Dubrovnik

This is the 2nd destination of three in the Croatia itinerary. The details related to planning for this destination and the others on the Croatia circuit are described in The Croatia Travel Planning post.

If Croatia is the gem of the Balkans, then surely Dubrovnik is the gem of the Adriatic. Deeply steeped in history, Dubrovnik was once a city state – from the 14th through the early 19th centuries, vying with the likes of Venice for control of commerce in the Adriatic. The city is surrounded by medieval walls built over hundreds of years, which have never been successfully breached, although many sieges have been attempted over time. The recent city’s history witnessed the siege of the Serb and Montenegrin armies after the declaration of Croatian independence in 1991. A small number of buildings within the ancient city walls were destroyed, but many more were damaged. Restoration has since been completed, but they did leave one building with war damage to bear witness to the deeds of that era.

 

Arrival

It is under one hour flying time from Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, to Dubrovnik – a scenic flight as well with a window seat, with views of the blue Adriatic, and its island dotted coast for most of the trip. Transiting through Dubrovnik’s regional airport on an early Tuesday afternoon could not have been easier, especially with only carry-on luggage in tow. A picturesque 30 minute taxi ride following the Adriatic coast, and we arrived at the outskirts of Dubrovnik, above the city by several hundred feet where most of the residential parts of this area were found. It was early June, the skies were a deep, cloudless blue. The view of the old town and the Adriatic were beautiful from street level. The excitement was building just stepping out of the taxi.

 

Settling in

It took the taxi driver a turn or two to find the location with the address I had given him. We were on a street north of the walled city, and significantly uphill from the walled city. The farther north, the further uphill went the terrain. So what we had were homes and apartments accessed by stairwells at street level, which stretched to hundreds of steps going up to various homes in the hills. Navigating which stairwells lead to which address was difficult even for the taxi driver, a native of the area.

Ascending the 100+ stairs to get to the apartment from street level with luggage in tow was an appetite building, aerobic workout. And I kept in mind that we’d have to do this every time we returned to the apartment, which we had for 5 nights. The good news was that I had to haul the luggage up the stairs just once.

The lovely apartment was booked through Homeaway. It was spacious, with all of the amenities needed for an extended stay – including a washing machine, and good working Wifi. But the true highlight of the apartment was the spectacular views of the city and the Adriatic from its balcony. It made climbing up all those stairs so worthwhile.

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Discovery Trek

The ancient city inside the walls was just stunning, with architecture dating back to the 17th century with the Dubrovnik Cathedral, and further back to the 16th century with the Saint Savior Church. Wandering around inside the walls was like meandering through history. The streets were clean, and lined by medieval architecture under a turquoise blue Adriatic sky – with a steady tourist throng ebbing into and out of the city.

Dubrovnik is a very popular tourist stop, and moreover a port of call for some of the largest cruise operators in the Mediterranean. It takes a little strategy to get an immersive travel experience within its ancient city walls. The best thing to do is simply avoid visiting during cruise ships’ ports of call. There are searchable published schedules with details on dates, times, and even the typical passenger manifest. Otherwise visiting either early in the morning, or later in the evening also tends to avoid the cruising throng.

Medieval Walls

A morning walk on the medieval city walls was the first truly immersive travel experience for me in Dubrovnik. Under perfect weather, with blue Adriatic skies, and the kind of sunshine that requires good polarized sunglasses, we slowly meandered the wall circuit. It was a beautifully memorable experience.

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Game of Thrones Tour

My wife and I are big fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones, and we knew that Dubrovnik was a filming site for the series. Dubrovnik is King’s Landing in the series. Some of the most interesting scenes filmed in Dubrovnik include the “Walk of Shame” at the Jesuit Staircase, St. Dominic Street was where many market scenes were filmed, The Museum Rupe as the exterior of Little Finger’s brothel, The Plo?e Gate was used as the entrance to the Red Keep, and The Rector’s Palace used in a Qarth episode. So with all of that personal interest, we took a multi-hour Game of Thrones tour with a local guide. I both enjoyed and would highly recommend such a tour for any fan of the series.

 

Lokrum Island

This island was visible from the balcony on at our apartment. It was an easy day trip from Dubrovnik with ferries departing frequently. It was difficult to resist an afternoon island excursion with the wonderful weather we were enjoying during the trip.

 

Mostar Side Trip

I had a rental car, actually a well appointed Audi A3, and wanted to add Bosnia Herzegovina to my countries visited list. I had read some good reviews in a travel guide I had previously used about Mostar, and decided to visit. It was a 2.5 hour drive each way, most of it through hilly, stark, scrub country with hardly any civilization between the Bosnian border and Mostar. Mostar itself was very compact, with a little shopping district surrounding its “old bridge.” The rest of the town was unremarkable and hardly worth the 5 hours round trip from Dubrovnik.

 

Kotor Side Trip

Further whittling away at countries not visited, we took a day trip to Kotor, Montenegro. This was big contrast to the relatively disappointing side trip to Mostar, as both the drive to get there was scenic along the Adriatic and Kotor Bay, and Kotor itself was a stunning location with great views over the water, and a wonderful little town to explore.

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Island Hopping

Because of the enjoyable short ferry ride to, and explorations of Lokrum Island earlier in the week, I decided I needed to get more water and island time. There are thousands of islands dotting the Adriatic coast, and there were plenty within an easy day cruise from Dubrovnik. So naturally we indulged, with the weather as cooperative as can be. We hit three islands, Kolocep, Sipan, and Lopud, spending a wonderful day on the water with lunch on board.

 

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Food Scene

Above 5

This appropriately named restaurant is atop a five story building in the center of Dubrovnik. We had a drink at a local cafe where our waitress highly recommended this restaurant for dinner. The views were grand, the menu upscale, and on the pricey side for Dubrovnik. The food was very good. We had the seabass carpaccio, and octopus confit for appetizers, pan seared mackerel and braised beef cheeks for our main course, followed by mango and raspberry coulis shared for dessert. It was an excellent dining experience and a perfect entree to the old city of Dubrovnik.

 

Kopun

This restaurant is in the center of old Dubrovnik, inside the city walls, on a lovely square at the top of the Jesuit Steps, overlooked by a grand church. We stopped here after a long day of exploration with hearty appetites. I started with a dozen of the local oysters, then we followed with grilled squid over Swiss chard and potatoes, pan fried fillet of seabass with crispy veggies, and we shared a green salad. Good seafood, very nice atmosphere overlooking the square. The service was good as well.

 

Panorama Cafe

This appropriately named cafe is what we found at the top of the Dubrovnik cablecar, which whisked us up to beautiful views of the Adriatic and the surrounding islands. We both had grilled squid with fresh veggies, and shared a green salad and grilled potatoes. The views were lovely, and the food was good. Service was a bit slow because of the volume of customers around sunset.

 

Restoran Teatar – Mostar

This was our meal in the center of Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina, overlooking its famous old bridge. We had a large lunch of grilled trout with potatoes and Swiss Chard, a hearty, fit for a lumberjack mixed grill with french fries, mustard on the side, and shared an interesting local mixed salad. This was nice stop after a long drive. The food was basic, but good.

 

Dubravka Cafe

This restaurant is not inside the walls of old Dubrovnik, rather it overlooks the Adriatic where the Game of Thrones Blackwater Bay episode was filmed. It was a like having a meal inside a picture postcard. We shared Dalmatian style mussels in tomato sauce, followed by grilled squid with veggies, and a mixed grilled seafood plate with veggies. The food was good, but we really paid for the views with dinner.

 

Konoba Roma – Kotor

This was our lunch stop in the beautiful city of Kotor, Montenegro during our daytrip visit. We started with a charcuterie and cheese plate, and grilled octopus with french fries and grilled veggies, and grilled squid with french fries and grilled veggies. And just to be sure we had our daily allotment of veggies, we had grilled plate of veggies to share. This was our fortification stop before climbing to the top of the walls of the ancient city fort, some 1360 steps above the city.

 

Konoba Jezuite

This restaurant was inside the walls of the old city of Dubrovnik, at the base of Saint Ignatius Church. This was our dinner stop after the long day on the road visiting Kotor, and climbing 1360 steps to its old fort walls. We split an order of mussels in red/white wine sauce, shared a cucumber, tomato, feta, and olive salad, then grilled trout with Swiss chard and potatoes, and grilled chicken breast a la Dubrovnik with potato croquettes. I never got tired of the local seafood. Basic, and very tasty.

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Dubrovnik. What an epic, memorable destination. The weather was perfect, the crowds on the thin side with cruise ship throng avoidance planning, the side trip to Kotor was spectacular, island hopping was enjoyable, the food was very good, and the people were friendly and spoke English well. I would go back to Dubrovnik to visit again, but would not recommend this destination as a cruise ship port of call – as you’re only way to visit. It would simply not have the same impact as spending several days taking in all of the sights.

 

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Find a Fabulous Apartment

Find a Fabulous Apartment

An immersive travel experience is achieved by being there like a local. This means selecting an apartment in a residential neighborhood as our home for our stay. An apartment allows us to have a sense of how the locals live by joining them – and living like they do for the duration of our visit. Living like locals, and behaving like locals is the best opportunity for an immersive travel experience.

