Our Overseas Adventure

Monday, 26 May 2014

A day in Venice

Route taken on way to Traviso

Travel to Venice for the day on train

Sunday, 25 May 2014

Slovania - Croatia

Saturday 24th May

We have had a wonderful time in Italy, staying longer than we expected there, however it is time too continue our travels. We reached the Italian-Slovanian border without any border control, and drove straight through. We had to drive about an hour through Slovania to reach Croatia. Slovania was beautiful with lots of forests and small villages, very similar to Northern Italy with the forested hills. The Croatian border was very straight forward, our passports were checked twice and then it was drive on through, no visa required.

The coast line of Croatia is very rugged and scattered with varying size towns along the way. We stayed the first night in a camping ground, Kamp Njivice on the island of Krk off the north coast which is accessed by a rather impressive bridge. The camp is very well maintained and as it is off peak season we got a pitch site. I doubt we would have been able to get a site in the summer here. The beach is stoney and the water is crystal clear. We went for a swim this morning as only kiwis would do at this time of year, but it was ok, not tropical but swimable.

We have noticed everything is so much more cheaper here than Italy, great! Three, half litre beers last night was only about $10 NZ. We sat on some loungers by the beach and totally relaxed, such a lovely view and sunset, then a stroll and back to the flash accommodation.

Sunday 25th May

We are heading down the coast today and then inland to the Plitvice Lakes National Park (It is included in the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites). We stopped at Nova Vinodolski and Senj, two of the many coastal towns along the way.

We have passed several villages heading inland that have some older looking homes and we are debating wether or not there is evidence of bullet holes in some of the buildings? As we have no wifi access tonight in the camping ground we can't google the towns of Zaluznica and Vrhovine, but we are interested to find out some more information as Croatia has had a rather interesting history and conflicts over the years, being part of Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia just in our memory of which is limited, a subject to research.

We are staying at Autocamp Borje tonight, again in the tent, facilities are fine.

http://www.campingcroatia.net/camping-borje-plitvice-lakes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novi_Vinodolski

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Treviso - Venice... and the tent

Well we have done it and bought a tent, two air beds, a foot pump and mallet, Jim is so excited. We found a store called Decathlon, with all the bells and whistles for camping. With summer coming on and a budget to stick too we hope this will be worth the money.

We have arrived in a lovely town called Treviso and are staying for two nights, again the B&B is lovely, and our host Francesca is wonderful. The town is very park like in many areas with tree lined streets, some of which are cobbled, and a lovely river that flows through the centre, similar to the Avon in Christchurch. We will take the train tomorrow to Venice and get ourselves lost in the city.

https://www.airbnb.com/

This is the website that we are using and it's proving very good so far.

Friday 22nd May

We navigated our way to Venice from Treviso today, via bus and train. We left the rental at the B&B as Venice is a city for walking around or travelling via the numerous waterways. What a delightful city, we walked to the Rialto Bridge, Saint Marks Basilica, Piazza San Marco, the Doge's Palace and spotted various other sights throughout the day. We opted for the public boat through the Grand Canel and got a great look at the city from the water. We certainly walked some miles, and I was pleasantly surprised about not having to queue for long at Saint Marks Basilica. We went into the museum there and this gave us a view from higher up both inside and outside of the Basilica. Without vehicles in the city it certainly makes for a quieter and more relaxed experience, however the food was a lot more expensive.

We say goodbye to Italy today and head to Croatia, however we do return to drop off the rental car in Rome at the end of the trip.