Where are all the Dalmatians?

We didn't see any dogs, but boy did we see cats! Everywhere in Croatia and Montenegro. They looked to be in pretty good shape so they must be well enough fed by tourists and locals alike.
We made a quick trip south through Croatia deciding to take a more leisurely visit on the way back up. We stayed one night in Opatija on the coast in north Croatia. It used to be a famous destination for Austro-Hungarian and Italian aristocracy. You can tell from the grand hotels in this bay that it was quite a happening place. Still is.... and it has the prices to match. We stayed overnight at the Savoy hotel where Marcus met a Slovenian entrepreneur who helped set us up on Skype. The two of them hung out in the lounge all evening while I relaxed in our room.

The next morning we drove up into the mountains and unexpectedly encountered a snow storm. It was slippery - we came across a car with high performance tires who couldn't make it up a ramp. We drove with bated breath hoping we'd make it to a lower elevation before it got really bad. (We are such wusses without our SUV and snow tires!) It did clear up then as we headed back down to the coast towards Split. The US and EU have invested a lot of money in Croatia in the past few years and much of this has funded the building of a new highway that runs nearly the entire length of the country. It stops just past Split and if you are driving to Dubrovnik, plan on 3.5 hours of a winding, twisting road along the coast. It was especially fun for us since we were doing it in the dark and it was raining! I (Kristine) was pleased that it was dark out, as it meant I couldn't see the shear drops off to my side of the car. Anyhow, we stayed comfortably behind a truck with bright running lights, using him as our guide.

In Dubrovnik we found a 5 star hotel called Hotel More for a very reasonable 80 Euros. It was a great place. I was very excited because the bathroom had a bath tub and the last soak I had was in.... I don't even remember when (I think Casablanca at the Sheraton). Well wouldn't you know it - everything was perfect in our room, except they didn't have hot water. We complained, but they informed us that it was normal. I guess they are mostly a summer destination when you don't need hot showers and baths, but still! Marcus had a pretty cold shower the next morning. It was an amazing spot on the coast though, and we noticed that their high season rates were pretty reasonable. We would recommend it - the only disadvantage is that it is a little ways away from the old town.

The old town - Dubrovnik - was really impressive. It's been criticized as having turned into a tacky tourist destination with no local flavour or soul, which is probably true, but nonetheless, it's a fantastic place from a visual and architectural perspective. We spent about 2 hours exploring the Main Street Placa and some of the very narrow side alleys.

I have to say, that despite all the rain we've had during our travels, we have certainly lucked out with sun whenever we planned to be in a city or town for one day. Monaco was sunny, one day in Nice was sunny, Venice was sunny, Dubrovnik was sunny. The days in between it rained.

Kotor Montenegro was only about 2 hours from Dubrovnik and we had a nice leisurely drive (it was inland and away from the coast). Here we noticed a very similar landscape to Tuscany - farming fields with those tall evergreens (cypress?) that are the typical image when imagining the Italian countryside (to me these look strange - they look like ornamental trees that we would put in a highly manicured landscape and here they grow naturally but haphazardly!) Marcus remarked that Italy and the Dalmatian coast would have been attached at one point in time and so not surprising that the landscape is similar. We had only a short delay at the border. We paid a 10 Euro eco tax for bringing our brand new fuel efficient car into the country. No doubt to make up for all the communist era death traps the locals drive.

If you look at a map of Montenegro you'll notice that along the coast it has an fairly large inlet vaguely in the shape of an lopsided "infinity" sign (no doubt there is a better way to describe it but that's the best I can do). Along the water edge there is development and behind that the mountains rise straight up - it makes for very dramatic scenery.

Kotor is probably the largest town on this inlet. It is an old walled city, situated at the foot of the looming mountains that completely surround Kotor Bay. The steep slopes do not support much vegetation, giving the surrounding area a barren, moon-like feeling (well what we imagine the moon to look like, kind of like Sudbury, Ontario), but nonetheless very beautiful.

One of many plazas in Kotor old town with mountain snuggled up behind it.

A view of Kotor from the fortress

The town is completely surrounded by an old fortress wall which reaches way up into the hills and it still has a moat. The Kotor city walls are more than 4 km in length and reach a height of 850 feet. We were enthralled by the drawbridge hardware - chains and counterweights - that still hung from either side of the gateway. We climbed the hundreds of steps all the way to the top to see the views of Kotor and the bay. I loved exploring the still existing stone buildings carved into the mountain side. I tried to imagine the "daily commute" of a defense soldier who would be stationed at the top keeping watch for invaders like the blasted Saracens! Don't worry - I am not too sure who they were either - suffice it to say, almost every early medieval power tried to capture this part of the coast. Still remaining, although overgrown with weeds, are the rooms where he would have lived - did he have his family up there with him? Was he provided a cook or did he have a lonely vigil eating stale bread and sausage for a week waiting for the next rotational guard to replace him? Behind the fortress (we climbed through a window) we visited a lonely little church. There was no one else about and it was very windy. Clouds moving swiftly overhead obscured the top of the mountain and I felt a little like Dorothy caught in a strange land in a past life. Flying monkeys would not have outside the realm of possibilities I thought, but thankfully we didn't see any!

