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With 8 weeks down and not quite 5 weeks to go, it occurred to me I should publish this blog - if for no other reason than some readers have seen how close we are to Ukraine. Only a 19 hour drive to Kyiv on a good day, with quick border crossings and a following wind. None of which exists any more - so no driving to Ukraine. If only the invading nutbars would also swear off driving/flying/tanking to Ukraine and go home. As I tie my meanderings into a bundle and call it a blog, I just saw a Soviet era drone crash landed outside Zagreb today making a big crater, damaging 40 cars and scaring the bejesus out of some locals. Might have been Ukrainian. Honestly. There's a retro war getting being fought in Europe and it feels like a vintage car rally with all the attendant breakdowns - though god forbid anybody starts using the modern stuff. Nevertheless, we've bitten the bullet and decided to take ourselves off on holiday when we finish here on 13 April - in just a month's time! We've booked flights, booked an Airbnb frontline to the beach for a month and decided the animals of the world (and their copius amounts of crap) can clean up after themselves for a decent trot. We're going to be on strike on the Costa del Sol, in our old stomping ground of Fuengirola, enjoying tapas, grilled sardines from beach grills, flea markets, fresh figs, manzanilla and sunshine.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, what have we actually been up to for the last 8 weeks? It could probably be summed up in three words - Recovering, Freezing and Pizza - but obviously that's not enough for posterity - so here goes.
Sunday 16 January - We enjoyed a chillaxed morning at the Zagreb hotel, harvested roughly three tonnes of lovely olive oil based toiletries from our suite which should keep us going for the next 3 months. Our driver arrived on the dot of 12 noon and aside from a 2 minute hold up at a toll plaza when his device would not 'bip', we must have broken land speed records through the alpine mountain range between Zagreb and the coastal town of Rijeka. James saw the speedo once at 150 km. We stopped looking after that. Our new owner met us at the bus station in blazing mediterranean sunshine and we thankfully took the gentle and scenic coast road for the final hour or so to Labin.
Labin (lower) is very 'utilitarian' shall we say. It probably looks better in Spring and Summer which there are grape vines and flowers to take the edge off a particularly good effort by the Ugly Fairy Building Co. It was built as a mining town when coal was the name of the game. The mines are shut now (thought it's not that they've turned all green and renewable…) Now the coal arrives on big ships all the way from China - and can still be smelled thick in the otherwise fresh air. Labin (upper / old town / stari grad) was established around 280AD, though to look at the cobblestoned allies and fally-down houses it could easily be longer. Back then the Italians ruled this part of the world (fair enough given this part of the world was in fact Italy). It is very picturesque and not built by the Ugly Fairy (though some parts have been maintained by the Decrepit Fairy).
Having been a tad under the weather in Paris, I must admit my internal Medina-Navigation system is on the fritz and I couldn't find my way out of a paperbag at the moment. Not even a small one. James is generally excellent with maps and car navigation however I am able to get from one side of the Marrakesh Medina to the other without Google Maps very reliably - 'left at the cats, right at the rugs, left at the geezers playing chess' style. It's tragic when the med-nav is on the fritz and I feel like I'm existing within an Escher drawing. What else is clear after being whizzed up the hill in the car, through the gautlet, up another hill and to the parking… is that we are going to stay fit here - and get even fitter. After a bit of orientation - and the 6 cats are now 9 including 2 kittens - we went to a fabulous welcome dinner at a local restaurant. Whilst very Italian (pasta and risotto) the fare was also very Istrian - logical as we are in the province of Istria. One of the local specialties is Krafi - essentially monster ravioli with a truffle sauce. I helped James with a couple - huge! Real pasta monster territory. The risotto scampi was also divine. Given that I love risotto and probably have a 70/30 hit rate with 'would I pay for it' with my own endeavours - absolutely love a professional job - and there were leftovers which allowed for a luxurious first-night-alone easy dinner.
