Author: odohertyelaine

Day 10: This morning we take an early flight to Tashkent, arriving in the Uzbekistan capital around noon. We have one last “object” on our itinerary which is to visit the modern Art Gallery of Uzbekistan. It’s a modern very beautiful building which was commissioned by president Karimov and has a small collection of modern paintings.

It has some really interesting sculptures from the early centuries AD.

For our final lunch, Fazli takes us to a very local restaurant which ends up being the best meal we had in Uzbekistan. Shane has been wanting to try a dish called “naryn” which is only available in Tashkent and is shredded horse meat with cold noodles. As we walk into the restaurant we see a counter where a woman is preparing something that we think could be it and yes, it is. It sounds horrible but it is really tasty.

Not only do I have the naryn but I have sliced horse meat on a salad of noodles which I really enjoy, it’s my first time eating horse and it’s really nice (sorry Black Beauty!!). The bread is really good and as if that’s not enough we are served a giant platter of meat including lamb chops, kebab, chicken and beef. It’s so good, we definitely won’t need dinner tonight.

After checking into the hotel and saying our goodbyes we head out for one last ramble. We take the metro to the famous Kosmonavtlar stop which is decorated with images of space and Russia’s cosmonauts aka astronauts.

Yuri Gargarin:

I won’t miss avoiding these ditches:

We hit the hotel for an early night (and I try squash my purchases into my bag) as tomorrow we fly to Dubai… well officially it’s tomorrow but it’s a 4am flight so we have to be up at 1:15am – so that’s tonight to me! We were supposed to be flying to Catania (Sicily) via Dubai but a few days after I left Ireland and flew to Austria I got an email from FlyDubai to tell me my flight was cancelled. So now, after what will likely be a very expensive phone call, we are on the original flight out of Tashkent but have to stay over in Dubai for a night and catch the Catania flight a day later. The joys of traveling 🤪

Ah well, we get through the flight and arrive tired in Dubai to 40 degree heat. Thankfully our hotel isn’t too far outside of air conditioned walkways and they let us check in when we get there at 8:30am – score!! We get some sleep and agree that a day indoors at the mall is the only way to go. I just can’t hack that heat – it is literally like walking through a fan oven! There’s a lot of “I’m roasting” going on.

We take the metro (beautifully air conditioned) and view the many weird and monstrous buildings through the window.

You can get to the mall from the metro without leaving the air conditioning so happy days. We walk around what must be the biggest mall in the world. It has so many shops and restaurants from all over the world (M&S, Bloomingdales, H&M, Pottery Barn, Five Guys, Nando’s… to name but a few). There’s even an aquarium, cinema and video arcade. We settle for rambling (gotta keep those steps up) and sushi which is expensive but gorgeous.

We go outside for a brief ten minutes to view the highest building in the world the Burj Khalifa

and that’s a wrap… Sicily tomorrow and I can not wait.

Day 8: We set off early today and drive 450 kilometres to Khiva. With a couple of toilet breaks, photo opps and a lunch stop, it takes approximately 10 hours. Luckily there are just twelve of us on a full size, very comfortable coach so there’s lots of space to move around. The first couple of hours is on a very bad road so the journey is bumpy and it’s hard to read or type!! We travel through the Kyzyl-Kum (Red Sands Desert), the largest desert area in Central Asia. Eyes are peeled for wild camels but alas we don’t see any.

We stop to see the Amu Darya River and cross the main road, jumping over the barrier in the middle. I’m not sure this is an approved itinerary stop but we do it all the same! We are very close to the neighbouring country of Turkmenistan as the border runs through the river.

At a toilet stop along the way some women try talking to me in the loo and I realise they’re asking me where I’m from. They don’t seem to understand Ireland or Irelande so I have to resort to the old “beside England” which they seem to understand. They’re keen to have their photo taken.

We drive past cotton fields, where the cotton is still picked by hand.

Finally we arrive at Khiva which is a walled city dating from the 1700’s and we drive through the outer walls to our hotel within the inner walls.

On our way to drinks and to watch sunset from a roof terrace we see a man walking his camel home after a day’s work!

We get our first views over this unique city while sipping a glass of wine

Again we have a delicious meal for dinner – who said the food was no good in Uzbekistan.. we are having one delicious meal after another. Once it’s dark we take a walk around to the city at night with the lights on.

Day 9: We wake with the rooster and the first call to prayer and head outside to see the city at sunrise before the hordes descend.

The walls are what make this city look like a series of sandcastles:

After breakfast we have a full day exploring the city with our group. There is a three day festival starting tomorrow and there are stages around the town with rehearsals going on all over.

The turquiouse Kalta Minor Minaret, is a must-see and hard to avoid. It was commissioned in 1851 by Mohammad Amin Khan and was supposed to be built so high that you could see Bukhara but by 1855 the Khan had died and work stopped, leaving it unfinished.

Kuhna Ark which was the main fortress, overlooks the city and was once used as a patrol tower of the citadel.

We also visit the Khan museum in the Mohammed Rakhim Khan Medressa, the 17th-century Juma Mosque, the Islom-Hoja Minaret and Medressa (built in 1908 and the highest structure in Khiva), and the Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum complex (the Persian-style resting place of Khiva’s patron saint). So many places I really can’t keep track. The architecture doesn’t differ much but each are striking to visit.

We finish with the 19th century summer palace of Mohammed Rakhim Khan II, (the Tosh-Hovli Palace) set in orchards and surrounded by walled gardens, fountains and aywans. It’s in a state of disrepair and not as impressive as the emirs palace in Bukhara but it’s worth the journey outside of the walls so we can look back at the city.

We have a farewell meal tonight and enjoy the company of three staff from the hotel. One of the young girls sitting beside us is the daughter of the owners of the family run business and she really has her head screwed on. I’d love to come back in twenty years time and see if she’s ruling her hotel empire!

We leave Khiva early next morning for a flight back to Tashkent. It’s been amazing to see this unique and memorable city. Bye bye Khiva!

Day 5: We leave Samarkand and it’s about a four hour drive west to Bukhara. En route we stop in Gijduvan, which is famous for its ceramic pottery. We visit a ceramic pottery workshop which has been in existence through six generations. We see some antique pottery in the small museum which has some great old photos of the master Potters over the years and we witness the pottery process from throwing to firing to decoration.

It’s already 8pm by the time we reach Bukhara but we have three nights here so two full days to see everything… and it looks like there’s a lot to see. After a quick drop of the bags to the hotel we go to a restaurant called Chayxana Chinar where we have more meat, salad and dumplings. I’m getting used to this Uzbek red wine and we enjoy our first Bukhara meal at this unusual terraced building.

