Both Ingrid and I are burning out on traveling so it is a good thing I'll be home in less than a week.
So, after Mostar....we went to Plitivice Lakes National Park in Croatia--pretty but I didn't feel like it was any bit prettier than most of the Sierra Nevadas. I guess I am just spoiled.
After that we went to Zagreb which was incredibly boring. We spent most of our time in this huge bookstore with a massive English section. It was so strange reading all those books, we both forgot we were abroad. The other highlight of Zagreb was the Naive Art Museum--an awesome (but sadly quite small) museum filled with works by untrained peasant artists. Very cool and totally made Zagreb's slowness worth it.
After Zagreb we headed to the lovely Lake Bled region of Slovania. And man, do I ever want to go back. I'm gonna try to convince my parents that they want to vacation there--just so crazy beautiful and there is a lot to do. We both really wish we had cut down our time in Croatia and spent more time in both Slovania and Bosnia. Oh, well.
So yea, Bled. A beautiful area with a lovely lake and great desserts. Yum. There is a summer toboggan run where the ski slope is and we went down the toboggans. There are also a bunch of activities--you can rent boats (which we also did), go scubaing in the lake, mountaineering, and canyoning. I barely convinced Inga to go canyoning with me and it was good but it was a beginners thing. I want to go on the advanced. I have no issues jumping from heights or with zip lines or any of that jazz. I wanted to do the more advanced excursion but there wasn't time. All in all an awesome place and def one of the highlights of our trip.
We are currently back in Croatia...bummer. Before even getting back here we realized that we were over Croatia and we feel like we have exhausted it, but here we are, in Pula. So we have two more days here---today we are taking it easy and tomorrow we got to a nearby city that is supposed to be more exciting. After that we head back to Italy (to Bologna) and I head home after 3 nights there. Wow. I'm sad it is coming to an end, cos it has been really fun traveling with Inga and we have been getting along swimmingly, but I'm also so looking forward to just passing out in a cool room with a comfy bed and sleeping for days. My body and brain our tired. We have met so many people who travel for months and months and I have no idea how they can do that. Three months abroad and I am hankering for a comfy bed, air conditioning, and my brothers. Oh, well.
s
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Mostar
So South of Italy...
We were really looking forward to going to Lecce which is called the Florence of the South. Turns out that it just kinda sucks. Nothing to do, everything was closed and I was still sick...so no fun. The next day we went to the caves and that was fun. We went around deciding what all the stalagtites and stalamites looked like and were informed by other members of the group that we are quite entertaining. So yea, good times. The day after the caves we just stayed in Bari---walked around, bought some wine, and went to the park to relax. Besides getting hit on by some creepy guys in the park, it was a good day. That night we took a ferry to the island of Mljet. The ferry was crazy cold but nice enough. We got there early and got a booth so we were comfortable.
So we arrived in Mljet and had the devil of a time finding accomodations. It was the only part of our trip we had not pre-booked and we almost did not find a place to sleep. We lucked out however, and got a nice, though expensive and small room. Mljet was lovely--we were staying in Polače, which is right next to the national park. So yea, we spent most of our time in the park. There was a great place to go swimming and I swam a bunch. It really made me realize how much I miss swimming and I am determined to find myself a cheap pool membership when I get back to the states. We biked around a bit, hiked up to the top of the mountain for beautiful views, and just spent the entire 3 days we were there chilling. Also in Mljet we added another member to our party, Donkey. Donkey is our traveling buddy and we take a lot of pictures with him. You will see.
After Mljet we went to Dubrovnik for the night, and stayed in the same place Emily and I stayed over two years ago. It has barely changed. Inga and I actually ended up in the same exact room as Em and I had so that was pretty fun. We also went to the same pizzeria that Em and I went to and it is still awesome. The next day we caught a bus to Mostar, we we currently are.
Mostar is awesome. It is a European city with a Muslim feel. You sit my the river wearing your bikini while the Muslim call to prayer goes off. Just such a weird feeling. You cannot really do that in most Muslim places. Why it is kosher here is that the city is a mix--Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox. So it just has a very interesting feel. Besides the cool feel, it also still has manz reminants of the recent war. You walk along some of the streets, and see buildings riddled with bullet holes. It is all very sureal. A lot of the buildings have yet to be repaired, so they have signs warning people to not go in. The signs all say something along the lines of "do not enter the ruins." It is just so strange--I am used to seeing the word ruin and assuming that it means something ancient. It is just weird to be surrounded by modern day ruins.
Anywho, so I really like Mostar and wish we had planned for more time in Bosnia--cos it is cool and cheap. Yesterday we went on an excursion through the hostel and we went to these awesome waterfalls. And I went rock jumping, so yea, way fun, but quite chilly. Tomorrow we are heading back into Croatia--I will write again soon.
s
We were really looking forward to going to Lecce which is called the Florence of the South. Turns out that it just kinda sucks. Nothing to do, everything was closed and I was still sick...so no fun. The next day we went to the caves and that was fun. We went around deciding what all the stalagtites and stalamites looked like and were informed by other members of the group that we are quite entertaining. So yea, good times. The day after the caves we just stayed in Bari---walked around, bought some wine, and went to the park to relax. Besides getting hit on by some creepy guys in the park, it was a good day. That night we took a ferry to the island of Mljet. The ferry was crazy cold but nice enough. We got there early and got a booth so we were comfortable.
So we arrived in Mljet and had the devil of a time finding accomodations. It was the only part of our trip we had not pre-booked and we almost did not find a place to sleep. We lucked out however, and got a nice, though expensive and small room. Mljet was lovely--we were staying in Polače, which is right next to the national park. So yea, we spent most of our time in the park. There was a great place to go swimming and I swam a bunch. It really made me realize how much I miss swimming and I am determined to find myself a cheap pool membership when I get back to the states. We biked around a bit, hiked up to the top of the mountain for beautiful views, and just spent the entire 3 days we were there chilling. Also in Mljet we added another member to our party, Donkey. Donkey is our traveling buddy and we take a lot of pictures with him. You will see.
After Mljet we went to Dubrovnik for the night, and stayed in the same place Emily and I stayed over two years ago. It has barely changed. Inga and I actually ended up in the same exact room as Em and I had so that was pretty fun. We also went to the same pizzeria that Em and I went to and it is still awesome. The next day we caught a bus to Mostar, we we currently are.
Mostar is awesome. It is a European city with a Muslim feel. You sit my the river wearing your bikini while the Muslim call to prayer goes off. Just such a weird feeling. You cannot really do that in most Muslim places. Why it is kosher here is that the city is a mix--Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox. So it just has a very interesting feel. Besides the cool feel, it also still has manz reminants of the recent war. You walk along some of the streets, and see buildings riddled with bullet holes. It is all very sureal. A lot of the buildings have yet to be repaired, so they have signs warning people to not go in. The signs all say something along the lines of "do not enter the ruins." It is just so strange--I am used to seeing the word ruin and assuming that it means something ancient. It is just weird to be surrounded by modern day ruins.
Anywho, so I really like Mostar and wish we had planned for more time in Bosnia--cos it is cool and cheap. Yesterday we went on an excursion through the hostel and we went to these awesome waterfalls. And I went rock jumping, so yea, way fun, but quite chilly. Tomorrow we are heading back into Croatia--I will write again soon.
s
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