Author: magrilless

Let me start by saying that Croatia was never a place on our radar before we left the States. It’s not a destination we ever heard people talking about, really; European must-sees tend to congregate in the big countries like France or Italy. But now that we’ve been, we are so grateful we decided to check it out!

Out of everywhere we’ve visited this year, Croatia feels like the place that could still be wild. Although we only traveled across a small part of it (the Istrian peninsula, actually close to Venice on the Adriatic Sea), we were struck by the beauty of the landscape and the feel of less populated areas.

The city we stayed in — Rovinj — had a definite Venetian vibe, but smaller and less crowded and not so stinky.

We had planned for a week of beachy explorations and warm sunny days with ice cream. Happily we did get one of those!

But then rain and clouds moved in (and that water was cold!), so we mostly explored town and trails on foot. And one day we rented bikes for a really lovely coastal expedition.

We found crabs and urchins and snails. Great climbing rocks and caves. Natural clay deposits for sculpting. And tree-sheltered perches for watercolor sketching (with extra water effects).

We also snuck into a resort to pet their hired falcon (who keeps the sea gulls in check) and swim in their outdoor pool (guess I was wrong about it definitely being heated). And we got to be on a movie set at the docks while Salma Hayek slapped Samuel L Jackson over and over (I do not envy the guy who has to hold that fuzzy microphone over his head all day).

We feel like we left more unseen here than any other country we’ve visited, I think. It could definitely warrant an extended return trip. Who’s ready to come with us?

(Before you buy your tickets, read the next post — coming soon — about what it was like to take the train home. Always an adventure!)

We were especially interested in spending some time in this Slovene capital city, since it was the original plan for our entire sabbatical year abroad. Boy, it would have been different! But what a lovely city!

First off, the trains are old-school. What fun to be able to open a window and smell the countryside passing us by!

There are lots of dragons around town, which is pretty cool. How could you not like a town where their patron animal is a fairy tale creature?

Of course we did our usual thing, just wandering around town, following our whims,

finding good places for art breaks,

storming the castle,

and playing in playgrounds of course.

Plus, Slovenia is a beekeeper’s heaven. They love their pollinators, and have unique bee houses and methods, so of course that was fun and interesting for us (one especially)!

We also got to be there for Easter. We allowed ourselves the freedom to eat plenty of pastries and went to a church service (which was surprisingly mundane). Then we staged our own egg hunt and made up French skipping rhymes and tossed the frisbee in the sunshine.

And again, we could have spent much more time here. Slovenia is a beautiful place we only scratched the surface of.

Next stop, Croatia!

*We Love Ljubljana. Although the name for the town probably derives from a Germanic word for “swamp,” it’s much nicer to think of it as a city spawned from love (as would seem logical based on the Slovene word for “love”).

We just spent a few super days in Salzburg. The city is just beautiful and friendly and could probably warrant a good month for a proper visit. Or, you know, a lifetime (which is the case for pretty much everywhere, really). We had 3 days and crammed in some really good stuff for our family.

First up, I had to do it. It’s Salzburg, and the Sound of Music has always been a favorite. Since cherished childhood memories of watching it with my grandmother and sister many times. Since packing up for a major move when it was the only DVD left unpacked and I needed noise in the house for a week. Since my kids and their friends sing the songs while hiking and playing. So I made everyone go with me on a SoM bicycle tour throughout town and beyond.

I have confidence!

It’s the house, with the gates and everything!

Yes, we sang about being 16 going on 17

I made the children come visit me in the convent

I didn’t actually hit the high C, but we did hear other groups come and sing Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do

Fa: a long long way to run!

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Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! And we went to a bunch more places too. Everyone was a good sport (even though it was pretty cold out there), letting me pose them and sing and ask for my picture to be taken being Maria all over the place. Really really fun!

The bike factor was pretty awesome too. We got to see lots of Salzburg and surrounding areas we would not have gone to on foot. (I’m sure that helped everyone put up with me.) Tessa declared it the best day of her life. I hear ya, kiddo.

Of course that wasn’t all we did. We missed snow this year (sorry to rub it in, Durango-tans), so we took the Untersbergbahn (a big enclosed cable car) up to the Alps. There were snow balls to be thrown, mini snow men to build, slopes to foot-ski down, ice blocks to crush.