The right apartment in a good residential neighborhood, where most places we’d like to visit are accessible by foot, is what we’re after. Even for someone with years of experience in apartment hunting, this exercise can feel like looking for a unicorn. It can be difficult due to a low property inventory at our chosen destination, possibly because we’re travel planning too close to our departure date.

The photo gallery below is a showcase for the quality of apartment to be found if we follow the rules I lay down in this post. This apartment was the complete top floor in a historically significant palazzo, comprising 1,800 square feet in the Cannaregio neighborhood of Venice. It had large bedrooms, multiple terraces with grand views, and was tastefully decorated with vintage antiques. The photos are laid out sequentially from outside entrance, to courtyard, to apartment interior, then to the views from the various windows and balconies. This apartment was found on Homeaway.com and was booked one year in advance of the travel. We would never find anything like this without planning well in advance. We spent a wonderfully immersive six nights at this incredible apartment.

Rule #1 – Start Early

You need to plan your travel well in advance in order to find the best properties available. All of the good ones get picked off early, leaving the procrastinator with the inventory that didn’t sell – essentially, the least desirable properties. Nine months to a year in advance yields the best apartments, and the best selections are generally gone inside six months. The smaller the destination, the lower the property inventory, the more important it is to plan well in advance. The best properties at the most desirable locations with great amenities like large square footage, and beautiful views can only be found if we plan well in advance.

Rule #2 – Choose the Right Location

Now that we’re planning well ahead, and we have the best possible inventory of properties to choose from for our destination, we need to focus on location. The reason that location isn’t rule #1 is because the properties at prime locations are depleted first. There simply would be no prime location inventory for the last-minute planner.

The prime location for an immersive travel experience is in the center of the old town. We want the center because we want to walk to most of the places we need to visit. Walking is part of the immersive travel experience. If we’re dealing with a modern city, the prime location would still be in its center, close to the points of interest for our target destination. Often times it takes research to determine the best location, no matter the type of destination – historic or modern, Rome or London, for example.

Research comes in many forms, and can be as simple as using Google Maps, especially the Street View feature to get the lay of the land. A virtual walk around to assess a neighborhood to see if it’s clean, walkable, residential, has restaurants/cafes nearby, and is a characteristic representation of our chosen destination. TripAdvisor forums are a great resource, relying on the feedback of a community of fellow travelers, but you need to ask the right question if no existing posts are helpful in providing guidance. Word of mouth is an excellent source of research should we be fortunate enough to know people that have paved the way previously. The destinations listed from the main menu of ImmersiveTravel.net all specify the preferred part of town for each post, and is an excellent resource. Other travel bloggers and vloggers can be good resources as well.

Rule #3 – Use Trusted Resources

HomeAway.com is my first choice for hunting down unicorn apartments for an immersive travel experience. It has good filtering capabilities to narrow down the inventory, including location – but missing are selections for property amenities like a view or balcony. Some of the best immersive experiences happen when we have a great view right from our apartment. HomeAway allows us to do a Google Street View from the map associated with a property – no separate Google Maps tab need be opened on your browser. HomeAway also has a well formatted amenities section which usually includes the square footage of the property. Selecting an apartment with a comfortable size is really important because we’ll never have an immersive travel experience living in a closet or shoe box for the duration of our stay.

Booking.com is my second choice for apartment selection, although their property inventory is not exclusively apartments, it does allow filtering to narrow the results to just apartments. Their filtering capability is the most comprehensive, and allows the selection of view, terrace, neighborhood, customer rating, and a vast array of other property features. Booking.com includes square footage in their property amenities section as well. They do have a map view of their properties, but Google Maps Street View directly from their property map is not supported. It’s necessary to cut and paste the property address into a separate Google Maps tab on our browser. Booking.com typically doesn’t have as many apartment properties as HomeAway for the same destination.

Airbnb.com is my third and last choice for apartment hunting because it’s simply the most difficult to use to find an apartment worthy of an immersive travel experience. Airbnb has the poorest filtering capability of the three, so it’s difficult to narrow the selection easily, which means it’s more time consuming to narrow down the choices. They do not have a well-organized amenities section for each property – they specifically exclude the property square footage, instead allow the property owner to enter a free-form description intended to lure customers to their property. They do not disclose the specific location of the property, so it’s not possible to do a street view inspection of the neighborhood and the surrounding area.

It is possible to use Airbnb effectively, but it is cumbersome and much more time consuming than HomeAway, and Booking.com. You have to deduce the approximate location of the property from the description supplied, or from the property photos. Then you need to ask the property owner the street name of the property address. The street name is usually something the property owner will share in a pre-booking email exchange. Some will even share the actual property address pre-booking, but some will take umbrage at the question and not reply at all. With all sleuthing and communication with the owner, it is possible to identify the specific street location of an apartment, and confirm the neighborhood with Google Street View. But it’s much more time consuming, and can be frustrating as well.

The Airbnb equation is tilted toward the property owner, and away from the would-be consumer – from my personal experience. The topper to this tilting is the requirement to pay in full at booking time – which is not the case for the majority of properties listed on the other two services. And add to this the usual “strict” cancellation rule with the better properties – which means no more than 50% refund for cancellation, and you have the completion of the tilt towards the property owner. And so, I only use Airbnb when I can’t find something suitable otherwise. It’s caveat emptor all the way.

There are other apartment rental websites, and I have used a variety of them in the past, but the 3 suggested here have the majority of apartment inventory in most of the locations I’ve been to or want to visit. In the interest of saving time, I’ve reduced my apartment selection process to these three web sites, and it works very well for me.

Do your research, and do it early. Definitely use the Google Maps Street View function to assess potential apartments, to confirm they are suitable for your needs, and that they’re in good residential neighborhoods. Use this recommended approach and you will not be disappointed on arrival at your destination, and you will be in store for an immersive travel experience among the locals.

Happy apartment hunting!

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Zagreb

This is the First destination of three in the Croatia itinerary. The details related to planning for this destination and the others on the Croatia circuit are described in The Croatia Travel Planning post.

Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia, and airport of entry for long haul international flights. It’s an interesting combination of leftover, communist era gray block apartments, the modern city of Zagreb with buildings and architecture that look similar to any late twentieth century design, and classic 19th century Austro-Hungarian architecture that fooled my eye into thinking I was strolling through sections of Vienna or Budapest. Compact, and a joy to walk all of its streets at a leisurely pace, immersively discovering it’s wonderful cafes, restaurants, historic sites, and museums – some a little quirky, like the Museum of Broken Relationships.

Arrival

After a short layover in Paris, the two hour flight to Zagreb was uneventful – the very best kind of flight. Transiting through the Franjo Tu?man international airport in Zagreb, named after the Croatian historian, and first president of the republic post the dissolution of Yugoslavia. With only carry-on luggage in tow, gliding through passport control, then exiting to the ground transportation area required a mere 15 minutes – the hallmark of a smaller airport, something the size of Columbus, Ohio, or Saint Louis Missouri in the US. I had pre-arranged for a private car to pick us up with our apartment host. The price was so reasonable, it gave me no incentive to research the availability of Uber, or the local price of airport taxi service. The ride into central Zagreb was 20 minutes, complete with a drive through soviet-era, gloomy gray apartment blocks – the bane of the poorer countries from that era. That gloom was a sharp contrast as we entered central Zagreb, with its lovely 19th century architecture making up the old part of the city.

 

Settling in

Our apartment for three days in Zagreb was on Ribnjak Ulica, right across the street from Ribnjak Park. The pictures below show the view through the front bay window to the park and the Zagreb Cathedral in the background. The apartment was bright and spacious, with a grand sitting room that included a piano.

This apartment was selected through Airbnb, which is not my first choice for apartment rental because they do not disclose the location of the property until booking has been completed, and I have committed to the rental. This particular apartment is a case study as to why I am averse to using Airbnb.

The photos of the apartment on Airbnb were lovely, the views from the front window were alluring, but what was not known to me because the property location was not disclosed, therefore a Google Street View was not possible, is that the apartment was above a nightclub on a street with regular tram traffic. This might have been a bad experience, save for the fact that the night club was no longer in operation. The tram working hours ended in the early evening, so the street noise was not an issue at night, and sleep time was relatively quiet. Dodged one, but it could have been much worse. Caveat emptor with Airbnb.

The Airbnb drama aside, the apartment was in a residential part of central Zagreb, within easy walking distance to the old town. There were many restaurants and cafes within a 10 minute walk, and it did feel like being a local for a few days. That’s how immersive travel happens for me.

 

Discovery Trek

We did a discovery trek around the old town part of Zagreb. Most of the old town revolves around its main square, Ban Jelacic, and is comprised of 19th century Austro-Hungarian architecture. The old town is compact, relatively flat, and a pleasure to discover by walking. My wife and I easily walk 10 miles per day for exploration and discovery, and we work up healthy appetites as a result. We eat well while traveling, and the Food Scene section covers all of our indulgences.

The weather was lovely in the first part of June, 2016 – with warm days, blue skies, and cool evenings. But no matter how blue-sky the day started, there was a significant chance of showers in the late afternoon, or early evening. Showers may be an understatement. I don’t know if my experience was unusual, but when it rained it was a deluge – as an example, see the Food Scene entry for Kaptolska Klet, a fine dining establishment that flooded while we had dinner there one evening. A strong umbrella is necessary equipment for visiting this lovely part of the Balkans in early June, by my experience.

