Croatia - Zagreb, Split & Hvar

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Hello friends, whanau and any geezers reading our blogs

Firstly I would like to give a brief explanation of one of the terms that we have coined since the beginning of our travels. 'Smelly dude' - this refers to a person who has very poor personal hygiene and generally needs to take a bath and apply deodourant.

Kibby and I took an overnight train from Thessaloniki to Belgrade and we booked beds as we left at 4pm and were scheduled to arrive at 5am. We found our room only to realise that we were also sharing with 'smelly dude' from France. This guy was priceless, one of those revenge of the nerd type clones, travelling alone and way too concerned about keeping everything he owned in sight (he checked and rustled his gear regularly through the night - bless him). He tried to strike up a conversation with Kibby but his smelly dudeness was just too much and Kibby took the first opportunity to leave the train for fresh air (definately an only child - Kibby). I hung out the window and Kibby took some photos until the border police suggested that he had taken enough. We were woken several times in the night by border police who came and checked our passports and they stated with surprise Noo Zeelan? My favourite time was definitily when one of the guys said to another 'Hey Noo Zeelan' and the other replied, ' ah, Neighbours'. After a few hours delay we arrived in Belgrade around 7am and we spent a few hours there before heading to Zagreb.

We were really only in Zagreb for the night and so just took a leisurely walk around to find a place for a cold beer and a bite to eat (these guys really know the definition of a cold beer). The following morning we headed to Split, a port town several hours from Zagreb.

Split's streets are lined with market stalls and they also have a large fish market. Kibby was keen to go and check this out and I happily let him do this, but I took shelter from the fishy smells and the heat (not really the best combination). We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of smelly dudes in Split, however guys on motorbikes are in abundance and a wee to do we saw later had to do with a local on a motorbike with an american tourist...

After a recommendation from a friend Kibby and I headed to the island of Hvar. We are staying 3 minutes walk from the town and the many beaches, although I think this statement would be true for anyone staying here. Kibby being Kibby had to go swimming and eagerly jumped into the water right on top of a kina (sea urchin). Not sure if you know much about them but I am a bit of an expert now, after removing the many spikes that had dug their way into Kibby's foot...contemplating eating a few after that but that hasn't eventuated.

Mel, my old flatmate from NZ (who has being travelling in Europe for the last 6 weeks) arrives here in Hvar today, so we are looking forward to catching up over a few cheeky drinks.

Hope things are ticking over nicely for you all at home

Take care

Lysh (and Kibby)

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