Today we loaded up the van with our bags and headed out to Plitvice Lakes, stopping in Rastoke Village for lunch. Before we go any further, here’s how to pronounce Plitvice. (If you don’t want to click the link to hear it spoken, here’s my best attempt at phonetic spelling: PLIT-veetsuh.) Now, on to the details of an amazing day. Rastoke Village...
Pula We started the day by heading to Pula, which is the largest city in Istria/Western Croatia. The city has some great Roman ruins. Some, like the Arena, are impossible to miss. Others, like Agrippina’s House, are hidden away and you need to know where to look to find them. Arch of the Sergii The first bit of ruins we encountered in Pula was the Arch of the...
Truffle Hunting with Miro Tartufi Today was a day trip into the mountains to go truffle hunting. We went to Miro Tartufi, just outside the hilltop town of Motovun. The owner took us into the forest with two of his dogs: Lila was a 5 year old black lab, and Jeki was a 6 month old Italian Water Dog (Lagotto Romagnolo). He has another dog (12 year old Bela), but said...
Leaving Venice Up early, we walked to Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell’Accademia) for some early morning photos, then to Bar all’Angelo for pistacchio pastries and cappuccini. We took a water bus (vaporetto) to a stop across from the train station, where we’d meet Ella and Dražen. The Mercedes van fit all of us, plus our luggage, no problem. The drive...
Trip Overview We had been discussing doing a family trip with my dad, step-mom, sister, and brother-in-law. None of us had been to Croatia, and a friend of my sister had just gone and raved about it. While Teresa and I (as well as my sister and brother-in-law) don’t really do organized tour vacations, we thought having everything taken care of would be helpful...
Chichen Itza was a Mayan city. What most tourists think of as Chichen Itza is the Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo), as it’s the landmark used in tour guides. There’s more to Chichen Itza than El Castillo, however. The longer you’re able to stay at Chichen Itza, the better chance you’ll have to see everything. We were only able to see about 2/3...
During our trip to Cozumel, we took a ferry to Play del Carmen to meet a tour group heading to Chichén Itzá. If you’re staying on Cozumel, it might be worth booking your Chichén Itzá tour at your resort. That way, they’ll arrange a tour that leaves Playa del Carmen a bit later. Nearly all the tours we could find on Viator left at either 7:00am or 7:30am...
For our 2025 trip to Cozumel/Yucatán Peninsula, we stayed at the Iberostar Waves resort on the southwestern side of Cozumel. We chose this resort for a couple reasons: mainly, the location is great for snorkeling and diving. It’s very close to the Palancar Reef and Columbia Reef. If staying on the northern part of the island, you’d have to either drive to...
Our final day and a half were spent heading first to Nagoya, where we spent the night, then on to Ghibli Park, which is a Studio Ghibli theme park just outside of Nagoya. If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli movies, this is a must-see. No photos were allowed inside most of the buildings, but there were still plenty of photo ops. You’ll want a full day at...
During Japan’s rainy season, from early/mid June through July, thousands of hydrangea bloom along the narrow track of the Hakone Tozan Railway. The “hydrangea train” is a nice day trip from Tokyo into the mountains. This was day 4 of our Japan trip. It was very peaceful and relaxing. We started the day by taking the bullet train (Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen) from...