Croatia (Oct 15 - 24)

After my big Eastern European trip, I decided that 4 countries in 9 days was a little rushed. So for this trip, I decided to focus on only one county. I'm not really sure why I chose to go to Croatia. I guess I didn't know too much about it, apart from the war with Yugoslavia in 1991-92, so I decided to take a week off in October and go see the country. I left on Friday on an 11-hour night bus from Nurnberg, and like last trip I didn't plan anything - all I had was the bus into Croatia, and the flight out. I thought that 11 hours would be tough, but I slept right through it. Apparently while I was asleep we passed through Slovenia, and I didn't even know.

ZAGREB: On Satuday morning I arrived in Zagreb. After a bit of confusion about which tram to take I ended up downtown. I was originally thinking of only spending a few hours in Zagreb, but I really liked the city so I found a hostel for the night. After dropping off my bag I saw a few of the tourist sights - the market, some churches, and the city centre. The market was particularly cool because they had just about everything imaginable for sale there (mostly fruit, vegetables, and cheese). The depressing thing about the market was seeing all the homeless people eating all the left-behind spoiled food. Unfortunately it was rainy and cold for most of the day, too. At night I did something that I don't normally do but ended up being really good - I went to the Zagreb Symphony. I saw the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, and all of the Croatians dressed up in their nicest clothes. I felt a little out of place in jeans and a t-shirt. Oh well. It was interesting to see the contrast between the people at the market and at the concert. I'm no classical music expert, but I thought the music was pretty good too. Later that night I found a bar that was decorated with Lord of the Rings paraphernalia called 'Tolkiens.'

Rainy day in Zagreb
St. Catherine's Church, in Gradec
The Zagreb Symphony, at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall

PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK: Next day was a bus (buses are cheap and frequent in Croatia - the best way to travel) to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Again it was really strange to see the contrast - first, bullet-riddled houses all along the highway, and then second this beautiful national park! The Park is halfway between Zagreb and Zadar (about 2.5 hours). I found a private room in a nearby town (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room - all cheaper than for a dorm bed in a German hostel!) and then set off to hike around the park. Plivice is a series of lakes connected by waterfalls. The waterfalls are formed because over thousands of years calcium deposits have built up and stopped the flow of water. The water was amazingly clear and green, and the park was really beautiful to walk around with all the leaves changing colour. All the lakes are connected by boardwalk, making it really easy to get around. You can also takes buses and boats, but I chose to walk. There were also some caves to explore, which were straight out of Lord of the Rings - pretty cool.

The big waterfall at the entrance to Plitvice
One of the boardwalks across the lake
View of the whole valley
One of the upper lakes, with the trees changing colour

ZADAR: After Plitvice I went down to Zadar, on the coast. The bus drive was really exciting, because the road was only 1.5 lanes wide, and extremely twisty. The best way to describe it would be taking the Sea to Sky, making it narrower, and running it through some barren land (sort of reminded me of Kamloops). I actually didn't really have much to see in Zadar, I was only there to catch a ferry that evening. But I had the whole day, so I just spent it wandering around the town. There were no bag check places so unfortunately I had to carry my pack all day - my back was sore by the end. Zadar has some Roman ruins, white marble streets, and a nice waterfront. One thing I should mention is that I had Pizza for supper here, and I ended up having one pizza every day I was in Croatia. It was soooo good and so much better than the thin-crust pizza you get in Italy. Anyways, after a long day of wandering I got on the night ferry.

The waterfront lit up at night
Streets of Zadar. Notice the white marble streets

KORCULA: Next morning the ferry arrived in Korcula, an island further to the south of the country. Some friends from high school were in Croatia in August, and recommended this town. I have to say, I agree with them! Korcula was great, definitely a highlight. I stayed in a private room again. The old lady who ran it was so nice - every morning she gave me some fresh fruit and a shot of Schnapps - "to start the day right!" She didn't speak any English but she did speak German, so at least I was able to communicate. I think German is probably more common in Croatia than English, and by the end of the trip I was asking people "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" before "Do you speak English?"

