Post #13 - Croatia (part 2)

My second Croatian island experience, this time on an island called Hvar, was equally spectacular as the last. The ferry port was about 3 km outside of the town where I stayed (Stari Grad) so I made the trek into the village, but not before being assaulted with people waving signs in our faces as the ferry unloaded, saying things like "Rooms!" "Apartments!" "Stay here maybe?" and "Do you need accommodation?" Oh please, like I'd ever set foot into a foreign town, alone, without having already booked somewhere to stay. I'm all for living on the edge of course, but I don't generally like to hang off of it. This happened almost everywhere in Croatia after getting off a ferry or a bus.

Then, I had some difficulties finding the hostel, since Google maps doesn't have a very detailed outline of some of these islands. I eventually found my way into town and to an info centre, and they didn't know where the hostel was when I told them the name. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a matter of poor planning, though I'll be the first to admit that there have been a few instances of that. For starters, there aren't any street signs in this town. I came across maybe one the whole time, and it was more of a hard-to-notice stone square with a word carved into it on the side of an old stone building. Not much contrast there. So even knowing the address of the place didn't help. Another issue was that the hostel opened pretty recently, and not a lot of people in town didn't even know it exists.

I was a greasy, sweaty mess by the time I finally arrived, but the staff were so friendly that it completely made up for the fact that they were located within a sizeable network of unnamed, narrow stone streets that all look exactly the same. But with my ever-improving navigation skills, it didn't take me long to find my way around. The town was pretty small after all, and I covered the basics pretty quick: harbour, grocery store, outdoor fruit & veg market, beach, other beach. Even though the beaches here aren't sandy, there are plenty of shady areas that are perfect for lounging, reading, and snacking on fresh, locally grown cherries. I'm not proud to admit it but they were so good that I think I went through half a kilo in under an hour.

On my second night, I met two guys from Canada (woooh!!!!), Joel and Rob from Vancouver, so we hung out in the common area and were soon joined by 3 girls traveling together- Patsy from Chicago, Bex from New Zealand and Hayley from Australia. We had a few beers together at the hostel then went out to find a nearby pub.

Hvar had a lot of similarities to Losinj but one of the main differences between the two islands was that there were enormous fields of lavender up in the hills in Hvar. I asked the hostel owner where would be the best place to see some of these purple fields, and he pointed out a village called Brusje on a map of the island. It looked cyclable within about an hour, so one afternoon I borrowed a bike and set out with extra supplies of water,  snacks, and sunscreen, but sadly no insect repellent (when will I learn??). What the map hadn't told me was the slope of the road. When I was about halfway there I started to wonder if I should have taken the bike after all because I'd spent, so far, probably more time walking and pushing the bike up the hill, around corners, and up some more, than actually pedalling. IT. WAS. SO. STEEP. First, I kept telling myself that it had to go downhill eventually. Soon I realized that the only downhill I'd be getting was the ride back. 

                                         steeper than it looks, I promise

I didn't time everything exactly but from my estimations, it took 2 and a half hours to get there, and maybe 40 minutes to get back. There really wasn't much in the village, if you could even call it that. More like a cluster of about 20 houses, and this cute little junkyard:

But I got a few photos of the lavender, which is more or less what I had come all that way to see. Even though it was the most exhausting bike ride I've ever subjected myself to, it was also the most fragrant!

One evening I went swimming just around sunset, then dried off and took a few pictures of the sun going down. As I walked back, I realized it was June 21st- summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and the first day of summer. Awesome!

After spending 4 nights on the island, my next destination was Dubrovnik. It took a 9 hour ferry ride to get there, but that certainly wasn't a bad way to spend the day, especially because I saw TWO DOLPHINS swimming and jumping (or whatever it's called when they dive out of the water) alongside the boat! Of course by the time I fumbled for my camera, they were further away and I didn't get a good shot of them. Regardless, it was the highlight of my day. Though relatively unhappy with my accommodation situation in Dubrovnik (but I won't get into that) I met Olivier from South Africa in my dorm. He had been working for the past few years since he finished high school and was doing about  6 weeks of travelling before moving to Montreal for university. We hung out for a few days and saw as much of the town as we could. The highlight was walking along the big wall that surrounds the old town. From there you can look down and see all the beautiful old houses, churches, and palaces on the inside, the green hills on one side, and the sea on the other side. STUNNING.

