The initial travel day can be stressful sometimes. We drove to North Kingstown this morning, picked up a rental at Enterprise and went back home to drop off our car and pick up our bags. As many of you know, we prefer to rent a car when we travel out of Boston or New York, as it’s more convenient than parking our car at the airport for three or more weeks.

Although the trip to Boston was unremarkable, as I get older my sense of direction is not what it used to be. Behaviors such as opening the refrigerator and not knowing why, or walking into a room with Kramer’s determination and then forgetting why I’m in there, were on full display today. I must’ve enjoyed maneuvering Boston’s maze of tunnels because I kept taking a wrong exit and having to retrace my steps. It was like playing Mario brothers and having to repeat a level.

The rat maze not withstanding, we made it to the airport with plenty of time. Years ago, we opted into TSA pre-check. About a year ago we signed up for CLEAR. Despite the long lines, both at the regular TSA and TSA pre-check, with CLEAR, we went to the front of the line and were through security relatively quickly. It would have been a lot quicker had I not needed extra screening because of my I bionic knees.

Provided we have smooth sailing, I’ll post our first update on Wednesday. With the overnight flight and the multiple connections, we know tomorrow will be a wash.

The Dragons from GoT were kept here

Split is oddly interesting. \240 It seems to lack identity and the city appears grungy and tired. That’s the best way we can describe it. The history of the old city is sad and tragic (we’ll touch on this a little later) and throughout the city you can see a tremendous amount of graffiti and tagging and individuals, both young and old, on park benches, drinking beer early in the morning. Not quite the way our cab driver described his city.

From about 11 B.C. to about the 5th century A.D., Croatia was ruled by the Romans. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, modern day Croatia was subsequently ruled by the Byzantines.

From 1868 Croatia was ruled by Hungary, until World War II, when it became part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia consisted of six republics. During World War II, Yugoslavia was under German and Italian rule. \240From November 1945 untill his death in 1980, Yugoslavia was ruled by Josip Broz Tito. When Tito died, the then Vice President, Lazar Koliševski ascended to the role of President. Subsequently, the role of President rotated on an annual basis with each President serving as Vice President the year prior. Imagine the turmoil in a country where the president changed every year.

In June 1991, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, marking the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence.
The brutal war lasted until 1995, when a peace agreement was signed. Croatia joined the United Nations in 1992, NATO in 2009, and the European Union in 2013. They didn’t start using the Euro until January 2023.

The city of Split was established by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He Reigned from 285 to 305 AD. Diocletian split (nothing to do with the name of the city) the Roman Empire in half and established the Tetrarchy, where he shared rule with three co-emperors.

Krka National park

In 303, at the urging of the caesar, Diocletian began the last major persecution of Christians in the \240Roman Empire. As a result, he destroyed churches and tortured and executed Christians. After murdering two priests, Diocletian became paranoid, and he ordered the execution of any Catholics entering \240the City of split. After Constantine became emperor and ended the persecution of Christians, Christian’s raided Diocletian’s mausoleum, threw his bones into the sea, and entombed the two priests \240he had killed in his mausoleum. Okay, I warned you it was rather sad and depressing.

Split Harbor

Diocletian’s palace makes up Most of Split’s old city. The tours are intertwined with the tragic history of Diocletian and peppered with Game of Thrones \240trivia. We culminated our trip to Split with tour of Krka national park and a sunset cruse.

Street in Split

Krka Falls

Sixt was very accommodating and modified our reservations without a hassle. The roads to Krka were modern and, although we had trouble reading some of the road signs, Google maps worked great. It was nice getting away from the cramped alleyways of Split and out into the open spaces of the national park. We hiked around the “falls” and even took a four hour boat tour to different islands within the park. As a disclaimer, falls may be a bit of stretch. As Inigo Montoya would say, “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” The falls were more like cascades than full blown falls. But, all in all, it was still a very enjoyable day.

We got off to an early start on Friday morning, The moment we left the city of Split heading south on route 8, we were pleasantly surprised at how exquisite and breathtaking the shoreline was. We stopped at a few seaside towns for snacks and or window shopping. Most of the towns along the coast \240were quaint, clean and welcoming; a far cry from the grittiness of Split. Shortly before crossing the Pelješak Bridge, we found a roadside stand selling wines from their adjacent vineyard. We sampled two glasses and bought a bottle for later enjoyment.