Anyways, Korcula was awesome. I spent the first day checking out the old town and swimming in the Adriatic. The water was still warm, and it was maybe 24 degrees out. The beaches in Korcula were pebbly, instead of sandy, though. The old town was particularly cool beacuse it was just narrow, steep, winding streets filled with local Croatian restuarants. I had a lot of fish dishes (and pizza of course) in Korcula, and they were excellent. The next day I took a 5 minute ferry across the water to the mainland. There mainland was actually a peninsula, with a huge mountain on top. So of course I had to hike it! I met an Aussie named Matt, and since we were both headed for the top we hiked together. It was about 3 hours up and 2 down. The views from the top were unbelievable. The peninsula was only maybe 5km thick, so from the top of the mountain you could see the land drop down into the sea on either side. The view of Korcula was also great. Next morning was a bus ride down the coast to Dubrovnik.

Me at the summit of Sv. Ilija
View down to the mountain ridges...
...and the town and water below
The town jutting out is Korcula - where I stayed
View down the straight of some of the smaller islands
View down the peninsula
Sunrise on the water

DUBROVNIK: Dobrovnik is a 1300-year old city (same as Wuerzburg) that's surrounded by walls. It's very unique and, like Split and Zadar, has white marble streets. And, since it was further south, it was even warmer here, and much busier. I didn't meet many people in the north, but the further south I went the more Australians I met! In Dubrovnik I stayed in the hostel (rare in Croatia - mostly private rooms) and met a whole bunch of Australians, plus one Canadian, a Mexican, and two Americans. The only tourist sight I saw in Dubrovnik was the city wall, which was pretty amazing. It's several kilometres long, and it took me more than an hour to walk around!

Placa, Dubrovnik's main street (with white marble paving)
Dubrovnik from the city walls
Edge of the city
The city walls

The Aussies had the good idea of taking an island-hopping tour. That turned out the be a great idea, since I found out that the alternate plan I had - going for a hike - wasn't too smart, as the hill above Dubrovnik was still filled with landmines. The boat took us to three different islands with beautiful sandy beaches and warm water. It was perfectly clear and sunny, and very hot out. It was a great day of just relaxing on the boat deck and on the beaches. The cruise even included a fish lunch. After the cruise we all went on a mini-pub crawl on Dubrovnik, which ended when we decided we were really hungry. We found a Pizzeria and had some delicous and cheap pizza. The pub crawl continued although it eventually died out when we went back to the hostel. I decided that Australians use way better words than Canadians - word like "G'day," "dodgy" and "reckon." Some of the guys were from Perth, on the West Coast, and a lot of the time their accent was so strong I couldn't understand I word they said.

A town where we stopped on the island-hopping tour
Sunset on the way back to Dubrovnik
Pizza dinner with the Aussies

SPLIT: Split was the last place I went, since I needed to catch a ferry from there to Italy. I only had the day there, since I spent some extra time back in Korcula relaxing on the beach. On the bus ride there we passed through Bosnia-Hercegovina, but only for about 15 minutes. I was surprised that they didn't even stamp my passport! Anyways, the coolest sight in Split was the Roman ruins of Diocletian's Palace. It's an enormous palace that a Roman emperor built as his own private residence. You can walk through all the streets and basements - it's pretty cool to see. I also went up the cathedral tower for a great view of the city. One annoying this was all the old ladies who would pester you with offers of "PRIVATE ROOM - ZIMMER - SOBE" when you got off the bus. If you looked even remotely like a tourist they would all converge on you. They would even follow you and keep asking, it got pretty annoying.

Basement of the ruins of Diocletian's Palace
View down the stairs of the cathedral tower
Roman ruins lit up at night
Cathedral and ruins lit up

BOLOGNA: Phew, so from Split I took a night ferry over to Ancona, in Italy, and then I took a train to Bologna. I wasn't really expecting to see anything in Bologna, but my Ryanair flight didn't leave for a few hours so I had some time to walk around and see some of the city. There was a street festival going on, so that was cool to see. I also saw the huge, unfinished Basilica di San Petronio, as well as Bologna's two "leaning towers." But I only had a few hours, and before too long I was on a flight back to Frankfurt Hahn. After an long bus and train ride home I almost thought I had locked myself out of the apartment, but fortunately Colin had some spare keys (everyone else was in a different country!)

Basilica di San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore

So I have to say, Croatia was pretty cool. It was nothing like what I expected, and it was nice to be able to sit on the beach while it was raining and 7 degrees in Wuerzburg! But of course there were places I wanted to go and didn't have time to, so one day I will have to come back and see Sarajevo, among other places. Next week is a bit of a change from sand and sun - Stockholm and Helsinki, about 1500km north.