Europe Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Croatia 2016 Day 8 – Split to Trogir to Zadar

Posted on September 15, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

This was the day where we would be starting to move from town to town everyday in order to make the distance towards Austria, where we would eventually fly home from. I woke up early at 7 to get ready. We had already packed most of the things, ready for the drive ahead. Just before leaving the beautiful town of Split, we decided to visit the old town for 3rd time this trip.

We went to the cathedral for a visit since we missed it the day before. We purchased the combo tickets for Cathedral of Saint Domnius and crypt without the treasury, only to find that the temple of Jupiter was also included in this as well, should have waited to visit all together instead. The cathedral was not a very big place but there were beautiful sculptures and large paintings on the walls nonetheless. After the short stay at the cathedral, where crowds of tourists filled the small space with a guide leading the group, we left shortly to the crypt under ground level. The crypt was also quite empty and not very big but there were 2 copper bells sitting on the floor which got baby K amused.

Before leaving Split for good, I brought my family back to the big statue of the Gregory of Nin at the northern side of Split old town walls, outside the Golden gates. The big toe of the statue was golden, after many people rub it (as I found out later that rubbing the big toe can bring good luck), I thought I would do the same with a photo for memories (as I did with statue of Juliet at Verona).

While we walked back to the room, we bought some yogurt for baby K to eat. We handed over the apartment key to the landlord and bidded goodbye. Now we the car parked facing the direction where I am heading, I managed to drive out easily and soon, with the GPS punched in, we were on our way to tiny but UNESCO listed historical town of Trogir. K fell asleep as I drove and even till we parked at the parking lot. I went exploring on my own while mommy stayed in car while the snoozing baby.

The small island was connected by bridges as water surrounded it’s perimeter. It looked like most old towns (though it was Venetian) that we went previously, only this was on an island. I walked to the Kamerlengo Castle, the closest attraction to the car park and entered for 25kuna. There was nothing to see as it was mostly empty space surrounded by walls but climbing up to the top gave me a good viewpoint of Trogir’s surroundings.

Afraid that I have taken to much time on my own, I returned to the car to find baby K still asleep. Gently we woke baby K after he had already slept an hour, he woke up grumpy. Brought him into Trogir old town and went to the other popular attractions such as the St. Lawrence Cathedral and nearby clock tower to take some photos. We didn’t go into the cathedral as it costed some money and we were sure we didn’t want to see any more cathedral. Proceeded to lunch nearby at a square nearby and choose one Konoba tri Volta. Had spaghetti and salad for lunch and a difficult baby K who was misbehaving while having his meal.

Before we left this nice little island, we crossed the bridge nearby to a huge Kozum to buy some groceries. Then it was another 1.5hr drive to Zadar. We arrived at Lavandula apartments carpark at about 430pm and I checked in first while baby K slept in the car. It was a small establishment but looked modern and comfy. Our room had 2 storeys with a big bed on the 2nd storey. After moving all the luggage down a flight of stairs to the room just next to the reception, mommy then went into the apartment to prepare baby K dinner while I stayed in the car with baby K till he woke at 5pm.

Zadar was a town known for its beautiful sunset and we wanted to catch that. After mommy packed baby K’s dinner, we droved to a carpark just outside the old town and then it was a short walk to the coast. As we walked along coastline, baby K was walking as well because he became interested with walking on small pebbles. Out in the horizon there were clouds diffusing the sun beams and no clear sight of a setting yolk – disappointment. We saw a playground but didn’t go as it would distract us from getting to the Sea organ. It was an attraction designed to use water waves to generate different sounds, but it was really soft when we were there. Continuing on, we arrived at the other attraction, the Sun Salutation. There were already a lot of people there. This was a large circular light display on the ground that generated different colours of light randomly. It looked pretty amazing the darker the skies got and baby K enjoyed running around on this!

After we managed to get baby K to leave, we then walked through old town. The place was unlike others it looked quite modern for some parts and had large walking paths. We walked around undecided where to have our dinner and ended up eating at a restaurant Spajza, an open air restaurant in the old town. Ordered a meat platter Cevapi and it was quite alright.

After dinner, we walked back through a little park and although it was a little dark, there were still some people walking around, probably also on their way back from dinner. We drove back to the apartment and followed the usual night routine of washing, bathing and then to sleep. The only grouse of this apartment was that the water temperature was inconsistent during bath.

Croatia 2016 Day 7 – Diocletian Palace and Split Old Town

Posted on September 14, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

This day was a holiday break within our holiday trip as we woke up at 830 even though we have our alarm clocks set at 730. Did our usual preps while waiting for baby K to wake up at 9am. Carried out our usual routine and had our breakfast bought from bakery the day before.

We only managed to leave the apartment at 1030am and we proceeded to walk to the Green Market. It was a huge area just in front of Diocletian Palace with quite a lot of stalls grouped by trade selling anything from foodstuff to other products – mommy bought some shorts from there.

Our first destination was the commanding bell tower that stood tall overlooking Split. To reached the top for the birds’ eye view, we had to pay 20kunas to climb it. After negotiating the stairway lined along the walls of the squarish tower, with dual direction human traffic, we were finally greeted by first many bells and then by the beautiful port view of Split. Baby K was fascinated by bells and was looking at them through the fence.

After exiting the towering bell tower, we walked through the peristyle and entered the vestibule (circular bricked building with a circular opening at the top) to find a cappella group of 4 singing traditional tunes (and selling their CDs). To continue our exploration, we walked through the vestibule and exited into narrow streets. Took some time to walk around and to find the way out as the streets felt like a maze, we could only see as far as the street ahead.

We walked around to look for Billa supermarket as we were trying to get small packet milk for baby K. We weren’t able to find suitable ones as those were normally 0.5L. We ended up buying goats’ milk. After that, we walked towards the port and bought some crepes from mobile stalls for lunch. The riviera was lined with trees which provided shade for us while we ate and K walked around. We then took the street behind the old town back to the apartment.

Interesting statues by the side of the walls.

Baby K ate lunch in the apartment and I bathed him before sending him to bed for an afternoon nap after drinking goat milk (which he liked!). Mommy also slept at the same time.

I had some time to myself and so ventured out to Bacvice beach to have a look. It was a small beach and I didn’t stay long as there wasn’t much to see. I proceeded to walk to the port, trying my luck in getting the region exclusive Mr. Mime for Pokemon Go. Continued to walk till I arrived at the Split bell tower back in the old town and re-entered using the same tickets, after explaining that I was here earlier in the day and asked if i could re-enter (thankfully the person at the counter didn’t mind). I went back up where the bells were and took some photos of them, since baby K would be delighted to see them on photos too.

Then I proceeded to one of the many stalls set up outside the old town walls and purchased another pair of shorts for mommy, as she had purchased earlier and found them nice. I continued on foot found some of the areas we missed earlier in the day, places like the cathedral, the crypt, the temple of Jupiter, and palace basement. I then returned to the room and found K still sleeping while mommy had started cooking his dinner.

