After a couple of days waking up too early by cars or churches we not only decided it was time for some relaxation but also a hot shower.
Normally one can take a dip in the lake or the sea (with a shower afterwards) but now it’s a bit too cold to have bathing sessions in natural pools. Which means when we park & crash we do not have a shower nor do we have a toilet. We do have freedom but sometimes you want to smell good while feeling free right?
Split, the second largest city of Croatia
So, we drive to this beautiful medieval Roman city of Split. Well not all of Split is nice to be honest, but the old town is amazing. Cute tiny alleys that are connected through squares and two or three bigger streets. It’s a lot smaller than Venice but one can get lost here a bit as well. It’s amazing to walk through a city which is truly built by the Romans.
I mean Roma is great right? One of my favourite cities. But it’s different. Over centuries Rome is built by so many people, the true old city centre is lost. But not in Split.
Split still has the Roman stronghold in tact. Yeah, much has been restored, but it’s still there, with the houses, squares and pillars. Now of course the streets are filled with souvenir & shoeshops, oh and not to forget the many sunglasses you can buy here. A heaven for me because my sunglasses break the moment I touch them.
However, no need for new sunglasses now, neither are we here to shop for shoes or souvenirs. We are here to get lost and so we find a synagogue and Muslim centre next to each other inside the old stronghold. Oh how I love when things come together in one place. It shows we do have the ability to live as one humanity with love towards one another.
Anyway, you won’t get lost for too long here cause all the alleys and tiny streets are connected. After a while you will either end up at the gate of the stronghold or at one of the squares inside it. It’s not that big so it won’t take you hours to see it.
No sight of Corona
To really explore and experience of course one must drink a coffee and watch the people. And it’s easy to watch people cause it’s not as crowded as it used to be when tourists were all over this place, so one can actually see the locals. Then again, it is crowded considering the moment of time we are in. While in The Netherlands the worries regarding Corona are increasing instead of decreasing, here in Croatia it feels like Corona is as far away as the country it came from. The market is full of people, the sun is shining so the terraces are full, and people are enjoying their day shopping. For shoes and sunglasses of course. The only shops that are empty are the souvenir shops. So one can imagine how people in these shops treat us 😉
Anyway, we love to mingle, thus drink a coffee while the lady next to us is screaming to someone on her phone and at the same time trying to make sure her kids don’t fall off the steps of the stairs. I always wonder why these Romans made such huge steps. Were they so big? That can’t be it. Maybe they used the stairs like we do now; sitting on the steps while drinking a coffee.
It’s leave o’clock
When the church bells ring it’s time for us to leave. Oh no, will that be our connotation with church bells from now on? When the church bells ring it’s ‘leave o’clock’! Don’t worry, Yuri still peaks into every church we come across. He loves the fact that churches always did their best to make it look amazing. The architecture of churches, outside and inside, is amazing according to Yuri. And to many others. I also like the buildings but when I enter, I do not feel the enlightenment of religion but the burden of how many life’s it cost to build it and to keep the church in power. From wars initiated by the church to mercenaries who impose their religion onto others and crusaders protecting treasures stolen by the church to a pope that believes homosexuality is a sin. But I have to be honest, many churches have incredible huge halls decorated with beautiful paintings of the most famous bestseller of all times. I also love the colours when the sun shines through the windows. But still, I often skip entering.
Musings about historical events
Back to the Romans. Not a very friendly people but they did mighty things. Is that it? If you want to be mentioned in history books you must do unkind things? Think about the golden age of the Dutch, the start of New York, the Templars. Or what about Abel Tasman, Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés great explorers also great in doing whatever they wanted if it gave them a title or money. Anyway, the Romans did leave amazing structures behind. Something which we now love to visit and walk through. I do wonder how many people were beheaded at squares and how many weddings were celebrated at the same square. We always talk about history. What would it be like to walk through here when it was just built? How would it be like to build this? Would it feel safe when there was war? Would it feel alright when it was winter and there was an outbreak of the pest? Would there have been knights going through these streets with their horses?