And of course it was breathtakingly beautiful! Plus a local couple knew the birds, called them over (really, they called the birds), and poured raisins in Maggie’s hand so she could feed them.

We also visited Hellbrunn Schloss, a pleasure palace just outside town with extensive gardens and a playground and a beautiful house and trick fountains. We didn’t know exactly what that last part meant either, but it was included in our admission tickets when Bill and I wheedled a little mini-date out of Grandpa, so we got to find out!

So, the palace grounds are built on natural springs, and the archbishop (who must have had a good sense of humor) used water pressure to pull pranks on his garden guests. There were pretty cool things like statues with moving parts (the guy below sticks his tongue in and out), an entire miniature theater of 138 moving figurines with water-powered organ music, a floating golden crown. And also sprinklers on the paths and in the garden walls that turn on quite by surprise! Some of the tour guests were less than thrilled, but we thought it was great fun!

Meanwhile, the girls played their games and scrambled around the playground and ate ice cream and are generally just awesome!

Now we’re off to Slovenia for more adventures!

A few little bits ago, I traveled over to the French Riviera and met my sister (hi, Annalise!) for a sisters-only week-long French-village walking birthday extravaganza trip. (Even though it wasn’t really our birthdays, saying it was gave us lots of excuses to let loose a little.)

We spent a few days acclimatising in Nice (yes, it’s very nice there and yes, we made that joke a lot). Then we hired a tour company to plan a 3-day hike through the Maritime Alps and carry our baggage for us, before returning to the sea for some final restful days.

We expected lots of wine and croissants, fields of sunflowers, quaint villages, and strolls under the sun (perhaps broken up by vineyards with wine-tastings).

What we got was way more. Wine and croissants, sure. But vast olive groves terraced down steep mountain slopes. Hardy stone villages perched atop steep mountain slopes. Thigh-burning trails up steep mountain slopes. And vistas of snow-capped mountains accessed via steep mountain slopes. Plus the justification to feast in the evenings thanks to spending all day going up and down steep mountain slopes.

Each day of our hike was very different. When we began, it felt like Colorado except with olive trees. Then we transitioned into Virgina, with vines enclosing a canopy of leaning trees. And finally we reached the palms and citrus trees and agaves of the Mediterranean.

One day we stepped into Italy. One day we hiked among free-roaming horses wearing bells. We climbed a bunch of stairs to a ruined chateau one evening. Ate lunch on the roof of a WWII fortification. Crossed bridges without getting our feet wet, descended rocky slopes without falling on our bums, walked 40 km without getting lost, and summited a mountain (for the first time together) without it hailing! Oh, and we didn’t get sunburned either; wind-burn, yes, but no sunburn!

We also sat by the sea, ate ice cream and chocolate, drank wine and limoncello, popped by Monaco just because we could, and generally enjoyed all our minutes as they passed.

A very merry unbirthday, to us!

We learned a few interesting little things on this last vacation. Like “no” in Greek sounds like “okay”, and “yes” in Greek sounds like “nay” (“no” in German). Yeah, we had to correct ourselves a number of times. But there weren’t any huge miscommunications, thank goodness.

Also, another linguistic tidbit, 4 in Greek is tessera. Which is perfect since Tessa was the fourth member of our family! (To which the girls will indignantly say that we forgot to count Eliza, so Tessa is the fifth member of the family, therefore the connection doesn’t work. To which we concede that Tessa is the fourth human. Still works. And we are calling her Tessera now.)

After our last air bnb, we have realized that our interior decorating skills are severely lacking. For instance, we have no home-mortared walls involving skulls,

no blood-splatter-inspired wall paint,

no secret shower watchers,

and no miscellaneous ballistics paraphernalia knick-knacks

We will work on that.

Maybe not.

Finally (we already knew this, but it’s nice to be reminded after being “sedentary” for awhile), we are good adventurers. We travel really well together, our little family. It’s easy for us to fall into our “roles” in our unit now, easier for us parents to let the kids be themselves and free (where it’s safe to do so), and easy to find ways to be interested in wherever we find ourselves.

We are happy on vacation!

We’ve kind of got the travel bug again and are happily planning several trips on the horizon. We are so lucky!