After dinner we take a walk around and come upon the “Golden” Minaret aka Kalyan minaret. It is stunning by night. It’s on our tour for tomorrow but it’s awesome to just happen upon it when lit up. You can see why they call it golden – it’s magnificent.

Day 6: Bukhara is considered the holiest of cities in Uzbekistan. It has many historic buildings dating from the 8th to the 18th century, some in ruins, some meticulously restored and some in mid restoration. We start our first day of site seeing by visiting, yes you’ve guessed it, a mosque and a mausoleum! The Ismail Samani mausoleum is the oldest Muslim monument in Bukhara, dating back to the 10th century. It survived the centuries of invasion as it was covered in sand. It’s oddly situated within an amusement park with rides and a Ferris wheel!

The Chashma Ayub Mausoleum is famous for its alleged healing water. Its name means Spring of Job and legend is that the prophet Job stuck is staff in the ground and a spring appeared, who’s water then cured him of his many boils and ulcers. There are taps and some people drink a sip of the water but I’m content just to take a bit in my hands (not chancing a dodgy belly).

Walking between mosques we see a local cooking samsa in the large clay ovens. He shapes them and sticks them to the sides… love it!

The Bolo-Khauz Mosque was built in 1718 and as it sits opposite the Ark (home to the Emirs) it was the official place of worship for these leaders. Most of the painted wood and carved columns are original.

Inside we sit on beautiful silk carpet and look at the ornate blue decorations

From here it’s a short walk to the 5th century Ark fortress which is the ancient heart of the city and home to the Emirs of Bukhara. Later this evening, with some free time, we will walk around the entire building but for now we go inside and view the many museum sections detailing the history of the ruling Emirs.

The Ark was inhabited right up until 1920 when the Bolsheviks invaded from Russia. There are some great exhibits of clothes and old photos. This Emir – Muzaffar (1861-1885) is definitely my favourite:

The guide has chosen the restaurant that we visited last night for lunch but we don’t mind as apparently they do a great plov. It is indeed a good one, served with a quail egg and washed doing with some interesting lemonade.

After lunch we visit the Poikalon complex, comprising the Kalon Minaret (the golden one we saw last night), the Kalon Mosque and Mir-i-Arab Medressa. It’s all about the m’s – mosques, mausoleums, museums and minarets! Again we admire the beautiful architecture of the buildings.

I’m starting to figure out how to tell the buildings apart. The mosques always have a dome which sits over the area where people pray and a minaret which is where the call to prayer occurs. The medrasas (the place for teaching the quaran) have individual rooms which were for the students.

We skip the next tour activity which is to go to the carpet and textiles workshop and instead we wander through the streets, taking in a few more of the local buildings and sussing out where the locals live. The homes are very basic on the small side streets:

Many of the homes are behind large doors which open onto a courtyard.

Here, similar to Samarkand, they are separating the historic area from the local homes.. this sheeting is so ugly… hopefully in time when they’ve restored buildings and built some better infrastructure they’ll take them down.

We have a group dinner with a folklore and music performance tonight. It’s in one of the old domes where trading on the Silk Road took place. There’s a mixture of traditional dancing and fashion show….

Day 7: We start with a visit to Sitorai Mohi Hosa (Star and garnet garden), which was the summer palace of the last emir. Its opulence is reflected in the combination of local and European influences in its designs and furnishings. The halls are richly decorated with carpets and paintings and I particularly like the coloured flowers on the walls.

He had four wives and forty concubines who lived in this harem. The pool in front of the harem, where allegedly the women “frolicked” is overlooked by a wooden pavilion from which the Emir supposedly tossed an apple to his chosen bedmate… the state of him!

Leaving the palace I buy a couple of hand embroidered tablecloths from a lady. I point to my camera to ask if I can take a picture with her and she smiles and seems only too delighted to. Like a flash she’s moved beside Shane and put her arm around him! We have a giggle with her and she runs back to her shop to get a small purse as a gift for me and she blows me a kiss!

Next there’s an opportunity to visit lake Tudakul which is a huge lake measuring 427 hectares that looks more like a sea in this double landlocked country. [side note: Uzbekistan along with Liechtenstein are the only double landlocked countries in the world]. There are even waves and we have a little paddle.

Back in town, after another great lunch, we visit the city’s trading domes (covered bazaars) which still offer an intriguing and colourful array of goods including embroideries, jewellery, spices and handicrafts. In the 16th century Bukhara was a major trade, craft, and administration centre on the Great Silk Road. The city was famous for its bazaars, places of trade, meeting and entertainment. The reigning dynasty built a great dome over the main crossroads and smaller domes over the side streets. At its peak, as one of the richest cities along the route, there are estimated to have been 50 bazaars and 75 caravans. Now there are only three of these domes left, but they still buzz with activity and give a glimpse of how things would have been.

Our hotel (Maliki) is just off Lyabi Hauz – a pool of water surrounded by ancient mulberry trees, in the Old Town’s centre. We see ruins of the caravans – accommodation where the traders stayed when the caravans came through.

Next morning as we leave Bukhara, we do a quick stop at the unusual four minareted Chor Minor. From the road we walk through a maze of alleys and as it’s only just past 8am there are no other tourists around. It’s a small, photogenic building and a nice end to our tour of Bukhara.

Day 3: This morning we have an early start as we are taking the high speed “Afrosiab” train to Samarkand. It takes just over 2 hours and is a fairly smooth comfortable ride in a business class seat! The landscape is flat and there’s not much of note along the way.

Samarkand has a rich history and been ruled by many including Alexander the Great who stormed its walls in 329 BC, Genghis Khan, Timur (who we heard about in Tashkent) and the Soviets, who declared it the original capital of the Uzbek SSR in 1924. We head to the Ulugbek Observatory, built in the 1420s by the astronomer Mirzo Ulugbek. He was actually a grandson of Timur and this observatory is considered to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world, before it was destroyed in 1449. It was used to observe the sun, moon and other celestial bodies and he used this to determine the length of the solar year and determine noon time each day.

Next we visit the Gur Amir Mausoleum – the final resting place of the mighty Timur and his sons and grandsons. The city flourished under his rule in the 14th century. For a man of his stature, it is considered quite a simple tomb but it looks amazing to me! Ulugbek is also buried here.

The tiling and gold design on the inside is very impressive:

We notice there is basil planted decoratively everywhere. I would definitely be picking some of that if I was at home!

We finish the day’s tour with a stop in the Afrosiab Museum. Afrosiab is the name of the hill close by and we see where excavation works unearthed many artefacts.

