Short overview of Croatia
Croatia, has a spectacular 6,278 km coastline on the Adriatic Sea with more than 1,100 islands, of which only 66 are inhabited. This coast is considered to be the most beautiful in Europe with innumerable bays, inlets, coves and beaches, there is a population of 4.25 million. Croatia declared independence in 1991, and in 1992 became a full member of the United Nations. On July 1, 2013 Croatia became a 28th full member of the European Union, but it has not converted to the EURO yet, this is to happen in 2018
Croatia Flag 
We left Ireland on the 7th of September and flew to Dubrovnik, Croatia
The plan is to stay in Dubrovnik for two weeks, we booked Airbnb the address was Rjecka Ulica 1A Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik-Neretva Country, 20000 Dubrovnik it was a great spot, right on the harbour. Each day you could see new Cruise Ships arrive. The weather was great it was about 25 degrees during the day and down to 18 degrees at night. Everything was close by, the Old City which was amazing was a short bus ride, number 6 bus that came every 15min.
There were 3 fabulous beaches in walking distance, Copa Cabana, Coral Beach Club and Dubrovnik Beach. There are plenty of good restaurants close by, although we had been told the seafood was great and very fresh we felt it was overcooked in all the restaurants we had it in, in particular the Tuna. Shame really.
Dubrovnik Beach
Coral Beach Club
Copa Cabana
We spent a few days going into the Old city as there was so much to see, you can walk around the top of the city walls which is great. The City has been standing since the 12th century with plenty of updates over the years. We went to a number of museums and art galleries here are a few, House of Marin Drzic, Dubrovnik Natural History Museum, Cultural History Museum, Archaeological Exhibition and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, all were very interesting although the Art work did not excite me very much, it was not really my taste.
Old City
We took a day trip out to one of the islands Locrum island. The views and water was just amazing, and the history of the monastery on the island was also very interesting.
Another day we hired a car and drove to Cavtat this is a beautiful place with a lovely harbour which houses some great boats. There are also some great swimming spots. We also drove to Solna, which had another harbour, and a very nice old church.
We wanted to visit the Peace Bridge but that is in Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina so we decided to take a bus trip as there are four borders check points that you have to go through and we thought it would be best if we did not have to do this on our own. It was a great trip the Peace Bridge was lovely to see, Mostar is a nice city, and the very beautiful Kravica water falls are a definite must to visit.
Peace Bridge and Mostar
Kravica Waterfalls
Me in having a swim
Summary of Croatia
Croatia is a beautiful place, I am sure I could live here, but it can have a lot of tourist, even though we where there in September. I was expecting less tourists in Croatia this time of year, and although I was told this was the case I still felt at times it was very crowed so I would have to think about going in June, July or August.
13th of September 2018
We missed visiting Plitvice national Park when we went to Croatia earlier on this trip so while we were in Slovenia, which is only a three hour drive from Plitvice we decided to pop down for 3 days. It is beautiful Park with lots of lakes,waterfalls, flora and fauna we spent a whole day here hiking through the Park, there are several hikes you can do, and they are very well sign posted. It is worth a visit just go early in the morning as it can get busy.
Short overview of Italy
Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi). With 61 million inhabitants, it is the third most populous EU member state.
Flag of Italy 
We decided that in this part of our trip to Italy we would just visit the bottom half of the Boot. We will return to Italy next year to complete.
We got an overnight ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari in Italy. It was a smooth sailing. From Bari we drove to Lecce where we stayed for a few days. The drive was interesting, lots of agriculture, olives, corn, tomatoes etc. we did not see much live stock.
Lecce is a very nice place and the old town is great to visit, the buildings date back as far as the 13th and 14th century, it is lovely to walk though the old town with all the cobble streets and old buildings, the government encourage the people that live in the old town to renovate there shops and houses. There are a lot of Art and Designer Shops one that where particular good was www.tondadesign.it. It has amazing lights, clocks and furniture. We took a trip to Gallipoli, which has a very nice port and beach but it was a shame that there was so much rubbish being washed up on the beach. Especially plastic bottles, I believe one day these bottles are going to be a big issue across the world, every beach we seem to go to these plastic bottles are being washed up..
Façade of the Basilica di San Giovanni Battista in Lecce
The Roman amphitheatre in the centre of Lecce plus Sant’Oronzo, the town’s patron
Secret gardens in Lecce square
We stayed in a great Airbnb just 10min walk to the old town. The address is Via Guglielmotto D’Otranto, 8 Lecce, Puglia it had amazing 12 foot ceilings, and large rooms, Francesco was a great host. Our 3 nights went in all to fast.
We drove from Lecce to Villa San Giovanni to board a 20min ferry trip to Messina in Sicily.
