Italy-Croatia-Bosnia-Serbia-Hungary

Europe » Hungary
November 8th 2006

Published: March 5th 2009

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wheeler4040

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Tour group Rome

Italy

Rome 9/17 - Back to the west. The weather was cold and wet. The prices were high. Back to noisy dorm rooms. No longer would rice be part of almost every meal. The entire environment had changed after I had gotten so used to that of SEA. Even for all its history, architecture, and art; I couldn't appreciate this city. It felt like a theme park to me. Watching tourists in matching red hats following a grumpy tour guide around the streets to check off all the sights from their guidebook. So many of the shops and restaurants are focused towards foreigners that the city lacks its own identity and character. I wanted to see the true Rome, but I think it is near impossible.

Gubbio 9/22 - My Dad came to meet me and spend a week in Italy. We spent a couple days in a small town called Spello. It had a much more pleasant feel to it than the city life of Rome. We headed up north to Gubbio. When the weather finally cleared up, we took a hike up into the mountains behind the town. I decided on Croatia for my next destination so

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Hiking with my Dad Gubbio, Italy

caught a train to the coast and took an overnight ferry.

Croatia

Split 9/30 - Found my way to Split Hostel along the marble roads and alleyways that made up the old town. Lots of Aussies there, even the owners. Low season had just begun, but there were still lots of tourists around. The city hosted a soccer game against their rival Zagreb. The locals were out in the masses getting drunk and rowdy beforehand. It ended in a tie. Met a guy that lives in San Rafael CA, small world. I decided to do some island hopping down the Dalmatian coast.

Bol 10/2 - Took a ferry to Brac. We were met at the port by a former tennis pro named Tonka that offered us some rooms at her apartment. Spent most of the day hanging out at the beach swimming and relaxing in the warm weather. The shift from high season to low season in Croatia is sudden and the island was quite empty compared to the pictures of the crowded beaches taken during summer. We caught a great sunset. We took a walk out to a village a few kms outside the town. I

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Hiking Gubbio, Italy

hiked up to an old abandoned priest monastery that is now in ruins.

Hvar Town 10/4 - I hiked to where I thought I would find a cave, but instead found a little isolated cove. A fisherman came down, when he saw me he grunted then walked on to find a rock to sit on and go to work. On the walk back up I had almost made it out of bee territory when I felt one land on my eyelid and sting me. The thing I've noticed with Italy and Croatia is that they love their bells. Every fifteen minutes they got the bell tower going even in the middle of the night.

Korcula 10/6 - A couple Kiwi guys and I got some rooms in an apartment. The owner is an aspiring screenplay writer. He asked for help editing his screenplay from broken English to something more professional. He took this dream of making it big in Hollywood pretty seriously. It took him two years to write the screenplay and he has it copyrighted and up for sale on some website that handles this type of thing. None of us had the heart to tell him

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Night shot Split, Croatia

that he should give it up and spend his time doing something else. I took a hike up into the hills and through some villages made up of little stone huts. I somehow avoided getting stung by the massive population of bees that seemed to be everywhere along the trails.

Dubrovnik 10/10 - It has a spectacular old town inside giant walls and sits on the edge of the coastline, but is spoiled by the overwhelming amount of tourism present. I got a boatride out to Lokrum island where I hiked to the fort then back down to swim in the refreshing blue water. We found a place called Fresh that offered a chill, cheap place to hang out at night. One of the only places I've found that could make a burrito and a good one at that.

Bosnia

Mostar 10/12 - This city took a lot of damage during the fighting in the early '90s. Much of it remains visible as I witnessed walking along the former front-line of the Croat-Bosniak conflict. Many buildings were dotted with bullet holes including the local high school, some were just hollow ruins. The war cemeteries showed graves all

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Old town Split

with a matching year of death - '93. The old town was quite opposite. Beautiful, peaceful-looking with a green river running through it below the historic Stari Most bridge. It links the east and west of the city and was rebuilt after being shelled to destruction in '93.

