Dalmation Coast-Croatia August 24-26, 2012

The Dalmation Coast in Croatia has hundreds of islands.  Only ten percent of them are inhabited.  It reminds me of the British Virgin Islands where sailing can be done by line of sight and no crossing takes more than a few hours.  We arranged for a 54 foot mono hull sailboat named Acustica (www.acusticayacht.com).   It is a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 54 DS.  Our skipper named Alen picked us up at the Split, Croatia airport at 8:00 am. and we went directly to the boat and set sail.  His wife Natalega was the perfect hostess and a wonderful cook.  Alen is an accomplished Captain and has a lot of experience as the Captain of a 150 foot motor yacht based on the French Riviera.  He loves to sail and it was fun to learn from him.  We sailed to the Pakleni Islands.  There are many islands with many inlets and protected bays.  We stopped to swim at San Clemen Island in a bay where other boats were also anchored.  The first thing we noticed was that swim suits are optional on these islands!  We sailed from island to island and occasionally anchored the boat, jumped in the water and swam to shore to sun bathe on the rocks.  Hvar Island was our favorite.  A fortress guards the harbor.  We climbed to the top of the fort ramparts at sunset to take photos.  That evening Nata had prepared a wonderful dinner for us which we ate on the boat with the help of candlelight at anchor out in the harbor.  The fort was lit up and it was a beautiful view.  Barb thought it was a perfect romantic date.  Our dates just get better all of the time.

Alen and Natalega

City and Island of Hvar.

Scott enjoying some fresh fruit on the boat.

Barb on the boat, soaking up the sun and fun

Sails are up!

Scott at the helm.

Our Sailboat is the furthest out in the water.

From the top of the castle on Hvar.

Hvar

A

Hvar

After we said goodbye to Alen and Natalga, we visited the city of Split on our drive toward Dubrovnik.  The old town is beautiful.  

Old town of Split-Underneath the square

Split

Scott in the town of Split

Barb in Split

Trogir



Bosnia shares a border with Croatia.  We decided to visit a town called Mostar in Bosnia.    It is half Christian and half Muslim.  The Muslims live on one side of a river and the Christians live on the other side.  The area was heavily destroyed during the war first by the Serbian military and then by the Croatian military. Much of the city had to be rebuilt including the famous bridge that connected the Christians and the Muslims.  Unesco donated millions of dollars to rebuild the bridge deeming it an important symbol of peace and understanding between peoples with different cultural and religious backgrounds.  

Mostar, Bosnia

The famous bridge in Mostar.  It had to be completely rebuilt after the war.  Young boys jump off it into the river for money.

Mostar, Bosnia-from the famous bridge



Dubrovnik is an amazing City.  We stayed at the Imperial Palace Hilton Hotel right next to the Old City at the Pile Gate.    The area is often compared to Venice, it is right on the water and was an important trading zone for merchants.  It is a very clean city, and the worn polished limestone walkways are beautiful.  We took a ferry out to Lokrum Island.  There was a dramatic difference in temperature, (it was cooler) because of some dense vegetation.  It was like a big park, with lots of paths.  In the evening in the Old City they were practicing for an Opera at the Cathedral.  

Hilton Imperial Hotel in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia by night

Old city Dubrovnik-they were practicing for an Opera

Dubrovnik from the ramparts walk

The Ramparts walk around the Old City

Dubrovnik old city is built right on the water.

The Amalfi Coast, Italy August 21-22, 2012

We took a direct flight from SLC to Paris, then caught a flight (that was delayed of course) to Rome, rented a car and drove 2 1/2 hours to Salerno on the Amalfi Coast. It is beautiful with homes built into the hillside alongside old castle ruins. There are no sandy beaches, just steep cliffs with some lounge chairs at the bottom of the cliffs.

Along the coast

A beach of lounge chairs

We stayed at the Raito Hotel. It is up on the cliff. We had a nice room with a view.
We decided to hire a private boat with a skipper. He took us all along the coast, past Amalfi and Positano over to the island of Capri. We took the funicular up to the town on top. There were lots of tourists. We stopped on the way back to Salerno at beautiful grottos and caves. The water was a beautiful blue color. Scott went swimming.

Swimming in a grotto

Caves and arch formations along the coast

We got back to the hotel at 4:00 and then drove up the coast 1/2 hour to the Pompeii ruins. It is a huge archeological site. We spent 2 hours wandering around. The ruins date back to 79 AD. After Mount Vesuvius erupted it buried the town in 3 meters of ash within about 10 minutes.  The site was discovered in the 1700's. A Roman poet that witnessed the account wrote vivid letters that have been preserved.  The eruption lasted for 24 hours and the people thought to take cover.  Then the avalanche of hot ash and volcanic gas came and the people died first from the intense heat and suffocation.   There are bodies that were preserved, through the formations of the hot magma, plaster casts were made.  (much like a bronze cast is made).