Once we arrived in Dubrovnik, we checked into the hotel, and dropped off the rental. The car rental return for Sixt was at the Rixos Hotel, about a four minute walk from our hotel, the Bellevue. After returning the car, we walked down the hill to Dubrovnik’s Pile Gate. \240Getting to the Pile Gate was easy. It was mostly flat or downhill to the old town. Although the walk was less than a mile, getting back to the hotel, always seemed a bit of a challenge. The old city was vibrant, bustling, and immaculate. Dubrovnik is a much smaller city than Split. The population fluctuates between 45 and 50 thousand people. Many of the shop keepers and drivers we encountered were lifelong residents of Dubrovnik. Some had moved away, but eventually found their way back home. There is a real sense of community and pride in the City. Like Split, they claim to have no crime, but unlike Split, Dubrovnik actually feels safe and secure.

Jesuit Stairs Aka Stairs of Shame

According to Otto, the very tall and handsome owner of a fast food burger joint near our hotel, the town has always been a hub for tourists. Because Dubrovnik was a major trading port, people have flocked here from every corner of the world for centuries. At one time, there were more taverns and inns in the old town than there currently are.

Our first evening in Dubrovnik, we walked the old city and were able to recognize many of the filming sites for GOT, including the Jesuit stairs - aka the Stairs of Shame. We read that the Philharmonic was doing a pop performance in front of Saint Blaise’s Church. By the way, Saint Blaise is the patron saint of sore throats, yep, you’re probably googling it right now. Officially he’s the patron saint of wool combers and of sufferers of ENT diseases. See! Mary’s twelve years of Catholic education was not wasted. During the feast of Saint Blaise in February, we recall our former priest forming a cross with two candles, placing them at our throats \240and bestowing a blessing.

Dubrovnik, Old Walled City

We found a seat at Cele, a café adjacent to Saint Blaise’s Church shortly before the concert started. We were able to enjoy a lovely meal while listening to a wonderful concert. The funniest part of the night was listening to a large group of Spaniards singing along to New York, New York, while mis-pronouncing or mumbling most of the words.

The following morning, we were up early. We Ubered to the cable car station right outside the old city. The cable car took us up to a panoramic observation station, overlooking the city of Dubrovnik. The views were remarkable and we were there early enough to beat the crowds. However, within an hour of our arrival, we were surrounded by throngs of tourists.

Tour Office down on the left.

Once we returned to the old city, we bought a city pass and scheduled a private tour of Montenegro for the next day. The Dubrovnik city pass is an interesting thing. It costs €35 to access the old city walls. If you want to visit the monastery, it costs an additional seven euros. The museum and several other attractions cost between 3 to 4 € to enter. The City pass cost is €35, yep, the same amount as the cost of walking the wall, however, it gives you access to every site, including the museum, the monastery, which houses the third oldest pharmacy in the world. It’s a no brainer to get the city pass.

The best time to walk the wall is near sunset, when it’s not so hot and crowded. So after touring the museum and the monestary, we headed back to our hotel. We locked our valuables in the safe, jumped into our bathing suits and went for a swim in the Adriatic. After lounging for a bit, \240we showered, changed and headed back to the old city to walk the wall. Walking the city walls is a bit strenuous. It seems you’re always ascending or descending stairs as you follow the contour of the city’s landscape. \240Despite how difficult it may seem, it’s still a fascinating walk.

Obviously, ancient city walls were fortifications to protect against enemies and pirates. However, in Dubrovnik, there is an opening in the wall, which allows you access to the cliffs outside of the fortification wall. There is a smattering of tables and chairs set up on the rocks and a makeshift bar. It’s a wonderful place to have a cocktail as you watch boats go back and forth to Lokrum Island or watch the sunset.

After our long walk around the city walls, we made our way to the ‘hole in the wall’ to have a drink and enjoy the sunset before dinner. We ordered our cocktails, but when it came time to pay, I realized I had left my wallet, cash and credit cards back in the hotel safe. I had less than four euros in coins. \240 Embarrassed, I told the waiter that I would run back to the hotel and get my wallet or I would stop by the next day and make good on the bill. The young man graciously said to enjoy our drinks and not to worry. It was literally his last day of the season, as he was returning to the University in Zagreb the following day. As we walked out, we handed the young man all the coins we had and assured him that we would be back within the next few days to pay our bill. The bartender, who was standing nearby, also said not to worry, “this happens”. After returning to our hotel and retrieving our cash, we made our way to Otto’s burger joint for a takeout burger and a beer.

