The trans-Atlantic cruise that launched our Balkan adventure stopped in Dubrovnik before dropping us off in Venice. I’d been to Dubrovnik before and we knew we’d return, so our priority on the cruise stop was to buy a visitor SIM card so we’d be ready to roll when we came back to Croatia 2.5 weeks later. I’d done some research and knew there were no phone stores selling SIM cards in Old Town Dubrovnik, but they are sold at the post office.
Browsing our options at the old town post office, I chose the “Vipme internet,” a fantastic bargain at 20 kuna ($3), including tax. For that price, I got a data SIM card with 2G worth of data at 1G/day (ie., two days’ worth of Internet). The system is set up perfectly for travelers: your gig allotment is in 24 hour increments that begin when you actually access the internet with your card. So, if you don’t need the card for a day, you don’t get charged. I figured we’d use the card that day and then on our first day back in Croatia later in the trip. After that, we could buy charge up slips at any phone store, post office or most convenience stores at a rate of about $1.50/day. What a deal!
The lady who sold me the card at the post office knew very little about them, but did agree to help me with activation since the instructions were in Croatian (a major downside) until you reached a certain web page with English. Unfortunately (and here comes the caveat), she mistakenly exited the page where we were to confirm the plan and activate. I saw what she was doing, but couldn’t stop her in time. I did not realize that a different plan was chosen by default. The result was that she mistakenly registered me for a plan which included other features (calls, texts, etc.) and charged at a much higher usage rate which quickly burned up my 2G credit. I didn’t realize her mistake until after we’d left and I had lost all access to the Internet.
When I did get wi-fi and tried to choose a different plan, I was never sure I’d done things correctly. This meant that when we returned to Dubrovnik we had to catch a short bus ride out of the Old Town to a phone shop and get the whole mess sorted out. The good news is that they did sort it out, and also credited me back for my lost $3; not much compensation for the hassle, but nice of them nonetheless. Thereafter, the SIM card worked perfectly and we had cheap, reliable internet virtually everywhere we went in Croatia at $1.50/day.
Vipme is now offering weekly packages for 80 kuna ($12) with a cheap daily rate option. http://www.vipnet.hr/tourist-offer/en If you activate correctly, the price and product are excellent.
[The post office in Old Town Dubrovnik is a block off the main avenue, Stradun, on the corner of Široka ulica and ulica od Puča. The VIP store is at Vukovarska ul. 7, 20000, Dubrovnik in an old bank building. The bus stop at the Tommy shopping center is the closest. You can ask a bus driver to alert you to the stop.]
Although we planned drive ourselves in Croatia, we opted not to keep the car we’d rented in Montenegro for that trip. My reasoning was 1) we’d avoid cross border charges; and 2) we didn’t want a car for our days in Old Dubrovnik anyway since parking is nonexistent in the old town. The best option appeared to be a motor coach. I bought tickets ahead of time on GetByBus at https://getbybus.com/en/ for 483.5 Croatian kuna ($42.5o) for 2 tickets, tax included. A print-out of the ticket is required and the drive is about 2 hours. We had only one brief stop at a town along the way.
The Kotor bus station is close to old town, but on the opposite side from our apartment. Marjana kindly offered to drive us, and would not accept payment. The bus station is relatively small and easy to navigate. There’s no need to arrive extra early, but do know there’s a station fee that has to be paid before you can board a bus. This wasn’t included in our ticket fee nor did I see any mention ahead of time. This caused a momentary panic when the driver asked to see the receipt for our local payment, but a quick dash inside (and a teller who waved me to the front of the short line) resolved the problem.
The bus itself was a comfortable tour bus/Greyhound-style motor coach. Free wi-fi was supposedly included, but we both had trouble connecting. The border crossing was easy with the driver collecting our passports for a brief stop. The bus stop in Dubrovnik is right by the cruise port. We caught a cab to the Old Dubrovnik main gaten this time because of our luggage, but there’s a bus stop just up on the main road by the newsstand where you can also buy a local bus ticket.
View from the bus of Croatian countryside and vineyards
With some hours to spare before our motor coach to Dubrovnik, we took the opportunity to visit beautiful Perast which lies just a short distance north from Kotor. We’d driven past the town on our way to the Ostrog Monastery, admiring the lovely old town and the two achingly picturesque little islands just off shore. One island hosts a monastery which is closed to the public, but the church on the other island is open to visitors.
With directions from Maryjana, we caught the local bus just across the road from the modern Kamelia Shopping Centre, a mere block from our apartment. The bus ride is ridiculously cheap, about €1pp and takes only 30 minutes or so. We were let off near the spot where you can hire boats to take you out to the islands. Our boat ride cost about €5 apiece. We sailed around the islands and then were dropped off at the church island for 30 minutes. The boat continued to shuttle back and forth and we could have ridden back later, but we had plenty of time.
