Oh wow. How did it get there. All those trains have taken us through lands and apparently time. Moving on and on to Croatia.
Croatia, the Dalmatian Coast! I would like to point out that I extensively googled whether the Dalmatian Coast was named after the Dalmatian dog or vice versa and the answer is no. So look there trusty comrades. I also don't like to point fingers, but I was right. They are cute though:
Anywho. Let's begin with the story of how we got to and through the Dalmatian Coast. So, we take a really really early morning bus to Ljubljana followed by a really early train to Zagreb, Croatia. Pleasant enough train ride. My passport got some funny looks, but other than that, smooth tracks. We get to Zagreb and our one and only goal: attack the city on a search for a car to rent so that 1) we can drive on foreign lands 2) we can say we have exhausted every form of transportation 3) we can finally take off the 38 pound packs we have been carrying around. Reason 3 was my one and only motivation. Also, we were pretty awesome at saving money on this trip and thought we deserved to ride in style. So Avis generously provided us with a Mercedes to play with during our 3 days in Croatia. Thanks Avis! (see end note about Avis please).
So, nice lady tells us we pay full in cash when we drop off the car but I'll go into that whole thing later.
We decide to forgo the sites in Zagreb and drive around in our new toy instead. Good decision I think. We even forgo lunch (those who know us will agree that this is a feat). The lady at the car rental agency tells us it's a straight drive to Plitvice, our next destination and the main picture of this blog (see above). So we find our way through Zagreb city streets to find a large roundabout, or rotary. Whatever you wish to call it, it had signs in Croatian and lots of exits. Needless to say we had to pass through the rotary about 4 times before we could read the signs for the exit we needed. On the fifth time, we were out and about the highway that would take us the 3 hour drive to Plitvice National Park. We drove until we got to the toll ticket booth. Oh oh. None of us have Croatian money. I wasn't about to give the Croatian government a reason to arrest the Israeli, so we stopped at a rest stop in order to go to an ATM. No ATM at this rest stop. Luckily, one of the cashiers spoke some sort of English and pointed us towards the next one. This ordeal really took it out of us, so we decided to get lody (I still call it by it's Polish name, but if you haven't been following, it's ice cream).
Sitting in the parking lot, eating ice cream and enjoying the beautiful Croatian weather was quite a treat. It almost made want to WOOT out loud. But off we went on the road once again to reach some sort of food location and the park itself. We come upon a random restaurant, stop, hope that they speak english or can mime food items, and go eat. The food was good, they spoke english and they even had wifi! SUCCESS in numbers I tell you. Anywho, let's get to Plitvice already. I don't want to lose you on the Dalmatian roads.
Plitvice National Park: unbelievable amount of waterfalls, hiking trails, wildlife, and beauty. 16 lakes total with the water ranging from green to blue due to the different amounts of mineral deposits. It was one of those places that no matter how hard you tried, or what angle you turned your camera, the pictures would never, ever, come out the way that your eyes saw it. And just for that, I'm slightly ashamed to put up a picture. But how else would you believe that we were actually there? So don't judge and go there yourself. It's worth it and you'll understand when you take out your camera.
We also stood under those waterfalls, thank you nice Asian tourists for taking our picture. Wait, they might have been British.
We hiked the 3 hour trail and reached our hotel for a quick shower before we went out to a fancy dinner. Not because we really wanted to, but Plitvice National Park had 3 restaurants, all of which were expensive. So we figured we'd be classy for the night. Also, just as a fun note: the only hotel we stayed at was the hotel in Plitvice. It was our most expensive stay and frankly, the worst. No fun, attractive hostel managers. No exotic tourists. Failed showers. However, we had a balcony overlooking the park and sheets and towels. We shouldn't really ask for more.
Dinner was quite a salty experience, so let me tell you about it. Literally, salty. I think the meat was cured in salt, salted prior to cooking, and salted once more before its arrival to our table. It was uneatable. And we were really hungry, which means a lot. So we ate some bread and butter, picked at our "fancy" meal and angrily walked away for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, Split. Yes, that's what it's called.
