Europe 2016 – Page 2 – Beauperi Investments

Posted on June 9, 2016June 9, 2016 by beauperi

Last Day of Savor Tour

Friday, 27 May, 2016 – Dubrovnik to Korcula – Dubrovnik

Weather report: Great

Today is the last day with Andrew and his tour. We are to go to the Island of Korcula. After breakfast, we are to meet Andrew outside the City gates. He stops to pick us up, is there for 1 minute and gets a ticket for parking in an “illegal stop”. In the mean time there are professionsal drivers that park in the same spot for over 30 minutes etc.

We drive to the Peljesac Peninsula which is around a 90 minute drive. We go to a winery there, Milos.

We find out later that Milos is perhaps the most famous Croatian winemaker. We are greeted by his Son who gives us a tour of the winery.

We are then shown to the tasting room which is amazingly modern and well done.

Andrew of course has water as he is driving. We started with a rose that I thought was quite good. Note the cheese platter and bread bits.

This is the range of wines tasted plus their Olive Oil

We depart and head to our next destination which is Korcula Island. It is necessary to take a ferry across.

About to board the passengers only ferry

There is also a ferry for passengers and automobiles / trucks that was very popular

Our wake - the car ferry has departed too — Our wake – the car ferry has departed too

We arrive at the island after about a 40 minute water journey. We are met by our guide for Korcula, Andrea, who tries to be a bit of a comedienne.

Island layout with Andrea partially obscured

We are lead on a tour by Andrea around the island and its old town. I guess we were sick of old towns by then as we took little photos. However, there is one thing that Korcula is especially famous for – the explorer Marko Polo used Korcula as the jumping off point from Venice at the start of his famous Asian tour.

OK, one narrow passageway with a variation of the Bridge of Sighs

The tour finishes but Andrea agrees to take us to where we are to have dinner in the late afternoon. After discussions, it is agreed to move the reservation from 5:00 PM to 3:00 PM as we would still have a 2+ hour drive back to Dubrovnik.

We say goodbye to Andrea, although we do see her later by accident, and go to the other side of the island – Boris and Viktorya go their own way. We are all starving so stop at a cafe on the water and order drinks and a pizza. We probably should not have, as it spoiled the appetite a bit for the late lunch but gee it was good.

Julie is with us for a while, for a drink, but then decides to explore for a while and will meet us at the restaurant. On her way to the top, she goes by the restaurant where there is a young girl making pasta for our meal.

Julie then heads up to the top of the walls and the following are some of the photos that she took.

The pizza crew decide we had better leave our idyllic setting, we did believe that that side of the island was a better setting than the other side where the restaurant was, and go over for our late lunch. When we get there we discover Boris, Viktorya and Julie are already there.

The first course - looks amazing — The first course – looks amazing

Not really, just a crap photographer. It was a nice fish but it was overcooked which was a common problem that we faced during the trip. The pasta was what we saw the young girl making earlier in this Post. I should mention about our waiter who was very knowledgeable, especially about the wine – we were served 5 wines, and was a really nice guy.

Julie orders an extra bottle of nice wine.

We did not really rave about this, our final tour dinner, but probably the pizza that we had ruined our appetite. The waiter was great and the wines quite good. It turns out the ferry schedule has been changed and we would have quite a long wait so the waiter organises another boat to take us across.

On the return boat - Andrew looks like he is asleep already — On the return boat – Andrew looks like he is asleep already

When we reach dry land, we all say goodbye to Andrew so that when we get to Dubrovnik we can all jump out and try to avoid getting him another ticket. The drive back is uneventful, might have been some snores along the way. We reach Dubrovnik and jump out as planned. Andrew then drives off into the sunset.

Our transport for the last 10 days, bye bye

There is a long flight of very old rock stairs to negotiate to get down into the town. Jan and I struggle to get down the stairs but eventually make it. We all go back to the apartments and settle in our rooms for a while. We had made no plans and were feeling a bit washed out. Eventually Julie pokes her head out the door, just as Jan and Hugh are planning to go out. Then Boris and Viktorya come down the stairs. Boris suggests that we go to a place across town which has live jazz and we all agree. We get a table for the six of us near the front.

They were playing 40/50s jazz. They were not the Pardoners but weren’t too bad, just what we needed. We ordered drinks and some of us food.

I order a seafood risotto - not great but OK — I order a seafood risotto – not great but OK

A fourth member of the band shows up and picks up a guitar. The old guy switches from guitar to saxophone.

Music was good and it is a fitting way to end Andrew’s tour. We will see Jan & Hugh tomorrow but say goodbye to Boris and Viktorya and crash into bed.

