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Going to the Theater

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In researching our trip, we ran across a short blurb about Pula in the Istrian Region of Croatia. Neither of us can recall exactly where, but it fascinated us. Almost everywhere we have been traveling for the last 25 years was touched by the Romans 2000 years earlier. From England south to the settlements around Tangier in Morocco. To the east into Greece and Turkey, and of course, Rome itself, all had Roman footprints all over them. When we first saw that there was one of the most well-preserved Roman amphitheaters in Pula, it was added to a growing list of must-see places. But the challenge seemed to be getting there. In the off-season, the ferries only run on Wednesday and Sunday. Then Friday gets added in during the swing season and finally it becomes daily during the summer. All over the Dalmatian Coast, we could tell that things were gearing up for a busy summer season, we were just early. We had built our trip around getting places on ferries and believed that the ferry ride f...
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Zadar - Music to our Ears

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We arrived in Split on the ferry at 8:30 am, before our first cup of coffee. We decided to just sit at a sidewalk café near the ferry dock and have that cup. What a busy place. We saw cruise ships loading and unloading their passengers. Buses were everywhere. The noise seemed to stay outside, and the coffee was delicious and stabilizing.  The bus terminal is adjacent to the dock, and we hopped a shuttle to the airport to rent a car. For the second time in three days, Malcolm had problems buying a bus ticket. It was really his problem. His hearing deficiency exacerbated a frustrated ticket clerk when she was asked for the fourth or fifth time to repeat the amount of the ticket because he couldn't understand what she was saying. Sorry to say that some of these agents are not happy people. The toll booth attendants we encountered were much happier. We toasted later to all the ticket agents who had to deal with Malcolm.  Four hours later, were in Sukosan, a suburb of Zadar. We had...
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Plitvice Lakes National Park

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We are borrowing these words verbatim from the marketing and sales department of the park. It described the park better than we could and it explains a little of the geology and hydrology of the park. The Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest and largest national park in the Republic of Croatia, famous for its numerous turquoise-colored lakes separated by tufa, or travertine, barriers. Its karst landscape is characterized by specific hydrological traits and exceptional biological diversity, which helped the National Park gain international significance. The specific hydrogeological properties of the Park’s rocks have enabled the retention of water on the dolomite rocks and resulted in the water cutting canyons in the limestone deposits. For that reason, the lake system is divided into the Upper and Lower lakes. Today’s appearance of the lake system is a result of the tufa formation process, which created the barriers. It is an exceptionally complex and sensitive biodynamic proce...
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Sometimes life is better left unplanned...

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  We’re in a third-floor walkup in Zadar on a Saturday evening. Staring out at the sunset. Jackson Browne on the music machine, and loving life.  I’m looking over at my beautiful wife and wondering how these two people got here. We have reservations for a ferry to Pula tomorrow afternoon arriving at 8:45 PM. We have a reservation for one night at a hotel in Pula. Our next reservation is 9 days away. No hotel reservations, no rental cars, no buses, no ferries, nada. Maybe we should get out of the present and get into something down the road. Have you ever seen such a couple of happy septuagenarians! Susanne’s on the sofa looking at a plan. Our thirty-first plan in ten days. Oops, thirty-second. We know we’ll be in Budapest in 10 days. What fricking fun! Thanks for sharing this journey with us! 
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The Beauty of Understanding Only English

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Malcolm here. I often think it would be great to be fluent in another language. But then, just for a moment, I realize that not being able to read the nutrition values on this label* is a good thing! * Hasbro Gummy Bears!
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What do Thalassocracy and Blue Mind have in common?

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  The view from our deck in Orebic and the mountain rising behind us. The clear Adriatic waters from our balcony. Leaving the sounds of the city behind, we found the deafening sound of the almost-silent waves crashing against the shore was music to our ears. It’s Sunday morning. In the distance, there are church bells ringing. Sunday Morning Coming Down is playing in my head. The mental state is magical. The sun is starting to burn down. In the near distance, the ferries work their magic. Moving cars, and people, across the waters of the Adriatic. This is a mood we’d like to stay in. Orebić has welcomed us! The word of the day is Thalassocracy ! It’s hard to imagine that almost 5,000 years ago, the Minoan civilization mastered these waters (c. 27 th – 15 th century BCE.) The same water we're looking at right now. They created a maritime trading empire that stretched through the Mediterranean that included not only the Aegean Sea, but also these beautiful, peaceful ...
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