Solvania and Croatia...Better Than Expected!

Saturday,  Oct 3, 2015

Time check 3am. No, the alarm hasn't gone off yet, but my biological clock certainly has and that is a normal occurrence for me. I didn't get up until a little after three thirty. We all did our bathroom thing and were ready and out the door by 4am. The bus pickup point is just three hundred feet around the corner. It was already there and we were first to board. A total of 12 people were signed up and all were early. Francesca, our tour guide, spoke Italian and oddly enough English with a pronounced British accent. Later we found out that her mother was Italian and father British!
The bus no soon started than it started to rain heavily with thunder and lighting. Francesca said that the boat Captain would cancelled the boat part of the tour if it was to choppy or visibility up to par. After dosing of for two and a half hours the bus descended into the town of Trieste. This is the last major city in Italy before we crossed into Slovenia. This is also a Euro National State and no border restriction or stops were encountered. 
From this sea level port our journey took us up into the mountains again. The road twisted and turn around many valleys and ridges. There were many farms with vineyards of grapes and orchards of olive trees. It had stopped raining and we now had a little hope that the tour would be a success or partial success and not a total washout.   
A little information here about the Croatia and the Istrian Coast. The length of the Istrian coast, along with islands and inlets is 324 miles. The west coast of Istria is more indented, and, together with islands, it is 202 miles long. East coast, together with inlets  is 131 miles long. The above information comes from the pamphlet  that Francesca gave us upon entering the bus.
Another interesting fact is on the Karst and the limestone grounds. The sinking of Karst recess created specific and branched bays, such as the Pula port, the Medulin bay, the Rovinj coast and the Porec coast that we visited. Lost in the spelling and pronunciation of the words above? So are we! (Above taken from tour literature)
The coast is well developed with lots of bays, deeper small bays and rivers mouth. 
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. During the 2nd century BC, Roman Castrum was built on a tiny peninsula. 
Ok, enough of history of the area! Upon arriving at Paranzo (Porec) we walked towards the boat that we would be taking on our land and sea tour. Being a small group, we were early and had an hour to spend exploring the old port town. 
Many of the villages and towns in Europe have small cobbled stone streets, but Porec was very unique in that the street, in the old section, were narrow, but the cobbled stones were above the rest as far as patina is concerned. They were still wet from earlier rain and just had that magical glow that a photographer is looking for. It was  early and just a few people were out and about. This added to the charm of the pictures that I took. Francesca, happened to be walking in our direction and guided us to an ancient church. Some of the original mosaic floor was discovered three feet below the existing and was left opened to view and photograph. 
It was good to have the extra time before the cruise. As we walked toward the boat Monvi, the locals were opening their shops, hand sweeping the cobble stone streets, some were hosing their street dining areas and a few little old ladies were heading off to the market. 
One of the first things we did on the boat was checkout the best spots for viewing. Here again, Francesca gave us help hints. She said that the open top deck might be to hot if the sun came out. Speaking of sun, once underway we stopped at two other pickup points for more passengers and by than the sun came through for us again! The temperature climbed into the high seventies by the middle of the afternoon 
In about an hour an a half we made our first stop. Has we pulled in port of Rovigno (Rovinj) the towering church steeple came into view. Wow, what a view! 
A little history about Rovinj. Rovinj was already a settlement of Illyrian tribes before being captured by the Romans. This makes it very, very old. The town certainly has a long history. We disembarked from  the boat and Francesca gave us a couple of options to get to the church on top of the hill. She said, basically take the low (long gradual road) or the high road (up a quick, but strenuous) road. The first thing that we encountered was the local market with vendors begging you to sample food items. We did managed to sample some, but weren't interested in carrying larger bags around for the rest of the time in Rovinj. Walking through the many side streets, actually no main street to go up to the church, we were overwhelmed with the artist, vendors and photographic opportunities on the way home. 
A wedding in the church was about to take place. A lot of people were mulling around and taking photos. Francesca had told us that we could climb the bell tower, 192 steps, for a small fee of 3 Euro. Up we started, the first three steps were a foot high. The next 189 steps were all little steps of three to four inches. We took our time and  Joan, Helen a I made it to the very top. Sam, who has had two hip replacements elected to wait in the shade in front of the church.
Wow, what a view! All four sides were simply spectacular! We were five or six people at the top. I just happened to look at my watch, 12 noon it read. I wonder if they ring the bells? Bong, Bong! The giant bell four feet above my head was rocking back and forth as a huge hammer, three foot high inside the bell, did its thing! This wasn't bad enough, a pigeon just above, on a beam, let go! I don't mean let go of the beam! The adventures I put myself through!
Going down the stairs was a little harry also. Because the steps were not constant in height, one had to step over one foot while holding on to the railing and slowly head down to meet Sam.
From the church we took a direct path, well as direct as possible down to the bay. When we arrived we got twisted around for a second and headed for the other side of town. We quickly turned around toward the boat. One final stop was to buy some Chestnuts roasting on a propane fire at the outskirts of the market. 

