the coastline and Split

When we drove to Split, we went along the coastline, so it was nice to enjoy a little stop. Eliana meanwhile did her 1st steps in the sea.... and nope, not like most Belgian kids she didn't make those in the Northsea.













Split was a city worth seeing what concerns me, Rien and Huguette seemded to have a different opinion about that. I like to see old cities, and the atmosphere was very nice. Split is known due to the palace of Dioclesianus. Dioclesianus was a Roman emperor that lived there around the years 300.

And we did end our trip to Split with some delicious stuff... 1st we got some icecream, but the best was a big piece of pizza.... yummmmmmy.


God bless

Veerle

KRKA

This national park is also a "fallpark" so of course I did enjoy it. We had to get there by boat. The falls there were very beautiful as well. Here and there you found people that sold local specialities. After the boattrip we went looking to a little island and another fall in the environment, but those two were a little dissapointment to us... pictures and the real thing sometimes differ pretty much. Nevertheless we had a great day.































God bless

Veerle

Kroatia: the plitvice lakes

The first visit we did in Kroatia were the Plitvice lakes. I even need to admit that this is the nicest place that I saw so far on earth. For a fall-lover like me, this place was just like paradise. I have never seen so many falls close to one another, and this place just took my breath away.



















































































Plenty of fish!
































Look at the green water
















A nice little Robin bird on our way...






































































































This one was taken when we came back in the evening.


God bless
Plufke

Ljubiljana: capital of Slovenia

Our last day (for the moment, cause we would come back in this trip to Slovenia) before leaving we did spend in the capital. We woke up in the city hotel of Ljubiljana, which is a pretty nice hotel, and we had a breakfast that was delicious, we really could eat plenty of things. You woulnd't leave the table there with an empty stomach. The hotel was very modern. We received a badge and only had to let it scan in the elevator and we were brought to the right floor without us having to push buttons. After breakfast they even did roomservice, which was unnessary because we only did pay for one night. We even gave a tip to the maid, but afterwards there's another storry attached to that... (I'll tell you later).

Ljubiljana is a nice city. A bit weird in some aspects. For example at a cerain point in the city you have 3 bridges next to one another. That really did look funny to me.

We went up to the Ljubljanski grad (grad means castle in the local language). There Rien and me went up in a tower. He had to speak some encouraging words since my fear of hights seemed to kick in at a certain point. After visiting the tower we also saw a presentation with the history of the city.

After some touring in the city we left for Croatia. It still took us a while driving. Besides they were not friendly at all at the boarder. Rien and Huguette's BMW was inspected pretty well, it looked like they never had seen a similar car before, because several needed to see the engine, of course we don't know what they all talked about, not a single word of croatian we understood. They also did annoying about Eliana's babypassport, which did not seem to be the right one. I just didn't like the way we were treating, it sure did look like abuse of power. Anyways, the most important part was that they let us go into the country. Cause it still took us a while to drive. We arived at a nice pension for a real good price. The advantage there was also that we had 2 rooms. That was nice since we could talk some more while Eliana would be sleeping.

And then the thing I still needed to tell you about the good service we got in the cityhotel in ljubiljana. Rien couldn't find his pyjamas. And after talking about it, ... we came to the conclusion that the maid must have put his jamas under his pillow this morning. I know cause I found mine there, but neither Rien and Huguette had been looking there. Rien his jamas were gonne. The maid not only received a tip, she had gotten some jamas as well.... lol.

We ended the day by looking to a movie: facing the giants.

beautiful Slovenia

We continued our trip in Slovenia to the park: Triglavski Narodni. We wanted to see the Tolminska Korita which is a cleft. Here the same story again, after a while walking a little cabin where you have to pay.... but that's something we knew by now already. The environment there made me think a lot on "gorge du Verdon" in France, where I spent my vacation some years ago. We walked around the park in about 2 hours. There's also a little cave you can visit. But you would have to do it on your own without guidance, and that's not really my thing...
After the park we did a trip around the mountains of course we stopped 1st at a fall that was on our way... When we reached the mountains and got higher we even had snow... The views were beautiful. We ended the day by visiting the Bled Castle. There Eliana got a little present from her mum and dad. A paper with the castle on and her name, printed like in the old days.

