Croatia

23^rd May

Since our last Europe adventure started out so horrifically we decided to be up early, sober and ready for anything – passports on board! Subsequently we arrived at Stansted Airport about 3 hours early. Really duty free shopping is incredibaly boring.

Our flight to Zadar was quite alright, flying over the alps and having quite a good view.

I think our arrival at the airport indicated a fair bit about what this part of croatia is all about. After a smooth landing it wasn’t the size of the airport that struck us as unusual (its about as big as DUBBO aiport) but the fact that the plane actually crosses a road of traffic. We watched out the window as a man in a yellow jacket held up the stop signal for the oncoming cars and ushered the plane across the thoroughfare. Very strange.

By this stage it was nearly 9pm and considering we weren’t exactly sure how to get to our accommodation (which we knew was in a little town called Zaton 16km out of town) we thought we had better get a move on. We jumped on a bus we hoped went into Zadar. Luckily it did. Then very smoothly we arrived at the main bus stop to find that a bus to Zaton was coming in another ten minutes. It all seemed very fortunate considering our lack of planning.

The bus arrived and we were fairly sure from the Croatian non English speaking bus driver we were on the right one. We anxiously watched out the window for any signs that indicated we were going in the right direction. On occasion we saw a sign to Zaton and felt that was a good sign. It was pitch dark by the time we decided we should get off the bus. Basically we were in the middle of nowhere (so it seems when arriving in a foreign country and jumping off the bus on a road with about 3 houses on it). We asked one other person who got off the bus if we were in the right place and managed to make out from some English and gesturing that we had the wrong bus and would need to wait for another one. (I think this was some bad advice the place we were staying (Zaton holiday Village) is sort in between nin and zaton, but it is about a 2km squared (it has its own radio station and doctor) so the zaton bus stop is about 1 and a half kms from one end and the nin stop is about 1km from the other end. Either way you’re in for a walk and once you reach the gates your still only half way home) Naturally my panic buttons started to sound and Tim’s calmness kicked in. We found a sign with a map and on the other side of the town was our accommodation, so we decided to walk. This seems like an ok idea in the middle of the day when you know the way. These were streets with the occasional street light, very reminiscent of the areas near my parents house in Dubbo but with even less houses and more space in between. Actually it felt very familiar and reminded me of walking around the streets of Dubbo on Christmas eve- except for the lack of Christmas lights. Most of the time I felt really ok about wandering somewhat aimlessly in the dark and then I would remember we were in Croatia and had never been there before and were being a bit risky. Nonetheless we safely arrived at Zaton holiday apartments and excitedly fell asleep.

24^th

Our aim for this trip was to do as close to nothing as we could bear before getting bored. So we slept in, cooked up a breakfast and then wandered to the beach for a swim. Essentially the beach was a bit disappointing in the following regards:

1. The sand was not yellow/white and fine to tread on but more a grey colour with fairly large shards of rock strewn throughout. (the beach can either be described as having the most uncomfortable sand possible or the most comfortable gravel)
2. There were no waves

However there was a quite nice view of the islands in the distance and the water was nice and warm.

So we spent some time swimming and relaxing on the beach reading etc.

Pretty relaxed day in all. Nice to see some warm weather but after the long dark English winter the 30 degree heat is a bit of a shock to the system and warranted a mid afternoon nap followed by some Croatian beers.

25^th May

We wanted to take a day trip to Zadar and had to walk the 1km or so back into Zaton town to get the bus. It was stinking hot but really nice to see the streets we had wandered in the dark in the daylight. Beautiful Mediteranean style houses dot the landscape, complete with their own mini vineyards and collections of various farm animals. The wild flowers are in full bloom it would seem and wandering along roads with waist high stone fences it seems a bit like a fairytale. It took us ages to walk to the bus stop because we kept stopping to take photos of little lizards that dart out of the undergrowth all the time. They are bright nearly fluro green on the head and top half of the body and then brown on the lower half- kind of like a choco mint treat or something. Very cute. They are about 10-20 cm long at most. The peeling of church bells and an old woman sitting on the road side, peering out from her scarved head at us completed the scene. (church bells and the twittering of songbirds are common sounds in croatia, but by far the prevailing soundscape is the thumping of distant techno)