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Medvedgrad and Maksimir Park

Medvedgrad is a fortified medieval village on the south slope of Medvenica Mountain, a 10 minute taxi ride from Central Zagreb. It is little touristed, and it’s not on anyone’s list of sites to visit in Zagreb. Below the main tower of the castle ruins is Oltar Domovine (Altar of the Homeland) , dedicated to the fallen Croatian soldiers in the war for independence. The views from Medvedgrad were grand, and on our clear day visiting there we could see for miles – all the way to central Zagreb and beyond.

Maksimir Park has been open to the public since the end of the eighteenth century. It was the first public park open to the public in southeastern Europe. It’s architected like an an English garden, with grand green spaces, walkways, and lakes. It was a delightful, uncrowded tour on a sunny day, enjoying a long walk in the great outdoors of metropolitan Zagreb.

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Plitvice Lakes National Park

I rented a car for the day, and enjoyed a lovely two hour drive from central Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park. This is a heavily visited site, with tour buses pulling in by the dozens. There was some bureaucracy to be endured in working through the entry process due to the fact that this facility is government operated, and the crowds were thick. The park is grand, and required bus service from the its entry to its interesting parts.

It was possible to separate from the pack and find some space to explore the park. We bused to the highest part of the park, and worked our way back. As we walked our way through it for a few hours, the park unfolded before us in a series of plateaus. It should have been a four hour walk through some of the most beautiful scenery I have experienced. As it turned out, we were hit by a deluge-like rainstorm at the three hour mark. My wife and I both had sturdy umbrellas with us, having learned our lesson from the afternoon storms in central Zagreb. But the umbrellas did not stand up to the torrent, and became super saturated – eventually rain fell straight through the soaked umbrellas. I hadn’t previously experienced anything like this.

It was a painstaking march to leave the park under a heavy rainfall with leaking umbrellas. But once out, we drove to Rastoke en route back to Zagreb. The rains had cleared, and  blue skies were restored by the time we had arrived. We had a wonderful, multi course meal at Jelovnik Konoba (see the Food Scene section) , and explored the mini-Plitvice on their grounds. The little private park was lovely, and relatively uncrowded. It was like having our own little Plitvice with little tourist traffic.

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Food Scene

Restoran Ivek I Marek

Located on Tkal?i?eva Ulica (kind of a restaurant row in Zagreb), this little restaurant with nice outdoor seating, had a daily menu presented on a chalkboard. The day we were there, they had fish, steak, and seafood items on their hand written menu. We chose a charcuterie appetizer plate, squid over greens and potatoes, and grilled trout with handmade noodle dumplings. The food was good, and the vantage point was nice for people watching.

 

Capuciner Grill & Steak

This was a large restaurant with an equally large and varied menu, focusing on meats. In fact the menu was so varied, we ate there twice. Our first time, we ordered a grilled meat sampler for two, with grilled mixed vegetables. Cevapi is a Croatian grill staple, ground beef and pork, with spices. Also on the plate were two types of chicken, one grilled, the other stuffed with cheese and spices. This was genuine local fare. It went  well with beer.

 

Kaptolska Klet

This was a fancy restaurant with an upscale menu. We wanted to sit outside, however it started to drizzle and we were relocated indoors. We ordered a whole smoked, roasted duck with grilled vegetables, and cabbage with carrots on the side. The food was nice, but the real show was the weather. With the restaurant packed with customers, including a large wedding party, the skies opened up, and we were deluged with rain. It rained so hard that it came right through the roof, and flooded the restaurant with water several inches deep. It was interesting trying to eat while the staff were squeegeeing the floor dry.

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Sestinski Lagvic

We walked to this restaurant on our way back from our tour of Medvedgrad, grabbed lunch and took a taxi back to central Zagreb from there. The pictures are a shade of pink because we were under a red umbrella outdoors. We ordered a mixed salad, a cheese plate, and a mixed grill – pork and beef, with grilled vegetables. The mixed grill was a staple on many menus in Zagreb.

 

Capuciner Encore

This restaurant had a large, and varied menu, including a good variety of seafood, which is why we came back to it. This time we had a charcuterie and cheese board, a green salad, grilled vegetables, grilled chicken skewers, and grilled octopus over potatoes and peppers. The octopus was very good, but one needs to be a fan of that sort of thing.

 

Jelovnik Konoba

This restaurant was en route back to Zagreb from Plitvice Lakes National Park. The restaurant was part of a resort that resembled a mini Plitvice Park. It was nice because it was as scenic as Plitvice, but much less crowded. We had cream of mushroom soup, chicken soup, a trout spread with whole wheat bread, grilled veggies with emphasis on mushrooms, grilled trout, fried trout over bread, grilled zucchini and tomatoes with a light white sauce. The food was very good, and the portions generous. It was very pleasant outdoor seating with a view of the surrounding park.

 

Cafe Ceker

This cafe overlooks the lively Dolac Market on Ban Jelacic Square. It is a great place for people watching. We had meat filled and cheese filled Burek. This is a baked phyllo dough pastry filled with your choice of meat and cheese. It is common in the Balkans, having tried this delicacy previously in Slovenia and Serbia. It’s Balkan fast food.

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Zagreb. A little rough around the edges, but Central Zagreb, with its 19th century Austro-Hungarian old town was a lovely and interesting entry into Croatia. The capital city, the center of Croatian history and culture, what a great contrast Zagreb was to the rest of the Dalmatian coast. I would highly recommend spending a few nights in Zagreb as part of any tour of Croatia. The people were friendly, English was common, and spoken well. The cost of everything we did, including fine dining, was very reasonable by European standards. I had an immersive traveling experience in Zagreb, would visit again, and would recommend it as part of a greater Croatian experience.

 

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Croatia Travel Planning

Croatia Travel Planning

Motivation – Croatia Travel Planning

The Balkans are a part of the continent that must be explored by anyone wanting to see a good representation of European history, geography, and culture. There is so much more to Europe than France and Italy, with all due respect to the charm and allure of this magical duo. Let’s face it, we won’t see the rest of Europe, not to mention the world, if we don’t stop visiting these two wonderful countries. It took me years to move on from the France/Italy habit, and I still go back occasionally – just not exclusively.

Croatia has so many wonderful things going for it, starting with its mild, sunny Adriatic climate. The Croatians are a friendly, even-keeled lot – easy going, English speaking, and customer focused since so much of their GDP comes from tourism.

Modern day Croatia has a history going back to Roman times, then through periods of Hungarian, Venetian, Ottoman, Napoleonic, and Austrian rule – all before World War II. It is steeped in history. Croatian food has a focus on the bounty of the sea, the Adriatic to be specific. Lovers of seafood will have a heyday, and others will enjoy the great variety of meats, sausages, and cheeses that have made Croatia famous. They have traditional restaurants called Konobas that specialize in a variety of meat dishes. Vegetarians be warned.

Croatia has thousands of islands comprising its sunny Dalmatian coast. The geography is perfect for lovers of the beach, sunshine, and island hopping. And the very best part – it is amazingly affordable. Compared to the dynamic duo of France and Italy, it is even dirt cheap.

Plan a trip, and pack your bags.

 

Itinerary – Croatia Travel Planning

The calendar allowed for 12 nights on this trip, starting at the beginning of June 2016. I wanted to establish reasonable lengths of stay at each destination to explore them at my leisure, and to have the best chance for an immersive travel experience. Three nights in Zagreb is necessary, not only to get over the jet lag, but explore the city thoroughly, and to do a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park. I apportioned  five nights for Dubrovnik because I wanted to do day trips to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzigovina, Kotor, Montenegro, and do some island hopping in the area. And lastly, I set aside four nights for Split because I expected to do at least one day trip there as well to Hvar and Zadar.

Zagreb – 3 Nights

 

Dubrovnik – 5 nights

 

Split – 4 nights

 

Logistics – Croatia Travel Planning

There are no regularly scheduled direct flights to Croatia from the US at the time of this writing. So the best we can plan for is a one-stop of reasonable duration in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, or Munich airports. Other airports – most notably Istanbul, take us out of our way with lengthier flight times. From my Atlanta home base, I can book flights on Delta and their SkyTeam partners conveniently to Amsterdam and Paris using frequent flyer miles. This greatly reduces transportation costs for the longest and most expensive leg of the flight. I selected Paris Charles DeGaul as the layover because it had the most convenient connecting flights to Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city. The Air France connecting flight to Zagreb was very reasonably priced due to the intense competition in Europe from all of its startup carriers, like EasyJet and RyanAir. So my airfare requirements to get to Zagreb were complete –  frequent flier miles sponsored round-trip to Paris, and round-trip Paris to Zagreb on Air France – a major carrier without the silly bag restrictions that some of the smaller carriers impose.

There were other destinations in Croatia to be visited beyond Zagreb. I briefly considered driving to them, but such an itinerary would have only made sense with more days than I had because the driving times were so long.  Flying was more pragmatic, convenient, and relatively cheap as well.