The streets of Pompeii

The ceiling of a bath house

Many beautiful courts and baths, lots of marble and columns and bright Italian colors.

Amazing colors

A preserved body

The "Menu" in a brothel were paintings on the wall

Provence, France

It was a 13 Hour flight from Buenos Aires to Paris.  We rented a car and stopped near Dijon and stayed in an old Abbaye de la Bussiere.  Beautiful.

The outside

Inside the Abbaye (Hotel)

Our Room

The grounds

We drove further down into Provence and decided to stay at a Castle that has a whole hillside of buildings with different styles of rooms and restaurants.  It is call Crillion de Brave.  It is on a hill in the town of Bedoin, which is at the bottom of Mount Ventoux, where we plan to bike.  You can rent really good Trek bikes, and reserve them ahead of time, right at the base of the mountain.  They were just like our bikes at home.  We brought our own bike shoes and clothes though.  

Crillion de Brave

Enjoying a little pool time and killing ourselves biking.

Crillion de Brave

For one of our bike excursions we hired a taxi to follow us to near the top of Mt. Ventoux, so that when we finished we didn't have to ride back down.  (It turned out that it was a very good idea!)
We started at noon.  The first 2 kilometers are relatively easy.  The next 3 to St. Esteve are about 7% grade.  After that it is between 8 and 18% without any leveling out areas to try to rest your body, then up to Chalet Reynard, which is about 5 kilometers from the top.   The last 6 Kilometers are above the tree line and steep.  There was snow the last 6 kilometers.  It rained on us about halfway up, we got soaked, and then froze on the top.  It took us a total of 4 hours 33 minutes with our stops and 3 hours 18 minutes of actual bike time.  It is a total of 23 kilometers.   My AVERAGE heart rate was 140!  I burned 2862 total calories!  We gained 1600 meters (5,250 feet) of elevation  That was the hardest bike ride I have ever done!  The snickers bar we ate on the way down tasted mighty good.

Testing the last 6 kilometers the day before the big ride.

Yes, I am frozen.

I thought I might die.

If you think he looks miserable, you are right.  He just did 23 kilometers of 15% grade!

The summit is 1912 meters

That was the hardest bike ride we have done.  Riding back down for 5 miles, we nearly froze.  Our hands were so cold, it was hard to brake.

Notice that it says 23% grade.  They are not lying!

After a nice breakfast the next day we went on a 50 Kilometer bike ride thru some small towns and had a picnic.  We enjoyed lots of different bike rides around the area we were staying.  We also drove to other hilltop villages, went a market, and basically ate our way around.

Shopping at the Market in 'Isle de Solange

Town of Gordes.  A beautiful town on the top of a hill.

Another bike ride.  There seems to be a lot of hills.

Town of Rousillon

French Pastries after a hard bike ride.  This is how we ate our way thru France. 

After loving all the biking and the place we stayed for 5 days, We turned in our bikes and drove over to Cannes.  We got a room at the Majestic Barrier right on the waterfront.  Cannes is a lot like La Jolla, but it has an old cobblestone city on the hillside, just above the waterfront. The waterfront is modern and glitzy.  We ate at a great restaurant called Avisio.

On the waterfront at Cannes

From the old city

Cannes waterfront

Barb

We drove over to Monte Carlo the next day to see 2 days of the Monte Carlo Tennis Tournament.  You've got to love the way the roads wind around the mountain.  We stayed at the Monte Carlo Beach Hotel right next to the tournament and on the water.  It is way too expensive for what it is, but it is right where we needed to be.  We bit the bullet.   The tournament was great.  The center court holds about 6000 so all the seats are great.  We saw Tsonga, Juan Monaco, and Murray all play.  The next day we saw Djokavich, Nadal and Ferrer.  After the tournament we drove back to Cannes and stayed at the JW Marriott.

Murray

Tsonga

And the best of all in my opinion-Scott

Our Hotel-Monte Carlo Beach Hotel (Photo taken from the top seats at the tennis tournament.)

Nadal

We left Cannes and drove to and old castle called Chateau Rochegard.  It is above Avignon and Orange off the Bolene exit.  We (Scott) put the wrong kind of gas in our car (not once, but twice) and we had to have the rental car company come and pick up the car.  (Ooops)

Chateau Rochegard

 Oh well, we took the train from Avignon to Paris, (which was okay, but we wouldn't do it again, we prefer to drive).  In Paris we went to a dinner on a nice sightseeing boat.  We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel right inside the airport, which was easy for catching our flight the next day.

Dinner cruise

Barb in Paris

Paris by night on a dinner cruise

 It's been a good adventure so far.  Now we are off to plan and enjoy a wedding.  Then our adventure continues on August 20, 2012.  See you then.