So, as I may or may not have mentioned last time, our departure for Bol was in part, in fact LARGELY fuelled by our desire to hit a sandy beach. First, we looked around Split. Rocks. Then, Hvar Town. Concrete. Then, an excursion to Palmazana, where the Rough Guide promised us a sandy beach. Rock terraces. So, we headed to Stari Grad, where once again we were told there were sandy beaches. Concrete platform (though admittedly, the other side of the bay may have had sand). And so, yesterday, we left early in the morning for Bol, of which we'd seen actual photographic evidence of sand (Zlatni Rat beach). Much like the picture on the left (not taken by me, incidentally). So, imagine our surprise when we arrived to discover that, lo and behold, rocks, when viewed from far enough away (and perhaps a touch of Photoshop for good measure) look quite a bit like white sand.
Having said that, the water is always pristine, the weather's nice, and pebbles aren't really that bad, but it is rather amusing to me that we've had no success in discovering a sandy beach. Anyway, we arrived in Bol, which is a nice town on a hillside, and got ourselves a room. Then got all the internet stuff done we wanted to. After which, we discovered she had given away our triple even though we'd booked it and given her our passports. Because she was more likely to be able to sell these other three travellers on a triple than splitting them, and hey, she already had our passports. So we got separated despite my attempts to rectify the situation or at least come up with some recompense for our trouble. When you have only one place in town for booking and they know it, it's quite easy for them to say, "Well, fine, take your documents and try to find a place." It's again, not that bad, but it was pretty underhanded in my opinion and although I pay less for a single room than I would,, well, anyway...
We walked to the beach, found a place near the tip (see photo for beach bum-eye view), it's actually quite nice and beautiful here on the ground as well, and did a little snorkelling. The weather was windy and fairly cloudy, so it did get quite chilly at times, but still enjoyable. We hung around there for the afternoon and then ventured back, stopping along the way for a little outdoor pool. While playing, a couple locals came over and challenged us to some foosball, which I accepted, probably to the dismay of my English collegues. It seems they were quite reticent to engage in a game where their skill was perceived to be lacking, and I actually had to flip a coin to pick which one of them would HAVE to play. We had fun anyway, and managed a respectable 5-2 loss.
After that and a rather poor Italian dinner (because of all the Italians here, it's pretty much all you can find), we went back to our respective rooms to shower with the plan of meeting in the square at 11:00. It was here I learned that pasta, two glasses of beer, and a warm shower should not be combined with a "quick laydown". I awoke at about 4:30AM realizing I'd missed the meetup with them and worse, I had no subsequent meeting place or time for tomorrow. Not to mention they'd be stuck waiting. But there was nothing for it, and I went back to bed, only to completely randomly stumble across them the next morning. Again.
We looked into kite boarding, but the first lesson cost over $100 and consisted of sitting on the beach flying a kite, so needless to say, we passed. I also checked into windsurfing, but too windy. Rental cars were almost $100 for the day as well, so we cheaped out, grabbed an ice cream cone, and returned to the beach for another day. The surf was raging and it was quite nice and easy body surfing as well, we had a lot of fun. That night in Bol we went out for a while, but we had an 8:30 ferry to catch, so it was nothing to write home about (in spite of the fact that I have, in fact, written home and to anyone else who might care to peruse the site).
Yesterday, we caught our 8:30 ferry, which I'm pretty sure did not make any attempt to move under its own power, but rather to let the Earth's spin carry us to the mainland only a few km away. We got in just before 10, and caught the 10:15 bus towards Dubrovnik. However, this is where I and the English (by the way, Luke does a great impression of the guy from Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and I now want to watch it simply to hear how he talks) would part ways. I got off the bus at Ploce, a very ugly industrial town that feels deserted, and caught the 4:00 train (Jess, close your eyes - sorry!) up to Sarajevo. By which I mean, the train departing roughly at 4, choosing the wrong track and ending up almost derailing, waiting for an hour for workers to patch a section, backtracking, going forward to just past Mostar, debarking for a bus, and transferring back to another train elsewhere up the line. Yeah, it was a chaotic trip. The scenery was reputed to be beautiful and at times was, but it's very much ruined by some damming activity in my opinion, leaving mud and weird flood planes and things.
So now I'm in Sarajevo, I've done a bit of a tour, hard to believe everything that happened here was 10 years ago, and now I'm off to see some things we didn't cover so much on the tour. As for the tour itself, it was very interesting, seeing a tunnel used to sneak food in past the UN, to whom there is great bitterness here. There are also what are called Sarajevo Roses all over the place, basically shell marks on the ground where people died that have been painted in red (usually) and turned into a monument for them. And on the topic of the city, it's quite an interesting collection of all sorts of cultures, I think I'd say it's what Berlin claims to be but isn't, a true gateway to the East/West. Mosques, Catholic churches, synagogues, all side by side, in one part of the city only 150m apart. The city is still recovering from the war, but I think that the spirit of it is very palpable and with that, I'm off to experience it.