Sunday was a long, long day and it's not like we ever sleep well for the first night in a new place. We spent Monday morning at the police station getting signed in to Croatia for 90 days. It doesn't matter how touristy Croatia is or is perceived to be, It's still Eastern Europe and they love that feeling of being in control. (NB, The Netflix movie The Weekend Away is worth a watch.) After queuing for a while along with the people needing drivers licences and address changes and so forth - and despite arriving first and being seen last, we finally the paperwork done. We headed over to Lidl for a big start-from-scratch grocery shop. Pretty good at it these days - figured it would be nice to have a week's worth at least without needing to restock.
We're still under the weather. I have an irritating cough and James is not 100% - so today we are resting - Our owner lady left last night and is going back to the USA for 3 months. We are here until mid April. That's when our 90 days runs out and we have the officially stamped bit of paper from the police station to prove it. We don't know where after that. Maybe Spain? That would be nice. The weather here is beautiful. The sun seems to shine all the time and it was 13 degrees yesterday.
Tuesday 18 January - We took a walk around the old town today and enjoyed the view from Rumore Pizzeria. This is the most primo spot in the old town in our humble opinion. It was overrun with tourists on the weekend with a queue of 30 odd at Sunday lunchtime. It took all day to reduce. Apparently the weekend hordes are a combination of day trippers from Zagreb (2 hours away or so) and also Italy (also 2 hours or so away). Which seems a bit coals to Newcastle. We checked the card and were happy to discover a 100 ml glass of house wine was only 8 kuna - so two glasses of easy drinking white with a sunset thrown in was a grand total of 16 kuna or around A$3.60 odd. Liking this place already. Another couple were enjoying a late afternoon pizza which inspired us to return as soon as humanly possible.
We trundled home happily via the cats. Or shall we say, Via del Gatos - the way of the cats. All the street signs here appear in Croatian and Italian. Big street signs. We don't actually have a street called that - but we should. We're responsible for 9 of them. It was supposed to be 6 and it increased to 9 before we arrived - which is a bit much even for cat people like us. Not to mention all the local 'OPC' other peoples' cats, who are patently used to grabbing a snack here and waltzing in and out as they please. Comfy house though - good bed, good sofa, good heating, good bath - so all up a good spot to while away 3 months before we head back into Europe proper - by which time the whole Omicron surge and pesky testing requirements should be over and done with.
Wednesday 19 January - We did some actual unpacking today. We even put shoes in a rack and hung clothes on coathangers. We don't bother unpacking for housesits up to 3 weeks, but 3 months, for sure. We have managed to wrangle all our toiletries and actually put them all in the bathroom which is more challenging than you might imagine when living out of bags. With some sorting out accomplished we left the house at lunchtime and returned to our new local pizza haunt, Rumore. We're not sure it can be a haunt after only 2 visits - but we're working on it. It was a stunning day, cold air, blazing sunshine, great service and an expansive view of the ocean. Just wow. Couple of glasses of red wine and a shared pizza - less than A$20. Incredible. It could be crap on toast and the view would make up for the food's shortcomings. Something else that is also incredible - the locals who pack away a whole pizza each, and a dessert and a coffee. Seemingly hollow legs.
Thursday 20 January - Finally - a wet, rainy, cold day. We've been desperate to spend some quality time on the sofa.