After visiting the castle we drove to Ljubljana the capital to spend the night. It took us a while to find one for a good price, but we managed to find what we wanted and could end the day in a pretty nice hotel.

Slap Boca on our way to the mountains

Slovenia

The next day in Slovenia we visited Korita Mostnice. The part I was not so pleased with in Slovenia was that when you started walking, after half a kilometer you would find a cabin with a guy that asked money to get into the park. I don't mind paying for something, but at least they can let you know ahead. The fact that you 1st walk half of a kilometer and then find out didn't sound that nice to me. Luckily we never were without money. The money was to take care of the trails... stupid...cause the trails were just untouched, so why would they have to invest money in it. I'd rather have they said it were taxes... but anyways, that was a little frustration, but typicly for Slovenia, cause it was not the 1st park we had to pay, after half a kilometer. In Korita Mostnice we saw a deep cleft. The bridge over that cleft is known as the devilsbridge. The cleft is filled with green water, it was very nice to see. There was water all around. Rocks and water were perfect for pictures, as you know I like those kind of environments very much. After the cleft we walked up to a waterfall: slap Mostnica. (Slap means waterfall in the Slovenian language.) But 1st we needed to do a diaperchange for Eliana, so, perfect time to have a little stop at a local cabin that was a little restaurant. We hiked some more and finaly saw the nice waterfall. We had to walk the same way back, so, that meant going by the restaurant again. This time we ordened some hot chocolate and delicious pancakes, boy they were good! After our stop there we could take another road to the car, what which we did. We contiued our way to another "slap", yeah, I love "slaps". Again same storry, paying for parking and then a bit furhter to see the fall. Slap Savica was one we could reach with several stairs. It was not a long way to go, the previous one was about 5km, but this one we reached in about 20 minutes. The fall was bigger but you could not get that close to it. It even took some time to get some good shots, because the fall was situated behind a fence, so it was like... waiting in a row to get a good picture.












































Notice the fish in the green water.

home sweet home

Saturday I got home from almost 3 weeks vacation. Originally we would visit Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, but it turned out a little different. We visited: Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech republik, Poland and Germany.

We started our trip in Slovenia, which is a nice green country. First of all we tried to find a location to sleep. We went to Bled, but things were more expensive then we expected. We wouldn't be over our limit we set we wanted to spend a night but we want some quality for our money as well, so Bled didn't seem to be such a good option. We drove some cities further away and found a place in Ribcev Laz. A 2 star pension, the best thing we found so far. The 1st hike could begin. We walked to the Bohinjsko Jezero, as the lady of the pension said it was a lake we could do with the strawler for little Eliana. The lake was nice, and I could take some nice shots. It appeared though that it was not so "strawlerfriendly". At the end of the trip Huguette and me carried the strawler as Rien held Eliana in her babybjörn. It suddenly became a pretty tirying hike. We were glad that we found a bus at a certain place that drove us back to a closer point, since we had walked already several kilometers. Time to eat, cause the "hungrybug" had bitten us. We ordened a meal, and we didn't even get all the right things what we ordened, but we didn't wanne make a big deal out of it since that would have meant waiting again. So I ate Riens wrong menu wich was veal with Gorgonzola, it didn't taste quite good, but the menu I had ordened (which was the same as Rien and that Rien ate since he absolutly despises Gorgonzola) seemed to be a little disaster as well. Well we didn't mind too much... it was cheap. Meanwhile it had gotten dark. We still had to go for about 1 kilometer. Luckily that Huguette always finds the roads to where we need to be. (My mapreading is a disaster.... well, that's proves I'm a real women :p) We arrived safe and well, and it was bedtime, yeah,... indeed way to early for me, but when you have a little baby that sleeps in the same room, there are no much options.

vacation

Finaly.... it's vacation-time for me. This means that my blog won't be updated for 3 weeks. Tomorrow I leave for a trip with my friends: Rien, Huguette and little Eliana. We will try to visit: Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy if all goes well. We'll be back the 24th of september.

God bless
Veerle