Long Ago Places

Everyone packed up and started to head back home after a week in Krushevo.  A little at a time, it was turning back into the quiet town I found a few weeks ago.  Jochen and I packed up the car with a plan to head west to some place flyable.  The idea was the Dolomites, but the weather didn't cooperate right away.  So, after a really nice Italian dinner in the old city of Belgrade (read: something sensible before the main course of chocolate lava cake and prosecco) we decided the best thing to do was head to the seaside and wait out the expected rain in the Alps in some place warmer. 

Pula, Croatia was impressive.  I had never even heard it, but it was chock full of old stuff and an arena that I actually found nicer than the coliseum in Rome.

Pula was just an hour or so from the site of the 2006 European Championships in Buzet.  I went to the pre-euros there in 2005 and then the euros in 2006.  It feels more like a hundred years ago than nine.  My how life has changed.  I blogged about the comps and the site HERE, and HERE and HERE. Although the launch itself looks just as we left it, the owners have added some incredible new amenities that make me wish for another comp there!  Yes, that pool is ON launch!  Not a bad place to hang out.  

Next stop, mountains!  Conditions didn't cooperate for flying the past few days, so we spent our time hiking in two of the most beautiful places on earth.  First we hiked to and around the Tre Cime (three teeth) in the heart of the Dolomites.  Words really can't describe the beauty....and my pictures don't do it justice either.  

Jochen gave me a whirlwind tour of the places he used to go in and around Salzburg as a child.  After quite a long hike in the Dolomites, we found a nice shorter one that ended at a peak overlooking lake Fuschl where I spent my afternoons "studying" while I went to school at the University of Salzburg many years ago.  It was hard to leave the stunning scenery.