I recently watched Joanna Lumley on her Silk Road adventure and she came to this museum to find out about the Sogdian kingdom which was in existence around the 7th century. The Sogdian kingdom was very powerful and they distinguished themselves from other tribes by binding their heads so the skull took on an elongated shape.

We see some original 7th century frescoes of the Sogdian King Varkhouman which depict people from other countries bearing gifts – it shows how powerful they were.

The big draw in Samarkand is The Registan. It’s on our tour for tomorrow but it’s walking distance from out hotel so we decide to check it out on our way to dinner…it’s very impressive but unfortunately the powers that be have decided to wall off the surrounding areas so there are walls and metal sheets separating the historical tourist area from the locals housing. Hopefully in time, as tourism grows, they’ll integrate the local surroundings with the tourist attractions.

We find a restaurant with a beer garden where we sit outside and have a great meal of shashlik (meat on a stick), salad, bread and a bottle of local wine. We check out the Registan again after dinner so we can see it lit up at night.

Day 4: We start our second full day with a visit to a paper making workshop where they continue the art of making paper by hand. (It’s a similar process to what I saw earlier this year in Myanmar but the finished product is quite different.) We also get to see the sesame oil being produced and taste some “wine” made by this man!

Next stop is a highlight of the tour for me – the official name is the Shah-i-Zinda complex but it’s known as the necropolis. It has more than 20 beautifully decorated unique buildings. It’s a holy site for local Muslims and is where the Prophet Mohammed’s cousin is buried.

The decoration inside the temples is amazing

After lunch it’s time to see what is generally the highlight of a trip to this city – the iconic Registan Square. It’s a bit cloudy so we’re delighted we got to see it last night before and after sunset. It has three medressas (Ulugbek, Sher Dor and Tilla-Kari) towering over you. The facades of the two medressas facing the central square are decorated in elaborate mosaic, tiles and intricate geometric brickwork, flanked by towering minarets and topped by azure-hued domes.

The interiors are just as impressive, in particular the gold work:

There are handicraft and souvenir stalls in the courtyards and back in the day the Silk Road traders would congregate in the main square.

Speaking of the silk road….. Samarkand was established as a city in the 5th century BC, and was a key trading centre along the Silk Road. It was not only a centre for traders but also artisans. We hit the Siob Bazaar close by the Registan with bustling stalls and a huge array of produce. You can imagine this place hundreds of years ago trading in spices and exotic goods.

The bazaar is beside the Bibi-Khanym Mosque which was built by Timur for his wife. As such it is often compared to the Taj Mahal. We get in trouble (by another guide) for laughing too loud at the story Fazli is telling us about the builder who wanted a kiss from the queen. I can’t remember all the details but we were definitely embellishing them and giggled just a bit too loud for the other (all male and clearly sensitive!) tour group.

Tonight for dinner we are going to a local family for a cooking class on the traditional meal Uzbek meal – plov. Uzbek men pride themselves on their ability to prepare the most unique and scrumptious plov. This dish is cooked over an open flame in a cauldron and is a combination of rice with fried and boiled meat, carrots, raisins and spices.

There’s not a huge amount of spices and it’s not spicey hot – it has caraway seeds, salt and pepper. It’s very tasty though…

The next morning we have some free time so we take a walk around the Jewish quarter and among some of the streets were the locals live. Check out how recycling conscious they are with this retaining wall!

There are a lot of old ladas on the road..

We visit a newly built mosque

More basil..

It starts to rain a bit but we explore the local graveyard which is very interesting

After another traditional Uzbek lunch we board the bus and set out for Bukhara.

Today I fly from Ljubljana via Moscow to Tashkent, which is the capital of Uzbekistan. It takes all day to get here and I arrive at 2:30am local time. It’s an easy flash of the passport (no visa requirement) through emigration and there’s a transfer organised so it’s all fairly easy. Our organised tour starts tomorrow, well today…. but for now it’s time for a few hours sleep.

Day 1: We are staying in a central location in downtown Tashkent so we set out for a ramble to get our bearings and explore a bit of the city. Tashkent is the largest city in Central Asia with a population of over 2 million. It was part of the USSR until that fell apart and it got its independence in 1991. The city has a mix of Russian and Uzbek style and people; and all the signs, menus etc are in both Uzbek and Russian.

We find a bank to get some local money. The exchange rate is approx 10,000 som (cym) to the euro so we get a wad of notes and yet again I‘m a millionaire for a few days! We check out the local market and buy a really juicy pear.

We walk around the streets and jump on the metro to check out a couple of stations as they are all individually decorated like in Russia. According to the guidebook you’re not allowed take photos in the metro but apparently that’s out of date and we can snap away!!

Some of the stations are like art galleries:

We visit the Orthodox Church – The Church of the Assumption which is recognised for its golden domes and blue facade. Inside it’s big and bright with a large iconostasis and lots of icons.

We spot a stall selling somsas which looks really popular so, as it’s just about lunchtime, we decide to try them out. They are piping hot and are delicious. We get a couple of meat and a couple of cheese and it costs us less than €1.

Throw in a cup of cider, for all of 10 cents, and that’s lunch sorted!

A bit more rambling around checking out the buildings and roads and avoiding uneven paths and ditches…. there are ditches along the side of every pathway and road – they’re an absolute death trap!

In 1966 a massive earthquake hit the area and levelled most of the city. It measured 5.1 on the Richter scale and left 300,000 people homeless. Most of the historic buildings were destroyed so the city was rebuilt mostly by the Soviets. There are a lot of older Soviet buildings and new more modern buildings built since independence in 1991.

The famous Hotel Uzbekistan with its Soviet design is just around the corner. At night time it is lit up with different lights and advertising.

This evening we meet our tour group which consists of ten Australians plus me and one other older Irish woman from Dublin. Our guide is a young guy called Fazliddin aka Fazli. I’m definitely the baby on this trip… 😀

Day 2: Today we have a day of site seeing starting with a visit to the Khast Imom Complex which has a fairly newly built mosque .. it looks old but it’s fairly new…

Also in the complex is the Barak Khan Madrasa (a Madrasa is a college for Islamic instruction – this is the first of many we will see on this trip). The guide explains that the imam leads prayers in the mosque and in order to be an imam you must have memorised the whole Quran. We take the opportunity for our first group photo:

Fazli tells us the next “object” to visit is the Chorsu Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest markets in Central Asia. It’s a giant marketplace and a fantastic way to see locals going about their daily lives. There are amazing fruits and vegetables and the meat section, where we see horse, is quite a site to see…

We visit the Kaffal Shashi mausoleum where we see a Quran written by one of Mohammad’s four disciples. Also in the Library is the smallest quaran and quarans translated into many different languages, even one in Braille.