Friday 21 January - Well today was frosty! It was supposed to have reached a high of 5 degrees - but it was 'feels like' 1 or 2 degrees all day. Wind was icy. We could have done with our hats with the flaps. We figured it was definitely a day for an indoor lunch so we checked out the gastronomic stylings of the marenda/lunch deal at Pizza Napoli in the old town square. We'd read up on it online and thought 35 kuna for a salad and a main with bread was extremely keenly priced. It was sublime! Four or five choices, we went with a chicken/pork combo in mushroom sauce with rice and a penne with chicken and spinach in a cream sauce. And the bread! Fresh out of the oven. Will definitely be here at least once a week. Including a wine and a tip, A$20 - or 90 kuna - outstanding value. We are also contemplating whether we really need the use of a car here. The thought of having to be involved with the local constabulary for the slightest little mishap is terrifying - aside from us never having had mishaps with a car… the locals seem dead set on creating chaos everytime they get behind the wheel. So - checking out our local shopping options. As it turns out theres a branch of one of the local supermarkets here in town - a glorified corner shop - but it has fresh bread, helpful staff and seemingly small amounts of everything you might want. So we did a little shop there and then, full of Croatian/Italian comfort food and warm as toast we thought it would be a good idea to walk down the hill and check out the offerings in the lower town. Did I mention the wind was freezing? We even saw a fresh sprinkle of snow on a distant peak, and certainly felt it in the air. Nevertheless, we got down and back, did another little shop at another supermarket(te) and then hoofed it back up the hill with our booty. We are much fitter than we thought we were. We picked up an apple strudel at the local shop and shared half of it with a coffee at home. It's a nice routine and we're happy with our shopping selections.
Saturday/Sunday 22-23 January - Restful weekend, couple of walks, coffee at sunset, wine and cheese.
Monday 24 January - We enjoyed an outing once the weekend hordes had disappeared. It was gray outside and windy so we ensconced ourselves in the cosy dining chairs in the front window for our pizza and wine appreciation lunch.
Tuesday 25 January - It was a beautiful day and when we came home from our evening walk the conditions were perfect for a couple of wines on the terrace/cliff lookout for sunset. So cold! The waitress couldn't believe how chilled the glasses were when we brought them in. Not sure there is anywhere else in the world we could have wine this nice, a view this stunning for only A$3.50. We must do it more often.
Wednesday 26 January - We had a big adventure today and took Dottie the kittens stitches out. A great game altogether and quite a struggle. We also had a crack at Monkey's stitches. Not a hope. All over red rover. We'll have to try hers again tomorrow.
Thursday 27 January - We had another abortive attempt at removing Monkey's stitches. We snuck up on her when she was asleep but she went mental when she woke up and found us bending over her with implements in hand - all Sweeny Todd like. There was scratching, biting and blood today… none of it was feline and Monkey still had her stitches in her tummy. We gave in and went out for lunch at Napoli in the square. Dining here is the epitome of spontaneity for us - the lunch menu changes every day - today's slection was a cheese stuffed burger patty with a red based risotto and the other option was a four cheese pasta - accompanied by salad and wine. Just too good. We did a spot of research and found that Croatia is in the Eurojackpot system. Yippee! The chance to pay stupid-at-maths tax in a foreign country. We visited the tobacconist/newsagent in the square and managed to buy a ticket from Mrs Happy. Fingers crossed for 10 million euro on Friday night.
We read in the news that one of our favourite actors, Judi Dench recently had a fall at home. With too much time on our hands we started googling falls and ended up on the NHS 'What to do if you have a fall' website. There is such a thing as having a Falls Plan (because obviously - no one ever has just one fall…) It made us think as our fifties descend that we must keep as fit and well as humanly possible to avoid falls and to bounce if at all possible. But in any event, we sorted out a Falls Plan for our household. Obviously this is the 2 person version when there is a witness to one's battle with gravity, who may or may not be able to assist. The detail of the plan are as follows: Scream F**K!!!!!! As loudly as possible (both people). Panic for at least 10 minutes (either or both). Get bandaged bear bandage and diclofenac/voltaren gel ready (non-victim). Pour stiff drink. Drink stiff drink (non-victim). Swear more (both people). Drink more. Give fall victim a sip or two. Get ice pack ready. Get hottie ready. Get up. (Fall Victim). Get own damn drink. Lie down again. Repeat until pain resolves.
