Croatia

In April, I traveled to Croatia with Road Scholar.  When I want to travel abroad, Road Scholar is my first choice. How I first heard about them is kinda funny.  About 10 or 12 years ago, I was having breakfast at my favorite NYC diner, when a group of travelers came in.  They were all excitedly chattering about what had happened the day before.  So I asked, "What's going on?"  They proceeded to tell me about the great tour of NYC they were doing with this wonderful company called Road Scholar.  Now, I'd never thought of going on a tour of NYC, but I made a note of the company name and years later when I decided to go to France in 2016, they were the company I used.  Croatia is my fourth trip with them and all the trips have been very successful.  How's that for a recommendation!

Our first stop was in the capital, Zagreb.  Here are just a couple of photos.

Notice the 4th listing on this directory, The Museum of Broken Relationships!  Yes, that's a thing in Zagreb.  The photo below fits right in.

Zagreb was beautiful but I was hard-pressed to find healthy food.  That quickly changed when we headed for the coast.

The view from my hotel room, Grand Hotel 4 Opatijska Cvijeta.

Even though it was rainy and dreary, it's always good to be near the sea.

I love this dog, "just hanging out".  He paid no attention to the tourist, he was just doing his job!

Some photos from our walks exploring the Istrian Peninsula and the town of Porec.

The next morning we had a wonderful hike in the rain to the Plitvice Lakes National Park.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I'm pretty sure the last photo shows the entrance to a Hobbit house.

Before leaving for our next adventure, I spotted Santa wandering in the hotel lobby. He was cranky and wouldn't pose. I think he was lost.

In Split, there were lots to do.  We visited Diocletian's Palace and in the afternoon had some free time, I used that time to visit Split's Archeological Museum.  When I was in Madrid last year, I thoroughly enjoyed their Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Archaeological Museum), it was fantastic.  Split's version wasn't fantastic, but it was pretty great.  I really enjoyed my visit.  Below are some photos of my day.

This was a 13-day tour and I loved everything about it.  I feel as if this post has photo overload and we're just on day 8!  Here's a few more, and if you've read this far, be sure to put Croatia on you must-travel-to list.  Croatians love Americans, plus their main industry is tourism, so go see them.

Croatian pest control!

The Croatian climate is very similar to mine in Southern California.  Their soil isn't the best, but they work with what they have and they do make great wine!

The last photo shows the wonderful group I traveled with.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,

Road Scholar Tours

I went on my first Road Scholar Tour.  On the basis of one tour I highly recommend them.  The tour was fantastic.

During my 50+ year marriage to Bob, we only went to Europe once, on a cruise, for our 50th anniversary.  For some reason, my husband just didn't want to visit Europe, prior to the cruise.  The cruise gave him a taste of what we'd been missing, and he changed his mind.  Now that I'm alone, I decided that using a highly recommended tour company was the way to go.

This company has been around since 1975 and visits all 50 states and 150 countries.  I knew that I wanted to visit Europe, and when the terrorist bombed Paris, I decided I had to go to France!

The tour I picked is Three Faces of France: Paris, Lyon and Provence.  It was 13 days, 12 nights and 27 meals.  We stayed at 3 hotels, we traveled on the TGV, the high-speed train, and by motor coach.  We also used the metro, bus and subway system in Paris and Lyon.  Four times we were able to have dinner on our own, so we did some extra exploring.  The arranged meals were fantastic.  Breakfast was at the hotel, lunch and dinner menus were arranged by a pair of sisters.  These sisters arrange all the meals for all the tours in France.

I've already booked a tour for next year.  I've decided to visit Spain in 2017 with Road Scholar.  I'm also visiting Iceland next year with my sister, we're using a different tour company.  I'll let you know what I think of that company, after the tour.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,