Athens, Greece

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We knew Athens was big, but we didn't realise how big! The population is slightly over 3 million and is a sprawling city of narrow streets and back to back buildings. Thankfully the main historic sights are all located in the Old Athens area and our home exchange was a short bus ride and metro trip not far from everything we wanted to see. 

We began our visit with a walking tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed learning about Ancient Greece, visiting many historical sites and listening to the many legends of the Greek Gods. The Olympic stadium  above is made completely of marble. The weather continued to be stifling hot and we drank almost 10 liters of water between all of us! 

One of the things most noticeable is the change in culture. People are so friendly, the store vendors and people in the street love chatting and playing with Corban and Leo. When we walked through the markets the butchers would steal Leo's hat and play with him in a cheeky way.  There were plenty of Albania's who kept trying to talk to Corban because she was wearing an Albanian hat. When we explained that we were on holiday, they were so happy that we had visited Albania and wanted to hug her. 

Macedonia

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Macedonia is a lovely little country, we spent two nights in the capital Skopje. Filip's dad lives here so we also had an evening catching up with them and he took Taylor out for one of the days.

The central city of Skopje is under reconstruction as part of their bid to become part of the EU. There are many statues, water fountains, bridges and fancy things being built.  They clearly have a vision and the city is very pretty. Macedonia is the birth place of Mother Teresa, so we visited the Mother Teresa memorial house and read the little gold plaques that we scattered throughout the city with her quotes.

Only a short walk out of the city is the Old Town markets nestles below the old fort.  We wondered through the cute little market streets looking at the rugs and hand made leather crafts, of course stopping for an ice cream because it was so hot.

Another must do in Macedonia was the Millennium Cross.  It is the largest cross in the world, it was erected in 2000 as a celebration of 2000 years of Christianity. Pretty impressive for a predominantly Muslim country. We took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain and enjoyed the view, play park and watched a thunder storm rolling in over the mountains.

Once again we we surprised by the surrounding countryside and little farms.  There were lots of horses and carts, children herding goats, little road stalls with fruit and vegetables or as you will see in one photo a guy literally walking his cow up the state highway.  Although new highways and bridges are being built, many people appear to do what they have always done e.g. we saw a number of people happily walk across the 3 lane state highway and climb the barrier in the middle rather than walking to an over bridge a few hundred meters up the road. We also saw little children maybe 8 or 9 years old driving tractors to the petrol station to fill up.

What would make headlines in a New Zealand newspaper is everyday life here. Unfortunately not long after leaving Macedonia we learned that they have closed their borders to refugees. There are many people mounting up at the borders. Police and military have lined the border and even used tear gas where families are desperate to get help. Europe is in crisis, and from what we have seen are not dealing with it very well.    

Quick Stop In Albania

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Albania was only a one night stop and quite a journey, it took us over 4 hours to drive 200kms. It is clear that we are no longer in the EU as the roads are very narrow , there is rubbish everywhere and the life style looks  very different.  

There were many abandoned or incomplete buildings in Croatia and Montenegro but Albania is full of desolate half finished buildings, we decided for every completed house or industrial building there were at least 5 or 6 abandoned ones. We also literally saw thousands of houses half finished with people living in them, it was very interesting.

The countryside is full of small farms with little stalls selling food or homemade goods on the side of the highway.  There was large construction of a new highway taking place, it was heart breaking as we could see that many of the little villages would be completely by passed and imagine that when it opens many families will lose their income.

We saw heaps of goats, donkeys, horses and cart and people generally living a much more simple life than what we are used to.  The food we are eating seems to be changing again as well.  Everything is severed with large chunks of goats cheese and bread, regardless if it is breakfast, lunch or dinner.  

Only a short stay, but we were glad that we were convinced to come this way. 

Budva, Tivat and Kotor Bay

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While staying in Montenegro we also visited and explored some small towns like Budva and Tivat not far from where we were staying. There was also a ferry across the bay to another town which was a nice day trip.

Life here is very family orientated and relaxed.  Allan needed to be very careful driving as children are everywhere and just walk across the road at any time.  We loved our stay and enjoyed the friendly locals.

There was a heat wave while we were staying, with the coolest temperature at 36° and the hottest days at about 41°.  

We were lucky enough to see beautiful sun sets each evening and would sit on our deck and watch bats catching insects around the lampposts at night. 