K finally awoke from his nap at 6pm and we then left for old town. I brought them to the few attractions, first to the Temple of Jupiter for just 20 kuna which it was very small itself. By the time we crossed the street over to the Cathedral and crypt, they were both closed. We then continued to explore the palace basement for another 20kuna. It was a huge area but mostly empty spaces. There were some floating balloons as exhibits too which baby K liked to pass by them as I carry him, and also some old pillars.

After the attractions, we returned to Billa supermarket to buy more goat milk since he liked it. After that we proceeded to a restaurant at the square, called Caffe Bar Pivnica Plac. Ordered pasta and curry chicken pasta but it was kinda salty, all for 180kuna.

After dinner, we walked to the port and played Pokemon Go for a little. There were lures at Pokestops and a couple of gamers camping there too. Got ourselves an almond gelato 8 kuna en-route back to the apartment.

Back at the room, it was cleaning up and bathing before feeding baby K milk and sleep.

Croatia 2016 Day 6 – Krka National Park waterfalls and Sibenik

Posted on September 13, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Back to normal morning routine, by the time we were done 930am.

We were visiting the Krka National park and it was going to be our first drive out of the tight spaces. As I had parked head first into the carpark, I wanted to do a “many point turn” so that I could just drive out – it was a bad decision. After reversing onto the road, mommy got out of the car to help guide me as I struggled but the 2 cars parked along the road made it impossible for me to drive out. Baby K was cranky after sitting in the back seat for too long made it all the more frustrating. Tried to go back to the landlord for help but no one was to be found. It was then the neighbor who parked one of the cars by the road side came out, a face of displeasure and mouthful of complaints saying that we had hit her car (which we didn’t of course). She told us to stop moving and she got into her car, maneuver it onto the kerb and created space for us to drive out. We thanked her, which made her feel better, before we drove the car out to the main road and towards the national park.

The drive to the park was fairly easy, just about getting onto the highway and followed the GPS to Skradin for about an hour. The toll was 31 kuna. When we got close to the parking lot, we were welcomed by a lot of (fake) parking attendants, all seen wearing the “P” Tee. Learning from my lesson in Mostar, I stuck to GPS route that brought us right to the correct carpark.

We entered the tourist information center but there weren’t much to see (the payable restroom was public one and located outside the building) and I had earlier purchased the tickets online in Singapore. The boat however was running on a schedule so I went to get lunch first. There were many stalls along the walking pavement near the port and I bought 2 large ham and cheese for 54kuna and one ice coffee 30kuna from the food stalls there. At the same time while having the sandwiches, we fed baby K. Couldn’t finish the huge sandwich and we proceeded to board the 12pm boat (we missed one that left earlier at 1130 because we thought the frequency was by the hour).

The boat ride from the port to the falls was a 20mins slow gentle ride. The surrounding wasn’t very much interesting as the river meandered between trees towards the disembarkation location at the falls. We got off the boat with lots of passengers and as we walked towards the falls crossing crowded bridge, we passed the ticket counter which already had a queue. With the printed tickets, we walked to the entrance route of the falls manned by 3 staffs. Upon showing my printed tickets, they said that it had to be exchanged at the ticket counter! Mommy went back to queue and got the exchange while I let baby K enjoy kicking the small rocks on the ground.

It was a very busy day with many people streaming into the park. The falls were pretty close to the entrance and we walked onto the bridge where we could see the majestic falls and the many people having a dip in the lake in which the falls send the waters. Tried to take some photos on the narrow bridge, difficult but we managed with a selfie. We continued through the bridge and then there was some steps that brought us further upstream. We could see there were still some smaller falls and had to go close to the waters that were fenced up to prevent people from going into the rushing waters. We didn’t venture further upstream (as we didn’t know if there were more or not).

As we return crossing the same bridge, I was very interested in getting my feet wet by the lake and taking a dip but mommy was overly concerned and I to give up the idea, disappointingly. We walked all the way back to the pier to wait for the next ferry, which already had a crowd waiting. We managed to board the 130pm return.

As we returned back to Skradin, we got ourselves some icecream at one of the stalls and drinks and before going back to our car. There were still a couple of places to go and off we went after following the GPS route to Roski Slap. The toddler was quick to fall asleep during the drive there. The route got more difficult as we approached the falls and become single lane which I wasn’t comfortable with as it would be a problem if a car in the opposite direction came but thankfully none did. After merging from the 1 lane route onto a clearing, the park attendants directed me to park a clearing atop a small slope as the main carparks were full.

Mommy and I had to take turns to go see the Roski Slap since baby K was sleeping in the car. With the same tickets I walked to the entrance not too far from the car park and advanced quickly downhill. It wasn’t a straight forward route as there weren’t signs but it was not difficult to find either. The Roski Slap was just one falls and from the place that I could see, it was quite far away and didn’t turn out to be as majestic as I had in mind. After a few snaps, I returned to the car so that mommy could go see the falls. While in the car, I couldn’t do much as there wasn’t any signal for mifi. Mommy returned soon and we decided to skip visiting the smaller multiple necklaces falls as it was about 1.35km away.

Our last nature viewing for the day was to check out the view point called the Visovac lookout. From there one could see a tiny small island with a church in the middle of the river. It wasn’t far from the Roski Slap and we soon found ourselves on a major clearing where I parked the car so that we could go look over the cliff at the island. Again we took turns, I went first followed by Mommy. There was in fact a way to visit the island by taking a boat but we weren’t that interested.

Baby K woke up from his nap as we embarked on our journey to a nearby town Sibenik. Worried that parking could be a problem at the old town, I parked at a carpark meant for ferry passengers which had barely a few cars but at about 750meters away from old town. Approaching the old town, we visited a supermarket to buy yogurt. Supermarketing became like a habit that we had to do it at the different towns, as we stocked up our supplies of bottled water and foodstuff for baby K.

There wasn’t an itinerary for Sibenik since it was an ad-hoc visit knowing that it was just 30mins away from Krka NP. We thought of just lounging by the port and so tried to find a cafe. As we walked around the old town, it was like walking in a maze, not knowing where the route would lead us. After heading in the general direction with google map, we finally found the Rivera with cafes by the sea and went into one.

I was in an urgent need to pee but as I visited the cafe’s one and only restroom, it was busy and I had to hold it until it was available ( there was someone shitting behind unlockable doors.) we ordered a scoop of vanilla icecream, sprite and Coke Zero to cool ourselves from the heat and baby K delighted to have his first taste of icecream after having his yogurt.

After our short lounging session, we walked back to the carpark and paid 12kuna for carpark. Then the return on the highway to Split resulted in a toll of 27kuna. With the previous disastrous parking the first day we arrived, I decided to try parking butt first and I found easier much easier in fact! However we couldn’t do it upon arrival as the private lot was chained up to prevent other people from parking. We had to get the landlord to help unlock the chain.

Mommy cooked while I did some washing of bottles and entertained K and cleaned K after he crapped. We only left the apartment again at 830pm for dinner in Split’s old town.

There were a variety restaurants to choose from and we entered one of the restaurants, De Belly which featured a live band, making the dining experience relaxing and also a distraction to keep baby K’s attention. Ordered mussels in white wine and turkey ham and it was not bad!

