Tác dụng tuyệt vời của khoai lang mật

Tác dụng của khoai lang mật - Khoai lang mật là thực phẩm có sẵn trong căn bếp nhà bạn. Có thể bạn nghĩ Khoai lang mật chỉ có giá trị về mặt dinh dưỡng nhưng Khoai lang mật có nhiều tác dụng trong việc chữa bệnh. Cùng tìm hiểu nhé.

Khoai lang mật là một loại củ rất phổ biến và gần gũi với người Việt Nam. Thành phần chính của Khoai lang mật là tinh bột, ngoài ra còn có chất xơ và các loại vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6… Chính vì những ưu điểm như vậy nên Khoai lang mật rất tốt cho sức khỏe.

Tốt cho bệnh nhân tiểu đường

Những nghiên cứu trên thú vật cho thấy có sự liên hệ giữa việc tiêu thụ Khoai lang mật và tình trạng ổn định nồng độ đường huyết. Một trong những nguyên nhân là do Khoai lang mật có chứa nhiều carotenoics. Nhiều nghiên cứu cho thấy carotenoids có chức năng điều hòa đường huyết. Khoai lang mật còn có khả năng làm giảm sự kháng insulin. Insulin rất cần thiết cho cơ thể để “mở khóa” tế bào, cho phép đường từ máu đi vào tế bào. Kháng insulin nghĩa là khi tế bào không đáp ứng với insulin, không cho phép đường huyết đi vào tế bào một cách tự nhiên để nuôi dưỡng tế bào.

Nguồn chất xơ phong phú có trong Khoai lang mật cũng có tác dụng tốt cho bệnh nhân tiểu đường vì chất xơ có tác dụng làm giảm nồng độ đường huyết bằng cách làm giảm tốc độ của thực phẩm bị biến chuyển thành glucose để được hấp thu vào máu. Hơn nữa, do trong thành phần có nhiều phức carbohydrates nên Khoai lang mật có thể giúp kiểm soát trọng lượng cơ thể.

Chống lại gốc tự do

Gốc tự do là những loại hóa chất có thể gây tổn hại cho tế bào cơ thể. Những nghiên cứu mới đã khám phá ra rằng có những loại protein trong Khoai lang mật có khả năng chống ôxy hóa (antioxidant) rất cao. Những protein này chứa khoảng 1/3 lượng chất chống ôxy hóa quan trọng nhất có trong cơ thể là glutathione.

Nhờ chứa một hàm lượng cao vitamin A và vitamin C, Khoai lang mật có thể ngăn ngừa sự tổn thương tế bào, chống lại những gốc tự do trong cơ thể. Sự hình thành các gốc tự do được xem là nguyên nhân dẫn đến các bệnh như xơ cứng mạch máu, tiểu đường, tim mạch, ung thư..

Giúp mắt sáng, da khỏe

Khoai lang mật là nguồn cung cấp vitamin C dồi dào, giúp ngăn ngừa cảm lạnh và virus cúm. Đồng thời, vitamin C cũng rất cần thiết cho xương và răng, tốt cho hệ tiêu hóa và quá trình hình thành các tế bào máu. Ngoài ra, vitamin C còn góp phần chữa lành vết thương, tạo ra collagen giữ cho làn da luôn tươi trẻ, giảm stress và bảo vệ cơ thể khỏi những độc tố có nguy cơ gây ung thư cao.

Beta carotene là tiền chất của vitamin A trong cơ thể người. Vitamin A duy trì đôi mắt sáng và làn da khỏe mạnh.

Giảm nguy cơ ung thư vú

Màu cam trên vỏ Khoai lang mật là dấu hiệu cho thấy mức carotene rất cao của loại củ này. Nhóm chất carotene giúp tăng thị lực, thúc đẩy hệ miễn dịch, chống oxy hóa và ngăn ngừa lão hóa.

Một nghiên cứu do ĐH Harvard (Mỹ) thực hiện trên 124.000 người cho thấy, những người tiêu thụ thức ăn giàu carotene trong chế độ ăn uống thường xuyên của mình giảm tới hơn 32% nguy cơ ung thư phổi. Ngoài ra, những phụ nữ có nồng độ carotene cao nhất có nguy cơ tái phát ung thư vú thấp nhất.