Posted on June 7, 2016 by beauperi

Around Dubrovnik

Thursday, 26 May, 2016 – Dubrovnik

Weather report: Excellent

Today we are just roaming around Dubrovnik. Andrew will not join us at all. Julie and I start out early and get a breakfast from one of the many nearby outdoor restaurants.

Toasted Ham and Cheese? Not my understanding

Julie had her fruit, Fresh Orange Juice and coffee

We did not go back to that place again. Andrew has booked us a guide to show us around town. We meet her, she is on the phone and was for a significant part of the tour. Eventually the rest of the troops come down and the tour begins at the market in the square that lasts until around noon.

Our guide at the market with candied orange peel

We must not have been that excited about the tour as neither Julie and I have any photos from it. One thing that the guide did do was introduce us to a wine shop, run by an Aussie, whith whom we could organise wine tastings.

Making a wine tasting booking for later today

The wine shop, and a brewery across the way were in one of the many narrow lanes with a large array of steps going up to the top of the wall. We move along another couple of lanes and decide to stop at one of the cafes for a drink.

Looking up to the many flights of stairs

We walk back towards our apartments but stop by the Hotel in town where Jan & Hugh will stay on Saturday night. BTW: while we were at the Hotel the nice lady receptionist booked a restaurant for the four of us that night. We then go around the corner and select an indoor bar which turns out to be attached to their hotel to be.

Wine areas of Croatia. We had been to Istria with Andrew 4 years ago

We had not eaten since breakfast so ordered some snacks. I ordered pork crackling which was just pork fat with no crackling and the guys had a reasonable cheese platter. We then go back to the apartments except that Julie prances around Dubrovnik and here are some of her photos.

We learned later that 6 cruise-ships were in port which made the town quite crowded. Apparently in August there may be as many as 9 cruise ships and it is virtually impossible to move with all the passengers crowding the streets.

Later, the four of us reform below to go to the wine tasting. We arrive there and Boris and Viktorya arrive a little bit later. Inside there are a number of cute sayings:

The drinks menu had three different kinds of flights of wine for tasting among other standard orders. The three were all Reds, which Hugh and I selected, a white, rose and a red that Jan selected and all Whites as selected by Boris and Viktorya.

We are guided through the tastings by the Aussie owner. He seemed to know his stuff as he had a lot to say about each of the wines. We eventually decide to buy an additional bottle of Red #1 to share to finish the tasting. Hugh does go across the way to get himself one of the brews. We say good night to Boris & Viktorya, who have booked into Restaurant 360, and head to our restaurant for the night, Proto a fish restaurant.

The Hotel receptionist had booked us into the favoured upstairs patio. The weather is still good so heaters were not necessary.

Looking at the bar. The place did fill up as the night went along

Seafood soup for Julie. Boris and Viktorya had been there for lunch and recommended that soup

Julie had the Sea Bass - she loved it — Julie had the Sea Bass – she loved it

Hugh and I each ordered the Scallops with lentils

Well, that’s it for the night. The end of a pretty good day where we did nothing!

Editor’s note: this and the previous Post were prepared after we returned to Australia. Even then jetlag had set in and there was another 5 days before I got back into the swing again. I should be able to finish up the rest of the days, still a few to go, relatively quickly.

For those readers who have been following along as each part is Posted, I have gone back and did significant updates to the Post “Friday the 13th” and also important updates to “Goodbye Hungary …” to reflect the relationship with an Anthony Bordain No Reservations menu. Please have a look.

Posted on June 6, 2016June 10, 2016 by beauperi

Montenegro back to Croatia

Wednesday, 25 May, 2016 – Perast to Kodor to Dubrovnik, Croatia

Unlike yesterday, the weather today is great. After breakfast, checkout and load our luggage in the van.

Then we catch a public bus around to Kodor, Boris and Viktorya have taken an earlier bus. We arrive at the town and meet up with Vesna, Boris and Viktorya.

At the entrance to the old town in Kodor

There is a street market near the entrance to the old town. We go to it and Vesna picks up a number of fruit and vegies which she puts in a big basket. Boris also buys some fruit. At some of the stalls, we are given tastes of their wares.

We then enter the old town and the guys go on a tour with Vesna. In the mean time, I go to an outdoor cafe attached to a Hotel and wait until they return.

The guys return from their tour. We go get something to eat, Andrew heads off to a meat restaurant, Julie goes off to climb the walls and hills and the rest of us go to a seafood restaurant in the bowels of the old town.

and Mussels and a selection of fish and a Veal chops caserole

Jan and I ordered the Risotto with Shrimps, quite tasty

In the mean time, Julie is wandering the wall and higher in the town. A few shots from her.

Looking up the inlet - note the Cruise ship there, 3 yesterday — Looking up the inlet – note the Cruise ship there, 3 yesterday

The cruise ships, when they are in, are what are the major cause of the population flooding / crowding. We are nearly finished with our meal when Julie returns. She has a coffee and Jan’s leftover risotto and is quite OK with that. We leave the restaurant to meet up with Andrew and Vesna.