After dinner we walked along Riveria to look at the mobile stalls selling things from food to souvenirs. The whole strip was lively with many restaurants, and it was a nice feeling to soak in that atmosphere. Baby K was walking about with me as we visited stall to stall. We returned back to the apartment late.

Bath time and it was off to bed.

Croatia 2016 Day 5 – Day trip to Hvar and Stari Grad

Posted on September 12, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

530 and the alarm went off- it was going to be a long day. Mommy woke up first to prepare food for Baby K while I prepared the (long) day backpack. Changed K diapers and clothing while he was barely awake. We had to catch a catamaran scheduled at 740am but only managed to leave the apartment at 725am. With quickened footsteps we walked to port which was close (5mins away) but a little worried as we were unsure of the exact location. Fortunately we manage to spot the catamaran by its name and boarded the vessel with the printed tickets that I have purchased online. It was then a smooth 1 and a half hour ride on Krilo star which brought the passengers first to Brac and then Hvar.

We weren’t entirely prepared on what to do and see in Hvar so after disembarking, we went to the tourist info desk. We were advised on a couple of activities such as island hopping to nearby Pakleni Islands with water taxi, visit other towns by bus and walk around Hvar. Hvar was popular for being a party island in summer in the night but that didn’t suit our objective nor our timing. Yet we were here as we wanted to see what this island was all about.

We picked up a town map and started to island walk first. To conserve energy as it was going to be a long day (boat schedule was after 7pm), we dropped our day bag at a left luggage (for a fee) and began exploring. Following the map, we visited the wet market, some historical buildings and churches (that might be significant but we didn’t know as our walk was unguided) and finally climbed to the Spanjola fortress that overlooked the town below.

To get to the top, we had to negotiate a long flight of steps first followed by a gradual climb up. Entrance fees of 30kunas paid which allowed us chance to explore this medium size fortress but what was the most important part of the visit was the beautiful panoramic view Hvar and the Pakleni islands. After taking in view, we found and rested at a shady area (as most of the top of the fortress was exposed to merciless hot sun), in an attempt to get baby K to sleep as he was getting cranky. He remained awake despite any efforts so we decided to go back down to Hvar. As we started our descend, baby K fell asleep. The swaying motion while seated on the hip seat does wonders in getting our stubborn toddler to sleep. I had to carry sleeping K in my arms all the way down to the town square and sat on a ledge beside the building for a rest, away from the sun.

Panoramic of Hvar and Pakleni islands from the fortress

Exhibit in one of the rooms of the fortress

Mommy retrieved the bag from the left luggage for 25kuna. She then went shopping at the nearby stalls leaving us to sit at the square. About an hour later, baby K woke up and mommy had returned at almost the same time, bringing in her hands some gifts of lavender fragrance, popular products of Hvar.

Stalls selling stuff like lavender near the port

It was noon time and we decided to walk along the harbour side opposite to where we had disembarked, to check out the restaurants there. There was a particular Jerolim restaurant we chose which had a long bench suitable for a constantly moving toddler during lunch in a terrace that faced the beautiful harbour. Our lunch orders consisted of calamari rice and fish fillet class 1(which we still didn’t know the difference) for 120 kuna. After the delicious lunch, we walked further down the same route where there was playground available. Baby K enjoyed the slides and climbing around the various mini buildups. Close by were steps to the shore where people could be seen sunbathing.

There was still some amount of time left before our catamaran trip back to Split so we decided to consider the option of a bus ride to another old town, Stari Grad. To get there, we had to walk to the the bus stop past the left luggage at the edge of the old town (wasn’t a big area to begin with). The bus schedule indicated that we had only one option when the bus return to Hvar was before the ferry schedule back to Split and that meant taking the next bus which would give us only an hour at Stari Grad. We didn’t have other options than to do this (not keen on getting to the islands since we weren’t dressed for beach activities). The bus tix had to be purchased from the bus driver and it wasn’t time yet, we went back to nearby fruits and vegetables market to buy some fruits and vegetables. The stall owner was amused with baby K and gave us a free banana for baby K to eat.

After our short marketing session, we went back to board the bus parked at the bay and paid 54 kuna for tickets for both of us. The bus was quite popular and we were fortunate to be the first few to board and took the seats near the front. The journey to Stari Grad was of some distance and baby K succumbed to a little snoozing induced by the gentle swaying motion and I managed to catch some winks myself too. We only arrived at 325pm at the bus stop a couple of hundred meters away from the main port side and we walked briskly to town center. There wasn’t enough time to even check out the stores or explore the streets or sit for coffee as the schedule for the return bus journey was at 405 pm (It was made harder with a sleeping toddler in arms). We only concluded from this short experience that it was a small nice town similar to Hvar but much much quieter.

We arrived 5mins earlier at the same bus stop in order not to miss it and waited a while for the bus to arrive. Thankfully we managed to get some seats as the bus got crowded. The return journey included a stop at the main ferry terminal of Stari Grad where cars and passengers could come over from Split (was thinking of whether to drive in Hvar by taking this ferry during our planning but abandoned the idea to avoid resolving unpredictable logistics with a toddler).

We arrived back at Hvar without much drama on the bus after a regretfully rushed visit to Stari Grad. For the rest of the day till the catamaran come, we decided to lounge at a port side cafe and found a cafe BB club that had nice comfy long cushion loungers that offered a view of the port side for people watching. We ordered some drinks, coffee and cookies and cream and desserts to eat. Baby K was entertained with toys and books and color pencils that we brought along for the trip and he kept us busy with clearing his soiled diapers and preparing milk for him. We realized that for some reason he wasn’t fond of packet milk purchased from Bosnia.

As Mommy was paranoid of missing the catamaran, we left the cafe early to wait for the catamaran only to realize the it was late. To confirm that we didn’t miss the boat, mommy went to Pelegrini to verify and was informed that the boat would be late as it was coming back from the other islands. It was almost 30mins later and we boarded the boat after the beautiful sunset.

Sun setting while waiting for the catamaran back

The trip back was also without much issue but it was getting tiring. The light drizzle welcomed our disembarkation and we rushed to put on the bright yellow raincoat for baby K. We walked to the port side shop to order takeaways (aptly named Stay or take away bar) for our dinner before the brisk walk back to the apartment.

Once back mommy got to work quickly to cook for baby K while I ate dinner while watching over him. The takeaways were big in portions and value for money. After feeding baby K his meal, I gave him a bath, did some laundry for his “smelly smelly” (comfort blanket) before preparing his night time milk and went to sleep. Long, long day.

Croatia 2016 Day 4 – Dubrovnik to Neum to Split

Posted on September 11, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up at about the same timing as pervious day. Baby K woke up rather early but thankfully he went back to sleep quickly. I went to the bakery to get some pastries for breakfast and 2 lattes from Lavazza. I managed to make a mess when I toppled my cup of coffee at the lift landing, which was quite frustrating since I have less one cup of coffee and also a little embarrassing.

