Ljubljana, Slovenia

After a long day on 2 trains. We made it to the capital of Slovenia. The train ride was very nice. We travelled through mountains and past rushing rivers, forests full of trees and many little villages. We met a couple from the U.S.A who told us getting a hostel might be tough and gave us a number of the place they were staying at. The hostel was booked but had people who had made a reservation not show up and we had to wait till after 10 pm to find out if the room would be availlable. At 10:15 I borrowed another travellers cell and called. By the grace of God we got that room and will have it for 2 nights. While we were checking in there were other travellers who were desperatly looking for a place to stay and might have to stay in the train station. God is good. Miranda is our prayer warrior. Whenever we have a worry, she is on it.

random pictures

Here are a few random pictures of our trip so far. Tomorrow we leave for a town called Ljubljana in Slovenia. We almost hate to leave Croatia. We really love it here. But the train awaits. Will post as soon as we have internet access again.

Bol, Croatia beach

July 15-Day 15
We spent the afternoon at a beach that is famous for it’s great beaches. They definatly are better in Manitoba. Grand beach still has the best sand beaches ever. We rented a car and drove across the Island to a town called Bol. On the way home we passed many little stone piles and some of them were old homes. We stopped to investigate and got to go into one. We had a great day but came home a tiny bit burnt.

Brac, Croatia

July 14- Day 14

The night was much better in a berth. We all had a great sleep in our little cabin. We were awoken by a tap on the door at 6am. The ferry docks at 7 so we had some time to get up. We are now in Split, Croatia. I can tell that we are in another country. The people are more friendly here and the cars are not trying to run everyone over. Ah, to be out of Italy ia so much more relaxing. We stopped in a small sidewalk area for our breakfast of freah bread and honey that we picked up at a backery in Ancona. It was a nice treat to have honey. Then we looked for the tourist info booth. In all the citys we have been in so far, the info booths are useless and this one we couldn’t even find. After asking 5 or 6 local people we gave up. As we were looking we were discussing what we were going to do. The kids voted for an island. We heard from some travellers on the ferry over that there was a really nice island just off the mainland called Brac and another called Hvar. We decided during our walk to go straight out to one of them. We couldn’t decide which one so we left it to the one that left soonest. Brac was the winner. After yet another 1 hr. ferry ride we are now going to be settled for a few days. As long as we can find a place to stay.
As we got off the ferry a woman was standing at the dock. She asked me as I was walking by if we needed a place to stay. I said yes we did and asked what she had. She told us about her house where she also lives and rent s out room. Her family was supposed to be here and were delayed and so she had these apartments for rent. We asked the price and if we could see it, so she took us 5 mins. Away. The place is great. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with a kitchen and a dining room and a full couryard right out our door. She lives right next door and so Miranda had fun this evenning helping her water her flowers and lemon and other fruit trees in the courtyard. We spent the day exploring the small very quiet town and at the beach. I absolutluy love it here. We may stay longer than planned.

More ferries

July 13-Day 13

Well, we survived that night on the deck. The floor was a bit hard, but I got myself a few of our travel towels (hand towel size) and put them under my hips and that made a big difference. Colton and Miranda had a great sleep. They slept till almost 9am. We had a breakfast of Baklava that we picked up last night at the port bakery. We are back to drinking small, strong Italian coffee. We got to Ancona before noon, stayed at the ferry port to try to fiqure out where to go next. The people there were quite helpful as we went from company to company asking scedual times and prices. We initally planned on going to Zadar, Croatia but the ferry going there only left the next evening. So the next option was a toen further south called Split. So we hung around the town of Ancona till our overnight ferry departure for Split at 8 pm. This ferry trip we splurged on a berth. It was a bit more expensive but we figured we would have spent more by spending the night in a hotel and taking the ferry the next day so we did it. We also needed to sleep on a bed as last night was the ferry floor.