Otto’s Burger Joint, Otto in the background

We spent the next day in Montenegro. We had arranged a private tour, and our driver Johnny was to pick us up at 9 AM. Around 9:00 AM we get a WhatsApp text saying that Johnny was running late. At about 9:15, a smiling, roly-poly Cheeseburger-Cheeseburger-John Belushi looking guy in a bright pink polo shirt jumps out of a Volkswagen sedan. I ask,Johnny? “No I Robert, I Johnny‘s brother”. Johnny had apparently double booked tours so he enlisted the help of his less English proficient and more directionally challenged brother Robert, to take over our tour.

The trip to Montenegro from Dubrovnik is approximately an hour and a half. Oh but wait! Robert knew a shortcut. In fragmented English, he explained the shortcut would take us through a much smaller border crossing, avoiding the tour buses at the larger crossing. The Croatian border control was modern and efficient. A few hundred yards away were two cold-war era shacks that served as Montenegro’s border control. As we pulled up to the border crossing, a very disinterested border guard sat smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. He eventually stood, entered the guard shack and looked over our documents. After a few minutes, he waved us through, never actually looking at us.

Cheeseburger-cheeseburger Robert

Montenegro has some beautiful landscape. There is a small island with a church in the center of Kotor Bay. Legend has it that fishermen and sailors would drop stones in the center of the bay in gratitude for a safe voyage. Eventually, a land mass was formed and a church was erected on the little island. Seafarers would pray at the church for a safe voyage. The city of Kotor is replete with cruise ship tourists. It has a very cute medieval wall town. However, all there is to see and do in this part of Montenegro can be done in a few hours.

After lunch and a few hours of walking around, we met up with Robert. We took a ferry across Kotor Bay in order to expedite our trip back to Dubrovnik. We again took the shortcut that led to the small border crossing. Unfortunately, at that time of the day, the line leading to the single border shacks was over a mile long. Perplexed, Robert kept trying to peek around the line of cars while flailing his arms. Needless to say, it took us over an hour to reach the border kiosk. So much for shortcuts! After a long day of Robert and Montenegro, we decided to stay at the hotel watching a sunset with cocktails and appetizers in hand.

The next morning, we made our way to the far end of the old town and boarded a boat to Lokrum Island. The island is very tiny, but beautiful. There are over 100 peacocks roaming the island and they are unquestionably the rulers of the roost, pun intended. Some scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed on Lokrum Island. After the series ended, HBO gifted the Iron Throne to Lokrum Island. It is currently kept at the Monastery on the island. Of course, we did the obligatory picture of us sitting on The Iron Throne.

Lokrum Peacocks

Boat to Lokrum

After spending a good part of the day on Lokrum Island, we made sure to return to the hole in the wall. We ordered drinks and asked the bartender if he remembered us, the freeloaders from a couple of nights ago. We explained that we wanted to pay for the drinks we hadn’t paid for a few nights ago. He smiled with recognition and again assured us, it was no problem. \240He refused to charge us for the previous drinks. So we enjoyed our drinks, left a hefty tip and left feeling grateful that, there are still kind and decent people in this world.

Obligatory photo

Mother of Dragons?

Seeing this absolutely beautiful and \240pristine ancient city today, it’s hard to fathom it was almost decimated during their War For Independence between 1991 to 1995. There is a museum in the heart of Old Dubrovnik \240with a pictorial history depicting what the old town looked like during the war. The bombed out buildings, the debris scattered on the streets, and the hopeless, vacant faces of the locals are all a far cry from what visitors see today. It’s a testament to the resiliency of the amazing people that call Dubrovnik home.

Pharmacy inside the mosestary

The next morning we made our way to the Dubrovnik airport to start our tour of Greece.

Changing of the Guard

We booked a small boutique hotel called the Urban Frame in the Plaka District of Athens. We always find the moniker “boutique”, comical; more often than not it means tiny. The Urban Frame did not disappoint, the rooms were small, but the view of the Acropolis from our room, made up for the cramped quarters. We are very grateful to both Donna and Jennifer, both pickleball and SCBC ladies, for sharing their itineraries and for recommending we stay in Plaka. Everything was convenient, and within walking distance.

Athens e-Bike tour

We don’t want to spend a great deal of time talking about Athens as it is a very popular tourist destination. Like Rome and Paris, they are must sees, in part because of their history and also because of their wonderful culture and beauty.