I leave for Dubrovnik tomorrow morning, then off to Italy where I'll probably run into Rob from my Contiki tour. Because I'm so tight for time, I don't know when I'll be posting again, but see you soon anyway.
I met a couple Brits on the train to Split, Luke and Joe. They were sharing my couchette and most importantly, shared beverages of a spiritual nation with me. We hit it off quite quickly. Together, we arrived in Split and together found a woman with a guest room for three through the travel agency. The room was quite pricey (these Brits have no concept of expense nor bargaining) but very nice and the woman there was great. We wandered around the old town a bit and also hit a little bit of a beach (aka a concrete pad) but the water was oily supposedly so I didn't end up going in. It was a cool place and rife with locals however, which is very nice. Otherwise, the makeup in Croatia so far has been two Italians for every other person.
We did take our time in Split and relax, which was nice, and also found a great restaurant with a mixed grill, nice fresh fries and salad that have been the closest I've come so far to home cooking at the lake. Which, I guess, would make it lake cooking. It's really great how they've built Split into the ruins, makes it quite an interesting place vs somewhere where the ruins are just a site. They still use them here. I should mention we stopped at the market and I picked up a new towel (to replace the Athens 2004 one I'd forgotten in Budapest), a pastry, and figs. Lots and lots of figs. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm...
It wasn't a long time there, though, really just one night, and we caught the 3:00 ferry to Hvar Island, where we were quite fortunate. You see, we ran into a woman who wanted 300 Kuna ($60) a night from each of us and pretty much spat at us when we told her it was too much. $180 a night is a rip off for a room in someone's house, let's be honest. Another lady was standing there and looked like she might have something, so I walked up to her and, indeed, she did. 150 (aka $30), and right, literally, RIGHT on the harbour. A terrific spot for a really decent price. Balcony, kitchen, overlooking the harbour at sunset. We settled for two nights and again explored a bit.
Hvar town was a nice place to be situated. We found some expensive but decent food that we somehow thought was cheap when we perused the menu from outside. The best thing was an octopus salad, really well done. Funny how eating it as a kid made me insta-ill and now I quite love it. Next thing you know, I'll like mushrooms. Well, probably not. But anyway, after our pricey meal, we decided we'd be better off doing groceries. So, the next morning, I woke up at 9 AM, read til about 10:30, and decided that I'd just go and get groceries. I got us some yogurt, deli meat, cheese, and bread for a noon brunch, sausage, salsa, and tortellini for dinner, not to mention a few beer and some juice for the mornings. Cheaper and quite tasty.
We went the next day to some of the small islands off the coast of Hvar, particularly a place called Palmazana, which was supposed to have nice sand beaches according to Luke's rough guide. At this point, I determined I hate all guide books (prior, only Lonely Planet), for not only was there no sand, but we were laughed at when we asked where the sand beaches were. Still, the water was beautiful, the weather was fantastic, and we had a great spot on the rocks. We had bought a snorkel set as well and all took turns snorkelling around, though there wasn't too much to see. We went out that night to Carpe Diem, which turned out to be rather snobbish, and left quickly enough for some more down to earthery. They had met a couple British girls on the train and we hung out with them for the evening, then all came back to our room, sat on the balcony overlooking the starlike lights on the masts below the moon, and chatted some more. It really was a great time.
Finally, today we left (we had a debate about staying/leaving, decided to stay one more night, then discovered our host had no room) for Stari Grad, a smaller town on the island. The taxi ride there revealed that the island is quite pretty and has some great beaches on the south side, which we really should've visited but didn't. The girls were with us again so the taxi wasn't too expensive, and they ate while we hunted out a room. It's quite difficult to find people willing to give you a room in their home for only one night. Most won't take the trouble, but we did find someone eventually. Then we went to a place north of town that also doesn't qualify as a beach - just a cement pad and some rocks leading into a beautiful but angry sea. But it wasn't too bad, even if the so-called Croatian beaches have been disappointing up until now.
Tomorrow, we head to Brac, and specifically Bol, which (we have photographic evidence) has a nice sand beach, and we'll stay for a couple days. I may make it to Sarajevo for a few days before Dubrovnik and then Italy and then Greece, but time will tell. I'm definitely behind schedule and John arrives in Athens on Sept 4. But Croatia's been great so far, and now I'm off to join the Feast of Assumption in the city square, where we were recently passed by a big religious parade. Internet's hard to get at here, but I'll hopefully see you soon and/or reply to emails.
