Croatia: part one

While most of Zagreb was spent sorting out administrative stuff and buying replacements for the things that were stolen, we did manage did get out and see a thing or two. The spendthrift in us (aka Amelia) was quite happy to be going to the shops with a purpose and be able to buy things.

Zagreb was a cool city with a nice tram system that worked well and tons of pedestrian areas and parks and scuptures all over the place. We went to the Information place and picked up the walking tour guide and made our way around for a couple of days. The night we were there they we held an public concert in support of minorities (EU are you watching?), in the main square, Ban Jan Jelacic. This had dance troops, little childern singing, and the ubiquitous drunk old lady down the front dancing by herself, generally with bum not showing, but not always. My favourite was the black, woman, lesbian in a wheelchair playing the accordian.

From here we caught the night train to Split to meet up with my family. Dominik and Nikki from London and Stefan, Lizzie and happy baby Juliet from Townsville. This time instead of being a couple of days late and in the wrong city, I had read the arrival time wrong in the other direction and we had 5 hour wait in the glorious, yet stifling 30 degree heat. Once everyone was together and unloading in the attic of our five story palace (no joke, it was called 'Deskovic's Palace') at the end of the promenade, we set out to explore the town. Another successful walking tour with only the smallest amount of time trying to find what we were looking for.

The rest of the weekend was spent looking for some beaches to laze about on. And a bit of a walk made that water feel even better than clear blue warm Adriatic Sea it already was. The first beach was right in Split and the other was a day trip to a town called Bol on the island of Brac. Both were just brilliant but the walking had depleted us of some energy so custard squares, beer and icecream was the remedy to cure all ills.

After the weekend we bade farewell to Domsa and Nikki who went back to work, while we carried on up north to Sibenik and Krka National Park with Stefan, Lizzie and a little grumpy Juliet. The national park was spectacular with tons of lakes filled with fish and clear, clear water. Which thankfully you could swim in. We spent the day walking and swimming with the occasional stop to see how the old mills worked to create flour from corn kernels. Sibenik town was a lovely town that hasn't been as 'touistised' as Split, probably because of the number of steps. The jewel in its crown is St James Cathedral, a Gothic - Renaissance church which is decorated with the faces of the town folk from when it was built.

Here we left Lizzie, Stefan, and an upset Julliet (this time due to our leaving) and made our way to Hvar Island. The first night here was marked by a huge electric storm that knocked communications with the main land. The next day instead of the beach we decided to go for a walk on Hvar. Mostly we followed trails but when these disappeared we made our own way through the prickle bush and skree slopes. It was a pleasent enough walk for about three hours, we saw the top of Motokit hill, and some old caves some people used to hang out in. Once we were finally back on to the safety of tarmac with about 6km to walk it all went wrong, Amelia twisted her ankle in a pothole, causing excruciating pain. With not too many options we pushed on slowly, only to see the onset of a storm. We attempted to hitchhike, with no luck, then the clouds opened. We found some shelter in the back of a workmens van while the clouds burst past, then continued on our not so merry way sore, tired and a little damp.

Here are Lizzie and Stefan's pictures of Croatia that we have appropriated while ours get developed.

Next stop: Sarajevo.

Disaster

I say it was unfortunate, Adrian says it was careless...whatever it was, we was done robbed.

Our day pack was stolen while we were on the night train from Belgrade to Zagreb - complete with camera, back-up CD of pictures, Lonely Planet, mp3 player, books, sunglasses, jewellery, and a very extravagent and much anticipated bag of cashew nuts - oh the horror! Adrian was also pickpocketed - but it could have been worse, they were kind enough to only take the cash and leave the credit cards. It's a bit icky to think that someone was in our carriage while we were sleeping, but thankfully the passports weren't in the bag and we also have our big bags as well. It did mean that the whole first morning of Zagreb was spent in the police station, where "of course!" they all spoke English (thank goodness), even though their bedside manner wasn't their strongest suit. All we need now is for the insurance to come through...(all together now): "Yeah right!"