Đây là kết luận được các nhà khoa học từ WHEL (Women’s Healthy Eating and Living) đưa ra sau khi tiến hành nghiên cứu trên những phụ nữ hoàn tất giai đoạn đầu điều trị căn bệnh này.

Giúp giảm cân

Khoai lang mật cũng là sự lựa chọn số 1 cho những người muốn giảm béo. Năng lượng có trong Khoai lang mật rất ít, chỉ bằng 1/3 so với cơm và 1/2 so với khoai tây. Loại củ này không chứa chất béo và cholesterol, ngăn ngừa quá trình chuyển hoá đường trong thức ăn thành mỡ và chất béo trong cơ thể. Ăn Khoai lang mật trước bữa ăn sẽ tạo cảm giác no bụng, vì thế sẽ giảm được lượng thức ăn hấp thụ trong bữa ăn chính.

Điều trị bệnh loét dạ dày

Khoai lang mật còn có khả năng làm dịu nhẹ và điều trị bệnh loét dạ dày vì nó chứa nhiều vitamin B, vitamin C, potassium, beta carotene và canxi. Chất xơ có trong Khoai lang mật giúp phòng ngừa bệnh táo bón và kiểm soát nồng độ axít trong dạ dày nên cũng góp phần làm giảm các cơn đau và viêm loét dạ dày.

Kích thích tiêu hóa, chữa táo bón

Cách đơn giản nhất là ăn Khoai lang mật luộc. Ăn Khoai lang mật ở mức độ vừa phải (100 g/ngày) rất có lợi cho hệ tiêu hoá vì thành phần vitamin C và các acid amin giúp kích thích nhu động ruột, làm quá trình tiêu hoá thức ăn trở nên nhanh hơn, ngăn ngừa tình trạng táo bón. Ngoài ra, để chữa táo bón còn có thể uống nước Khoai lang mật luộc (phải rửa sạch vỏ). Tuy nhiên, ăn quá nhiều Khoai lang mật cũng sẽ gây ra đầy bụng, khó tiêu.

Chống viêm nhiễm

Khoai lang mật có khả năng chống lại sự viêm nhiễm rất tốt vì nó chứa nhiều vitamin C, vitamin B6, beta carotene và mangan. Các nhà khoa học trên thế giới đã tìm ra tác dụng giảm viêm nhiễm trong mô não và mô thần kinh ở khắp cơ thể khi chúng ta ăn Khoai lang mật thường xuyên.

Phòng ngừa bệnh viêm khớp

Chất beta cryptoxanthin dồi dào trong Khoai lang mật có tác dụng phòng ngừa các bệnh viêm nhiễm mạn tính như viêm khớp, thấp khớp. Ngoài ra, beta cryptoxanthin còn giúp tăng cường độ chắc khỏe của xương, tăng cường hệ miễn dịch và làm đẹp da. Các kết quả nghiên cứu khoa học trên thế giới cho thấy việc tiêu thụ nhiều chất beta cryptoxanthin giúp giảm 50 % tỷ lệ phát triển của bệnh viêm khớp. Thêm vào đó, vitamin C có trong Khoai lang mật còn giúp duy trì collagen và giảm thiểu tỉ lệ phát triển của bệnh viêm khớp.

Thời điểm Khoai lang mật tốt nhất

Bữa trưa là thời điểm lý tưởng để lựa chọn món Khoai lang mật cho mình. Vì hàm lượng can-xi trong Khoai lang mật sau khi vào cơ thể cần tới 4-5h mới được cơ thể hấp thụ hết. Mặt khác, ánh sáng mặt trời buổi chiều rất tốt cho sự thúc đẩy sự hấp thụ can-xi của cơ thể. Khi cơ thể hấp thụ hết lượng can-xi cần thiết cũng là lúc cảm thấy hào hứng với bữa tối.

Tuy nhiên, không nên ăn Khoai lang mật cùng quả hồng vì lượng đường trong Khoai lang mật sẽ lên men trong dạ dày, từ đó làm tăng việc tiết axit dịch vị. Các men axit này kết hợp với chất tannin có trong quả hồng gây ra phản ứng tạo chất kết tủa, gây hại cho dạ dày. Lâu ngày có thể dẫn tới chảy máu hoặc viêm loét dạ dày.

