Monday, October 27, 2008

September vacation - part 1






So, now I will tell you a bit about our vacation. In Croatia, we decided to stay on the mainland. We had thought about going to one of the islands, but the ferry schedule in September requires you to get up at 5 a.m., and we decided that none of us would be up for that (in either sense of the phrase). So, after some online searching we booked an apartment in a private house in Promajna, on the Makarska Riviera (across from the tip of Hvar). The house was about 500 meters from the sea, just up on the hillside. The beaches are beautiful there—small pebbles for the most part with an easy walk into the sea; the water is pristine (but wear shoes), there are cute little bars and cafes right on the beach, with showers and cabanas are conveniently spaced along the length of it. Pine trees grow on the beach providing some natural shade and also make it look very different from what you think of when you imagine a beach – no run-of-the-mill palm trees here. And the big gray mountain, Biokovo, looms over that whole part of the coastline. When you are in the sea, you have a great view of the beach with the pine trees, a little white church up on the hillside, and Biokovo in the background contrasted against the blue sky…it’s really very pretty. I’d go back there again in a second. Well, in season anyway. I hear it’s harsh in the winter. The only unfortunate bits are:
A: the food was nothing to write home about, as they say. But it’s worth blogging about…for the purpose of complaining. With all of that seafood right on their doorstep, most restaurants should be a bit ashamed that they don’t offer more of a selection. But if you personally were going to buy fish in the morning off of the fishermen and cook it later that day, that would let you get around that problem. We seemed to have that getting up early problem, though, combined with the fact that it took us a few days to discover where you had to go to meet the fishermen. Oh well, another time. And the wine offering – same complaint. Good wine is made not very far away, and what they were serving in the restaurants was poor.
B: On the islands you have all of these postcard-perfect little towns, each with a main square where you can linger over coffee, surrounded by beautiful old buildings, or opposite the sea…unfortunately this area on the mainland is not all like that. Oh, there are cute little squares and such, but it’s more congested and feels large-scale tourist-y (big hotels, etc). But of course we expected this, and so with that in mind, I have to say it was not disappointing.

We stopped for the night in Nin on the way down, which was cute. The beaches were not nice (trash!), but there was a very good restaurant just across from that mini-cathedral they’ve got there, so we had a great dinner. And we also made a pit-stop in Trogir, which is a place we like very much. It’s got charm and beauty by the bucketful. It’s a must-see in the area.

By the time we left, after a week of absolutely gorgeous, hot, sunny weather, the tide was turning. A storm came through on our last night that left the entire area soggy and cold – it was about 20 degrees colder by the time we got back to Ljubljana! We were all freezing.

But we put up our umbrellas, put on our scarves and sweaters, and strolled around Ljubljana for the next couple of days. We also made a trip to Lake Bled, but were out of the car for only a few minutes when it started to rain (never mind that it was already blowing a gale and we were cold despite having worn lots of wooly things). Besides, you couldn’t see anything on account of the cloud cover. It’s a good thing that Lake Bled is on absolutely every tourist site or brochure even remotely connected with Slovenia, so that Joe and Ceil could see what it looks like under normal conditions.

After a few days’ rest and roaming around Ljubljana, the plan was to drive to Hungary. Joe and Ceil have a dear old friend, Mike, whom they hadn’t seen in 10+ years and we wanted to drive out to visit him. He lives about an hour north of Budapest. We spoke with him several times over the phone, and he was kind enough to give us directions (we hadn’t bothered to get a map of that part of Hungary—we figured we would just follow what he told us to do) and also to book a hotel room for us at a place near his house. Well. Those two small details sound so insignificant now, but in hindsight they prove we were a couple of morons. Let me explain the drive in brief. It should have taken about six hours to drive from Ljubljana to meet Mike in the small city of Esztergom. But the roads he sent us on were “highways” in name only. In fact they would be described more aptly as country roads. But the fact that they were small roads did not discourage the trucks from driving on them – it was one lumbering vehicle after another (all of them ahead of us!). And for sheer boredom, this ride can’t be beaten. It’s as flat as Kansas and equally riveting (nothing but crops on either side of the road). I would, however, go back there again if it were summertime. Why on earth?!? Because these crops are sunflowers. As far as the eye can see, there is field after field of sunflowers. I’ll bet it’s breathtaking. Unfortunately they were all brown and dried up by the time we drove through.