Croatia ~ The ITT tour ~ Home Bound Status

Today is Friday, Oct 3
Tomorrow morning we will be boarding a tour bus at 4:30 am for our guided journey into Croatia. I will detail the adventure later this weekend. 
It now looks like we will be ending our time in Italy a little sooner than originally anticipated. The events in the Middle East have a bearing on our decision to leave a little early. I'll detail this in a later blog.

Mountain View Inn ~ Aviano Air Force Base

In the last couple of days, we've been taking it easy. Sam came down with a cold and we all needed to rest. It was a good time to catch up on the blog, emails and reading. On Wednesday evening, Helen prepared some soup and with Saltine crackers and all those different cheeses from the local market made a wonderful change from eating out every night! Mind you, we certainly enjoy eating out, but a change makes one appreciate those experiences a lot better. 
We walked over to the ITT office yesterday and canceled our "Cinque Terre" tour on the 24th of October. I really wanted to go to Cinque Terre as I have seen Rick Steve on Public Television explore. Cancellation was far enough in advance to get all of our money back except for a minor service charge. Some of you might be saying, "Why cancel?" I'll explain in future blog!

A Fig Tree nearly ready for harvest!

Helen and I have been trying to stay active as far as exercise. We make it a routine of walking a minimum of three miles around part of the base each day when we don't have anything planned. My Fitbit pedometer has been getting a workout! It keeps track of everything. Last week we had 31.05 miles, the week before 23.11 miles and 29.25 miles the week before. My goal is for 5 miles a day which I haven't been meeting, but at least we're moving. I really wanted to do some mountain hiking, but that isn't going to happen because we would have transportation issues to and from and I'm certainly OK with that! This Space "A" tour was and is a learning curve. We will be, hopefully, doing more of this type of trips. I really have to thank Sam and Joan for letting us tag along. It is not an easy thing to have four people travel together and for that matter live together. They have showed us, as they say, "The ropes". 

Tunnels galore here in the mountains!

I hope to share more tips and tricks in future blogs, when I can sit down and recall many experiences. 
While I'm thinking of one. On our road trip towards St Magdalena, in the town of Cortina, Sam had to find a restroom. We all got out of the car and walked toward the restaurant. As Sam entered, I noticed that we were parked in a "Pay to Park" lot. Low and behold, a meter maid was quickly checking for payment tickets in the windshields. Helen and I quickly walked towards our car with map in hand. She, the meter maid was starting to look down at the windshield when I asked, "which way to St Magdalena"? She said in broken English, "Is this your car? Where do you want to go?" I repeated the question and she gave me further directions and was on her way without checking the windshield and giving us a parking ticket. All of this diversion comes from an old magician friend Paul, who always said, "magic is nothing more than diversion". We were on our way, but in the wrong direction. It was a good thing that she left because Sam had the keys to the car and he was still at the restaurant restroom. This is just an example of little hurdles one can find on any trip in any place in the world. 

What do you do with old telephone booths?
Turn them into neighborhood library booth!

