Tour de Adriatic

Prague was definitely a beautiful place. Lots of walking and plenty of views.

Ah, the biggest palace on earth (by some measures). This is the cathedral in the center of the Prague Castle. Some much history revolves around this place you can almost smell it!

Cesky Krumlov was a fun little town with some great medieval sights. Wanted to float the river but the weather didn't cooperate. Probably good though as we watched more than one boat flip while navigating the falls.

Hapsburg winter palace in Vienna. This is about 25% of the palace. We were glad they put in a park because it made for a great nap.

Lots of warriors went down in flames fighting for the Hapsburg cause (not just in WWI). FYI - if you see a statue of a guy on a horse, the horse can tell you something about the rider. If the horse has two legs off the ground the dude died in battle. One leg off the ground then he was a military ruler but did not die in battle. All legs on the ground then he wasn't a military leader and didn't die in battle.

All right! Made it to the Danube. This is Budapest. Say hello to 9.9 million people. What a busy place.

The Parliament in Budapest. Makes the White house look like a tent.

The Killers (a band) playing at the Sziget festival. A huge festival that lasted a week on an island in the middle of Budapest. Lots of crazies and glad we only went for one day.

Another magical evening. The Citadel on the hill is right next to where we stayed in Budapest. Doesn't make for a fun walk. Unfortunately our map didn't have topography lines or we wouldn't have booked that place!

With every crappy accomodation you find a great place to balance it out. This is the view of Dubrovnik from our room. Tough digs uh. This place is so beautiful. Hard to imagine a war going on right here only twelve years ago. Really hard to get here but as it usually goes the harder places usually much more rewarding and "untouched".

Check this place out! Wow aren't those some really nice resorts on that nice beach in Croatia. The answer is no! Those are bombed out shells of what were once great hotels serving the elite of the area. Now all they serve are reminders of the recent fighting. Pretty eery hanging out on the beach with such a backdrop. It is still advised to stay on marked paths due to the danger of buried land mines. Don't think it is that big of a problem but overcautious tourist departments. However, we didn't venture off any paths to find out.

Here is another example of crap accomodation. It is the night ferry to Bari, Italy. If this was scratch and sniff you would smell terrible exhaust fumes. Cozy!
Second night ferry in as many days. This one at least had a great sunset.
Finally the beach in Greece. On the island of Zakynthos and the beach name is Kalamaki. If this photo could immit heat it would be about 105 degrees. "HOT! sand is on fire, HOT! Ah, the water is nice." (that is a reinactment of how what our day was like)

Hello from Greece,

Quite the workout to get here but we made it and the rest is just another fun travel story. Hard to have that philosophy sometimes when you are crammed in a "line" getting pushed from all angles and getting yelled at by a passport checker. But hell, guess we needed a lesson in patience.

Our last couple days in croatia were out of a dream. Absolutely perfect days of doing nothing but basking in some amazing settings. The landscapes are breathtaking and the beaches aren't so bad either. Picked up some water goggles and spent a lot of time with our backs to the sun spotting some fun fish (hard on the backs). Our last two nights we spent in the middle of nowhere. It was really nice to get away from the masses in Dubrovnik and have some quiet, clean beaches. From Dubrovnik we took a night ferry to Bari, Italy. 9 hr ferry that couldn't have been worse. Slept on the floor with hundreds of others and it got pretty cold and windy. First thing we did when we finally landed was find a cozy park and take a nap. The next thing we did was board another night ferry. I know what you are thinking, why do that to yourself. Well we did it and that is that. We were literally the first two people on the next ferry and snagged one of the comfy leather couches. We were so relieved to see this ferry had posh (compared to last ferry) accommodations. Spent the next 17.5 hrs motoring toward mainland greece. Arrived in Greece to a scorcher! 104 degrees, so we decided, why not hit an island and jump on yet another ferry. So by 7pm we were on the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian sea. This island is much quieter than the popular group off the southern edge of Greece. But sometimes less popular is better and in our case it is way better. We snagged a really cheap room from some crazy greeks. Just kidding they are really nice but wow, don't think they get out much. Today we jumped a bus first thing and spent the ENTIRE day conducting very important beach activities. Mostly laying, swimming, some drinking (water, and not water...). We got some decent sunburns despite our sunscreen attempts as it definitely cleared triple digits again. Probably will do the same thing again tomorrow. Will try to rent a boat to go out and see some of the loggerhead turtles that hang out just off shore. We spent most of the day laying right next to a nest of unhatched eggs. During the night the turtles are coming on shore and doing what you always see on the Discovery channel. After a couple more nights here we are back to the mainland and will sprint to Olympia and then on to Athens. Just checked the bank account and for the first time on the trip we have more money than budgeted! Looks like we might have to push back those flights. Just kidding we sure can't wait to see some friendly faces. In fact if anyone needs some sun you can meet us in Athens in a couple days and hit Turkey and Egypt with us.