But I digress. We were supposed to meet Mike at Esztergom cathedral, in the parking lot, at about 1:30. But since we drove there by way of the wagon trail, we did not arrive at the cathedral until after 5:00. I should mention that Esztergom cathedral is absolutely, mid-bogglingly, eye-poppingly big. But the parking lot was deserted. And we hadn’t eaten all day, since we were supposed to meet Mike in Esztergom for lunch. Or perhaps dinner, given the late hour? So we skipped looking at the cathedral and then Mike met us in the parking lot. Hugs and hellos finished, Mike explained that we should follow him to his house, and then we would go right to the hotel where he had arranged for us to have dinner.

So. We stuff our stiff limbs back into the car and follow him. More single-lane roads. More dead sunflowers. We were all getting crankier by the minute. I think it took about six and a half years to get to Mike’s house, but my estimation may be off slightly. I was starving and things were hazy. But we finally got to his house, had a mini-tour, met his puppy, his niece, and then got back in the car. We drove through villages that looked as though they hadn’t changed much in 50 years (and probably won’t change much more in another 50). Then, driving on increasingly smaller roads, eventually we took a side road into the woods. We drove past several groups of small cabins (Ceil:“We’d better not be staying there!) and then to the end of the road. Then we turned down another smaller road and pulled up in front of what looked like a large lodge. Since there was nothing else in the area except trees, we figured that was the place. Sure enough, Mike got out of the car, and we went inside. He got us checked in and we went up to our rooms. They were freezing, and had no visible bed linens. We pointed this out to Mike, and he said that he would talk to the manager, and went with us to the dining room. They, thankfully, brought our dinner out right away, along with a much-needed bottle of wine. Dinner was a bit meager after not having eaten all day (just a chicken leg and a side of potatoes), but it was edible so it disappeared quickly. By this time it was about 7:30 or so. We wandered out to the bar area, but no one was there. Mike said that if we wanted something else we had better tell them now since they were closing for the night (!). We opted not to, with the selection being about as spare as dinner had been. We sat in semi-darkness in a small area next to the bar and chatted for a bit, but then Mike wanted to get on the road and drive home. So, there being nothing else to do, and it was getting late (8:00!) we figured we would go to our rooms. They were still freezing—apparently heat is not available in September. We asked for some more blankets, and the manager brought us each a blanket about the size and thickness of a tea towel. We figured this was going to be a long night in more ways than one.

Joe and I started to head downstairs to get a few things from the car (warm clothing…) and just catch the managers/owners as they are locking up. Locking up behind themselves. LOCKING US IN. FOR THE NIGHT. Joe yelled after them as we rushed down the stairs, “Wait! I have to get something from my car!” Scowling, they came back in and grudgingly unlocked a side door so we could run out to the car and grab a few things. Then they locked us back in again and left.

But since the cat’s away…..we immediately raided the armoires in the cavernous hallway upstairs and Joe found some musty, but thick, blankets. We split these up between our rooms and decided to watch TV, which each room (surprisingly) had. It was only about a 12” set (Color!! Things were looking up!) but, alas, no remote, the colors were a strange technicolor orange, and there were only four channels (all Hungarian). But we’ve been well-trained by our years in Slovenia (our motto for most outings to anywhere not in a major tourist center: “Prepare to be disappointed!). So, I put on my scarf and went to sleep.

As usual, photos are on flickr.

Next entry: On to Budapest!

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