yobosayo – Around the World Travel Blog – Follow us around the world

The last week has been a bit of a blur trying to go everywhere and visit every city between Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary. After only two days in Slovenia we drove up to see Leo in Vienna for two days, then to Budapest for one day, then down to Porva for one night. The end result is that we probably missed out on really getting to know any one city very well.

If we could do it again, I would spend a week in Slovenia and at least 3 or 4 days in Vienna and Budapest, but even as I write this, we are on a tight schedule, again. We are meeting Carolyn in Greece on the 14th, which gives us a week to get there, but we’re traveling by bus(roughly 42 hours this week on the bus) through the Balkans. Sarajevo, Skopje, Ohrid, Tirana, and Gjirokastra are on the list of cities to visit on the way down to Athens.

Last night we drove back to Croatia, to catch a bus this morning. Here’s one last look at beautiful Croatia.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MQr1DJOaHw[/youtube]

In our 2 months in Mediterranean Europe, 2 things have remained constant, regardless of which country we are in. The first is that at some point during the day we will hear this ˝Umbrella˝ song by Rihanna. The second is that it will be sunny and nice. Picture postcard perfect everyday, all day long.

Well, as even Cal Ripken Jr. can tell you, all streaks must come to an end. Today we went to Plitvicka National Park in Croatia, and it rained…a lot. It was absolutely beautiful, despite the weather, but it was a little annoying to be cold and damp for a change.

As for Rihanna, thankfully her streak was broken as well. Todays Croatian radio playlist consisted of bizarrely deep album cuts from Steely Dan and Billy Squire.

While I´m mentioning music, ironically there is a song here called ˝Goodbye Philadelphia˝ that is also hugely popular. Kind of ironic, but it gives us something else to reference our hometown with people we meet after we try ˝Rocky˝ and ˝Cream Cheese˝ .

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JHSdmqChMs[/youtube]

Mike got a slice of nostalgia as he ate a poppyseed strudel.  

At the waterfalls, ladies along the path sell honey, cheese and strudel. Although Mike ate it all, he commented, it wasn’t as good at the strudel his mom bought growing up.

It was cold. And it rained on and off all day, but we donned our rain jackets and headed out regardless. The Plitvice Jereza waterfalls are halfway between Zadar and Zagreb. Waterfalls and cascades are found throughout the 18km park. Many different walking trails, ranging from 2-8 hours can be taken. We chose the shortest route(2-3 hours). Much of the hike requires walking across wooden bridges connecting the trail, often crossing over the many lakes that make up the park.

There are waterfalls everywhere, ranging from one foot high to 40 feet. Who knows, maybe there are larger waterfalls on the longer hikes, but we didn’t see any. The one thing to note is that the water is crystal clear.

After eating and drinking so much, it was time to do some activities…we decided to get a little more sun, and go rock climbing.  So we headed up the coast to Split to take a hydrofoil to Hvar, the “it” island of Croatia.  It’s an incredibly beautiful island resort.  And because there is no sand on the beaches, just rocks, the water remains crystal clear.   Yesterday we did a half day of rock climbing which was great to feel like we were working out our muscles, again.  It’s incredibly challenging and strenuous, but feels great when you finish. 

The weather has finally “turned,” and for the first time on our trip, we were rained on.  Today is the same, rainy and chilly.  Lucky for Mike, this hotel is equipped with wi-fi, and he’s taking full advantage of it.  He’s even had to stop some of his downloads because he’s slowed the entire hotel complex down. 

Tomorrow we head out to Plitvice Lakes.

Arrivederci Italia! Oh, how I’ll miss the pasta…

We made it to Croatia, taking a ferry from Bari, Italy overnight to Dubrovnik. We arrived very early in the morning, and by 8:30am we had our accommodations worked out. Within Croatia, rooms are rented mostly through a travel agent or by the “grannies” who greet you at the ferry landing with photos of their rooms available for rent. The traditional means of renting a room through a hotel is also available, but most of the travel guides recommend showing up and looking for accommodations. The place we rented was an apartment that was outside the city walls, only a “3 minute walk”. We already knew “3 minutes” was probably not the case, but it was the only place available. Turns out that it was a 20 minute walk uphill with steps, but worth it for the beautiful view of the city. While in Dubrovnik we enjoyed walking around the city walls, watching the sunset, and eating at a konoba (tavern that cooks traditional Croatian meals).