After lunch which is at an oddly modern US diner type restaurant we make a quick stop at the national ballet and opera theatre

We do a quick one hour run through the The History Museum which is just enough as it’s hard to take everything in. We do hear a lot about Amir Temür aka Tamerlane who was the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world in the late 1300’s and into the early 15th century. It’s apt then that our next stop is at Amir Temur Square in the central park with the statue of Amir Temur on horseback and the imposing Hotel Uzbekistan behind.

Our last stop of the day is at the Roman Catholic Church of Tashkent. It has quite an unusual feel to it as when you walk in the main doors you have to go to the right and climb steps to get to the main church. It’s brightly decorated with minders stain glass windows. There’s a lot of Mother Teresa stuff around, must be because it was her birthday a couple of weeks ago (same day as me in fact!).

After a little rest back at the hotel we head out for dinner and have a feast of local meat and salad… delicious!

Tomorrow we head south to Samerkand so bye for now Tashkent.

We leave Kranjska Gora and take the Vrsic pass which is a winding road through the mountains connecting Kranjska Gora to Bovec, fifty kilometers away. There are fifty hairpin turns and it’s narrow enough for us all to feel the need to breath in when cars are coming towards us!! The pass is only open in the summer months so we’re excited to get the chance to see the beautiful scenery that we believe is in store. Jennifer is driving us up and Renee will take over on the other side so I’m feeling confident.

There are a couple of stops of note as we pass through these magnificent Julian alps. The first is the wooden “Russian church”. The road was built mostly by Russian prisoners of war and this church is a memorial to over 300 of them who were buried in an avalanche while working on the road.

Further along there’s a place to pull in to view the mountains. There’s a really cool hole in the mountain That I’m sure looks great when the sun shines throug

Further below you can see the face and body of a person with the change in the colour of the rocks … can you make it out?

Maria is loving it…

Around another hairpin turn we come upon a herd of sheep. They don’t seem to care how close we are and it takes a fair bit of time for them to get across the road and move into the hills.

Renee and I swap from front to back and Maria is all over the place..

A photo opportunity as we reach the top.

We continue the drive down to Bovec and beyond. We pass a lot of small bridges, waterfalls and viewing points. All are beautiful but we have to be choosey or we’ll never get to our destination. This bridge was particularly nice

And this river running into some caves.

Oh yeah Slovenia is also a country full of caves. They have approximately fifty touristic caves that you can visit… we have some on our list for tomorrow. But right now we’re thinking about lunch and Renee mentions that there’s a famous chef who runs a restaurant called Hisa Franco and it’s actually on our route to Piran. Although it’s a fine dining experience that apparently you need to book weeks in advance, we decide to chance our arm and stop by! The maitre di is really friendly and has one of the staff show us around (even the kitchen). She tells us there is a sister restaurant in the local village (called Kobarid) that takes walk ins.

We head there for lunch – it’s called Hisa Polonka and it is the best meal we’ve had so far on our trip.

Fed, watered and delighted with ourselves we continue on the road to Piran. Piran is known as the pearl of Slovenia and it could just as easily be Italy. In fact at one point we think our directions might be sending us via Italy to get there (passports please!!) but as we approach the motorway there’s a barrier block and a diversion for a road closure which we hadn’t really understand earlier on our route. We manage to follow the directions without hitting the Italian border and arrive to the little coastal town right at the tip of Slovenia on the Adriatic and within waving distance of our Italian friends.

The main square:

We are just spending one night here and it’s a “no car” town so we have a 15 minute window to find our accommodation, unpack our bags and get out of the centre to the car park where we can then take a free shuttle back or walk the 1.5kms. We are very organised and have packed an overnight bag each so we can leave the larger cases in the car however we’re not that organised to find the accommodation and when google maps won’t work on the tiny streets it’s a stressful situation in 33 degrees of heat.. Eventually we find it, drop the bags and get back to the driver (Renee, who appears to have managed an outfit change in our absence).

Our next fun adventure is to find the car park and more critically find a spot in the seven story underground car park that is jammed and chaotic with tourists. It appears that no one knows how the system works and cars are blocking the entrance and exit… arghhhh – Piran you headwrecker!!! We find a spot, it’s tight against a wall and we can only get out one side of the car but we take it and are happy to be done with the logistics. It is roasting hot so we walk toward the sea to dip our feet in and cool down. It’s a rocky beach and the stones are very slippy – we do well not to have any falls!

We spend a couple of hours by the water and check out the main square before heading back through the maze of tiny streets to our home for the night. After some much needed air conditioned downtime involving wine and a lot of laughing over the days debrief, we clean ourselves up as much as we can to go back into 30 degree heat at 8pm for dinner in the main square. They are big into their truffles in this neck of the woods so it’s either seafood or pasta with truffles – we all go for a variation of truffle pasta with shrimps or vegetables and a local white wine which is really good. We are entertained by some kids playing in the square (I hear you gasp as this isn’t usually something that I enjoy but this was quite hysterical). A little Italian boy about 6 stood himself up on the small wall around the water found and peed aiming as high as he possible could. No sign of a parent around and he was just delighted with himself. Then we watched as unsuspecting people got drinking water, washed their hands and went about their regular business at the fountain. The fountain in question had been photographed earlier in the day when Renee unwittingly got a photo of this scooter.

Then a little girl who couldn’t have been more than two and a half or three was practicing on her little bike and was flying down the downhill to the square so fast there was only one way this was going to end… her on the ground… she was super cute and dusted herself off with a little wash of her grazed knees … guess where – yep, in the water fountain .. 😂

After dinner we take a walk to the church at the edge of the old town and then call it a night. Piran has been an adventure but between the logistics and the heat we won’t be hanging around tomorrow. We have a similar rigmarole ahead of us in the morning and I’d like to leave under the cover of darkness but we negotiate a 7:30am departure before it gets busy and the heat really hits (although it never really subsided). At least we are sleeping in a cold air conditioned room which is delightful.

Next morning we are on the road to Ljubljana with a couple of significant stops on the way. We manage to get through the checkout process in one piece and are well on the road by 8:30am. Our first stop is at the Skocjan caves. They’re about an hours drive away and we’re happy to get out of Piran and the humidity.