Cung cấp khoai lang mật Đà Lạt: www.khoailangmat.com

The World Kept Turning

After the vote came in and the majority of people wanted to leave the EU, crystal balls were in short supply as no one could predict what would happen next. In London political leaders escaped to the country and confusion was the order of the day as we wound-up our two-week stay in Peckham Rye.

One day after the Brexit vote a few of the ladies that lived on our lovely lane set off for a protest of their own to rail against the decrease in pensions for elderly women or something like that.

Our Peckham Rye neighbors ready to take on the next cause

London is a city we know well having lived there for five years when the kids were young - mind you, that was 30 years ago, but some things about London just don't change. But of course some things do, and on this visit we were able to witness London's Pride Parade. We joined hundreds of thousands of other spectators and marchers on June 25th and spend three inspiring and entertaining hours pressed against the metal fencing at Picadilly Circus. It was a warm day - and the drag queens, were, well dragging, but most everyone was happy and joyful.

You look fabulous Darling!

Music blared from big red double decker buses, bands played, niche groups like Granny Lesbians and a bunch of men dressed as puppies punctuated employee groups from dozens of major companies in the UK.  Representatives from every religious group on earth including: “Catholic and Gay” to “Muslim and Gay” came rolling one after another. The whole experience was a kaleidoscope of color and cultures from across the UK and around the world. Great entertainment and fun on the one hand - yet sobering to see all the signs of support for those killed or injured just days before in the Orlando nightclub shooting. A reminder, as if we needed one, that the joy and love of life never can escape tragedy and hate.

Which raises a question that we hear often from friends….

Aren’t you afraid traveling in Europe with all the terrorist attacks and suicide bombers? At this point, senseless violence seems to knowing no borders, it makes as much sense for us to be here as anywhere. If one were looking for a safe refuge from danger, I’m really not sure where a person would go today. Of course we are staying away from the obvious places - so don't look for blogs from Tunisia, Egypt or sadly, one of our favorite countries, Turkey. We will be traveling soon to the western parts of Ukraine; Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, but we feel those are safe.

In stark contrast to these kinds of discussions, we really enjoyed watching the Euro Cup football matches with teams competing from all corners of Europe. Sports has a way of bringing unity in a way nothing else does. One night in London we were able to enjoy a wonderful evening concert at the esteemed St. Martin-in-the-Fields church just off Trafalgar Square. The all-Mozart program was the perfect antidote to today’s challenges listening to music that Amadeus Mozart composed 250 years ago, some when he was not yet a teenager. Glad he chose music over a football career. 

Afterward we rushed to a nearby pub to catch the last few minutes of a quarter-final match between Wales (where Debbie received 1/3 of her DNA) and powerhouse Belgium. The match was a classic case of the underdog vs the sure thing. Wales fans were crammed into the tiny pub all fixed on a single TV above the bar. Amazingly enough, Wales came out on top and apparently as tradition would have it, the crowd and both bar tenders began dancing and singing along to the famous Welshman Tom Jone's hit “It’s not Unusual”. I suspect that the song had been cued in the CD player just in case! Here's a look back at Mr. Jones singing the original - and the dance that everyone in the pub seemed to know, but us!

Another highlight was dinner at a local pub in our Peckham-Rye neighborhood to watch Iceland vs England in another Euro Cup thriller. It was the biggest match for England in the tournament and I visited three pubs in the afternoon looking for just the right place to watch the match: good food, lots of TVs, and a nice atmosphere. I settled on The Rye, just a few blocks from our house and made a reservation. See below how they “reserve” tables. This was another David and Goliath match with little Iceland (total population 330,000) vs England (53 million). The match was in the “knock-out stage” of the tournament where the winner goes on and the looser goes home.

The perfect table for two - Backgammon went untouched as the match was a nail-biter.