Baby K woke by the time I returned. We would be visiting Dubrovnik old town to take the cable car in the morning. To save ourselves some time, mommy went to buy bus tickets from the kiosks while baby K and I went to the supermarket to get some banana (for baby K who was always constipated). There weren’t any fresh bananas stocked and the existing ones didn’t look edible we so didn’t buy any and proceeded to bus stop.

Bus number 4 came and brought us to the same stop of at the old town but instead of going through the walls to the old town, we climbed the many flights of stairs to cable car street level. It was difficult with my extra 10kg on my hip seat but thankfully my frequent runs helped built the muscles for this.

A 5mins walk from the flight of steps brought us the Dubrovnik cable car station, the location obvious to spot as cable cars travel above the roofs of the houses below could be seen from the street. We got our return tickets for 120kunas per adult from the ticket counter just within the station’s confines. We got into front of the queue as the last one just left. We were glad that the cable car frequency was about 15 mins and with a limit in number of passengers per trip, there was comfortable space while in the cable car.

The cable car brought us upwards above the orange roofs, offering views of the old town and the coast line, all the way till the top station. The top station had various viewing decks where we took photos, a souvenir shop where we bought a tee and a restaurant. After we had our fill of the sights, we took the cable car back to ground station.

Panoramic view of Dubrovnik from the cable car station

Entered the old town through north entrance where we had a taste of the narrow cobbled alleys and many flights of stairs (in our minds we were glad we didn’t stay inside the old towns, this would be hell with our heavy luggage!). We got back out to bus stop where bus arrived just in time. After disembarking at Lapad, we took a short detour to check out the beach nearby, Lapad beach. This was a rocky beach, rather than a sandy one but the waters looked calm enough to swim in. We didn’t have time though.

Upon returning to the apartment, we completed our final packing and I brought the car seat and luggage down to the car in advance. Informed owner time of departure and owner got someone to come help with the check out whom also offered to help carry our barang barang but it was already not required. She escorted us right till we loaded up into the car and opened the private car park gate for us and we left.

The way to Split was the same route that we took in the opposite direction the previous day, coming back from Mostar. As it was going to be a long drive to Split, we split (pun intended) the journey into two, the first half being to Neum for a lunch break and the second half to Split itself. En-route to Neum was a town called Ston that could be worth visiting if we had more time. We arrived at the crossing pretty quickly and the officers at crossings waved us by just as quickly too. The gas at Bosnia was cheaper so I stopped by the gas station as soon as we were in Bosnia. I didn’t have any Marks with me and paid in kuna, a bad move as it resulted in the gas being more expensive. By right if I had pumped in Croatia, the rate was 1.8sgd/L while the rate in Bosnia was 1.45sgd/L. However the rate changed to 1.9/l when I paid in Kunas. I should have just paid in euros instead.

From the gas station it was just a short drive to Neum center. It was a quiet town and as it was the only Bosnian coastal town, I thought it would have been a little more touristy. We drove around trying to search for a restaurant that had parking and we did find one which had a terrace overlooking the bay. Parked by the roadside next to this restaurant Bonaca with a terrace and sat in. We were thinking that this location should offer great tasting seafood and ordered fish. I was asked to choose from a ice filled counter the fish that I wanted which was a first time for me. We also ordered a tuna steak and a tasty mushroom soup. The restaurant offered some starters, on the house, which was delicious. The fresh fish that I chose came after spending some time on the grill. As it was served on a tray, it was first deboned at the table next to ours before finally served to us. The sides were potatoes, vegs and fries. As it turned out, it was a pretty filling lunch and a nice lunch experience overall.

We left the restaurant and parked at Konzum supermarket for some grocery shopping. We bought bottled water and some milk and groceries, taking them back to Croatia and also taking advantage of the cheaper price in Bosnia.

Then the 2nd section began and we got on to A1 tolled highway. This road was fast at 130km/hr (and people go above that) and our trip to Split took about 1.5hrs ( GPS didn’t recommend that route but thankfully Google did). The toll ticket was dispensed at the station and returned to the cashier at the exit of the toll road form payment.

The drive down to Split was mostly a nice easy drive until somewhere in the mountains where we met an ice storm and I didn’t know how to react. I continued on at a lower speed which was also too high (the width of the road gave the perception that I was slower already but still 90km/hr) and also realizing a little too late that pounding of the roof was not from liquid rain but solid ice pelts, the next thing I knew, the wiper wasn’t able to wipe off some frosty gash on windscreen. Eventually I lowered the speed further to a 50km/hr (or less, I couldn’t remember) crawl until we passed the area of storm. Then I realized why some cars chose to hide under the overpass. Paid the toll of 48kuna at the exit, expecting more to pay for the windscreen when I returned the car.

We arrived at 530pm into the city of Split. Common to European cities, there were narrow lanes and many cars, making driving a little difficult. On our first arrival, I missed the entry totally and had to circle around. The second time I arrived, I realized that the road was so narrow (and I was not confident) that I had to drive past it again. Found a place to stop and called Airbnb owner for help, she told us that we were on the correct road and asked us to wait for her on the road. We then stopped just before the small road trying to keep to the sides as much as possible in order not to obstruct traffic and within minutes, the owner drove by and signaled for us to follow. She then turned into the small lane. Gathering my courage, I followed slowly, trying my best to avoid hitting the car against the wall. The owner showed us on foot to the small car park lot next to the apartment and I had to maneuver a few times to get the whole car into the parallel lot with a kerb. As I drove head first into the lot, and with the owner’s guidance, I still stepped too heavily on the gas and slightly hit the front bumper of big car. The lady owner even offered to park for us initially but she couldn’t drive an automatic.

After sweating over parking, the host then showed us the apartment, which was a room that was split from the main building, and therefore much smaller than the one in Dubrovnik. It was beautifully decorated though. The host also brought over some home baked pastries made by her mother, which was irresistibly tasty.

Mommy cooked for baby K in the kitchenette separated by a curtain, while I entertained the little one. Then I went out to buy groceries from Tommy supermarket right across 2 streets, not too far away. Managed to get fish, banana, fresh milk and bread. After that, I went out a second time to get dinner, this time further away, from Split’s old town. The old town illuminated by modern street lighting, was beautiful at night, having the effect of the medieval town night lighted by fire without the flickering. There were still lots of people around, presumably the same objective as me, to get dinner and experienced history while at it. There were many restaurants, so I just chose one, named Konoba Fortuna, that was found in a narrow corridor and ordered spaghetti and chicken fillet for takeaways.

As I was done collecting the food, the drizzle that followed us from Dubrovnik began to drip from the clouds above and I picked up the pace to get back and avoided being drenched. I gave the little one a bath in the similarly (as in Dubrovnik) small bathing area. Here there was a stool that helped as I could sit and bath the toddler at the same time.

For dinner, mommy had the chicken fillet and felt that it was too salty while I had the spaghetti. As usual, I brought out the thrash to throw in the central bins just near the driveway and had my bath. Baby K went to bed by 945 since he missed the afternoon nap. His parents followed suit soon after as we needed to wake up early for tomorrow’s boat trip to Hvar.