Our guided tour begins with a significant walk from the Visitors Centre to the man-made passageway and entrance to the cliffs. There are two main parts to the caves, the first being the Silent Cave (Tiha jama), which is filled with numerous dripstone formations. Huge stalagmites and stalactites of various shapes and sizes, some with bright colors are all around us. The colours are due to different minerals being present in the rocks. The second cave is called the cathedral – it is a huge open space with giant formations that look like a huge piped organ.

There are no photos allowed inside of the caves for two very important reasons. Firstly the light from the flash affects the natural environment and can cause the formations to stop growing and secondly our ninety minute tour would likely take an extra hour as there are so many cool formations that no doubt the entire tour group (which was a large number) would want to photograph.

The caves are huge… by far the biggest I’ve ever seen, we walk two kilometers through the two caves and there are a further three not open to the public.

Exiting the Cave, we see the underground canyon of the Reka River that we cross on the Cerkvenik Bridge, suspended nearly fifty meters above the riverbed. In 1965 there was a flood on this very day that we’re visiting (September 2nd) where the river was higher than where we were walking on that very bridge…. When we hit the exit we can take some photos..

Next on our list is Predjama castle which is a castle built into a cave. We start with lunch at a restaurant overlooking this very impressive site – isn’t that gorgeous.

For the first time on the trip I see cevapcici on the menu (this was my favourite from the Balkan trip) so I have that along with a one euro glass of wine.. sure you’d have to!!

The castle tour is self guided with an audio guide which is both entertaining and thankfully brief. You get to see all four floors of the castle which was first built in 1202 but most of what’s currently here is 16th century.

Not only is it an impressive location, it also has an interesting story. A man called Erazem Lueger, who was considered Slovenia’s Robin Hood, hid from his captors in the castle and taunted them by throwing cherries at them from the “murder holes” around the castle walls. Unfortunately he was killed by a canon ball that hit him when he was in the least safe place in the castle…. sitting on the loo!!

We arrive in Ljubljana to thunder and lightening and a massive down pour of rain. Our next Airbnb is on a pedestrianized street so we have to get our bags out and get rid of the car. We manage it between us and before long we’re drinking our last bottle of Gruner Veltliner that we bought on our very first night of the trip in the Wachau valley.

The street we are staying on is dead centre in the middle of all the downtown action. It’s a large two bedroom apartment on top of a bar looking out onto outdoor seating and the river. We are right beside the dragon bridge.

In fact Ljubljana is known for its bridges as it has many of them including one called the triple bridge as it has three crossings. It’s hard to capture in a photo.

We’ve read about how “green” Slovenia is and it’s visible from the recycling bins that are dotted around the streets. It’s very impressive:

They even have milk vending machines where you bring your reusable bottle (or a large jug I suppose) and purchase the specific amount of milk you want. You can buy a reusable plastic (I assume recyclable) bottle for 30 cent and a litre of fresh milk is €1. You can buy in increments of 10 cents.

We’re all feeling a little tired this evening so have an easy night finishing our wine (you never doubted we’d get through it all, right?), only venturing to the bar below for food. In fact I may have had my dinner brought upstairs to me!!

Next day is our last full day of the holiday and we decide to go for breakfast before exploring the town. We have a few things on our list to see but mostly we plan to ramble through the streets, checking out the local shops and eating some local delicacies. We get off to a good start with breakfast at Slovenska Hisa. We sit by the river which is beautiful but the birds want food and they are not shy about sitting right on top of us.

Around the corner from the restaurant is a street full of little shops known for their local handicrafts. We happen upon a really cute shop where everything is made by children with hearing impairments and we pick up some souvenirs. There’s lots of other interesting shops to browse through but I’m limiting myself to only edible or usable items for this trip. I was tempted by a lot of things including bear salami (with 70% bear meat), chocolates in the shape of dragons and truffle salt (I did actually buy a tiny jar of salt). There was even a doggy bakery!

Next we visit Preseren square which sits at the triple bridge. It’s the centre of the city and was the busiest spot we encountered but construction work limited its appeal. The “pink church” aka Franciscan Church of the Annunciation was worth a short visit if only to see the remains of an ancient saint Deodatus. And there was also a black Madonna statue.

We check out the national library which is a very impressive building and known for its architecture

By now it’s time for lunch and we are determined to have the famous sausage called the Carniolian sausage. This small take out shop is extremely popular.

They cut up the sausage and serve it with horseradish and mustard and a bread roll. It was really good:

Next we take the funicular to the castle. We don’t bother with a tour of the castle we are really just here to check out the view… which is decent but a little underwhelming. I think this city is best experienced on the flat around the river. It’s all happening there.

The cathedral is closed so we only get to see this interesting door!

Down an alleyway there’s a row of skulls lining the pathway…

It’s time for a bit more sustenance – this time we try the popular struklji. This can be sweet or savoury and is kind of a layered dumpling cake. We had one chocolate and one mango, both served warm. Oh my these were good… layers of delicious cakey dough!

Another ramble, this time to an area called Metelkova which is covered in interesting graffiti. Not exactly somewhere I’d want to spend a lot of time but it was interesting to walk through and see.

It’s time to pack and get somewhat organised before our final dinner. The great thing about staying in Airbnbs is they usually have washing machines. As I’m travelling a further four weeks I wash everything worn to date and I’m set with a freshly packed bag for the next country.

It’s pizza for dinner again tonight and this time we try the local Rofask red wine. It’s really dry and a bit rough the first few sips but we manage to get through it!! Cheers Ljubljana! The light in the evening is beautiful as we pass our breakfast restaurant with the castle perched above.

Next morning the girls leave for an early train to Croatia so I sneak in a quick 4km run along the river. Well I say quick but I really mean short!!

And that’s a rap for the 2019 Texas Girls Tour…. what a fun week+ it’s been. Until next time goodbye my lovely ladies and goodbye Slovenia – it’s been thoroughly delightful.

We leave Salzburg and head for Slovenia. We’re expecting great scenery when we hit Slovenia but Austria is also beautiful. There are so many castles and fortresses along the way. This was taken from the window of the car while we whizzed by on the autobahn (well I think we were on an autobahn – we were going very fast!!). Hohenwerfen Castle:

We decide to tick some things off the list before we hit our accommodation so we head straight for the Vintgar gorge or Soteska Vintgar. It’s a 1.6km walk through the gorge one way and you can enter from either side but you’ve got to walk back unless you’ve someone to collect you on the other side. We’re happy to view it from both directions as it really is stunning. [side note: pretty much everything in Slovenia requires a ticket. It’s €10 to enter the gorge and you must hold onto your ticket to exit).