Camping Split
After our usual musings about the past it was time to get Alexine out of here and onto a campsite. Which was near so we only had to drive about 10 minutes. We chose a campsite at the sea and luckily for us there was a beautiful spot directly at the beach. Made for us!
Surrounded by white German campers we attracted a lot of visitors right away. People curious about the beautiful van asking us where we are from and how old she is. Something you normally don’t ask a lady but when it’s a car “the older the more beautiful” but also the more unreliable. More on that later, for now we found the right spot to get our white skin brown and give the bags under our eyes a rest. Oh and of course that hot shower I started this post with. We got a wrist band for 7 showers!!! (We want to stay for 1 night) a bit too much, or are we smelling that bad? Maybe it’s my hair. However, after one shower (of 7 minutes max. they time it) we already feel so much better. The sun is shining, lots of seagulls are making a nice spectacle in the bay and we are sitting in our retro camping chairs drinking a glass of wine.
It’s 6:15 in the morning and the church bells ring without rhythm but quite loud. Ok, we chose to stand in between the church and the nuns. And while we wake up quite abruptly, the nuns seem to be prepared as they immediately run back and forth between the convent and church. An amusing sight if it wasn’t for the hour on which it occurred, which for us is way too early. And honestly; who is going to church at 6:15 on a Sunday? No one! Probably that’s why at 6:40, which seems to be a strange time anyway, the church bells ring again. This time louder, longer and it’s seems even less a melody. But, if their goal is to wake people up to go to church, it worked! We are awake. Well kind of.
Still a bit sleepy we walk to the supermarket across the street to buy ourselves some sandwiches and we do enter the church. But only to check if they have a toilet which we can use. Not even that..
So we say goodbye to the sisters and we drive to another spot where we can have a coffee and a toilet. This spot happens to have a beautiful view over the water and the best thing; it’s warm! We can actually sit in our sweaters.
In Switzerland we were walking on our flip flops and looking through our sunglasses. In Slovenia we slept in thermo underwear& pyjamas and our nose still froze off and now… now we are drinking a coffee with sea view in our sweaters while the sun is trying to find its way breaking up the clouds. Lovely!
The rest of the day goes quite smooth, like all Sundays should be. God might take a rest on Sundays, his followers do not and neither did we. We decided that Alexine deserves a beauty treatment so we washed and cleaned her. Something I wanted to do in Switzerland already but forgive me…
After cleaning Yuri wanted to watch the Formula 1 so we found a nice spot, ordered a beer and asked for the WiFi code. Yuri watched Verstappen win the race and I did some work on the blog. It’s improving but I have so many ideas that I always keep changing things. What I want to do is inform you more on the history of the Silk Road, stories about the van and maybe some information on travelling during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, this is a diary of our trip, a way to take you with us on this memorable journey. It’s not the typical blog where you read about the best campsites to stay at or where to drink the best coffee of Venice. That’s not really our style and I already get bored thinking about writing that kind of stuff. But something about the van, the Silk Road and/or COVID-19 might be nice and is part of our journey anyway. Let us know in the comments below if you are interested in any of that.
Ok, so it took about two hours and in these two hours the sun started to shine and our faces got burned. Or maybe it were the beers? We aren’t used to terraces anymore 🤣 Lots of people around us, smoking, loud conversations. Are we already becoming those dwellers that feel more comfortable in nature than surrounded by people?
Not yet!
We went to town to have diner and afterwards enjoy the beautiful sunset on the boulevard with many other people. Listening to the voice of the sea through the famous organ (Morske orgulje in Croatian), which isn’t that good but it’s more melodious than the church bells.
It’s already getting dark when we prepare the van for another night with potential noise. This time from people and cars instead of a church. Not sure what is better. Anyway, while we sit there people take photos of the van and it feels a bit strange sitting there while people take photos. It happens often btw. also on the road. People filming and taking photos. I might post a sticker with mygrations.nl on it.
Sorry, another diversion, anyway, suddenly a German speaking couple comes towards us and starts talking about the van. They have an old van as well. Bought in Kosovo I believe. They flew to Kosovo and are driving back. So they have visited some countries we are about to visit; Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and now Croatia. While he blows the smoke of his stinky cigarette in the van, she keeps talking and talking and talking. She gives some tips about travelling in these countries and we give answers to questions about the van. How old? How much? Where from? What about this? What about that?
