Page 39 - Explore Magazine Autumn 2017

On to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where we went to a wonderful
night market for dinner with the locals, and walked up to the castle 37
overlooking the city. It was another special place for us. From here we
rented a car for an excursion to northern Croatia, only a 90-minute
journey away. We stayed first in Momjan, a tiny hilltop village that
overlooks the Istrian countryside with views out to the Adriatic Sea.
We had wonderful Airbnb hosts who looked after us and gave us
great information and advice on what to do. We carefully explored the
village’s crumbling 13th-century castle and sampled delicious local
grapes and truffles. Further south we visited a cheese festival held
inside the local castle in Sveti Lovrec: cheese + castle = awesome!
Pula, at the southern end of the Istrian Peninsula, is a great little seafront
city with its own mini version of the Coliseum. On the way we stopped
very popular entertainment area and park. Berlin is full of history, off at Rovinj, a fishing village on the western coast of Istria whose streets
and we found the remains of the Berlin Wall and the nearby WWII- are famous for their picturesque houses. After dropping the car back in
era exhibitions particularly moving. Ljubljana we had a lovely train ride to Venice via Austria the next day.
We then criss-crossed Germany using the fantastic train system, From Venice we travelled by train to Florence, then on to Cinque
first south to Dresden then across to Hannover (where another friend Terre where we stayed in the village of Vernazza. It’s a busy place
lives), and on to Munich, the starting place for our Cosmos bus tour. during the day but most of the tourists are gone by 5pm. Early one
The tour took us through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary morning we walked to Monterosso al Mare on the famous walking
and Austria with a lovely tour guide and a tour party a bit older than trail where we had an amazing platter for lunch.
us (average age 60-ish), but young at heart and very friendly. We Next was Rome where we used the hop on-hop off bus tour which
especially loved the gorgeous city of Budapest with its lovely bridges was a great way of seeing a lot in a short amount of time. A pre-
and beautiful Fishermen’s Bastion, and Salzburg with its stunning arranged bus tour to Naples and Pompeii was another highlight.
castle on the hill above the quaint Old Town. The hotels and tour Pompeii was much larger than we had imagined but so interesting
extras on the Cosmos tour were all wonderful, especially as almost and what an amazing history!
all of the hotels had a bath. Great after a long day of walking around!
From Rome we flew in a small aircraft to Dubrovnik in southern
We left the tour a day early in Salzburg and caught a train to Lake Bled Croatia, a really amazing place to spend our last few days in Europe.
in Slovenia, a very beautiful rural area with a spectacular lake and We loved the old town and stayed in a cute apartment overlooking
castle. We took a bike ride through the countryside and along a lovely the sea and village. Walking the old town walls was awesome, even
river to Radovljica, a small historic town where we went to a lovely though it rained. We also went to Lokrum, a pretty island just 15
wine and cheese tasting place. This area was another highlight. minutes by water taxi from the port of Dubrovnik’s Old Town.
Venice is like nothing else you will see. Then it was back to London, with a two-night stopover in Singapore
We loved the crazy maze of streets and on the way home which was a great way to break up the long
journey. Thanks to Liz for helping us to plan and create an amazing
the tucked-away restaurants. Try and get honeymoon with memories that will last us a lifetime.”
off the beaten track here!

HELLOWORLD : EXPLORE : AUTUMN EDITION