Friday 28 January - We're still recovering and appear to have had a set back. Today was a really bad day. I felt worse than ever. We have decided that we need to change the getting better narrative. We tried (through Amsterdam / Paris / Zagreb / Labin) to crack on, take pills and not let a little bug get in the way. This approach patently hasn't worked as we are still sick. I'm still coughing, worse some days than others and tired most days. So since we arrived in Labin and settled in we figured, no rush, relax, two or three short walks a day, trying to build up our resilience with 4000 odd steps. Even that hasn't worked as I was almost too tired to get out of bed. I started antibiotics last night for the kitten bite Monkey gave me. I have a new found sympathy for dead rodents who've suffered at the mouths/claws of these apex predator/natural-born-killers. Therefore it could be the antibiotics draining the last skerrick of energy out of me. The new approach to getting better is doing nothing until I'm actually better. We have loads of food in the house and take an occasional stroll out for meal or to buy a loaf of bread from the mini-market in the square. No exertion for the sake of it. James is looking after me tremendously well and I'm off cat-litter duty for the next wee while.
Saturday/Sunday 29-30 January - We realised today (albeit 3 days late) that we've already been on the road for 3 months since we left Australia on 26 October. Doing nothing is continuing apace. Left the house just once on Sunday (not the property - just the house), in order to go into the garden, climb 8 steps and have coffee and strudel whilst watching the sun set. Nice.
Monday 31 January - Grimy and cold day. Perfect for sitting indoors. We went down the hill to Napoli for lunch. Sat indoors there instead just for a change of scenery. It seems options are more extensive at the end of the week - the first time we visited was a Friday and there were 5 options. Today being a Monday, only 2 options - schnitzel and fried potato slices or spaghetti and fresh tomato sauce (with visible fresh tomato carcasses). We had one of each and a wine. Both superb. We trundled home for a lie down and a spot of Netflix. If ever there was a doubt as to the existence of a higher power, we think the existence of Netflix proves there must be. James made potato and onion soup for dinner. Life is good.
Tuesday/Wednesday 1-2 February - Nice weather the last couple of days… we continued our patronage of the pizza joint with wine and pizza in the sunshine.
Thurs 3 February 2022 - Good walk around town, it was sunset as we walked past Rumore, so stopped for a drink - where else in the world could we have a glass of wine at a stunning location like this.
Friday 4 February 2022 - We headed to lunch at Napoli today. It was too good to be true it seems, but now that it's February, the inexpensive hot lunches are 'off' and omelettes and sandwiches are now 'it' for lunch. We had a nice enough lunch but nothing to write home about so won't bother going there again.
Saturday 5-6 February 2022 - A restful and productive enough weekend. We enjoyed a walk down the hillside to see how much it cut off the 'long way down'. We also cooked up a big batch of pork and mushroom casserole and added penne pasta at the end in order to thicken it. Worked a treat.
Monday 7 February - Aside from the 6 cats we were promised turning miraculously into 9 by the time we arrived, they were all supposed to be neutered and spayed. Well the old geezer who just joined the clowder recently was very ill and suffering from skinny-old-cat syndrome when we arrived. Now he's apparently getting his groove back. He was much better, putting on weight, eating like a freight train. He was feeling so much better that we caught him in the act of raping one of the kittens - on the dining table of all places. Between us, the kitten and Kevin (geezer-puss) - we're not entirely sure who got the biggest surprise. We also saw him on Sunday chasing someone elses kitten down the mountain. She at least was definitely on heat. Our kittens have been spayed, but the quality of vet care may not be 100% and there's a possibility the kitten was still exuding a spot of femininity. Who knows. In any event, Kev had his food and water withdrawn last night and was packed off to the vet first thing this morning. We walked down the hilside and visited both Spar and Lidl - had a massive shop-up - including a roast chicken - James's first in about 5 weeks. He at least was happy. Kev was a miserable, cold mess when he was delivered back from the vet. No food and water for him until tomorrow morning. I had my doubts he'd make it through the night. It was a four-seasons-in-one-day type day today. It was misty this morning, then rained, then cloudy. We left home by 9.30 am, arrived back at 11.30 am - by then the sun was blazing and we were regretting our coats. We were home and settled and had Kevin back by 2 pm - then it sent down flurries of snow. By 4 pm we were up on the terrace for coffee and cake in the sun.