Sarajevo 10/14 - Getting off the train I was greeted immediately by a grungy looking old Australian guy that asked if I needed a hostel. I was driven there by a big cross-eyed guy that looked like a hitman, spoke no English, and drove like he was the target of a police chase. Then there was a guy with a uni-brow that was constantly hanging out in the mysterious restaurant below the hostel that no one was allowed to go in. The hostel itself was okay, met lots of people there and we all shared the suspicion that something wasn't quite right with Ljubica Hostel and the characters working here. Our conclusion was that it was run by mafia and the Aussie guy probably was working off a big gambling debt. I checked out the street chess in the park where 20 or so guys gathered each day and shouted their

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Sunset in Bol

advice and warnings about each move at the players throughout the game. A group of us were hanging out in the common room around 10pm when a young Scottish guy showed up. He had left the hostel earlier that morning on a mission to trek up into the hills and spend a couple nights in the village there. He told us his story of how he experienced paranoia walking along the unmarked trails in landmine territory. When he reached the top of a hill to find a couple wolves crawling towards him he fell backward in shock and slid down about 20 meters managing to avoid blowing himself up. Then he met a shepherd and tried to get pointed in the direction of the village. The man spoke no English and only offered useless and unusual advice, demonstrating that he should stuff paper in his mouth, he also wrote his name in the Scot's journal. Finally finding the village, he was greeted by women trying to sell him their goods. He bought a pair of socks and caused a disturbance amongst the jealous competitors of the woman. He no longer felt welcome there and luckily ran into a French TV

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Looking out on the Adriatic Sea Bol

crew filming a documentary that gave him a lift back to the city. Hearing this crazy story in his thick Scotish accent had the entire room cracking up. I planned to leave for Budapest next, but I heard more good reviews about Belgrade from other backpackers so the next morning I changed my mind and took a bus there.

Serbia

Belgrade 10/16 - I planned spending 2 nights here, but the city lives up to its description as seductive and I found myself extending my stay for an extra six. Its hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about Belgrade that makes it my favorite city I've been to. The low presence of tourism is a plus and the city has got character. A few of us from the hostel went out with some locals to experience the Serb nightlife. We went to a Goth club, a Salsa club, and a dance club in an underground cave. They love to play Shakira in Eastern Europe. The Serbs party all night. The only downside is the thick cloud of cigarette smoke that fills each bar and club. When the weekend arrived along with 20 Croatian girls attending a student

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Bol

convention, we had to move out of Monster Hostel. They did invite us to a party for their last night in the city though. The citadel-turned-park made for a nice place to relax or walk and take in the scenery of the area surrounding the city.

Subotica 10/24 - Caught a train to Novi Sad where I spent the day. In the evening I headed farther north to this college town. The hostel was actually a few dorm rooms on the top floor of the University's student housing. I was the only traveler, but I met some of the locals who were happy to show me around town. I had a great time hanging out with them drinking Rakia and eating burek. Communicating wasn't easy, only a few spoke English. The Serbs are the most friendly people that I have met traveling. Subotica is a great little town that most travelers miss out on and pass through.

Hungary

Budapest 10/27 - I came into Budapest a few days after the riots. They fell on the same day as the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. Apparently it was pretty chaotic in the streets, police used tear gas

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Sunset Bol

and roughed up some of the protesters. I went to Statue park which contains many communist-era statues that were removed from the city center. I tested out the Gellert thermal baths which were a ripoff. Hiked up to Castle hill for a nice view of the city. Spent some time playing cards at the Tropicana where the locals love a bold bluff. At the hostel I met a Canadian Marxist and a French extreme right-winger. We drank bulls blood (wine from Eger) and had a long, entertaining three-way argument about communism, global warming, and Iraq. The Canadian did trade me an excellent book though, "The Happy Isles of Oceania", thanks.

Halloween here might as well have been the 4th of July as its not recognized by Hungarians. I discovered the chess scene at the Nyugati metro station and took on some of the locals for $1 a game. Went to the Terror Museum that showed what a tough time this country went through being under Facism followed by Stalinist rule. I tried to take a tour of Parliament, but didn't realize I had to book a day in advance. It was completely barricaded off which may have been in

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Full moon rising Korcula

response to the riots. There is no shortage of scams in Budapest. I got all the warnings before I arrived about money changers, taxi drivers, and pairs of women hired to bring guys back to high priced bars. One night four of us were trying to get to a bar and we got into a cab. Within seconds I saw that the meter was jumping out of control. I told him to pull over, but he played dumb and kept driving for another minute. After making a U-turn we had gone just 100 meters from where we started and his meter was up to $10. We argued with him, the he yelled "You pay this now!" as he pulled a nightstick from under his jacket and grabbed the guy in the front. We continued to argue and he realized his intimidation tactic was a lost cause so he gave up and swore at us as we got out.

Eger 11/3 - Caught a train to Eger, I'm sure the town is much more lively in Summer, I found it quiet and cold with not much going on. We went into Nice Woman Valley for some wine tasting from a