A fairytale town in a picture-perfect location, Bled, Slovenia is comprised of 3 jewels – Lake Bled, Bled Castle, and a tiny island with the beautiful church of St. Mary. The walk around Lake Bled is a highlight. It is only 6.5 km (4 miles), and mostly flat, with scenic views the whole way, and plenty of places to stop for refreshments. (They are known for their cream cakes!) I was fortunate to spend 6 days here, and walked around Lake...

Split is a vibrant town on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, which is known for Diocletian’s Palace, a fortress-like structure erected by the Roman emperor in the 4th century. Now it’s full of restaurants, shops, cathedrals, hotels, and tourists. Note that the cruise ships dump huge crowds here, but if you see the tour guides holding up a flag followed by the masses, just head the other direction. They usually go for the area with...

If Korcula was the sleepy little sister island, Hvar is the glitzy high-rolling big sister, where the yachting crowd comes to see and be seen. On Hvar, you might go for a morning stroll and be so mesmerized by the scenery, that you’re still in the same spot at sunset! The Hula Hula Bar offers comfy lounge chairs for a pittance, with a view to die for. I stopped for a breakfast orange juice, stayed for a salad for lunch, and found myself...

One of the advantages of long-term travel is that less than perfect weather doesn’t throw you into a frenzy of frustration – you have several days to hang around (6 in my case on the island of Korcula) so good weather is likely to find you at some point. You can relax and enjoy the moment, raindrops and all, and the bottle-green sea-glass color of the ocean makes a lovely contrast with the gray of the sky. If all of your photos were...

With over 1000 islands off the coast of Croatia, I thought I’d give you a little series of posts on a few of my favorites. Since they all have such different personalities, this may help you choose where to spend your time, should you put Croatia on your bucket list. Let’s start with Mljet (pronounced Meeyet – in Croatia, J’s are pronounced like Y’s), which means “honey” and is the greenest island on...