My week in Croatia was pretty awesome, although a little on the warm side. Fortunately all the places I stayed had A/C, so I was able to get a bit of a reprieve from the 40 degree temperatures from time to time.
I took the bus to Split which went surprizingly fast. Budapest has a terribly roundabout system of getting bus tickets involving queuing to get a number so that you can join another line. From there they issue you with a ticket and instruct you to join another line to get another number so that you can join another line to get a boarding card. Needless to say all English speakers were a little bit in the dark about what exactly we were supposed to do, but it was a good way to meet people. In my confussed state I started talking to 2 English girls and a guy from OZ. In the end we all got on the bus, and sat together (they didn't care about the boarding cards at all and seating was open). We were a bit worried when we got an exit stamp for Hungary at the border, but the Croatian guy kinda looked at our passports, gave us a puzzled look, then passed them back without a stamp and left the bus. We shrugged our shoulders and figured we just didn't need one, then went back to watching Bad Boys II in Hungarian.
My three new friends were moving on from Split to cruise around the Croatian Islands, so I was on my own again. When I checked in to the hostel they said I had to register with the police and asked to see my passport. The girl looked at it and asked where my stamp was.
- "I dunno, am I supposed to have one? The guy didn't give me one..."
- "OK, this might be alright... Where did you cross the border in to Croatia?"
- "Umm, I dunno. It was 3am and I was on a dark bus - I came from Budapest"
- "Hmmm, I will say you came from Zagreb - that should be OK"
Now I was a bit worried I was going to have issues if anything should happen, but there was nothing I could really do about it, so I decided to ignore it until I left the country (which turned out to be sooner than I expected, but just a breif trip...)
I spent the first day hiking around the surrounding hills and sweating to death, but it is a beautiful place and well worth the discomfort and smell... I was really surprized at how busy the city was so early in the morning (I got in at 7 and the cafes were packed). I expected the same thing the next morning so I got up early to check out the fish market, but the city was barren. It turns out that all the yachts that go out on weeklong cruises through the islands drop-off and pick-up passengers on the same day and the rest of the week is fairly quiet. So I was left to wander the empty streets, which was nice in the cool of the morning. I didn't walk for more than a few minutes when a girl walked by and I had to do a doubletake - it was Blake, a girl I had met in the hostel in Budapest the week before. It's always a bit random to bump in to people like this, but I have come to expect that it will happen quite often. Eventhough we just breifly hung out in Budapest it is cool to have someone that you already know in a new city.
Also that day I met a Kiwi guy that was in week 5 of riding a motorbike around Europe. His plan was to go from London to Syria, but only made it to Istanbul when he had to turn around because of time constraints. He had a ton of stories about near accidents, sketchy border crossings and other stuff that I haven't really encountered too much of. I have found that no matter what you do, you will always find someone that is doing something slightly more interesting than what you are doing yourself.
After a couple days in Split I hopped on an oven with wheels for a 5 hour bus ride to Dubrovnik. The back of the bus had icons indicating its "features"
- Reclining Seats
- WC
- Drinks service
- Food service
- Video
- ABS
- A/C
- Coat hangers
It only scored a dismal 6.25% (0.5 out of 8) because it lacked EVERYTHING, save a few coat hangers which proved useless because it was 35 degrees outside and nobody was carrying a coat. I had thrown by bag under the bus and didn't give a though to having to keep my passport on me; we were in Croatia and driving south to another part of the same country. Little did I know that the South of the country is separated from the rest by a 6km stretch of land belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a few hours on the bus the driver said something in Croatian and everyone started pulling out their passports. Uh-oh. Right then we pulled over and a Bosnian police officer hopped on and started making his way down the aisle. I didn't want to make a scene, but I noticed that the guy across from me just had his EU Identity card with him. So I pulled out my Canadian drivers liscence and covered most of it up with my fingers and flashed it at the cop as he walked by. He didn't really take much notice; he was paying more attention to the 8 Aussies that were sitting behind me. I quickly put my card back in my wallet as soon as he passed and figured I was homefree. We take back off driving, but 5 minutes later we pullover again and a Croatian police officer get on the bus. Crap, my heart just stopped racing and now I had to do it all over again. I went through the same routine and luckily the guy gave the same cursory look past my hand, saw I was holding something with a picture on it and kept moving. Finally I could sit back in my pool of sweat (I swear it had to be 45+ degrees on the bus with the sun beating in on me) and relax the rest of the way. Getting in to Dubrovnik I was told I had to register with the police there as well, and pay a "tourist tax / visitors fee". Luckily where I was staying they didn't speak English and I was able to fill in my false arrival place with no questions asked.