It’s so quiet and the water is really clear. There are some tourists but it’s not overly busy

There’s a small refreshment area at the entrance/exit to the gorge and they have potica cake which Jennifer told us her grandmother used to make it. Did I forget to mention we have a Slovenian with us? It’s a bit like a fruit brack – not too sweet more like bread with dried fruit.

As we are only 4kms from Lake Bled, we decide to continue on and tick that off our list today. We park the car and follow a sign for the lake and suddenly it appears from behind the trees. It is stunning and just as picturesque as you’d imagine:

There are a number of options to get to the little island in the middle. We opt for a boat that’s rowed by a local rather than row ourselves and it’s definitely the better option. The rowers really work up a sweat rowing about a dozen of us in this boat.

There are 99 steps up to the small church and it takes only a few minutes to walk them and not too many more to walk around the tiny island. It’s all about the views back to shore – each way you look is beautiful. Looking back from the church to the castle:

Our rower points out a large house which he said was the summer home of Tito (former president of Yugoslavia) which is now a cafe with a terrace giving one of the best views of the lake and the little island with the church so we decide to do the return row to that side of the lake and walk back to where we’ve parked the car. We try the bled cream cake (kremna rezina) which we’d heard lots about and it is just like a custard slice so needless to say we love it. Throw in a glass of rose and that view and we are happy out…

On the walk back we take in the view from different angles and the light is really nice as the sun starts to go down. We are accosted by this lady who wants a photo with us (your guess is as good as mine) and of course we dutifully comply! She gives me a big hug before she rushes off with her friends!

From Bled we carry on to our Airbnb in Kranjska Gora which is just gorgeous. It has a terrace with a view of the mountains and is modern and spacious. Kranjska Gora is an alpine resort in northwestern Slovenia, near the mountains and glacial lakes of Triglav National Park. It’s very obviously a ski town, you can see the ski lifts and paths and it’s easy to imagine this place covered in snow and lots of skiers enjoying the apres ski in the many bars and restaurants. We are right in the centre of town and have dinner at Gostlina Cvitar. (Gostlina means restaurant) There’s some sort of festival on and a band are playing in the square. It’s a lovely end to our busy day – sitting in the square watching the locals enjoy the entertainment, as we do too!

Our second day is just as packed as the first. We start with a visit to Lake Bohinj which some say is prettier than Bled 😲. It is gorgeous but it’s hard to compare… we like them both – I would never discriminate against a beautiful lake!! We drive about an hour from Kranjska Gora (we actually have to pass by Lake Bled again) to the east (top end) of the lake. It’s stunning and as you’d imagine, surrounded by mountains:

St John the Baptist Church at the head of the lake, stands beyond the stone bridge so we head in there for a quick visit as we’ve read some interesting things about it.

It’s a tiny chapel but I count at least six different paintings or sculptures of the beheading of John the Baptist – they’re quite gruesome.

There are mosaics on the walls dating to the 13th century, one of which the guidebook tells us is of the first murderer – Cain from the Bible. (I must admit I’d never thought of Cain in that way but I suppose he is the first documented murderer!). He’s depicted with a white devil on his shoulder which apparently is very unusual!

There are also paintings of, what I would call, scary angels around the back of the alter – bizarre! Look at their teeth…

We climb to the top of its bell tower for another stunning view of the lake before we leave this peculiar little church. The girls jump in for a swim which looks amazing and I have a bit of a dip (not brave enough for much else 😢). The water is really clear and not too cold. It’s very refreshing on such a hot day.

We are coming to realize that Slovenia is full of waterfalls and they are called slaps. We drive to the west side of the lake, about 4kms up a windy road and take a short hike through the trees to Savica slap.

It is truly one of the prettiest waterfalls I’ve ever seen. The colour of the water is just beautiful.

Passing Bled again (it’s hard not to take more photos), we leave the lakes behind and get closer to home to do the “Martuljek” hike. Jennifer found this hike online and it sounds amazing. It’s a two hour hike to an alpine meadow which is surrounded by the Julian alps. By the time we find the starting point its much later than we planned to set out hiking (it’s already nearly 5pm) but we don’t want to miss it so we make a start. it’s a tough climb in some parts and we’re wondering if we should turn back but we push on and we are so glad we did… The view is idyllic with dairy cows wandering by. It really is stunning…

There’s a hut called Pri Ingotu which closes at 6pm and we make it there at 5:45. The guy tells us to relax and have a beer and that we’ve loads of time to get back before dark… we take his word for it!

Video clip alert!!!!

We are so glad we did this amazing hike and really happy to have finished it before it started to get dark. Happiness and relief on our faces below:

Elated and delighted with ourselves, we go straight to town for an easy dinner. As we are very close to the Italian border there are lots of Italian restaurants and we’ve decided to go for some recommended pizza. It’s really good. While sitting outside enjoying the pizza and some local beer (you know we’re going to crack open one of the wines when we get home), we hear music approaching and soon realize it’s a stag party who decide to serenade us and insist we drink a shot of some local schnapps with them..

When they hear I’m Irish the guy with the accordion insists on singing the entire “Living Next Door to Alice” …. you know the one – “Alice, Alice, who the F#*k is Alice” 🤭… I thought we might get asked to leave the restaurant!! Mortified!

We have been so lucky visiting this area at this time of year, it’s coming toward the end of the season so everything is a little quieter and there are no hordes of tourists but the weather is still beautiful. Tomorrow we will cross the Vršič Pass and drive south to explore more of this beautiful country.

I’ve wanted to go to Salzburg for a very long time so this is definitely going to be a highlight. Since I was about ten years of age I’ve never wavered when asked what my favourite movie is… yes, you’ve guessed it – it’s The Sound of Music … cue music and bring it on!!

We arrive to Salzburg in the evening after a busy day site-seeing (see Part I) so we relax on the balcony of our huge Airbnb house for an hour with one of those bottles of wine we’ve brought with us. After a quick freshen up we intend to eat in a nearby tavern but it’s closed so we continue into town and get to check out the city centre by night…

We have our first hot meal after the heuriger food and I go straight for the wiener snitzel. It does not disappoint. I’m on a local red wine and the girls are drinking the Augustiner at a really cool tavern called Barenwirt

A quick photo opp on the bridge on the way home and it’s beddy byes time as we have a big day tomorrow…

This morning we wake to rain which is not ideal as today is our Sound of Music “Fraulein Maria’s bicycle trip” around Salzburg. It’s a torrential downpour as we arrive to get our bikes but by the time we get started the rain has gone… hooray!! We set off on a city tour taking in the main locations from the movie. These are the steps from “doe-a-deer” with the fountain in the background:

While we are in the city there’s not much singing going on but we do manage a few re-enactments along the way”.. this is Ralph running through the tunnel:

And when Maria is on her way to the Von Trapp home for the first time and she stops to give a little splash in the fountain:

Next stop is the cemetery where the family hide from the nazis..