On my last day, I did one more self-guided tour around the old town, stopped for ice cream (purely for practicality, I needed to use up my last few Kuna), then found a great place to swim. I knew it would be my last chance for a while because now I'm off the coast and back to some bigger cities, in the interior countries. Right now- Sarajevo, Bosnia! 

Post #12 - Croatia (part 1)

**Disclaimer: The text in this post looks weird and highlighted, not sure why. Working on it.

Top 10 things I miss:


1. Fam & Friends
       (obviously!)


2. Access to a kitchen fully stocked with dishes and utensils
       This  now one of my key requirements when booking hostels, it makes all the difference in the world. If not, eating gets really expensive (or unhealthy) really fast.


3. Hair straightener & nail polish
       So far I'd say I'm doing a great job of channeling my inner dirtbag, but sometimes I like to feel girly.


4. Peanut butter
       There are all kinds of nutella and jam here but peanut butter is scarce. I've seen it at a few grocery stores but there are usually just a few jars (glass) of it, which aren't very backpack-friendly.


5. Having a phone
       It's actually kind of nice to not have one, but the fact that I can't call or text anyone, ever, sometimes makes me feel lonely. Luckily I can check my email & facebook fairly regularly, which helps.


6. Canadian currency
       Still mentally converting everything I purchase into dollars. There's really no need, I don't know why I keep doing it.


7. Listening to the radio
       I have pretty much no idea what the 'hot new summer jams' are these days, such a bummer. My ipod playlists are sooooo 2 months ago.


8. Ice
       This one was unexpected, but I definitely miss having ice cubes readily available.


9. Avocados
       I guess I don't miss them THAT much, but I have yet to see one at a grocery store or outdoor market. Haven't seen any broccoli either.


10. Driving
It's bad for the environment and gas is expensive, but...

Speaking of kitchens, I've also been mentally comparing each of the hostels I've stayed at, and made a list of all the requirements of what would be the perfect hostel: Kitchen with fridge, stovetop, toaster, & kettle; common area; wifi; nice bathrooms with hooks to hang towels; fully functional lockers in the dorms that can fit a big bag; reasonably priced self-service laundry; and breakfast included. Other perks include a bar, bedside tables, friendly staff, organized activities and good location. So far I have yet to find the perfect place, but the hostel I stayed at in Bratislava had almost everything, just no breakfast.

                                         Mosaic roof of a church in Zagreb


So, Croatia! I've been here just over a week and I LOVE IT. Exploring all those neat European cities has been incredible but spending time on the coast is exactly what I want to be doing right now. It's very hot here, on average about 35 degrees. It's only been clear and sunny, I'm starting to wonder if they ever get rain.

                                          Veli Losinj


I arrived in Zagreb (the capital city) from Ljubljana last week, and spent just one night there before I took off to the seaside. Zagreb is pretty nice, not a whole lot to offer for tourists but there's a pretty 'old town' area and some interesting stories about the history of the country. At noon everyday, a canon is fired from Lotrščak tower in the old town, which I made sure to see. In hindsight, I maybe should have stood a bit further away because my ears were ringing for about 20 minutes after it happened, that thing is LOUD.

My bus ride to the first island, Losinj, was super long (7 or 8 hours I think) but it included a ferry ride, which was a nice way to break up the journey. The town I stayed in on the island is called Veli Losinj, and it is absolutely stunning. I had no idea it would look so tropical!

I could go on for days about how blue the water is, I still can't get over it. And it's like that everywhere on the Adriatic coast. I should look into why it looks this way, I think it has something to do with the white limestone underneath helping to bring out the colour, but there has to be some sort of plankton or something that gives it this almost fluorescent hue. No photos I take will ever do it justice, but I've posted a few anyway.

I stayed here for 4 nights, and spent a good amount of time on the beach. I use the term 'beach' loosely here, there is no sand, just big, mostly jagged rocks. But still awesome.

