European Travels 2013 (...the Balkans and more) with full itinerary

As you may recall, in spring 2012 we spent two months in SE Asia. On our way to Hong Kong we thought in depth about what it might be like traveling for two months. We didn't know but decided that IF it went well, that in 2013 we would travel to eastern Europe for three months.The trip to SE Asia was great and now we are in Venice having already spent 5 days in Istria (a now Croatian peninsula that has been part of many countries/empires, including the Venetian empire).  

Actually it started with our desire to go to Turkey & Greece. We'll be in Turkey in late-September and in Greece after that.  But with 3 months we decided to add a few more countries…Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzagovina. 

Here's the itinerary:

08/01 - 08/06      Croatia (Istria)

08/06 - 08/12      Italy  (Venice)

          ...yep, we are now in Venice and are "late" with our blogging

08/12 - 08/21      Italy & Slovenia

          ...we're staying on the border and visiting both countries

08/21 - 08/26      Slovenia (Bled, Ljubljana)

08/26 - 09/07      Croatia (again)

          ...Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik

          ...we'll also visit Montenegro as a daytrip from Dubrovnik

09/17 - 09/24      Bosnia Herzagovina

          ...an active time with basic touring, wine tasting, hiking, white water rafting

09/24 - 10/17      Turkey                                

          ...Istanbul for 11 days

          ...then Capadoccia, Pammukale, Ephesus

10/17 - 11/07      Greece                               

          ...Thodes, Crete, Santorini, Athens & environs

11/08 - 12/15ish  Mexico ...til Christmas in Florida

Oh, we decided to ease the "pain" of air travel by springing for Business Class flights (using miles of course.)  We haven't upgraded in ages but quite enjoyed the Biz Class experience on Lufthansa's AirBus 380. For those of you who have yet to fly on a 380, it is a double decker and carries 500+ passengers.  The Lufthansa version (I assume there are others) has a huge business class section on the upper level…no need to mingle with the Economy Class hoi polloi  ;-) 

Here's Bill totally relaxed enroute to Frankfurt.  (It's good we had the chance to relax. It was quite a sprint through Frankfurt airport to catch our flight to Pula in Croatia.)

And here is a preview of the lovely city of Rovinj, where we stayed for 5 days. We'll cover this more soon, but one of the reasons for visiting Istria (the NorthWest region of Croatia) is the food. Strange thing we should decide to visit...