In the square looking back to the cafe where I waited

We wait for a while and meet up with Vesna and Andrew and then outside where we catch Boris and Viktorya back at the market. We say goodbye to Vesna and then catch the public bus back to the Hotel. Once there we hop into the van and begin the trip to Dubrovnik. It is along picturesque, coastal roads and takes about 3 hours. There is a long queue getting into Croatia at the border but this time the time per car is much less than when we previously entered so not a massive delay. We eventually arrive outside of Dubrovnik. It is a walled town and we have to stop outside. Andrew had called ahead and the owner of the apartment in which we are to stay is there to help us with our luggage and directions. Another guy is with him and loads most of the big suitcases onto a simple trolley.

Andrew is staying outside the town and heads out to his place. We follow the owner to walk to the apartment which is a fair way considering over cobblestone streets.

When we get to the apartment the guy with the trolley is taking up the suitcases by one at a time loading them on his shoulder and then carrying them up two or three flights of stairs. Every time he comes down, it looks like he is about to die.Eventually all the bags are up the stairs and I fight my way up the two flights of slightly dangerous stairs, for the next 6 days. After some discussion we settle into our nice rooms and have a bit of a nap.

Andrew is supposed to join us for dinner. However, when driving back to his place to stay, there is a major traffic accident which slows him down badly so he sends us an email to say that he won’t be coming and that Boris will be MC for the night. Eventually we meet down stairs to go to our restaurant for the night. It is up a long flight of stairs past the square to our right, a lot of stairs, no photo sorry.

We are still not all the way up the hill

Kopun apparently means Capon which is to be a Male Rooster that is castrated at a young age. It is supposed to make the best chicken flavour?? We make our orders.

Loving couple - ain't they sweet — Loving couple – ain’t they sweet

Jan and Hugh and Julie and I each ordered a famous Capon with a couple of fruit treatments.

Hugh and Patrick's order — Hugh and Patrick’s order

I think that the overall consensus was that although interesting, the chook (Capon) was over cooked and totally dominated by the sweet fruit in which it was cooked.

Time to go; back down the massive set of stairs and then up the levels of stairs again in our apartments. End of a good day.

Posted on May 31, 2016June 10, 2016 by beauperi

A long, tiring ride / day

Tuesday, 24 May, 2016 – Perast to Kodor to Mountains behind to Perast

It has rained over night and the weather is quite cloudy now. There were church bells from 5 in the morning. The breakfast buffet at our Hotel is one of the best I have seen on this trip. They actually had Strawberry juice as well as Orange and Lemon juices.

We have a brief walking tour around Perast with our guide for the next two days, Vesna.

Vesna explaining the high points of the town.

She tells the story of the two islands just off the coast from Perast. One has to do with a small crop of rock that some fishermen found a Madonna painting years ago, I cannot recall it all. Supposedly the crop of rock became an island by men bringing rocks there over the ages. Eventually a cathedral was built there to house the painting. The painting is called The Lady of the Rock. We take a water taxi out to that island.

We land on the island and the first order of business is to do a tour of the cathedral and the Lady. There is some kerfuffle with queues and groups and while Vesna could have done the tour on her own she was not allowed because of the crowds.

When we get in there are a lot of people around and explanations are being given. Eventually we get near the painting.

Supposedly testing has been done that shows that the painting came from the late 15th century. We were invited to take a look behind the altar where original rock was held. I skipped it.

The Old Organ - it has been restored — The Old Organ – it has been restored

We toured the museum part of the building too where there were a number of interesting artifacts. One was a painting done by a lady in the past who put all sorts of interesting materials including a lot of her hair. There was some discussion between guides as the legend surrounding all that. We head back to shore.

The other island, closed this time of year

We then head off for a difficult part of the day – driving through the mountains. We drive through Kodor which is another very crowded beach town made worse by (at least) 3 cruise ships in harbour. We have a bit of “excitement” when a small box of wine falls in the back of the van breaking one of Hugh’s wines he had bought at an earlier winery. We stop to cleanup the mess and then proceed to drive up the hill. This leg is very windy with 25 numbered switch backs and we are behind a bus almost all of the way. Frustrating.

Great site showing Montenegro and the 25 hairpins

We stop at a restaurant at the top that supposedly has the best prosciutto around but the owner advises us that the road will be closed soon for repairs so we stop only for a short break. Long enough to get behind the bus again.

We reach a small village where another bus has got itself stuck and is going back and forth to try to get out. Andrew is able to get around both of the buses on the inside and we have relief for a while but eventually get stuck behind more slow traffic. After some missteps and with the aid of the host, we arrive at the farmhouse which is our destination.