Dubrovnik had been bragged up to me by just about everyone I met and it was absolutely georgous. I had a private villa with a balcony overlooking the water and city. It was so nice. Wandering around the city was a bit of a different experience. Because it is a cruise port the city is filled with English speaking grey-hairs buying everything they can from the seemingly endless souvineer stands. From what I saw the entire Old Town had been converted into a string of cafes, restraunts and gift shops. Not exactly what I was looking for, but the original buildings were still really cool. I spent a day walking around the city walls and tagged along with a couple of tours that were passing by me. I had planned on spending the next day hiking the hill/mountain that sits behind the fortress, but my mind was swiftly changed for me when I overheard the guide say that the area is still heavily mined from when Yugoslavia raided Dubrovnik. Definitely glad I was let in on that little tidbit of information.
I spent my 3 days walking around the town, checking out the beaches and reading my book before starting my trek north. Thursday morning I caught the 23 hour ferry along the coast to Rijeka, Croatia. Unfortunately the boat turned out to be a smaller version of the typical BC Ferries Island boat and was wanting for any luxuries. It was decent though and I passed the time listening to music and reading. I managed to find a bit of a secluded spot in the lobby where I was able to set up my sleeping mat and sleeping bag, and even managed to sleep for a few minutes. Getting in to Rijeka I discovered that Lonely Planet lied yet again and there is no bus to Ljubljana. No problem, I found a trian going there that afternoon. However, I now had 5 hours to kill, need to go to the bathroom like something fearce and had no Croatian Kunas left - toilets in Europe are typically pay-per-use. I started walking around with my gear looking for the failsafe: McDonalds. Just my luck, this was the first bathroom I have come across that is locked with a keypad - a random code is generated with each receipt. But still, I had no money, so no toilet. The travel gods were smiling on me though because as I made my way back to the train station to wait for the train and suffer (I wasn't feeling up to risking a chance meeting with Croatian law enforcement, especially with my unstamped passport) when I came across a very dirty and very smelly, but free, WC down a random alley. Sweet relief!
I was starting to think about what was going to happen at the border with my passport now, but I could do nothing but sit and wait. When we reached the stop the Croatian immigration got on and took my passport. They looked through it once, flipped back to the start and fliped through it again, then paused. He looked up and down the car, looked back at the passport, then handed it back. I'm still not sure if someone dropped the ball and I was supposed to have a stamp, but everyone is just to lazy to deal with it, or if Canadians don't actaully need one. Regardless, that hasstle was over with. When I got to the Slovenian border they gladly stamped my re-entry back into the EU and I was on my way.
The travel gods give with one hand, but taketh away with the other. Even with that minor hiccup things have been going
far too smoothly for me. I made a decent meal and talked with some people at the hostel, went out for a few drinks then turned in. At about 4am I woke-up itching like mad. I figured there were mosquitoes here as well and tried to cover up and ignore them. A little while later I couldn't handle it anymore and got up to go to the bathroom and see what the deal was - I could feel a few raised bumps on my arm. I flicked on the lights and was confronted with what looked like me, but covered in about a thousand raised, red bumps - BED BUGS! I was thoroughly creeped out - I have seen a few other people that had them in the past few years travelling in hostels, but had managed to avoid them up until this point. I gave up on sleep and sat around the common room until reception re-oppened at 8am. The bumps got worse as time went on, my throat tightened up a bit and it felt akward to swallow; this is when I started to worry a bit. Luckily the hostel guy showed up and was quick to rush out to the pharmacy for me. A moment later he came back and said I should come with him to show the pharmacist. They spoke in Slovenian, but I managed to pick up the words "allergy", "claritin" and "ácaro (spanish for mite)". They gave me anti-histamines and things have improved imensely, although an improvement from having a body that could be read in braile isn't all that difficult. I am looking forward to sleeping in a completely disinfected room tonight. The only plus side is that I got a free wash of all my clothes...
I spent the day walking around the market and taking in the sights, then walked to the castle and got a decent view of the city. Ljubljana is another city that ranks very high on my "must visit again" list. I had no expectaions of it, but it has surpassed anything I could have hoped for (aside from the mites). There was a huge market this morning - fruit/veg/flowers/clothes/fair trade/meat/cheese/etc. There seemed to be a ton of stuff going on, eventhough it is now the low season. Randomly I came across a street race, but with a twist. About 50 girls in high heels were lining up to do a 200m dash down the cobblestone street. Someone was bound to bail - I just had to watch. Just as expected, the whistle sounded, the girls bolted, shes went flying and right when they got to the halfway point (right where I was standing) one of them hit the ground HARD. She got right back up and powered through the last sprint, so people didn't feel
so bad that they were laughing. I planned on recording the whole race, but had my camera on the wrong setting. I got the first 5 seconds, but it cuts out just before the girl fell. I walked a bit more and saw, among other things, a wall that the Romans built between 14-15 CE(AD). I always find it pretty amaying that this stuff was built 2000 years ago and is still in such great condition. It is now raining, so it looks like it will be a quiet night in the hostel.