I planned to fly to Dubrovnik, the Southernmost point in Croatia for this trip. Dubrovnik would be a perfect hub to use for exploration by car. The car would be used to work my way North on the Dalmatian coast to Split, our last destination on this trip. And finally, Split had many scheduled flights to Zagreb to conveniently connect back to Paris.  Air Croatia had a near monopoly on these flights, but didn’t gouge its customers because of it.  I found the service to be very good, and the prices competitive, much to my surprise. I think the Croatians understand the gold mine that tourism is to their economy, contributing nearly 20% to GDP.  I think Air Croatia is a key factor to that gold mine.

Take a look at Croatia on Google Maps. It begs to have some exploration by car. Driving on this trip is a must – definitely for aesthetic reasons, aside the pragmatic need to get between points A and B. I booked a car for a day trip from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park – a single day booking, which I had not done previously. I also booked a car for a week, to be picked up in Dubrovnik and dropped off in Split. This would provide ample opportunity to day trip from both locations, as well as the basic transportation to get between them. Sixt is my go-to car rental company in Europe, having booked many times previously with them, and always having had a good experience – even the one time I damaged the car during the rental.  The customer service is very good, and the execution is German-efficient.

I have a strong preference for apartments over hotels for several reasons. In general, apartments are a better value as compared to hotel rooms because they have much more space, can come with a washing machine so that both excess luggage and laundry services can be avoided, and are typically less expensive than hotel rooms – sometimes much less expensive for a much better experience. And the most important reason for apartments over hotel rooms is that it leads to a much more immersive travel experience for me.

I can find apartments in the center of the old part of town in most of the destinations of interest, which leads to more exploration time because I’m already located where I usually need to be for my style of travel, and I avoid transit time to the center of town. An apartment feels more like being a resident as compared to a hotel room. I found excellent apartments for each of the three destinations on this trip using a combination of Homeaway.com, and Airbnb.com.

 

Resources – Croatia Travel Planning

Indispensable for planning purposes: Google flights. It works well with mainstream carriers, as well as the puddle jumpers.  I use it to analyze costs related to date ranges, as well as stopover options for those destinations unreachable directly from my home airport – like Zagreb.  Once I have my flight schedule selected, I add my flights to the alert list for price changes, and patiently wait for a good price to come my way.

I rely on several sites for apartment rentals.  In the order of preference:  HomeAway, booking.com, and last and definitely least, Airbnb.  Some may be shocked that I prefer to avoid Airbnb, but I have good reasons to avoid them.  On this particular trip, I did end up using Airbnb for Zagreb as they had some good apartment selections, and I was  able to circumvent the Airbnb location ambiguity (mostly) before booking it.  The other two apartments were booked through HomeAway, as they had quality listings in both Dubrovnik, and Split. Ironically, I booked nothing through Booking.com.

Google maps is a staple, and I use it on every trip for a variety of purposes.  On this trip, it served as my GPS while navigating through Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. It’s also very useful for navigating to restaurants and points of interest while on a discovery trek.

TripAdvisor is awesome for advanced trip planning, as well as finding a decent restaurant on the spot.  When I use it for this purpose, I select “near me now/restaurants” and filter on “open now”.  Then I sort by distance – not highest rated.  When I’m hungry enough to find an unplanned restaurant, I want closest, then best.  To be fair, Google maps is also good for this purpose, although the restaurant ratings are less sophisticated.

With Google translate on my phone at the ready, I fear no language barrier. But every place I went to in Croatia was English friendly, and I only had some minor issues with language in Mostar, Bosnia.

 

Epilogue – Croatia Travel Planning

Reflections on Croatia. The trip was a wonderful extended vacation, with immersive travel experiences in Zagreb, and Split. Dubrovnik was very touristy, and as a cruise ship port of call, it received tourists in great volumes on certain days. Still, it was an exceptional travel experience, which I would both recommend, and personally return to in the future. The trip was relatively inexpensive – I rarely comment on this because my focus is on immersion, but it is noteworthy. The people were lovely, accommodating to travelers, and were sharply focused on providing a good experience for visitors. English was spoken well everywhere I visited in Croatia. The food was excellent, and a great value – although vegans might have a tough time finding accommodating fare. I find myself at a loss in recalling any negative reflections on this trip.

 

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Related Destinations – Croatia Travel Planning

Como

This is the fourth and final destination in the Northern Italy itinerary. The details related to planning for this destination and the others on the Northern Italy circuit are described in The Northern Italy Travel Planning post.

We departed Verona early on a Friday morning to make our way to Como. Nearly 3 hours of non-scenic Italian Autostrada were endured to get to Como. Some drives in Italy can be joyous, even on Autostrada – for example, the drive from San Remo near the French border to the Cinque Terre region was lovely, and interesting with scenery and road maneuverings to keep a driver well engaged. But this drive was rather monotonous, lacked scenery with the exception of unremarkable hay and corn fields. 

The drive aside, I had the greatest expectation of Como on this trip – more so than the three other destinations – simply because it is so built up in the media, the travel sites, and even by word of mouth. In fact, I had such high expectations that I was hoping I wouldn’t be let down – especially given that we had toured Lake Garda while in Verona one afternoon, and I thought it was a lovely experience – even thought I could see myself as a resident there. So arrival came with great expectations, and anticipation.

 

Arrival

The Como apartment was located in the heart of the old town, as a matter of fact too much into the center. I neglected to pre-plan for a parking garage as my initial stop upon arrival with the car. This is something I usually do to avoid driving to the apartment, unloading the luggage, then relocating the car to a garage.

At first, this doesn’t seem like something particularly bad, or even to be avoided, unless you can imagine what driving in the center of some European cities, towns, and villages might be like. There are roads that are unfit for two way traffic, but are legal for it, and are used regularly in that fashion – at speeds that would both amaze and induce fear to a non-European, but especially non-Italian (where maniacal driving is an art form).

And so I pulled the Alfa Romeo right up to the apartment building door, and boldly parked wherever the heck I wanted, as if I lived in the neighborhood. And I did have to negotiate tight little lanes that not only had two way traffic, but pedestrians as well. Our hostess advised to move the vehicle to a parking garage as quickly as possible to avoid a hefty fine for parking in the residents-only center of town. She even took a photo of my license plates to notify the authorities that I was a guest, and avoid the automatic fines produced through the camera system monitoring the center.

The apartment was lovely, roomy for a couple, had an excellent shower (important every day), and a refrigerator that was up to US standards in keeping things cold – nothing worse than not getting your beer or wine down to the right temperature in your domicile. And most importantly, the bed was very comfortable.

 

Settling in

Walking around Como’s old town, just in front of our secure apartment building was pure immersion. It felt like we lived there, and we were part of the neighborhood. The old town was fluid with locals going about their daily lives, and lacked the density of tourism that denies any feel of immersion.

There were shops, restaurants, markets, and a beehive of activity as we explored right from our front door – and it had a small town feel to it. It would take only an hour or two to walk the entirety of the old town, even with a “smell the roses” kind of pace. The architecture is 400+ years old, with three lovely churches in the old part of town, but everything looked tidy and well-kempt. This gave me an overall excellent first impression of the old town, which continued as I spent more time exploring her.

 

Discovery Trek

The first opportunity for discovery is simply wandering around the old town of Como, inside its ancient city walls, randomly walking along narrow medieval lanes that are surprisingly vehicle accessible, and enjoying a gelato as the hour or two passes while taking in the scenery.

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The other noteworthy discovery opportunity is the town of Brunate at the top of the 10 minute funicular ride. Restaurants and shops greet the tourist at the end of the funicular, along with an opportunity to take a 30 minute walk to the lighthouse, a waypoint on a much longer hike possible along the lake. There are grand views, and in particular exceptional views from the terrace and interior of the appropriately named Ristorante Bellavista, where we had a lovely, and relaxing meal as described in the Food Scene section of this post.

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Lake Como Cruise to Bellagio

An excellent opportunity for discovery is hopping onto one of the regularly scheduled boat “navigations” to various parts of Lake Como, which allow for the exploration of a variety of towns on the lake, along with their majestic and historic villas.

A popular destination is Bellagio, a beautiful town in its own right, with excellent restaurants and historic villas. We had an exceptional meal with a view in Bellagio at La Punta, as described in the Food Scene section. Bellagio is a grand stop on the ferry system, taking tourists by the dozens on both a “slow” two-hour long, open-air type vessel, as well as an enclosed catamaran with a one-hour duration.  While the catamaran is faster, it tends to be a hotter ride as the vessel is enclosed with little wind circulation. We spent five hours round trip to Bellagio, walking around a bit, and enjoying a fabulous meal. One could easily spend days exploring the various little towns dotting the lake by ferry. This is what Lake Como is all about.

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Food Scene

La Punta in Bellagio

This is a beautiful restaurant with outdoor seating facing the water in Bellagio, about an hour boat ride from Como. Smoked fillet of Lavarello with toast, and caprese salad to start, grilled lake fish, and fried lake fish as main courses. The fried lake fish selection included an anchovy-like lake fish which was missing from the grilled plate as they are too tiny to grill. The fish was very fresh, and the variety was good. I highly recommend this restaurant for both the views in Bellagio, as well as the the dining experience.