On my second day, I wanted to go hiking because I heard that there were lots of trails on the island, which is fairly small. I found a map and planned out a route, which I clearly underestimated because it took me NINE HOURS. This was, hands down, the most intense hike I've ever done. First of all, it was roasting hot out. Second, the trails were pretty empty. I encountered less than 10 people the whole way. Next, the terrain was very variable, sometimes a nice little dirt path through the woods, sometimes huge boulders on a steep slope. Then there were the bugs. These huge, shiny, green, winged beetles that buzzed really loud were constantly around and kind of freaked me out (update- just googled this, they're called Cetonia aurata and they're in the scarab beetle family, super). And luckily I don't have a serious fear of spiders because they were everywhere. Big ones too. I started carrying a stick to knock down the webs that spanned the narrow trails so they wouldn't end up in my face. There were so many that I felt like I was walking into Shelob's lair half the time (Or if you prefer a Harry Potter reference to Lord of the Rings, Aragog the acromantula's lair). Other local fauna spotted that day include lots of lizards, a few mountain sheep, a couple small snakes, and later in the day (inexplicably) a donkey, just meandering down an asphalt road.

                                         so much steeper than it looks


I was filthy and totally exhausted by the time I finally got back, and my feet were unhappy with what I had put them through, but I was really proud of myself! If I were to do it all over again (not anytime soon) I'd wear long pants, leave 2 hours earlier, bring more water, and have bug spray. Parts of the trail were along the coast, so I got some incredible views.

My original plan was to go to the next island (where I am now) straightaway, but I needed to go back to the mainland, take a bus further south, then another ferry, so I decided to break up the travel and spend a bit of time in a few coastal towns along the way.

I had never heard anything of Zadar, but the folks at the hostel in Losinj told me that it's a city definitely worth seeing. They were right. Not only is it a beautiful, clean town, not too touristy, it has a Roman ruins site right in the middle, and two other very unique quirks.

The first is the sea organ. In one part of the harbour, there are some long marble steps going into the water. Underneath them (you can't see) is a network of glass tubes that resonate when the waves hit them. It's not exactly music because the notes are random, but the harmonic sounds are mesmerizing.

Right next to it on the harbour promenade is a large circle (flat on the ground, you can walk on it) of solar panelling with LED lights that collect sunlight during the day, then produce this amazing lightshow at night. They call it the Salutation to the Sun. It's sort of hard to explain but I've never seen anything like it. I found this video clip that has both this and the sea organ in it, to give an idea of what I'm struggling at explaining here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myV3E9uREuI

The next day I went to Split. The main downtown/old town area of this lively city is dominated by Diocletian's palace. I hesitate to even call this a building because it's more like a walled-in network of narrow streets lined with shops, restaurants, market stands and apartments, with a square in the middle called the Peristyle. There's a cathedral in there too, and each of the 4 walls has a gateway: the iron gate, the bronze gate, the silver gate and the golden gate. It's quite a sight, but overwhelming this time of year with the heat and all the tourists. There are also a lot of in-your-face vendors selling flowers or offering walking tours.

The night I arrived, Croatia was playing Spain in a UEFA game, which the whole city was watching at the outdoor bars along the main promenade. I found a large screen to watch the game and at halftime walked along the street to soak in the nationalist hype.The funniest thing about my last-minute decision to check out Split was that the one night I was there, I literally ran into Andre from Ottawa! We know each other from a few years ago through a couple of mutual friends, and I knew from facebook that he was also doing some travelling in similar areas this summer but I didn't know he was in Split. I watched the rest of the (disappointing) game with him and his friends and the next day we met up for a bit and he showed me some of the city's highlights, including the green market and a gorgeous beach, where we met up with some more of his new buddies.

The sun that day (and everyday) was merciless. I put on sunscreen 3 times and still got a bit of a burn. I'd been doing well till then with SPF diligence, but you can't win 'em all. On the plus side I now have just about every sort of tan line imaginable (and when I say tan line I mostly mean old burn line or freckle line).

That evening I took a relaxing 2 hour ferry ride to the island of Hvar, where I am now, but more on that (and Dubrovnik, where I'm off to tomorrow) next time!

