Our First Hungarian Sunset

Our afternoon train from Zagreb to Budapest was right on time, as trains in Europe always are. This is one of the pleasures of travelling in Europe ~ the trains. It’s nice not to have to go through security, take your shoes off, and pull your laptop out of your bag. You just get on the train and open your bottle of wine.

 We were set with our ham and cheese sandwiches and a bottle, well 3 bottles of wine for the 7 hour ride to Budapest.  When the trip began there were 5 people in our 6 person 1^st class cabin.  It was very hot and the cabin was stuffy. Shortly after we started out, I took a walk and met a young woman in the cabin next to us, but their cabin was a lot cooler. I asked her why. Her suggestion of opening the window didn’t work for us as it was locked.

At one of the stops all the people in both our cabins departed except Denny and I and the women next door. She invited us to come and join her and rid ourselves of our sauna like conditions.  It was nice to meet Agnes, who is from Budapest and had lots of good advice on what to see and filled us in on what Hungary is like.

When she looked at our directions for getting to the hotel, she suggested we get off at her stop and then she would make sure we transferred to the right train that would take us right to the Hilton.  When her boyfriend met her, he had already purchased tickets for us on the connecting subway. How nice is that! Here we are in a strange city at night and our quandary of how to negotiate the Budapest subway system is suddenly solved.  Agnes and Sandor not only provided us with the necessary tickets but also guided us right up to the Hilton entrance.

 Tonight, we took them to dinner and they had a great restaurant picked out with a spectacular view of the City.  It was an area called the Citadel which is on the Buda side of the beautiful Danube River,
 

 Today we walked around the city and saw many spectacular sites: The Hungarian Parliament, we were lucky to get there just in time to see the changing of the guard. Freedom Square, where we took pictures along side of the Ronald Reagan Statue and the Soviet Memorial. St. Stephen’s Basilica, with its majesty,  built in 1845.  Denny believes it is one of the two most magnificent churches in the world, being 2nd only to St. Peter's in Rome.

Mrkopalj

 

And what a great day it was!

The day was cool but the sun was shining, it was a perfect day for a drive to the mountains. Our driver picked us up at the hotel in the morning and we were on our way to Mrkopalj.

The trip took about an hour and a half on very good motor ways. The roads are wide, and there were cars passing us at 100 miles an hour, we were on the Croatian Autobahn.

There were a number of tunnels going through the mountains and bridges to go over before we got to the winding mountain road. It was a beautiful drive especially when we began to see snow.

There were very few people around once we got to the village, and we were surprised to find Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church was locked. On a Sunday! The pictures I took were from outside through the window. I’m so happy with how well they came out. There were no shops or stores at all just a few cabin homes. The population of Mrkopalj is 928 and all are Croatian.

 We walked through the cemetery and found lots of tombstones with the name Brozovic with a tilde over the c. All of the names were like this. No names on any tombstone had an “h” behind the "c" on the end had them.

 

Although the church was locked and there wasn’t anyone really to talk to I’m still so happy to have finally stepped foot on the small mountainous village of Mrkopalj ~ where my grandparents Frank and Pauline Brozovich were from.

When we got back to Zagreb we took the tram to Town Center and had lunch. The city was very much alive today, with the sun shining, much different than yesterday with the rain. The parks were filled with activity, music and people having lots of fun.

We found the grand Zagreb Cathedral built in 1217.  Inside we sat and had our own little private renewal of wedding vows. We both agreed that if we had it to do over again~ and we do~ we would~ so we did. We did the same thing in Killarney back in 2004.  It's been a great trip so far and still have so much to look forward to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zagreb

It was another early morning flight yesterday, but The Hilton Hotel was really helpful with its 3:30 wake up call, a big bag of breakfast goodies to take to the airport and a car ready to get us there in plenty of time for our 6:30 flight.  

 I don’t know why, but I had it in my mind that the flight from Dubrovnik to Zagreb was two hours, so when we touched down in less than an hour, it was great.

 Zagreb greeted us with lots of rain. It was so much greener than both of us expected, but with an umbrella and jackets we enjoyed the Town Center for lunch and a walk in one of their many beautiful parks.

 Zagreb is interesting in that there are very few single family homes. There are lots of high rise, high density apartments, typical of any former Communist country.

 The roads are wide with traffic going both ways and plenty of room for tram tracks down the center. The tram was just outside the hotel making it easy to get around.

 Today we hired a driver who will show us the Croatian countryside, with the main focus being Mrkopalj. Mrkopalj is a small village in the mountains where my dad’s family came from. This is one of those trips I was never sure would happen and now look at me.

I’m in Croatia headed for Mrkopalj!

 

Remembering Dubrovnik

We bid farewell today to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik.  George Bernard Shaw called it the “Pearl of the Adriatic,” and justifiably so. This beautiful seaport surrounded by the Dalmatian islands is one of the great wonders of the world.  

 In Dubrovnik’s Old Town, which is surrounded by thousand-year old walls, there is an energy that embraces you from the moment you enter the gate.

 You are greeted immediately by street performers, and the charming cobblestone alleyways, which lead to restaurants, shops and museums. There is an unbelievable amount of churches for such a confined area, each beautiful~ each unique unto itself.

 The Franciscan Monastery offers music at night with violins, guitar and piano. There are no cars within the walled city making it nice to walk, eat ice cream, listen to the music, browse the bookstores or stop for a glass of local wine or beer. The pizza and spaghetti …delicious!

