Croatia, Slovenia Trip

Last year I went to Croatia and a few other countries around there with my family. There are so many beautiful places and I strongly recommend you to visit the countries someday!

First, we went to Lake Bled in Slovenia. The lake is surrounded by mountains and forests and the lake itself surrounds Bled Island. The island has a beautiful church which is a popular place where weddings are held regularly. It was such a pretty day and I felt like I was in the world of a fairy tale.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest national park in Croatia which is wold famous for its lakes in cascades. The lakes are all interconnected and follow the water flow. We hiked and took a boat in tha park. The color of water is emerald green and I can't forget the beautiful scenary there.

 Postjna Cave is known as the longest cave system in Slovenia as well as one of tourlism sites. Unfortunately, I could not take a picture inside of the cave. There is a castle which half of the building is located in the cave. How dangerous!!

Dobrovnik is the place I felt in love!! Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains and now the city joined UNESCO world heritage.This histrical town and the Adriatic Sea coast took me to the old Europe!
 

The food was very good there, especially seafood!Scampi, my favorite :)



I have been to...

Americas - U.S.A, Canada

Africa - Egypt

Europe - U.K, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro

Asia - Japan, China, Hong-Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma

Oceania - Australia



There are more places I wanna go travel, especially in Europe!!

Kinosaki, Japan - "Beautiful Hometown"

Although I like traveling all over the world, I really love my country Japan, especially my hometown.

My home town is Kinosaki in Hyogo Prefecture, which is near Osaka, the second largest city in Japan. Kinosaki is such  a small town but also it is famous for tourism.

Kinosaki is a historical hot spring town in Japan and the greatest place to feel Japanese tradition. Fresh seafood, hot spring, beautiful street, nature such as Japan Sea, mountains, Maruyama River... You can enjoy such great scenery here. I will introduce more about this beautiful town later...to be continued.

Nashville in Tennessee - "Music City"-

After going to South Carolina and Georgia, I went to Nashville in Tennessee to visit another friend.

Nashville, Tennessee -  it is most known as a center of the music industry, earning it the nickname "Music City". My first visit to Nashville was in 2001, 10 years ago. At that time, I was a high school student, so unfortunately I could not enjoy night life in Nashville. Therefore, I really looked forward to listening country music at bar in Nashville!

First, we went to Jack Daniel's Distillery. Tennessee is also famous for Tennessee Whisky and Jack Daniel is the most famous whisky company all over the world as you know. It was fun to see how whisky are made here and know the history of Jack Daniel. Also there is no entrance fee! You can participate the tour for free so great deal!!

 

Second, there is a museum coordinated by NASA near Nashville, which is called U.S. Space and Rocket Center. You can see many of rockets and a real space shuttle and learn the history of NASA there.

In downtown Nashville, there is a great museum for country music called Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!

I really enjoyed this museum because we could enjoy not only Museum but also a concert! We went to lunch concert by professional country musicians which is held on every Wednesday. It took only $15 including lunch.

 

 Museum is also great! You can feel the origin of American music and realize what is country music.

 At night, of course, we went out to listen country music at bar. There are so many bars in downtown Nashville and you can hear the music even when you walk on the street.



The bar we chose was one of the most famous bar called Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. There was a great violinist and I just fell in love with the sound!! Such a great night in Music City!



Charleston & Savannah - "Old America"

As my first travel note here, I would introduce the latest trip, which is to South Carolina and Georgia in the United States. The primary reason that I traveled there was because my close friend lived. However, they were such great places and I recommend you guys to visit at least once!

Charleston is known as The Holy City due to the prominence of churches on the low-rise cityscape, particularly the numerous steeples which dot the city's skyline, and for the fact that it was one of the few cities in the original 13th centuries to provide religious tolerance, albeit restricted to non-Catholics.


This is Historic City Market. The picture on the right shows that a woman make traditional baskets. Once upon a time, slaves used to make and sell the baskets.

There are a lot of historical buildings in Charleston. I could feel like going back to long time ago.
The picture below was taken in Boone Hole Plantation, which is one of the most famous plantations in South Carolina. All the plantations were established before the Civil War and many slaves used to live and work there.

We can eat seafood such as mussels, oyster, sea bass and so on. Yum!!

Savannah is another historical town. It's located in Georgia State but so close to South Carolina. We went around the town by trolley. Some tourists took a carriage.

There are many squares and parks in the town. We saw a wedding held in the square. So pretty! The historical architectures were so beautiful as well.

Along the river side, there are many good restaurants and shops. Many tourists were walking around there and I realized Savannah was a popular place to visit in U.S.

The greatest meal in this trip was this Lobster!! Soft and juicy, tasted sooooo good!!!

Through this travel, I not only enjoyed sightseeing but also became familiar with American history a little bit. Actually, I was surprised because South East Area in U.S. has totally different atomosphere from California. It was my first time to think about it seriously...How embarassed! 

That's why I think that a journey enriches my life!!

Welcome to World Travel Notes!

Hi. Finally I opened my English blog!! I created this blog to  share my exciting experiences and sweet memories of travels to all over the world!

I'm from Japan and now living in San Diego, the United States. I have been to many countries including Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. All of the journeys provided me not only a lot of fun but also brandnew point of view!

Check my blog out and plan a new travel plan :)