Croatia, Part I

As trains, buses and patience would have it, I wound up visiting Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, first, then heading to Slovenia between Zagreb and my next Croatian destination, Pula. It wasn't exactly how I had hoped to do it, but it turned out to be highly difficult to get straight to Ljubljana from Budapest - and then there was all the trouble with bookings! Plus, the train I would up taking from Budapest ran so late (like, three hours late) I would never have made the connection even if I had risked it. All in all, though it made for an odd itinerary and a bit of backtracking, it was the right call. 

I got into Zagreb very late on a Sunday night, and was incredibly relieved to find the tram I needed was still running. I got to my hostel at nearly 11, and was immediately welcomed with a honey liquor drink and many suggestions for what I should do there. When I asked if there was anywhere to eat nearby, the girl said no, but then gave me a filo pastry made with cheese and pumpkin that her mother had made. It was delicious, and a great way to get to a new city - all the more so because I hadn't eaten anything that day!

In the morning, I got up to wander around Zagreb. It's something of a quiet place, and the winding streets all look the same. I was never lost, but I did have a good deal of trouble trying to find the things I was looking for. There was a lot of staring at the map, convinced the building I was looking for should be right there... I did eventually manage to figure things out, though!

Statue and the main park, right across from the train station. 

I think this was the Science Museum? I didn't go in - I'm so sick of museum exhibits by now! 

The other side of the museum. Statues abound!

More of the park, with fountains and shady spots to sit. I hung out there for a bit, and was approached by a staggering number of people - canvassers, tourists looking for directions, and even some girls doing interviews for a local radio station! I wonder if I have now been on Croatian radio?

I thought this was neat - it looks like the white tree was growing around an older tree, which has since died and rotted away. The white tree is still thriving though!

This is a tiny chapel inside one of the old city gates. An actual road runs through it, though it's closed to most traffic. The story goes that the city burned in the 17th century, and this gate - with its minuscule chapel - was the only structure to survive, so it's something of a sacred place now. 

I like this statue. Not entirely sure why, but I do. 

I climbed a cannon tower to get a view of the city. Pretty, isn't it?

Tiled roof of one of the bigger churches. Also, though the building is completely unremarkable in this photo, the corner building on the right is the Museum of Broken Relationships. Yeah. Apparently people would bring in a object representative of their broken relationships and write up a little story about it. I didn't go in - too weirdly depressing, even for me. One of my roommates did, though, and he said it was uncomfortable and strange. Which sounds about right. 

Zagreb also had a lot of neat little streets with cafes down both sides, and cute shops selling all kinds of awesome stuff. I even found a bag of the smoked paprika crisps I'd enjoyed so much in London! It was a fun little place, but I did feel as though I had run out of things to do quite early, so I was happy enough to leave it for Bled after a few days. 

On my way from Bled to Pula, I had about four hours to kill in Ljubljana. I went wandering all through the city, and managed to find a food fair, which was awesome. Though I didn't see much of it, Ljubljana seems like a nice little place, with a lazy river and loads of sidewalk cafes. There were also dragons everywhere - on buildings, bridges, and what seemed to be the city seal. It was kind of cool!

Pula was a horse of a different colour. I don't know what it was about it, but I was completely incapable of navigating the streets. For some reason, I decided long before I got there that I was going to take a taxi to the hostel, and I'm so glad I did. I would have wound up wandering the streets, bag in hand, lost beyond hope had I tried to figure it out. 

Pula's claim to fame is a Roman amphitheatre, well preserved and in the centre of the city. It was the main reason I came to Pula, so once I got up and at it on the first morning, I set out to find it... And somehow walked a great big circle right back to the hostel. No matter, I told myself. I had a cold drink, put my laundry on, and tried again... And managed to end up at the beach in the complete opposite direction. Really. 

But what a beach. 

Though I hadn't planned to swim, didn't have my towel, and had my bag full of electronics and valuables with me, I couldn't resist the crystal clear water and gentle waves. It probably helped that it was well over 30 degrees, too. I hopped in and went for a swim, and it was amazing. Very happy with that decision! 

Afterwards, I set off for the arena - again - but once again got lost and wound up at the hostel. Fed up, I accepted defeat, and decided to hang out for the afternoon. I proceeded to do just that, sitting in the room to hide from the sun and heat, and had been there for a little less than an hour when one of the other people from my room popped in to say that they were hanging out on the roof terrace, and that I was welcome to join them if I wanted. I finished off what I was working on and headed out to join them a few minutes later. 

