Croatia
We left early one morning (5:00 am) to try to beat the holiday crowds. Unfortunately this didn´t work and the first day of our holiday ended with us not making it croatia and spending the night in Slovenia. Talking to the owners of the B & B, it had taken us 14 hours to do a 5 hour drive thanks to all the "Stau" (German word for traffic jam) that we got stuck in throughout Austria!
One of the traffic jams was so bad that someone had even set up an ice cream stall in the middle of the autobahn (the road which is famous for not having a speed limit!).
On the second day we made it to our destination, Plitvica Jezera National Park in Croatia. That day we struggled putting up the tent which was huge and way too big for just Mona and I and went for a swim in a river nearby in the afternoon.
The next day we went to the Lakes in the National Park itself. The lakes are absolutely amazing - I´ve never seen water with such a beautiful colour to it before - I can´t descirbe them, you´ll just have to look at the photos I took. We spent most of the day walking around the lakes, enjoying the scenary and relaxing.
We also visited a small cave nearby which was ok but nothing spectacular.
The next day we went to Bosnia and Herzegovina for white water rafting. We went with some South Africans (who were on British passports) and were supposed to have a few more South Africans with us too but they weren´t allowed into Bosnia so we had to turn around, drop them back at the camp and start out again. The rafting was really really fun! The best/worst rapid (depending on your point of view) was when we went over a 5 metre waterfall and fell to the river below.
We stopped for lunch at a small hut where a man lives with just his dog. His dog had been attacked by a bear 2 weeks before and had some scars and lots of fur missing. He sold us beers which he kept in the river to keep them cold.
In the afternoon we had the chance to jump off an old railway bridge which went over the river which was pretty high and a little scary.
The next day we went to an island called Pag off the coast of Croatia. This island wasn´t very good! We stayed at a camping site called Shimuni but by the time we left it had been renamed to Shitumi. Firstly the camp site was full and way too busy. On the first night there we were woken up by our drunken neighbours playing guitar and 2 in the morning and then again at 4. However compared to the second night there the first was great. On the second night there was a storm and the winds were so strong (and our tent was at the end of a road which worked really well as a wind tunnel) that we had to take the tent down at 2 in the morning because the winds were going to rip it to pieces if it stayed up. Then we had to sleep in the car, which is never particularly comfortable. We left Shitumi the next morning because we´d just had enough of it.
We didn´t really have a plan and just drove up the coast and ended up on another island called Krk. This one was much much better. We spent 2.5 days lying around on the beach (note though that I don´t say we spent 2.5 days lying around on the sand...), relaxing in the sun and in the water. The beach was really nice except for the lack of sand which seems to be a common theme throughout the beaches I´ve seen in Europe. The water was so clear. When you were swimming you could be out deep enough so that you couldn´t touch the bottom when you dove down but you could still clearly see the bottom of the ocean - it was fantastic!
We spent a bit of time reading on the beach and floating around on a 2 euro blow up mattress we bought which has got to be close to the best 2 euros I´ve ever spent. Unfortunately we couldn´t spend more time there because Mona had to get back for work. We spent one more night in Slovenia on the drive home and visited another cave on the last morning of our holiday. It was huge and had some really cool formations but you weren´t allowed to take pictures of them.
So what now for me? I´ve finished with travelling for a while (hopefully not too long - I would like to do some short trips in the next few months) and now I´m looking for a job. Although there´s been a bit of a change of plan for me and rather than moving to London I´ve decided to move to Munich with Mona. I guess this is going to make finding a job a bit more difficult but apparently there are quite a few companies with english speaking employees so hopefully I can find something soon enough. Although it makes finding a house a lot easier! And the rent here is so much cheaper than it is in London.
I am trying to learn German but I´m not very good at it yet - I´m good at saying Hello, how are you? And I´m good with numbers so I can go to the shops ok. Also I´m more than proficient in ordering beers. But there is a lot more work for me to do ...
So for now: Bis Bald!
One of the traffic jams was so bad that someone had even set up an ice cream stall in the middle of the autobahn (the road which is famous for not having a speed limit!).
On the second day we made it to our destination, Plitvica Jezera National Park in Croatia. That day we struggled putting up the tent which was huge and way too big for just Mona and I and went for a swim in a river nearby in the afternoon.
The next day we went to the Lakes in the National Park itself. The lakes are absolutely amazing - I´ve never seen water with such a beautiful colour to it before - I can´t descirbe them, you´ll just have to look at the photos I took. We spent most of the day walking around the lakes, enjoying the scenary and relaxing.
We also visited a small cave nearby which was ok but nothing spectacular.
The next day we went to Bosnia and Herzegovina for white water rafting. We went with some South Africans (who were on British passports) and were supposed to have a few more South Africans with us too but they weren´t allowed into Bosnia so we had to turn around, drop them back at the camp and start out again. The rafting was really really fun! The best/worst rapid (depending on your point of view) was when we went over a 5 metre waterfall and fell to the river below.
We stopped for lunch at a small hut where a man lives with just his dog. His dog had been attacked by a bear 2 weeks before and had some scars and lots of fur missing. He sold us beers which he kept in the river to keep them cold.
In the afternoon we had the chance to jump off an old railway bridge which went over the river which was pretty high and a little scary.
The next day we went to an island called Pag off the coast of Croatia. This island wasn´t very good! We stayed at a camping site called Shimuni but by the time we left it had been renamed to Shitumi. Firstly the camp site was full and way too busy. On the first night there we were woken up by our drunken neighbours playing guitar and 2 in the morning and then again at 4. However compared to the second night there the first was great. On the second night there was a storm and the winds were so strong (and our tent was at the end of a road which worked really well as a wind tunnel) that we had to take the tent down at 2 in the morning because the winds were going to rip it to pieces if it stayed up. Then we had to sleep in the car, which is never particularly comfortable. We left Shitumi the next morning because we´d just had enough of it.
We didn´t really have a plan and just drove up the coast and ended up on another island called Krk. This one was much much better. We spent 2.5 days lying around on the beach (note though that I don´t say we spent 2.5 days lying around on the sand...), relaxing in the sun and in the water. The beach was really nice except for the lack of sand which seems to be a common theme throughout the beaches I´ve seen in Europe. The water was so clear. When you were swimming you could be out deep enough so that you couldn´t touch the bottom when you dove down but you could still clearly see the bottom of the ocean - it was fantastic!
We spent a bit of time reading on the beach and floating around on a 2 euro blow up mattress we bought which has got to be close to the best 2 euros I´ve ever spent. Unfortunately we couldn´t spend more time there because Mona had to get back for work. We spent one more night in Slovenia on the drive home and visited another cave on the last morning of our holiday. It was huge and had some really cool formations but you weren´t allowed to take pictures of them.
So what now for me? I´ve finished with travelling for a while (hopefully not too long - I would like to do some short trips in the next few months) and now I´m looking for a job. Although there´s been a bit of a change of plan for me and rather than moving to London I´ve decided to move to Munich with Mona. I guess this is going to make finding a job a bit more difficult but apparently there are quite a few companies with english speaking employees so hopefully I can find something soon enough. Although it makes finding a house a lot easier! And the rent here is so much cheaper than it is in London.
I am trying to learn German but I´m not very good at it yet - I´m good at saying Hello, how are you? And I´m good with numbers so I can go to the shops ok. Also I´m more than proficient in ordering beers. But there is a lot more work for me to do ...
So for now: Bis Bald!
posted by pete @ 4:11 AM
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