It’s a small, interesting looking cemetery almost built into the side of the cliff. I do love a good cemetery.

There’s a little market around the corner with a really good pretzel stand which of course we sample..

Onwards up a very steep hill that half the tour group manage to stay on their bikes for and we reach the convent… remember that scene when the children come looking for Maria because they miss her… and Gretel wants to show her her sore finger – ahhhh. And the church that you can see through the gates is the actual church the Captain and Maria got married in, not the big one where they filmed it for the movie.

There’s a beautiful look out point over the city and to the mountains from here…

Once out of the city the guide plays all the big numbers from the movie on a little boom box which we share among the baskets, and we get to sing along, amusing many random passers by. The two ladies behind us in the photo below were from Australia and they thought they had booked a regular city tour – they’d no idea it was specifically a Sound of Music tour… but they got into the spirit fairly quick!

At the Von Trapp’s house which is now student accommodation we line up on our handy bikes. This was purely a movie filming location, the Von Trapp’s never actually lived here!

Oh and again… in case you haven’t already noticed we are in our second matching t-shirts…. This one is at the lake where the children fell in outside the back of the house.. that’s it on the other side of the lake –

It’s now a conference centre but you can zoom in and see the patio where they filmed the scene of them playing ball and meeting the baroness (who by the way was a totally fictional character who never existed)… she seems to have joined our little holiday mind you… 😉 Baroness Renee!

After that amazing morning – seriously best city tour EVER [big shout out to Fraulein Maria’s bike tour company – book it if you’re ever in Salzburg], It starts lashing rain again so we take shelter in a bar and reckon we deserve a beer with a spot of lunch..

Tonight we are eating at what is allegedly the oldest restaurant in Europe. Established in 803, St. Peter Stiftskulinarium is located in the old town close by the concert hall which was also in the Sound of Music. We enjoy the fine dining and a very tasty meal.

The old town is lovely to wander around at night. There’s lots of shops, restaurants and bars and it was quite bustling.

Next morning before leaving Salzburg we decide to visit “The villa Von Trapp” which was the house where the family actually lived. It’s a hotel now and was closed to the public as we arrived early in the morning but true to form the baroness (aka Renee) sweet talked the manager and he let us in to take a tour around the house and gardens which included viewing the dining room while a few patrons were still having breakfast!

There were lots of photos hanging on the walls and the guest rooms are named after the children.. their real names though, not those used in the movie!

From here we get on the road and head for the border – Slovenia next.

Cheerio Salzburg!

I’m flying to Vienna this morning to meet up with my Texas Girls – Renee and Jennifer. It’s been a full two years since our Scottish adventure in the Hebrides so we are ready for another road trip. Today happens to be my birthday so I arrive to this:

After initial hellos and great excitement we load up the rental car and get on the road toward Wachau. The Wachau valley sits on the Danube and it takes me a while to realize that I’ve been around this neck of the woods before! Anyhoo, more of that later. Tonight is all about the birthday celebrations and checking out the local wine.

We are staying in a small village called Unterbergern, in a really cute Airbnb in the hills over the Danube. We’ve heard that we are here at an ideal time as the local wineries open as “heurigers” for just three or four weeks in late August, early September. [Heuriger is the name given to taverns in Eastern Austria at which local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternate months during the growing season. The Heurige are renowned for their atmosphere of Gemütlichkeit shared among a throng enjoying young wine, simple food]. I’m pretty sure Gemütlichkeit translates into craic because there really was great craic at the local one we walked to.

It’s Gruner Veltliner country here and there’s no less than six Gruners on the menu. Needless to say, we attempt to try them all…

The food is limited to cold food only so lots of cheese, meat, bread and spreads. It’s all really tasty…. and very reasonably priced.

We try a drink called sturm which they refer to as “young wine”, essentially freshly pressed grape juice with a very low alcohol content. Apparently it’s good to get the ole metabolism going, if you know what I mean… we shall see in the morning!! Before we leave we buy, well let’s be honest, Renee buys a mere five bottles for us to take on our journey. It is that good and that cheap you just couldn’t argue!

Next morning, we hire bikes and head out along the Danube toward Melk abbey. The views are stunning as we pass small towns and different ruins on the mountain sides.

Did I mention that we were wearing matching Sound of Music t-shirts…

We stop at a little coffee shop and the patrons are very interested to find out who we are and where we’re from. When we say Texas, New York and Dublin we get quite the reaction and they want to know how we know each other, where did we meet etc. So for any of you who don’t know….. we met in The Dame Tavern in Dublin in 2007. I was officially living in San Fran and visiting home and they were on holidays, both living in Austin at that time. They were watching as my sisters, baby brother and friends arrived one after the other and how excited we were to be having a night out in town and they wanted in on the action….. which just sort of naturally occurred. We ended up swapping contact details and saying we’d keep in touch and low and behold within a few months I was in Austin for a weekend and we sealed our friendship. Since then we’ve averaged about a trip a year which has included Paris, Joshua Tree National Park, Inisbofin island, Scotland, New York, Wyoming, South Dakota, San Francisco, Barcelona and Maine and that’s not them all!! Anyway we get this question a lot so that’s the answer.

So getting back to our coffee stop we had a view of Hinterhaus castle as we took a little rest and regaled the patrons about how we came to be friends….

Along the way we were told of a piece of modern art we should check out… this nose!

One section of the cycle is through vineyards which is just gorgeous….

And they also have the most beautiful looking apples

There are castles and abbeys at every turn…. it would be great to spend more time here and visit them all but we have to keep moving…

So at this stage, as we continue to see more beautiful towns on the other bank, although nothing really looks familiar I know that I’ve cycled this path before. About five years ago I cycled the Danube with my little brother from Passau, Germany to Vienna so we definitely cycled on this path….

It feels like a lot more than 26kms but eventually we reach Melk abbey. It’s beautifully perched on the side of a mountain and quite a climb to get up there. We park our bikes in the main square and off we go..