 

Cucina di Elsa

This restaurant was recommended by our hostess, and was very close to our apartment in Como. It also received great reviews on TripAdvisor. Shrimp and octopus salad to start, we both ordered squid and shrimp as our main, and my wife ordered a mixed salad on the side. The  octopus salad was actually quite exotic. It had, among other things, shaved almonds, fresh pineapple, avocado, cabbage and rocket salad in addition to the octopus and shrimp. A lot more than was described in English on the menu. The mix was a little unexpected,  but it turned out to be an excellent combination of ingredients. The shrimp and squid were skewered, lightly rolled in breadcrumbs, and broiled – both very tender.

 

Bellavista

A restaurant at the top of the funicular with a fabulous view overlooking Lake Como. I thought I was going to buy an expensive, but mediocre meal and get a fabulous view overlooking Lake Como and its city namesake way down below. I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and value of the meal we had. We ordered a charcuterie plate, and a cheese plate for starters to share, then fillet of perch with polenta each, and grilled vegetables to share for the main course. The charcuterie plate had six varieties of salumi and dried beef, along with thinly sliced fat. An excellent medley, with some a little spicy, some a little fatty – there was one variety that had a hint of liver to it, with an earthy flavor. The cheese plate had a very good array too – six samples from around the region, ranging from sharp, to pungent, and mild. Even the bread had an excellent assortment, with one type crunchy like paper-thin toasted focaccia – it was fantastic with the salumi and cheese. The Lake Como perch and polenta was an excellent blend of flavors, to my surprise. Honestly was expecting a tourist caliber meal with an excellent view and was very pleasantly surprised by the food. A highly recommended experience.

 

Ristorante Sociale

This restaurant was recommended by our hostess, a true example of local Como cuisine, and a good value. It is located just around the corner from the duomo on a quiet side street. Having been in Italy for 9 days without a pasta dish, I thought I’d try the linguine with octopus, fresh tomato, and potatoes as my first course. My wife ordered the Parma ham with melon. The linguine was simple, fresh, flavorful and an excellent first course. I particularly liked that it was not too al dente, something which upscale Italian restaurants tend to do with their pasta, and not to my liking. The melon was very ripe and juicy and tasted better than any melon we’ve had in the United States. I ordered the San Petro filets with potatoes and black olives. as I was in a fish mood that day.  My wife ordered the Osso Buco with risotto and gravy. The osso bucco was tender, with the saffron risotto slightly al dente. The San Petro filets were very mild and tender. A nice last meal in Northern Italy, which was topped off with gelato and a walk around town as a light rain started to fall. I highly recommend this restaurant for the good ambiance, dining experience as well as great value.

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Como. I was concerned that my expectations of Como and its surrounding lake, were so high that I was in for a possible disappointment. My concerns were unfounded, because Como delivered on every level. The little town of Como was lovely and easy to get around, lacking the throng of tourism one might expect. The lake itself was a treasure, dotted with little towns and villas up and down its coast. This area would merit 2 weeks or more for a thorough exploration. And it’s definitely worthy of a return visit should I be traveling anywhere near this gem of Northern Italy.

Related Travel Planning

Related Destinations

 

 

Verona

This is the third destination in the Northern Italy itinerary. The details related to planning for this destination and the others on the Northern Italy circuit are described in The Northern Italy Travel Planning post..

Verona is not on everyone’s itinerary for Italy. From experience, Verona is lightly touristed as compared to other destinations visited in Italy. There were no tourist buses parked en masse, there were no cruise ships pulled into port, and the city had a smaller town feel to it. There were plenty of discovery opportunities in Verona. There were interesting churches – one with origins dating back to the 4th century, and all kinds of points of interest – an intact, in-use, 2,000 year old Roman Era Coliseum, museums, and a lovely walkable riverfront that allowed for a grand discovery trek. The city was completely explorable by foot. There were plenty of excellent restaurants, some recognized with a Michelin star or two.

 

Arrival

It was a three hour drive from Genoa, Italy to Verona, crossing from Liguria into the Piedmont, then into Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna, and finally into the Veneto arriving in lovely Verona. The drive exiting Liguria into Lombardy is hilly, with lots of tunnels, and is an exciting kind of drive with twists and turns, if one is inclined for that sort of a thing. Once outside Liguria, the landscape turned mostly towards farmland, and the road became Northern Italian Autostrada. And to be clear, the Italian Autostrada is not an exciting road to drive. They built barriers on the Autostrada, like high walls, I suppose for safety reasons, that didn’t allow for scenery to be part of the driving experience. And so, most of the drive on the Autostrada did not compare well with previous driving experiences – in Italy specifically, and in Europe in general.

 

Settling in

Exiting the Autostrada and working my way into the old part of town to where our apartment was located didn’t take a lot of time – maybe 10 minutes. It speaks to the smaller size of Verona. Milan was grand. Genoa was scruffy and rough around the edges – but definitely a large city. Verona was a pleasant surprise on arrival, as compared with our previous experiences in Italy on this trip. As a smaller town with a concentrated historic center, it was a welcome change of pace from both Milan and Genoa.

With secure, covered parking just a two minute walk away, many good restaurants within easy walking distance, and similarly easy access to the historic center, the Verona apartment could not have been more accommodating to someone who defines discovery through being a pedestrian. The apartment was beautiful, and well appointed with all of the necessities to make home for the duration of the stay. It had a grand balcony with a outdoor seating and an umbrella to provide shade. But most importantly – the shower worked well, and the bed was comfortable. The air conditioning was both necessary and welcome as we were having a bit of a heatwave during our stay. There was even a view of one of the church towers through the front window. The apartment was secure, and our host was helpful and accommodating, answering our questions as they arose. The apartment made for a pleasant and immersive stay in lovely Verona.

 

Discovery Trek

With Grand Milan, and interesting, but “scruffy” Genoa behind me, I was looking forward to a more intimate, smaller town experience in Verona.

Walking around Verona was a very enjoyable experience. Being a pedestrian was a delight. There was traffic, but it was on a normal scale – lacking the din and density of a larger city. As we walked around town we noted on many occasions that there were available parking spots, and on one occasion we wandered into a section of town with a complete street-full of available parking spots, which was unseen anywhere else on this trip. That was but one example attesting to Verona being a smaller, more accessible, and less touristed part of Northern Italy.

I found Verona to be very immersive from my perspective. Amenities within easy walking distance, historic 2000-year-old Colosseum in the heart of the old town, and churches dating back from the fourth century, all add up to an extremely interesting place to visit. But moreover, it suggests a place that is livable as an expatriate retiree, as someone that wants to move to Italy and enjoy the ambiance of a historic Italian town with great attractions, but without having to endure the issues around grand tourism, and a large city.

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Lake Garda Day Trip

The weather during our stay in Verona was hot and humid, with temperatures in the afternoon approaching 100F. It’s the kind of heat and exposure that requires attention to hydration if engaged in outdoor activity. Walking is my mode of discovery, and my way of getting the sense of being there – the feeling of immersion. And with heat and humidity of this caliber, walking is best done in the morning when the weather is cooler, and the sun less direct. So with the weather behaving as it did, it was a better idea to take a little road trip to easily accessible Lake Garda for the afternoon – just a twenty minute drive to get to the beginning of the scenery, and in the comfort of our air conditioned Alfa Romeo.

We ended up circumnavigating Lake Garda, stopping in the town of Garda at Parco Baia delle Sirene, and stretching out legs for a bit. My impression of the Lake Garda area was that it was much more densely populated and touristed on its East shore, as we passed through more towns along that part of our route. The Western shore of Lake Garda had more cliffs, and other terrain that made it inaccessible and sparsely populated.

 

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Food Scene

Zen Pizzeria

This restaurant was a few steps away from the apartment and was very convenient for lighter fare and pizza. The service was good, prices fare, and we couldn’t beat the convenience factor.

 

Vesuvio

This is a restaurant just two minutes down the road from the apartment, with outdoor seating facing the river and a nice cross breeze. Antipasto plate with mixed salad for starters, a veal chop, and eggplant parmigiana for the main courses. The antipasto had buffalo mozzarella, black olives, picante salami, pickled cauliflower, and anchovies. The antipasto selection had a nice variety of flavors. With the buffalo mozzarella as a foundation, a pickled pepper added a bit of sour, the salami was spicy,  the anchovies salty, the pickles were savory, and the cabbage was bitter. What a well orchestrated variety of flavors. The eggplant was rated as fabulous by my choosy wife. The veal chop could have been a little more tender, possibly because it had drifted past medium rare on the grill.

 

Tre Marchetti

Smoked salmon, seabass, swordfish as a starter, fresh squid over veggies as the main, paired with a bottle of local white wine recommended by the knowledgeable waiter. The smoked fish was very tender but the smokiness was mostly an aromatic as opposed to a flavor. The presentation for the smoked fish was very interesting as it was served under a cloche with thick smoke trapped underneath it so that the fish was not visible.  As the waiter lifted the cloche, the smoke dissipated in a puff around our heads – it was a fanciful presentation. The tiny, 3 inch squids over vegetables were very tender and tasty. This restaurant was upscale, with excellent professional service, and the only place on this trip that added a 15% service fee to the check.