The match came just four days after the Brexit vote so everyone in the pub was feeling more than a little anxious about life in general. When the whistle blew and Iceland knocked England out of the Euro Cup with a 2-1 win you could hear a pin drop in the pub as English fans realized that not only was the country going to exit the European Union sometime in the next two years, in the space of 90 minutes, they actually did exit the 2016 Euro Cup. It was a Senior Nomad moment to be there! Son Chris was happy since we had placed a bet on his behalf for Iceland to go all the way - and he was getting closer to a big payday. 

Another highlight was visiting a nearby museum that we had never heard of but was recommended by our host called the Dulwich Picture Gallery. It was just a short bus ride from Peckham Rye and a nice leisurely walk through an large, flower-filled park and the picturesque village of Dulwich to the museum which markets itself as the “oldest purpose-built museum in the world.” It was a lovely afternoon out, but the paintings themselves were not that memorable. Here’s my favorite of the lot:

A lovely portrait called "A Girl at the Window" by Mr. Rembrandt from 1645

We turned the calendar over to July which meant it was time to move on to Amsterdam. As usual, after checking Skyscanner and other apps, the most affordable flight we found was on Easy Jet from Stanstead Airport. When you think of London airports Heathrow and Gatwick come to mind but much smaller Stanstead in the northwest corner of London is another alternative and the hub for most low-cost airlines.

Our travel-day route included: a train from Peckham Rye to London, a bus to Stanstead, the flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, a train ride into the Central Station and finally the #4 tram to our new Airbnb. Although the distance is only 200 + miles as the crow flies, it took us ten hours door to door.

We’ve talked about Ryanair and Easy Jet before. The actual ticket prices are alluringly cheap - but if you check bags, and of course we have to, the price goes straight-up. For example, our actual tickets for this trip were something like $50 for the one-hour flight, but checking 20kg of baggage each added another $50 so total cost per person was $100. In the big scheme of things, still reasonable. The challenge with Easy Jet is they only allow one carry-on per person. Since we both have small (and super heavy) day packs and Debbie has a purse, we are already in trouble trying to get everything we have in our suitcases and backpacks, and no matter how hard we try, we do end-up accumulating “stuff” and struggle to get to that 20kg weight - let alone down to one carry-on.

Don't know how we'd manage without our luggage scale. But like any scale we wish it weighted lighter.

With all that said, we headed to the airport that morning knowing we had one carry-on bag too many and too much weight. At check-in, when the rubber hit the road, the agent said that each person was allowed an extra carry-on if it was a Duty Free Bag so if we could get our extra things in one or two of those we'd be fine. New information! We figured it was a push-back from the Duty Free stores on the carry on restrictions - people weren't shopping because they thought they couldn't take the bags on board.

So off we went, through screening and out to the gate. Debbie went to find the smallest things she could purchase from Duty Free and still get two bags. Our plan was then to distribute all our extra stuff in the Duty Free Bags. The good news, Debbie came back with 2 bags as planned. The bad news, she bought more stuff. Of course it all made sense -- a few fun things for the grandchildren who we would see in a couple of weeks, and her usual large bag of Gummy Bears. We were close to being in the same state as we were in at the check-in counter.

So we resorted to our usual fallback of filling the pockets of our coats to the brim, filling the sleeves of the coats from cuff to shoulder and then gracefully folding our coats over our arms in a casual fashion before approaching the gate with: two back-packs, two Duty Free-Bags, a smile on our faces and our passports open the right page with boarding passes at the ready. Somehow, we managed to get through without incident but when we got to our seats, we quickly distributed things into the overheads and squeezed in our seats with zero leg-room.  As always, with me in the middle seat so Debbie could have her window seat.

Birdseye view from our Easy Jet flight.

I’ll close out this post and pick it up again when we arrive at our Airbnb in Amsterdam. You’ll enjoy hearing about the great apartment with the worst host we have ever experienced in 3 years. It was bound to happen and it did on our 110th Airbnb.

Safe travels.

Michael

All Caught Up!

We came to the UK to watch the Euro Cup football with English commentary (well sort of) and to be here while the British would be voting to "Remain" or "Leave" the European Union. The morning after the vote, we woke-up at 5am and went downstairs in our small London flat to find out the results. We sat stunned as the BBC, along with every other news station reported the results. We were mezmerized for the entire day as the story unfolded. Like millions of others in the UK, we had gone to bed the night before thinking that “Remain” would prevail so it was a shock to learn that “Leave” won the day.

