Luxury Travel

So far, we have only encountered one border control- entering Croatia. We are
not sure if this is initiated by the Hungarians or Croatians. Must have
passports and vehicle papers. They just scanned our passports and asked if we
had anything to declare. The best part- added 2 stamps in the passport!! I love
that.

The drive was easy until Zagreb-capital of Croatia. the same highway changes #'s
all the time. It is hard to follow signage. We had to turn around a few times on
the way to our final destination Sandivij, Istria.

Istria is a peninsula that shares its border with Slovinia. We were at the most
north- west corner of Croatia. The problem is do you circle around or cut across
the mountain range- no brainer-except we drove in circles- 2x's losing at least
1-1.5 hours. The roads/towns are not clearly marked.

When we thought we were headed in the correct direction-not positive- we stopped
up high on the mountain. There was a beautiful hotel/restaurant. They sent us
back to our starting point and gave us direction. He gave us his map. We would
have loved to have had dinner-since not sure of anything-best to drive on.

Winding through the mountains-passing a few castles-we came across a mountain
town-pretty much an isolated wine town- at this point tensions rising so passed
by.

We are at the relaxing part of our journey. Not so much at this point. We are
staying at the new Kempinski Hotel. Open for 3 weeks. It is impossible to locate
and the start of the circle driving-not a good thing. We were in the car for 6
hours and just wanted to unwind.

The hotel is beautiful. We are the first Americans. The staff was gracious-and
the newness of the hotel is apparent in decor and confusion. Laundry not
available, different responses from every one- lots of confusion.

The rooms are completely computerized-cool. Pool and bar are gorgeous. Not
crowded. We started by hand washing half our clothes-very red neck. Dinner was
very nice-except you can tell there is a bit of nervous energy and bill
corrected a few times.

Lincoln has a game of seeing how his martini arrives- classic and simple- not so
much-not shaken, different glass and this time- sugar around the rim and charged
for Bombay and vermouth-they quickly removed that from the bill.

Today, off the gym-while Lincoln sleeps and full day in the sun-hoping to
convince Lincoln to let me navigate out of the resort for some sightseeing and
dinner this evening- wish me luck.

Well, no sight seeing. The weather is so beautiful and since we are far from other towns-30 miles- we decided to just take it easy. Lincoln is adapting nicely to resort life. He loves the Adriatic Sea. It is clear and warm. Must pack water shoes because this is a rock beach and the first few feet into the deeper waters are small granite pebbles. If I have not said, this is a beautiful resort. With the newness there3 are some "bugs" in the system. The dinners we have had here have been fantastic. The staff is very proud of Croatia and working at this resort.

I'm disappointed we were not able to include more time here. Next year-renting boat-start in Dubrovnik and end up here. Very easy from Venice. Hope to tempt a group this time.

Off we go to Venice and the 2nd half of our trip.