinery but did you know that the list includes: THE BICYCLE!!!; ball bearings, the chain; the machine gun, the dredge, double hull boat, flywheel; parachute; glider; screw gearing, gearshift, floodlight; piston, camwheel - and the list goes on!

Pictures:
* emergency services Venice style - the firestation
* - an ambulance
*Leonardo's bicycle - complete with chain/sprokets

Day 42 (Saturday) Venice

The weather forecast was only half right - we woke to cloudy skies and light rain but by 10  the rain had stopped and it was just cloudy and cool for the rest of the day.

By the way, this blog will probably be late in being posted as was yesterday's - the hotel wi-fi and my tablet just won't talk to each other for some reason - yesterday's was eventually uploaded at a wifi cafe where we had lunch. Apologies.

We had planned a "museum" day in anticipation of bad weather so basically did that but took a lovely walk through the non-touristy back blocks of Venice which was very interesting.  We went to the natural History Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Archeological Museum - each housed in magnificent old villas that were worth visits in themselves.

The Archeological Museum is housed in the buildings around St Mark's square so we also joined the queu to see the Basillica which dates from circa 400B.C. when St Mark's remains were apparenty brought to Venice. The interior is quite dark and uninspiring but the exterior is quite beautiful but you can't come to Venice and not see inside St Mark's really. The Museum itself was very interesting - a section of it was the former Royal Palace - The Empress Elizabeth from the Hapsburg dynasty visited here a couple of times (it was then part of their empire) - the famous "Sissi" from our visit to the Schonnberg Palace in Vienna and it was fascinating to see the similarities in the way the rooms were decorated - all to her preferred style, and she only visited here twice!! Fascinating displays of ancient books (1400's), coins (1300's) the venetian navy as well as the usual array of beautiful marble and stone statues. The armoury with its amazing displays of the development of firearms was also fascinating.

The backstreets of Venice are really worth a look - for a start you are away from the thousands of tourists but you also get a view of everyday life in Venice with the delivery boats, the rubbish removal boats, the ambulance boats - for every vehicle we see on our roads, Venice has an equivalent boat - even saw a fire-boat!

The museum of Modern Art was "interesting" - just as well the building it is housed in was interesting in its own right!

Obvious problem with the tides - some canal steps and doorways were partly under water as we went around this morning and St Mark's Square was partly flooded - there are walkways stacked everywhere for when the square really floods. Cheers all - we'll see what tomorrow - our final day in Venice - brings!

Trivia: Saw Rodin's "Thinker" in the art museum today - there are two versions - the one we saw today and a bronze one in Paris!

Pictures:
* fruit&vege delivery Venice style -
*backstreets - the date on the building on the right was 1345!
*we've seen some narrow streets, but this one has got to be the narrowest - hardly space for two people to pass!

Day 41 (Friday) Venice

Every day brings new surprises and today it was the turn of the Doge's Palace to provide the incredible.

Firstly though the breakfast at the "La Locanda di Orsaria" hotel (hope we don't get lost and have to remember the name!!) is worth mentioning, mainly for the wonderful old gentleman host who treats you like family and looks after you for breakfast - and beautiful cakes, pastries etc also help of course. Again our hotel is great and ideally located for getting around Venice.

The weather is threatening to get a bit damp tomorrow so decided to do St Mark's square this morning to get that in just in case. Beat the crowds and got into the square and then the Doge's Palace, which, as indicated above was a big (pleasant) surprise. The outside is quite familiar of course, but I never realised the magnificence of the interior. We spent the whole morning there, marvelling at the beautiful rooms, most of which were meeting rooms for the various assemblies that governed Venice for four or five centuries. The main assembly room is the largest room in Europe - it held a weekly meeting of over 2000 - each noble family of Venice sent a representative - it also has the world's largest painting on canvas across the end, No photos allowed (but again i-phones etc get away with it) - these rooms were much more impressive than Versailles - more tastefully decorated and beautifully panelled - but still lots of 18crt gold etc on the ceilings.

We have purchased a three day ferry ticket so after a very nice lunch a few streets back from the square we headed for the island of Murano which, as we now realise, is the centre of manufacture of Venetian glass. Another great museum showing the development of glass manufacturing from the first century as well as shop after shop of beautiful glass - lighting, jewellry, vases,etc etc - has to be seen to be believed.

Ferry back to St Mark's Square, then another one all the way down the Grand Canal with its magnificent waterfront villas before heading for dinner at the recommended "Trettoria della Madonna's" seafood restaurant near the Rialto Bridge. Oh dear Oh dear, sorry to relate, this has to have been our best seafood meal anywhere - we had to queu to get in and when we left, the queu went half-way down the laneway. It is a Michelin star restaurant and I've never seen so many white-coated waiters in one place - the service was brilliant. Bit posh? Not really - we had a three-course meal with beautiful wine and coffee - 100euro - we've paid more in Maryborough! Any prospective visitors to Venice, I'll give you the directions!!!

Really pleased also that we have sorted out the water-bus system - it works really well and we've used it constantly. Another navigation achievement!  Cheers all - rain is still forecast for tomorrow and the next day so museums might get a workout.

Trivia: The Doge's Palace was commenced in the 9th century but has experienced numerous fires and reconstructions over the centuries, Most of the current rooms were completed in the mid 1500's.

Pictures:
*The Doge's Palace with gondolas
*The famous "Bridge of Sighs" - links the palace (where the trials were held) with the jail next door (thus the name)
*The "golden staircase" inside the palace