We woke up to headlines like this one!

I suppose I am getting ahead of myself since our last posting had us leaving Croatia at the end of May packed like sardines on a Ryanair flight headed to Manchester in the north of England. That's where you land if you have friends to visit friend in Northern Wales. And now I am writing from London - So you might be wondering how we happened these past few weeks. Well, here’s the back story.

Voting was simple and the turnout was high. Check a box!

I follow politics and current events as if I were the News Director at CNN International so I knew months ago that the UK would hold an “Up or Down” vote on their membership in the European Union on June 23. Since London is one of our favorite cities, having lived here for 5 years when the kids were young, I suggested to Debbie that we plan our travels so we would be in there for the vote. She enthusiastically agreed. So, back in April we searched for somewhat affordable Airbnb's in Londay and booked a wonderful, very small cottage in a culturally-mixed (mostly Afro-Caribbean) part of south east London called Peckham-Rye. Here's the link:  https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/12844785

Me smiling because we found this affordable cottage in the city.

There are 30 little houses lining the walk of this little known neighborhood called Choumert Square.

But before sharing our thoughts about the outcome of the vote, let me catch you up on where we’ve been since the final installment of our time in Croatia. We arrived safely in Manchester three weeks ago and were met by wonderful new friends whom we met for the first time last year on a funky boat cruise in Montenegro. Graham and Wendy invited us to stay at their house in Wrexham, North Wales if ever we came that way. Debbie has always wanted to visit Wales since it is part of her family ancestry so we took them up on the offer.

Our Welsh friends Wendy and Graham.

Graham and I and enjoying the start of the Euro Cup. Debs has Wales in the family pool.

Over the next four days we enjoyed a pub lunch, toured an estate that was a mini version of Highclere Castle (where Downtown Abbey is filmed), had a lovely BBQ, and visited a narrow 300 year old aqueduct that sits ten stories above ground and is popular with barge enthusiasts. Most surprising, was Debbie’s decision to have Graham, who is an engineer by day, trim her hair in the backyard on a sunny afternoon. At least he was precise.

A trim off the back in the back garden.

Before you knew it, it was time to get on another, crammed-to-the-rafters Ryanair flight from nearby Liverpool to Dublin.

Leaving for Dublin from the Liverpool Airport. Not on the Yellow Submarine.

In Dublin, the price of Airbnbs was shockingly high so we decided to share a room in a house rather than rent an entire house like we usually do. We had done this in Andorra two months ago with hosts about our ages and it turned-out to be a wonderful experience where we made two new friends, Monique and Henri. This time, our hosts were super young - so for them it would be more like having your parents over for the weekend. Their place was on the top floor of a downtown Dublin apartment block with a 360 degree view of the city and a huge deck. Take a look: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/11647025 Completely unknown to us when we booked it, our hosts Marta (Spanish), and Roberto (Brazilian) work for Airbnb. We didn’t learn that until after we booked their Airbnb. Here’s another back story!

I think we mentioned in earlier blogs that we have enjoyed visiting Airbnb offices in Portland, the HQ  in San Francisco, and recently in Paris. Each time we’ve been able to speak to the staff and share our exciting journey of living full-time in Airbnbs. They love this, of course! As it turns out, the European headquarters for Airbnb is in Dublin and we had been invited to their offices for a lunch-time gathering to speak to interested staff. I thought it might be a treat for our hosts to join us, so after getting permission from our Dublin contact, I invited Marta and Roberto to join us. I did this via email a week before we arrived and that is when they said they already knew we were coming to the Airbnb office. Because… Surprise, surprise. They both work for Airbnb! They would see us there, and by the way, they were very honored to be hosting the Senior Nomads.

Our first of two casual meetings with the staff at the Dublin Airbnb offices.

The lunch at Airbnb’s beautiful new offices in a restored docklands warehouse just around the corner from Google and Facebook, was just as much fun and equally rewarding as it was when we spoke at the other Airbnb offices.

