Corey visits...and we go to Norway

In early August, our friend Corey was lucky enough to go to a conference in Amsterdam, and he was able to extend his trip to come visit us afterward! We had a great time. Below is his version of the story:

“I flew into Heathrow and headed to the Yurko's place. They live in Chiswick, west of central London. It turns out that their place is a (long) walk from where I lived in Ealing (studying abroad), which was cool. Yurko had work off that day, Anne did not. We started with a traditional English breakfast, then headed to central London. I didn't really have any “must see” sites since I used to live there, but we went to a farmer's market, down by the Thames, Big Ben and Parliament, Trafalgar Square. It's funny, I have an affinity to London since I lived there, but as a tourist I don't really think it is that special (unless you can appreciate the history, I suppose). We finally made our way to Punch and Judy's in Covent Garden and had a day time beer. The last time I was at Punch and Judy's was on my 23^rd birthday, and the time before that was my last day in London in 2003. So I have good memories from that place. Eventually Yurko drove us out to Gatwick airport. Kudos to him for driving on the left side of the road. We met up with Anne at the airport, ate some McDonalds, then flew to Norway.

We got into Bergen at about 10pm and walked to our hotel, which was in the city center. I actually had developed a cold, which sucked, but I managed. The hotel was great location, but a bunch of punk ass kids basically partied outside our window all night. Anne and I barely slept. Yurko slept fine. Screw Yurko.

We had breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty good, though there was too much fish for my tastes. I grabbed some potato/hashbrowns, bit into one, and learned they were meatballs. MMMM, meatballs for breakfast. We then went to the train station to start our Norway in a Nutshell tour. It started with a 1-2 hour train ride into the middle of the country. It was very beautiful, lush green, tall rocky mountains, crisp water. Great nature. The train stopped at a very big waterfall and we took pictures. They had some lady stand by the waterfall and pretend to sing (the lady of the mist). That was pretty cheesy. Then we switched trains and got on the Flamsbana, which is the steepest train in Northern Europe. It descended very quickly with great vistas. At one point, we pulled a 180 degree turn inside of a mountain. Or at least that's what they told us, all I saw was dark.

Eventually we reached the Flam valley, where the waterfall from before fed the river. Again, very pretty, clean crisp air, and the valley was surrounded by steep mountains on either side. The train stopped at the mouth of the fjord. For those who don't know, the fjords are where glaciers carved out rock and created what are essentially lakes (except they are connected to the sea). We had two hours before the fjord cruise, so we grabbed some sandwich supplies at the grocery store and had a bench lunch. Norway is very expensive, so a real meal would have cost too much. Since we had time to kill, we rented some bikes and rode back up the valley. We saw some of the town of Flam, the old church from 1667, and plenty of waterfalls. Very nice.

Eventually we boarded the ferry and took off on the fjord. It was quite majestic; blue water and sharply jutting mountains surrounding the water. We saw about 300 or so waterfalls, most small, but still. There were a bunch of small towns dotting the water's edge, and they all looked very hard to reach. The tour lasted about 3 hours, and I took about 200 pictures.

We next boarded a bus to take us to the town of Voss. The bus driver took us up a mountain, then back down on a very steep, hairpin turn, cliff driving trip. That doesn't bother me too much, but it was funny because he actually had to go out of his way to do the dangerous part. Ha. The tour basically ended in Voss, but we learned a lot from the driver about the area (a lot of Olympic skiers come from there). Then we took a train back to Bergen, ate dinner at a pizza joint (only place we could get dinner for under $25 per person), and went to sleep. It was too expensive to drink, plus we really didn't need to anyway.

The next day we explored Bergen. We took an early tour of Bryggen, the harbor area. It used to be a major fish trading hub, so there was some fun history about the Hanseatics and trade practices etc. Then we had lunch at the Fish Market. If I wasn't still sick, it probably would have been better, but I am not so much a seafood person (midwest baby). Eventually we took a cable car up Mt. Floyen, one of the 7 sisters that surround Bergen. The views were great, but eventually we got overtaken by rain. It rains a lot in Norway, so we were lucky to have made it that far. We went for a hike along some trails on the mountain. In true Corey style, we ended up hiking into a cloud (or it descended on us) and got lost. Eventually we found this lake we were looking for and the clouds cleared. It was very religious. The clouds came back soon, and we took off back to the cable car area. The hiking was very pretty, though many of the good vistas were blocked by the cloud cover. We had more pizza for dinner, though at a different place.