Life in Aviano, at the Air Force Base, is getting into a routine. First I must say, that I've never seen a military base so quiet! Sure jet fighters leave from the runway just a thousand feet away from our apartment, but the building is so well insulated we never hear them unless we're outside. When we go for our walks in the morning, there is no noticeable traffic or personnel around. When at the end of the work day, the traffic does increase at the south gate, but that is for a very short period of time. This is a NATO base and a few Nations are present including United States, Britain and of course the Italian Forces. It would be a good place to be stationed. Our apartment complex is adjacent to the Base Exchange, the Commissary and just about everything else we need. Our church needs could be here in the Italian section or over in Area One which is a few miles away. As I have mentioned previously, Area One is completely surrounded by the town of Aviano. This not to say that one can walk into the area without being questioned.

The Italian church on Aviano AFB

A barrier is present around the entire area. You feel safe when inside our area. This not to say that we don't feel secure on the outside. The Italian's are a very friendly people and we've had many good communications and experiences with them. In another Italian experience, up in the mountains, in a small village, I heard one Italian say a few words to another tourist in French. I said to him in French, "Parlez vous Francais", (SP) he answered me. We had a brief enjoyable conversation!   

That is what we did and saw!

     

The Vikings Are Coming! ~ L'Anse aux Meadows

Monday July 14, 2014

Viking Welcome Party

Our plans in St Barbe were not to immediately take the ferry over into Labrador, but to do the National Historic Site in L'Anse aux Meadows. at and "Meadows" would mean meadows as in a field. Well according to Wikipedia: L'Anse aux Meadows; Jellyfish Cove...so much for my translation....Who would have guessed!
So many new site discoveries were uncovered since 1960 (the Norse and or so called Vikings.) First the name "L'Anse aux Meadows" translated (by me); L'Anse would mean handle such as a tea cup handle "aux" would mean

Re-constructed Norse Dwelling

The highway from St Barbe followed the westerly coast line for another 40 to 50 miles before turning to an easterly inland direction. Here, the landscape changed to a softwood forest. We really started to notice firewood piled for hundreds of feet long along the highway. Another unusual site was homemade lobster traps by the hundreds.

Life in the Dwelling

That's what they do! Remember, that the majority of lobsters are caught for only two months in the spring. That's followed by the Cod, followed by Stone Crab and so on.

The road here was paved, but more noticeable frost heaves were present. We turned left on Route 430 for the last leg to L'Anse aux Meadows.

It was overcast, foggy with a slight drizzle, but as we arrived at the National Historic Site, we were greeted with metal sculptures of a Viking Scout party. The parking lot did have a handful of cars and we watched a bunch of motorcycle tourist arrive. This gave us the courage "if they can brave the fog and drizzle, we certainly

Natural ~ Nature's Beauty!

can also. We marched towards the Visitor Center for tickets and a view of the glassed in replicas. We waited our turn to also view a documentary film of the Vikings settlement in this very area. We would be on the guided tour for 11am down to the recreated village and the actual building locations that were discovered in the relatively near past...1960.

By eleven, the drizzle had stopped and our tour guide led us down to the board walk towards the excavated building sites. He had a very good presentation about the Norse and the elite Viking warriors. I was totally surprised to hear that the Viking were not all savages and wild warriors as I had

What is he looking at?

thought. They were the only nation in Europe that bathed regularly. Some say, to attract the local women. Our guide also said that they weren't trying to establish a permanent settlement here, but this place was used as a forward base to get lumber for building sailing ships (locally) and also to make cotton sails from the sheep they raised in this area.

The ocean has receded several feet from the location of the original settlement. They were a busy people building their ocean going vessels from harvesting the wood to actually forging nails. Yes, by burning peat moss there was enough iron in the ashes to produce the iron for the nails! Remember this was 1000AD!