The owner and his wife turn out to be absolutely delightful people and have set up a spread for us. There is there own fruit brandies to start the meal.

Plenty of cold cuts and vegies and red wine too

The dishes were chicken and carp. All of the food was from the garden or nearby. They made the redwine too and there was plenty of it being served.

Andrew passes out for a while - it was very difficult driving — Andrew passes out for a while – it was very difficult driving

We then take a tour of the garden where he has vines, vegies and bees for his honey. There are also lots of wrecks of old cards everywhere.

This part of the day has been delightful as were our hosts. We get on the road. We are taking a big circle over the mountains and will eventually reach Kodor. Then another period before we are finally home at Perast.

Editorial comment: we departed Perast at 11:00 AM and arrived back after 8:00 PM. In that period there were at most 1.5 hours of stops so at least 7.5 hours of difficult roads and travel. It was very difficult on Andrew and also on Julie and I, and probably the others. The visit to the farm was great but I cannot say it was worth all that difficult driving.

Any way, we are to have dinner at the Hotel restaurant again. Boris selects another table on the water. The weather has cleared but it is quite cool. There are heaters in place and when one table leaves they are moved closer to us. Andrew decides to skip and apparently went straight to bed, not a surprise really.

Vesna had explained that lots of fresh water pours down the hills which is great for mussels. There are mussel chains all along the coast.

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by beauperi · 1 Comment

Bosnia to Montenegro

Moday, 23 May, 2016 – Blagaj to Mostar to Perash, Montenegro

We are awakened at 5:00 AM by a “call to prayer” song outside. We go down for breakfast and there is a young guy, seemingly overworked as he helped us with our bags when we arrived, then was on night duty last night and then morning duty today. For Breakfast, there was no buffet and no menu, I cannot recall what we ordered. Could not have been bacon or ham as we are on the Muslim side of the river.

We check out of the Hotel, putting our luggage in the van. We then walk up the road to the mouth of the Buna river. There are lots of market stalls along the way, mostly empty that time of day. We also looked across the river to see some of the restaurants alongside under water from the flooding Buna.

Walking to the 15th centry dervish house

Andrew, Jan and I elect not to do the tour of the house and settle into seats outside of it.

The girls that go on the tour are required to cover up for religious reasons. Some of Julie’s photos.

Meanwhile, us below are watching rock climbers on the face of the mountain behind us.

Rock climbers, two going up, one coming down

We walk back to the Hotel past the still mostly empty stalls.

It is tradition to have a drink from the Buna source

We are met at the Hotel by Alma and Ermen. They have arrived in their specially renovated car – a Jugo I think. Boris and Ermen had talked about it at length last night and Boris decided that he wanted a drive.

Madman Boris screaming down the boulevard

We say goodbye to Ermen and Bonnie and join Alma on the bus to Mostar. We find a parking lot, it will later be totally full like everywhere else around. Alma is to lead us on a tour of the old town. Andrew and I decide to skip the tour and settle in to the afternoon’s restaurant for a drink.

Some of Julie’s photos from the tour.

Alma and the team return after a while. It is decided that we will visit a coffee shop run by her Son. Julie decides to prance around the top of the city.

Alma’s Son explains how to use the stuff delivered on the tray to make the perfect drinking coffee. Very interesting. Julie misses the whole presentation, which was a pity. She does show up eventually.

That is an old, large roaster / grinder that Ermen had owned and renovated

We then walk back to the restaurant for lunch. It is now quie crowded, another reflection of tourists everywhere.

We have had said goodbye to Alma who will get a ride back from her Son or something else. We walk back to the Van. On the way is a large, old shell of a building that is being converted into a Hilton Hotel. Should be impressive when completed.

We are then on the road out of Bosnia to enter Montenegro. There is a lot of driving, probably nearly 8 hours on the day including stops. I don’t recall a long hold-up at the border so it must not have been too bad. We actually get quite close to Dubrovnik, our next destination after this. We end up in the seaside town of Perast which unlike most of the towns on the Dalmatian Coast is not incredibly crowded with tourists – this is not to say that there were none, but it is nice by comparison.

Dinner is on the water - stunning — Dinner is on the water – stunning

I have tagged this Post with Duck but we did not eat it.

A departing cruise ship - good riddance — A departing cruise ship – good riddance

That’s it for the night.

For you avid readers it is 8 days later and we are about to depart for the long flight back to Australia. An estimated 36 hours door to door. The rest of the Blog will be finished at home with a real computer.

Beauperi Investments – Wine Consulting

Category: Europe 2016

Last Day of Savor Tour

Around Dubrovnik

Montenegro back to Croatia

A long, tiring ride / day

Bosnia to Montenegro