Monday, 28 October 2013

Tatras

Slovakia 
High Tatras- Ždiar
14/10/13- 18/10/13
This is Wally
Ždiar, a little alpine town nestled in the Tatra Mountains, was the perfect place to get away from civilization and back to nature. It look us 3 long days of traveling with night stopovers in Zagreb and Budapest because Bosnia and Croatia have recently cancelled a lot of their long distance train lines due to low passenger numbers. A friend recommended we stay at The Ginger Monkey, a small, friendly hostel in a little cottage. The hostel also has 2 pets; a dog named Wally and Kevin the cat. During our 4-night stay we met some cool people and hiking buddies.
view to the mountains from the hostel
In snow season Zdiar is a ski town but in off-season it is the perfect base for hiking in the Tatra Mountains. On our first day we explored some of the shorter hikes around our hostel with some of our new hiking buddies and Wally the dog. During our walk we observed some of Wally’s strange habits, like digging up and barking at rocks, licking them profusely, barking at them again and then carrying them in his mouth. He also likes plastic bottles, children’s toys, sticks and pieces of wood. The hostel has a large selection of 80’s style ski jumpsuits that we tried out on our afternoon walk, very warm and highly fashionable (see picture). Wally was filthy from swimming in puddles from the recent rain so we gave him a shower when we got back to the hostel. He was not impressed.

one of our views over the Tatras
Thirsty?
afternoon hike in style


shower time
It was pouring with rain the next day so we decided to spend the day indoors relaxing, watching movies and napping. In the afternoon, it started snowing on the tops of the mountains and we were very excited. 
through the clouds
During our stay we sampled some Slovakian food at the nearby restaurants as it was dirt-cheap. We mainly ate at the only restaurant that we knew was open, as the others tend to close whenever they feel like it in off-season. We sampled specialties such as pork neck, potato pancakes and sheep cheese with dumplings. We also tried the local spirit, Tatra tea. This flavoured liquor can be between 27%-72% alcohol and can be drunk on ice, neat, with lemonade or in hot tea (our favourite)
mountains on our last morning
When we woke up on our last full day the weather was perfect for hiking and the snow was still on the mountains so we decided to do the 7 hour  hike over the peak with a few guys from the hostel. We tried to get rid of Wally but he wouldn’t go home so we gave up and let him join us, turns out he loves snow too. It was a tough, uphill, 3 hour climb to the summit but once we got to the snow line I was even more motivated to keep going. We reached the first peak at the perfect time. We were above the clouds and had a beautiful view of the snow capped mountains with light fog adding to the atmosphere. After a quick snack we hiked to the next peak to continue the track, which lead down to a lake and then the next town, where we would catch a bus back to Ždiar. On the way as the snow got thicker we saw a heard of mountain goats and Wally had fun chasing them. Once we made it to the second summit we were graced with yet another panoramic view for about 10 minutes before a thick fog engulfed us in about 10 seconds flat! At this stage we were a bit unsure of which way to go as our directions were pretty crappy. We walked on what we thought was the right track but were then greeted with a cliff face so we walked back to the peak. After trying a few other ways in the fog we decided to head back down the way we came as we wanted to make it back before dark and could not see more than 5 meters in front of us. On the way we saw met some Czech hikers who offered us some Metaxa a Greek brandy, which warmed our bellies. The walk back down was very slippery, our feet were soaked and our legs were sore so we were glad to make it back to the hostel for a hot shower. We were a bit sad that we missed out on getting to the lake but glad we got to see some amazing views and didn’t have to try to get Wally on the bus back to Ždair.
yummy snow
 
lost in the fog
 Next stop, Poland
-       Leah 






Tuesday, 22 October 2013

BiH

Bosnia and Herzegovina 
Mostar
9/10/13-12/10/13

After being dropped off and saying bye to Ian and Kath, we waited in a deserted train station for our train to Mostar in Bosnia. Riding the oldest train we have encountered in Europe, we experienced smoking Bosnian army men, train attendants hitting the underside of the train at every stop (I’m guessing to make sure everything is still working), beautiful views of mountains and rivers and the thought that we missed our stop. Luckily we didn’t.
A cute little hostel called Madjas awaited us when we arrived. Set up in a Bosnian house with a cozy lounge room and a great spacious outdoor area, Madja and her daughter who checked us in welcomed us and helped us settle in.
river through the middle of the city

We have been on many tours since our travels began but none can compare to our epic 12-hour tour of Mostar and its surroundings. This well known tour is organized by the hostel for guests only and ran by the unique Bata, Madja’s brother. Bata took us to some amazing places and shared his experiences and strong opinions on the war that broke out amongst the Balkans after the collapse of Yugoslavia.