Looking

Goose Cove, NL

around this Viking site, one has to imagine how harsh this part of the world would have been and still is. The wind, rain and snow must have taken a hardy group to survive. Even on this July 14th day, one could see pockets of snow in the sheltered areas around the bay.
Another thing that I hadn't realized was the fact that they didn't sail all the way across the North Atlantic in one shot. They did have permanent settlements in Greenland, Iceland and England. Their time spent here in L'Anse aux Meadows was relatively short, about 15 years from the archaeological digs. The site has a few side trails that lead to other parts of the bay. After our guided tour and

Goose Cove

meeting period Viking people in the different buildings, our tour ended and we headed back to the Visitor Center via one of those alternate trails. This turned out to be rather a pleasant surprise. We encountered many wild flowers and the foliage with it's many shades of green, after the drizzle. It was just what the camera ordered!

It was lunch time and after leaving the Viking site, we found an excellent restaurant, "The Norseman Restaurant" down by the bay for lunch. I had a combination of local delicacies. After lunch, we strolled around down towards the water and discovered one big Viking statue in an unusual outcropping of rocks. I took my pictures of the Viking and all of the quaint fishing shacks and the fish nets and such.

Onward to St Anthonys. This was the only good size community for everybody to resupply... for food, gas and even a decent size hospital. It was mid to late afternoon when we arrived and we headed towards the bay. Who did we meet there, but the lady traveling alone with her "A" frame trailer. She had left the trailer back in St Barbe and did a day trip up this way. We had a long chat with her the night before. She told us of the set of stairs that climbed hundreds of feet to a wonderful overlook of the bay. She hadn't climbed because she is not in a healthy condition.

Got Wood? Winter is coming!

For that matter, we also declined to climb hundreds of steps. The view from down here at the lighthouse wasn't bad. Oh, there were three Icebergs in the bay! They weren't that far out, but it did call for my 300mm lens (another good photo shoot). After I was finish shooting the Icebergs, I was taking some shots of the wild flowers at my feet. A lady sitting on the bench...a local, said, "Why are you taking pictures of flowers"? "They're only flowers", she repeated. This was the first time in my life that I've heard that one! I really didn't know what to tell her. She was an older lady and I guess she never "smelled the Roses!" We moved on going Southeast towards Goose Cove. St Anthonys looked too busy to find a place to beddown for the night.
Arriving in Goose Cove, we got surprised again. This time the Icebergs were just a few hundred yards from shore. I kept driving to scope out the little village. Ah, I just spotted a huge Iceberg, I drove towards it to a place called

Plumley Cove ~ Notice the boat for scale!

Home for the night ~ Iceberg looming above

Plumley Cove. The end of the road, with a nature trail boardwalk, pointing directly at the massive Iceberg. Parking was available and off we went to checkout this monster. It was like we ordered this Iceberg to park just in front of us. We both took several pictures including selfies. We followed the trail that was paralleling the ocean to see if another Iceberg would be present just around the corner from our view. None was present, but a sign describing the Icebergs and where they were from was inspiring. We headed back to the truck camper and decided this was our campground for the night. After supper,

were we surprised to see all of the locals come down to this spot to walk the trail and view the Iceberg. They didn't even take a second look at the camper. They never realized that we were inside.

Their mission was the Iceberg viewing!

Note: Click on the upper right hand corner to enlarge the map and zoom in to see our detail adventure locations!

That is what we did and saw!

North Western Side of Newfoundland…Still Plenty to Visit!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Water Taxi to Woody Point, NL

"The Arches Provincial Park"

This was another sunny morning and perfect to head on our northerly trek for more places to explore. Helen read, in a tourist brochure, that Humber Village had several tree carvings and Totem Poles. It was the first exit off the TCH-1. Not all of our side trips are successful. We found Humber Village OK, but the tree carvings must have gone away on holiday as we didn’t find a single one! Not to be discouraged, I soon was back on the TCH-1. The terrain in this part of Newfoundland is heavily forested with plenty of mountains and ocean to look at.

