Blogs from Croatia, Europe - page 180

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Europe » Croatia October 11th 2007

Thank God I smoke and drink, otherwise I don’t know how the Hell I’d make it through most of my nights (or, to be more precise, my evenings). Here I am in Slavonski Brod and, I won’t lie: I’m not entirely impressed. In fact, this is the first and only city in Croatia where nothing has wowed me right off the bat. I’m noticing the dirt, the rundown-ness, the holes in the buildings, hand I’m uncomfortable. I am, to be fair, starving, cold and half-lost, so I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll be a bigger fan on Slavonia. The bus ride here was completely unpleasant: I had to pee so bad that I actually had a towel over my legs and a bag positioned underneath, and if the bus didn’t stop for ‘pet’ minutes in Karlovac when it ... read more

Europe » Croatia » Istria » Pula October 10th 2007

Wednesday October 10th We felt surprisingly good this morning and after negotiating with our landlady to leave our bags in the unit we set off to further explore the quaint little town of Rovinj. We took another route to the church of St Euphemia, enjoying the ramble up the narrow streets reminiscent of Venice. After once again enjoying the views from the churchyard we took an alternate route down that took us past the fishing boats unloading their night's catch. We then visited the aquarium, supposedly the oldest scientific aquarium on the Mediterranean coast. This was interesting and as we were the only visitors this morning we enjoyed the view of all the local sea creatures. Arriving at the bus station after collecting our packs we were in plenty of time for the midday bus to ... read more
The amphitheatre or coliseum
More amphitheatre
Amphorae

Europe » Croatia October 9th 2007

Tuesday October 9th We had an easy morning, leaving our apartment at about 9.30 and walked into the bus station at Opatija. We arrived well before the bus so sat on the pavement outside the local casino with a coffee enjoying the passing sights. The bus arrived and we were off to Rovinj! It was very enjoyable travelling down the coast and we passed through many charming fishing villages. There was hardly anyone on the bus and most people got off at the inland town of Barban, where we saw a lot of dilapidated high rise apartments but we cold see no reason why this place seemed to have such a large population as there was seemingly no industry. In Pula the bus stopped for a few minutes so we took the opportunity to stretch our ... read more
Rags chops the vegies in our kitchen away from home.
Rags, Geoff and the wine!
The narrow cobblestoned streets

Europe » Croatia » Istria » Opatija October 8th 2007

We were up and about by 6am and looking for something to eat came across the dining room where for about A$7 each we had a buffet breakfast with cereal, a cheese omelet especially made for us plus cheese, meat, rusks, and tea or coffee. Two very satisfied people returned to pick up their gear. We teamed up with a young Irish couple, Jude & Kevin when we left. Judy had spoken to them before. Jude is one of the first people we have met on this trip who has been to WA. She was backpacking and worked in Northbridge, worked at the Koorda hotel, and loved it. They were going to Ljubljana for the day so we decided to revisit, as in 2001 when we were there, we were too busy having Judy attended to ... read more
Elegant old homes
Another old home
A great walk along the boardwalk

Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia October 8th 2007

OK, this is a long one. Get comfy. Monday 1st October After another crap sleep we sat down with Chris and Simon for a chin wag over breaky. They had brought along their mountain bikes and were keen to pedal around whenever they got a chance. Simon had just cycled a part of the Italian Alps and was supremely fit, probably due in part to his time spent in Antarctica keeping several scientists alive working as a Sherpa. Chris was an architect from Glasgow with a hilarious sense of humour. Although they were travelling together they were most definitely not gay (as suggested by some ). At about 10.30am we spotted a little secluded bay so we anchored up and donned the togs. About five of us swam out to the pebbled beach and basked in ... read more
Everyone Wanted To Swim In The Lake
I Didn't Know Nessie Made It This Far Down
A Bird's Eye View

Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia October 8th 2007

Sunday October 7th An early rise today saw us ready to leave by 7.30am. We had only been ready for a couple of minutes when Peter called out and we proceeded to pack our luggage into his car. We made a stop at a bakery before arriving at the ferry terminal. Rags was surprised at the size of these car ferries even though we had seen a couple on our way past on the bus over the last week. Although our ticket said to be there at 8.00am it was typically almost 8.30am before the gates opened and we were able to board. However, it did promptly leave Dubrovnic at 9.00am. There were plenty of seats and we found a comfy one in the bar area. Here we spread out and passed the time reading our ... read more
The island of Korcula
At home on the ferry
Mooring the ferry

Europe » Croatia » Central Croatia » Zagreb October 8th 2007

I forgot to mention that me and Jer checked out London Bridge, and contrary to popular belief it is in fact not falling down. We also met a pigeon man who had seeds and put them in your hands and you get pigeons all over your arms and stuff, it was actually really gross. I forget what we did the next day, we went to Tower Bridge and on the way we were like 5 feet away from Dustin Hoffman who was there doing a movie. We also went to the Wembly soccer stadium but couldnt get in on a tour that day :( Met up with sarah and her relatives, she was pretty happy to see me and all her relatives are pretty nice, we went to the beach and jer departed on his way ... read more

Europe » Croatia October 7th 2007

Dear All, our most recent adventures have been in Croatia, from the capital Zagreb down to the Adriatic coast.... read more
One night stopover
View from the bus
Dubrovnik

Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia » Split October 5th 2007

After leaving Dubrovnik, we made the five hour bus trip north up to Split where we would spend our last four days before we headed back to the realities of life. Our first task was obviously to find our accomodation for the days ahead. Once again we managed to secure a really clean, comfortable and central place right near the main harbour front and just down from the fish markets. I must admit I was a bit worried about what to expect from Split - to date all I had seen was when we breezed through the 'everyday' parts of Split on the bus trip down to Dubrovnik early in the week - like Sibenik the suburbs of the city didn't do too much to entice a level of excitment to explore. But I was pleasantly ... read more
Cathedral of St Domnius
Roman Ruins within the Palace of Diocletian
The Peristyle

Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia » Dubrovnik October 3rd 2007

So at the end of our 7 hour bus trip and what not, we finally arrived at the Old Town in Dubrovnik. Our first task was to find our room we were staying in. Well it wasn't much of a task but getting the owner to stop talking was! Nah, in all seriousness the guy was really interesting to talk to, he'd had a really interesting life. But after 7 hours on a bus without a toilet - we had other things on our minds!! This guy deserves a sentence or two. He had been a soldier for the Yugoslav army from when he was real young. His job was to shoot at NATO (if and when they ever arrived) from the island of Vis. He also told us this lovely little story about how he ... read more
Looking down the street
The view from the wall looking down the main street of the old town
Ready for the walk ahead of us




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