Our major trip in 2014 will explore Northern Italy and Croatia. We plan to spend some time in Lucca, a popular town in northwestern Tuscany and also visit the Cinqueterra, a quintet of villages along the Ligurian coast.

We will then spend four nights in Milan, using it as a base of operations for an exploration of Italy’s Lakes Region. We are looking forward to seeing Bellagio and several other towns on Lake Como. On another day, we will drive to Lake Maggiore and check it out. We also plan to spend a half-day in Bergamo, a town just east of Milan.

Next we will drive to Ljubljana, Slovenia and spend two (2) nights walking around the pedestrian-only Old Town. We have heard that Ljubljana is a lovely and lively small city and are excited to sample its ambience and culture.

After Slovenia, we will travel to Croatia. Our major hub will be Split, an ancient city with strong ties to the Roman Empire. A full day trip to Dubrovnik will be our main excursion here. Dubrovnik is known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic” and we plan to either confirm or discredit this claim. We also plan to visit the villages of Trogir, Sibenik, and possibly Zadar while in the region. Lee would also like to spend some time in Medugorje, if possible (it is in Bosnia and I am not allowed to drive there).

Our next stop will be Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, and another dynamic and lively city. From Zagreb we will begin to head back toward Milan (and our return flight) although we will spend two nights in Verona along the way.

We arrived today in Milan and, slowly but methodically made our way in our  rented Alfa Romeo to our hotel in Lucca (Relais la Cappella). The Cappella is a charming place but very difficult to find. The road up to the hotel is hazardous, twisting and winding its way up a mountain. But it’s great to be here!