Croatia 2016 Day 3 – Day trip to Mostar and Blagaj Tekke

Posted on September 10, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Day 3 started with the similar arrangements as day 2, only 30mins later. I blamed jet lag and sleeping late for the tiredness.

Baby K woke up earlier at 745. As we prepared for the day, we got baby K to munch on his breakfast cereal, leaving a mess as bits and pieces of the crunchy bar fell onto the floor as he walked around. Mommy went to buy pastry and pizza from same bakery as the previous day and Lavazza coffee from Caffe Pizzeria Blue Planet, also on the ground floor.

I went to check the car seat that I washed the night before and left it under the air-con to dry but it was still smelly. We decided to leave it in the room. I brought baby K to the supermarket to look for air freshener and prune juice as baby K seemed to be suffering from constipation. Eventually I didn’t get the prune juice as baby K decided to poop in the supermarket while fiddling around with the goods.

After changing the soiled diapers back in the apartment, we were on our way to explore another city in another country. The car was still smelling like puke and we quickly put the air fresheners to use. Drove south east on 8 until a split to 223 where we hit a border crossing near a town Ivanica. It was a busy border and we managed to cross after 30 minutes. This time around, we had to predownload the Google map while we had wifi and used that as a check back with the recommended route by the GPS, so that we didn’t get the longest route. Thankfully the downloaded map given by google map could still work even after the mifi dropped after crossing into Bosnia.

It was a really long drive and comparatively the paved roads here were quite bumpy. Baby K slept soon after. We only managed to reach Mostar at 130pm, about 3hrs of driving as baby K woke up at the same time. I have read in advance from somewhere to ignore and keep going forward when we see a carpark attendant when arriving into Mostar but had totally forgotten about that advice. Furthermore it was indicated clearly on my GPS that I had not arrived at the right carpark yet. So I scrolled down my window to talk to the man with a parking attendant tag and was told to follow a boy on a scooter to the car park lot. Scooter boy led me through a narrow street and into a compound where there were already many cars parked there and so I did the same. I was only told, after getting off the car, the parking fees. 200kunas. That translate to 40SGD, more expensive than parking in MBS (and this was not MBS)! I managed to come out with a “Errr too expensive” and was offered half day for 100kuna, and half day meant to 11pm apparently. Didn’t want any trouble especially with my family around and also already arriving so late into Mostar, I accepted this VIP parking lot and left, walking towards the famous bridge. Upon entering the old town, we found public carpark at 1euros, the one that my GPS was initially bringing us to.

Parking receipt for the expensive carpark

Just near the bridge we chose a restaurant Sadvran, with local Bosnian food and nice ambience. They had baby seat which was great as that would limit baby K’s movement during lunch. Ordered veal and chicken fillet and they came in very big portions and at an affordable 17euros in all. Payment in all 3 currencies (Euros, Croatian and Bosnian Marks) available. As a hobby, I have also asked to change some Bosnian marks for currency collection at the restaurant.

So it was mentioned that there would be a nice photo shoot point if we walked past the restaurants down the steps towards the river and true enough, it was a nice spot. After taking some photos, we crossed the UNESCO bridge, Stari Most, to the Bosniak side of town, where the buildings and culture reflect predominantly Islamic compared to the Catholic presence in the form of cathedrals before the bridge. We walked through the streets with shops on both sides of the cobbled street. Stopped at one shop to buy a souvenir of the famous bridge. There was no price tag and we were going to negotiate but didn’t – the price was just 1euros! Walked to a small shopping mall nearby to use the toilet and change baby K diapers and while at it, change small currencies at the toilet for collection. Toilet lady was exceptionally helpful in getting the different coins for me.

Wanted to follow walking route by Rick Steves but as we were about half way through, the skies began to trickle. We moved quickly backwards, getting past some heavy road works before managing to take refuge at a market before the heavy showers came. It was awful to have rain during our holidays but the weather had been especially kind as it was forecasted on online weather webby to be 4 days of showers which should have started on the day we arrived in Dubrovnik and it was not all that bad (there were passing showers) till now. We hanged around the market until the rain lightened to trickles. While waiting, I carried baby K and walked around looking at some of the local products on sale amongst the few stalls. We proceeded to walk back to the carpark and while on the bridge, we noticed some people that looked like they were going to jump and dive from the bridge (maybe the rain allowed the depth of the river to increase?) but seeing that there weren’t any developments after 5mins, we left. I left Mostar with a slight sense of disappointment as it wasn’t as what I had expected to see. My impression from reading the online reviews about how it was a town so devastated by war that old buildings with bullet holes could be seen or even a bombed up building. I have not seen anything of that and I thought that the town was kinda nice, one with a rustic feel.

Our next stop was a picture perfect Blagaj Tekke which was a short 15mins drive from Mostar. This time I just followed the GPS and went all the way in to the car park I had earlier bookmarked. The nearer we approached our destination, the narrower the roads became. We arrived at the entrance of the carpark guarded by a carpark attendant who charged a reasonable 2marks (about 1SGD) parking fee.

We walked the short distance in but didn’t know what we were expecting and paid 8marks for 2 persons to enter the attraction. Only after we enter we found that we were not in the proper attire (wearing berms) and so didn’t bother to enter as it didn’t look all that interesting. I guessed we were there more for the view than the history and culture. We should have just explored the area a bit before heading to the tickets counter.

After using the rest room and accessing the balcony, we back tracked and crossed the closest bridge, walked thru a restaurant Vrelo and trekked towards cave opening in the mountains to take photos (where the view was). There were other activities available like kayaking in the river and taking a boat trip into cave but we didn’t attempt those.

We returned to the Vrelo that we had passed through earlier on the way to the cave opening (where there was a waitress not impressed with us walking through the restaurant when I had asked for directions on how to get there instead of asking for the menu) and ordered Bosnian coffee (which I thought was one of the must-try) and red tea. The coffee came in a interesting pot which was very powdery but tasted nice. Maybe I didn’t pour it properly. Paid only 2 marks for all which was good price but the service was quite slow.

Getting back from Blagaj Tekke to Dubrovnik was hell of a long journey. Thankfully baby K fell asleep and slept for most of the journey. On this return journey we took a different route to the one we took as we drove towards Mostar and was quick to reach the border crossing. While Bosnian side officers waved us past quickly without even stamping, the Croatia side went through the stamping.

The very long drive happened as I ignored the GPS constant recommendations to take the small roads and my insistence to stay on M6 all the way got us on the west side of Neum, which meant we had to do another two border crossings as Dubrovnik was separated (funnily) from the main part of Croatia by this small part of Bosnia. However, as many drivers would pass this Bosnian territory in their daily commute, the border crossings were much easier and quicker as officials usually only glanced and waved us past, with the more detailed check on computer at the most. Their counters were even side by side, reducing the space to travel between counters and the need to stop frequently.

It was a race against the setting sun as I tried to drive as fast as I could manage around the winding coastal roads. With imminent darkness covering our horizon, I had to drive in complete darkness with only road reflectors as guidance and occasional headlamps of oncoming traffic for road vision, something I was not used to although it was not my first time doing so overseas.