The Beautiful Bay Of Kotor, Montenegro

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Kotor is a remote coastal town situated in a large bay; our neighbour explained that it is actually a fiord. Italian is spoken in Monenegro, however we also find many people speaking Croatian. There is no or limited internet access in the towns and no mobile phone coverage, so we truly had some down time.

The township of Kotor is also surrounded by a fortified wall with cute streets and markets.  There is a fort at the top of the cliffs above the city (not quite double the height of the Mount).  Corban and Leo did really well walking to the top, climbing the slippery stone steps in the hot temperature of about 36°.  We stopped in the shade every so often for a drink of water.

We don’t plan on having any hospital visits this summer, but Corban did develop an abscess on her gum.  Thankfully we drove past an open dental clinic and managed to make her an appointment; the dentist even spoke some English.  Much to her delight the best way to fix the abscess was to extract her front tooth.  She is very pleased to finally have a missing tooth; it’s likely she’ll have a gap for quite some time as her adult teeth are not ready to come down yet.  

Life in Montenegro is very relaxed and the more east we come the less modern conveniences seem available.  Most noticeable are western fast food chains like McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks etc they are simply not here. Even the supermarkets are smaller with less available, buying food from market stalls and side road vendors seem more normal.

We enjoyed our stay in Kotor. Swimming everyday at the beach was wonderful, even swimming some mornings early before breakfast. It was neat seeing Corban get more confident at snorkelling and finding treasure, getting excited about the fish and crabs she found. Leo also became more water confident, always wanting us to watch him go under the water and swim with flippers. Taylor collected mussels and Allan become so tan, that Leo said he “wasn’t from our family”. 

Road Trip To Montenegro Via Split and Dubrovnik

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We hit the road nice and early for our drive from Zadar to Kotor, Montenegro so that we could stop along the way.

Our first stop was in Split, Croatia.  Split is a wonderful city spread along the Adriatic Coast with the old fortified wall still standing.  We weaved our way through the streets and alley ways enjoying the old buildings, cathedrals and market stalls.  Leo and I especially liked the fish market, looking at all the unusual fish and trying to decide if some on them were snakes. We dropped Filip off here to catch a plane back to Prague.

We passed lots of wonderful scenery.  In the photo of the blue border crossing was the Bosnia border control.  We only had a 20 minute drive through this part which was luscious and cultivated with lots of fruit and vegetable orchards.

Next was Dubrovink, another amazing city that has a very distinctive Old Town with massive stone walls that encircle the city with a castle down on the waters edge.  We’ve never seen Game of Thrones, but this is where much of the filming is done (we even saw the ‘throne’).

Our GSP also took us along some very narrow coastal roads once we arrived in Montenegro.  We had to find our way back to the main road, so we could reach our Airbnb apartment which is along a very narrow, scary road that takes some driving still!  

Kornati National Park

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Croatia is famous for its beautiful islands and coastline so we did a boat trip to the Kornati National Park.

It was a 2 hour ride out to Lojena Island where we swam and snorkelled in the warm clear water.  There were lots of fish, kina and orange sea coral. The rocks were scattered with interesting things to look at. The water was so clear it was like swimming in a pool.

From here we went to Tureta.  Here there is a small chapel built in the 6^th century and some ruins at the top of a rocky hill which only Leo and I dared to climb in the heat.  We had some pictures at the top before heading back down where I fell down on the rocks and injuring almost every part of myself other than my face and the camera (good save)!

Lunch was in a 1000 year old fisherman’s village.  We were served a Croatian meal with a whole fish, pork and a pickled cabbage salad. We met a couple from South Africa who Corban and Leo befriended their daughter.  We enjoyed a short walk and another swim before the boat trip home.

Zadar and Pag Island

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With the continued heat and beautiful water we are eating our fair share of ice creams and doing plenty of swimming. The ice cream here is different to the Italian Gelato that the kids love, it is creamier with heaps of unusual flavours, yum, yum.

Zadar is a cute little town along the Adriatic coastline. The city centre is dotted with Roman and Venetian ruins with little white stone chapels.  The streets are full of vendors, many with religious paintings and crafts.

Most of the beaches are pebbles or stones; we have been swimming at different beaches each day. We did manage to find one sandy beach; this beach also had exfoliating mud that we had fun rubbing all over ourselves.