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Verona. I did expect a smaller town experience, and a nice diversion from cities the size of Milan, and Genoa. And I was pleasantly surprised by how pedestrian accessible and explorable this lovely little city turned out to be.  The Lake Garda side trip was a bonus. Altogether, we had a lovely experience living like locals in Verona. I would consider being a resident of Verona for an extended period – it was that lovely.

Related Travel Planning

Related Destinations

 

 

Genoa

Immersive Travel Genoa

This destination is the second of four on the Northern Italian Travel Planning circuit, as described on that post. As a coastal city which has revitalized its old town over the recent years, and with an opportunity to visit Portofino as a day trip, I looked forward to this stop.

It was a relatively uneventful drive from Milan to Genoa, mostly highway driving through farmland. On approach to Genoa, about 30 minutes out of town, the terrain changed from the flat, rich farmland of the Piedmont to the rolling terrain of Liguria. Driving suddenly became much more fun, speaking for myself. I like driving, and driving on twisty roads is like nirvana to me. Thirty minutes of it was pure joy. Two hours after leaving Milan, we arrived at the designated cafe to meet our apartment hostess. I had enough time for one Italian draft while waiting for her, just enough to descend from the adrenaline of driving through the hills.

 

Arrival

We were sitting at an outdoor cafe by the harbor, having a beer while waiting for our hostess to arrive and show us to our apartment. Apparently getting there was too complicated in her mind to direct her clients straight to the property. I would soon learn just how right she was. I realized how different the cost of living was in Genoa compared to big city Milan. A large beer and a black tea set me back 6 euros, which would have cost 10 – 12 euros in Milan, depending on the location. As we relaxed and enjoyed our drinks, we did some people watching. There was a contingent of African immigrants living local to the waterfront, walking around, going about their business. Their garb and mannerisms gave them away as fresh immigrants. For example, there were multiple women walking by with babies in slings on their backs while balancing large loads – like a tall basket full of stuff – on their heads, dressed in what appeared to be colorful native garb. It reminded me of a scene from a National Geographic documentary somewhere in Africa.

Soon Roberta arrived, and she drove us to our home in Genoa. There was no way I could have found the property on my own. Not with Google Maps, and a professional navigator. The property was located in the medieval center of the city, comprised of streets (in name only) that accommodated at most, one smallish vehicle, but was regularly used by all kinds of vehicles. Driving in these quarters requires an Italian mindset, inclusive of talking to the other drivers, gesticulating hand gestures, and maneuvering a vehicle in a way most people can’t imagine. I was so glad she picked us up and chauffeured us to the property. At one point on the drive, we were on a two-way street too narrow to accommodate two cars, like most of them. The rule was that the uphill bound vehicle receives the right of way, and the downhill car should yield. The downhill bound taxi driver got an earful from our hostess because he didn’t properly yield – lots of hand gestures. The taxi driver was oblivious. The very last left turn she needed to make to access the apartment was not navigable because a vehicle was parked blocking the turn. She ranted under her breath, I caught some of the words, all of them unlady-like. She sounded the horn several times. A little old lady arrived to move the vehicle a few minutes later, words and gestures were exchanged, and we finally arrived. Wow, how unnerving, but so happy to have arrived.

 

Settling in

Wow, what a lovely apartment. Two balconies, one larger than the other, and both with nice city views overlooking the rooftops. The apartment was on the seventh (6th European) floor of a historic building with marble floors, statuary in the entrance lobby, and on its own private piazza. Our hostess lives in the apartment when not rented out, so naturally it was decorated to suit her Italian flair and style. The apartment was rather large as European apartments go, with ample outdoor space exposing grand views. The Genoa apartment was larger than the one we had in Milan, at just over half the price. The holiday just got less expensive. I don’t focus on cost in general because my blog isn’t about “farther, cheaper, longer”, but it is noteworthy how much less expensive some destinations are as compared to others – even on the same itinerary.

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Discovery Trek

Emerging from our Genoa apartment, from our grand lobby adorned with romanesque statuary, crossing marbled floors to egress through the grand door onto our private piazza, we stepped into the heart of the medieval part of the city.

 

Medieval Genoa is best described as scruffy and rough around the edges. There was a clear effort to rejuvenate some parts of the old town – it was visible in some of the buildings, and there were works in progress we observed as we walked along our discovery trek. But the flavor and feel of the old town is in high contrast with the elegant and historic building from which we emerged.

Medieval Genoa is collections of meandering alleys that pass for streets – where I would have thought I was in a pedestrian only part of town. Cars, service vehicles, delivery vehicles, transportation vehicles – all make their rounds through those narrow, hard to believe a single vehicle would be accommodated, let alone two, lanes.

 

It is rough around the edges in the sense that it is unkempt. There is a distinct smell of urine in many of the passageways that pass for streets, probably due to so many days having passed without a good rain. Many people have dogs, as we’ve observed lots of folks walking them at all hours. I should say that there wasn’t a lot of evidence of dog poop during our discovery trek.

 

Portofino Day Trip

The route to Portofino from Genoa is pretty interesting. Getting out of town is harrowing. Genoa is a snaggle of twisty roads, seemingly going in all directions – fraught with heavy traffic comprised of scooters, trucks, buses, and endless maniacal little vehicles. It takes 30 minutes to leave town. Continuing on, we encountered a blissful 30 kilometers of toll road with a 1.70 euro tariff outbound (2.90 euro inbound). And once we left the highway, the fun began. A 8.5 kilometer drive on a two lane road with buses and trucks that sometimes required a full stop to allow oncoming traffic to pass due to the narrowness of the road. It wasn’t quite the Amalfi heart-attack drive, but it was so similar. The difference being that I was a passenger on the Amalfi drive, while on this occasion I was the panicked driver. The drive was all along the coast, rock wall on the right, cliff to the ocean on the left. Panic city. The drive did pass through two lovely little towns along the way, Rapallo, and Santa Margarita. Both of these little towns had extensive pedestrian areas along the waterfront where it looked like it was possible to walk for miles along the water, with breathtaking scenery as the reward.

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Portofino itself is very compact. Without doing the climb to Castle Brown, and the Faro Lighthouse, the whole town was walkable in an hour or less. It was picturesque, and to my surprise, possibly because I was there on a Tuesday morning, not swamped with tourists. It was definitely a worthwhile day trip from Genoa, but folks that have been to Cinque Terre, or have done the drive from Sorrento to Ravello on the Amalfi coast, will grade this experience as less impressive.

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Food Scene

Antica Sa Pesta

A genuine local eatery. No one spoke English, but the owner, and no English menu. Packed with locals for lunch. We both ordered a mixed salad and grilled octopus. It was the first time we were served octopus whole. The ink sac had been removed, otherwise it was the whole thing. My wife’s serving was on the smaller side, and I think that’s why hers was very tender. Mine was quite a bit larger, and either overcooked, or otherwise a bit tougher due to its size. One out of two ain’t bad. I’d go back to this place if I had the chance, and try their other menu items.

 

La Buca di San Matteo

Mixed plate of Ligurian appetizers, risotto with seafood, stuffed anchovies, and Ligurian fruity white wine. This was a quiet little place very close to the apartment, discovered on the fly as our first choice as recommended by our hostess was closed. The food was good, but not what was expected per the menu description. Stuffed anchovies turned out to be anchovies over baked veggies. Not bad, but not as described..

 

Trattoria Tripoli Portofino

Ravioli stuffed with seabass, fried squid, shrimp, and anchovies with frites. This was a little place at the bottom of the port, facing the water. We stopped in for lunch after our long hike to Castle Brown, and the Lighthouse Faro. The food was middle of the road, as was the presentation. The service was good.

 

Osteria Migone

We were once again foiled in our efforts to dine at Roberta’s highly recommend restaurant, as it was closed for reasons only an Italian speaker would understand, based on the recording I got when trying to call. Fried anchovies to start, followed by Catalan style crispy octopus, with a mixed salad on the side. The anchovies were presented too hot to eat, and they were very good, fat and crispy. The octopus was very tender, and a smaller portion than Sa Pesta. An excellent local experience with very good service.

 

Epilogue

Final thoughts on Genoa. The city gave me the impression that it was larger than it actually was – something like a quarter the size of Milan as a population center. It might have been because Genoa was less organized, more chaotic than Milan, and took more time negotiate the route on entering and exiting the city. But whatever the reason, Genoa seemed large and intimidating. The medieval part of town had its own sort of charm, with very nice restaurants, and enough sights to keep busy discovering for a day, or two. The side trip to Portofino was a huge highlight, and a great compliment to the stay in Genoa, with incredible contrast between the two places. I enjoyed my stay in Genoa, and had a great immersive experience at Roberta’s apartment. It was impossible to feel more like a local at this destination.

Related Travel Planning

Related Destinations

Milan

This destination is the first of four on the Northern Italy Travel Planning circuit, as described in  that post.

Milan is the capital of Italian commerce, design, banking, and industry. But there’s so much more to this city. Milan is Italy’s fashion capital, and the locals dress to look the part – especially style-conscious women. In fact it’s easy to distinguish the locals from the tourists and out of towners just by their dress.