Ferries

July 12-Day 12

Today we decided to not go out of town. We hung around the hostel working on getting more info on the next weeks travels. We decided to take a ferry to Ancona, Italy where we would be able to get another ferry to Croatia. We now had to figure out how to get back to Greece so we could get back to Italy so we could get to Coratia. We initially thought we could take a bus or train north from Albania through Bosnia and Montenegra to get to Ctroatia, and that would be possible, but with Miranda feeling car sick on our last trip in the mountains we didn’t want to risk 14 hours on a bus to get to Croatia. So we will do it the more relaxed way. The only problem now was getting back to main land Greece so we could catch the overnight ferry north. The only way to get to Croatia by ferry is from Italy. We decided to go as far north as we could on our first ferry so the next ferry across would be quicker. There is a ferry everyday from Igomanitsa ,Greece to Ancona, Italy so that is the one we will take. Annette (hairy lemon owner) will drive us to Greece for 100 Euro. Because our other option was ether the bus, which left Saranda, Albania at 7 pm and gets to the border at 10pm. Then there might be a bus to Igomanitsa. Well to be in the middle of nowhere at night was not an option. The other option was to take a short ferry ride back to Corfu and another to Igomanitsa. That would in the end cost about 100 euros so the car ride sounded like a good option. So that is how it turned out. Annette drove us to Greece and we are on the overnight ferry to Italy and hopefully we can catch another ferry from there to Croatia asap.
The ferry we are on this time is very nice. It is a 10 story ship with a swimming pool, disco, stores,3 restaurants, and much more. It is much nicer than the Ventouris ferry line we caught to Corfu. The ferry line is called Super Fast Ferries. We didn’t get the seats this time. Instead we bought 2 blankets from Saranda and we will sleep on deck. This was a much nicer ride. The deck is covered and completely lined with windows so are protected from the elements. We got on the ship at 8:30 and by 10:30 we are all hunkering down for the night. We have 2 long tables where we will sleep for the night. So we tuck our bags under near the back and crawl under the tables with our blankets to sleep for the night. A little hard but much better that the lousy seats on the last ferry and no snoring fat men.

The stone town and castle

July 10-Day 10
We have breakfast included at our hostel (the hairy lemon) so we stayed in for a breakfast of crepes and we made our own coffee from hone. Mmm it was so good. Then we walked over to the bus to Gjirokastra. It was a worthwhile trip. Gjirokastra is built on a hillside and the town is below it. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. Below the castle the gray stone houses with the dark gray slate roofs blend into the hillside. They think that the citadel may have been settled as early as the 3rd century BC. There is a huge collection of ww1 and ww2 military equipment that Colton and Miranda had a great time climbing on and exploring. At one point Colton was shaking with excitement at being able to actually climb into a real tank and sit on cannons and anti-aircraft guns. When we first walked into the castle we were amazed at the immensity of it. It was all made of stone and brick with arched ceilings 20 ft. high. The main hallway was approx. 200 feet long and about the same length in the other direction which they are still restoring. The main hallway had all the cannons and military stuff that Colton could climb on. We were some of the only people touring around the castle so we got it all to ourselves. When we left this first section of the building we walked to the next part of the castle which was dated earlier so was not as well preserved. But just as interesting to see. There were old stone walls outlining the rooms that once must have been immense and grand. We walked around for 2 to 3 hours and with every corner were even more excited to see what would come next. The kids both thought they were lucky to be able to see and experience it. Miranda said she wants to bring her kids here to see this. We had to tear ourselves away so we could catch the bus back. Miranda was not to pumped about that. On the way to Gjirokastra, Miranda started feeling car sick about half way. She didn't get sick but felt awful. We also thought this was about the most hair raising bus ride we have ever been on. The ride was a bit like a carnival ride. You basically held on with both hands to the seat in front of you using all the muscles in your body. We held on tightly while being thrown from side to side and front to back as the driver braked and accelerated his way up and down the mountain on the switchback roads. At one point I saw a sign that said 30 km an hour with an ! point above it. I guess they weren't kidding about the speed on that one. We once again made it home safely. We are constantly reminded about how God is protecting us during our travels. We have noticed that the people in Albania are very friendly and really try to help us get around without our speaking their language. They are really helpful and we find we feel very safe here. Saranda is a quiet town with a family type atmosphere. We want to spend one more day here on the beach and to eat the amazing food and have more amazing wine before we head north.