I can’t help but feel like a carnival attraction walking around Bol. The season is closed. We are alone amongst locals. As I walk down the empty town streets I am watched from the few bars left open. Construction workers…
Day 33 – Zadar, Croatia – The city that refuses to die.
We didn’t plan to visit Zadar. It was the closest city to Paklenica National Park that Katy wanted to hike and it seemed like a better alternative to the seasonal climber village outside the park where I would be trapped…
Day 29 – Plitvička Jezera, Croatia – Wandering around a magical cloud.
Plitvice Lakes is the living embodiment of a water spirit, crystal waters tinged with chartreuse and aquamarine, the forest deadfall a ghostly mineral white texturing the haunting depths of the valley lakes as they rush, one to the next, down…
Day 28 – Brijuni Island, Croatia – Touring the playground of a benevolent dictator.
Zipping through the personal summer playground of a dictator, down tiny paved lanes past once splendid and palatial remnants slowly falling into disrepair, a glimpse into a different time. Cruising with cartoonish map in hand, we visit the expansive roman…
Day 26 – Day trip – Pula, Croatia
Even though the airport is in Pula, instead of staying in Pula we decided to set up home base in Rovinj and day trip there. There’s a bus station in the middle of Rovinj with nearly hourly buses to there…
Day 21 – Rovinj, Croatia – A sleepy medieval fisherman town.
Rovinj is the medieval storybook port town of your dreams. Shiny white stone streets spiraling up the hillsides in odd, often impossible-seeming pathways, claustrophobic lanes crisscrossed with drying laundry like Tibetan prayer flags waving in the cool evening air. All…
Day 16 – Split, Croatia
My highschool social studies project predicted the Yugoslavian civil war (known here as the Homeland War – Domovinski rat). And my college roommate was an ethnic Albanian from what is now Kosovo. He left home in the early 90’s at…
Day 13 – Barcelona, Spain
I’ve been here before. The tiny bars lining the pedestrian allies of the gothic quarter off La Rambla were a revelation. The food, the people, enchanting. And did I mention the food? Seven years ago Katy and I were…
Joshua Tree and the Yucca Men: Exploring the Mojave Desert
I honestly didn’t know what to expect, setting out on the several hour drive into the Mojave desert from LA. My only real association with Joshua Tree was the U2 album of the same name (the cover of which…
Altura – February 12, 2019
It’s a tough call but I think Altura is my favorite restaurant in Seattle. This was my fourth time back and every meal has been exceptional. Chef Nathan Lockwood opened this cozy spot at the end of Broadway on…