Melk abbey was built in the 11th century and was home to the Babenbergs and later given to the Benedictine monks. As we are walking through the abbey on the self guided tour I’m starting to recall what’s coming next. As soon as we hit the library I realize I’ve been here before. In fact I’m sure I’ve already taken the exact photos that I take again on this visit!! I can’t believe I’m only realizing this now… of course if I’d kept a blog back then I’m sure this wouldn’t have slipped my mind!! Anyway, we finish the tour and head back to collect our bikes but alas there is a problem. Unfortunately one of the locks will not open with the combination that we were given. We try everything including roping in a passer by to help, but it’s no use. We have to call the hire company and when Erwin arrives he appears pissed off and sure we are idiots and he will get the lock to open. Not so!!! Eventually he has to get a cutters and cut the lock so we can actually get home before dark!!

We get home just before sunset… what an eventful day it’s been…

Once we are all washed up, we head to another heuriger for a similar meal to last nights…. cheese, meat, spreads and bread, and of course more wine in the form of Gruner Veltliner. Just as last night, it is all delicious, although tonight we are much better behaved!!

Our two nights are up so we pack up the car next morning and head for a short morning hike before leaving Unterbergern. This vista is an easy climb for a very nice view…

Next it’s breakfast time…. we are under strict instructions to try the “schaumrollen” and my friend Martina (who I met on the Myanmar trip) has given me a great tip which is to visit Café Maria in Mautern. Mautern is just a stones throw from Unterbergern so it’s an ideal stop on our way out of town. We are not disappointed as the pastries, which have some goey cream filling, are absolutely delicious.

The bakery is across the road from the cafe and fresh pastries are delivered right through the day…

Another short detour before leaving town….. When we first planned this trip the reason for coming to this region was to stay at a winery called Nikolaihof but unfortunately it wasn’t open on the dates we wanted to stay. Well it just happens to be around the corner so Renee pops in (bear in mind it’s about 9:30am) and even though it’s not open, the manager invites us in to take a look around the premises and the cellar.. it’s very impressive:

After purchasing a couple more bottles of Gruner and Riesling to add to our stash, we get on the road. Its time to head west from Lower Austria toward Salzburg, with a couple of stops on the way. First stop is a visit to Admont Abbey which has the largest monastic library in the world. It is stunning:

The abbey grounds are large with a number of different buildings and a main Church which is really bright ….

In opposite chapels at the side of the main alter are two saints in peculiar poses… quite bizarre!!

Our final stop before driving into Salzburg is Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a small picturesque town set around a lake, surrounded by the Dachstein mountains and famous for its salt mines. We take the funicular to the top…

We are not the only ones enjoying the view…

It’s no surprise to us that this entire area has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. We say farewell to Upper Austria and head to Salzburger land… yes that’s really what the region is called!!

It’s a last minute package holiday but Rhodes has so much history I thought I’d capture a quick blog post.

The flight direct from Dublin is just under five hours so it’s a decent distance to this island that sits in the Aegean Sea, only a short distance from Turkey. We are staying in Ialysos which is on the west coast (facing Turkey) and only a ten/fifteen minute bus ride into Rhodes town.

Ialysos has a stony beach, similar to most in Rhodes, with not much of a promenade so it’s tricky to get a long walk in on the actual beach. The water is not that cold though, so nice for a dip if you can get over the stones in one piece!

We start with a little bit of this:

But then it’s time to hit the town and check out some of the history….. The first port of call and highest priority on my list is to see Mandraki harbour, where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. It doesn’t look much now but imagine a monstrous statue standing with one foot on each side where the columns now are.

The fort of St Nicholas is situated at the end of the harbour and was built in Byzantine times and later enhanced by the Knights of St John (aka the Knights Hospitaller) as part of the fortification of the city. The Knights play a huge part in the history of Rhodes. They were a medieval catholic military organization headquartered in Rhodes, Jerusalem and Malta.

We walk toward the walled city which enclosed the old town of Rhodes or Rodos as the locals call it. I thought this huge “bunch” of flowers was very cleverly done:

There are lots of great views out to the sea…

And many different gates and walkways to explore…

There are a total of eleven gates into the old town and we enter via one of the biggest and I might add, the grandest:

The town is full of old buildings, shops and restaurants. This is the library:

After checking out the main square and some of the shops we chose a rooftop restaurant for a spot of lunch. It’s definitely time for gyros.

Getting back to the Knights, (not to be mistaken by the Knights Templar by the way!), we make our way to the entrance of the Palace of the Grand Master:

The Grand Master was the head of the organization and resided in this palace which acted as the headquarters for the Knights. The inside courtyard:

The ground floor houses an exhibit of ancient artifacts and I mean ancient… prettty much everything was dated BC. It was really impressive but no photos allowed of the amazing tiny statues, kitchenware and jewelry… it’s hard to believe they remain in such good condition.

From the exhibit on the ground floor we ascended a very grand staircase and got to walk around the rooms of the palace.

The rooms were very impressive

There were some very interesting original mosaics

More splendor of the palace rooms:

And the grand courtyard:

We leave the palace and walk down the Avenue of the knights which is where the knights lived. Each house was for a different country – England, Spain, Italy, France etc..

There were lots of little side streets and alleyways with houses marked as former houses of the knights….. this is the busiest spot for tourists

After rambling around some more we head back to our resort for a relaxing dinner by the beach followed by a relaxing day by the pool. The following day we are up early for our day trip to Lindos. Lindos is on the southeast part of the island and we are going there by boat. We set off from Mandraki harbour for a three hour relaxing boat trip in the beautiful sunshine. Our first stop is at Anthony Quinn bay for a quick swim:

Back on the boat for some relaxing sleepy time in the sunshine! After another couple of hours we start to approach Lindos….

Lindos is famous for its acropolis and I’m very excited to get to see it. Some of the remains of the buildings date back BC, others to the 10th and 13th century… I love a Greek column so can’t wait to climb up to the top and get close to this important archeological site.

We disembark the boat and have three hours to see the sites, which for us is essentially the acropolis. Some people opt to ride a donkey up the hill…

…but Miriam and I are happy to climb up and take in the views and the cute little town along the way

Although it’s steep it’s not as far as it looks and the views really are stunning

On the way up we see the Church of st George:

The acropolis itself is stunning and one photo just doesn’t do it justice so here’s a few!!

We continue to admire the views on the way back down and before returning to the boat (and after a delicious lunch on the beach), we go in for a quick dip.. the beach is sandy and the water is shallow and calm – ideal (well for me that is!).

The boat journey back is just as pleasant as on the way out and we have a second swimming stop at Tsampika beach.

Back in Rhodes we walk around the moat which gives us a different perspective of the walled city:

We see these stone balls everywhere, I think they may have been ammunition!

We walk from the old town through the new town to the other side of town!! From here we have a nice sunset view at a restaurant called Oceanfront:

Rhodes was a great place to visit and we had many more good meals and fun on the island for the rest of the week. Yamas!