Day 24:
We get up and have our only free hotel breakfast on this trip. Lots to eat, terrible coffee. We stole some fruit. SHHHH. And we're on our way to Split, a 3 hour drive once again. I drove. It was great. The Benz knows how to cruise the Dalmatian Coast. Literal coast by the way cause we drove along the water the entire time, hill after hill, and tunnel after tunnel. We were told to call Baldo, our trusty hostel manager, as soon as we get to Split so that he could help us find parking. I say hostel loosely as Croatia had Zimmers. People's rooms in a house or apartment that they rent to tourists. Pretty cool business. We don't have a Croatian phone so we find some random parking before going to look for our room. Split's old town is within what used to be Diocletian's Palace. Meaning it's tiny streets that swerve and turn, no signs, no directions. Great for touring, terrible for finding things. It took us about 45 minutes with our packs on to find this apartment. Thankfully, Baldo was pretty gorgeous so that made up for the donkey mule-pack feeling. He helps us find parking and we set out to explore Split. I'd just like to say that 1) Split was one of the most beautiful cities we got to see and 2) We were so tired by this point that we decided to just walk around, eat, shop and not do touristy things such as taking pictures.
Here are some of the few that we took. Look at that, mountains, palaces, oceans, ships, and trees all in one.
What can I say about Split? I have a lot of love for Split. It might have been the weather, that we finally got to wear shorts in balmy winds or it might have been Baldo. It might have even been the good food, random street performers, lody, beautiful people, friendly vendors, unbelievable views, or the nice nap we took in our apartment room. All of those could have really contributed to my liking of this city, but mostly I think it was you two. Katie and Kat, I'm about to get all profound and stuff so be ready. It's probably cause I'm writing this from my living room back in Baltimore, but man am I glad I got to experience Split with you. You provided me with extreme amounts of laughter, rest, relief, and mental therapy. I adore you guys and couldn't imagine a trip with anyone else. I also didn't get sick of you. Fancy that.
Love from the top of the tower and really the epitome of friendship.
After climbing the endless-stair tower, we went to the hostel for that nap. Nap time was great. We then went out to explore the city at night. There were festivals, football games broadcast in squares, pizza, ice cream, michael jackson look a likes, and high school band performers. Love was in the air.
We watched the football game (it was some country vs another and we watched so many that I can't remember which it was) and had some coffee in the 78 degree weather while watching music performances. It was serene and the ultimate end to the love that is Split. Early to bed, early to rise, early to Dubrovnik tomorrow.
PS. Forgot to mention that Baldo, the young Croatian literature student, gave us some amazing cookies and coca cola when we came to the hostel. I want some of those cookies right now.
Day 25:
Drive to Dubrovnik. Beautiful coast. Swively turns. I like that word even though it doesn't exist. Katie drove, we lived through it. After about 2 out of the 4 hours of driving we come upon a weird toll looking booth thing that has police men. They ask for our passports. Border control? Yes. They let us through. We are confused. We drive for a minute and see a quite noticeable, very large sign that says Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We were really excited until we realized we're not supposed to be in Bosnian territory and were in fact supposed to stay in Croatia. WHAT? No warning, no sign that says goodbye from Croatia, no signs that say watch out Bosnian territory ahead. So we drove for a while, hoping that Croatia would come back and behold! It reappeared after about 10 minutes. So WARNING: if you're driving from Split to Dubrovnik, you will enter Bosnia unintentionally. However, it looks just like Croatia, the border patrol people are nice, and you will come back into Croatia. Not to panic.
Here is a picture of Bosnia once we realized we were in it. I think that brings our country count to......16? That's if you count England, Israel and dun dun dun Uzupis. But who really counts Uzupis? So I say 15.
After that scare, we continued driving on the Croatian coast. I guess they literally mean that as it's the actual country border. We drove for 2 more hours before arriving in Dubrovnik. So.... old city Dubrovnik is a no driving zone, much like Split. Small passageways, limestone, slippery steps, lots and lots of steps and nowhere to park. Our trusty Zimmer renter named Anna told us to go find her and she would tell us where to park. So we did. Kat stayed in the car, while Katie and I took all 3 packs (me 2 of them and Katie hers, of course) and walked over to find Anna. Oh Anna. Crazy Mediterranean lady. Wild, absolutely wild. We get there and it takes her 20 minutes to answer the buzzer and come help us find our room. Once in our room, she half-in-english tells us where to park and says 15 minute walk from old town because we are young and have good legs. She then tells us where her family restaurant is and where we should go drink and that she will see us on the streets? We didn't really know what that meant but we were hoping it wasn't anything illegal because we had a flight to catch tomorrow morning. So Katie and I drop off our stuff and go find Kat. We park the car and walk 45, not 15, minutes back to the old town. Change clothes because it was hotter than my Polish husband and go to explore the city. Honestly, and don't judge us. We were so tired by that point from the walking, not eating, the heat, the climbing, the lack of real sheets and towels, and lack of normal life that we decided to do nothing touristy and I mean nothing. So we ate. We willed away the day shopping the streets of Dubrovnik, people watching, and bargaining for souvenirs. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every bit of Dubrovnik. We even met Anna on the streets in a non-sketchy way at all. We ate lody and had delicious pizza with an attractive waiter. I could really get used to Croatian men and Balkan music. At night, we went to Buza which literally means hole in the wall (and it is). It's a hole in the mountain where there are about 10 tables and some chairs overlooking the ocean. We had a nice fruity drink (a breezer?) and watched the sun set over the water. It was memorable. Thank you Anna for the suggestion.