They turned out to be a couple of lovely Danish students, among the friendliest people I've met yet! They had noticed that there was a barbecue available on the terrace, so in short order we were planning to buy some charcoal and grill up some grub. They wound up inviting nearly everyone staying at the hostel to join us, and soon we were hosting a rooftop barbecue with twenty people from all over the world drinking and sharing the grill. It was a great night, lots of fun, and while it wasn't how I was expecting my night to go, I had a wonderful time! So Pula wasn't really what I was planning at all, but man was it awesome!

Bled, Slovenia, aka mini-Canada

I realllllly wanted to go to Slovenia. If I'm being completely honest, the main reason was just so I could say I've been, and to add another country to the list, but I had also heard nice things. Unfortunately, booking a hostel to stay in the capital, Ljubljana, proved pretty much impossible, so instead I booked straight through to Bled, a teeny tiny town on a huge, beautiful lake about an hour away from Ljubljana. It did not disappoint. 

As always, getting there took much longer than anticipated, so that first night I didn't have time for much - just a short walk and dinner 

This is what I found on that short walk, though. 

Though it's a lake rather than an ocean, the town reminds me quite a bit of White Rock. 

I had booked a single there, so I actually went home and went to bed rather early... It was glorious, being able to spread stuff out over every surface and sleeping without earplugs and not being woken up multiple times. I'm so glad I did it. I also took the nearly unprecedented opportunity to sleep in, getting a late start on the hike I had planned for the morning. 

The walk to the hike... Could be the Valley, right? 

The hike ran through a national park that enclosed 1500 m of walkways over this creek/river area. It was quite pretty, with clear green water and whirling pools everywhere. 

You can see a bit of the walkway here. It was a lovely hike, and nice and cool in the valley. But it's kind of the unique plight of being Canadian that more than anything, this whole walk made me want to head home and walk some more familiar grounds... Like in the Rockies, eh kids? Camping trip when I get home? 

At the end of the hike, there were waterfalls galore!

There was also this sign, which delighted me. Most of it's so normal! No campfires? Sure! No, um, touching snails? Well, I mean, I wasn't really - no, it's fine. Got it. But in the bottom middle there? No washing cars? But I. The. Um. I just walked 1500 m down a wooden walkway to get here. "Here" is a waterfall with a twenty foot pool in front of it. How could I even get a car here? 

The weirdest part is, it's on the sign, so you know someone tried it. Or else why would they have to specifically forbid it?

After getting back from the hike, I changed into my swimsuit and went for a walk around the lake. It took a little over an hour, but it was pretty the whole way, and so well worth it. 

That's Bled Castle! I walked up there later. It was like 35 degrees. I wanted to die. 

There's also a tiny island with a church on it. 

The church! There's a bell you can ring for luck, so you can hear tourists ringing it the whole way round. 

And this is the view from the castle. Totally. Worth. It. 

Little island is little. 

That was about all I had in me - two multi-hour walks, a swim, and a very hot day really took it out of me. I also tweaked my ankle on the way up to the castle, so that was unpleasant. I had a pizza dinner and then headed in for the night, where I watched some tv and went to bed early and was just so happy to have my own space!

Bled was lovely, and definitely a worthwhile distraction. I'd go back in a heartbeat, though now I'm on the Croatian coast, which is so lovely I can't bear it. This part of the world is amazing! 

Budapest

I was sad to leave Bratislava, but I was excited to get to Hungary and see Budapest, which many people had told me was incredible. I actually had some trouble booking a hostel there, so that seemed like a good sign too! Unfortunately, I think I'm a little too boring for Budapest. 

First: after only managing to sleep for two hours, I got up, dragged my sorry butt to check out, and then headed off in the direction of the bus station... Whereupon I immediately got lost, then missed my bus. I was tired and frustrated, and when I got to the station at 11.30 (the bus was booked for 11.15, but it was only €5 so I wasn't that upset) and found out the next bus, at 11.45 was full and the next wasn't until 7.30, I pretty much wanted to cry. Actually, that's not really true, all I really wanted to do was sleep, but I felt that dropping unconscious in the middle of the bus station without even having bought a ticket probably wasn't a great plan. Instead, I puzzled out that there was another departure at 16.15, and thinking that four hours' wait wasn't so bad, I headed to the platform it would leave from, planning to nap the afternoon away. But as I walked there, I spotted a bus, about to leave, with "Budapest -11.15" in its window. I dashed to it and found out it was, in fact, my bus! It was even later than I was. I managed to hop on and finally, I was on my way. 