 The Croatian people are warm and open and only too happy to teach you Croatian words.  I told our waiter at Spaghetteria Toni  that my maiden name is Brozovich and he said “Oh Brozovich! They’re from over near Zagreb.” I told him that our family is from a small village in the mountains called Mrkopalj and he knew of it and encouraged us to take a private car or bus to see it. “You must” he said.

 We took lots of picture while we were here - So beautiful this city~ So very old and yet modern, progressive and definitely for me, a feeling of home.

 Bog ~ Hello

Zivot  je Dobra ~ Life is Good

Huala ~ Thank You

 

 

 



Boat Rides and Cable Cars

We walked around Old Town today and I’m just in absolute awe of the beauty of The Adriatic Sea. Lots of boats were going out and although being on a boat in deep water scares the heck out of me, I had to do it.

 There really is quite a view of the city from the water. The buildings and homes, the different islands, flowers, plants, waves~ Oh boy! The waves!

It really wasn’t what you would call a smooth ride. 

 

I was so glad when we stopped at this one particular island, to hear the history of it. It’s called Lokrum Island. Actually, you know, I think I’ll leave that story for another post.

 Oh what the heck.

 On their last night, the monks who were living there "cursed" the island by walking around the building three times with their candles upside down, leaving a trail of wax. They were upset after being told they were being thrown off the island.

After the monks left, anyone who stayed there was not able to go to sleep. Legend has it that if they did, when they woke up they were Crazy. Nuts. Insane.

On the other hand, couples who were having trouble getting pregnant would go there and Boom! They were pregnant.  They just had to be careful not to go to sleep.

O.K. there were no life jackets in sight on the boat and there was this group of girls who were really having too much fun. I was at the ready to yank this one down as she was alluding to doing the Titanic pose.

Remember that? Where Kate Winslet stood up on the edge of the boat and spread her arms like wings.  

Denny assured me they were O.K. and quickly asked this lovely young couple sitting across from us to take our picture.

 We made it back and as we were getting off the boat, the English couple who took our picture asked if we had taken the cable car ride yet?  We told them that from our balcony the night before we watched it go up and come down and we both agreed it was something we wouldn’t want to do. SO~

We did it!

Needless to say~ It was another wonderful experience here in Dubrovnik.  

 

Living Croatia  

We were up at 3:30 this morning and on our way to the airport at four.  After flying  from Las Vegas to Chicago, and then about 8 ½ hours to Frankfurt with a four-hour layover we were beginning to feel the effects of the early morning pick up and all that time in the plane and airports.

 I had to do a little negotiating and making of friends when we boarded Croatian Airlines as they had Denny sitting in the back and myself in the front. This was way too exciting of a trip to not fly into and land together. Everything worked out smoothly.  We were pretty much overwhelmed at the majesty of the snow-capped Alps and then the gorgeous sapphire sea all around us ~ that welcomed our arrival. Needless to say, we found our second wind.  

We landed in Dubrovnik just as we expected about 1PM their time. The shuttle for the hotel was waiting for us right outside the door and it was only a matter of minutes before we were on our way, the scenic route to the Hilton.

  All along our left was the beautiful Adriatic Sea, and on the right the beautiful orange topped houses and buildings. Every time the shuttle stopped, I snapped a picture.

We were thrilled with the location and ambiance of the hotel being in Town Centre. There were lots of folks walking along eating ice cream on this beautiful spring day and we noticed lots of shops, pizza parlors and quaint bistros and lovely restaurants. I spotted a place right away that I wanted to come back to for a hat.

 The check - in was very welcoming and easy, and our room offered quite a surprise with its balcony overlooking the water.

 A shower, a nap and a walk around town. Topped off with a quiet evening on the balcony with a glass of wine catching our breath.

looking forward to a whole new day tomorrow.

Living Croatia.

 

  

The Circle Of Life

The Circle Of Life
(From the Emerald Isle to the Sapphire Waters of Croatia)

  A lot of you followed my Irish Travel Blog as I made my way from Dublin to Killarney, met up with old friends and made lots of new ones. I even found a Yoga and Zumba class and eventually felt like a local. I like to think that traveling the green rolling hills of Ireland, as often as I have, was not only for myself but for my mom as well, since she didn’t get the chance to go.

Going to Croatia has also been a dream of mine, and as I write this, I must admit, I’m feeling fairly emotional. Along with knowing how blessed I am to be able to travel as much as I do, I am very excited to see where my dad’s family came from.

Croatia is 9 hours ahead of us and the forecast calls for 60’s during the day and 40’s at night. At 1pm Wednesday, Croatia time Denny and I will be landing in Dubrovnik.

As I was packing the last few things in my suitcase tonight, an interesting thought crossed my mind. I am about to take a journey to a part of the world where my ancestors came from. In just a few short days, I’ll be looking into the faces that will remind me of my grandmother, and my dad, my aunts and uncles.

 

I am about to hear the language that I remember from when I was really young, sitting at the dinner table with my Grandma Brozovich. It was a flashback really, reminding me of how it felt when I first went to Ireland.  

As Alex Haley said “"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from.”

 OH MY GOD! I have looked so forward to this trip for such a long time…

So from the Emerald Isle to the Sapphire waters of Croatia I dedicate this travel blog to Mom and Dad.