When we eventually made it to the bus stop we were pretty sweaty and thus fairly miserable to see the bus fly past us. We had a good twenty minute wait for the next one. Not to mention that there was extremely limited shade on this fairly barren stretch of road. We got an icecream from a randomly placed corner store and I thought it was a good sign that within the wrapper of my heart shaped icecream I found an owl temporary tattoo. Considering the family connection with owls I felt pretty happy and didn’t mind standing in the sun. icecream (the on-a-stick sort) have weird branding in Europe, my icecream was called “macho” and contained liqueur others have cars on the wrapper, in the Czech republic we had Harley Davidson icecream.

Zadar itself is quite lovely. The centre is an ancient Roman walled city, with narrow winding cobblestone streets and a thousand year old Church. Quite picturesque. We wandered along the waterfront and eventually found a restaurant we wouldn’t have to sell our right arm to eat at. It would seem by browsing that Croatian cuisine is fairly similar to Italian- perhaps with a greater focus on seafood.

In the afternoon we found what lonely planet describes as a ‘must see sight’- the Sea organ. This is essentially a series of steps leading into the water which has pipes etc. underneath, so when the water moves up and down it pushes air through the pipes producing different sounds- almost like the sounds of blowing across bottles. It would have been really atmospheric except that an International cruise liner was stationed right next to it and running its motor. So the sea organ wasn’t so easy to listen to.

We grabbed some pretty delicious fresh fruit from the famed Zadar market and by this stage realised the day had reached the point where most people are either swimming in the harbour or shut up having their afternoon nap so we decided to go home.

26^th May

Starting the day with pretty fabulous Tim made pancakes and fruit we again had a lazy rest around Zaton. Beaching, reading, getting slightly sunburnt (I figure its ok- we need to store up our vitamin D supplies before heading back to the miserable island).

One excitement of the day was the discovery of Zadar’s finest- Cherry Brandy. Apparently made with a cherry that is renowned for its taste this brandy was simply stunning. Not being really a brandy or a cherry person I had my doubts- but we just couldn’t get enough of this stuff. Really really tops.

27^th May

Today we did a bit of exploring and checked out Nin. The town is an island or islet, I think it depends on the tide. On our way there we stopped at a stone jetty and watched little iridescent fish darting around the rocks. The town is full of roman ruins, cathedrals, wall stone houses and wildflowers. We visited the world’s smallest cathedral, there is also a statue of dumbledore’s younger brother grgurninski renown for his magically prowess and lucky toes. At the edge of Nin there is a huge sandbar and as we approached to we hear a bus load of kids mucking about in the water, so we decided to do likewise and stopped for a swim, the sand was nicer than at the resort and there were some waves, but at all of the beaches here you need to walk out about 100 metres from the shoreline to find water that reaches above your knees. All over the place and especially on the beach there are snails sleeping the day away at the top of grasses and plant stems, they seem to be doing the opposite of hiding. After having a dip we decided to walk along the sandbar and we soon meet some of the kids wandering in the other direction covered head to toe in black mud. We read in one of the brochures about a medicinal peoloid (the spellcheck confirms our suspicions that this is not a real word) near Nin so we formed a theory that it was some sort of healing mud bath. We soon found the source of the mud, the sandbar is only about ten metres wide but somehow there was a 3 metre wide bog in the middle of it complete with its own ecosystem of crabs and some weird sand coloured jelly-fish like thing. I took two steps into it and was up to my knees, Steph preferred to scoop up some mud and smear it on her face, making her look like someone pretending to be a black-a-moor in some racist play. We took a look at our map and realised we were nowhere near the area marked as peloid but after washing the mud off Steph was still convinced her skin had improved. Next we wandered back into town for a late lunch, gelato and some freshly picked mulberries before we headed back to the apartment. Once there we realised we had both forgot to put sunscreen on our legs and had burnt the backs of our legs and the tops of our feet.

28^th May

Today we set off in search for the REAL peloid

Berlin day two

We had a fairly shittxy nights sleep owing to a very echoey hostel where every footstep and door opening etc echoes to about three times its usual volume.

