The modern art of our travels. Click for a much bigger version.
And so for now we draw to a close with the
Europe Travels. It was an incredibly delightful way to spend four months of our lives. But now we're back in the US and thought we'd look back on the trip, giving both an overview and a map for some visual representation of the trip we took.
It all started with landing in Dubrovnik,
Croatia, where we first spent time in the
Konavle region to the south (bordering
Montenegro) and then in
Pelješac to the north. Pelješac offered us some great red wines from
Dingač and many other winemakers in the region that are doing wonderful things with
Plavac Mali grapes.
From there we went up to the island of Mljet, where wine production is very minimal and then it was a short catamaran ride to
Korčula where a great amount of wine is produced, including the
Čara Pošip.
We headed south from there, in to the coast of newly independent
Montenegro, tasting their
Vranac along the way. It was then up in to Serbia, where we had some very good white wines and were very fortunate to get to attend the
Novi Sad International Wine Festival. We also learned about
Bermet, this very interesting sweet wine they make up there.
We started heading a bit west and south, going through Sarajevo and then Mostar in
Bosnia Herzegovina. It was here in the south of the country that we got to taste the very lovely varietals of
Blatina and
Žilavka along their very well-organised
Wine Route.
It was then back out to the Croatian coast, hitchhiking our way to the west end of Hvar island to taste the mind blowingly good Plavac Mali there. The best were from
Plenković and
Srviče.
After a few days of actual beach vacation, we went to
Brač island to discover the hidden gems of
Baković. From there, it was the island of
Vis where we had their take on Plavac Mali along their
Wine Route.
Before we left the coast and began heading up north, we made a memorable stop at
Bibich winery in
Skradin. And from Skradin we just kept going inland until we hit the very top of Croatia in the
Međimurje region, tasting
Horvat-Hudin. Then we hopped across the border in to
Slovenia for a quick taste in the eastern part of that country at
Vehovar.
It was from there we went back west, out to the coast again (in high season nonetheless), and in to
Istria off the far west edge of Croatia. That was a memorable week where we tasted great
Terans and
Malvazijas by
Demian,
Žigante,
Veralda, and
Kozlović.
And after a short trip back to
Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, we went to Venice for a couple of days before catching our connecting flights back home.
Again, a very memorable trip, but also a busy one. We wouldn't recommend such a huge scope for everyone because language can be a problem some places (we can get by in Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian) and also the fact that almost any single spot we were at would be a perfect two week trip for any wine lovers out there. The region is developing a great deal in regards to wine drinking.
Of course, if you can't make the trip anytime soon,
try some of the wines today!