We didn't have plans for the next day. Yurko and I tried to set up some skydiving or bungee, but it was too last minute (and too expensive). So we took a gondola up to the top of Mt. Ulriken, which is much taller than Floyen. We were worried about clouds, but it was a clear day. The view from Ulriken was fantastic, much better than the day before. After a little hiking, Anne stayed around the base camp and Yurko and I headed off up the mountain. It was a mix of walking and slight climbing, but sometimes it was challenging. Both of our shoes got soaked from stepping in marshland. That wouldn't be too bad, except I only had one pair of shoes with me. We saw some small waterfalls and traced them back up to the small ponds that fed them, which was cool. At one point, we saw three sheep. Then they came after us (probably thought we had food). We played with the sheep some, though didn't touch them (so we didn't have to lie at Customs). Then we hiked back to the base camp area. We decided to go back a slightly different way, which forced us to climb down a pretty steep cliff face. It was definitely more aggressive than we had planned. Since it was right by the base camp, we were afraid that Anne was watching and freaking out that we were going to fall and die. We didn't fall and die. And Anne was watching the wrong area, so she didn't have to worry.

Then we flew back to London. I tried to bring back some Cloudberry jam, but they wouldn't let me carry it on. That sucked. Norway was probably the best/prettiest trip I have ever taken. I highly recommend it if you like nature.”

More pictures:

London with Corey

Norway in a Nutshell

Bergen and nearby hiking

The Cotswolds (English countryside)

So, the weekend after I returned from NJ, we decided to take a very short weekend getaway. After Eric’s much-needed haircut, we left London about 10:30am and drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. We got there about 12:30, saw some canal boats and then popped into a little café for lunch. Then, we went onto the birthplace/home of Shakespeare. Thanks to our friends, Aaron & Jenna, we were able to use their passes and get in for free! We took a quick tour around and when we came out, it was pouring rain. I (Anne) was not so smart and wore flat shoes, so on our walk back to the car, my feet and shoes got soaked (boo).

Then, we headed out to drive around “the Cotswolds”…the Cotswolds is a cluster of small, quaint English town/villages in an area to the west and northwest of London. We hit up Chipping Camden, Stanway, Stanton, Snowshill (where we saw these amazing lavender fields), and Moreton-in-Marsh, before heading to the town that we were staying in for the night, Stow on the Wold. We didn’t get there till about 7:30, where we arrived at our B&B, the Pound, it was a 500 yr old house with 2 rooms, run by a couple from CHISWICK. We quick changed and headed to a pub, per our B&B owner’s suggestion. We had an amazing pub meal, and then we walked through the town a little bit, before heading back to the B&B.

Got up Sunday and Patricia (b&b owner) made us breakfast, we found out that they are actually from Chiswick, bought the house 38 yrs ago as a country holiday home, but moved out there 30 yrs ago…such a small world. Then, we drove around a couple more small towns, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Bourton on the Water, and Buford, before heading to the town of Woodstock, to go to Blenheim Palace. The palace is where the Duke of Marlborough lives, and there was a Winston Churchill exhibit going on. We pretty much ran through the place (to my delight), courtesy of free passes from Aaron and Jenna (thanks again A&J!). We came home, hit up the grocery store, and called it a great, lovely weekend.

More pictures:
The Cotswolds

Anne goes Home...to her birthplace

So, the last week of July I headed home (NJ home), to meet my parents and spend a couple of days at my aunt’s house at the beach. I left London at 10am on Friday morning, to arrive in Newark at 1:15pm, it was brillant. My parents arrived about an hour and half after me, we got our rental car and headed to my aunt's. But, there was only a small delay, my dad went north instead of south, on the highway, so basically we left the airport at 3:45 and got to my aunt's house at about 6:30….good thing I was so tired and took a nap. Saturday was really nice the weather was amazing, we hungout all day outside and played on the boat and in the pool. Saturday night we went to the boardwalk for games, and rides, and pizza, and sweets! Sunday, my whole family came down for a bbq, and we spent the day outside boating, and swimming and laying out. Sunday night, I took a much needed, long awaited trip to Target. It was a quick trip, but it was so good to do some “big box” shopping! Monday, we did more boating and tubing! Then we took some mid day showers and headed to the mall! Again, so nice to do some shopping. Then we all went out for dinner, the nine of us, we hit up DQ on the way home. Tuesday, I woke up an got my stuff together, and it was sadly time to go home (London home) (well not until my flight left at 6:30pm). I took an overnight flight and returned to a rainy, London at 6:45AM, Eric picked me up at the airport--I was so exhausted because I sat next to the most psycho girl on the way back to London, that I HAD to take a little nap, and then went back to work at noon! :( All in all, it was a good trip, so good to see M&D, my extended family and to be in the USA!!!