We finally arrived at 830pm and baby K just woke from his long sleep. Went back to the apartment and mommy quickly cooked and fed baby K while I went to buy dinner at Lavazza, which they took quite a while to cook. Had initially wanted to check out what’s available at beachside and I did see quite a few restaurants but pestering drizzles came and had to run back to the sheltered Lavazza instead. Our dinner consisted of pork burger and grilled fish for 134kunas. The taste was not the best especially since it was packed, the pork burger didn’t taste like pork while grilled fish was just ok.

Pork Burger and grilled fish from Lavazza

Night duty of bathing baby K done before I went down to try to wash the car seats and throw the trash at the rubbish bin center. Then it was round two of cleaning the baby seat back at the apartment, this time with more detergent. At long last, final duty to bath myself and got into bed for the well deserved rest. The next day we would be heading to Split and we had some more packing to be done in the morning.

Croatia 2016 Day 2 – Day trip to Perast and Kotor

Posted on September 9, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

It was a restless night for baby K as he woke up many times. We weren’t sure if it was the environment as staying in the attic, the roof was a lot closer to our faces as we laid in bed as compared to our room back home and he might not be used to that. Or if it was due to jet lag. Anyhow, he returned to sleep without much problem.

As of all trips, we had to wake up early (630am) to prepare for his meals since he wasn’t ready to take outside food yet. As mommy cooked, I laid in bed till baby K woke up at 8.

From the bakery, we bought a loaf of freshly baked bread the previous day and ate that for breakfast. Baby K did not seemed to know that we were overseas and behaved normally, his usual cheeky self. We managed to leave the apartment at 9, after all the preparations.

As we would be visiting UNESCO listed Kotor and Perast in Montenegro, I checked the vehicle documents just to be sure that it came with required insurance aka green card. We had read about the confusion at border crossings and that people were made to pay additional fees because of these. In the folder that came with the car, the insurance was there, covering Montenegro and Bosnia and the other countries that were planned in our itinerary. And to be better prepared, I had also input all the parking lots for the places to visit into the GPS so as to reduce time spent on fiddling around with the GPS and stress over finding a car park in a unfamiliar city.

I punched the “favorites” folder on my decade old Garmin uploaded a map I got from the web and selected Perast car park and we were on our way towards the border. Upon some amount of driving, I realized that the GPS would always prefer small street roads instead of taking the main road. I had to make a couple of U-turns and learnt to ignore sometimes. We arrived at border crossing at 1015 to find a queue of cars waiting to cross. As soon as it was my turn, we were asked for passports, drivers license and vehicle documents, in exchange for exit stamps at the Croatian side and entry stamps at the Montenegro’s side, a short drive away.

Then it was all about following the GPS with common sense, sometimes needing to U-turn and sticking close to the waters to be sure I was on the right path. Lining the huge Kotor bay were a couple of small towns and as we moved onwards to Perast, we also drove past the Kamenari ferry crossing, which could shorten the drive to Kotor if anyone wanted to avoid going around the whole bay. We weren’t skipping the scenic drive around the bay though.

We arrived into Perast and approached the car park that was almost full. Luckily there was a parking lot available at that time. Got off and went to the shore to find a boatman offering for ferry trips to island, commonly known as “Our Lady of the Rock“, for 5euros per person return. We boarded the motor boat for the 5mins smooth trip to island. It was small island with a church on it and we spent some time taking photos with the surrounding and Perast town. We did not enter the church as it required entrance fees and we weren’t all that interested.

Boat transfer from Perast to the Lady of the Rock.

Waited to take the same boat back and only paid upon disembarkation back at the car park. There wasn’t a lot of boats so it was not too difficult to identify the same boatman. We then walked along the restaurants lined street and chose one called Konoba Skolji, which has tripadvisor winner sticker, as it most likely would have some tasty food. Indeed the decision paid off with the delicious squid ink risotto and spaghetti with prawns. Baby K wasn’t equally impressed with his cooked lunch and wasn’t cooperative to finish it so we had to negotiate with biscuits. After the nice lunch with the bay view, we bought a cup of watermelon from a fruit stall while walking back to the car, to share with baby K.

Our next stop was Kotor which was about 20mins drive further down the same road that brought us to Perast. At almost 500m from the old town the road leading to the old town was already getting jammed. There was a public parking lot just across the old town where we parked our car. Forgetting that Montenegro were already using the Euros, we crossed the road to the port side to find a bank but was advised that the official currency was the Euros.

At one of the entrance through the defense wall of Kotor Old town, we took the town map from info counter and walked through. There wasn’t a planned route for us (though we wanted to follow one recommended in Rick Steve’s travel guide but we quickly got lost) so we just started walking around and exploring the historic old town at our own pace.

The narrow streets and the rustic buildings and churches and the squares from the medieval times were nice, just like those depicted in the movies. We stopped by one pharmacy to purchase a toddler spoon as we had left baby K’s utensils back in Singapore. There was a route that led the untiring travelers to the top of the mountain where people would probably enjoy a birds eye view of the bay. We didn’t do it as it was a really long climb up.

After walking around the old town, we went back to the car park and saw a shopping mall Kamelija nearby. That’s when we decided visit and see if there were any supermarket to buy groceries. There was a Aroma supermarket which offered pretty affordable groceries. As mommy shopped, baby K and I briefly got up to the 3rd floor where it had mainly kids stuff. After shopping, we left Kotor for Dubrovnik, paying the carpark fees of 1.60euros for about 2hrs parking at the counter before getting on the car.

We drove the same way back, with the bay on our left side. It was a longer journey now and was all ok until baby K puked. Had to stop at the side of the road to do a quick clean up with wet tissues and changed out his shirt with one that we just bought from Kotor though he had to go without pants. He must have been carsick and also drank a little too much from the packet of milk we bought from the supermarket. Later on, he fell asleep.

It was a long drive back and while we made a wrong turn and started to climb a hill, we saw a beautiful view of bay at the top but did not stop to take any pictures. Made a U-turn and went back to the main road.

There was another border crossing other than the one that we gone through that afternoon. Instead on going on the main expressway after Igalo on the right, we took the left one that got us on to 516, a smaller single lane road, which would provide more ocean view then the main expressway. The border office on this road a very small building though and only a few cars would use this border crossing. We passed through within 10mins.

After being on the road for some 2hrs, we finally arrived at 7 pm. Quickly mommy cooked baby K’s dinner and we went out to the same pedestrian street yesterday at Konavoka restaurant for dinner. The food took a while to arrive, longer than it took baby K to finish his dinner. To avoid his fussiness, I took him to walk around the area and play around the fountain. After a while, I swapped with mommy to eat my dinner which also took a long time because I had ordered sardines and there were lots of bones. Dinner costed about 220kunas.

It was a long night and it started with giving baby K a bath and prepared him to sleep. After he fell asleep, I had to remove the car seat to wash off the vomit and try to clean the car with detergent to get rid of the smell. Then I continued with washing the clothes with the same smell. After all the washing and my own bath, I went to bed at 1130pm, already numbed to the stench.