Parthenon in th Acropolis

We spent the first day just walking Plaka, getting the lay of the land. \240We had a great lunch in a tiny restaurant called Brigante, near the Hellenic Palace. We then walked over to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, just as they were about to start the changing of the guard. There is a precision and solemnness at the changing of the guard at our Tomb of The Unknown Soldier in Washington DC. In contrast, watching the guards at Greece’s Tomb of The Unknown Soldier was more of a dance performance. The overly exaggerated goose step, the raised fist and the single leg balance, made it look more like a graceful dance than a military march. Their uniforms were teeming with symbolism. For example, a long tassel from their head gear symbolized the tears shed for the for the dead, and the 400 pleats in their fustanella (a long blouse that looks like a skirt) represents the four- hundred years under Ottoman occupation.

Hop-on Hop-off

We scheduled an E-bike tour of Athens for the following day as well as a walking tour of the Acropolis. Other than trying not to collide with the multitude of selfie-taking tourists, the bike tour was relatively easy and allowed us to cover a wider section of the city, \240with a lot less walking. We highly recommend the E-bike tours, the ease and the enjoyment are worth it. Both tours were excellent and highly informative.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus Amphitheater, located within the Acropolis, is approximately two thousand years old. Recently, Coldplay filmed their latest music video at the amphitheater. Before we left the US, Mary learned there would be a performance at the \240amphitheater, while we were in town.

Amphitheater filling up

The Athens Philharmonic was accompanying an artist named Mario Frangoulis, who is a very well known Greek pop tenor. \240Larisa Martinez, a US soprano, who coincidentally hails from Puerto Rico, was also scheduled to perform. After our tours, we found the box office somewhere in the center of town and purchased two tickets for the following night’s concert.

Mario Frangoulis and Larisa Martinez, on Stage.

Because of the heat, the concerts start after sunset. That morning we did a hop-on hop-off tour and spent most of the day exploring the city. Later that evening, we made our way back to the Acropolis for the concert. Although we didn’t understand or recognize many of the numbers, they did perform \240songs like the Aria from La bohème and pieces from West Side Story. Irrespective of what they sang, being at a concert in a centuries old amphitheater was exciting and magical.

We booked an early airport taxi for the following morning. We were heading into Santorini.

Santorini

Despite warnings the island is over run by tourists, since we resemble that remark, we picked Santorini as one of the islands to visit. Two of the busiest areas in Santorini are Fira and Oia. Fira is the Capital and it’s where cruise ships come in. Therefore, from the time the cruise ships land to the time they leave, the alleys and narrow streets of Fira are packed. The island averaged 2 to 3 cruise ships daily while we were there, and this is their low season.

Predawn cruise ships

Oia is reputed by locals to be the Instagram capital of Santorini. Although it is said to have the most beautiful sunsets in all of Santorini, according to a local guide, Oia is replete with hotels, restaurants, and high-end boutiques. He claims other than its sunsets Oia has no historical or cultural qualities.

George, Nordic looking Greek

Thanks to our friend Jennifer, we stayed in a cliffside hotel called the Astra Suites in the small town of Imerovigli. Imerovigli is within walking distance to Fira and a short drive to Oia. Directly across from the hotel, nestled on the rim of the Caldera sits an old fortification on Skaros Rock. There’s a beautiful old church on the other side of the rock that is not visible from land. One has to hike out and around the fortification to reach the old church.

Skaris Rock

Church on the far side of Skaros Rock

On our first night in Santorini we took a short walk into the local village of Imerovigli, but returned to the hotel in time for the sunset. The hotel faces west and looks into the Caldera. The staff did not exaggerate when they claimed sunsets from the Astra Suites were as spectacular, if not more so than those in Oia. \240We ordered a pizza and a dessert from room service and washed it down with a complimentary bottle of wine, as we watched an amazing sunset from our balcony.

Sunset from Astra Suites

There’s a smattering of little villages throughout Santorini and some very good wineries. We schedule a small group tour for the following day to visit some of the the villages. The tour would culminate with a late lunch and a wine tasting. The Concierge claimed the tours are popular, but assured us there would be no more than six people on the tour.

Small Santorini Village

Because they don’t officially have a restaurant tied to the hotel, breakfast is served on your balcony every morning. The day before you are given a menu, you check off the boxes of the menu items you’d like for breakfast and the approximate time you would like breakfast served. Because we had scheduled the tour, we had an early breakfast. The food was delicious, but the amount of food serve seemed obscene. We made a valiant effort at finishing breakfast, before being escorted up to the village center to meet our tour group guide.