Schones abend!
We watch ‘I am Greta’, an inspiring docu about Greta Thunberg and go to sleep afterwards. Tired and ready for another advanture. The next day we will continue our journey east to Split.
It’s our goal to have coffee at the most beautiful places and I’m sure this will be one of the best during our trip. Alone at lake Bohinj with cristal clear water and an immense reflection in the water while some ducks came to check out if we would share our breakfast. We didn’t. Our food isn’t good for animals even though they crave for it. But oh my was this a magical moment. We took our time to really enjoy the moment, inhale so we would remember this.
It’s one of those things that’s a little hard when traveling like this. We see so many places, experience so many things, explore many locations that you tend to forget those moments. That’s why we try to remind ourselves at these moments to really enjoy it, take it in and remember the feeling they give us. Which we did. But, when the clouds came and the coldness returned in our bones we decided it was enough.
Covid-19 makes traveling a bit more adventurous but at some places it also makes it a lot more boring. When it’s cold, nothing is open therefore not much to do, it get’s quite boring. So, Slovenia we will be back when it’s warmer.
After two hours we arrived at the border into Croatia. To our surprise there was a lot of barbed wire at the border. Apparently Slovenia is tired of being a transit country to refugees. For us transiting the country it’s not a problem, but when you are fleeing a war zone or oppression you are not allowed to enter. So they are fencing their borders with Croatia once again. A horrible sight and it made us a tat nervous. Not too much though because there is something we have that makes us very privileged travellers and that is our Dutch passport.
When we got at the border we were stopped by the police asking us for our passport and where we are going. “To China!” We answered. They always look a bit strange when we tell them we are on our way to China. But often it makes for a nice conversation or a laugh. This time as well. It took a while for him to check the car (she is old so has an old license plate by which you do not know where she is from). After a couple of minutes we were allowed to enter Croatia. Oh and nothing about Covid-19.
Soon we found out that in Croatia everything is open; bars and restaurants. Well the terraces are open. Good enough for us. We drove all the way to Plitvice National Park, through amazing forests. What we found interesting is that everywhere you drive you see these holes in the landscape around you. No idea what they’ve been. Maybe some air or gas, or a prolapse, I don’t know but it looked interesting.
After another 3 hours we arrived at a campsite, checked in and had our first diner in a restaurant since Appenzell, Switzerland. Wow, that seems like so long ago!
We went to bed early cause the next day we would visit the famous Plitvice waterfalls. The waterfalls are amazing but because winter is still here half of the waterfall is closed. Unfortunately for us that’s the most beautiful part of the park. But, we still got to see the beauty of the place. One more night near the waterfalls and we are really done with the cold. So South we go.
Our destination is Zadar, while on the way we stop at a cave. Before entering the cave we have lunch in the nearby village. More like a ghost town. It’s like one of those towns where people are born, never leave and know only that. Where the men start drinking at 12 and the women work in the local supermarket. These kind of towns always have a strange impact on me. But, I must say that we had a nice coffee here, at a local bar through which windows you can’t look and even though it’s not allowed a group of friends is drinking and smoking inside. We also had a nice sandwich which was made inside the supermarket by one of those women from town working there.
Back to the cave! The cave is 345.8 meters long and 35 meters high. Sounds like big but we soon find out there are caves in Croatia of 13km’s and some are nowadays even combined to a length of 50 something kilometers! Very nice. What’s also nice is that it’s 8 degrees inside which is warmer than outside. After 1.5 hour walking through the cave hearing Croatian jokes and interesting information on cave colors, forms and history we are truly heading south.
Finally warmth; 13 degrees, sea and an amazing sunset!
While the sun made way for clouds the highways changes into a small road. The change of roads reveal the border is near. We get off the main road, enter a village, drive up a hill and there it is ‘Welcome to Slovenia’. Suddenly we are in Slovenia and when we get to the other side of the hill a new highway is visible.