The next major town is Deer Lake. Here the

Multi-colored Stones at "The Arches"

road splits to the right and your headed Twillingate and  St John, the biggest city in Newfoundland. We would be taking a left fork here for our journey towards St Anthony’s way up North. The road traffic would decrease by 75 percent. In Deer Lake, we stopped to fill-up with gas and one last stop for groceries at a reasonable price. 

The road here really starts to be hilly with miles of climb up hill and down hill. Soon, Bonne Bay was visible and we could see Woody Point in a distance across the bay. We had fond memories from our stay in Woody Point last year. It was time to slow down and

Port aux Choix ~ Lighthouse

we did just that and took a side trip to Norris Point. This a very small village, but the craft shop and it's owner made up for small size with quality. I couldn't believe how many clever items were displayed. We talked to the lady proprietor for a considerable ~time about the novelty crafts. She told us how many other craft people have come to her shop to pirate ideas for crafts.

Endangered Flora

The restaurant next door, with its bay facing windows, was just what we needed to sip our morning coffee. The local water taxi was just about to leave for Woody Point. The operator hollowed last call for Woody Point. He then began to sing as happy as a lark. He pushed away from the dock and headed across the bay. We also pushed away from the restaurant and headed back to Route 430.

We were now in Gros Morne National Park. No stop at Western Brook Pond this year,as we had explored this hiking area last year. Back home, I had contemplated the idea of hiking deep into the back country for a spectacular photo opportunity of the Fiords. I was told that this was an overnight-er and we weren't really equipped for this type of hike. A short distance

Natural Driftwood Art

up the road and we were out of the National Park and in Arches Provincial Park, a day use area. Here, we made a stop as this is such a beautiful place. The Arches, the multi-colored well rounded, weathered rocks are just irresistible to photograph as well as good ballast. Last year, we had stayed overnight without any problems. This was also the farthest point north traveled last year. Everything from here north was a new experience. Generally, I hate to repeat travel experiences, but I strongly felt that northwestern Newfoundland and certainly Labrador  was worth a repeat route experience.

Our first new adventure experience was Port aux Choix National Historic Site. This site has so much history, Natural and Cultural, that one has to study the web site to capture a glimpse of this gem. After visiting the Park Visitor Center, I decided to take the gravel road to the lighthouse, a couple of miles to the point of land. What a photogenic place from the “Barren Limestone” to the endangered, greenish-blue flowers (Fernald’s Braya), to the lighthouse itself, to even the drift wood on the limestone (Calcareous) barrens.We spent

Norris Point, NL

time walking and exploring this historic place. Except for one other couple,we were alone and enjoyed the lighthouse experience. I did think of staying here overnight, but being a National Park, we might be asked to leave and I didn't want to look for an alternative late in the day or night. It wasn't that far to St Barbe, the ferry crossing point to Labrador and for sure a private campground available, if we  struck out for a boon-docking site.
From Port aux Choix, the road stayed fairly close to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We side- stepped into the many coastal communities to see what they were like. With names like Bird Cove, Plum Point, Black Duck Cove and Currant Island, they were beckoning for a truck camper visit. The one thing that we started to notice was the ever increasing amount of firewood that is used for heating in the winter time.

St Barbe, a busy place with a community owned campground, had many tractor trailers lined up to get road salt from a freighter at the dock and a busy restaurant across from the campground. This was to be our sleeping port for the night. Now, the campground was full of motor-homes, the same bunch that we encountered way back in the Codroy Valley. All 24 of the big rigs were deserted. They all left their RV’s and took a bus tour over to Labrador. That meant that we had the whole

Truck Camping at its Best!

campground to ourselves. The facilities were brand new with outstanding washrooms, WiFi, cable TV, activity rooms. The only other camper present was Theresa who was traveling alone in her “A” frame tag along trailer. She also was a military retiree or at least her Quadriplegic husband was a disabled military retiree. He was not with her on this trip, but another friend had been traveling with her, but she had to return back to the west coast for a family emergency. It was a long story, but an interesting conversation.


That is what we did and saw! 

Note: Click on the upper right hand corner to enlarge the map and zoom in to see our detail adventure locations!