Sleepy Little Quatro D'Altino {Adriatic: Day 11}

I basically thought today would go something like:

1.  Get off the boat

2.  Wait for our flight tomorrow. 

And instead, it has been one of my favorite days.  (I think I've already said that eight times this trip, but really, today was a sweet surprise.) This has certainly been the most disorganized trip I've ever planned. Probably not great when it is also the biggest trip we've ever been on. I like to blame it on two baby girls who are way more fun to be around than my printer. Well, that, and it is a lot more fun to buy new shoes online--for the trip, of course--than to use that little slice of quiet Internet peace to look at bus timetables. So, we basically came to Europe with a broad outline--our accommodations, our cruise, and our flights--but really no bullet points under there. No file folder with printed tickets. Just the Trip It app loaded with our bookings. 

And if your personality can stand it (and mine would never be able to if we had the girls with us), I would recommend it in a heartbeat. 

 

So, even though I didn't flip through an accordion file to the tab labeled "Disembarkation," we managed to say goodbye to the Jade, grab some tickets for the People Mover, walk through the Piazzale Roma to the train station, buy regional train tickets, and proceed to barely make a train that we weren't really even sure was the right one.

 All with our luggage. 

I know some of you just had a panic attack, but we really did manage with public transport just fine. And instead of the 65 euro for a cab from the port to the hotel (which I just bothered to look at the name of that morning), we made it door to door for 6 euro a piece. It is amazing how much a little bravery and some willingness to walk will save you. 

Because I hadn't even paid attention to exactly where Hotwire had booked us for our last night (all I knew was it was a 4 star in the suburbs for a third of the price of our Venice hotel), I hadn't paid attention to them having a shuttle from the Quarto D'Altino train station to the hotel. So, we just looked at the town map as we came out of the train station and decided it didn't look that far.  You could say it was an invigorating 1.5 mile walk at noon in 85 degrees.  :)

It really didn't look THAT far on the map.  Just from one corner to the other.  :)

But, oh, adorable Hotel Villa Odino was worth the walk. This historic boutique hotel nestled in the sleepy, sunny cornfields of Quarto D'Altino was a bit of heaven. The staff was so kind to greet us, and didn't hesitate to let us check in early when they found out we had walked for thirty minutes from the train station. They also did not hesitate to look at us sympathetically (read: like morons) and tell us they have a shuttle to and from the train station.  

The room was a great size (by Venetian standards) and oozing with quiet, rustic charm. Sam had to duck to get into the bathroom, but it, too, was more spacious than our cruise cabin. Cue the "Movin' on Up" song...

 

We were starving after that long walk and having only had an abbreviated breakfast onboard, so we asked the receptionist if there was somewhere we could walk to easily that had pizza. It's our last full day in Europe and have yet to have Italian pizza. I was sure she was thinking, "you fat Americans," ;) but instead she said the thing I had been waiting all. week. long to hear. 

"We have biciclettas gratuito just out by the parking lot that you are welcome to take."

What?  Free bikes??  I have been dying to do a bicycle tour!  Sam has probably questioned my age a few times this trip as I've looked for the opportunity to ride bikes at every port we've stopped in. And here, on our last day, we just happened to be staying at a not-so-close-to-the-train-station-but-super-cute hotel that offered guests free bikes to ride around the town. Serendipity. 

Armed with our Hotel Villa Odino white cruisers, we ignored her suggestion of a little place serving lunch about 200 meters from the hotel, and decided to venture back to a place we saw on our walk through the town earlier. However, it wasn't open for lunch, and neither were any of the other four restaurants we rode to.  I finally know why people refer to these small, quiet towns as "sleepy."  How is no one open for lunch?  So, eventually getting super hungry, we rode our bikes back to the little place near our hotel that the concierge recommended, just to find that it was about to close for the time between lunch and dinner as it was now almost 3:00 p.m. Though they spoke very little English, they were kind enough to serve us "anything-a but-a the pizza."  (Please say that in the thickest Italian accent you can muster.)  Guess that means pizza tonight for dinner, since several of the closed pizzerias were only open for the evening. 

Coming back to the villa, we opted to go down to the pool for the few hours before dinner. I cracked open my Kindle to finish up a book and Sam took a power nap.  I couldn't help but just look around in absolute awe.  Is this really my life right now?  Of course that also means I took advantage of the inn's free wifi to check out real estate prices in this picturesque little town we've found.

 

I let Sam keep snoozing while I went up to the room to get ready for our very last dinner in Italy.  Insert frowny face.  By the time I got ready, the clouds were beginning to roll in, and I was pretty sure we'd be seeing our first drops of rain since we were in Venice last weekend.

But that didn't stop us front hopping on our bikes to cruise down to the cafe.  So after ordering our long awaited Italian pizza, we gave a toast.  A big ol' cheers to eleven of the most amazing days together.  We are going home with a head full of memories, heart full of love, and a belly full of pasta.  That can't be beat.