We stayed in a very nice apartment right in the old town. Just a step away from a bakery that had cherry turnovers for breakfast! We also tried a "burek" a greasy layered pie with clotted cheese (or ground meat), but it was very heavy so we stayed away from that particular delicatessen. Our shutters opened up right onto a main alleyway, and we felt a little part of the community as we could hear people walking by chatting and kids playing. (This would have driven us nuts at home, but here it was all part of the experience!)

We made most of our meals at the apartment getting food supplies at the a small grocery store. Fruit and vegetables were limited. For fresh fruit, you had a choice of soft apples, moldy clementines or bruised bananas. The fruit was kept behind a counter and when we tried to ask for some bananas we got major attitude from the server. She in fact kicked hard at an empty box on the floor and started muttering. Not knowing what made her upset we retreated to the safety of the canned good section.

We spent most of the week relaxing in our cozy apartment reading and surfing the web. We drove 15 minutes up the coast to a town called Perast which used to be a prosperous city because it had preferential trading agreements with Venice (they paid no taxes). The town was renowned for their seamanship skills and the Venetians hired many of them to act as captains of their navel ships. It was a very quiet town at this time of year. We saw a mansion under renovation up on the hill and decided to explore inside when we saw that no one was there. I can only imagine that this place once belonged to a wealthy seafaring family. All three levels of the home had balconies and the marble balustrades were all new. The wife would have been able to look out any window to keep a constant lookout for the return of her husbands ship (hopefully with him on it!). Inside, the rooms were small and a bit awkward as they were essentially built into the side of the mountain. In one room, some of the vaulted painted ceiling remained. I wish we could find out more about the history of this dwelling - it was a romantic spot!

In a former life I think I was a black cat in Dubrovnik!

Link to web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/20081127CroatiaMontenegro

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming
The geese are getting fat
Can you please spare a penny for an old mans hat
If you haven't got a penny, a half penny will do
And if you haven't got a half penny
God bless you!

Leaving Italy (Padua and Venice)

After Rome, it was time to head up and over to the Dalmatian coast.  We contemplated heading further south in Italy to visit Naples and the Amalfi coast, and maybe even Sicily, but decided that it might be better to save that for a separate trip in a warmer season. It was hard to point the car north though, when all we wanted to was get as far south as possible for the chance to reach some sun.

Our friend Giorgio recommended going to Padua (or Padova) and this is where we decided to base ourselves in order to visit Venice, which is about 30 minutes away.  Padua is a small city and has been mostly rebuilt after the WWII, but it still has some neat sites to check out including the famous Giotto frescoes at the Cappella degli Scrovegni.  The story goes... in the 13th century a rich nobleman had a chapel built and dedicated to the holy virgin to save the soul of his father who was a usurer.  A usurer you ask?  Uh huh!  Usury is the act of charging interest.  And in medieval Europe this was considered a mortal sin (basically, you were expected to accept your lot in life and "work" was integral to being human - it was god's will, so to make money without actually working for it was an insult to God).  And so many nobleman decided to trade a life in hell (in fact the father mentioned above is mentioned in Dante's Inferno) in order to advance the lot of their families.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the chapel but we did capture a few in the Baptistery, which were done in a similar style by Giotto's contemporary, Giusto de' Menabuoi.

By the time we were through with both of these sites, I felt pretty confident being able to recognize the main scenes from the New Testament such as: the Last Judgement, The Adoration of the Magi, the Resurrection, Massacre of the Innocents, etc...   If it were me, I'd get pretty tired telling the same old story over and over again (but that's just me).

We also checked out the September 11th monument designed by Daniel Libeskind, which was a little depressing, but we cheered up after buying new slippers at the market.  Nothing like a bit of shopping and cosy toes to pick up one's spirit. 

Although we didn't intend to visit every single church in Padua, we did because we kept thinking that the next one on the map was Saint Anthony's Basilica.  By the time we reached Saint Anthony's a full service was in process, but many people were milling about so we felt fairly inconspicuous as tourists.  Marcus lined up to visit the tomb of Saint Anthony which was very busy with people praying with the palms pressed onto his tomb and pinning pictures of saved loved ones onto the wall.  Apparently he is invoked for the recovery of things lost and by those who have been saved from harm. Of course we couldn't miss seeing the relics of his lower jaw and vocal cords!  All in all, Padua was a nice little surprise. 