We drove around in a mini van/bus with 12 other ‘Backpackers’ as we were all called for the day. Bata pointed out many buildings and vantage points from the war, buildings that have been transformed into fancy shopping centers, run down structures and many derelict buildings that still have the scars of bullet and shrapnel damage.
Before leaving the town of Mostar, we stopped for a freshly made Burek and got to see the traditional way of cooking the delicious bakery treat in the kitchen’s coal fire oven in a local café.
Burek time
Next we made our way about 40 km south to the Kravice falls. This beautiful spot is quite out of the way for big tour groups so it was nice to have some space to explore. We braved the freezing cold water and climbed under waterfalls and over rocks. Leah being the stronger swimmer followed some guys up to a big rock in front of a strong waterfall. After scaling the slippery surface Leah jumped off the 8-meter high boulder with a scream.
behind a waterfall
time out from the freezing water 
the rock that Leah jumped off

The car rides to each place were filled with stories and we even had a dance in the van listening to Bata’s Bosnian turbo folk through his sub woofers and flashing lights set in the roof.
Pocitelj town was our location for sunset. This medieval village is located on the Neretva River with amazing views from the top of the mountain. Only a few families remain in this village after the war. We were lucky enough to go inside one of the houses and visit a little old lady who made us some traditional coffee and home made cordial made from elderflower and pomegranate. We had some amazing views from the top of two ruined castles at sunset before making our way home via a few more places. We finished our tour at about 11pm at an amazing cevapcici place where we enjoyed the famous minced meat in pita bread with a creamy sauce.
the van "Bata's girlfriend"
Backpakers in the castle
the Neretva River
queen of the castle
Slate roofs 
sunset

We walked around the town the next day visiting the sniper building; an old gutted bank building on the front line during the civil war in the early 90’s that was a prime location for snipers. The building had an eerie feel to it with the several floors covered in glass, graffiti and the odd local junkie.
views from the sniper building





After being severely bombed in the civil war, the old bridge in Mostar, the Stari Most had to be fully reconstructed. Construction only finished in 2008 and since then it is one of Mostar’s favorite attractions. Each year divers jump off the bridge into the river below and this has also become an activity popular with tourists. A few people from our hostel jumped from the bridge and got a certificate for their 20-meter drop.
the old bridge at night

During one of our nights Bosnia was playing Liechtenstein in a World Cup qualifier, only 2 wins away from a guarantee in their first ever World Cup Finals. Bosnia went on to win that game 4-1 and then beat Lithuania 1-0 a few days later. So best of luck to them in their first World Cup.

Now time for some travel days …

arvi -



Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Dubrovnik with Daddy


Dudrovnik
Well the time came when we finally got to meet up with Dad and Kath in Dubrovnik! Having just been on a hunt, with a few hiccups along the way, Dad and Kath needed a relaxing few days before heading home. We were not complaining as we needed a bit of time out too so we all took it easy for the next 6 days with strolls around town, eating and afternoon naps. We stayed in a cute, traditional Croatian 2 bedroom unit, just up some stairs from the beach. The weather was sunny and mild but our last 2 days were a bit rainy.
Sunset
and the morning
The old town of Dubrovnik is just stunning; different to any old town we have seen before. The old town is all contained in medieval looking fortress walls with a polished marble-looking floor. We spent a lot of our time winding through the streets exploring. We were lucky because on Sunday they had a folk festival where they were trying to break the Guinness world record for the most number of people to dance a particular Croatian dance. About 200 costumed dancers filled the main street of old town and danced this complicated looking dance with lots of spinning. Some locals even started an impromptu dance near us, including the town mayor! (we recognised him from his posters). We also caught some of the other performances that weekend, which included an amazing drum group from Korea.
Harbour

Harbour 
in the old pharmacy
group shot

Korean Drum group
National dance

That night Dad and Kath took us out for my belated birthday dinner. We started off by visiting a wine bar to try some local reds. We got to try 3 reds, all made from the same grape but grown in different areas, altitudes and climates.  We then headed to a restaurant serving local seafood; Kath’s fried squid won the best meal of the night.
a view of the town
We also ate LOTS of ice cream during our stay. Every night while walking home we would stop at our favourite ice cream place, sampling flavours such as hazelnut, jaffa and dark chocolate.
To counteract our ice cream addiction, Arvi and I decided to go for a run one afternoon. We had kind of given up on running and hadn’t run in about a month. We decided with all the massive staircases around the coast of Dubrovnik it would be a good idea to do a stairs session. Oh boy did we feel it, we were dying after about 3 minutes but stuck it out and ended up running up 1200 stairs in total. For the next 2 days were walking like elderly people desperately in need of a hip replacement.
3x160 and 3x 80
Because Dad and Kath had rented a car, we decided to drive to the nearby town of Cavat. The coastal drive was beautiful but very windy. We walked along the Cavat coastline and had lunch in the harbour while admiring all the boats.
Cavat harbour 
On our last full day we were going to get the boat to Lokrum, an uninhabited island 10 minutes boat ride from the city. Sadly, the small ferry was cancelled because of bad weather, even though the sea looked flat from the harbour. So instead we went for a walk along the coast outside the city walls and soon saw why the boat was cancelled! After our walk we ate a lunch of delicious bureks while listening to a street performer playing Spanish style guitar.
Game of thrones was shot around Dubrovnik

Our last dinner together that night was the best of the trip. We ate at an Italian restaurant as Dubrovnik has a large Italian influence. We each had delicious Pasta and enjoyed a great red wine that we had tried at the wine tasting. After our meal the waiter bought out 4 shots of homemade grappa or, as he called it ‘rocket fuel’. Of course we ended our night with a last visit to the ice cream parlour.
with Dad
It was so good to catch up with Dad and Kath again, especially since I haven’t seen them since Christmas. I’m pretty sure I almost talked their ears off but I was just so excited to see family after such a long time. It was sad to leave them but I know it won’t be long until we see them back in Australia again!



- Leah