September 3 - 22, 2016

We spent 18 nights exploring some of the Balkan Peninsula, logging over 1,300 miles in our rental car, visiting 4 countries, with a larger focus on the stunning country of Croatia.

We flew into the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, where we spent 2 nights and got a quick taste of this vibrant city.
Then we drove north into Slovenia and its capital city of Ljubljana, situated along the banks of the emerald green Ljubljana River.
No visit to Slovenia can be complete without seeing the fairy-tale-like Lake Bled with its church standing alone on an islet, a medieval castle clinging to a rocky cliff and some of the highest peaks of the Julian Alps as backdrops.

After 2 nights in Slovenia we drove back into the north-westernmost part of Croatia, the Istrian Peninsula.
We stayed 3 nights in the charming and heavily Italian-influenced fishing town of Rovinj and, while there, visited some of the quaint, artsy hilltop villages nestled throughout Istria.

Plitvice National Park gave us a dose of nature as we explored its cascading waterfalls and unbelievably turquoise-blue lakes.

Then it was southward onto one of my favorite cities of the trip, Split.
Split is truly unique, with its blend of ancient and modern as dozens of bars, restaurants and shops thrive amid the atmospheric old walls of Diocletian’s Palace which dates from the 3rd century.
Next it was a little island-hopping with a car ferry over to the sun-drenched Dalmatian Island of Hvar for a couple of nights.

One of our more interesting legs of our road trip was our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia retains many lingering scars from the devastating civil war in the 1990s but, heartbreaking as they were, the towns of Mostar and Sarajevo were some of the more compelling places we visited.
Their antique city centers entrancingly blend east and west with their distinctive Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian histories.

I dare to say that we saved the best for last...4 nights in the “Pearl of the Adriatic”, Dubrovnik.
It is hard not to be awed when you arrive from the hilltop above the Old Town and get your first glimpse of the countless, dazzling red rooftops surrounded by the ancient city walls.
Strolling the impossibly-shiny limestone-paved streets among the stunning architecture of this city made me feel like I was in a dream.

I hit my 50th country (and Michael, his 52nd) with our day trip to Montenegro and the alluring, medieval town of Kotor.

This was like a playground for me! Armed with my camera, it was hard to constrain myself as I was constantly surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors, striking landscapes and architecture that dates back hundreds and even thousands of years.
This a just a small sampling of some of my favorite scenes and moments from this amazing road trip!