We headed into Alexandraplatz assumign that might be a place to buy a tourist map and start out. We havenät done much research this trip and really had no idea where to go or what to do. With tourist map in hand we walked the two kms to Checkpoint Charlie- which with fake American soldior re enactments etc was fairly lame. The museum was incredibly interesting but not laid out well. Lots of writing and photos etc crammed into a small space and it didnät unfold in a very logical way. Hard to get a chronological idea of the Berlin and its wall and would be particularlz confusing if yzou had no previous knowledge about it. I suppose most people know a bit about it all though. We spent a good 2 hours wandering around it though- lots of incredible stories of escape.

From there we walked to Potsdamer Platz and to the Holocaust memorial. The Memorial is a colloection of probablz 100 or more cement rectangular pillars of varying height. The ground they are on is not even but waving hills and burrows so when you look at the memorical from the outside you donät realise how tall some of the pillars actually are and you can#t see all the people wandering through them.

From there we walked to the Brandenburg Gate- the only surviving gate of 4 to berlin built in the 1700s.

We are now at the internet in a big mall across from where the German Premiere of Star Trek the movie is happening. Lots of excitement earlier on but we couldnät be bothered waiting to see a couple of famous people walk by.

Berlin

Spent the morning bumming around Dresden before getting the train to Berlin. One thing we have realised about Eruope travel is that booking trains ahead etc is kind of pointless and excessive- but that the internet does not help zou at all. Get buses not trains. We booked a train in advance because we have limited time and didnät want to get stuck. We then realised that we booked the super slow train that we had to change at some random German village. But not a complete loss the views were gorgeous. Spring trulz has sprung in Europe. When we arrived in Prague the trees were all still basicallz bare from Winter and over the first week we saw them starting to bloom and now at the end fo two weeks things are reallz green. Its amayzing.

Arrived at Berlin central station- which is quite incredible in itself. I know this is going to sound incredibly dodgy but Berlin is the kind of place that can reallz take advantage of the fact that it was destroyed by war and build some super cool new stuff and not be bogged down by old buildings forever. Ok yes old buildings are amazing and wonderful etc but seriouslz some of Europe has got to go people! Ok old building rant aside - we checked into our hostel which is about 15 minutes train trip out (everywhere central is ridiculouslz expensive). Then we went back into town. We wandered along a street headed towards Alexandraplatz where the huge tv ariel thingy is (created by the Soviets to make the East look impressive). Along this street we came to this old derelict looking archway and building but there appeared to be some life within. So we walked through to find an area covered in sand with outdoor lounges, benches etc. Not classy pretentious fake beach stuff but just like someone dragged an old couch off the street. Tehre were some art studios with people working in them and stuff to look at. So we had a look around and then sat back amongst the sand etc to ahve a beer and listen to some cool music. The place had a really great vibe and I can now see whz everzone is wanting to move to Berlin and become an artist. There were a couple of rat sightings however but I suppose that just added to the crazyness of it all.

Along this road were some other curiosities. Many many prostitutes. All wearing bum bags. Very strange. I don#t know whether its legal along this particular strip or what but there thez were plain as day with their pimps wandering around behind them. At first I thought the first two were just a couple of slappers out for the night until we kept walking adn the same theme continued.

Dresden

Spent the day exploring Dresden by foot.

Very nice city.

Went to an art exhibition bz this modern German artist called Martin Eder- running out of net credit so not much time to write about it. Google Martin Eder to have a look at his stuff. Some of it is quite interesting, perhaps a little pretentious. Will write more later.

Found a cool part of Dresden that reminded me of Newtown or Enmore, lots of similar shops etc.

Sat in the sun on the River Elbe watching people and whatnot.

Tomorrow to Berlin.