The little church is a gem and the story behind it fascinating. The entire island is man-made and generations in the making. Legend has it that two brothers found a perfectly-preserved portrait of the Madonna floating in that spot and were told to build a church there. They shared the word with their fellow villagers and from then on, fishermen went out, dropping rocks until the island was formed. The miraculous painting hangs in the church today along with a collection of silver offerings to the Virgin. A docent told us about the church and then, for a small fee, we explored the collection of seafaring paintings and artifacts in a museum upstairs.
Church ceiling with silver offerings running along the lower edgeMuseum above the church
Upon returning to shore, our boatman told us that we’d just missed the bus, which runs every half hour. He said we had time for a quick lunch and recommended a waterside Italian restaurant a short walk away called the Palace Jelena “caffe and pizzeria.” He also assured us that the bus would stop anywhere nearby if we just held out an arm.
We enjoyed delicious pizza, pasta and cold beer within eyesight of the boat and the spot where we’d been dropped off by the bus. We explained our time constraints to the waiter and food was on the table in no time. With the road just beside us, I figured we couldn’t miss the bus, but still couldn’t help worrying just a bit since we had to catch the motor coach to Dubrovnik. Oh well, worst case surely we could hail a taxi or…something.
We had to walk past the boatman who’d instructed us on the hold-your-arm-out bit and got reassurance that the system would work and a promise that they’d keep an eye on us. Sure enough, the bus came along in a matter of minutes, we held our arms out, and were on our way back to Kotor. Clockwork!
SIM cards are always on my list of things to look into when I’m going to spend any time in a country. Overpriced roaming charges on my American AT&T account are out-of-the-question except for the occasional first text to a landlord, etc. (I absolutely detest being gouged.) I try to keep a French and a Belgian SIM card active, but with no non-roaming EU-wide SIM (yet), I often need a new SIM card when I’m in Europe. Options vary widely from country to country, but Eastern Europe can offer some great deals. Unfortunately, those great deals are often hard to take advantage of if you don’t know the language.
Slovenia has solved that problem with Visitor SIM. For a price, sure, but it’s not an unreasonable price, IMHO, given the convenience. https://www.visitorsim.si/default.aspx There are 3 options, and we chose the €20 for 15 days, 10GB data+ €5 of voice. You can use the data to make VoIP calls, Skype, etc., but we wanted a little easy talk time for local calls and it came in handy when we needed to rendezvous with our AirBnB landlord. The Visitor SIM cannot be mailed outside of Slovenia, so you need an address with someone present to receive the package. We weren’t sure we’d have that option with our AirBnB digs, so I opted for to have the card sent to the Ljubljana airport. I was told the card was would be waiting for us at Café Avioncek in the Arrivals area. While David checked out our Sixt rent car, I walked the 30 yards are so to the café, gave my name to someone behind the counter, and was back in no time with the SIM card. (You’re supposed to provide ID, but no one asked.) The card installed, without problem, on my Android phone and we were up and running, Google Maps and all.
We spent the next days exploring Slovenia and found Internet coverage to be good in most places, if a little spotty in some very rural areas. I can’t say enough good things about Slovenia. I’d been wanting to visit for many years, and we found it to be beautiful, amazingly clean (Ljubljana has been named Green Capital of Europe for 2016), and very accessible. Lots of people spoke excellent English in Ljubljana and we found good English most places save for near the Eastern border with Croatia. I’d go back in a heartbeat!
Lovely LjubljanaRiverside café in Ljubljana. Slovenians love their cured meats!
One of the great advantages of a small country. You can visit a castle built into a mountain in the morning and be eating super-fresh seafood on the coast by lunch:
Predjama CastlePiran, on Slovenia’s small coastline on the Gulf of TriestePiran bounty
On the drive back from Piran to Ljubljana, we made a quick detour out to see the salt-pans at Sečovlje Salina Nature Park. It’s only a short drive out of town and worth a look even if, like us, you don’t have the time or inclination to take a tour or visit the Lepa Vida thalasso spa located in the park. http://www.portoroz.si/en/experience/natural-attractions/secovlje-salt-pans Salt has been harvested from here since at least the Middle Ages.
Our 3-week Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise on the Costa “Deliziosa” dropped us off in Venice, Italy, on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. It was my 4th time in Venice and David’s 2nd, but our first time together in that magical city and we were excited. It was my first time to arrive by ship and I was surprised to find that our large ship was allowed to dock just beyond the main train station. Undoubtedly convenient, given the 2-minute ride to the train station on the super-cheap “People Mover” to which we walked from the ship, it’s still disturbing to think of allowing these sea-going behemoths so close to the fragile old city. We heard later that there are plans to ban such ships from docking so close and I can’t help but think it’s wise. If you’re going to Venice by ship, I’d keep tabs on that potential dock change.