Tuesday-Thursday 8-10 February - We were foolishly active for three days in a row, 8000 steps a day and climbing Everest with the groceries each time to get home It's been Italian week at Lidl which was great. After 3 days of fridge stocking endeavours it's safe to say the fridge is chock full of pizza and pasta. My niggly cough is back (of course). We had Rumore pizza in the sun for a midweek treat - it was sunny and apparently 12 degrees, however the wind was utterly freezing - suffice to say no one had their coats off on the terrace. Kev at least is feeling better after 3 days of isolation, food and water all to himself in the downstairs Presidential Suite.
Friday 11 February - OMG. I picked the worst possible day to colour my hair. We lost water yesterday about mid morning and it came back after a few hours. During a walk into the square we found a massive hole in the alleyway where a section of pipe has been replaced. There was another one recently in a different spot - seems like the pipes are failing in random spots and random ways… so missing out on water is a nuisance but not unexpected with the medieval plumbing. However, we figured what are the chances of water failing two days running. High as it turns out. When I finished putting a dye pack into my hair and went to wash my hands under the tap - AAAARRRGH - zip. nil. nada. So we had a full kettle and about 2 litres of water in bottles. Which just wasn't going to be enough. Sigh. Well to be honest it was less of a sigh and more of a screeching rant of swear words about third world countries and the (lack of) plumbing in medieval hill towns. James ran to the rescue and lugged in the bucket from the outside sink that the cats usually drink from. It wasn't actually frozen solid - but close. Using the bucket water to get the majority of the dye out was horrendous - I felt like my scalp was shrinking. We finished off the job with some clean water and the hot kettle water. Just as we finished the job, conditioned and combed out... Voila! The water was back on. Hair dye being a time sensitive beast, if we'd waited and hoped that the water came back, well it could have been hours and my hair long since fallen out.
Saturday-Tuesday 12-15 February - It was a quiet few days, very, very cold and a breeze straight off the snow. The headline temperatures were around 8 degrees, but it felt like zero. We had the odd short walk to the shop for bread and wine and what not. We did our hair cuts and grooming, got the laundry done, and had a spot of rest. By Tuesday it was still cold but the chilling clarity had finished and it was cloudy, rainy and then started to hail. It was good indoors weather and nothing worth heading outside for.
Wednesday 16 February - It was a fine enough morning and we'd 100% run out of kitty litter - so everyone got to play outside in the street. The looks on the faces at the window were very sad but nevertheless priceless. 'What did we do? Why are you so unkind?' But the housework desperately needed doing and they are hard enough to clean up after - particularly the old and very sneezy, snotty-cat - that they provide no assistance whatsoever as you're trying to clean. Eventually we got the house as pristine as possible and psyched ourselves up for a walk downtown. We had lunch for sustenance at Pineta (squid risotto, chicken schnitzel and chips, fresh bread and 2 glasses of wine… albeit small ones). We trundled onwards thus fortified to Lidl for (hopefully) our last big shop for this housesit. And a big shop it was. Aside from possibly during our stay in Langkawi, Malaysia - Never, anywhere, have we had a grocery bill knocking on 1000 anythings - in this case Croatian kuna - but here - it does rather draw the eye of the locals in the queue behind us. So that came to around A$218 or 140 euro odd. Some was the aforementioned kitty litter - but only 145 kuna's worth. Hmmm - definitely not shopping again for a long, long while.
It was very posh indeed to call a cab to get us up the hill with our tonnes of goodies (did I mention 60 kg of kitty litter?) Once we were unloaded and unpacked it was most definitely time for sunset coffee and cake on the terrace. The evening proceeded uneventfully until… Henny Penny. Remember her? The little chicken who was in her yard one day and an acorn fell on her head. In a panic she declared 'The Sky is Falling!' So she set off to go and tell the king. There are all sorts of morals to the story. But you know what, sometimes, the sky does fall - and not just in James Bond movies. I was in the bathroom and turned on the little wall hung heater to take the edge off the chill (like a small airconditioner). I shut the bathroom door and took a step towards the running bath. Then the sky fell. Screaming obscenities, I turned around in shock to see that the bathroom heater had fallen off the two poxy screws that held it in place, smashed onto the tile floor and missed me by a breeze. I will be off saying my prayers and buying an extra lotto ticket tomorrow. The crash only caused a tiny dent in the floor tile (and you know… destroyed the heater), but it's instilled a fear of unexpected falling objects in me that could last a fair while. Henny Penny was on to something.
