Croatia

4/18 - en route to the Old Country (Croatia) today via Dallas and Frankfurt. Going to try to put our notes here instead of keeping a handwritten journal...we'll see how we do! Travel thoughts for the day: if you can't carry it, don't bring it. And Terminal D at DFW still wins for food and beer (Ziegenbock on draft).

4/20 - We arrived in Zadar about an hour ago and are now at the Villa Valentina, a pretty set of guest rooms not far from the water. Although we are beat from about 24 hrs of travel, we're going to walk/bus over to the Old Town to look around. Croatia Airlines getting here was fine, although the "board from both ends of the plane" (after being driven out to the plane from the terminal) was silly, it just resulted in a b.o.-enhanced scrum mid-plane as everyone figured out they got on at the wrong end and tried to adjust. Lol!

4/21 - ah, the european breakfast. All the things I do not eat at home to start the day: soft-boiled egg, cold cuts, rye bread, nutella, cookies...great coffee...yum! Fruit too, but when you can eat nutella...why? Thus fortified, we are now off in a rental Mazda 2 to Plitvice Lakes. The garmin gps we brought is working great with its Croatia map and it is amusing to hear it try to pronounce the Croatian street names - doing little better than we are I imagine!

4/22 - Yesterday was largely spent out at Plitvice Lakes, a beautiful national park with a series of terraced lakes and abundant waterfalls. A steep admission price of over $20 each but the park had a meticulously maintained trail system, ferries and a tram, so well worth it! We finished the day back in the Zadar old town - after buying me some walnut brandy (orahovec) - with dinner at Fosa (pronounced Fosha) overlooking the water and the city walls. A large group of girls dressed in white were at the base of the wall clicking rocks together, eventually lining up for a performance, which we never figured out...even our waiter said he would read the paper in the morning to find out what it was about. Today we are driving to Šibenik - more on that later. Wikipedia has a lot of good info. :-) Note to family: since Easter is approaching - I got Easter bread here! And it is pretty similar to ours. Given it is approaching 100 years since my grandparents came to the US, it is nice to find out that some of our "traditions" are real here. Dobar dan, everyone.

4/22 - Today had a lovely drive about an hour along the coast to Šibenik, on what we jokingly called ACH (Adriatic Coast Highway). Just like PCH in California, most drivers had a healthy disregard for the ever-changing speed limits! But the drive was beautiful nonetheless with crystal blue waters and sailboats aplenty to view. We strolled the riva in Šibenik, visited the Cathedral of Sv Jakova (St James) - a fine old gothic and renaissance structure with evident reinforcing of the interior arches - and walked up the hill to the imposing Fortress of Sv Mihovila (St Michael). Lovely view over old Šibenik from top the fortress walls. We wandered back down the winding narrow streets and found a quiet restaurant for lunch, enjoying octopus salad and decadent gnocchi with salmon and gorgonzola cream sauce. The drive back along the coast was relaxing, Robert snoozed, good thing I was driving. :-). Back in Zadar we had the garmin find us a gas station, which turned out to be an expedition circling town a bit...made more comical by listening to it slaughter the Croatian street names, such as Ulica Hrvatskog Sabora...R says it needs a "know the country" feature where it can say the names correctly but still give directions in the right language. I finally switched it to audio Croatian but I don't think it helped!!! Off to go stroll the beach and find a beer somewhere before dinner...

4/23 - Having a quiet day in Biograd n/m, about 40km down the coast from Zadar. We meet our birding tour guide this evening at dinner. In the small world department - the gal from the company, who picked us up in Zadar, said she had been to the US only once, 15 years ago. Where did she go? San Pedro CA! "Many Croatians there," she says. Yes, tell me about it! She was visiting Marinkovichs. Too funny. Biograd is a pleasant seaside town - restaurants and coffee shops outnumber all other businesses, with lots of outdoor seating facing the marina. Little to actually do here, but it is a good base for a few days.

4/24 - Sretan Uskrs! Or happy Easter. We spent this Sunday on our first full day of the birding tour on the island of Pag, connected to the mainland by a fairly short bridge near Zadar. Pag is known for its salt flats and cheese...really wonderful sheeps' milk cheese. It should also be known for rocks...is the rockiest island I think I have seen. The birding was good and the highlight for me at least was a Griffon Vulture sitting maybe 20 ft away from us. The beer at the end of the long day was most welcome too. :-)

4/26 - It was a bit drizzly and gray today but we still managed to have a good day of birding and enjoying Krka National Park, known for its waterfalls and also for the fact that they had the first hydroelectric system in Croatia, in 1896. The birding was a little slow but we did see Callandra and Short-toed Larks, who eventually and grudgingly stood still for some photos. Our leader Robert (not my Robert) also nicely made a special stop for me to buy some orahovec (walnut brandy). Potent stuff you can't buy at home - and (IMHO) way better than slivovica. We are in Trogir tonight at a nice little hotel in the old town...watching a german tv program about the coming British royal wedding...how international. A nice bonus in the room was a bowl of hrustele, cookies my grandmother used to make. Yum!

