Road trip: Sarajevo to Dubrovnik

Road trips might not be so opportune at this time of the year what with snowy roads and slippery slopes but as soon as spring and summer arrive, car rental will be the way to get around the Balkans. If you're looking for a cool route that will only take a couple days (that is if you really take your time), then check this one out. It's inspired by a video on lonelyplanet.tv.

Start: Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Heading down the E73, the pretty landscapes and quaint villages will be the first things you notice while leaving the city. Taking the roads less travelled you'll be abel to se a lot more. Don't hesitate to stop, walk around and visit the marketplace, drink a coffee or ask a local what you should see while you're there.

Jablanica is a prime example.

Head further along the E73 to Mostar, famous for its UNESCO bridge and distinct neighbourhoods. I previously wrote about this small city, just follow the link.

From Mostar, you can go many ways, I'd suggest sticking to the smaller roads to get to the Croatian border. Once you cross, it's smooth sailing to Dubrovnik.

End: Dubrovnik, Croatia

The Museum of Broken Relationships... only in the Balkans

When I come across cool museums I like to write about them, in hopes that maybe someone else might also thing they're cool and worth visiting while they're also travelling. There is one museums in the Balkans that caught my attention recently, not because it's particularly cool, which it very may well be, but because it's nothing like anything I've seen or heard about before. It's the Museum of Broken Relationships and you can find it in Croatia's lovely capital of Zagreb.

The museum's collection went on a world tour recently, a travelling exhibition you might say, but has come back to its permanent home in Zagreb. The museum is dedicated to couples you have split, going their separate ways and leaving behind appliances, motorcycles, "momentos"... things that neither wanted to keep or simply things that just didn't stop reminding one of their lost partner.

The real draw, that if you're going through a tough break-up you can contribute to the museum's collection! Get rid of that coffee maker, suitcase from your honeymoon, books, etc. that remind you of your last partner and move on.

Want to visit?
Cirlometodska 2, Zagreg
Open: 9:00-21:00
Admission: 20 kn

I've written about a trip to the south of Croatia before but the capital deserves more attention. Lucky for me there are plenty of low cost airlines servicing the route London-Zagreb and it's quite easy to find good deals for weekend trips.

Have you ever been?

Nothing like Croatia to beat the winter blues...

 

 

The only thing to take my mind off of the ice, snow, sleet and my salt-stained boots is Croatia. I have been browsing through pictures and I am getting too excited to see the snow disappear and for it to finally be warm enough to go out with just a sweater. Maybe even sandals. But I think those days are little bit further away than I would like. So in the meantime I am looking around at Croatia through other people's travel photographs. There are some really spectacular places to visit there. I have been hearing a lot about vacations to Croatia's Adiatic coast as being heavenly, a real escape, secluded and dreamy. Is this real? It is hard to imagine that a place like this hasn't already been run over by the tourist train yet and completely violated. But then again, I am finding a lot of inspiring places in the Balkans recently that are still well-kept secrets to the rest of the world. With flights as cheap as £60 from London to Dubrovnik, its hard to not book it right now!

Croatia does have a large tourist popular in the summer months. But it is definitely possible to escape the crowds and find a quiet spot along the long coast and relax on the rocky shores. Even the off-shore islands offer unique little getaways and hiding spots from the crowds. These quaint little towns give travellers just a taste of what it is like to live in this sea-side country. Imagine stepping out your door and seeing turquoise waters like those from the Caribbean every day? These waters are a nice contract to the Alps that run alongside them.

Any trip to Croatia should include Dubrovnik, the busiest city along the coast. It is one of Europe's best restored walled-cities, keeping the baroque-styled buildings hidden from view in the harbor. Placa is the main pedestrian area in the city and it is lined with nice shops and cafés. The city and area are rich in artistic traditions, something the museums have carefully displayed and restored. Beyond the city walls are the countless beaches, islands and peninsulas.

Have you been there?

Adventure trip to the South of Croatia

I have to admit, this was not as much a 'fun' holiday as I thought it would be, but nevertheless we saw some really nice places, including the old town of Korcula, and the island of Korcula itself is beautiful.

We didn't plan it at all, just decided to go on a holiday on a Monday afternoon, and bought the train tickets to Zagreb (I was so naive that really believed, there IS a discount for people under 26 in all the countries - well, in Croatia, there wasn't).

Our train left from Budapest Keleti around 14:00 in the afternoon, and we arrived in Zagreb in the evening - short sightseeing, because we wanted to catch the train that went to Split at 23:00. So, we left the luggages in the lockers (quite cheap!) and had a nice walk, admired the trams that seemed even older than ours in Budapest...



The first mistake i made was not reserving a couchette ticket for the trip, but we thought there wont be any people on the train on the last week of September...We were almost right, except that in the last moment, a couple came into the compartment, and the lady was singing and talking to herself all night long :) :)
Maybe I'm getting older and fastidious, but the dirt of the curtains, the cold and our nice fellow travellers' lullaby did not make it one of my favourite trips.

We were sooo happy to see the Adriatic sea among the hills when we were approaching the town of Split - and so disappointed again, by the Balkanic conditions that still dominating the south of this country. They might have a far better highroad system than we do, but I don not envy the poverty and the desperate need of wealthy tourists of them. Finally we fought our way to the ferry's ticket office (at least a million people asked us whether we needed a cheap hotel room in Split) and sat down to have a coffee (3 hours until the next ferry left to Vela Luka, no direct ferries to Korcula...- so a bus ride along the island was waiting for us, but i was excited).

3 hours on the ferry, which we spent mainly sleeping, because of being exhausted, then arrived at Vela Luka (the other end of Korcula island) and searched for the bus we was due in 5 minutes to depart. We asked the girl at the newspaper stand where do the buses to Korcula city depart from - she said right here, just wait. Of course we did not find any signs of bus stop or anything similar, so were quite surprised to see the bus leaving from behind us, next to the ferry station....

We sat down, already yielding to the fact that another 3 hours of waiting is in the view, when the bus came back (!) and just passed by. Tried to run after it, waving and shouting to the driver - did not help, so we decided not to take a taxi but rather have a pizza at one of the restaurants. Also called the receptionist of our accommodation that we might be late, she was absolutely understanding and said that would be waiting for us (normally she only works until 18:00, and we were to arrive at 20:00 with the next bus. (IF we can catch the small boat that would bring us to Orebic, our real destination on the Peljasic Peninsula).

Finally in Korcula, from the bus we saw a bigger Jadrolinija cruise waiting in the port, so we ran there to find out it is the one we needed, but it wasn't... (I broke my personal record of 200 metres...:) 20 minutes later the boat arrived, the steersman got out and reassured us that we were at the right place, he'd be back in 20 minutes and then he remounts to Orebic - first really good news of the day!

When in Orebic, of course we took the wrong direction, so needed about half an hour to find the guest house (and it was getting dark, so i was being quite hysterical).
Both of us were so tired that after we were shown our room and got the keys, fell asleep almost immediately, and it was only in the morning when i realised how nice view we had to the sea from our little balcony.

The weather was rather cool and windy, with couple of hours sunshine, so we had the chance to swim - but about our stay there and the way home, I'll tell you next time!