We drive towards the North, Bled will be our destination for today. Unfortunately for us the raindrops turn into snow flakes and if we wouldn’t notice this our feet would tell us. I’m sure my toes turned blue because oh my is it cold in the van. Every time we are cold we wonder why we haven’t fixed the heater. Probably it’s because we thought we would drive towards summer now winter.
After one and a half hour we finally arrive in Bled. Bled is a very famous lake of Slovenia and near the border with Austria. On a hill a castle is visible and on a small island in the middle of the lake is a church with some houses. The town itself isn’t that interesting. I guess in the summer when Covid-19 didn’t exist it must have been great to be here but now… Shops are closed, it’s cold, people are nowhere to be seen. It kind of feels like a ghost town. We drive around the lake and back into Bled to find ourselves some food. Yuri sees a pizza delivery car and we decide to follow it, soon we find ourselves near an ice sporthal and at the pizzeria ordering beers and pizza. We ignore the strange looks and the parking machine and eat the pizza in the van.
Our stomachs are full, our bodies a bit warmer and it’s time to find ourselves a spot to stay for the night. We found a nice parkinglot at a hotel. Normally one is not allowed to stay in the parking area of a hotel but the hotels are closed so who cares, right?
Well, the next day when the workers of the hotel arrived we were kindly asked to leave 😉
My mum told us about Bohinj lake, a place where she stayed with her parents, my grandparents. But, before we would visit the lake we decided to have a hike.. or two. We hiked near a gorge and to a wonderful waterfall. In Slovenia almost everything is closed and they hope to reopen in June. Unfortunately for us that also means that gorges and waterfalls are closed. Really? Yep, to maintain the pathways they request a small entrance fee. But without tourists there is no reason to have these places open so everything is closed. Luckily we often find ways around it and sometimes it’s good to ignore some signs. Sorry, but if you only follow rules and regulations your life’s going to be decided by governments and not by yourself. We live our own life’s so we sometimes listen and sometimes we don’t 🙂
Finally we went to Bohinj lake and wow! Where Bled is definitely a tourist destination Bohinj is more natural. Yes, it’s also a place where lots of tourists go to but there is more nature around it. It feels a bit more unspoiled and inhabited than Bled. It is beautiful and we actually saw some dear at the lake and about thousands mice. They are everywhere here. Like the owls and birds left and the mice took over.
We found a nice spot to stay for the night, at a waterfall and even though it was -8 degrees we were warm and cosy in the van (thermo underwear and layers helps). It’s probably the coldest night we have experienced up to now but this time we were prepared.
A long time ago, I’m not really sure when, I stumbled upon the story of the Silk Road. Not Marco Polo but Herodotos made me read the first travelogue about this ancient trade route. Of course, I knew about the route. Even though I didn’t pay attention during history classes in school (hate myself for that) soon after I graduated started getting interested in routes like this.
Trading & Travelling
The Silk Road has something in particular that I love, it’s the travelling through different places. And because of that experiencing all types of food, unknown habits, beautiful languages. When the Silk Road was truly a trade route one didn’t travel through countries but through lands, often not owned by a government but by a tribe. There were bandits along the road, now there are groups we often call terrorists, but they are just bandits developed in time. The road was and still is dangerous but also adventurous and a revelation.
Products from East to West and vice versa were done. The trade route brought us silk, spices and gun powder, and also religion, languages and diseases. Not much has changed right?
From West to East the goods included:
Horses
Saddles and Riding Tack
The grapevine and grapes
Dogs and other animals both exotic and domestic
Animal furs and skins
Honey
Fruits
Glassware
Woolen blankets, rugs, carpets
Textiles (such as curtains)
Gold and Silver
Camels
Slaves
Weapons and armor
From East to West the goods included:
Silk
Tea
Dyes
Precious Stones
China (plates, bowls, cups, vases)
Porcelain
Spices (such as cinnamon and ginger)
Bronze and gold artifacts
Medicine
Perfumes
Ivory
Rice
Paper
Gunpowder
The black death
We are now one year in a pandemic. One year in which millions of people got ill, many died, many more survived but we all were hit by the virus. You do not have to get sick to be hit. Restaurants, pubs and shops closed. People lost their jobs, their freedom and their friends.