If only that had been the end of our troubles... The French credit card stopped working the next day as well. After several hours on the phone we worked out that no, the numbers hadn't been written down and all the money stolen, there's just a 650 Euro limit that you can take out as a cash advance overseas...would have been nice to know earlier! (Adrian: they may have told me, French isn't my strongest suit). But a grand merci to the lovely lady at the Limoges Finance Centre who told us our money was safe - let's hope the NZ credit cards hold out through Italy before we can get back to France!

Belgrade

Arriving early in the morning to Belgrade, we did the cheap backpacker thing and walked up to our hostel - we definitely did better on that front though compared to the American couple who arrived individually about an hour after us having had a huge fight about the directions! He won...

So, Belgrade. It was pretty hyped up in the Lonely Planet I have to say, the town of permanent partying and hedonism. We did go out one night along 'Silicon Valley', the strip of bars along from our hostel, but we must have just struck it on a low, or perhaps it was still recovering from EuroVision the night before (Amelia: I am actually gutted about missing that...honest).

We spent a fair bit of time searching for some new camping gear which helped orient us around the city - it may be relatively flat, but it sure ain't compact. The 38 degrees celsius temperature certainly didn't help things either (Amelia would be useless in a desert that's for sure).

We did see some cool things though; the Nicolas Tesla museum (the guy who discovered the AC current and made it de rigour for about 90% of today's machinery) was really interesting, as was the fortress on the hill overlooking the river. We did as Europeans do and promenaded up and down the pedestrian area eating icecream (eating as much as possible now before the horrors of the Euro kick in in Italy).

Hi to Chris and Opal from Canada who we met at the hostel, it was great to head out and chat to some other people (not that on our own we aren't fascinating conversationalists, but I've heard every single one of Adrian's stories six times now - at least).

Next stop: Zagreb, Croatia.

Bulgarski

Our travel into Bulgaria was a bit of a mish - 24 hours of bus travel to be precise! We got on a 12 hour bus from Goreme in Turkey, intending to spend a day in Istanbul before taking a night bus on up to Sofia. But, a bit of smooth talking from a travel agent saw us getting straight on the next bus to Sofia - with only about 15 minutes or so break in between buses...nice.

Border crossing (one more stamp!) and a change of bus later we made it to Sofia and one of the best hostels we've had so far - Rossi Rooms for anyone who's planning on visiting Sofia in the near future. It was a bit out of town in a completely authentic Communist era apartment block, complete with graffiti, overgrown gardens and smashed window panes. Inside was a different story - basically our own apartment, so we made some great vege filled meals (after Turkezy's ekmek (bread) and butter diet, it was needed!).

We were traveling with two of the crew from the Blue Cruise, Anika and Shelley, so we all went out to explore the town. Sofia is filled with fantastic sculptures, particularly the 'Golden Lady' that Adrian was very taken with... There were also some massive churches, rather ugly Communist architecture, and our first non Turkish kebabs (not too bad actually!).

Annika, Shelley and Amelia went for sushi in the basement of the National Library - I don't know what we were expecting, but it was probably the most expensive sushi I have ever eaten! Just craved some Asian food though so it was well worth it...

We also went to a couple of markets, one in the centre of town where we picked up some nicknacks and also the Women's Market, which was a ginormous food and stuff market near the river. It was basically a food tour, complete with free fried bread with sugar on top...mmm...

We were also fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) to be there in May when all the schools break up. All the final year students get all dressed up, then drive around town in big groups of about half a dozen (minimum) cars all honking, with ribbons and tooting like their lives depend on it. They're all hanging out the windows of the cars drinking tequila or vodka and shouting their heads off - not exactly the same tradition as the school ball in NZ that's for sure!

Next stop: Belgrade, Serbia.

More photos of Turkey

Here are the links to our photos from the rest of our trip to Turkey (got to love free internet in hostels...).

Bodrum, Fethiye and Olympus pictures are here.

The Blue Cruise pictures are here.

And Cappadocia pictures are here.

Hope you enjoy! (and don't get overwhelmed by the sheer number of them - it's a back-up for us in case we lose our discs as well!)