Family trip to Croatia coming soon

[Southside]

I guess nobody is going to give directions to their place by saying they "live in the stone house with the red roof"  :D

[firefighter ontheside]

 

 

 Nope.  Not a chance.  The other pic is ship building tools in the maritime museum.  night shot of main plaza inside the city.  If anyone watches game of thrones you may recognize this staircase.  I've never watched it, took the photo for a coworker who watches it

[doc henderson]

I watched GOT but do not remember the significance of that stairway.  Prob. some nudity. 8)

[firefighter ontheside]

Yes apparently a scene where the queen walked down nude

[firefighter ontheside]

Made it to Split today.  Drove about 15km thru Bosnia to get here.  Another stamp in the passport.  You can read about my driving experience in did something dumb.  Hint I met a nice police officer.  

We will go on a boat tour to a blue cave and then to an island to have lunch and swim in the cold sea tomorrow.  The next day we will tour Emperor Diocletian's palace.  We can just barely see the sea from our room.  It's a very nice apartment and we have a tiny garage to park the car in.

 

[doc henderson]

what is the roof made of in the nearby block buildings?  might be old. but looks like paper mache

[firefighter ontheside]

Good question Doc.  I was looking at those roofs today.  They appear to be some kind of mortar on top of a base of slate tiles.

[firefighter ontheside]

Dubrovnik lies in the extreme southern end of the country.  It is physically separated from the rest of the country by a small portion of Bosnia/Herzegovina.  A bridge was completed less than a year ago that connected Dubrovnik to the rest of the country without having to travel thru Bosnia.  The Pelješac bridge is about 1.5 miles long.  We chose to drive thru Bosnia just for fun and then drive across the bridge and back when we reached that point, which of course lead to my ticket.  This was a huge accomplishment for the country.

 

[Stephen1]

Looks like a great trip ! Enjoy

[Ljohnsaw]

Drove about 15km thru Bosnia to get here. Another stamp in the passport.

Being all in the EU, we were very disappointed in passport stamps :(.  Got stamped in Frankfurt layover on the way to Italy.  No stamp in Italy.  No one at the boarders of Italy-Slovenia / Slovenia-Croatia so no chance to get a stamp. We went Italy <-> Slovenia twice, Slovenia <-> Croatia three times.   Flying back, got a stamp in France but nothing in Spain on my way through.  That could have really filled up the book!

Flying to Ireland, no stamp going in.  Flying back, I went through US CBP at the Dublin airport and I forgot to request a stamp (maybe could have got one?).  I queried "do I have to do this all again at SFO?" (took a non-stop).  He said no, welcome to America, you are now on American soil!

[firefighter ontheside]

We were discussing that too John.  We didn't get stamped when we entered Croatia the first time because we were coming from Germany.  We only got the Croatia stamp because we entered from Bosnia the second time.

[Ianab]

My understanding is the all the EU now has the same entry visa requirements, and free travel between members. So once you get across the external border to one Member country, you have permission to travel to any other. They retain the right to set up border checkpoints under special circumstances, but normal situation is to just cruise on through. Flights within the EU are likewise treated like Domestic travel. 

The English have found that one down side of their EU exit. They now need a passport to take the train to France. 

[jasonb]

My understanding is the all the EU now has the same entry visa requirements

All travel within Europe is based on the Schengen Agreement not EU membership.  As such, Switzerland is part of the Schengen zone but not the EU.  The UK is part of neither.

[Southside]

I can't figure out the whole Great Britain / England / UK arrangement, nevermind the EU. 

[firefighter ontheside]

We went on an amazing all day boat excursion today.  We went inside a "blue cave" in a small boat.  Overhead clearance was only about 36" above the water.  Then we went to a bay on a small island to swim.  Then we went to a restaurant on the island of Hvar for an amazing lunch at a restaurant right by the sea.  Then we went to the town of Hvar on the island of Hvar and walked the town and hiked up to a 13th century Spanish fort to get a great view.  To cap it all off we had a thunder, rain, hail storm on the 90 minute boat ride back.  It was awesome.  Pictures later.

[firefighter ontheside]

 

 

 

 

[firefighter ontheside]

 

 

 

[firefighter ontheside]

Today is Statehood Day in Croatia to celebrate their declaration of independence from Yugoslavia.  We happened on a parade starting inside Diocletians Palace with veterans from the war.  I have learned so much about what I didn't understand when I was watching the news about it from 1991 to 1994.

 

 

[firefighter ontheside]

Just outside Diocletians Palace some actors are dressed up for photo ops with the kids.  We've been trying to get Sean to do it for days and he wouldn't until yesterday.  They are of course accepting tips.  

 

 

[DbltreeBelgians]

Just showed that picture of you getting ready to do battle to Jill. She giggled and said it looks like your having a good time.
Enjoy Bill,

Brent

[firefighter ontheside]

I've had an exciting couple of days.  Yesterday evening we met with my friend who may be my relative.  She has the same last name.  We went to dinner with her and her young daughter.  It's hard to believe we did that now.  Then today we visited the very small town where my relatives came from according to immigration papers.  There was not much there but a small church and about 12 homes and small farms.  We got out of the car and looked around.  Went up to the front of the church and it was locked.  A man who lived next door encouraged us to open the gate to go up by the church.  Took a few pictures and then were close to leaving, but my wife thought we should approach him. He was happy to see us coming over.  He could not speak any English and I only know about 20 words in Croatian.  With google translate we were able to tell him and his wife that my ancestors had come from there.  They did know of my name or my great grandmothers maiden name.  Still, it was amazing experience that I will never forget.  Actually makes me tear up as I write this.  They were happy to have a photo.  

 

 

   

[firefighter ontheside]

 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Looks like you folks are having a GREAT vacation! (Although the Chevy Chase vibe is still strong with your group. :D)
 I am surprised that we have seen one photo or a fire station or truck. Thought you might be curious how they do it over there. ;D

[firefighter ontheside]

Yes, Tom we certainly are.  Come over to did something dumb to read about my Chevy Chase type moment today.

[thecfarm]

It's nice to know and to see where it all started!!!