Well, that’s not new. Along the silk road came many deseases, one of which we know as ‘the black death’. Venice, being the end of the silk road – or the beginning, got hit three times by the Black Death. The last time, in 1629, more than 50,000 people died. That’s one third of the city’s population! One third!
The ancient trade route
But, let’s focus on the good stuff. Of which one is definitely the silk that came to Venice. Besides silk there were lots of products being traded along the Silk Road, but still the road is not called ‘The Tea Road’ or ‘The Road of Spices’, not even ‘The Ivory Road’.
Silk in particular was very valuable and one of the most beautiful products that was traded along the route. Still, spices such as pepper (in that time called ‘The Black Gold’) were also quite expensive. It is said that the uncle of Marco Polo left him spices in his will.
Back to silk. It was called the Silk Road simply because one of the major products traded was silk cloth from China, nothing more and nothing less.
Let’s explain silk
💥 What is Silk? Silk is a natural fiber produced by insects as a material for their nests and cocoons. There are several types of insects that produce silk, including silkworms (the most common type of silk) but also beetles, honey bees, bumble bees, hornets, weaver ants, and many more.
⚡️The history of Silk The earliest example of silk fabric comes from China when it was used in a child’s tomb to wrap the body. China dominated the silk industry for many years, and initially the material was reserved for the Emperor. The Chinese used silk as a form of currency, and cost was measured in lengths of silk.
What is the Silk Road?
It’s the route linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Like I wrote before, silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism (from India) via the Silk Road.
Venice and Silk
Situated in the heart of a lagoon on the coast of northeast Italy, Venice was a major power in the medieval and early modern world, and a key city in the development of trade routes from the east to Europe. Its strategic position on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, within reach of the Byzantine Empire and traders from the Near East, allowed the city to become a hub of trade in the west, receiving goods from the east by sea and disseminating them into the growing European market.
A trade treaty between Venice and the Mongol Empire was established in 1221, illustrating their ambitions to extend their trading capacities across Central Asia. Both luxury goods and daily necessities were exchanged in the markets of Venice, from salt and grain to porcelain and pearl. Similarly, gems, mineral dyes, peacock feathers, spices, and a profusion of textiles such as silks, cottons and brocades from Egypt, Asia Minor and the Far East all passed through the ports of Venice, and were taken on by Venetian merchants to Europe, where they were becoming highly desirable and valuable items.
Marco Polo
It was from Venice that Marco Polo, himself a Venetian, set off on his famous expedition to the east in 1271, returning in 1295 with stories about eastern cultures, peoples and traditions that were considered unbelievable by contemporary audiences. His journey demonstrated the possibilities of travelling to the east, and did much not only to create a western fascination with the east (especially through his travelogue The Travels of Marco Polo), but also to put Central Asia, India and China on the western medieval map and thus to encourage further trade and communication in this direction.
Silk weavers in Venice
The Venetian Republic became the centre of a maritime empire of unequalled power, extending over the entire length of the shores around the eastern Mediterranean, to the islands of the Ionian Sea and to Crete. By the end of the 13thcentury, it was one of the most prosperous cities in Europe.
During this time there were about 30.000 silk weavers in the city. Now only 1 survived and we arranged a visit to this silk weaver in Venice; Tessiture Bevilacqua. We got to see their workshop and how they make beautiful fine fabrics for high quality fashion. They got requests from the Kremlin, the White House and many more. The production is extremely complex and still carried out by hand on 18 looms of the 18th century. It feels like stepping into history.
So, silk came from China and ended up in Venice where weavers made the most beautiful products from it. Like we always do things differently we made Venice the starting point of our Silk Road Advanture.
💫 Is there something you’d like to know about the Silk Road, our trip or Venice? Leave a comment!
Hi there! We are Milene & Yuri. We are travelling the world together since 2015. Our endless curiosity and will to explore has resulted in many cool, and somewhat extreme, adventures. On MYgrations you'll read all about our adventures, you'll find lots of information about the countries we visit you won't find anywhere else and more. Enjoy!
We’re also grammin’
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