Croatia 2016 Day 1 – Arrival in Dubrovnik and Old Town visit

Posted on September 8, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

After disembarking the plane, we went about looking for the airport hotel. It was only 4am and our connecting flight was almost 5hrs away so we had booked the airport TAV hotel airside room for our comfort. It had rooms going at horrendously expensive rates in 3hrs block but there weren’t other much better choices.

There wasn’t much info on where it was located and the counter near the transfer gates was closed. We had to pass through transfer gates luggage checks before arriving at the departure hall where the hotel was situated. There were 8 lines of passengers waiting to get their luggage checked to get to the departure halls but the line moved rather quickly.
There were signs providing directions to the hotel at the hall and we arrived at the reception and checked into the room for the shortest 3hr period at 118 euros. The rooms were pretty basic. There was leftover coffee in the flask and we couldn’t boil any water in it as there was the taste of coffee left. I got out and bought a bottle of mineral water at Starbucks for 1euros. Since there was some time left, we took a bath and took a quite nap. After the short break, we checked out with baby K still napping in my arms and went to Cakes & Bakes for breakfast. The pastries and the coffee costed 44euros!

We got ready for our next flight and as we arrived at the gate, we found ourselves being one of the last to board (again!) the bus that took us to the plane. This was a much smaller plane as it was a short 1.5hrs flight to Dubrovnik. There weren’t any entertainment onboard the flight, simple meals for breakfast but we survived any baby tantrums as he was pretty well behaved! As a bonus, the weather was clear and we caught a birds eye view of the Kotor Bay (no time to take a shot though).

The plane landed in small Dubrovnik airport and we managed to clear Immigrations rather quickly. We got our luggage proceeded out of the arrival. There was a forex counter and we changed Euros to Kunas at a poor rate (expected) of 1:7, which we changed only 200euros to tide us over till we get to one with a better rate.

The car rental companies were located at a street directly across the street of the arrival halls. Having earlier anticipated that we could actually take a long time to settle the car as our itinerary was a little complex (having to drop off the car at another country and what not), I had previously made a reservation online, trying to provide all the details possible, settling questions on costs and the types of insurance, and asking for the baby seats and types of auto car that could take our 2 large luggage, in a bid to have this all ready for us to pick up, it was all done in vain. The car was never prepared. At the Avis counter, though there were 2 people there, it took very long as there were both new customers and returning customers. Then when it was finally my turn, it took a while to even get started, as though my reservation was too difficult to handle. Then while getting to the payment and the insurance, I was confused by the initial payment and the deposit as I remembered not paying any deposit for any of my rented cars at all (maybe this time around I didn’t had zero excess insurance). Moreover, he was charging to card 1 more time more than required and told me that the initial charge was cancelled and having received an SMS from the bank, I was even more confused.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Line of car rental companies

A diesel car was given and as I got in to check (after the external damage check and taking photos and so on), I realized first that there wasn’t any baby seat in which he said he really didn’t have anymore and showed me the empty cupboard. He offered to talk to another company but I had to rent it from them directly (and pay them separately). This brought the question of what I was paying for again. It wasn’t cheap and costed 120 euros, which I thought I could have bought a new baby seat with that kind of money. Avis guy that offered to provide me a portable wifi set for free that kinda eased my frustrations a little.

Then while I sat in ready to go, I realized I was given a manual car rather than an auto (which was the more common of the 2 in Europe). Went in and told him I had reserved an Auto and frankly it would be too challenging for me to do manual in a left hand drive coming from a right hand drive Singapore. He said he had to pick it up from a garage at another place. At this point, I had already given up all expectations of any better service coming from Avis and just wanted to quickly get on with my trip. (Baby K wasn’t helping as he was incredibly cranky)

When he finally returned with a Chevrolet Cruze wagon, I went through the same checks and loaded up the luggage and the baby seat, started the GPS and we were finally on our way. Just seated in, baby K was in dreamland. And then mommy said she left her hand phone in the backseat of the manual car. Back to airport again.

At arrival, I couldn’t get thru the tight lane spaces due to multiple car parking on the sides and cars maneuvering to get in/out, I quickly just parked by the road side and ran to the car, and recovered the hp. Finally we were on our way.

Driving in Dubrovnik was fairly simple, one lane highways from the airport to Lapad, therefore the speed of which depended on the amount of traffic. It wasn’t too bad and soon, upon arrival at our first Airbnb accommodation, Dvori Lapad Apartments, I parked at the public parking just outside the block of apartments (we know we have arrived as I have “visited” the place before using Google map during planning). Couldn’t remember the instructions and therefore gave the owner a call. She came to the car park and brought us to the private parking at a specific lot. After that she gave an introduction to the accommodation to me (left mommy and sleeping baby K in the car) and provided the map, tips on going to the old town, market close to the apartment and places to eat and visit. Thereafter I paid for the 3 nights stay in Euros (which was good as I don’t suffer dual forex losses and I don’t have much Kunas to begin with). It was exhausting but I felt a sense of relief that we had finally arrived some 3hrs after our flight have landed in Dubrovnik.

Returned to the secured car park and pick up luggage and brought everyone to the apartment. After leaving the our barang barang in this attic apartment, after some tiring lugging of luggage up 2 flights of stairs, We visited the Studenec supermarket located on the ground level to buy fish and drinks. Whilst mommy had to cook for baby K, I brought him to the ground level this time to visit the bakery to get some bread.

After having our meals, we left the apartment to visit the old town. In order to take the bus, we had to go buy tickets from a kiosk at 12 Kunas per adult per way. The bus stop was conveniently located within a few meters from the apartment block and we boarded bus 4 for a 15mins ride before dropping off just outside the old city walls. We then climbed the wall for 120kunas and walked the entire 2km stretch around the old town. It was a nice walk offering various views of the city, the fort and also the harbour. There were also some restaurants and cafes along the way for tired tourists to sit back and enjoy the view.

Famous orange roofs of Dubrovnik old town

After our tiring walk, we looked for a forex counter to exchange 500euros to kuna at 1:7.2, slightly better. Our initial intention to take the cable car up to the viewing station was dropped in favor of going back to rest (some jet lag and walking while carrying a toddler was no joke). Bus 4 return was much more crowded than when we took it to the old town.

Once back at the apartment, we pumped up the air bathtub for baby K to bath. For our dinner, I went to the pedestrian street, Šetalište kralja Zvonimira, which was lined with restaurants. As it was a busy night, I tried ordering for takeaway but they had offered pizzas only. Thankfully another restaurant Agora offered more when I ordered scampi (prawns with claws) spaghetti and fish soup all for 250kunas. This street was quite crowded as there seemed to be a outdoor concert event about to start.

The night closed rather quickly as we had dinner and baby K fell asleep while I changed his diapers. It was a long day after all. As we had cooked fish, I had to throw the garbage at the main bin center to avoid any fishy smell in the apartment. There were still people walking about and it felt relatively safe, one of the many positive feelings I had about this country.

After my bath, we found ourselves already in bed before 10pm, some deserved rest before our long exploration of this part of Balkans.