Goodbye Prague Hello Dresden (plus third tragedy)

So we spent the morning wandering about saying our goodbyes to Prague and spending the last few Czeck krones we had. Tim wanted to trz a langos- these depp fried pastry bases that they paint with garlic oil, tomato sauve and then pile with cheese- which he did and enjoyed until I decided to get into this incredible looking chicken kebab on a stick stuck in a baguette. I lined up and got one (the line was huge so I assumed it would taste good) reallz I have no idea how good it was because I basicallz accidentallz swallowed the first piece too earlz and spent the next twentz minutes half choking half trzing to digest this piece of meat. It had no idea whether it wanted to go down or come back up and I suspect it maz have been in the wrong tube altogether, so I was coughing, spewing up stomach bile etc in the middle of the old Centre of Prague before eventuallz vomiting, coughing up this piece of chicken. I probablz didn#t reallz need to describe this in such detail but it was trulz a horrific experience and I (being a drama Queen) thought I was going to die in a verz embarrassing way in a foreign countrz without travel insurance. For about 2 hours I thought it was revenge of the chickens and I decided to go vego once and for all- then when we arrived in Dresden I had a chicke burger at Hungrz Jacks and that was the end of it all. I suppose once yzou fall off that horse zou jsut need to get back on there!

Ok so we made it to Dresden- after what nearlz could have been an Asia stzle bus trip. It was onlz 2 and a half hours but after about an hour thez stopped the bus, started running around as though something was wrong and then declared a ten minute break. We all waited around until whatever was the problem was fixed and were off again. Phew- nightmare flashbacks to 15 hour trips in Vietnam with numerous bus problems! The views were lovely especially as we went through some mountains and along a river passing little Czeck villages and a prettz cool castle on the edge of a cliff overlooking the river below.

Arrived in Dresden about 5pm and spent the evening wandering through the town centre. Its interesting as so much of it was destrozed in WW2 that there is a lot of new development and as such the roads are much wider etc and it feels more like and Aussie citz than anz other we have zet been to.

Botanical Gardens etc

Today we went to the Botanical Gardens in Prague which was quite cool because its on top of a hill on the edge of town. Very nice to get out of the way of buildings buildings and more old buildings... do I sound a little sick of old buildings? well I am. I am starting to realise that makes up a large portion of what europe has to offer- I am now understanding why people can go on a 3 week 7 country Euro drinking spree and feel thez have seen it all. I think (even though reallz enjoyed Prague) we stazed a little too long. Anywaz I will let Tim elaborate on botanical garden escapades as he was very excited bz the green house vegetation.

Kutna Hora escapades

So today we decided to get out of Prague and jumped on the train to Kutna Hora- about an hour and a half away. Basically used to have a silver mine there, lots of churches etc but we were going for the 'Ossuary'- and we got much more than that!

Ok so first of all the ossuary- back in about 990 some dude did a pilgramige to Jerusalem and got some dirt from Galgotha and brought i back dumped it near the monastry and Kutna Hora and then a bunch of wealthy guys decided they wanted to b burieed there and it started out as a burial site for the rich and famous. Then in about 1300 there was a massive plague, followed by a big war (Husseit wars- not exactly sure who with... I think the Turks? Anyway a ton of people got corpsed and laid to rest at the Ossuary. Then in the 1500's his half blind monk thought it would be really cool to get all their bones (some 40 000 dead bodies worth) and turn them into decorative art - which he did and it is in fact cool. There was a big coat of arms made out of every single bone in the human body, a chandelier and oher stuff that photos will depict better than me describing it whilst half asleep.

The Ossuary didn't have as much atmosphere as the catacombs in Paris but the designs were pretty impressive.

Ok so the other unexpected delight was the fact that they were having some kind of Easter fair. It was almost exactly like the Dubbo show or equivalent except for a few differences:

* You could buy beer and walk around with it (not confined to a no kids alcohol area)
* Every second stand wanted to sell either colour co ordinated pegs (yes clothes pegs sorted into olours) or dodgy (used looking) underwear!
*

We had decided to bring our own lunch to save money and found a nice spot on the other side of the cemetary to eat our bread and cheese and it was quite lovely.

Tim succumed to the call of the waffle and experienced the waffle on the stick- whih Tim approved of completely. I will let him review in his own time.

It was kind of cool to be in a random Czeck town that had minimal tourist traps- and to see that not all f Europe is quaint cobblestone alleys and colourful castles... there are shitty carnie shows here too!