Ember Travels

In the late 80s a striking hotel was built, jetting 17 stories above the water and situated only a few kilos outside of Dubrovnik. Hotel Belvedere was a five star oasis, boasting gorgeous views of the Aegean and Dubrovnik for the wealthy who could afford it. Just two years after opening,, Hotel Belvedair was bombed in the civil war. The structure is still standing,, all of its luxury trapped in time with blown out windows and rooms filled with remnants of an extravagant past. Being one of the most talked about and mysterious landmarks in Dubrovnik, Ruud and I decided to take a look for ourselves. Approaching the hotel, we were filled with excitement and anticipation of what we might find. It's not everyday that you get to explore a bombed building left untouched. Entering the hotel was like taking a step back into that fateful day in 1991. It was as if time merely stopped when the rest of the world kept moving. There were cassette tapes scattered on the floor, trays with wine glass...

I must admit, I am absolutely smitten with Croatia. The more time I spend here, the more attached I become. In America, Western Europe seems to be all the rage. For some reason, we are obsessed with it and tend to forget about the rest of the world when thinking about travel destinations. Any country that's not "first world" or over three hundred years old seems to immediately get crossed off the list. I'm not bashing Western Europe by any means, I believe it's a great place and has a lot of history, I'm just encouraging us to think with an open mind. It has always been a struggle for me to "fight" for Mexico and try to dispel the myths about it when the press is constantly ragging on it. I will continue to advocate Mexico and now Turkey and Croatia, two of my favorite "under dogs." If you like pristine nature, untouched coast lines and deep blue water, Croatia is the place for you. This little country was just established in 1991 when Yugo...

I must admit, one thing Greece has going for it is the ferry system. Apart from the ridiculous and inconvenient schedule, they are always punctual and spend a mere ten minutes at port unloading and reloading semi trucks, cars and passengers before they are on their way again. The Greeks don't mess around and their ferrys mean business, unlike those of Croatia.  On Sunday morning mom and I went to the port in Bari to check the ferry schedule and purchase my ticket to Croatia. The terminal was dead. Note to self: never try to get anything done in Italy on a Sunday because everything is closed.  In addition, every travel agency was closed, so I decided to buy my ticket online but the ferry line forbade me from purchasing my day-of ticket on the Internet. Panic. This was another awesome ferry schedule that only came a few times a week and if I didn't get the Sunday boat, I would have to wait until Wednesday night. Luckily, when we arrived at the port that night, the ticket window ...

Im not gonna lie, mom and I were not terribly heartbroken to be leaving Greece.  After one too many run-ins with rude Greeks, an inconvenient and incomprehensible ferry schedule and a non functioning bank card, we were ready for a change in scenery and language.  Italy has everything I need to survive-cheap coffee, cheap gelato and delicious pizza. Unfortunately, I only have twenty-four hours to bask in its goodness, then I'm Croatia bound and mom is Rome bound. Our final days in Santorini were wonderful. We rented scooters again and  zipped around the island and spent a final night with our new American friends enjoying live music at our favorite Spanish-themed cafe before our one A.M. ferry departure.  This is where the journey starts to get really interesting, and we start wishing Greece was never even placed on the map.  We decided to book a hotel 3 Km outside of the main city on Kos Island.  It looked really nice online, and we thought something out of...

You know the classic question, "if you were stranded on a desert island what would you bring?" let me give you some insider tips; air conditioning, a book in English and some snorkel gear! We got to the island at two in the morning and spent our first half hour in paradise siting in a small car waiting and wondering where our driver taking us to the hotel had vanished to. Luckily, we were accompanied by a nice Australian couple headed to the same hotel. Together we watched all the cars and people disappear. The ferry departed on it's journey to Athens, and we were left alone, in Santorini at two in the morning. Finally, mom found our driver at his second job...a car rental shop, and we were soon on our way. The next morning, we saw the view out our hotel room and realized that Santorini is merely a giant sparsely populated volcanic rock in the middle of the Aegean. We began to wonder if the beautiful Santorini seen in the postcards was a big scam. The town we are staying ...

Friday evening we boarded a huge ferry to Santorini arriving at 1am sat. Ferry was larger than our San Juan Island ferries, 9 stories high, 2 decks full of 18 wheelers & cars, the rest was like a cruise ship. We snuck into the movie theater room, laid out on 3 comfortable seats & slept. Kris woke at midnight to the unmistakeable sounds of Grey's Anatomy & watched her favorite show in the middle of the Aegean Sea!! Upon picking us up, our host drove very fast up a series of narrow switchbacks to the top of the island with Kris telling him that "it was ok if he wanted to slow down!" Sunday found us renting motor scooters, driving around the whole island, swimming at the Red Beach, saw an awesome sunset at Oia - traditional Greek cliffside town, square white houses nestled into the hillside, narrow winding road transporting people up on donkeys! Oh yeah, we're livin' the dream :)

So Em & I are on the ferry to santorini.  Hope to get in around 1-2 am. Our hotel will pick us up, thank God! Time tables are very vague, Em & I have  been very lucky so far.  Great bus system throughout the country.  Got around Istanbul fantastically. Weather in the 80 s-90s, cool breezes @night; no humidity!  Our bus ride from Ephesus was great: ac, individual tv, juice & snacks served for FREE, seats that leaned back, etc countryside looks a lot like western CO. , low hills, deciduous trees, bushes; yet Arid. Now the coast is a different story! Rocky coast with white square bldgs. Built into the hillsides forming small villages; just like in the movies!  Our biggest challenges are finding free American-like toilets, changing our money, and finding places to fill our water bottles.  Most folks think we're French or European. So we're working on our French accents Merci!  Miss news about the States. Saw Obama w/Turkish President; don'...