While I was gone, Eric worked (obviously), and then did some picture taking in London over the weekend that I would might not have the patience for!

More pictures:
Jersey shore
London at night

The Stace returns...and we take her to Milan and Lake Como

So shortly after my mom's visit in March, she passed on a couple suggestions from a friend of things to do in London. I replied by saying, "Oh, we'll have to do those next time you're here"...of course being sarcastic since she had just left and thinking she would definitely not have time to make the trip again. She replied by saying, "Well actually...." And so she was back in July! Here is her account...our one and only return visitor, and we of course had an awesome time again!

"Europe is habit forming…intoxicating. After my visit in March I had to go back to travel again with Eric and Anne. We coordinated schedules and planned a trip for a few days in July. This time the flight over was uneventful with every leg on time. I arrived in the middle of the day, so Anne and Eric had arranged for a driver to pick me up. How cool is that to get off a plane in London and have someone waiting for you with a placard with your name on it? He took me directly to Eric and Anne’s flat. I spent the afternoon exploring Chiswick High Road, restaurants, shops, and sights to see. That evening we had Thai take out for dinner and packed for the weekend.

An early morning flight took us to Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy. We took a bus to a stop near our hotel, checked in and then began a weekend of Pizza, Pasta and Pastries. That afternoon we took a bus tour of Milan. We visited Sforzesco Castle, La Scala Opera House, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II where the first Prada store is located. A highlight was Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting. It was a great way to see Milan and learn the history of the city in a short time. After the bus tour we visited the Duomo Milan, the fourth largest church in the world. After touring inside, Eric and I explored the outside. Climbing amongst the marble spires and taking in the view from the roof, one can truly appreciate the amazing marble construction that took nearly 600 years to build. We walked ‘til late in the evening through the shopping areas. Then, back to the hotel to shower (towels provided on this trip) and get some rest before an early departure to Lake Como.

The next morning we took the train to Varenna, Italy (one of the towns on the lake). We arrived in Varenna, and during the taxi ride to the hotel, the driver asked us when we intended to return. When we said the next afternoon, she told us there was talk of a train strike throughout the country…this was confirmed by the hotel staff. Oh well, nothing we could do about it. The hotel was nestled in the side of a mountain and our room looked out over the lake. Our day was full sight-seeing in Varenna, taking the ferry to Bellagio and Menaggio (other towns on the lake). The scenery was gorgeous, beautiful Lake Como at the foot of the Alps. We hiked, shopped and added gelato to the pizza, pasta and pastries. Try as we might, we could not find George Clooney’s lake house. That night as we walked back to the hotel, we commented on how dark it was and noticed the access door to an electrical facility on the street was open. As we approached the hotel we realized the power was off. This was confirmed when we picked up our room key and were provided candles. After hours of work the power came back on about 3 in the morning.

The next day we hiked not far from our hotel to the source of the Milk River, Italy’s shortest river. The trains were arriving at the station intermittently. We went to the station to wait, hoping our 2:30 train would be one of the trains still running. Not to be. We had to get back to Malpensa to catch our flight back to London, so we took a taxi from Lake Como to Milan, about an hour and a half ride, more euros than we had planned to spend, but some beautiful scenery along the lake.

Eric took the next day off from work and we spent time seeing more of London. We shopped at Harrods, visited the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, walked through Covent Garden, and met Anne for lunch at a restaurant similar to Chipotle. That afternoon Eric and I took our photos crossing at the Abbey Road intersection (although we discovered we had crossed going the opposite direction than the Beatles), and window shopped on Oxford Street. That evening we ate dinner at The Roebuck, a pub in Chiswick. I had my first pie (meat, not dessert)…which was delicious. Then, it was back to the flat to pack for my flight the next day.