Lovely ladies
We ended the night early and went to bed in the nicely air conditioned loft apartment that Anna gave us. Oh wait, I forgot to say our payment for this zimmer included us going to pay Anna's family at the restaurant. It was very mafia style and I loved it.
Day 26:
Early once again. Find car, load packs, find airport. Success and on time. Return car. And here comes the note about Avis.
Car first though. Thanks for taking us through the beautiful Dalmatian Coast.
Remember that time the Avis agent told us we could pay in cash? Yea, apparently that was a lie. Which we found out an hour before we could check in to our flight. Needless to say, I became an Israeli, raised the roof and yelled at some people. They yelled back, were rude to me, told me that I should jump off a bridge and get a sleeping bag cause I'm not leaving there paying in cash. I got mad and had to step outside and have Kat rub my shoulders as if I was in a boxing game. We are writing a letter, we will get our money back and if you're reading this DO NOT RENT WITH AVIS. I promised them that my friends and family would not be using their services and I plan on making that a reality. Let them know that this is what happens when they mess with an Israeli. After that whole ordeal, we checked in to our flight and boarded an Easyjet flight for the first time to London Stansted. Easyjet has no seats by the way. So it's like a bus, but it flies. Magic School Bus anyone?
Off to London.
Arrive in Stansted, take an hour train to the Underground (or the Tube as they call it). Then take the Tube to Paddington station and walk 30 minutes with the packs until we reach our hostel. Fun enough hostel. Of course, we were starving. We immediately go eat, drink some Strongbow as you all should when you're in England. Across from the bar Katie excitedly finds this gem. Geeky as it was, I was secretly impressed but tried to not show it. Sorry Katie.
Notice the spelling of storey. I love it. E's should be in anything and everything along with u's. Colour. Flavour. It's correct.
After a satisfying meal of fish and chips we listed our london preferences as we had limited time. I asked for Platform 9 3/4 naturally as I had already been to London and really, all I wanted was some Harry Potter goodness. Kat joined in and Katie was slightly angry about that whole thing. No one knows why. We get to King's Cross and look for platform 9 and 10. We thought it would literally be there. A nice railway worker noticed our confused looks and said "Harry Potter?" and we, with a little embarrassment, said yes. He pointed us to the correct location (not between the two mentioned platforms) and we were ecstatic. Well, at least Kat and I were. Look! It's almost real.
Katie really wasn't happy, so we decided to do something to please her as well. We went to find Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben, Thames River, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. We did all of that in about 2 hours. Impressed no?
And there it is. London ladies and gentlemen. Just as I remembered it. Lots of pigeons, lots of tourists and yet a charm that I can't describe. I think it's the accent really. Magnetizing. For dinner, we went to a traditional British pub, had some food and watched another football game. It's a good thing people are passionate about the world cup over there. Back to the hostel and another departure tomorrow. At that moment in time, we were packing for good. Kat back to the US and Katie and I will be moving on to Israel. I can't tell you how much motivation I'll get to blog about my homeland. I want to. I will try my best as it is always an entertaining experience. But if this is my last post let me say a few words before I part.
To all those who were determined to listen to my words, who religiously read my tid-bits, who followed my life with my friends, who experienced these adventures through their computers. Thank you. If you were the only ones to read this then my job here is complete. I would have loved to personally share this experience with every single one of you. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog not only so that you could learn about my travels, but so that one day, when I look back, I will have all these written and un-erasable memories. I have become quite the addict for blogging and would highly enjoy it if you continued to follow my food diary. I will link it here
A few words to my comrades:
Ladies. I love you. You are everything to me. Thank you for being a part of one of the most memorable experiences in my life. I hope, that when we are old and graying, that we will meet up and tell these stories to our children and grandchildren. I want you to know that no matter the distance, we will always always be friends. I appreciate you and everything that you are to me. Let's do it again. I say South America 2013? We'll make it happen.
Man, won't this be awkward if I post again? I probably will, but just in cases (hope you got that movie reference).
I'll leave you with my favourite British warning:
