Let's Split!

We spent our second morning exploring Split. 

We found a playground just outside of Diocletian's Palace, which was sadly nothing to write home about (though here I am). 

We wandered the streets of the Palace compound. When we got to the peristyle area, we heard beautiful male a cappella voices coming from the ruins of a domed foyer. Gorgeous! 

We left the compound walls and found pastries along the waterfront. It was windy! 

 

We toured the cellars of the palace, trying not to think too hard about how this area was once the town sewers/dump.

One of the many benefits of traveling with friends, having someone to take your family photo! 

 

 
We wandered the winding streets of the Old Town until it was time to pick up some slices for lunch.

 

We settled down in the peristyle for our picnic. Jude and Joey did some dancing and then the real entertainment began. Two young guys (who claimed to be a med student and an urban planning grad student, respectively) arrived dressed like Roman soldiers. Tourists lined up to have their pictures taken with them and Jude waited very patiently! Everyone could feel his joy, getting to hold the heavy sword, wearing the equally heavy helmet, pretending to spear the soldiers. It was wonderful! Maeve and Joey were less sure about the whole thing!

    

And then it was time to say goodbye, make like bananas and Split! (Did you like that, Audra?!)

5 of Borat's 7 passengers had a nice snooze as we left Croatia and drove to Bosnia (after a pit stop to the mall so the Welters could buy a new travel baby bed). Bosnia is not (yet) in the EU, so we had to stop for border crossings. It was pretty low key except for when we (the Durneys) realized we had no idea where our passports were. Finally, Pete found where he put them in with our clothes in the suitcase! Phew!

Brad and Audra are good Catholics and wanted to stop in Medjugorje, which is a popular pilgrimage site due to alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to 6 children.

Finally off to our final destination, which inspired the whole trip: Mostar. 

How did we come across such inspiration you may ask? The famous bridge in Mostar was the cover photo of the Rick Steve's Croatia and Slovenia guidebook we purchased in 2015 in preparation of our summer trip (odd, we know). Pete saw the picture and decided he wanted to go there. He doesn't have many requests when it comes to our travels, so I knew we'd need to find a way to make this trip happen. 

We checked into our rental house, made an easy dinner for the kids and then took turns with Brad and Audra going out to explore the town by night (and by heavy, heavy rain). 

There's the bridge! The original was destroyed in the war in the '90s, but was rebuilt to symbolize the unity of the town, which is half Christian and half Muslim. 

We crossed to the other side of town and headed into the medieval center for dinner. It was really romantic with the cool cobblestoned streets, the pouring rain and the rush of the river.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we heard the call to prayer amongst the rain. 

We ordered local specialities: kaymak- a yummy, spreadable cheese, some chicken kebabs and sausages with pita. We had just gotten used to the Croatian currency and exchange rate and then had to switch gears and learn the Bosnian. Their currency is called the convertible marks. How neat is that?! Bosnia was very cheap. Glasses of wine and beers for less than 2 euros each, dishes for less then 5. I love visiting places where we can live like kings!

Despite the rain, we felt we had to cross the famous bridge at night. Such charm on either side. And then you walk a few feet and see what remains of the devastation of the war. 

Jude Turned 4 and We Flew to Split!

Jude's 4th birthday was on Good Friday this year, the start of a 4 day weekend. We couldn't let it go to waste so we made plans with our friends Brad and Audra to travel together to Split, Croatia and Mostar, Bosnia. Our flight was in the afternoon, so we got to start the day celebrating our awesome little guy at home (birthday celebrations post to follow). What kid doesn't want cake for breakfast! 

  

 

 

She loved the cake, but I couldn't resist posting this face!

We had an EasyJet flight, booked the day seats were released for around 85 euros a ticket. At that price, we bought Maeve her own seat. We were reluctant to check anything on the plane given our experience going to Spain, but wanted to bring our own car seats. When we checked in our car seats and backpack carrier, I looked down at the tags and saw that they said EDI, which I knew was Edinburgh. "Um, excuse me? Are these tagged for Edinburgh? We are going to Split." Profusely apologetic check in woman managed to fix the error, some young strapping Dutch baggage guys took them from us promising to get them to the plane and we sent prayers up to the luggage gods!

Another easy flight (~ 2 hours) with both kids asleep on my lap. We had the same rowdy group of Dutch guys in the row behind us on the flight both coming and going and also ran into them on the street in Split. I forgave the number of Heinekens they managed to consume on the way there and subsequent rowdiness with the non-stop flirting they did with Maeve on the way home. 