Blogger has eaten the rest of this post twice. So you get a photo dump. I'm going to get some ice cream. 

Heroes Square! Always inundated with tourists. 

Fisherman's Bastion! It reminds me of the White City of Gondor. 

Buda and Pest, with the river between them. I no longer remember which was which... I think Buda is on the right?

Same as before, only with a better view of the bridge. 

The statue and the citadel. Fun fact: the citadel wasn't actually built for defence, but to terrorize the population into subservience. Budapest! Into terror regimes before it was cool!

The huuuuge synagogue! There was an enormous Jewish quarter, though there were relatively few Jewish people left after WW2. 

I don't know. It's a statue, alright?

Parliament from the water! It was a pretty imposing structure. 

A fountain! These are massively out of order. 

In the end, I had a good time in Budapest. It's a nice city, and when I could drag my lame butt out to see things, there was lots of cool stuff to cover. I also went on a pub crawl, and the ruin pub was really interesting - sprawling and massive, with random rooms full of strange items and hookahs available at every corner. I wouldn't mind going back to one of those... 

Beautiful Bratislava

I got to Bratislava early Saturday afternoon, and immediately felt a little concerned - what the hell was I going to do here for three days? When I finally left on Wednesday (after extending my stay for a night!) I was sad to see it go. Bratislava was wonderful, and one of my favourite places so far!

The first afternoon, I took it pretty easy; after checking into my hostel (Hostel Blues, which was excellent, I would recommend it highly!) I got lunch at Slovak Pub, where it was something like €7 for garlic soup in a bread bowl, a tomato salad, and a cup of the local soda, Kofola, nearly the size of my arm. Lunch was really tasty, although I wasn't really into the soda, which tasted a bit like a liquorice-y root beer. Tummy filled, I wandered into the area of downtown Bratislava and hung out in the shade for a little while, soaking up the sights and sounds. When that got boring, I headed to the main tourist attraction, Brat Castle, which is a little ways up the hill from the downtown plaza. 

Apparently I failed to get a photo of the castle from a distance. But, uh, this is the castle. 

An outbuilding of the castle. 

Castle gates, which seem to be showcasing different styles of armour through the ages. 

The UFO bridge, which has a restaurant and viewing platform built in. 

I don't remember why I took this picture. It's pretty boring, isn't it?

I didn't get up to much the next day; I ran some errands, did some laundry, and generally tried to take it easy. Sometimes I just need a break from all the touring and touristy crap, and that seemed like a good day for it. Monday, though, I got up at a reasonable hour to take the walking tour and poke around the city for a bit. 

I can't figure out what this fountain is supposed to represent. It makes me think of an anchor, but I've no idea if that's right or not. 

A statue in the same park. I was not able to determine whether it was a man or a lady until I was quite close to it... And now I've forgotten. 

The old Slovakian National Theatre. It'd be quite a bit more picturesque without that banner!

I also went across the river and headed up to the UFO for a bit. It turned out to be quite a nice spot, and the views were really cool. 

There's the castle! And parts of the old town. 

The river's edge and the old town - the bits with the red roofs. 

I had a cold Coke here for a while. It was really lovely, and the wifi worked so unbelievably well I never wanted to leave. 

The next day, I went to one of the memorials visible from the whole city - a huge monument to the 6,000 Russian soldiers who died defending the city in WW2. It was quite a hike, but the memorial is peaceful and pretty. 

Each of the grassy squares you can see on the sides are actually mass graves! I guess they didn't have time or resources to bury many of them independently. 

It had been smoking hot the last few days in Bratislava - to the point that it was getting a little difficult to convince myself to continue wandering around all day. One of the guys in my room suggested we go to the lake a twenty-minute tram ride away, and am I ever glad he did! We headed out there in the afternoon, and met a few other people from the hostel to lie on the beach for a few hours. It was a great spot, with a grassy beach, cool water, and €3 double vodkas from a stand just a minute or so away. We spent the entire afternoon there, swimming and tanning, and it may have been one of the best times I've had in Europe so far. I was almost tempted to add another day! 

Once we finally dragged ourselves away from the water, we returned to town and slowly (very slowly) got ready to head out. We took dinner at Slovak Pub again before joining a really unusual pub crawl that ended in the middle of nowhere... Not so sure about that! Regardless, I had quite a lot of fun, and I made it back to the hostel in good time to catch a few hours' sleep before getting up to check out and head to Budapest in the morning. Unfortunately I didn't get any of the sleep I was hoping for, but you win some, you lose some, right?