Italy and Croatia 2024
Elise’s Dad and wife Jenn are quite the adventurous couple! Because of their long hike across Slovenia and into Croatia, Elise and I decided to travel there as well to meet up with them at the finish of their long walk. They document lots of what they do over here: https://www.ourtraveladdiction.com/
Getting to Croatia turns out to be a bit tricky from the US, so in planning our trip we found it more convenient to fly into Italy. Since we were going to fly into Italy anyway, why not sightsee? This is how the trip was born and turned into more of a journey across Italy as we spent more time there than in Croatia.
Rome
We began in the historic city of Rome where we were welcomed by a strong (but short) downpour. We got pretty wet waiting for a bus over to our hotel. Luckily, that was the worst of it as the rest of our time in the city went without a drop.
In order to deter our jetlag and stay awake as long as possible, Elise and I got tickets to the Colosseum on day 1. We took in the ancient stadium along with many, many others. Despite it being “end of season” there were still plenty of visitors at this famous Roman location. The Colosseum would still be a reasonably sized stadium today so I can only imagine how grand it must have been thousands of years ago. Adjacent to the Colosseum is Palantine hill and the Roman Forum. We got to walk amongst the ruins there and see some of what remains of the city from that ancient time.
Just like many (or all) of our trips together, Elise and I walked around a whole lot. In this case it was really necessary because Rome only has 2 metro lines, although they do have a lot of buses. The next day we went to see Vatican City. Neither of us have any religious ties, except the catholic roots from our youth, so we went out of purely secular curiosity. It just so happened we got quite lucky! The Pope was there, live, on screen! Somewhat hilariously, there were jumbo-trons projecting the Pope for what we learned was a Wednesday mass. Thousands were in attendance in the main square outside St. Peter’s church. We heard the last few minutes in Italian and then watched as some special priests got to go up to the Pope himself, kiss his hand, give him a gift, and say a few words. Surely, many or all of them have waited their whole lives for this moment. It was a unique and serendipitous morning.
The Pope is up there at the top of the steps in the center if you zoom in
After that, more walking to the top of one of Rome’s famous hills for an overview of the city. We needed some time to sit and see it all so that our feet could rest. While there we also found a strange sculpture in the park square.
Hmmm….
We had more time to walk in Rome over the next couple days so we saw more sights in the day and night. Each meal we had was primarily gluten based which worked out well for me. Something different about the gluten in Italy allows my body to digest it all just fine. What a win to be able to eat all of the lovely pizza, bread, and pasta without consequences.
Before we left, we saw the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain both day and night. I can only imagine what peak summer tourism must be like since it still felt pretty crowded for us in the “off season”. From Rome we took a train (a pretty fast one at that) to Florence.
Florence
The hotel we got in Florence was recommended by some friends who had gone their on their honeymoon on a recommendation from their parents who had been there on a trip. It was definitely a highlight of the city as the hotel had a medieval era tower that could see over the entire city in all directions! From there we could appreciate the signature Duomo as well as all the red tiled roofs of the winding neighborhoods below. One night while up on the tower, a grey and black crow came to visit us all and requested ice from one of the other guests.
This was the city where we spent time in museums, namely 2 very famous art museums, the Uffizi Galleries and the Accademia. The former was impressively packed, literally floor to ceiling down 2 large hallways. The ceilings were intricately painted and the top edge of all the walls had portraits bumping shoulder to shoulder. Here we also found some famous marble sculptures along with more pictures of white Jesus (as is tradition in the Renaissance). Later we went to the Accademia for the reason everyone goes there: David.
Up close to the famous Duomo, I was reminded of the Taj Mahal. At a distance, it looks to be an elaborate paint scheme but upon closer inspection, it is all stone work and inlay. This is quite incredible and a testament to why the structure has lasted so long while continuing to be iconic. We did not enter the church but certainly appreciated its aura from the outside.
Apparently I didn’t take many (hardly any) pictures of food. However, I assure you it was great and still filled with gluten. One last night in Florence with the river alluding to our next locale.
Venice
Another train ride and now a familiar face: Brianna! We found Elise’s sister! It wasn’t an accident but nonetheless. We walked over bridges and had our first sights of the city on the lagoon. Unsurprisingly, the walkways all felt quite solid despite its soggy foundation. And not a car in sight! Literally, nothing but water taxis and boats in this city.
We took the comically slow water bus a few stops to get back to our hotel in the afternoon. It was one of the only ways to cross the Grand Canal and because of that each stop on the bus was on the opposite side of the canal. While in Venice we had some nice seafood before renting a car the next morning and heading off to meet Bob and Jenn.
Croatia
We took the long way, avoiding highways (and thus tolls) on our 4-ish hour journey to Jadranovo. All our luggage and bodies fit just so in our rental car. Along the way we passed through Trieste Italy, a piece of Slovenia, and then reached Croatia. I didn’t have any expectations but the drive was very pleasant. Lots of rolling hills, greenery, and occasionally the roads were lined perfectly with trees planted by someone from long ago. Finally, we arrived at our lovely home for the next few days, just above the Adriatic Sea.
Europe has lovely windows and real shutters too!
Our time in Croatia was much more low key. Much less walking and far fewer people. We had arrived in the off-season and boy did they mean off-season. It seemed that no restaurants were open in our town so we got groceries for two different dinners and cooked ourselves. We also went down to the "baby teeth” beach (the “sand” was rather large, white, and reminiscent of small dull teeth.) At said beach, we didn’t see a soul. We did dip into the water, however, to say we had touched the Adriatic.
The biggest event of our time in Croatia was visiting the Plitvička Jezera national park. We took a hike that also involved 2 boat transfers across some of the many lakes present there. Through the hike we saw many different waterfalls including the largest in the country, their Niagara they say. It was a bucolic park and my feet could just handle it after recovering some from all the walking in Italy.
It wouldn’t be a good trip without seeing a few friendly cats! In Croatia, we met a very nice orange cat who came to hang out with us. Throughout Italy as well we encountered some wild cats at one of the ruin sites and somewhat at random. It was a great common thread throughout the adventure.
And just like that our time on vacation came to a close. It was fantastic trip and quite the long journey to meet up with family. We succeeded in our goals of walking too much, eating too much, and having a grand time!