traveloehrs

Vienna has an abundance of museums, palaces and great restaurants.  It is also packed to the gills with tourists.  After a couple days there we took a bus to Slovakia to try to escape the madness.  The small cobblestone streets, beautiful architecture and lack of crowds were a great change of pace.

As we were waiting for our bus back to Vienna that evening we met a woman from Texas.  She asked about our upcoming time in Italy and what our plans were.  Nug and I looked at each other a bit unsure.  “We are getting a car in Venice and returning it in Naples 3 weeks later but other than that we don’t know,” I told her.  She proceeded on a 10 minute discourse about Croatia and Slovenia.  “If you want to escape the crowds this is the place to go!  It is amazing.  We loved it…”  She continued on with a religious fervor.  We thanked her for her insight and took it with a grain of salt.  Several days later we were snaking through the back streets of Venice and dodging tour groups on the main thoroughfares.  The city was absolutely amazing but the time had come to make our next move.

The thought of the Texan on her soapbox came to mind.  “Maybe we should check the Adriatic Coast,” I ventured cautiously as I knew Nug had her heart set on maximizing her time in Italy.  Luckily she was amicable and we spent the next few days exploring the nooks and crannies on the coasts of Slovenia and Croatia.  The scenery and complete lack of tourists were stunning.  As we motored back towards Italy after our successful side trip Nug pronounced, “I’m really glad that we listened to that old Texan!”