Anne went in to work late the next morning to make sure I got on the right tube to Heathrow. It was another amazing trip. As before Anne and Eric were tremendous hosts and it’s so much fun to travel with them…them and Rick Steves, of course."

More pictures:
Milan
Lake Como
More London with Stace

London Update (mid summer)

(written early Julyish?...you'll notice we started back-dating the posts so it kind of looks like we were on top of things.)

So first, Eric wants me to tell you that we also went to Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in May. However it was SO long ago, that it doesn’t even fit in with this post. So, consider this me telling you that we went to the play; we got seats and sat centre stage. It was really cool, but really touristy. (I am inserting this to keep us in marital bliss.)
So, between our travels we have been able to squeeze in some other London stuff as well. In June, our friend Mary Grace organized a night out (a club night out). We started off by going for dinner at this really posh, swanky club just north of Soho. When the bottles of champagne started at £500 a bottle (none ordered of course), I think we might have been a little bit out of our league. Then we headed to Café de Paris to watch Samantha Ronson “spin.” We were out till the wee hours of the morning, took the night bus home and went to bed when the sun was coming up.

Another adventure was spending the day sightseeing with our friends Aaron and Jenna. We went to Hampton Court palace, which is another palace in West London; we had free passes, so we figured it was worth it. The palace itself was okay. We grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to Kew Gardens, which are considered the Royal Botanical Gardens. However, after going to Keukenhof in Holland, these gardens couldn’t compare, but still nice. We were also able to hit up another palace (Kew Palace) before the day was over. We concluded the day by eating at “our” burger place in Chiswick and having the most amazing chocolate shake of my life!

Another weekend, we went up to Hampstead (and the Heath), which is an area (and park) in north London and at the top of a hill so it has great views of the city. It was a lovely day and we found a grocery store that had a secret room of food imported from America (amazing).

Our last major event in June was that we went to the Kings of Leon concert with our friends JP & Brittney (who were recently engaged, congrats to them). The concert was at the O2 arena, we all met up for Tapas and Sangria before the concert. The concert was REALLY good, and we think they were filming for a music video or DVD or something...so if you ever catch something on Kings of Leon live in London, we were there!
Just wanted to give you a quick update of some of the other things that we have been doing in London besides working. :)

More pictures:
Globe Theatre
Clubbing
Hampton Court Palace
Kew Gardens & Palace
Hampstead
Kings of Leon Concert

Anne and Ashley come to visit (London and Dublin)

In July, our friends Anne and Ashley came to visit, and we had a great time! Here is what they had to say about it:

"Before we start this blog entry…I have to say- we had the best weather while on this vacation. Although it was rather warm! We had NO RAIN! AMAZING!

We arrived in London on Friday morning. Ashley and I were a bit nervous about the plane ride…it ended up being okay and we arrived safely. We met Anne at Heathrow and made our way to the tube. Finally arriving to their flat, and climbing the 4 flights of extremely narrow stairs, we showered and ate lunch. Anne was going to work for the afternoon. So once we were ready to start the day, we jumped back on the tube and went into town.

Ashley and I started our adventure at the Tower of London. We spent about 3 hours or so walking around and learning about the history of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress. Since the Tower of London is near the London Bridge…we decided to be tourists and take some pics! From there we made our way to St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was our first experience in a while using actual maps! NO GPS…just plain paper maps. After touring St. Paul’s….we found a little Champagne/Wine bar. It was 430 or so…and time for Happy Hour!!! It was really fun just sitting on the patio and people watching.