There are restaurants of high-quality scattered throughout the city, with impeccable service. I specifically call one of them out in the food scene section of this post. And then there are architectural treasures like the Duomo, and works of art like DaVinci’s Last Supper to be discovered.

The city overflowed with architecture, history, and art. There were plenty of things to do in Milan over a few days’ stay in the city center. But, I kept in mind that Milan is a big city with all those things that accompany big cities, like traffic, congestion, population density, and large scale tourism (think buses). So location was key, and the right location left me with a much better overall experience, because it minimized my need to deal with many of those big city issues.

 

Arrival

We landed at Malpensa international airport, which was on the outskirts of Milan, and the airport used by most long haul international flights. It was about a 50 minute train ride from Malpensa into central Milan. We landed at terminal one, and had no trouble finding the train to the center  of town, called the Malpensa Express.

We had had a 15 minute walk from the central train station to the apartment I selected for our three night stay in Milan. The apartment was conveniently located with easy access to the highlights of the city, and within a five minute walk of the Duomo, the Milan Cathedral.

We had no rental car while in Milan. As a matter of fact, it’s unwise to have a rental car in most large European cities, because getting around is much easier by walking, public transportation, and if necessary by taxi, if pressed for time. I do note that Uber is not a thing to do in Italy. Italy is the only place I’ve experienced Uber being more expensive, and more complex than taking an ordinary taxi ride, having tried it in Rome previously, and confirmed it in Milan.

 

Settling in

Our apartment in Milan was located on a quiet square, provided easy access to the old part of town, and most of the sights were within walking distance. The weather was a little on the warm and muggy side for this part of Italy. The really great thing about the apartment was that it had four air conditioning units, and kept the apartment to an American standard for summer cool. For Europe this is out of the ordinary!

 

The apartment was lovely, and I include some photos. It was large enough for a couple, and comfortable, with 14 foot high ceilings, and views over the city from the 9th floor. It was an excellent base of operation from which to explore the old part of Milan, and it definitely gave me that immersive feeling, like I was a local for a few days. The only downside was that our host Franco was a bit of a fascist. He not only required a deposit, but had a bookful of house rules, which included a complete inventory of the apartment’s contents, and generally lacked the patience to interact with his guests like a gentleman.

 

Discovery Trek

The very highlight of Milan has to be the Duomo. It is incomparable in Christendom as its third largest church. The largest of course is St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, followed by St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. However, the latter can’t hold a candle to the Duomo in Milan. It looks nothing like the others. It looks like nothing else I’ve experienced in my travels, with more than 3,200 sculptures and 135 spires adorning its exterior alone. It has flying buttresses – like many of the cathedrals from this era, but they’re hidden in its design so that they do not take the eye from the work of art that is the grand façade of this cathedral. The exterior façade and all of the interior, except sections of its roof, are done in marble from Lake Maggiore. It took five centuries to complete, with the very last of the work ordered by Emperor Napoleon for his coronation there as the King of Italy. The interior is equally majestic and impressive as the exterior. The word incomparable is unavoidable in describing this icon of Milan

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A treasure that can’t be missed in Milan is an oil painting on plaster depicting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci in the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It took DaVinci 3 years to complete the work of Art, which miraculously remained unharmed through the allied bombing raids in WWII, while the rest of the church sustained significant damage. It is a thing to behold, and difficult to describe with any chance of justice at all. Pictures can be taken and shared, but I found myself lacking the vocabulary needed to describe this work of art. Reservations are required, and view times are strict with visitors having at most 15 minutes to admire the work of Leonardo per visit.

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A Milan wonder that should be visited is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, named of the first king of unified Italy, but simply called the Galleria. It is one of the world’s oldest shopping malls, and it is just stunning to wander about. Filled with symbols of the major powers of Italy at the time of unification, like Milan, Rome, Florence, and Turin. The tourists pay special attention to the mosaic bull – the symbol for Turin, and stand in line to spin around 3 times on its genitals for good luck. As a result, there is a hole several inches deep where its genitals used to be. Ah, tourists.

 

And shopping should be on the agenda, even if not ordinarily inclined for that sort of thing – simply because it’s Milan. There a several kilometers of Corso Buenos Aires dedicated to the less expensive outlets, and discounters that draw local shoppers and tourists alike. People watching is a bonus, as I strolled along the avenue, taking it all in.

Walking around central Milan, I got the impression I was in a grand place. The old part of town had architectural structures around any given corner that grabbed my interest. My impression of Milan was that it is a preeminent city in Europe, with a pedigree all its own – but comparable to the likes of London, Paris, and Vienna. I do know that I wanted to return to catch some of sights I missing during my too short first visit.

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Food Scene

Milano Centro Cafe

This was a restaurant on the same piazza as our apartment, and frequented by locals for lunch only – not open for dinner. It was efficiently run to get the most throughput for the lunch hour – the wait staff moved around like Ricochet Rabbit the whole time we were there. Smoked, aged ham – Tyrol Speck – smoked Scamorza cheese, roasted potatoes. Mixed salad with grilled chicken. Good lunch at a reasonable price for Milano.

 

Viveca Pizza

No trip to Italy is complete without one stop for pizza. This restaurant was a 15 minute walk from our apartment, and was filled with locals (or at least Italian speakers) while we were there. Tre Salumi, with a little red wine. It was as good as I remembered, and still ponder what would happen if some Italian pizzeria would start slicing their pizzas for their customers. The unthinkable.

 

Dogana del Buongusto

We stopped in early for aperitivo. I had a sparkling rose and they offered us some prosciutto and bread as appetizers on the house. We ordered a cheese plate and a charcuterie plate, and we both had Osso Bucco as our main. The cheese plate was divine it had four different cheeses from around northern Italy and they were just so well balanced and just so tasty. The charcuterie plate also had good variety, was complementary to the cheese plate, and made me want to order another round. The Osso Buco was very tender – no knife was necessary, but wasn’t what I was used to previously. The risotto was a little al dente, which I expected, but still very good. The service was fabulous, very attentive, and the price overall was reasonable. This was the best restaurant experience in Milano.

 

Stop

This is a restaurant around the corner from the main drag Corso Buenos Aires. I could tell that it was a local place because it took three of the staff to translate veal shank. My wife ordered a seasonal salad with ham, cheese, egg and mixed vegetables. I ordered grilled lamb and a side salad. I was served a very generous portion of sparkling rose. The food was basic, but very good. The service was prompt. It was a nice place to stop over for lunch from our long shopping trek on Corso Buenos Aires.

 

Replay Mare

This place was just around the corner from our centrally located apartment. We had a rough time finding a restaurant that was open on Sunday and went here as a result of a recommendation from our host. They have a nice outside seating area as you work your way through a shopping area. I had the Spanish sardines with toast and butter, and my wife had octopus with mixed vegetables for appetizers. I had the sea bream with roasted potatoes as my main dish, and my wife had a mixed grill with julienne zucchini. The service was very prompt and the food was served piping hot.

 

Epilogue

Reflections on Milan. It’s a very large city, with a heart of gold, begging to be explored, discovered, and enjoyed. In retrospect, I would choose either early May or October for a return visit. I think this would provide for more temperate weather, as well as less tourist pressure.

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Northern Italy Travel Planning

Northern Italy Travel Planning - Milan, Genoa, Portofino, Verona, Como

Motivation – Northern Italy Travel Planning

This is about travel planning – an exercise in imagination regarding where to go, and moreover, why go there. It helps me set my own expectations about what’s to come at the selected destinations. The theme of this trip is a selected region within a single country – Northern Italy.

Italy is a country I continue to return to, and continue to discover, time and again. The regions I’ve already visited are varied, and differ from one another in geography, climate, cuisine, language, and other dimensions I have yet to discover. But they’re all interesting.  

Having passed through Milan several times previously in transit to Venice, and Florence, I knew I wanted to eventually spend time there. Milan is the anchor of this Northern Italy trip, being both its entry and exit points, with the rest of the destinations visited in a circuit.

I wanted to visit the Ligurian Italian Riviera, specifically the town of Portofino and thought it would work out well as a day trip from Genoa.

Having previously been to Venice, I wanted to further explore the Veneto region, and do so through stopovers in smaller towns that would present a different kind of profile, and less densely touristed. It was a toss-up between Vicenza and Verona. I picked Verona because it made a tighter geographic circuit, and it was closer to Lake Garda – I thought it might be nice to explore there if time permitted.

And finally, I needed to see Lake Como, and the wonderful towns, and villas dotting its shores that I’ve read so much about in the media, and travel blogs.

 

Itinerary – Northern Italy Travel Planning

The calendar allowed for 9 nights on this trip, scheduled over the American Independence Day holiday, the 4th of July.  Four destinations would be a challenging itinerary as transit time would cut into exploration and discovery, but I really wanted to see all four destinations. I thought Milan deserved the extra time as compared to the other 3 destinations as it was by far the grander city, with the most exploration to be done.

 

Milan – 3 nights

 

Genoa – 2 nights

 

Verona – 2 nights

 

Como – 2 nights

 

Logistics – Northern Italy Travel Planning

From my home base in Atlanta, nonstop flights to Milan are available through Delta, and Alitalia as a Delta code share. While non stop flights are by far the most convenient, they can be very expensive, especially for the summer high season. Typically finding nonstop round trip tickets under $1,000 is pretty rare because the International market is dominated by Delta, and the lack of competition out of Atlanta. But I happened upon a flash sale by Alitalia where they were discounting coach fare to under $700. At that price point it was a good value, so I jumped on the opportunity.

