What we did on our holidays - Croatia

A quick guide to some bits of Croatia.

Zagreb: Worth a couple of days, no more.
The upper town (which is the old town) is charming and the lower town has some seriously civic buildings and  museums and parks. In between the old and new towns is the daily market- fabulous!
Favorite: The Museum of Broken Relationships.

Plitvice Lakes: an intagrammers' paradise! You can see it all in a day. Walk all the way to the top lake and then you can get a bus back to the gate - or vice versa.
It is very crowded - best tip, stay nearby and visit first thing in the morning.

Krka National Park: Spend a day here or visit as we did on our way from Zadar to Split. Nice walking tracks along streams ans past waterfalls. Same but different to Plitvice.

Zadar: A day or 2. A pleasant coastal town, not as touristy as some.
Best bits: the sea organ and the monument to the sun.

Split: Spend several days here. So much to see and do!
Wander the lanes of the Diocletan's Palace; walk, drive or ride a bike to Marjan Hill - a parkland with a view.
From Split you can take boat trips to access the islands - Hvar being a popular destination.
There are also car ferries to some of the islands and it may be possible to island hop that way.
Best bits: Hvar at the end of the tourist season

The drive along the coast from Split to Dubrovnik is stunning! although it is quite well-populated with holiday accommodation. You have to briefly pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina along the way.

Dubrovnik: It may be over-exposed but it is beautiful. If you stay in the old town, or nearby, you can get to the sights before the cruise tourists arrive and then you have the evenings and nights as well.
Walk the walls, catch the gondola up to the Imperial Fort overlooking the city and walk back down, cruise around the closest islands stopping off along the way, sunset kayak in the bay.
Best bits: Appreciating how Dubrovnik suffered in the Balkans war.

Pst: Dubrovnik isn't that far from the beautiful Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. You've come this far you might as well tack that on as well. You won't regret it.
Stay in Kotor town, climb up to the fortress, take a boat trip on the bay, swim in the blue cave.

How we travelled: We flew into Zagreb, hired a car and drove to Split via Plitvice, Zadar and Krka (not all in the one day!)
Picked up another car to leave Split (you won't need a car when you are in Split) and drove along the coast to Dubrovnik. If we'd had more time I'd have investigated the possibility of car ferries between the islands to get from Split to Dubrovnik.
Left the car in Dubrovnik and took a bus to Kotor as multi-country car didn't work for us as we were through-travelling. It may be possible to drive to Kotor and then back to Dubrovnik to leave the hire
 car.

*This is by no means an exhaustive tour guide to Croatia, it's just where we went in the time we had.

Streets of Bolzano

Streets of new and strange towns are endlessly fascinating.
We stayed right in the heart of the main shopping area of Bolzano, in the historical centre.

Bikes and pedestrians only here!

Our arcaded street was filled with the brightest and best stores.

I feel right at home here!

A wonderful old-style haberdashery was just under or apartment.

Here is a peep inside - 

Another gorgeous old wool shop and haberdashery.

And of course there is the market.
This one runs every day from early in the morning until evening.

The best way to get around is by bicycle.

The main square with the Duomo and ringed by cafes and restaurants.

But this little gem was down a side street.
Unfortunately we didn't try it.

Some of the streets hint at Bolzano's past as a crossroads in Europe.

Our street where you could almost shake hands with your neighbour across the street!

But wait!
There is another market.
This one is a real local farmer's market, just on Fridays.
Where you can buy cheese direct from the cheesemaker.

And of course the locals do their shopping by bicycle.

Here we go again!! Where?? There...

Europe here we come!

Yes, we are off again.
The purpose of this trip is to do some via ferratas* in the Dolomites on Northern Italy, meet up with our danish-resident son, follow the trends to Iceland and visit a place I've been waiting to go to since I was 20!

It looks like we'll be all over the place.
And indeed we will be darting around.
This is due to the time of year as it will be cold already in Denmark by the time we get there and so we decided to fly south and chase the sun including Albania! How cool is that?
I'll let you know how it goes!

*via ferratas are climby things using ladders and things in norther Italy and other places around there.
They were originally built during WW1 to move troops around the mountains and are now used by outdoor enthusiasts.

Seven places to Visit in New Zealand*

1. Tongariri crossing
Probably the highlight of the trip.
Something that G was doubtful that I could do....but then relented after my many mornings of slogging the firetrails around here.
It's a 19km walk, past volcanic cones and the most inbelievable-coloured lakes.
There are lots of ups and downs.
There are also lots of people as it is THE best day walk in NZ (and possibly THE World).
You will not get a feeling of wilderness exploration....but what you will get is gaspingly gorgeous scenery, a sense of achievement and a lot of happy puffing people to chat to along the way.
It is part of a network of tracks around Mount....(Mount Doom, from Lord of the Rings - yes, really!)
It is best walked from....to ...as you start higher and finisher lower....and it is a very,very long descent.
There are shuttle buses to take you from your car to the start of the walk, it is all terribly well organised.
(Unless you are 3 young euro au pairs who hitched a lift with us)

2. Waitomo Caves

G did an adventurous abseil/caving thingy. I did a pretty glowworm cave and another cave with stalactites and stalagmites.
As a canyoner from way-back G wasn't super-duper impressed with his tour but he has a highish thrill-threshold.
There were some raw beginners who had to learn how to abseil and even one person who couldn't swim! Interesting when it came to the water challenge!
But they all survived and I think it would be a good experience if you wanted to challenge yourself.
My tour included a rubber-ducky "ride" in a fantastic glowworm cave.
The boat is actually tethered which is comforting when you hear the sounds of what-seems-to-be-a-waterfall. Even that was too much for a lady in my group.
It is dark. So you cannot see. But the ceiling and walls of the cave are covered with glowworms.
After a cuppa and bickies we walked along to the second cave which has the formations, and some bones!
Our tour guide was very chatty and filled us in on the local stuff.

3. Rotorua
Yes, yes, you all know about Rotorua - hot springs, Geysers and all that stuff.....and that was all really great,
but the very-best-thing was the zip-lining through the native forest.
OH! MY! WORD!!
This pushed my limits a bit....but what fun!
Whooshing through the forest canopy, hugging 2000 year old trees.
Learning how the tour operators are renewing the forest and ridding it of pests.
We were the only ones on the afternoon tour, and there were 3 guides. It drizzled. Then it rained.
And it was still THE MOST AMAZING FUN.

4. Napier
From one extreme to the other really.
So totally civilised. Napier is an amazing town full, yes, totally full of art deco buildings.
Plus there are wineries all around - this is the Hawkes Bay wine area. There are bike paths and great cafes and
a fab little crafty shop.
I could have stayed longer here.

5. Bay of Islands and Waitangi
So this is cheating a bit because they are two great spots but you can see them both from the comfort of a central accomodation.
To see the Bay of Islands properly you need to get on a boat.
They will tell you that you'll see dolphins and all sorts of ocean life.....yesh, well...they do give you a lifetime voucher to return
As if!

6. Cape Reinga
I'm a nerd. I admit it. A geography nerd.
The most southerly, most westerly, the confluence of, the source of etc....and I'm THERE!
So Cape Reinga is THE most northerly point of New Zealand.

7. Kauri forest.
Big trees.
Big old trees.
They are like the trees from Avatar - you expect to see a colony of people living in them.
It rained.
which possibly made it even more atmospheric.

*North Island only!