A few days later, it was time to board the train for Galway, a historic fishing town on Ireland's west coast three hours away by train. It was an an easy, scenic journey with plenty of countryside flashing by and a big table between us to work on. Our Airbnb was wonderful. It was part of a restored grain mill turned “holiday lets” and sat perched over the River Corrib that ran with the tide to the sea just beyond our windows. Debbie enjoyed feeding the baby swans out one window and the baby seagulls out the other.  Link: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3723474

The lovely swan family that lived just below our window.

I should have told you that when we were in Wales the week before, we did a phone interview with a reporter for the Irish Independent newspaper, the paper with the largest circulation in Ireland. The full-page story ran a few days after we arrived in Galway. Here's the story. LINK

The story as it appeared in the Irish Independent. Link below.

The next day we heard from a popular radio show on RTE Radio 1 and from a researcher for a nationally broadcast evening talk show on TV 3. Both wanted us to appear on their shows the following week, so three days later we were back on the train headed to Dublin for the day and a quick stay overnight at another Airbnb. First stop was the radio station for a 15 minute chat on The Ray D'Arcy Show and then straight to the TV station for our live interview on The Seven O'Clock Show. Below is a link to segment on the Seven O’Clock Show and the radio interview - both were really fun and we are getting more and more comfortable telling our story on the air.
 

Debbie and I with the other guests and the hosts of the TV3 show.

https://youtu.be/CN_UGbJeA7s

Our host Kathleen who was sitting in for Ray D'Arcy. She was a big Seattle fan.

Ray D'Arcy Radio segment

The next morning we had coffee at Airbnb with Aisling Hassell the Head of International Customer Experience - she was happy to hear ours has been a great one! Then back on the train heading west again to pick up where we left off in Galway.

Debbie's desk in our Galway Airbnb - a lovely place to write for a few hours every day.

The night before, we got a surprise phone call from good friends from Seattle, Frank and Susan Finneran who were in Ireland on vacation and happened to hear our radio interview while driving in their rental car. On top of that coincidence, they were staying in Galway just a few blocks from us. I am happy to say we arranged to have dinner with them which was a real treat as we were able to catch-up on Seattle news and mutual friends along with their travels in Ireland. 

A visiting boys choir from Minnesota offered some free entertainment in the church nearby.

Our Galway host Irene was among the very best. Turns out Nancy, her octogenarian mother-in-law, owns the Granary building where we were staying (as well as several others). She popped up to say hello and invite us out for a glass of wine. Once we passed muster, she arranged a luncheon at her home on Wednesday at 2:00 in the afternoon to meet a few of her friends. We accepted not knowing exactly what kind of gathering it would be. When the day came, we were driven to Nancy’s house where we were introduced to a group of senior ladies with wine glasses in hand - all of whom were well-traveled and had seen us on TV and were ready with questions galore on our travels.

Our host's mother-in-law Nancy. She was great fun.

The ladies at the luncheon - a great group with lots of questions.

Our Airbnb host Irene helping serve the delicious salmon luncheon.

After some pre-lunch refreshments in the front room we sat down to lunch around 3 pm for a delicious baked salmon meal with all the trimmings. This was followed by desert, followed by a second desert with coffee/tea. I think it was at least 4:30 when “lunch” ended. We were honored to be invited and the occasion was one of those most special Senior Nomad moments that we will treasure for years to come.

All this while, Debbie has been writing, editing, re-writing and writing some more on our book for Airbnb hosts titled Your Keys. Our Home. She is 80% done with the manuscript. I am her dutiful research assistant, project manager and shoulder masseuse when she is tired of being hunched over her laptop…each of us has our own shoulder issues, mine is "frozen", probably from hauling our bags and my daypack stuffed with laptops and electronics.

The book has been an incredible learning experience for both of us and a joy to work on. We hope to have the manuscript completed and off to our editors by the 4th of July. By then, we will be in Amsterdam and can turn our attention to all the other components of the project like photos, layout, and actual printing!

Great to be back in London - a stop at Buckingham Palace on the way to the Pride Parade.

We have another week here in London before we fly to Amsterdam on Saturday for three weeks in the Netherlands that includes ten days with Mary and the Grandchildren in The Hague in a great family oriented Airbnb near the beach.
 

Can't wait for a week with these three little ones.