Short over view of Sicily
Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy. It is the largest Island in the Mediterranean Sea, with a population of 5,077,487 (8.4% of Italy) and a size of 25,711 km2 (9,927 sq mi). Capital City is Palermo. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the art, music, literature, cuisine and architecture.
Sicily Flag 
Drove from Messina to Catania, the accommodation was great we stayed across the road from the old Castle Ursino. It was Airbnb the address is Piazza Federico di Svevia 62, 95121 Catania, Province of Catania Italy. The apartment had amazing high ceilings and huge rooms.
Castle Ursion
Street where we stayed
Apartment where we stayed
The famers markets where on the Saturday morning, they sold everything you could imagine fruit, vegetables, every type of meat (including horse meat which I was very surprised to see) horses are my favourite animal, so I could not bring myself to eat horse meat. Mind you I am sure some people feel the same about cows and chickens. Nuts, herbs, and every type of cheese and bread was also sold. The atmosphere was amazing with all the vendors calling out their prices, it was very busy but it just added to the atmosphere.
We did a bus tour around the City of Catania. It is a very interesting city. We organized a trip to Etna, Etna is the highest volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcano in the world. From a height of 3,350 it can dominate the Island of Sicily.
Town Square Catholic Church
Traditional wedding
Town Square
Etna as you can see not a good day.
From Catania we drove to Syracuse which has a beautiful harbour, Martin saw the boat that he would like for Christmas. Not only was it a beautiful boat it also had a helicopter pad on it, Martin reckoned he was so good this year he also deserved the helicopter. We had a quick look around the town.
Syracuse harbour
We drove on, our destination that day was Sciacca it is on the south coast of Sicily, the drive was very interesting. The tunnels can range from I kms to 8 kms long, there are very few tolls in Sicily yet the roads are amazing. Maybe Australia could learn a thing or two from Sicily.
We stayed at a very nice AIRBNB it is right on the harbour. Via Gaie di Garaffe 2092919 Sciacca which is a province of Agrigento. Sciacca is a charming town with a picturesque position and stunning landscape that boast artistic and cultural heritage, the town was founded in the 7th Century BC. Today only the gate and arch remain of the old town but the gateway entrance is wonderful to see. There are amazing views of the ocean from the highest point of the old town.
Sciacca Harbour
Old town enterence
The host was a great guy he was an architect who had refurbished and rebuilt the apartment we were staying in, he was also building the tree bedroom townhouse next door, he was good enough to show us, it has plenty of room and the view from the main bedroom balcony was to die for. If we ever go back to Sciacca this is a place, we will stay. This was our first time to try Granita it is a very refreshing Lemon Drink (Although I think they add a lot of sugar). We had a very nice evening on Sunset Beach. But again, there were heaps of plastic water bottles washed up on the sand.
Apartment we stayed in
View from the lounge
Sunset on Sciacca harbour
Accomadation
Our three days in Sciacca went in all too fast and it was time to hit the road again, we stopped at Valle dei temple di Agrigento on the way back to Messina without doubt this is the most famous site of Sicily the vision of the ruins and the magnificent Greek temples from the 5th century BC is enhanced by the natural setting. The concord temple is one of the best preserved and the Temple of Jupiter which was very important in ancient times was wonderful to see. There are lots to see here, you should put aside a whole day so you can see everything.
Concord Temple
The views from here are amazing
We spent the night in Messina, early next morning we had breakfast said our goodbyes to Scilly and headed to the ferry, we wanted to drive as far as Sorrento today.
Messina
We did not realise it was a holy day in Italy the day we arrived in Piano Sorrento, it was very hard to find parking but eventually we found a spot. Our accommodation was in a great spot in Piano Sorrento but it was just a bit old and damp. The weather was beautiful; we have been so lucky with the weather.
Views from across the road of our accommodation in Piano Sorrento
We took a short train trip into Sorrento which is a beautiful city along the coast. There was a lot of tourists and some beautiful hotels.
Martin loving the beer in Sorennto
On day 3 in Sorrento Martin decided that he wanted to drive the Amalfi coast, he has more courage than I have, not only are the drivers crazy, the road is very narrow and has to accommodate large tour buses, lots of motor bikes plus cycles and runner, not sure why people would want to run on this road as it is so busy with traffic and the fumes from the traffic cannot be good for anyone. Martin did a great job although we had to reverse up the road to let buses pass by, he managed very well, nervous of steel I say. The views were amazing along the coast but I would be lying if I did not say I was glad it was done. It took 90min to drive 25 kms. We drove on up through Raveilo a short cut back to the freeway we stopped here for lunch. Another interesting drive.
Amalfi Coast
We drove to Rome that night and stayed near Leonardo De Vinci airport we fly to Turkey tomorrow.
Italy and Sicily are wonderful places to visit the food, people, architecture and way of life is something I could warm to.