EMS Travelogue

Today we leave for Verona. But first, we clean!

We’ve absolutely loved our stay here and want our hosts to have just as good an experience with us. We started last night after dinner, completely cleaning the top floor, which houses the kitchen and sitting area. We swept and vacuumed down to the stairs and started laundry.

This morning, I got up early, moved one set of sheets/towels to the dryer, and started our laundry. Being able to do laundry halfway through a trip is huge, especially when you have hiking clothes. I really appreciate it. I had a leisurely coffee while waiting for Kris. Once he joined me, we cleaned the main living area, moved our clothes to the dryer, and started the remaining sheets and towels. I hadn’t paid much attention to the earlier wash times, so I was shocked and dismayed to see this load would take THREE HOURS! Fortunately, we only have dinner and the opera planned today, and since we got an early start, it’s not a problem.

We finally pop over to the bar across the street from our house for lunch and have a perfectly lovely sandwich, with a beer for him and a glass of wine for me. By the time we finished, we were able to put the sheets and everything into the dryer. We gave the house one final walk-through to make sure everything was spotless and loaded up the car. We left a note and a bottle of vino santo for my colleague’s parents and started for Verona.

The drive to the outskirts of Verona was uneventful. Your standard passing over mountains, through vineyards, past castles and keeps. Once we got to Verona, though, things got interesting. I hadn’t thought through putting the hotel into the navigation system, so I just followed the turn-by-turn. Which was great until we started seeing pedestrians in the road. I suddenly realized that a street sign had indicated we were entering a traffic-control zone where I likely shouldn’t be driving. The turn it was telling me to take also looked impossible. I threaded my way back to a regular road and found a parking spot. Deep breath, and I pulled up the hotel’s website. Fortunately, you can drive through the traffic-control zone to drop off passengers and luggage—but you need to email them your plate ahead of time. Well, shoot. They also recommend two parking lots outside the old city. New target acquired (and fear of astronomical fines unlocked…). I head to the garage. As soon as we pull in, I’m faced with a new challenge—a ramp with a turning radius only a unicycle could manage, judging by the scrapes and paint on both walls. Another deep breath, and in I go. Every idiot lamp and alarm in the car goes off, but I make it down the ramp and find a spot. We rearrange some luggage to take only the bare minimum into the city, since we’re staying one night.

Verona is a change from the quiet mountain village we’ve just spent the week in. Crowded and very hot, but it’s also very pretty. We wend our way past ‘Juliet’s balcony’ and past Dante’s statue. As we approach the hotel, I can’t help but laugh at the thought of driving to it to drop off luggage. There’s no way we would have made it, and anyway, the hotel’s entrance is on a one-way, dead-end street! We check in and head up to the room so I can sit quietly for a few minutes after my driving adventures (I’m sure Kris needed the breather after passengering through that as well!) before freshening up for dinner. I am thankful that the hotel has AC, as that’s not always a given. Turning it on was another adventure, but between web searches and translators, we’re soon awash in cool air.

We’re in Verona to see Aida in a Roman amphitheater in the middle of the old city. I gotta say, figuring out what to wear to the open-air opera was quite the challenge! I had options for hot, cool, and rain. I was thankful that the rain that had been in the forecast until yesterday disappeared, so we were only faced with hot. Once I got changed into the travel dress for the occasion, I realized that I had forgotten the dress sandals I packed just for this night in the car. Sport sandals it is! Thus (im)properly attired, we head off to dinner.

Dinner was an experience. We walk into a mostly empty but very pretty space. My radar was tweaked, but I figured it’s Europe and we’re eating early due to the opera. They lead us to a garden table where, fortunately, there are other people. A quick peruse of the menu and it’s…confused. Kris later said it has led to a new rule—if the bread is terrible, we settle the bill and walk. And the bread was terrible. Hard, stale, clearly set out before service and left to languish. We cobble together orders. While waiting for our first course, I watch two ladies across the way get into an animated argument with the staff, apparently over the wait for their entrees. Our first course arrives. I apparently ordered clown barf; the raw scampi was dotted with gels and pastes in a wide array of colors. I’m not sure if its utter flavorlessness was a good thing. I am fascinated, though, by how you get things with that much color to have no flavor whatsoever. Kris’s prosciutto was good, although underwhelming after the amazing speck from small farms we’d enjoyed all week. His short rib with whipped potatoes was serviceable. My sole was like something out of the 1980s, both in technique and age. The only things that saved this meal were the tiny portions, personable server, and great wine. But at least it was eye-wateringly expensive! When offered dessert, we quickly agreed we’d be better off anywhere else. I found Gelateria Verona steps from the amphitheater, and we both got larges. The pistachio, in particular, was the perfect gelato: creamy, smooth, rich. It was delicious and a perfect end to an imperfect meal.

We head into the opera. What an incredible experience! Aida is a big opera, and the amphitheater is a great stage for such a big production. It was really neat to be able to watch the almost-full moon rise over the stone edges. I will say, we should have sprung for the cushions, though, as those stone steps are awfully hard to sit on for three full hours. It also didn’t help that the women behind us kept kicking me in the butt the whole night. I was also shocked that, despite the heat and the setting, there were more than a few folks in the upper decks with us in fancy dresses and tuxes. Good on them, ’cause I would have sweated myself to death.

It’s midnight by the time we make it back to the hotel, but the room is sufficiently cooled off to aid in a good night’s sleep. We head out in the morning after a brief stop to buy postage stamps (three euros for a postcard!!!). The drive to Croatia is easier than I expected, although I’m badly missing my adaptive cruise control on the autostrada. I’m not entirely convinced that I actually needed the e-vignette for Slovenia, but I felt better for having it. I’m intrigued by all of the signs for BBQ in Slovenia as well.

We arrive at the hotel on the Adriatic in Opatija. We collapse into our room and marvel at the blueness of the water from our balcony. After two long days of driving, I plan dinner at the hotel restaurant and, frankly, don’t expect much more than convenience. We are both pleasantly surprised that the food is really great. Lots of fresh seafood and local flavors. The local wines are also really lovely. All in all, a promising start to Croatia!