Thursday 17 February - It was more difficult to buy a life-affirming lucky lotto ticket than expected. We finally trundled to the newsagent/tobacconist in the square by 5 pm. Turns out they run gentlemen's hours and close daily at 2.30 pm. We'll pick one up tomorrow as the Eurojackpot is up to 32 million for Friday night. Woo hoo!
Friday 18-Monday 21 February - Not a lot going on generally but starting to feel the house and cats are out to get me. The kittens pulled a full Tarzan yesterday and brought 2 pot plants down into the stairwell.) Thankfully neither of us were at the bottom of the stairwell at the time - that was a lot of pots/dirt/plants. It was brown trouser time as it was as there was an enormous crash and we had no idea initially why/how/what. Sigh… Neither of us are huge fans of pot plants at the very best of times however so they hadn't been watered recently - and easier to clean up dry soil rather than mud.
Tuesday 22 - Wednesday 23 February - Shopping, lunching at Pineta, fine day, stock up of pet food. The life of international housesitters of mystery…
Thursday 24 February - Wednesday 2 March - If we had to characterise ourselves, James is an optimist and couldn't understand why Putin would invade Ukraine and didn't think it would happen. I am a pragmatist and have been expecting it for at least 3 weeks. We had pizza for lunch with a friend of a friend. We took our second halves home and had them on Friday for dinner. Assorted outings for shopping. A couple of warm days when all the cats were in the backyard, pointing at the sun like sundials. Can't believe the war has finally started and it is occupying our minds.
Thursday 3 March - Housework and rest day - not mutually exclusive. More cold weather coming down the pike. Housework is a chance for all the kitties to go play in the street / picturesque cobbled alley. When we leave the house we're invariably followed by 2-3 - making sure they know what we're up to. People have a laugh. We're the pied pipers of cats.
Friday 4 - Monday 7 March - Cold. Windy. Colder. Windier. The blasted freezing Bura wind continues unabated. Yuck. Barely want to leave the house but figured we should occasionally to at least maintain the use of our legs and get the blood flowing. Just a trip or two down to the square for a bit of bread and fruit and to dump the rubbish.
Tuesday 8 March - We're at the half way mark of the housesit as of early this week - so 5 weeks to go roughly. Having been sick for a while and what with the hordes of cats and the freezing cold, we need a holiday - and literally had to book a flight to somewhere, anywhere as our visa runs out on 14 April / Easter Thursday. That was turning into a s***show. We gave in today and booked flights to Spain. The options for direct flights anywhere were non-existent and the connecting flights to Malaga were just dire - for a cheapie flight It would have involved leaving here at 1 am or so. Not likely. If we left at 5 am at the latest, the best option might have been going to Spain via Turkey on the 9 am flight - quite efficient - less than 8 hours - but not cheap - to the extent of being A$1200 for economy or A$2000 for business (each!). We looked at the 13th instead and could have gone direct Zagreb to Malaga via Ryanair (operated by Lauda Air) - but that's not cheap once they add in the luxuries like luggage. And it was their only flight to Spain that day (with nothing on the 14th), so if they canned the flight for any reason, who knows when we would have gotten out - EU 261 compensation or not. We ended up booking on TAP Portugal to Lisbon, bit of a layover and then down to Malaga - we will be ensconced by midnight on the 13th - which sounds late, but is just gone dinner time in southern Spain.