On Saturday morning (7:30am, early!) all 4 of us flew to Dublin, Ireland. We decided to spend the weekend there touring the city and drinking beer! We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and hit the road. Our first stop was the Kilmainham Gaol Jail. The jail was built in 1776. Many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and executed here. The jail has also been use as a set for several films. It was time for lunch and we decided to go to Brazenhead, Ireland’s oldest pub! We all enjoyed a beer and some traditional Irish food. From there we walked all over town. Ashley and Eric went to the Jameson Distillery while the 2 Anne’s ventured back to the hotel and took naps! Before dinner we walked a bit north from our hotel through St. Stephen’s Green…which is a pretty huge park. We made our way to Grafton Street…which has a lot of shops/restaurants/pubs/etc. After dinner we walked all over checking out the different pubs. We found Foley’s…which is sort of a local pub and stayed there for a while. It was great…and managed to run into a few fellow Americans! Anneban managed to find some Captain…for Capt and Coke (her fave).
Sunday morning we got up and took the bus to the train station in town. We decided to visit a town north of Dublin called Malahide. It was a little town with shops, cute streets, Starbucks, and a castle. We walked all over the castle grounds and town. It was great and without doubt a real highlight of the trip. We made it back to Dublin and headed to the Guinness Brewery Tour. The tour was more like a museum than an actual brewery, and on one of the floors you learn to pour your own pint. While at Guinness we managed to run into a guy that went to KU! (small world) After Guinness we had to book it back to the hotel to get our luggage and head to the airport.

[Ashley/Anne went to for Paris 2 days; Anne/Eric went home to work :( ]

We took the train from Paris to London on Tuesday night. The train goes under water, right under the English Chunnel. This train ride was probably my favorite thing. It felt very European and definitely different than the US. On Wednesday we ran around London…seeing Big Ben, Parliament, Traffalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, the London Eye, etc. Super touristy but a lot of fun! It was nice to take our time and walk around without a true schedule, since we had been on the go for the past 4 days. For dinner we met Anne at the grocery store so we could make ‘Annechiladas’, YUMMY!

Thursday we took the early train to Windsor to see the Queen’s other residence. It was pretty amazing and such a cute town. While we were touring the castle…we over heard one of the employees say that the Queen was on her way! We left Windsor around 3 and grabbed a chocolate croissant for the train ride home. AMAZING. This was another highlight to the trip! We made dinner at home and later that night we went for PIMMS (google it) and then headed home.

Friday morning we decided to have a traditional English breakfast. This was definitely not my favorite but I am really glad we tried it. We made our way to Kennsington Park, Hyde Park, Harrods, Notting Hill (cute shops and Hummingbird Bakery) and we got our first CREPE of the trip. It was amazing and HUGE! Friday afternoon Anneban signed us up to visit the Fuller’s Brewery. This was pretty cool. I think it may even be better than the Boulvard tour in KC. Our host for the tour was pretty amazing and of course the 1-1/2 hours of taste testing after the tour wasn’t too shabby!!! Ashley was in beer heaven! Anne and Eric took us to one of their favorite restaurants and then we hit the town for some fun.

Saturday had finally arrived…our last day in London, and guess where we went??? WIMBLEDON!!! It was amazing and thanks to Eric we had amazing seats! Eric had gotten up super early to queue (get in line) and get seats. We definitely appreciated his enthusiasm because this was a HIGHLIGHT of the trip. We were able to watch the Williams sisters play for the final, and then we purchased ‘Center Court’ tickets to see the Bryan brothers (from KC) play in the Men’s Double final. It was seriously amazing!

Later that night we met up with Anne and Eric’s friends at an EX-Pat party…hence it was the 4th of July! They are so lucky to have such a great group of friends. They were so welcoming and friendly! It was great to meet all of them! We made it somewhat of an early night because we had to get up early and catch our flight.

Anne & Eric- We can’t thank you enough for you hospitality and generosity. It takes a lot of patience to have people stay with you several days in a row, all while you’re dealing with your daily lives. You’re amazing friends…and we’re thrilled that we had the opportunity to visit! THANK YOU! Love ya- Anne & Ashley."

More pictures:
Out in London
Dublin
Malahide
Wimbledon

Croatia...Eric's journey to the Home Land

So, we're attempting to catch up on the blog again...only 7 months behind!

