Author: HigmanTravels

How many favorite places can we have?! This little gem at the south end of Croatia was so amazing. The old walled off city is truly a wonder. I’m so amazed that people still live in these walled cities. Records show that the city was founded in the 7th century by the Greeks. Excavations also revealed a Byzantine basilica from the 8th century. Between the 14th century and 1808, Dubrovnik ruled itself but paid annual tribute to the Sultan of the Ottomans.

During the 1991 war, the old city suffered a lot of damage. One map we saw basically had 90% of the city suffering damage. They did an amazing job of rebuilding the city and now it’s thriving with activity. We walked the perimeter of the wall. It was a hot hot day but we got to see so much. The views were so beautiful.

The crazy candy store!

The girls and I took the cable car up the mountain to get a bird’s eye view of the area. It didn’t disappoint.

Today was another amazing day.  We went across the border into Bosnia & Hercegovina. We were in the Hercegovina area in the south of the country.   I learned so much about the country that I wasn’t aware of.  Talking to local people definitely brings more awareness and information.  Our guide from Croatia was, of course, Croatian. We then had a local tour in Mostar who is from the city.  It was interesting to hear from both perspectives.

We crossed the border and got our passports stamped (yaaayyyy!).  We started out in a little town called Pocitelj.  It’s right on the river Neretva and was developed by the Ottomans.

Anita, our local tour guide in Mostar, gave us insight into the war.  She told us that things were actually pretty good under Yugoslavia.  Because under Tito, even though they were “communists” he did not align himself with the Soviets and so were not dependent on them.  Yugolavians were free to travel, unlike the other countries under the Soviet control.  Ethnic groups were free to live peacefully together because the state did not recognize religion.  So, everyone was “equal” – or equally bad, as she put it 🙂  But, everyone – all ethnicity – were living together, marrying and working together.

When Milosevic wanted a greater Serbia, that’s when the conflict started.  During and after the war, friends were torn apart based on ethnicity. Many people who inter-married left the country so that they could still stay together.  Anita is married into a “Muslim” family, though they were not practicing Muslims.  Many churches and mosques were destroyed during the war.  You can still see the bullet holes in many of the buildings that still stand.  It’s a reminder every day of what took place.  But, the city has come back and many buildings were rebuilt.  We are so lucky to have not been through war in our own land.  Bosnian food is mostly meat and grilled veggies. I love that they have eggplant everywhere!  Yummy.   They are most known for this minced meat that is made of beef and lamb.   It’s the specialty in Mostar and many other places throughout the region but we are told that the ones in Mostar are the best.  As you will see we had a lot of food.  The national plate is a big portion of different types of meat.  We ordered the meat plate for 3.  We barely made a dent and took most of it home.  This meal of the national plate, veggie plate, a grilled chicken plate, pasta, drinks, and my beer cost about US$60.  Definitely a reprieve after higher costs of the rest of our travels.  One distinction we did not know.  Bosnians are people from Bosnia – any religion, any ethnic group.  Bosniaks are Bosnians who are Muslim.

Our last stop was the Kravica water falls.  It was beautiful and the water is definitely cold, again.  We actually didn’t know that we would be swimming this afternoon so didn’t have our swim gear.  But, it would have been nice to dip into even the cold pool today as it was very very hot.

 

 

Croatia continues to impress us.  Today we traveled to Krka National Park.  We first drove through the town of Kastel just outside of Spit.  This is where they think the Zinfandel grapes originated.  There was talk of some DNA testing being done and they traced the grapes back to Croatia.  Croatia has a long history of wines — Romans were here for some 400 years.  One of my favorite wineries was started by a Croatian – Grgich Hills.  We did not realize there were so many famous Croatians: Nikola Tesla, Goran Visnjic (the actor from ER), and even the MP3 player was created by a Croatian.  I’ve been drinking a lot of beer because it’s been so hot but I now feel like I need to try some wine.  There’s a long history of good wine making here in Croatia.

We first stopped in Sibenik.  It’s a small town on the Adriatic coast with some 200 islands just off the town.  Sibenik is the first city that was actually founded by the Croats.  It was tossed back and forth between Venice, Byzantium, and Hungary.  We learned quite a bit today.  Our tour guide told us that this town center is like many others in Europe, where city hall is across from the church/cathedral.  This was to balance the power between the church and the state.  Aha, I didn’t now that!  Apparently, the Cathedral of St. James was built for some 100 years by three different architects.  One architect was an actual native son, Dalmaticus.  He placed some 71 sculpted face all around the cathedral, but represented men, women, children, different classes of people, etc., to say that in the eyes of God, everyone is equal.  It was a very progressive thought for that time period.   It also represents the fusion of Gothic and Renaissance.

Next, we were off to Krka National Park.  I’ve seen many pictures of the cascading waterfalls and was really looking forward to swimming in the blue stream.  It was beautiful and all the waterfalls did not disappoint.  Justyne didn’t want to go in the water and we didn’t really have a safe place to put our stuff so I stayed with her while Justin, Jayden, and Jevyn went into the water.  I was going to go when they were done but when the three came back and told me how cold the water was, I passed.  It was beautiful and I enjoyed drinking my 2 beers hanging in the shade.  Enjoy the view! (NOTE:  I’m having trouble captioning some of this stuff.  I’ll try to get back to it later.)

