Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria - Week 18

Europe » Italy
September 11th 2013

Published: September 11th 2013

Day 119 – Venice

Canals, alleyways, gondoliers, sunshine… Venice has it all. It’s a cool little place to get lost in. Amazing shopping and unbelievable Venetian masks everywhere. We started our day off with a walking tour from our leader. No idea how he found anything. It was a maze. We had NO chance of getting back to the meeting point. We then saw a lace demonstration because Venice has its own type of lace. I bought a purple lace ballerina which I think I may hang in my car. We then got to have our highly anticipated gondola ride. We squeezed six girls into a boat and off we went with a lot of squealing. Our gondolier kept tipping the boat and we thought we were going in. Probably very entertaining for the people still on land. Once our gondolier man was over rockin’ the boat we had quite a lovely cruise through the canals.

Next up was an impromptu glass demonstration. This man made a horse out of glass in about 30 seconds. It was incredible. We then split up for free time and Kel, Nat and myself went to lunch. We had the friendliest waiters ever and they kept bringing us extras like individual packets of bread sticks, a creamy tartlet and finally a dessert tartlet. We then started to make our way back to the meeting point (we hoped) and did some shopping along the way. I really wanted a purple and silver venetian mask to go on my wall at home but the ones I liked were about 150 euro and there was no way they would have made it home in one piece. We did eventually find our way out of the place and we were taken back to camp. I had some time to spare so I fitted in some laundry and postcard writing before dinner.

I was quite excited about going to the masquerade party tonight and had an awesome idea for a mask (I was going to paint one on in make-up rather than buy an actual mask) but the closer it got to the party the less I wanted to go. I was still sick, the party didn’t even start until late and we had an early wake-up in the morning. I piked big time. I still really wanted to create my mask though so instead of doing it on my face I created it on paper. A small relief to me.

Day 120 – Pag Island – Croatia

Last week our tour group got to create designs for a trip logo and one design would be printed onto shirts. I had a go at doing a design and it was chosen as the one we’re going to use. Woohoo! Quite chuffed with myself, haha. I got ideas from other people about what to put in it so I can’t take all the credit. Well… we finally got the shirts today and they look awesome. I got myself a black singlet. Love it!

We drove through Slovenia today and stopped at the Postojna Caves. To get into the caves you need to take a small train 2km through the tunnels before the cave tour starts. It’s 8 degrees inside the caves and they are just massive. We had a guide walk us around for a bit. The lights went out twice but I think they did that just to show us how black it becomes. We then took the train back out again. I got stung by something just as I went into the caves so I spent most of my time inside checking to see that my thumb hadn’t fallen off.

We said goodbye to Slovenia (only a quick trip but we’ll be back) and entered Croatia. My home away from home. As soon as I saw the coastline and the sea I knew we had entered Croatia. There’s no mistaking it. We took a ferry to Pag Island and this is where we relax for the next three nights. Hallelujah! The hotel is a bit dodge and I wasn’t too impressed with the walk we had to do to get to it. My suitcase is on its last legs again and it had already lost a wheel thanks to Croatia. There is a nice view from our window though. I got some dinner, bought some wifi and started my holiday within a holiday.

Day 121 – Pag Island

A cruisey breakfast and no ready made plans for the day. Perfect. We went for a bit of a wander through the shops. There’s nothing special to buy so that didn’t take too long. We had an early lunch out of sheer boredom and then got ready for the beach. Emma, Dani and myself got some sun, had a swim and just chilled out. The rest of the day included getting photos onto facebook, dinner, walking along the shore at sunset, gelato and having the hotel room to myself for the second night in a row. Good day. Tomorrow may end up looking a lot like today.

Day 122 – Pag Island

Well today did not end up looking like yesterday. I have a tummy bug and spent most of my day in bed asleep. I made it to breakfast before I was fully aware of my dilemma and I felt good enough to go out for dinner with most of the group later on. I’m thankful that it was a rest day and I wasn’t stuck on the bus or anything. I missed out on quad-biking though which sucks and I would’ve liked to have gone out for a ride in a speed boat. I’ll just have to come back to Croatia and do it another time. Poor me.

Day 123 – Ljubljana – Slovenia

You have got to be joking TopDeck. Today we pulled into a street in Slovenia which can only be described as the ‘dero’ part of town. Graffiti everywhere, rubbish, high prison type walls and so, so many sneakers dangling from the overhead wires. Yep… this was our location for the night. The hostel itself didn’t look too bad inside. That was until we opened our room door. It’s a solid metal number which opens onto another door which is jail cell bars. Oh goody. A night in jail. Our beds are planks of wood which we had to fold out to get our mattress onto them. We have one barred window which is too high to even see out of. Topdeck is trying out this place because it is closer to town. I’d rather be further out quite frankly. Lucky it is only for one night.

We had a small walking tour of the town and a bit of a shop (most things were closed). Then we had some dinner with the group and walked back to the hostel again. There were a few things going on in town because of a fun run but otherwise it is probably a quiet, sleepy town most of the time.

Day 124 – Tyrol – Austria

We stopped at Lake Bled this morning. It is gorgeous. Kel and I took our new book purchases and read by the lake for a while. We had over two hours of free time here before continuing onto Austria. It was nice to not have to rush anywhere or only take photos before getting back on the bus. Once we hit Austria we dragged our things into our ‘house’ for the next two nights. It’s a cute little house surrounded by the Alps. It has apple trees outside, a dog called Joey and a private bar. We had a BBQ dinner which was a nice change.

Day 125 – Tyrol

The plan was to go for a bike ride into town this morning but it’s raining. I stayed indoors and just chilled for a bit. I had some time on the wifi chatting to people back home and attempting to upload some pics. I was booked into para-glide at 1pm but it got postponed because of the weather. A little bit more hanging around and we were good to go at 3pm. We only had three professional guys to jump with us so we had to split into groups. I went in the first group and my instructors name was Ben. We took a gondola to get to the top of the mountain which took about 20 mins and we had awesome views of course. Ben got organised quickly with his equipment so I was the first cab off the rank. After a ridiculous run down a hill (really hard with all the gear on) we were up and gliding. It was super comfy cause I had a seat thing to sit in but quite chilly. Ben pointed out landmarks to me and snapped away taking photos. He even got a 2 min video of the flight. Once he had taken enough photos he put the camera away and we got down to the fun stuff. He spun us around and we even went upside down. It felt like a rollercoaster. So much fun! Landing was a piece of cake cause I was in my harness seat. We just slid along the grass for a few metres. Easy! Dani and Amanda followed me down and then it was time for the instructors to head back up with the next lot. I wandered into town for a bit of a look before heading back to the house to get ready for dinner.

Before dinner we had a professional photographer come and take a group photo. The theme was cross-dressing again. A shit theme in my mind. The guys have all the fun and the girls are left with wearing a tie or drawing on a moustache. Boring! I didn’t even bother dressing up or buying the photo. We went to dinner next which was very nice. On the bus ride up and down the mountain the group started to bag out the biggest dick on the trip. They were mostly imitating him, calling out his usual one liners and just giving it to him. It was hilarious. He annoys everyone on the bus everyday and we all needed a little pay back. Mind you he loved all the attention of course. Didn’t faze him in the least.

Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria - Week 18

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