This place is magical. 

Split {Adriatic: Day 10}

Croatia has been the shining star of this itinerary, and Split was no different.

Originally, we planned to do a ship excursion to Krka National Park to see the waterfalls. But when we saw that we were only going to be in port for 6.5 hours, we decided against spending 2.5 hours in a charter bus and not having any time in the actual town of Split. 

Arriving in Split, Croatia

While looking up some of the independent tours on Viator.com, I came across some general info about Split. Remember how I said Croatia feels so young?  Well, 50% of the population of Split are in their 20s. Isn't that crazy?  Maybe we'll get a little extra respect as their thirty-something elders.

Though we took a pass on the Krka National Park tour, I really did want to do something around the water.  Dubrovnik's coastline was breathtaking, but we never actually got to stick our toes in that crystal clear water.  So, when we packed up to leave the ship today at 11:00 a.m., we threw our bathing suits in Sam's backpack and some tennis shoes, knowing that we could run into a variety of different adventures.

Old Town Split was a short walk from the port, so we walked down to the market area and toured around Diocletian's Palace.  We were content to just observe its majesty from the outside, so we felt content with our sightseeing in Old Town within about an hour. 

Diocletian's Palace Watchtower from the port

Basement Tunnels under Diocletian's Palace

 

We walked into the less tourist-y area, through a fresh market.  We learned quickly that while Croatia is in the EU, it is not yet part of the Euro Zone, so they mostly deal in Croatian Kunas.  Since we have been in countries using the euro, lira, and kuna, we have tried to avoid exchanging for money because of the costly fees associated with it.  It may cost $6 to exchange $100, and if you have some left over at the end of your time there, you have to pay another $6 to get your US dollars back.  Plus, the money exchanges near the port almost always offer a horrible rate.  Good news, our credit card has no international exchange fees and generally a much more favorable exchange rate.  Unfortunately, very few places in Split accept credit cards (unlike every other place we've been), which we didn't realize until we were away from the port and in the town.  I had a twenty euro bill left, so we had to make it stretch for the whole day.

Knowing that A) we were Kuna poor, and B) we wanted to spend some time around the water, we asked a local touring agency if they offered any boat rides out to the small neighboring islands or beaches.  The tricky thing about when we ported in Split was that it was late morning with an early evening departure, so we were too late for the tours that left in the early morning and would need to be back before when the evening tours returned.  Bummer.  But, it ended up working well.  The sweet girl told us that we were only a fifteen minute walk from a really nice pebble beach the locals love-- Bacvice Beach.  We asked her how much it was to visit, and she looked at us like we were crazy, and said free.  Definitely worth checking out.  I can't say that I was walking up the hill expecting to see this...

Seeing this did make us miss our girls!  They would LOVE it.

Last Day at Sea {Adriatic: Day 9}

Oh, lazy day!  We welcome you!

That's the thing about these European vacations.  (Don't you love how I just threw that out there like we do these all the time? ha!)  They are incredible, but ex-haust-ing. I remember coming back from our 2007 trip feeling like I could sleep for days. Y'know, the old "I need a vacation after that vacation" feeling.

One of the nice things about these extra days built in is that it gives us a chance to rest, guilt-free. We aren't sleeping, missing out on a chance to see something we've never seen before. So, hey, why not sleep until noon when you're an old person that can't adjust time zones. (It's so bad our room steward that comes to make up our room each morning commented on how we must have forgotten to unlock the door and turn the "do not disturb" dial this morning. Nope, René, we were actually still in there sleeping. Ha!  And then he mumbled something about us having been here a week.)

One of Rene's creations

Elephant towel animal

Today was so lazy that I really don't have pictures of anything other than my feet at the end of my pool chair with the ocean view (it was an ambitious day).

So, here's a little peak around the Norwegian Jade, one of NCL's "Jewel" class mid-size ships. She is small enough to be super easy to navigate, but big enough to have some fun things to do, with restaurants to choose from and good entertainment.  And essentials like a Carlo's Bake Shop cupcake and cannoli stand.

I'm going to miss having one of these each day.

 

Most of our dinners have been here, in the Grand Pacific dining room.  Since it is at the very back of the ship, we had some great sunset ocean views.

Hooray for living up to our potential today as fat, lazy Americans.  I thought by this point in our vacation, I'd be starting to feel ready to get home.  But, we actually talked over dinner how we wish we had gone broke and booked the back-to-back cruise that does the second week in the Greek Isles.  Especially since our brief face time with the girls was met with a nonchalant "oh.  Hey, Mom.  Hey, Dad."  Not to be disturbed during their MarMar (or Mickey) time.  Now that we know that our children are having more fun without us, we are already feeling disappointed about this trip winding down!  But, we are going to make the best of our last port tomorrow-- Split, Croatia.