Indeed, Budapest, Queen of the Danube, is also referred to as Paris East, and I think with good reason. It's beautiful here for one, and the arts and vibe in the city are very much on par with a city like Paris. Friday was a good day. I got a little walking around did and bought my first non-necessity for myself today, a new shirt. I just needed something different. Three months of the same four or five shirts has gotten tiresome. I strolled up to the Parliament buildings, to the castle, and through a little on the Buda side of the river (Budapest is or was actually three cities, one called Buda, one called Pest, and one called something much like Buda. So now you've learned something from my blog, and I've set a new milestone for myself.
So... I met Jess and her friend (whom I'd met the night before), Melinda, and we went caving. There are vast limestone caves beneath Budapest, formed by volcanic heating of the water which forced it up through the limestone and eroded it nicely. This, incidentally, is the same water that is used in their renowned mineral baths. Caving itself was a good time, I kept thinking that my mom would not quite have enjoyed it, however. A lot of the spaces we went through were really, really small. Places with names like the Birth Canal, the Sandwich (you're the meat between two crusty layers of limestone), and Pooh's Place (a hole named from the time that Winnie the Pooh gets stuck in his house). The latter was optional, but I gave it a try and managed to squeeze through it, though with great difficulty (put it this way, it was too narrow to get my shoulders through unless I put both arms ahead of myself). We had a great time, and afterwards, as is surely tradition by now with Jess, we bought a watermelon from a farmer. The intent with this one was to fill it with vodka, leave it overnight to soak in, and eat it tomorrow.
We were starving afterwards, and my hostel guy as well as several co-inhabitors, recommended a place called Paprika. Big plates, good food, that sort of thing. So we went (really, the word is voyaged) there only to find it full and a 45 minute wait! But we convinced them to open the patio and we sat outside. The goulash wsa terrific and not one of us finished our plate despite a great effort. We went to Hero's Square afterwards, and more importantly, didn't climb a certain statue, before checking out a cool outdoor billboard exhibit with a bunch of fake ads. It was pretty cool stuff. They also had a section on war propaganda with lots of Russian ones like the one on the left (hold your mouse over for English translation)which were very interesting too. Given our tiredness from the tonne of food, the caving, and general malaise associated with the weather, we called it a night early (though I was up til 3 uploading pics and reading).
I stayed yet another day, and so on Saturday, I met with Jess and Melinda at about noon (after missing a meetup at 11:15, 11:30, and 11:32), and we checked out the Basilica, walked back to the Parliament, and also checked out the Museum of Modern Art. In a warm and sunny Budapest. Happiness! The Museum had some really cool stuff in it, one of the better ones I've seen (especially compared to the weak-at-best-if-you're-English Museum of Terror), though the highlight might've been the toilets that automatically wipe the seat, which I had thought up some time ago but sadly not gotten around to inventing. Thieves!
Then, we got our train tickets and headed for the baths. Ah, the baths. They were well worth the 4 hours spent in there, that's for sure. Terrific stuff, and I had my first ever professional massage. Anyway, after caving and all the walking around, it really hit the spot. We ate dinner at a grill around the corner from my hostel, ate the watermelon for dessert (finally!) and went out to this really cool bar that was kind of inside a warehouse district, off the street but in a courtyard, if you will, between warehouses and industrial buildings. They used the walls of the buildings as giant screens, and Jess has some pictures she'll be sending me soon (ahem!). After some red bull and vodka, Melinda and I were quite gung-ho to go out, but Jess was sleepy, so we said goodbye at 3AM and Melinda and I went out and closed the bar down at 6. Being so late, and with a train to catch at 8:35, there was no point attempting to sleep, so we checked out the sunrise on the Danube and said goodbye there.
I just made it to the train to Zagreb after getting back to the hostel and getting packed up. I think I even slept about 30 mins to an hour on the train. I met some more Aussies who had all bought these awful sandwiches where they had put little pieces of what was supposed to be inside them at the edge of the bun. They shared their food with me since I had no local money and hadn't eaten since the watermelon 12 hours ago. Zagreb was a little light on things to do, and raining, and the one good hostel was full, so I walked around a bit, got some food in me, and left for Ljubljana, where I am now. I may stop by there when I go to the Croatian coast, for another few hours, if the weather is better. I met a Canadian, Brian, on the train and some locals who told us all about Slovenia for the entire "2 hour" three and a half hour train ride. So I have a good idea of what I want to do here. Brian and I got a hostel last night (and also a bite to eat after an exhaustive search for a Plus interac machine and then some place that served food or a grocery store), and tonight we're moving to a good (i.e. not HI affiliated) hostel called Cecila, which is a converted prison and looked really cool when we were there checking for availability last night. It's in a Christiana-of-Copenhagen style area, should be interesting. Then we're off to Bled and Bovec for some really great scenery in the Julian alps and some good times.
As for photos, many are up in the gallery, but I've not gotten around to adding them to my posts or captioning them yet, will do that soon. You can check the gallery in the meantime if you're so inclined...