This is an old mill they found and they got it working to show visitors.

Another boat day. Today we headed to THE Blue Lagoon.  All the blue lagoons look blue to me but this is supposed to be THE one.  I cannot imagine what this place looks like during the high summer season.  It felt crowded already and it’s September.

Before we went swimming we stopped at Trogir, about 17 miles off the coast of Split.  We took a smaller boat today so it was bumpier.  Nevertheless, the views were so awesome that I didn’t mind.  Trogir is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It seems like all the places we’ve been this whole trip has been UNESCO sites of one sort or another.  Lucky us, though, right? We only got to spend an hour in Trogir so it was spent looking for bathrooms and waiting for our pancakes, which are crepes.

Then it was off to the lagoon.  I’m now trying to take screen shots of where we are.

The highlight of the day was going to Maslinica for lunch.  It is the cutest little village but, again, I cannot imagine this place in the summer.  The dock must be wall-to-wall boats. We had a nice lunch then headed back on the boat to head home.

We still have a lot to see so stay tuned!!!

 

We took a drive yesterday down the coast, just to check out what some of the rest of the country is like.  Of course, we are beach people so we headed out to find some nice beaches.  There is a little bit of disappointment for us because we are used to CA sand beaches.  It’s rocky here.  We had to buy water shoes, and even then it’s difficult to navigate.  It’s great for just jumping off a boat in the middle of the seas, though, and we love doing that.

We drove down as far as Brela.  We drove down narrow roads and were stopped by a family moving their things into a hotel/apartment.  The manager of the place was nice enough to let us park at the hotel so we walked down with all our beach gear to a beach.  We did swim for a while then decided to walk down the promenade to have an early dinner.  Hmm. I guess we didn’t take a lot of pictures this day.  Too busy swimming.  But, the sunset was beautiful and we had a full day of fun.

Of course we had a nice meal but I had left my wallet in the car, which was about a 20 minute walk…uphill.  Poor Justin had to walk up and back to bring me the wallet.  In the meantime, the waiter gave me another glass of beer to pass the time!!

 

I sat down to write this two days ago but our internet was giving me issues.  So, here is the post from a couple of days ago….

We took our first excursion today to the Blue Cave and Hvar.  It was definitely awesome.  The kids all had great fun!  Gotta tell you, though, the water is not as warm as I thought it was going to be.  Actually, it was really cold.  But, it was very very clear and beautiful.

The speed boat trip took about 1.5 hours to get to the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Blue Lagoon.  There was a 2 hour wait when we got there so the guide took us to the other side of the island to swim.  It’s the shoulder season and we still waited 2 hours.  I cannot imagine what it’s like during the high seasons.  They say more than 2,000 people go through the caves in a day during high season.  That is crazy.

We went to a Monk Seal cave.  Justin and I heard different things about this cave.  I heard that the seals only slept in the cave at night and they go out to sea to play during the day.  Justin heard that they used to do that but they are no longer around.  Either way, it was really fun.

Then we headed to the Blue Cave.  It did not disappoint.  We did wait a little bit once we got on shore but just long enough to go to the bathroom and get a drink.

I have to say that I don’t think these pictures do it justice.  I think I’ve said that before about pictures, especially in Scotland. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We really wanted to swim in there but it’s not allowed.  They take about 10-12 people per small boat into the cave.  One boat after another was lined up to go in.  Like I said, 2,000 people per day!!

That was so so cool.  We then headed to a little lagoon but it was too crowded and we all decided that we’d rather go elsewhere.  So we did.  And, this was so fun.  We just stopped the boat and jumped in!!  Croatia is not really a good place to snorkel or scuba.  There’s no coral, well, at least no colorful coral, and the fish are small and usually kind of plain. But, the water is so clear and beautiful.  You almost feel bad pee-ing in it. 🙂

Even though it wasn’t very colorful, the kids loved seeing the fish swimming around.

We then went to Hvar to have a late lunch.   Very cute town, again.  I’m going to have to come up with some additional adjectives.

Jevyn zonked out on our way back to Podstrana.  We were lucky to have such a nice skipper to allow him to sleep down there.

 

 

Finally sitting down to do my Croatia post.  We got here exactly a week ago.  Getting into Zagreb was very interesting.  It’s definitely a developing country.  All I heard from my friends who visited here was how amazing it was so I had really high expectations.  I hate having high expectations.  You’re almost always let down. So, I had to temper my expectations a little bit because you do not want to be let down.  It sucks.

We were lucky enough to have a rental car brought to us.  “We need a big car!  There are 5 of us with lots of luggage.”  That’s our canned line.  And, theirs is usually “it’s really big!”  We know better now what they mean by big.  We have a Ford C-Max.  It’s probably really big to them because it seats 7.  But, for the Higmans, its never big enough.  Haha.