It was so exciting to see the Croatian Coast again. Our other time in Croatia was 2 1/2 years ago when Jude was an adorable 16 month old! 

We made it! Brad and Audra's travel crib did not. Thankfully it took Audra the same amount of time to stand in the lost luggage line as it did for Pete to get our massive rental van (named Borat) so no time was wasted. 

The girls chilled with some Peppa.

My hopes for the remainder of Jude's birthday were that we would be able to play at the town beach and have a fun dinner out. It was too cold for any beach time, so instead, we walked through Diocletian's Palace and the old town in search of Jude's requested meal, pasta carbonara. 

Diocletian was a Roman Emperor from 285 to 304, originally from what is now Split, Croatia. He rose up the ranks of power and is best known (per Pete) for dividing the Roman Empire into 4 regions. He is also known for leading the final persecution of Christians in the Empire, in which he failed. Christianity became the preferred religion under the first Christian Emperor, Constantine after 324. He was the only Emperor to voluntarily abdicate and spent his retirement in his palace in Split. 

Diocletian's palace is more of a fortress and it is in ruins in many places. It was abandoned for many centuries and then people began to inhabit the remains and build homes and businesses into and within the walls. It is considered to be the world's most complete remains of a Roman Palace. Pete was really psyched to get to see it. 

 

 

We got a late start trying to find a place for dinner. Rookie parent travel mistake! We finally found the recommended pizza/pasta restaurant, but it was closed for renovations. A bit of a trek later, we found the other recommended place. However, they were less excited to see us than we were to find them. Apparently our request for a table for 7 with 3 children was met with a serious eye roll. Thankfully I didn't see it or I might have marched us out and then we never would have eaten! Jude's wish was granted and the pizza was really tasty. Disaster averted!

It had gotten quite late by the time we were finished, but the night could not end without finding some gelato. We made the mistake of not getting Maeve her own cone, which meant that I quickly lost my mint chocolate chip!

Peristyle at Night

Happy 4th Birthday, little man! Always dream big! 

Short Spa Getaway at Zwaluwhoeve

My last spa trip in the fall was with two mom friends I made through Jude's baby group. When one of my friends from Maeve's baby group saw my post, it inspired her to plan one. It was just an hour away and for only one night so it didn't seem too indulgent to ask Pete if I could go off again. And it was only 50 euros for a shared hotel room with breakfast and entrance to the spa for a day! 

The group was queried and we settled on Zwaluwhoeve, which has bathing suit weekends once a month :) The spa doesn't have an attached hotel, but the trip planner (not me for once!) found our deal at Kasteel van Essenburgh. No, we did not get to stay in the charming Castle shown below. We were in the poor man's annex building, but we still got to check it all out. 

We spent all day Saturday at the spa. Lots of cute outdoor saunas on the nice grounds. And lots of time for girl talk, including in the Pratensauna (the talking sauna). While the girls who arrived later went off for lunch, I took to a cozy sofa indoors to read. Who was I kidding. Nearly 2 hours later, I awoke from the glorious afternoon nap, ready to relax the rest of the day away!

Refreshed, we returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Kleine Parijs in Harderwijk.

The evening's wine pairings (plus bottle of Prosecco at the spa), day light savings, 7am ringing church bells and screams from a chid in the hallway foiled my big plans for sleeping in. We enjoyed a lazy morning over breakfast and a short walk around the grounds before taking off.

Two of us had time to check out Harderwijk by day. Yet another cute Dutch town. This one along the water with a beachside cafe reminiscent of Margaritaville. It was next door to the Dolfinarium so I hope we can return with the kids some day. Speaking of kids, those sweeties were napping when I returned home and I was so happy to snuggle them when they woke up!

Guys' Trip to Prague

We celebrated Pete's big 35 a few weeks ago. The celebrations at home were tame as Pete was resting up for his celebratory weekend guys' trip to Prague. Two of Pete's friends from ISA used to work at the International School in Prague and Pete kept saying how fun it would be to go with them and to get to explore more of the beer scene that we missed out on while traveling there with Jude while I was pregnant. He invited just a few buds to keep the group manageable. From what I've been told, they had a great time and saw the inside of nearly every bar in Prague :) They did do one cultural thing- crossing the Charles Bridge.... to go to a bar on the other side :)

I had hoped he would have spring weather as we had already experienced Prague in winter, but with a dusting of snow on the ground and freezing temps, they needed all of that beer to keep them warm!

I had a great time home alone with the kids. We made morning and afternoon play dates at friends' houses both days and had a lot of fun socializing. I also knew that at the end of the week, I would get my rest on my mamas' spa weekend and that definitely helped keep me going!