The journey to my homeland…but I use homeland lightly because I’m really only 25% Croatian. But Yurkovich (Jurkovic) is Croatian so I still feel like it’s a big part of my identity. So here’s how it went:

Split:
On a Thursday morning, we flew into Split, which is on the Northern end of the Dalmatian Coast. It was an early morning (flight left London at 6am so we had to wake up at about 3:00am…don’t plan on doing that again). But we got to Split at a decent time, which was good because we weren’t spending the night there. We walked out of the rather small and deserted airport and looked for the bus that goes into the city, when a man named Silvio approached us. We at first tried to avoid him as he suggested we get into his car so he could take us into the city, but then I could see that this ancestor of mine was genuine and made a good point that the bus wasn’t coming for another 50 minutes. So we got in his car and found out he used to play football (soccer) professionally in Croatia, now he’s a youth football coach that does part-time taxi service on the side, he has two kids, he is known for his ability to get people to the city quickly from the airport, he missed his calling to be a race car driver, he’s a Chelsea fan, and we ended up in the city center safely. So then we stored our bags near the port, and started exploring the city. We ate some lunch (I had these delicious mini sausages in a hamburger bun), walked along the Riva, within the walls of Diocletians Palace, saw the Cathedral and Baptistry, and saw the Grgur Ninski stature (a Bishop that defended the Croatian culture). Then we boarded a big catamaran and headed towards…

Hvar:
(Anne is now narrating.) The ride to Hvar island was rough to say the least. It was this huge catamaran with seats like an airplane, but the water was really choppy. Half way through the ride, I got up and ran to the back because I thought I was going to throw up. While I was gone the lady across the aisle did throw up, and when we finally got to Hvar, Eric paid a tribute to the sea (gross). Of course while he was doing this, lots of old women were walking up to us asking if we need to rent out their apartments so they received some rather rude declines. Once that had passed we walked to the bus station to find Ivana Ivankovich, with whom we were going to stay. She proceeded to tell us that some lady got food positioning and that she didn’t have a room for us, but we could stay with her cousin. The room was fine, and included a kitchen and an AMAZING view, where we sat outside and drank wine both nights. We napped (to recover) changed and walked around the island a bit and then ate dinner in the square. The next day we got up and went and got some pastries at the bakery, and ate on the side of the marina. Then we hiked up the mountain to the castle (which had some amazing views), came back to town to get some food for lunch, and took a water taxi to one of the uninhibited islands nearby (Marinkovac). The beach (Stipanska) was basically the only thing on the island and amazing--and we paid the equivalent of $8 for two chairs and an umbrella all day!!! We stayed there the rest of the afternoon, laying out and walked around a bit. We came back showered and had some pre-dinner wine on our balcony and watched the sunset! We had dinner at Palac Paladini, which was amazing, and then saw the Hvar town youth choir putting on a concert in the town square in front of the church.

Dubrovnik:
Saturday - We got up 6 to get the 7:15 bus, to get the 8:15 ferry to arrive in Dubrovnik for 2:15. Instead, the ferry didn’t leave till 10:15, and we didn’t get to Dubrovnik till 5pm! The ferry ride was much better then the catarmaran. We secured seats inside and were able to take naps, watch a movie on the Ipod and got outside as we pleased (amazing views as we traveled down the Dalmation Coast). Upon arrival we took a bus to the Hilton, which we were greeted with sweet treats in our room, robes and chocolates on the pillow (I LOVE it when we use hotel points!). We quickly left the hotel and walked around on top of the city walls. It was nice to do at the end of the day as it wasn’t very touristy, and there were great views. We went to have drinks at a bar on the rocks by the water (Buza), and as there was a strom coming, we were able to watch the lighting and the clouds roll in over the water--it was pretty cool. We went to have dinner at Arka, where it started pouring. Unfortunately, our outside table was across the alley from the restaurant so they had to wait until it stopped raining to bring our food--but it was really funny. We walked home in the rain, without any umbrellas, to arrive at the Hilton and wrap up in our robes. We went to bed.

Sunday – We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and we were off to explore Dubrovnik inside the city walls. We did a walking tour first thing and it hit the highlights of the city and gave a brief history. Then we went to Sponza palace, the cathrdral, the Franciscan monastery, had some amazing pizza for lunch at Karana Dubravka, went up in the Lourijenac Fortress, the Dominian Monastery, walked around a bit more, hit up a couple of souveniur shops to get stuff from “the homeland,” and finished our trip with a coffee and a beer at a café. Eric was able to talk the guy at the café into giving him a free beer glass (bartender's gift to welcome us to Croatia). After all that we headed back to the hotel and get a bus back to the airport. We loved Croatia, and only hope to return to the Dalmation Coast and islands again one day. We would highly recommend visiting if you ever have the chance.

More pictures:
Split
Hvar
Ferry from Hvar to Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik