Last post! Tourist throngs and lilos

I am home!!!  But obviously I couldn't leave you all hanging for my last post could I, knowing the trip wasn't finished!  haha.  I flatter myself.  :)

I'll take us back a few days and tell y'all about our time in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Kotor, Montenegro.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

First things first, Dubrovnik is expensive!  It was by far the most expensive place we stayed in on our entire trip.  I suppose it didn't help that we booked it the day before, but still....

Despite the fact that we paid more than our wallets felt comfortable with, we were rather chuffed with the view from our apartment.  Yep, that's it below.... :)

  Jealous?!

Whilst inside the Old City itself, we viewed an amusing spectacle.  In spite of all the beautiful and interesting buildings that the Old City boasts, the draw of a simple brick in a wall overcame any other attraction.  We found queues of people crowded around this brick sticking out of a wall, each person waiting in line to have their shot at running up and seeing if they too could balance on the ledge without falling off, some even performing tricks such as removing their shirt and putting it back on again.  And here I am even writing a post about it, instead of about the actual interesting stuff.... doh!

Here is the view of the magnificent city walls at night.

Given that you probably have already gathered that I have a slight penchant for curious foodstuffs, here is the routine photo of the last weird thing we ate; pear shaped yellow tomatoes!









I was also lucky enough to catch on camera the acrobatics of one young diver just outside the city walls on video:

Island fun

On our second day in Dubrovnik, we were reunited with our American friend Dara, and made for a day trip to the island of Lokrum for some peace and quiet from the tourist throngs.  (Dubrovnik proper was heaving like no other city we had been to, it even gave Prague a run for its money).

Whilst on the island we came across.... the nudist beach! Aaaannnd steered well clear.  Sorry, it makes for a less interesting blog I know! haha.

The Adriatic coast lived up to its reputation that's for sure.  Below right is the view of the coast on the island.

Now earlier on in the morning in an attempt to save time, I had gone to the supermarket unsupervised- and come back with a lilo.... doh! haha.  We had fun with it frolicking about in a natural pool on the island, whilst also just generally cooling down from the heat of the day.  Below is us utisiling the lilo to aid our attempts to climb the rope, although I didn't get very far!  Later on we plucked up the courage to also jump off the rock to our right, scary!





Kotor, Montenegro (last stop! sniff!)

   An ambitious early morning start had us scaling the heights of the fortress where we had a tremendous view of the bay.  In this picture you can just about see Gill and our friend Ruchelle in the window of the wall..... Below are Gill and I standing triumphantly at the top!

This is an example of the charm of the old city in Kotor- I just loved the yellow umbrellas, although I was not exactly sure if they were for shade or rain? Either way, it looked good!

The city walls with the moat - one of the few cities still with one!

This cat cracked me up because it looked a little like
Dr Evil's fluffy cat.... It also had a pretty killer look in its eye! As it was such a poser, I just couldn't help but get a shot of it on its perch....  (Ignore this if you are not a cat fan!).

The last beach

This is the beach that us and a group of friends from the hostel went to.  Pebbles and not sand, but nevertheless the perfect cool temperature, with clear waters.  On our first night we ventured out at night for a night time swim which was exciting!  The following day we played all day with the lilo, the inflatable ball (another accidental purchase of mine) and sun bathed.  Below is a picture of me and our Kiwi friend Paul jumping off the jetty (it may have taken several attempts to get this right!)

On our last day of our trip we went out with a bang, and splashed out on our hostel's own 'Big Montenegro Tour'- taxiing us around must see sites of Montenegro all in one day.  Below right is a monastery far up in a mountainside.  It was ironic to us that the monks had clearly gone out of their way to be separate from the rest of society by building their monastery at the top of a mountain, only to be followed up there by tourists hordes like us!  Ooops.  

Below left is our tour group (from left Vanessa, Lucy, Gabi, Fairlie, me and Gill - a mix of British and Aussies).  This photo was taken in front of a famous mausoleum again built on top of a mountain.  What spectacular views, those Montenegrins really did like to get away from it all though!

Finale

Last but not least, to end my blog posts for this trip, I thought I would treat you all with the video that I never actually managed to upload previously of the Ukrainian dancers in Varna, Bulgaria.  I finally managed to upload it, so please watch it because they are awesome!  Thanks for reading about my adventures travelling, I hope you enjoyed it.  :)

xxxxxxx

The call to prayer

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Our last ever night train took us to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  This train was unfortunately not a sleeper train, but as we are now hard core and seasoned travellers, we contented ourselves with 3 seats and stretched out. haha. :)

Bosnia is officially the first muslim country I have been to, but it was especially unusual for me as the population are obviously Caucasian, and European.  Seeing white women in headscarves looked more normal than I would have imagined; it was actually the men who were physically virtually indistinguishable from your average European that surprised me.

Here is the cemetery near our hostel, housing the bodies of people killed during the conflict in the 90s.

Our second day in Sarajevo was spent on an intense tour of the city by our hostel owner Haris, and what a tour!

Our first stop was the tunnel museum, where we were taught the history and background of the Yugoslav war in a nutshell.  I shall go under the assumption that most of you do not know the ins and outs of the conflict, so shall do my best to explain it in a few words (although I am definitely no expert!).

Summary of the War (ignore if you want to)

After the death of  the Yugoslav leader, Tito, in 1980, there was much debate over what to do with Yugoslavia, and many of the leaders of the separate nations were vying for power, in particular Slobodan Milosevic, the Serb leader.  He wanted to form a 'Greater Serbia' by taking land from the other countries, in particular Bosnia and Croatia.  The other countries understandably did not agree to this.

However, the Yugoslav army, one of the most powerful armies in Europe, consisted almost 80% of Serbs.  This allowed Milosevic to have greater control over them, and in short they surrounded Sarajevo, ultimately for 4 years, so that they were under siege and had no contact with the outside world.  During this time the army attacked the city, killing lots of innocent civilians, and destroying much of the city.  The Bosnians however were very resourceful and built a secret tunnel to outside the city, allowing the passing of food, supplies, and people.  This tunnel was obviously a real lifeline and hope for many people. Here is Gill by the entrance:

This map above right shows how Sarajevo was surrounded by the Yugoslav forces.  The gap in the top right is where the tunnel came out, an area which was defended by the recently formed Bosnian army.

Bosnia held the Winter Olympics in 1984.  Below is a picture of the Olympic Bobsleigh track which was destroyed during the siege.  This now lies unused because no one will invest in it as the surrounding area was littered with landmines by both sides during the war.  Below left is my attempt to bobsleigh, sleigh-less.

Gill is just incorrigible.  To the right is a picture of her reading her book again, above the track:



We were taken to the famous bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, sparking off World War 1. Here is a building just behind it covered in bullet holes, remnants of the Bosnian War.

 To end our tour we were given 'cevapci', Bosnian sausages in flat bread with raw onion.  Yummy! (although we did have stinky breath!)

During our stay we were made Bosnian coffee (a similar version of Turkish coffee).  I particularly liked it because it was so sugary yum!  Here are directions on how to make it yourself, if you have a magnifying glass...

We met some great people at our hostel in Sarajevo, and had a great time.  We were chuffed to see from the below chalk board that we had made a good impression :) :

Mostar

Mostar was our second stop in Bosnia.  We got a lift there with some charming dutch boys which was also a bonus!

Here is the famous 'Stari Most' bridge, internationally known for jumping off.  Not out of desperation though, just macho bravado!  Regular jumpers even go around collecting money before doing it, kind of like street performance.  The distance is so high that not just anyone is allowed to throw themselves off, you must first pay 25 euros for a lesson, and also sign a death waiver to say that you accept responsibility if you die!  We saw a speedo clad young man threaten to jump, but sadly did not hang around long enough to see it...

Top right is the same bridge at night also, what stunning scenery!

The call to prayer

I forgot to mention that we actually were visiting during Ramadan! Hence my not so cryptic title, 'the call to prayer'.  At exactly sunset the television crews and crowds surrounded a viewpoint where they set off what seemed to be a type of giant firework/rocket, to signify sunset so everyone can start eating.

At this point all the mosques lit up (as you can see above) and you could hear the call to prayer coming from every minaret.  The resounding effect was stunning.  Here is what I captured from one minaret:

Kravice Waterfalls

Those waterfalls just seem to crop up everywhere don't they?!  This was our day trip with some other girls from our hostel.  We spent the day climbing rocks, bathing in waterfalls and sunbathing.  :)

Sniper Tower

  Sniper tower, what was originally the Yugo bank, is where the Yugoslav troops aimed for, and where the defence troops shot from.  It is an often visited site for  travellers separate from organised tours, as insurance would likely never cover it.  We were warned about the less than savoury atmosphere it adopts after dark, so hastened to arrive there before sunset.  

The building was completely devasted, with no walls by the staircases, no windows (apart from below) and even original items left there, such as financial documents, shoes etc.  This certainly was an eye opener.

On a lighter note to end, after seeing advertisements for 'Poli:  the No. 1 Chicken Sausage in Europe', we (or maybe it was just me) couldn't help sample this hilarious delicacy.  Honestly, it was kinda like spam!  But frying it certainly redeemed the famous sausage.....

Next update from Dubrovnik, oh, and the tourist hordes say 'hi'.  :)

xxxxx

A night in prison....

Slovenia

Ok, I have to admit, we weren't in prison.  We did not steal or deface any historical monuments, or not carry our address registration cards with us (in Serbia you can actually technically be arrested for that!)  We did however, stay in a hostel that used to BE a prison!

Having so far stayed in not only a convent but also an orphanage, we simply couldn't resist the lure of Hostel Celica in Ljubljana, which only recently held the former president as prisoner for two weeks! So now we have all three under our belts; convent, orphanage, prison. Check :)

But let's just rewind two days before I go into that....

Lake Bled

Our Slovenia trip began at Lake Bled; a rather mediocre lake with a puny island in the middle and with a naff church on it.  It's not much to see to be honest, I wouldn't recommend it, never go there.

 




We may have ever so slightly blown our budget for those days, and went mountain biking, kayaking, up in the cable car, and even swimming in the lake! Whoops. :)









Lake Bohinj

The second day we took a bus out to Lake Bohinj.  This is similar to Lake Bled only wilder, with fewer tourists and more mountains.




This was where we took the cable car up, what a view!

This however was also where I got chased by a wild mountain goat- I swear it wanted to eat me!  See the video below for giggles (although please note I didn't actually realise I was filming for half of this!):

Later we then strolled around the forest, where we both treated ourselves to our naughty indulgences; Gill just can't keep her nose out of a book, and I just can't help seizing any opportunity to top up my tan...

.

Ljubljana

We left Lake Bled with heavy hearts, but moved onto the capital Ljubljana, for our overnight stay behind bars.  Here is Gill by one the rooms:
 Our day in Ljubljana was a rather typical one for us, filled with a free tour, and guess what, another performance in the castle at night under the stars!  However this time we were not watching a Shakespeare play in Slovakian, but a French (Canadian!) film! Feeling quite happy  with our level of french, we confidently bought tickets.  However in retrospect we now realise how difficult canadian accents actually are!

Ljubljuna was also delightful by the way. Here is the river in the city centre:



Zagreb

Being hard core, we moved on after our token one day in Ljubljana to Zagreb, Croatia (we're getting rather au fait with capital cities now! lol).  After very nearly forgetting my passport, debit card and ipod (it was a miracle that the train was delayed and I could dash back for them!) we passed a pleasant journey on the train, arriving late morning.

Zagreb is cute but less colourful than other european cities, although it reminds me a little more of London as it is more commercial.

As a rule, we tend to skirt the museums and head towards the 'free thrills', being cheapskates, and I have also been 'over museumed' by Paris (they were great but there were just soooo many!)  However, we were surprised to stumble across the 'Museum of Broken Relationships'; what a concept?!

Curiosity eventually got the better of us, and we bought our tickets and entered.  The idea is that there is a ceremony for so many big stages in life such as weddings, birthdays, funerals, but curiously none for the ending of relationships, which mark us possibly just as much as the former events.  This museum invites members of the public to donate mementos of previous relationships, with an accompanying explanation.  This then functions as a kind of group therapy; it was definitely touching.

Here are some of the exhibits, some moving and some amusing:


Apparently, after a girl cheated on her boyfriend and then foolishly went on holiday leaving all her things at his place, he took this axe and gradually chopped up one piece of her furniture every single day whilst she was away, so she returned to nothing but firewood! eek!

  This I feel, is probably self explanatory. :)

Plitvice National Park

Our second day in Zagreb was another nature day; Plitvice National Park.

We met a charming American lady named Dara, who accompanied us on our walk.  Plitvice was another example of some stunning natural beauty, and also wildlife as there were bears apparently!   The water is so clean you aren't actually allowed to swim in it, because it is drinking water!

I'll leave you with some pictures:


 

Next update will be from Sarajevo!

xxxx