As promised, back to Brexit. As you can imagine the media is continuing to cover the vote 24/7. Many citizens and civic leaders are in shock and sorely disappointed - especially the under 35 crowd. As things become more clear on the ramifications, some who voted to leave may now regret their decision because the "unknowns" vastly outnumber the "knowns" about what’s next. Most articles and broadcasts end with questions about the future of this great country and for now, the answers are in short supply. Scotland citizens voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU so it's possible they will make another attempt to break away from the UK so they can stay in the EU.

Brexit stage right! Mr. Cameron was quick to resign.

Perhaps more unnerving is the realization that the UK may not be able to exit on friendly terms even if that’s what the Leave pundits promised. The other 27 countries have a voice, a big voice and already the word from the Continent is that the leadership is anxious for a “quickie divorce" to show the world and other European nations who may want to try and follow the UK example, that this is not the first domino to fall. But rather that the EU will move forward with the goal of "ever closer" as many in the EU leadership envision.

Safe travels and thanks for following along,

Michael
The other half of the Senior Nomads

Laid back on the Adriatic - Final Chapter

For our final fortnight in Croatia we wanted to visit one more major city. We were planning on going to the harbor town of Pula in Istria because we had read so much about it. As Chief Travel Planner, it was my job to figure out how to get us there before we dug too deep in selecting an Airbnb.

First we needed to take the one-hour catamaran ride from the island of Hvar back to Split where we could catch a bus to Pula. My research quickly revealed that a bus from Split to Pula was affordable but long. Tickets were 300 kuna ($45) but the journey was 11 hours. Debbie always says she loves a good bus trip but that seemed a little long even for her tastes.

That's when I remembered our host in Split had told me about a seaplane that made the same trip in 90 minutes. Now who wouldn't want to fly up the Croatian coastline along the Adriatic at 1,000 ft on a beautiful sunny day with hundreds of islands scattered below? It brought back memories of flights we've taken many times back home in Seattle aboard Kenmore Air over the beautiful San Juan Islands. At first the price seemed reasonable, well okay reasonable in a "we've been staying below budget in Croatia sort of way" but that's when I remembered each of our suitcases weight 23 kg and that's not even counting our day packs which probably come in around 10-12 kg each. 

It was hard to give up the seaplane options.

Not dissuaded by the above, I contacted the airline, European Coastal Airlines to see about weight restrictions. Turns out, with our extra baggage, the total cost came in at around $400. which was the same as buying four passenger tickets. So for the next couple of weeks, we went back and forth rationalizing the extra cost of flying vs the bus but never came to a decision. That's when someone in the tourist office suggested we go to Zadar instead. Zadar is just 100 miles north of Split, buses leave hourly and the 3 hour trip was only 85 kuna ($12) and in her opinion, an equally beautiful and diverse destination. Sold! 

Breakfast of Travel Planning Champions - Note the two chocolate cookies

We began to search on Airbnb for a place in Zadar and within a few minutes we found a wonderful listing in a city that we really enjoyed from arrival day to departure. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3268300

A peek at our Zadar home away from home. One of our favorites.

In the running for "Hosts of the Year" - Elza and Alan in Zadar.

It all started when our wonderful hosts Elza and her husband Alan volunteered to meet us at the bus station in Zadar and drive us to the house. The house, or complex as it turns out, is large and includes their home where they live with their two teenage sons plus three apartments for guests. This sort of multi-dwelling structure is common in Croatia as multi-generational families tend to live together. Son and new wife in one unit. Grandparents in another, etc. Our 2nd floor unit was perfect with a deck over-looking their beautiful garden, and big dining room table as well as table on the deck for for working on our book and whatever else we seem to constantly need to spread out to accomplish.

Will walk for miles for a soft serve combo cone.

During our stay we had several days of warm sunshine, and others a mix of sun and clouds often followed by evening rain, and even a few dramatic thunder and lightning storms. We walked everywhere including the mile and a half each way to the captivating Old Town where, again roman ruins vie for space with ancient castles and cathedrals nestled inside the fortress walls. It was about a 30 minute walk to Old Town but you could shave 10 minutes off the journey by taking a little red rowboat across from one side of the harbor to the other. The three minute crossing cost 10 kuna ($1.50) A father and son from the same family has been ferrying passengers back and forth for the last 300 years. We made a habit of buying a mixed (vanilla and chocolate) soft ice cream cone as a reward for not taking the bus.