In the end we got a brill deal on an Airbnb apartment for a month in Fuengirola - our old spanish stomping ground on the Costa del Sol. It's on the beachfront and lucky to be 35 euro a night. Going to chillax - Waking up to the ocean and heading out for cafe con leche, fresh OJ and tomato on toast will be superb. Markets, lunches and long walks on the beach, here we come. Very relaxed now it's all locked in.
We had been waiting patiently for an el perfecto housesit (cats - 3 or less, beach, inexpensive living for dining out and coffees and drinks). We've been getting non stop offers for housesits in rural France and even one in Italy - up to 7 at last count. One even offered to rent us a car for the duration. They usually get dozens of applications but they'd only received 3 and none were suitable so, with flights booked, they were getting very proactive. Offers from France continue. Lucky they're not cosy apartments with cats in Paris - it would hurt to turn them down.
Wednesday 9 March - Warmth! Well not bad at least. The Bura wind has finished with us for a couple of days and we walked down to the supermarket and back, enjoying not having to wear hats and gloves and scarves. Slogged home, dropped off the shopping (which is miraculously getting cheaper and cheaper due to the Croatian Kuna being even weaker than the Australian Dollar), then got changed and went for pizza at our fave cliffside haunt — also getting cheaper each time we visit - it's an ill wind and all that.
Thursday 10 March - Another warm day. I mean it's still winter-coat-weather for sure - but 12 degrees and sunny and no freezing wind hiving off snow somewhere close by. Positively tropical. Ten cats saw us off as we left the house. An easy walk down to Lidl. It's always an easy walk down - the sun at our backs, the whole 'down the hill'. We are getting fitter, for sure, it would be impossible to not be given the 300 m change in altitude from bottom to top, but the slog up the hill is still a killer. We saw a novel phenomenon on our way down - the equivalent of a 2 metre caterpillar snaking its way through the pine trees. Wow. Looked fascinating. And dangerous. But fascinating. Took a video and looked it up - turns out it's a pest called the Pine Processionary moth which eats, you guessed it, Pine trees. They are covered in furry little barbs like harpoons - and if threatened the go 'phutttt' and send out the barbs. They cause nasty rashes and allergic reactions. Eeeek!
Friday-Sunday 11-13 March - We had a rest day on Friday and a little walk around town on Saturday morning. Saturday evening we went crazy and actually went out for dinner at Rumore. Wow! Aside from anything, it's lucky we're regulars as they squeezed us in with only a 10 minute wait - turns out we should have made a reservation. It was packed - hugely popular joint. We had an adventure and ordered something different - well James ordered something different - the truffle/proscuitto/grana padano extravaganza. I ordered our regular choice - Mista (Ham and Mushroom). We shared a tiramisu and had limoncello to finish before rolling home along the cobbles. We even kept half of each pizza back to enjoy for dinner on Sunday. When Sunday dawned it occurred to us it was the two year anniversary of the s*** hitting the Covid-19 fan. Friday 13 March 2020, we were sitting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and realised (along with the rest of the world) that it wasn't going to stop with China or Italy and it was getting worse and getting everywhere. That was the day that Montenegro shut it's land border and Serbia had already shut its border. If we didn't go somewhere, we wouldn't be going anywhere. We booked a Turkish airlines flight for the 17th to Dublin and tried to find accommodation in an Airbnb to keep us out of trouble and out of the way. Then the EU said they might shut the borders to non-residents/citizens. Aaargh - what to do? Didn't want to get to Istanbul and not be able to continue on to Europe. By Sunday we'd worked our way through Plans A through K and eventually flipped a coin and booked a flight to Australia for Tuesday 17 March - lucky we did as the airport closed 3 days later and we would have been in Bosnia for the duration. So 2 years have passed and it seems like a lifetime. Odd feeling as we sit here now with Sarajevo just down the road and another bloody disaster is ruining lives, eating up retirement savings and disrupting travel. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
- comments
Atkinson Annie What a good travel book ! When are you going to publish it ? It proves that you really lived it with so many good plans. You make a very good team together.You are the writter and James is your angel of sécurity and...the tester of your bright ideas...(•‿•) Stay sage , we love you Annie and Lee