Croatia and Slovenia 2016 Day 0 – Flight to Istanbul

Posted on September 7, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

10pm flight to Istanbul and we left our house at 745pm on a Hyundai i40 cab that had problems fitting 2×28″ luggage. Thankfully traffic was smooth, much contributed to the 1 week school holidays and we arrived at 820pm. There weren’t any queues and we checked in quickly.
We found out that for the flight, there weren’t any baby meals because I didn’t call in to arrange for it (which I thought I did when I call in for seats allocation and I thought I made the same mistake in the previous flight ). Made arrangements for the return flights at the service counter and took the sky train to T1 NTUC (took forever to get to this ulu NTUC) to get some cereals for baby K before heading back to T2 to go through the departure.

We had only 15 mins left and made the necessary toilet trips and diapers change out before heading to the gate. Upon arriving, we found that we were the last passengers to board. So we boarded the plane and settled down rather quickly. The flight took off only slightly after 10pm. Baby K ate some bread and was feeling tired. Soon after taking off, he fell asleep in Mommy’s arms without drinking milk. Bassinet was set up and we put him into it, and found that this 22month old toddler couldn’t fit and had his legs sticking out. How fast our baby had grown. We try to get some sleep whenever we can.

There was definitely a certain space advantage in having the bassinet seats, where we could stretch our legs in comfort comparing to the other economy seats. Furthermore, these were located near the doorway to the airport allowing for quick exit to the immigrations upon arrival. The con however was the inflight pantry where the food carts were stored and where the air service staff do some work was just there, separated by a thin curtain blocking the view, not the noise. And for some reason, it was particularly noisy as supper was prepared, too much clanging of porcelain. Luckily enough K just slept through it all.

Food was served finally and I was liked the visual presentation of the its dish and utensils, thought it looked classy. We had our first western dish Ratatouille and Kung Bai chicken which was ok. As sleep memory hit, we soon fell asleep (as a parent, normal sleeping time became 10pm instead of the usual 12midnight pre-baby!). Normally the food trays were be cleared a short time after everyone was done with their food but in this long flight, it took unusually long to do so. I was locked in that space between the tray table and the seat for some time which made sleeping uncomfortable. Didn’t realized when it was done though, only so when I woke to find 2 packs of inflight amenities Chopard pouches with sitting on it. Tiredness got the better of interest and I went back to sleep.

K awoke but didn’t cry uncontrollably as we thought it would thankfully. Brought down the haversack placed at the overhead compartment some rows behind and prepare the milk using sample packs that we got from the PD visits. He happily drank his milk and with the total lack of activity (as his parents were also not moving much), he slowly returned to dreamland.

It was rather uncomfortable to be sleeping on this flight even with the extra leg space. There was this huge screen placed on the wall just above the bassinet that showed the flight route and some other information. It shone bright as day right in our faces. The occasional loud snoring from sleeping passengers also added to the annoyance. Encountered a slight period of turbulence but overall a smooth journey. Then baby K decided that I was a better bed than mom and had to sleep on me. We constantly made adjustments to get more comfortable and I couldn’t get a good sleep.

Early breakfast was served at around 7am and again it was challenging to have breakfast as baby K was laying across the seat with his legs across the armrest where the folded tables were hidden. We had to move him slowly and have the 2 trays placed on one table and I had to eat with one hand. The food was nice but the tray return took eternity.
Almost 2-3hrs before landing, baby K woke up. We had to start the entertainment for fear that he would become a nightmare. Thankfully he was well behaved once he got past the grumpiness of waking up from a sleep. With the free inflight kid’s book and entertainment system, the flight landed without crying, much to our relief (and some pride that our toddler was well behaved and grown up!). We had to wait for most passengers to disembark first since our overhead luggage were spread all over the plane having no space since we were late to board 12hrs ago. It’s ok we weren’t in a rush.

Escape plan to Croatia/Slovenia September 2016

Posted on September 6, 2016June 23, 2020 by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Croatia/Slovenia 2016:

Total duration 18D18N
Singapore is 6hrs ahead of Croatia and Slovenia.
Flight time is 11hrs 25mins on Turkish Airlines from Singapore to Istanbul, Turkey followed by a 1hr 50min flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia after about a 4hour transition at Istanbul.
Return is 2hrs 30mins from Salzburg to Istanbul, a 11hrs layover then a 11hrs 5mins flight from Istanbul back to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Istanbul at 10pm, arriving at 425am in Istanbul and fly off again at 920am arriving in Dubrovnik at 1010am. Return flight from Salzburg is at 1125am and touching down in Istanbul at 255pm and flying off at 150am and finally touching down at 555pm.

Day 0 Flight to Istanbul
Day 1 Arrival in Dubrovnik, old town visit
Day 2 Day trip to Perast and Kotor
Day 3 Day trip to Mostar and Blagaj Tekke
Day 4 Dubrovnik to Neum to Split
Day 5 Day trip to Hvar and Stari Grad
Day 6 Krka National Park waterfalls and Sibenik
Day 7 Split – Diocletian Palace and old town
Day 8 Split to Trogir to Zadar
Day 9 Plitvice National Park waterfalls and towards Zagreb
Day 10 Zagreb old town towards Opatija, Motovun visit
Day 11 Opatija to Pula to Rovinj
Day 12 Rovinj to Porec, border crossing, visit Postojna Cave and Predama Castle to Ljubljana
Day 13 Ljubljana old town and castle
Day 14 Ljubljana to Skofja Loka to Lake Bled, Bled castle
Day 15 Lake Bohinj and Trenta Valley
Day 16 Lake Bled to Salzburg, Mirabell gardens
Day 17-18 Flight to Istanbul then Home Sweet Home

This annual family trip we wanted to do a road trip as it would be easier for us to manage with toddler in tow. With a car, we could get from place to place at our own pace. A few other options did surface (such as Eastern Europe – Prague and Budapest) but we were more in favour of this itinerary as we thought in terms of security these countries had less issues as it seemed less popular amongst tourists and therefore lesser target for security issues. Though we had concluded that it was really difficult to travel with a toddler from our Europe trip last year, I guessed wanderlust got the better of us?

Budget – Depends – budget buster for us due to choice over comfort.

The total amount spent was about 12k SGD, mostly coming from the plane tickets and the car with all the tolls and petrol. Accommodation was the other major contributor especially in Turkey airport. Food expenditure was not very high and comparable to Singapore’s standard of eating out at a normal restaurant, unlike in other European countries. Croatia had its own currency and there would be some losses due to double exchange from SGD to Euros to Kunas.

Complexity – High without car. Ours made easy due to car and Google maps on data plan and GPS.

Although there were multiple border crossings, it wasn’t really difficult with our own transport since we have everything with us most of the time. Road signs were clear and easy to navigate. Only roads in old towns were narrow and parking were challenging to find. We had to purchase data SIM (12-15euros?) which eased the navigation bit as Google map was accurate to the dot. The map that was used in my Garmin GPS was neurotic, often choosing the smaller roads which made the journey longer than it should have been thus unreliable.