With Elza on the little red boat that crosses the harbor.

Our driver. A father and son from same family has been running this short trip across the water for 300 years.

The population of Zadar is 170,000 but Elza seemed to know everyone in town. She took Debbie under her wing more than once as they made the rounds of shops and merchants for all manner of food, beverages and necessities and they were constantly stopped by friends and family - and there seemed to be a need for long conversation with every market vendor. She even cleaned the fish they bought together at the market. Debs loved every minute of her time with her. Meanwhile Alan loaned us the boys bicycles and climbed the ladder deep into the cherry trees in the back yard and delivered a small bucket full of bright red fruit to our door. We also visited his offices where he manages a fleet of cargo ships that traverse the world, and visited Elza at her work at one of the city's largest marina where she looks after the landscaping.

Debbie with Elza at the marina where she had just filled this planter.

A few of the the hundred fresh cherries we had on the counter.

We also lucked out because during our stay, Zadar was hosting their 10th Annual International Choir Competition. We were introduced to choir competitions two years ago in Riga, Latvia where we stumbled upon the 2014 World Choir Games - that was Senior Nomads highlight. We were excited that we would be able to enjoy free performances by choirs of all flavors during our stay. The actual competitions were held indoors at the National Theatre. But after each choir finished performing, they walked outdoors to the famous "Greeting to the Sun" installation  Link on the promenade and did a twenty minute set "just for fun". The choirs, and often their directors, were much more relaxed outside the competition environment and delighted us along with the crowds.

We knew what we'd being doing for the next few days!

One of many wonderful performances we enjoyed throughout the week.

Indoors. Outdoors. Choirs were everywhere!

Zadar is famous for something called the Sea Organ (or "Morske orgulje" in Croatian). What is a sea organ, you might ask? Well it is a public art installation build into the sea wall that produces eerie music, powered by the sea waves themselves. We read about it prior to coming to Zadar so when we walked by it several times and couldn't hear anything we were a little confused. Later that day, Elza told us that the Sea Organ was closed for repairs during the month of May. After learning that, we felt better knowing that our hearing wasn't completely gone. We did an Internet search and found this clip to share with you Sea Organ link

Greetings to the Sun is about to light up and go Disco. All run by solar panels.

Zadar definitely has "destination"sunsets.

Normally, we try to travel between cities around mid-day or early afternoon. That way, the schedule for "Travel Day" as we call it, has us doing a pack 'n' clean in the morning followed by public transport to a bus station, train station or airport hopefully arriving in our next city in the late afternoon or early evening. Well that wasn't possible as we left Zadar. First, flights in and out of the city are few and far between. We were headed to the UK to stay with friends in Wales. And what friends they are! The only flight out was at 10:00 pm. Graham and Wendy drove an hour to pick us up at the Manchester airport in England just after midnight - and then drove us all back home. More on our wonderful time in Wales coming up next.

So, in this case, most of Travel Day was spend doing some final errands and having an excellent dinner before James, who we made friends with while we were in Zadar, came to pick us up and take us to the airport. So far, so good on the Friends + Cars = Airport transportation equation.

We made it to the tiny airport without any problems. Got in the queue with a huge gaggle of British holiday makers and still made it through security in plenty of time. As it turns out, there is a large area outside where you can sit and have a drink (or smoke like crazy) and watch planes land and take off. You are close enough to inhale the jet fuel fumes and hear the engines roar. Soon we walked out onto the tarmac ourselves and up the stairs for our Ryanair flight to Manchester. After 5 weeks in Croatia, it was hard to say goodbye.

Dubrovnik is a city we enjoyed, but there are so many less discovered places to find on your own.

With two visits to Croatia under our belts, we have to say it is one of our favorite destinations. As I said before, if you haven't been, think about going and enjoying this proud nation who just a few years ago was in a horrific war with their Serbian neighbors and are now coming to a place of peace and prosperity that could use all of our support.

Safe Travels, And thanks for following along,

Michael
The other half of the Senior Nomads