Post #11- Slovenia

The day before I left Italy, I looked around online for the best way to get to Slovenia. I couldn't find much info, so I went to the train station to see if they could help me out. The best they could do was get me to an Italian city called Trieste, which is very close to the border of the two countries. I checked again online and found a timetable that said there was a train from Trieste to Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia) that took about 4 hours. Sounded fine to me, so I figured I'd just get that ticket as soon as I arrived in Trieste.

The next morning, my first of 3 trains to Trieste left at 7:50 am. I finally arrived at around 3:30 pm, and went to the box office to get my ticket to Slovenia, where the vendor said, "No trains to Ljubljana." I blankly stared back at him, wondering for a second if he had misunderstood me. There had to be trains to Ljubljana. How else would people get there? Do people even go to Slovenia? There definitely weren't any flights there from Turin or Milan, I had already checked those. "Only bus." Aha! Lucky for me and my back, the train station was across the street from the bus terminal.

I got there and asked the lady for a ticket to Ljubljana, and she paused and gave me a strange look. At this point I was wondering what I was getting myself into. But then I realized that she probably only gave me that look because the next bus didn't leave for about 3 hours. I finally got my ticket and set out to find a cafe with wifi.

When I got on the bus, I heard a woman speaking english to her son (jackpot!) so I went and sat next to them. We chatted the whole journey (only an hour and a half - moral of the story? don't believe everything you find on the internet, especially outdated train schedules) and they told me about some good places to see and some slovenian foods to try. The woman had been born in Canada, gone to high school and university in the US, and had been living in Slovenia for the past 18 years! After hearing that, I decided that I could manage 4 days.

And I could have stayed even longer! It is gorgeous, and kind of like Canada in some ways (except not in the city). Lots of mountains, trees, and lakes, and really friendly people. I spent the first few days exploring Ljubljana (pronounced as Lubliana, from what I've heard), which has a river going through through it, lots of pretty buildings, churches, a huge park with flower gardens, big trees, fountains, and footpaths, and, like almost everywhere else in Europe (but unlike Canada) a castle on top of a hill in the middle of town.

I wasn't getting very good vibes from the hostel I was at (as in, no kitchen, rude receptionist, and 10 euros per load of laundry- as if) so after 2 nights I switched to a different one that was nearby, cheaper, and had everything that the other one didn't. Here, I asked around about burek, a local type of fast food that is essentially a greasy pastry with either meat or cheese in it. One of the girls who worked at the hostel pointed me in the direction of a good place, and recommended the meat one, which was delicious:

                    I decided to eat salad for dinner the following night to make up for it.

The next day I did a day trip to a town called Bled (pronounced Blade), about 45 min away. It's known for having a beautiful lake with a small island in the middle, and a big castle on a cliff overlooking the lake.

Unfortunately it was raining that day, but I went anyway for something to do, hoping that it might clear up for just enough time to take a few photos. When I got there, I wandered through the little town before finding the lake. Just as I was about to set off on the path that goes around the lake, I heard a voice from behind me, "Oh you're from Canada! What part??" I turned around to find a cute, talkative, elderly lady from the US who was on a 3-week group tour. I invited her to walk around the lake with me, which she did.

This woman was absolutely fascinating, and hilarious too. She's 77 years old, her name is Bonnie Bliss ("sounds like a stripper name, I know!" she actually said this, I kid you not) and she has traveled just about everywhere, and multiple times. We spent a lot of time talking about her experiences in Turkey, where she's been 4 times. And she's been to every continent, including Antarctica!

We circled the lake in just under 2 hours and the sun even came out for a bit. Everything I had heard about this little place turned out to be an understatement, this place is more than picturesque. I couldn't get over the colour of the water, it's SO BLUE. Definitely a must-see for anyone who's planning a trip to this area, I highly recommend it. On the train back to Ljubljana I saw a rainbow, which was the 3rd one I'd seen since I'd been in Slovenia- more in the past 3 days than I'd seen in Canada in the past 3 years! (probably).

                                           see it??

That night I chatted with a guy from Kosovo, and we watched a UEFA soccer game (Sweden vs Ukraine) on the TV at the hostel, along with a guy from Croatia and another from Germany. Diverse!