Sorry for the lack of updates. With the speed we are moving in we are pressed for time usually. Had there been Internet access at the Macedonian/Serbian border, I could have written a thesis in the 5 hours we waited for a return bus after not being allowed to get a visa on arrival as we were told we could.
Anyway, we have seen a lot since Madrid. We went to Barcelona next which was an amazing city. It was not quite as hot as we had always imagined Spain would be, but the Gaudi building, the main street (Los Rambla) and the rest of the city was well worth seeing. It was easy to see how it became an Olympic city.
From there we took an overnight sleeper ferry (for the same price as a bus, hard decision) to Italy which arrived in Genoa. The main attraction of Genoa is that it’s only 2 hours from Cinque Terra (Five Towns) which was breathtaking. You walk 12 kms between the five with coastal views the whole way. Each town had it’s own charm.
From there we continued to Pisa where we stayed 3 hours and then onto Florence. While I would like to tell you to make sure you see the leaning tower if your in the area, its no better or worse than any pictures you would have seen. Florence was the quintessential Italy we had been waiting for. We whiled away the better part of three days wandering the streets and exploring the sights. Florence is the home of “David” which was much bigger and more detailed than we realised and was well worth the 80 minute (That’s short for this) wait. One of the highlights was finding the most amazing restaurant named “Mario” which served pasta that was out of this world and made it hard too leave Florence but we had to and it was off to Venice.
Venice was every bit as good as you could possibly imagine. There was not much in terms of sights, but Venice is a sight unto itself. It is simply amazing. We had to sleep in a mobile home 15 kms away, but that did not detract from the whole experience. Once again, we wandered around the canals and simply took the place in.
Slovenia was not on our original itinerary, but as we had to go through it to get to Croatia, we thought we would give it a day or so. Ljubljana was a nice town, but we didn’t really get much time there. My highlight was the “horse burger” (I hope it was named after the enormous size and not after the contents), which was simply massive. We did however get a whole day in Bled which was a postcard town if you ever saw one. Its basically a town by a lake, but the alpine surrounding, sheer cliffs and an island in the middle make it the attraction it is. We checked out a nearby gorge which was really cool, and hired a row boat to get to the Island which was very fun (especially when I started going the wrong way and had the guy who rented it to us laughing).
Croatia was next and after after a few walking tours around the capital we headed for Plitvice National Park. Plitvice is famous for several cascading turquoise lakes which you walk around on wooden platforms, and when I post the photos you will realise that while you had probably never heard of it, its well worth a visit. We then headed south through Split to two islands on the Dalmatian coast, Hvar and Korcula. They were both as amazing as each other consiting of crystal clear water, amazing islands and cool little old towns. So we spent a few nights just relaxing which was a great change after the pace we have been moving at. From there we went to Dubrovnick which was a great walled city at the east most point of the country.
Our plan was to then go overland to Greece through Serbia & Montenegro and then through Macedonia. We got as far as the border of Macedonia when we were told that they no longer issue visas at the border as we had been told they did.
So here we sit in Sofia, Bulgaria waiting for our train to Istanbul. Then we will be able to get to Greece from there.
I will try to get some photos up to back up my ranting about how good places are. Until then, hope you are all well.
Glen and Robyn