With 4 destinations, and each separated by a three hour drive from the previous on my selected circuit, it logistically made little sense to use trains, or any other public transportation as it would take even longer to get to the next destination. Trains in particular may have multiple stops, may not run on time, may require a change with added connection time, and so on. Therefore I elected to rent a car, and here too I found a bargain through Rentalcars.com on an Alfa Romeo.

Car rental is a bit different in Italy in that insurance coverage is compulsory for primary coverage. Most insurance comes with high deductibles, and full coverage is either not available or comes at a high price. I typically use American Express as my primary coverage when possible, or as the secondary coverage when primary insurance is compulsory, as in this case with Italy.  This has worked well for my personal situation.

I have a strong preference for apartments over hotels for several reasons. In general, apartments are a better value as compared to hotel rooms because they have much more space, can come with a washing machine so that both excess luggage and laundry services can be avoided, and are typically less expensive than hotel rooms – sometimes much less expensive for a much better experience. And the most important reason for apartments over hotel rooms is that it leads to a much more immersive experience for me.

I can find apartments in the center of the old part of town in most of the destinations of interest, which leads to more exploration time because I’m already located where I usually need to be for my style of travel, and I avoid transit time to the center of town. An apartment feels more like being a resident as compared to a hotel room. I found excellent apartments for each of the four destinations on this trip using a combination of Homeaway.com, and Booking.com

 

Resources – Northern Italy Travel Planning

Google Flights is my standard tool for research, and planning airfare. There are plenty of others, and I’ve tried most, but find that I really don’t need to save the very last nickel at the cost of spending more time chasing that nickel.

Booking.com, and Homeaway.com, were used to book all of the apartments for this trip. My preference is to avoid Airbnb because they’re not transparent with property locations, and do not promote the size of their properties in their standard description.  But I do use them if I can circumvent their deficiencies.

Google Maps is absolutely indispensable for planning purposes. I shudder to think what trip planning would be without it. I download the maps for the countries I travel, to avoid being out of cell range (highly unlikely in Europe), and to navigate should I exceed my daily data allowance.

Google Translate is installed on my phone and smart watch with Italian already downloaded for this trip. This way I can translate on the spur of the moment even if I have no data left for the day, or if I’m out of cell range (which still happens when indoors in some locations).

Tripadvisor is awesome for advanced travel planning, as well as finding a decent restaurant on the spot. 

 

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Related Destinations – Northern Italy Travel Planning

Český Krumlov

This is the 6th destination on our Western Slavic Countries itinerary as described in that Travel Planning post.

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We departed Olomouc by car, selecting the longest route available on google maps because I wanted to experience the most scenic drive possible. It was a cloudless, sunny Thursday morning as we departed central Olomouc. We started the drive on a highway for the first hour or so. And then we went on two lane country roads.

The first half was through wide open, large farmland with no trees in sight. It looked like corporate farms because they were so expansive. But about halfway through the trip we were on lonely two lane country roads. Sometimes so tight that it didn’t seem like two cars could have passed by. The terrain got hillier, and eventually the roads were tree-lined with beautiful vistas. The scenery with no vehicles either in front or behind us made for a wonderful driving experience.

 

Arrival

Cesky Krumlov is a picture-postcard pretty little town, and it’s definitely a tourist destination. With only a two and half hour bus trip from Prague, Cesky Krumlov is heavily visited by day tripping tourists.

Driving the BMW into town presented a problem or two. The roads were very  narrow and finding parking – even to move the luggage into the apartment, was problematic. Once again I was convinced that having a larger vehicle in Europe, especially in villages like this, was not a good idea. The roads were tight and narrow, with parking at a premium, and people driving aggressively. So I had to be on my guard in this tiny little town.

 

Settling in

The apartment was very centrally located on Ulica Latran, the main street through the little town. I could tell just from arrival that there was going to be some street noise at night because we were on the main drag through town. But this was expected, and  the central location outweighed the inconvenience of a little noise. The apartment was in fabulous shape, as advertised. It was a cute little place suitable for two people, and possibly a third adult, or a couple of children.

 

Discovery Trek

Cesky Krumlov radiates out from its large castle, with some of the castle complex dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The castle is visible from most parts of town, guarding over it, and keeping it safe. The town is situated on 2 oxbows on the Vltava River, and is easily walkable end to end, criss-crossing the main streets on each oxbow in 1 hour – it’s that small.

However, just walking around Cesky Krumlov, at a very leisurely pace, taking it all in, I could see why so many tourists descend upon it for day trips. The little town was like a set from a Disney movie. It didn’t seem possible for one little place to have been so filled with charm.

 

The Vltava River flows through Cesky Krumlov, bringing a flotilla of holiday makers – most pass through, but some stop at the many restaurants along the water to grab lunch and get dry. The scene of water-borne merry-makers added to the carnival-like atmosphere brought on by the tour bus day trippers.

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And as I spent more time in Cesky Krumlov, I realized that the density of tourism made it feel like I was actually at a Disney park. All signage was in multiple languages, as were all menus at restaurants. Tourists arrived at points of interest in herds – about a bus-sized herd most of the time. I was reminded of the last time I visited Disney World in Florida. We continued exploration of the little town on our second day, meandering our way through Cesky Krumlov with the strategy of avoiding the tour group throngs.

 

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Food Scene

Restaurace Bolero

This was a lovely restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the river, and we watched the recreational “floaters” drift by.

Grilled sausage and a salad. It doesn’t get any simpler or tastier. They do have an extensive menu, but we were interested in what passes for lighter fare. Service was fast and efficient. Very nice first stop in Cesky Krumlov!

 

Restaurace Konvice

This restaurant was difficult to find because Google Maps had it mislocated, and had to ask twice for directions. The terrace has only six tables with views of the castle tower and the church over the red rooftops in the foreground, only 3 with really good views. Worth arriving early to get a nice terrace view table.

Roasted brown trout, parslied potatoes, mixed salad, carrot cake for dessert. Because it was roasted, the trout could have had crispier skin. It was however tender and juicy. A leisurely setting with a great view, good service, and value. The prices were reasonable for Cesky Krumlov.

 

Restaurace Babylon

This place is situated right along the river with a view of one of the main churches, and you can hear the bells ringing right from the waterfront tables where we were sitting. Lovely scenery on the water, watching all of the holidaymakers raft down the river, with ducks and fish right below us.  My wife loves to feed the fish and ducks, so there’s always a little scenery to be enjoyed. The menu is simple and it was a good value in hyper touristy CK.

Zander (Asian game fish imported to parts of Central Europe) with potatoes and greens, salad and grilled veggies. Tried a local pilsner style beer, Eggenberg (33 czk!), very good. The cuisine was basic, but well prepared, good service, excellent value, and the views couldn’t be beat.

 

We liked this place so much that we decided to come back a second time for dinner. We wanted to have grilled pork knuckle for our last dinner in the Czech Republic. It speaks volumes about the quality of the service and the food. Dinner was hearty and very good. I can’t believe this place isn’t rated higher on Tripadviser.

 

Restaurant Griechenbeisl

We had dinner here when staying in Vienna overnight to catch the return flight the following day. This restaurant claims to have been in operation since 1447. Our experience here was very good. The service was excellent, in spite of the fact that they were very busy. Service went with on with Germanic efficiency. We ordered herb encrusted fillet of char, risotto with pak choi, and grilled, skewered prawns with coconut-ginger orange sauce pasta.

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Zum Basilisken

We had a late lunch here when staying in Vienna overnight to catch the flight out the following day. This restaurant received horrific reviews on Tripadvisor, especially from people that didn’t know they’d be charged for items offered on the table upon arrival which weren’t ordered.

Clear beef soup with liver dumplings, Viennese scallop with roast potatoes, and apple strudel for dessert. The soup was served so hot that it was not immediately edible, but it was delicious with patience. The Wienerschnitzel was was served piping, and it  was fresh and delicious. My only complaint about this restaurant was that the beer was a bit flat.

 

Vienna Overnight

We stayed a single night in Vienna to accommodate the first leg of our return flight, which was scheduled early. We stayed in the center of town within easy walking distance to restaurants, and a short Uber ride to the airport. The two restaurants we tried while in Vienna were very good, and highly recommended, although ordering a beer didn’t work well for me at one of them – details in the Food Scene section.

We did a mini discovery trek in Vienna, about a six mile walk along the river, then returned back towards our apartment with dinner along the way. It was more exercise than anything else, as the scenery was rather big-city ordinary where we were staying.

 

Epilogue

Cesky Krumlov was by far the least immersive traveling experience of the Western Slavic Countries Itinerary. The Tour Bus Day-Trippers from Prague, and Vienna descended on this little town in herds and hordes, making it feel more like a trip to a large amusement park, rather than a picture-perfect village surrounding a grand castle – with history that dates back to the 13th century. It was very interesting, particularly around the Vltava River – but about as immersive as an outing to Disneyland with thousands of adolescents.

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