We literally filled this car to the brim with bags on our lap we headed down to Podstrana, just south of Split.  My butt was numb from sitting in the middle back seat.  Justin did a great job navigating his way though almost the length of Croatia and we found our Airbnb without any trouble. Our hosts, Zana and Mladen welcomed us with a shot of a homemade concoction.  I did not have it but Justin said it burned his stomach. A nice 4 bedroom 2 bathroom unit on the ground floor of a 3 story building.  This is our home away from home for the next month.  It’s really a nice place.  The owners did a great job and Justin did a good job of finding it.  We are going to be very comfortable for the next month.

The next two days were raining on and off so we just relaxed.  Lots of trips to the mall to get necessities.  The most interesting thing I saw was this at the grocery store. It’s an egg vending machine.  And, they sell eggs by 6 or 10, not 12.  That was interesting to us.  Maybe they don’t have a word for a dozen.  We don’t in Chinese so maybe they don’t here either.  Ten does make better sense to us, too.

We are about a 5 minute walk down the hill to the beach.

Since we are traveling for a year, we don’t have exciting things happening every day.  So, I’m going to just post when interesting things happen.  At some point the kids will start posting…I hope.

We took a trip into Split and visited the market and an old fort.

Most of you know that Justin does not like to fly.  So, we planned to travel the entire year without flying.  We started out on Amtrak from Omaha->Chicago->Boston.  Then, on a Holland America ship from Boston->Canada->Greenland->Iceland->Norway-> Netherlands.  I loved this part of the trip.  We got to see places that many haven’t been to (like Greenland) and found the places, people, and culture very interesting.  Then, train/ Chunnel from Rotterdam->Paris->London.  Rented a car in London and drove all over Scotland, down to Cornwall, Stonehenge, to Liverpool.  Train/Ferry from Liverpool to Dublin. Bus tours throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland.  Ferry/Train back to London.  But, this last one was a long one.  London->Paris via Chunnel.  Then we had to walk (with all of our big bags) from the Paris Norde station to the l’Est station, about 10 minutes.  Paris->Munich with a stop/transfer through Karlsruhe (very tight connection but at least they had escalators).  Spent the night in Munich.  Munich->Zagreb via stop/transfer via Villach (where there were no escalators or elevators).  Remember, 3 of our suitcases weigh over 60 pounds.  So, up and down the stairs we go with our luggage. When we got to the Zagreb station, also no escalator.  So, again, up and down with our luggage.  By this time, we were all over it.  I think if we had gone straight through without the transfers it would have been fine.  And, two days on a train was quite enough for all of us.

Justyne’s sleeping schedule has been off since we arrived…actually, since we were on the ship.  She sleeps all day and is awake all night.  We thought we finally had her caught up then we were on the train for 2 days so she slept both days.

It seems romantic to travel on the trains through Europe but I think that’s when you’re in your 20s and without 5 big pieces of luggage and 3 teenage-ish kids.  And, traveling on trains seems easy but there’s no direct trains anywhere, or at least anywhere we were going.

Moral of the story, unless you have no luggage and no kids, it’s better just to get there, i.e. fly!!!  There’s a reason the airplanes were invented…they’re faster and more direct!! We will be doing a lot of touring while in country so we don’t need to see things via the trains.  And, the kids were all asleep through the train rides anyways!

So, we will see how much longer we can go without flying.  We rented a car in Croatia so Justin will be driving throughout the country.  He didn’t realize it was a stick shift until we got in to go.  The guy had delivered our car to the train station and he was long gone by the time we figured this out.  So, here we go with a manual transmission.  I thought this poor little car was going to die with all of us and 300 pounds of luggage but it got us to our house outside of Split in Podstrana.  Our house is great and it’s all on one floor, Yaaayyy!!!! and has 2 bathrooms! Yaaayyy!  We are taking our first day to unpack and get settled.  Then, we will have to figure out everything we want to see.  There is a lot here and we don’t want to miss anything (but of course we will have to miss something).  I bought some Croatian beer to try out so I’m happy.  I’ll let you know which one I like.  I’m not a big beer drinker but it’s warm here and there’s nothing like a cold beer on a hot day!  Cheers! Zivjeli!

Kids are all registered for school so we will start as soon as all the materials arrive, hope in a week or so.

 

 

 

 

Today was a travel day ( actually yesterday as I’m writing this on Saturday, August 25).

We took the ferry again from Dublin. This time I got us a room! Much better in terms of comfort but we had to buy our own food. Definite trade off but everyone slept and, at this point, that was more important. It was, after all, an 8 am sailing.

Then we got on a Virgin train and, this time, without having to change trains went all the way to London. They did provide drinks and snacks in first class but it definitely wasn’t as comfortable as our train from Paris to London on the Eurostar. But, better than cramped space in coach. Our luggage had to be placed in the back of the train because it was so big but when we got off the train we were all turned around so couldn’t find where it was. We also added about 5 cars along the way so we were very confused. Alas, our luggage was rescued just before the train took off again!

We are in the Marylebone area. And, of course, it started to rain as we were walking home from the grocery store. Good news is that we have more than one bathroom so it’s a step up from Dublin.