From here we drove to Venice on a wonderfully sunny but cold day.  We parked just in the outskirts and took a boat bus to the San Marco square.  Despite the cold, Venice was packed.  We strolled about for a few hours, had a nice meal in a restaurant that we would never be able to find again.  We asked some people where they got takeout hot chocolate and they kindly guided us the shop.   We were getting cold and so made our way back to the car.   Five days later, Venice would experience the worse flooding in 20 years, with tourists having to wade through thigh-deep water.  Ick!

More pictures of Padua and Venice:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/20081126PadovaVenice#

All roads lead to Rome

Too many pictures of Rome: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/Rome#

It was inevitable that our European road trip would include Rome, given the famous saying that all roads lead there. And so, after enjoying Florence, we hit the road for a three hour drive south. Entering Rome, we were immediately engulfed by a traffic jam. We observed the scooter-riders, so accustomed to effortlessly weaving through the thick Roman traffic, become evermore frantic in their efforts to penetrate the backed-up cars, squeezing their way between the stopped vehicles, brushing fenders, mirrors, and elbows as they went. The car drivers seemed oblivious, chalking up yet one more scrape as the cost of doing business in the city. Somehow, we remained unscathed.

With the help of GPS Madge, we made our way to our rental apartment, which we found located in the midst of a huge construction project to build a new metro line. Strangely, this detail had escaped mention on the apartment advertisement...fortunately, we were not disturbed for the duration of our stay, although the romance of Rome was a little hard to immediately discern amid the construction hoarding and heavy equipment taking over much of our street.

We decided to go for a quick evening walk to get a lay of the land. Our first find was that of Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome (i.e the Pope). Pope Clement V abandoned it in 1309 in favour of transferring the official seat of the Catholic Church to Avignon. When the Avignon papacy ended, this church was deemed inadequate (due to fires and deterioration) and the Popes eventually moved to the Vatican, where they remain to this date. The basilica features a cloister displaying old architectural artifacts, six papal tombs, striking sculptures of the twelve apostles, and in the baldacchino over the high altar (at center in the photo), a reliquary said to contain the heads of Saints Peter and Paul. Really.

We arranged for a private tour with an American ex-pat, who had completed his Masters in ancient history here and stayed on to work as a guide (who says a degree in history can't get you places). That morning we caught the bus (conveniently, at our front door) for ride to our meeting place. We boarded and offered the driver our fare, but as the bus moved on, only received a terse "no ticket here." We shrugged...and spent the rest of the ride exchanging guilty looks and watching out for fare inspectors. With some relief, we disembarked at our destination, and were quickly met by our guide, Rich.

Then began an intense, four-hour whirlwind tour of the Roman forum, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum, and other nearby sites. Trust me, you will have even less patience reading an account of this tour than I have in writing it, so suffice to say that we saw a lot of really, really old stuff. Piles of rocks dates back thousands of years. Lots and lots of ancient history. Google is your friend, if you want more.

Another notable sight included the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (below left) built on the site of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The floorplan was said to have been laid out by a miraculous snowfall in the year 352. Really.

We also enjoyed the Pantheon, a magnificent ancient temple in Rome that was later converted into the church of Santa Maria ad Martyres. Dating from 125 AD, this is the most complete ancient building in Rome and one of the city's most spectacular sights (below).

 

 

 

Of course, Rome would not be complete without a visit to the Vatican, including the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's basilica, and St. Peter's square. We took a tour of the Vatican Museums that included the Map Room (with painted frescos of the world known and an ornate ceiling), various sculptures, tapestries, and works of art. Below, our tour group takes in the Belvedere Torso, said to have acted as a model for Michelangelo's works. The tour culminated with a visit to the Sistine Chapel, a surprisingly small space made that much cozier by the presence of a throng of other tourists. The small space amplified the cacophony of whispers, coughs, and exclamations, and was punctuated periodically by the custodians' sharp "shushes" and terse "no pictures!" It didn't feel particularly holy.

We then took in St. Peter's basilica, an overwhelmingly large and impressive space that dwarfs even the immense crowds that regularly throng about in its nave and arcades. Below, is a shot of the dome. Our last evening was spent with our new friends Rocco and Donatella, who graciously (despite the short notice), whipped up a fantastic meal that completely satisfied our cravings for a home-cooked meal. Thanks guys, and Ciao!

Pictures from Florence

We didn't have time to do all we wanted in Florence.  Guess we are going to have to go back! ;-)

Our favorite church was the one called San Miniato el Monte.  We went back during the evening to take in the Gregorian chants and church service (in Italian).

http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/20081115Florence#