Despite the Easter crowds, we had a fabulous time in Venice. Our AirBnB apartment was one of the best we’ve had: beautiful and well-equipped, a short distance from the Gritti Palace vaporetto stop, a few blocks from San Marco square, a charming building on a picturesque courtyard, on the gondola path, with one of my favorite mobile amenities, a mobile hotspot so David and I had wi-fi throughout the city and nearby islands, and great hosts (one of whom, Francesca, spent over an hour getting us acquainted with the neighborhood and pointing out her favorite restaurants and those to avoid). One night, we celebrated David’s birthday at Michelin-starred Il Ridotto. We enjoyed their creative holiday prix fixe meal, but after 4+ hours we were ready to surrender!
Because it seems a crime to gloss over Venice entirely, below are a few photos.
Gondola jam beneath our bedroom windowBuildings lit up in the colors of the Belgian flag to show solidarity after the Brussels bombingsEaster menu at Il Ridotto (minus a couple off-menu courses)Roasted pilgrim scallops (“cappesante”):
GoOpti
After several days in Venice, it was time to begin our much-anticipated Balkan adventure. Research yielded the surprising news that no trains run between Venice and nearby Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The trip can be made, but you have to train to the border, taxi across and then catch a Slovenian train. More hassle than we wanted. We also didn’t want to drive given Venice traffic restrictions and the cost of taking a rent car across a border, even within the EU. After weighing options, we decided to book with GoOpti, a van service that offers a sliding price scale depending on when you book and whether you are willing to share a ride. https://www.goopti.com/en/ I booked almost 3 months in advance and it was far cheaper than flying and without the attendant expense, hassle, and time always required for flying. (Our total cost for GoOpti was €48; €24pp–a great deal.) Even on budget airlines and traveling light to avoid luggage surcharges, you’ve got to factor in transportation to airports which are nearly always a distance from town as well as ever-increasing security delays. For short flights, it’s often quicker to travel by land.
For GoOpti, you choose from offered departure points and departure time windows (of 1-3 hours depending on the time of day) with a maximum arrive-by time at your destination given for each departure time window. GoOpti says they will text and email you the day before departure with a precise time, so wi-fi or phone service is necessary. As promised, GoOpti emailed us the day before saying pick-up would be at 2pm, but emailed again shortly afterward to say 1:30pm. The van arrived promptly. We chose Piazzale Roma (the plaza just across the canal from the main Venice train station, by the big pedestrian bridge) for our departure point. My only uneasiness about the arrangement was the failure of GoOpti to provide any details as to where in the big, busy piazza we were to meet our van. This meant we arrived extra early to allow time to find the van and David waited with our luggage on one side of the plaza while I made a circuit, asking random strangers and vendors about GoOpti to no avail. We finally decided to postition ourselves near the only traffic entrance to the plaza. Eventually, I spotted a GoOpti van stuck in traffic and was able to get him to roll down the window. While he wasn’t our driver, he pointed us in the right direction. So, here’s the scoop: If you arrive by vaporetto, motoscafi, etc., just walk away from the canal, past all the large buses and you’ll find a few benches built into a long planter where you can sit, facing away from the canal and buses, to wait for the GoOpti van. Just walk over to the van and identify yourself when it arrives. The GoOpti vans will simply park, head-on into one of the regular parking spaces. Walk up to the driver and identify yourself. They’ll have your name and reservation or direct you to the driver who does.
GoOpti van picking up customersGoOpti van parking with bench/planter seating to the right of the man in blue. The People Mover station where you arrive from the cruise port is behind him.
Although we booked a shared ride, there was only us in the 9-person van. (This was a Wednesday.) The van was immaculate; our Slovenian driver, Petra, very friendly and English-speaking. We had control of our own air conditioning in the back. She stopped for a little snack and bathroom break when asked about 1.5 hours into the trip, but would have stopped, she said, whenever we asked. You can buy sandwiches and drinks (coffee, soft drinks, water, beer, etc.) at the convenience store/filling station where she stops. There’s also free wi-fi and clean toilets. The drive from Venice to the Ljubljana Airport took 3 hours. Highways and roads are excellent; the drive smooth and uneventful.
GoOpti provides transfers to many locations in northern Italy, as well as quite a few in Slovenia and Croatia. It also has connections as far as Munich, Vienna and Budapest.
Although we planned to spend some time in Ljubljana, we chose to be dropped off at the airport so we could pick up a rent car as well as the Slovenian Visitor SIM card I’d pre-ordered and had delivered to an airport café. A terrific convenience! More about that in the next post.