Santorini Art Gallery

A tall, pleasant looking Nordic gentleman with fair skin and blondish, reddish hair and beard greeted us. He introduced himself as George, and that he hailed from Northern Greece. He said he would be our tour guide for the day and apologized because the other couple who was going to join us canceled; it would just be Mary and me on the tour. Subsequently, we toured a few villages and learned a lot about the history of Thera, the original name of Santorini. Santorini is actually an Italian name given to the Island during Roman occupation. George noted life-long residents of the island claim they are from Thera, not Santorini. We visited art galleries and had some time for window shopping between stops. As part of the tour, George took us to Santorini’s famous black sand beach. We know it’s a famous beach because George told us so.

Horsing around in Santorini

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the different cultures and nuances of those cultures when traveling. For example, in many Muslim countries it’s impolite to point, or in some Southeast Asian countries it’s disrespectful to touch a child on the head.

George was extremely pleasant, mild mannered and entertaining. He intertwined historical facts with personal tidbits. He talked about what brought him to Santorini and about meeting the love of his life on the island. As we stopped on the side of the road at the Black Sand Beach, George partially blocked a rental car trying exit a parking spot. Once he realized it, he pulled up enough allowing the driver to pull out of the spot. As the car drove by, the woman in the passenger seat gave him the “thumbs up” sign. Instantly, George became incensed. He couldn’t believe his kindness was met with such an obscene gesture. \240For us, the “thumbs up” sign usually means thank you or well done. However, in the Middle East, Greece, and parts of Australia it means up your ass. Poor George. She might as well have flipped him the bird.

Local Santorini Wines

By the time we reached the winery, George had mellowed. \240The “lunch” and wine tasting consisted of four courses with four different wines. Each course was fantastic, the shrimp dish amazing. The wines were very good too and it was a beautiful location.

We once again stayed at the hotel that evening enjoying yet another amazing sunset. I know it sounds boring, but we ordered the same pizza as the night before and sat on our balcony playing cards. And yes, the pizza was that good.

Frozen Capuccinos in Fira

Our last day in Santorini, we were up before sunrise and hiked Skaros Rock. The round trip to the little white church on the opposite side of Skaros Rock took us a little over two hours. After showers and breakfast, we walked into Fira. While hiking Skaros Rock, we spotted three cruise ships in the harbor. Local tenders had started taxiing passengers to shore even before sunrise. Consequently, by the time we reached the center of town, the streets of Fira were packed with cruise ship passengers. We spent \240a large part of the day darting in and out of the many little shops and we even found a very interesting bookstore overlooking the Caldera. We spent time sitting in a café drinking iced cappuccinos and you guessed it, we were back at the hotel for sunset and that amazing pizza, yep, we had it three nights in a row.

Purely for the experience, we decided to take a SeaJet fast ferry from Santorini to Paros. For some unknown Greek reason the ferry was delayed by 20 minutes. Sadly, that announcement is not made to the masses waiting to board the ferry. We learned this from our welcome pickups driver and confirmed it at the box office. So, as people waited in ridiculously long lines to board, we sat with some locals, enjoying a coffee and a croissant waiting for the ferry to arrive. The boarding process is relatively easy, the hardest part is finding a place to store your luggage. However, what we found fascinating was the disembarkation of passengers in Santorini. It was a never-ending sea of humanity, the quintessential march of the Penguins.

March of the penguins, Ferry in Santorini

If you’ve been reading our journals, you know we get a tremendous amount of entertainment from observing human behavior. The ferry has assigned seating, so in the section adjacent to ours, sat six Miami Hispanics, mostly Cuban, but not Pitt Bull Cubans. One was half Cuban - half Spaniard, one Venezuelan and one half Cuban - half Puerto Rican and they talked simultaneously in mostly Spanish. We learned their ethnicity when they were ordering drinks from the porter. They were trying to explain that they were from the US by way of Cuba and Latin America. One short, loud, drunk Cuban (bad combination all around) monopolized most of their conversations, speaking Spanglish and mispronouncing the few English words he used. His most comical utterance came when they asked him why he wouldn’t sit down. His belief was, if he stood and swayed his hips, he wouldn’t get seasick, no wonder hula dancers never get seasick. Who needs TV, this was pure entertainment. Next stop Paros.