Blogs from Dalmatia, Croatia, Europe - page 71

Today we went white water rafting in the canyon outside of Omis (The city of pirates) The weather was perfect! We were all a little nervouse since none of us had been before. We met our "Captain" whose name we could not prenounce or remember,(but boy was he HOT), at a small agency and hopped into a van with the raft strapped to the roof. The drive up was frightening, one lane winding roads with cars squeezing next to one another on tight cliffs. Cara and Gina were both holding on for dear life. When we got to the starting point on the river, Gina was laughed at for wearing a seat belt. So we squeezed into our life suits, Dad put his on inside out, helmets, and life vests and headed down the river. The ... read more

First stop...Croatia. Blake and I set off at a lame 4.30am from Carey Gardens Studios in Battersea to Gatwick Airport on Monday 4th October 2010 - with no more than a backpack each, 2 hours sleep and adventure on our minds! Issue one..there's always an initial glitch, ours just happened to be our mini cab driver and his apparent death wish. A rainy, early morning probably didn't help the situation but when one doesn't check blind spots, ones car may generally eventually collide with another car or object!...Thankfully we didn't...missed by an inch. Slightly shaken, we arrived at the airport and went through our usual migrant strip search with ease. Landing in Dubrovnik, we were met by Kate, the other half of Ivan of "Villa Ivan" - where we were to call home for the next ... read more

Krk and Rijeka Our plan was to arrive on Krk island by ferry from Merag on Cres and travel most of the day ending in the city of Rijeka for an overnight ferry to Split leaving at 20:00. Krk had wonderful cycling. It was more rolling than Cres. We rode from the port of Valbiska inland and across through Vrh to Krk town. After exploring Krk's fort and old city and enjoying lunch in a local konoba, we realized it was threatening rain. We skipped a side trip to Vrbnik and instead took the main and only highway from Krk to Rijeka. After enjoying about 5 kilometers on a bike path that started just outside Krk, we shared the road with too many cars, buses and trucks. This is the only dedicated bike path we saw ... read more

Split is pumping on a Saturday afternoon. Engulfing the central area, Hajduc supporters make wave after wave of processions up and down its limestone shod streets. Tonight’s opening season football clash is against arch rival Dinamo Zagreb. Cafes are pouring the pivo at a pace to overshadow the pre- match slurp of a Bledisloe Cup game. There is passion on the streets and it’s reflected all over Split, not just over football, but in arts, culture, restoration and preservation. Alongside this passion there is also a dark side. There is a hard edge to Croatia, visibly evident in the appearance of tough graffiti and wanton vandalism. While the islands are tourist havens and island life attracts a relaxed and conforming lifestyle, the cities and inland towns are tough and hard and reflective of economies struggling with ... read more

HEY gUY's, We went to Dubrovnik for 2 days.... It took about 4 hours to get there. It was Another one of those Beautiful Picturesque places in Croatia. The whole east coast of Croatia is coastline of the Adriatic Sea. We got there in the Afternoon and it was Beautiful. We found parking, But you have to buy a Ticket for everyhour you park. Since we were going to spend the night... We basically had to buy 12 tickets, They give you 6 hours a day free..How nice of them. WHen you visit places here, you can either get a Hotel....Which is very Epensive OR you can rent a room from one of the locals here....It's kind of like a Hostel. We found one from an Old Lady. The room was nice, I think she had ... read more