We made our way along Pag Island, the island is like a rocky desert with gorgeous coastline. We found the little town and wondered through the streets looking at the crafts and shops. There were a number of women making and selling a variety of crochet designs. We also brought some famous Pag sheep cheese for dinner that night.

We’ve had a relaxing and enjoyable time in Zadar. 

Adriatic Coastline

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Our first glimpse of the ocean this summer! We left our home exchange in Zapresic and headed towards Zadar, Croatia. The view on our way down from the hills to the coastline was stunning.  The water is clear, clean and refreshing. 

It took Filip a little bit to get in, but us kiwi’s spent no time mucking around for our first swim in the ocean this summer. The water was lovely with rocks, fish, sea slugs and even kina. Corban had her first go at snorkelling and did really well, she even went out quiet deep until she got cold. We all loved being in the ocean and exploring.

Zapresic, Croatia

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We spent 7 days in our home exchange in Zapresic, Croatia.  We experienced a heat wave during the first 5 days, followed by a welcomed thunder storm and rain!

During our time we crossed through to Slovenia to visit the Lake Bled and also go to an aquatic centre. We had to laugh each time crossing the border and needing to get our passports stamped.

One day we did a drive up Mount Mikulic (by accident) looking for some bat caves.  We had a lovely picnic and beautiful view from the top before heading back down the mountain to find the bat caves on the other side of the mountain, near the bottom.  After walking up hill in 38° we loved standing in the cave which was only 10° to cool off! The photos inside the cave didn’t turn out very well, but there were heaps of bats, 8 different species.

There was also a visit to the Neanderthal Museum. The museum had lots in visual shows and wax figures.  There is also an actual excavation site a short walk along a path from the museum.

Like always our home exchange was fantastic! Our apartment was above some local shops, had air conditioning (very positive with the hot weather) and interesting toys for the kids.  

Lake Bled, Slovenia

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Because Lake Bled is the Number 1# attraction in Slovenia we decided to make a day trip.  Once again it was another incredibly hot day.  To walk around the lake only takes about 2 hours however with the heat and the kids enjoying the lake so much we decided to find a nice spot and just play. We also rented a small swan row boat and rowed to Bled Island, a small island in the middle of the lake with an historic church, lovely gardens and beautiful board walk around the island.  The water was so clear we could easily see to the bottom and lots of fish swimming around. 

Zagreb

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The temperature was a still 38° the day we visited Zagreb the capital city of Croatia! Water fountains and walking in the shade become a must do, not to mention wetting our hats and t-shirts to help with the heat.

Zagreb is a cute little city that is easily accessible by foot.  We enjoyed the township, cathedral and markets.  It was lovely to be entertained by some Croatian Folk Singers in traditional dress and also some guards on horseback and foot marching through the city. 

Zapresic, Croatia

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We spent 7 days in our home exchange in Zapresic, Croatia.  We experienced a heat wave during the first 5 days, followed by a welcomed thunder storm and rain!

During our time we crossed through to Slovenia to visit the Lake Bled and also go to an aquatic centre. We had to laugh each time crossing the border and needing to get our passports stamped.

One day we did a drive up Mount Mikulic (by accident) looking for some bat caves.  We had a lovely picnic and beautiful view from the top before heading back down the mountain to find the bat caves on the other side of the mountain, near the bottom.  After walking up hill in 38° we loved standing in the cave which was only 10° to cool off! The photos inside the cave didn’t turn out very well, but there were heaps of bats, 8 different species.

There was also a visit to the Neanderthal Museum. The museum had lots in visual shows and wax figures.  There is also an actual excavation site a short walk along a path from the museum.

Like always our home exchange was fantastic! Our apartment was above some local shops, had air conditioning (very positive with the hot weather) and interesting toys for the kids.  

June Birthdays!

June was a very busy month this year.  The usual three Birthdays plus lots happening with school. Allan chose the Grosetto Boat for dinner and Taylor and Leo's went to Parliment, a restaurant with a play park (great for everyone!).

Purple Poem by Corban

It's official we are on the summer school holidays!  We have been in Zagreb, Croatia for 5 days. I will start updating the blog shortly.  Corban is doing some home schooling over the holidays, she is very proud of a purple poem she wrote today.