4/26 - What day is it? Tuesday I think. We spent yesterday birding at Vronsko Jezera (lake) which is a nature park and includes an ornthological reserve. Lake, rocky hills, wetland and grasses...a very nice and sunny day. May not be so lucky weather-wise today, the rain all around may finally get us. We went back to Zadar after dinner last night with the group to stroll the riva and see/hear the sea organ - very cool thing - and then enjoyed a nightcap (my favorite, walnut brandy) afterwards. We're on the move today from Biograd n/m to Trogir, where we will spend the next four nights. Time for breakfast now...where's the nutella? :-)

4/27 - It was overcast today but we had a great day out birding, seeing Sombre Tit (no chuckling, people) at a nest box, and Eurasian Eagle-Owl. We spent a lot of time bumping along rocky tracks in the hills above Trogir, and eventually had lunch near a chapel near some sheer cliffs overlooking the water. The hillsides are beautiful in the spring with rock rose (cistus), purple sage (salvia officinalis - the one you cook with), and other flowers all in bloom. And rocks everywhere, laboriously somewhat cleared from fields and stacked into low walls everywhere. Add stellar views of the coast and islands, and there you have Dalmatia. I seem to be finding more food on this trip that reminds me of growing up. Yesterday in the hotel we were greeted with hrustele (cookies my grandmother made), and I had stuffed bell peppers for dinner - pretty much as I remember them! We are back in the hotel as it approaches 5pm and are about to go for a walk in Trogir's old town...and contemplate what is for dinner in a few hrs.

4/29 - Quite the last couple of days...yesterday was birding in the area of Trogir and we ended up in Split for a walking tour of the old town. We had done the walk last year but it was nice to have a guide this time! Today we got on a spiffy speedboat and went 70 nautical miles(!) out to Lastovo island and its surrounding islets. The 2.5 hour ride got us out to colonies of shearwaters (saw chicks in the nest after clambering around on one islet). We're back in Trogir for the evening, rather chilled from the ride but thoroughly satisfied. Well, except for the cold I seem to have picked up. Time to navigate a croatian pharmacy to see if I can get some meds.

4/30 - We left our birding friends today, saying goodbye to guide Robert at the hotel, and Natasha drove us to the Split airport. There we got our rental car and navigated to the car ferry (trajekt). I thought the ticket guy said "start lining up at 12:30" so we killed an hour getting coffee...and drove over to the ferry a few minutes early. One guy said "go to boat NOW"...ok...so we did, and within minutes it started moving! We had this sinking feeling we were on the wrong ferry, but sure enough, it did go to Supetar on Brač (whew). We had a restful afternoon in our hotel in Postira, listening to the water and sea gulls, before going for a long walk. Then we drove the short distance inland to Dol for dinner at Konoba Stori Gusti. We had been there last year for the roast lamb, and again it did not disappoint. The owner Marijo and his wife are very nice, and he talked with us about the island, showed us topo maps ("from Yugoslav army, more detail") and had suggestions where to visit, including a monastery at Blaca. It is raining now - hopefully it will let up tomorrow.

5/1 - Happy international workers' day! :-). We spent a wet morning in Selca, my grandparents' village. I had hoped to talk with the priest there but he jetted out as mass ended without the usual (in the US at least) meet and greet time. So we walked around, located the cemetery, and got pretty soaked exploring and photographing tombstones. Lots of Ursichs there (well, Ursic with accent on the c - my maiden name), a couple from with my grandmother's name Jurun, and other names I recognize from my hometown of San Pedro CA. We then drove a couple of km down to Sumartin to look around, before driving back to the hotel. Have spent the afternoon indoors listening to some klapa (folk) music on tv, saw some cycling (tour of Turkey), and Robert is working on his trip article for the Huachuca Audubon newsletter. We'll have to find dinner soon - could be tricky on Sunday since few tourists about this week.

5/4 - We spent the night in Frankfurt, at a hotel that used to be outside Rhein-Main AFB...but of course that isn't there now. Anyway, we had a glorious last full day on Brač, beautiful sunny weather, contrasting with the rain the prior day and the day after. Our last dinner in Postira, I had a spaghetti that was the closest to mom's (slav style) I've had outside San Pedro CA. And predictably the waiter knew of Pedro, too. As my cousin Michael said, everyone there has a relative or a friend in Pedro. The bonus for staying in Frankfurt one night is that it is asparagus season here...big tender white asparagus...yum. So that and one last draft beer rounded out our trip. Well that and the great coffee in the hotel this am, and pretzels and chocolate croissant in the airport. :-). So...coming home now. Thorough security at the airport BTW.