what the Dickens
greetings from croatia!! sorry it has been so long between posts , i have been camping out of town and when we do come into town jumping on the computer doesnt always take priority over icecream and sunbaking!
OK so where to begin??
i carefully booked accomodation before leaving for my flight out of london to the small coastal town of croatia -Rijeka. Getting the train to Luton airport and then the shuttle bus went very smoothly. i met a somewhat creepy business man on the train who offered for me to come sailing around the islands of croatia as he happened to be taking the same lflight as me, just a week later, but despite the opportunist in me (free yacht yaddah yaddah) the realist in me (stranded out at sea with somewhat creepy business man and who knows who else) meant i smiled politely "great great! sure sure! might see you there then!" grabbed my bags and ran (as best you can with backpack etc) anyhoo back to the point.. so i get my flight fine, it was delayed by over an hour which meant i arrived around 11.30pm at night in rijeka. golden rule of travel as everyone knows is always have first nght booked when arriving in strange country late. i had booked but had forgotten the minor detail of recording WHERE exactly, so depsite my printed out email of directions of how to get there i didnt know where "there" was. great.
my instructions had seemed so endearing at the time, written in broken english by the croatian ladies running the joint it included helpful tips like, get the bus at the river near the tree. awww how cute- until it is midnight and i have no where to sleep and no idea where i am going. SO by some miracle i stumbled acorss a bunch of lovely poms in pretty much the same predicament (they have assured me poms is not offensive, where as i assured them "abos" when refering to our indigenous australians most certainly IS hehe) we all jumped on the one bus heading to town, jumped off at some cross road and made for the campsite. so, sure, camping wasnt exactly part of my nine month game plan., mostly because you kinda need a tent and my back was already burdened enough without carrying my acommodation around as well! but i had a sleeping bag (thanks SOOO much to nikkis last minute donation!!!) and some clothes for a pillow and slept like a baby.
so my first night was spent sleeping under the stars, listening to the cicaders and very well spoken chatter of my new english companions with the full month stretching out ahead of me.. here! alone! scared, excited, relieved to have friends for the night, asssured by the twinkling of the stars that my place in the world was, for the moment at least, secure.
up early the next day we started the long trek into town to catch the bus to split- the gateway to all the treasures of croatia and her many beautiful islands. it was a long and rather scary hike, we were going on the promise of a bus, but the only buses we saw blasted past, the drivers moustaches set in a grim straight line. no sympathy there. after a rather disturbing convo with the toll atendant some ten kilometers down the road, we managed to ascertain that the bus stop was just up the road. he laughed manically in response to each of our questions and after each of his answers, which we took as a bad sign. but sure enough, the bus stop was jsut around the next corner.
ok so rijeka was somewhere you go to get somewhere else and we were grateful for the overnight bus outta there.
from split we caught the ferry to havar, a small island off the coast. GORGEOUS. this is the kind of place everyhere else tries to imitate. cobblestone alleyways, stone steps leading straight up the cliffs into endless white aprartments with their red-tiled roofs and charming little balconies dripping with coloured flowers and vines.
we had decided to camp so refused all the offers of "sobe" (rooms) from the many local old women who make their living from putting you up for the night. however the campsite was going to be a good hike out of town, so we went back to the old ladies and secured ourselves a very nice room, which amazingly lived up to her promises. it had a balcony incredible view, plenty of beds and PRAISE THE LORD a shower. all for the aussie equivalent of 25 dollars a night.
sorry for jumping all over the place but i am trying to be succinct and i know i am failing ..
the croatians are a weird mix of super friendly and rude to the point of contemptuous. for example.. the seond night we ( i should probably define "we" beyond pommy friends, "we" consists of two english girls Verety and Jini and three english lads, Laurence, Allistair and Alfie.) OK so WE decided to hike to campsite. we set off with mammoth packs and determined souls in the late heat of the afternoon. a quarter of the way into the trip we were stopped by a croatian lady who was willing to pile us all into her car with backpacks! when this prooved to be a spatial impossibilty, she called her son to come get the rest of us! we were all very touched by her kindness and very grateful!
then there is the dark side of the moon, waiting in a supermarket line checkout chicks will reach around your shopping to get the locals shopping who is waiting next in line and scan that, totally ignoring you. ok so this i can understand, let the locals do their shopping first fine. but when you are buying an icecream it is pretty annoying to be passed over again and again and then be snapped out by the stall holder and served a stingy little scoop (yes i compare sizes to local servings-of course! hehe) surely it is a little out of odds to resent the tourists wanting that your business is reliant on? i would reccomend a career change..
right, so the people seem to be a completely contradictory mix of total generousiy and hospitality and rude aggression. how about the beaches? mostly just rocks dropping straight down into turquiose waters and pebble beaches. we hired a boat yesterday and took that out for the day- i even drove it! none of us had expeirence but they happily hireyou out the boat for the day. six captains got a little trying at times, but we managed to navigate the open seas, get to a few more remote islands and get it back into the harbour without banging into or getting capsized by any of the gazillion dollar yachts cruising about. and it was a fantastic day!
SO IN TOTLAL, i have been in havar for five days camping, have spent days expolring island and sunbaking. we climbed up to the towns fortress, have eaten lots of local cuisine and wine and generally having a great time! its crazy here, you dont need sunscreen! you can bake all day and not get burnt. in fact the only place i have got a bit burnt is on my shoulders, the one place i put sunscreen!
today we catch a ferry to korcula, another island before heading as far down as dubrovnik. a spectacular old town, surrounded by fortress stone walls. i will spend a while there doing day trips out to national parks and hopefully get some hiking in, then its off to budapest!
My english companions are going as far down as dubrovnik with me so i have the pleasure of their company for roughly another week. it has been great having a group of friends and the opporutnitz to get to know them over a longer space of time. mind you, they mght not feel the same way!! hehehe but i am hanging on!
it is very funny being the aussie, they drill me about neighbours, and home and away and whether we really do say flammin gallah, and try and imitate my accent. (they seemed pretty impressed with mine, the only thing i could think to say was my lines from that highschool musical "the names jack, jack dawsons.." you know that musical with the starving kids?? cant think of the name.. ahah! OLIVER. anyhoo, they liked it hehe
I went for a run at sunset last night and had a massive local pizza, washed down with a free shot of moonshine from the lovely lady running the restaurant near our campsite. i couldnt finish the shot, it was ROCKET FUEL like i ever never tasted, but the local red was tasty!!
ok hope that has helped get you all up to speed a bit more.
basically i am happy and safe and missing you all of course.
James ward- thank you so much for that small bottle ofTtiffany, there is nothing like a dab of perfume to elevate you above the campsite grime and make you feel all Audrey Hepburn and human again :o) it has been a God send of a gist, thank you. and of course, thanks again to dear nickers, the sleeping bag has been a life saver!!
ok gotta catch the ferry, much love..
till i post again!
OK so where to begin??
i carefully booked accomodation before leaving for my flight out of london to the small coastal town of croatia -Rijeka. Getting the train to Luton airport and then the shuttle bus went very smoothly. i met a somewhat creepy business man on the train who offered for me to come sailing around the islands of croatia as he happened to be taking the same lflight as me, just a week later, but despite the opportunist in me (free yacht yaddah yaddah) the realist in me (stranded out at sea with somewhat creepy business man and who knows who else) meant i smiled politely "great great! sure sure! might see you there then!" grabbed my bags and ran (as best you can with backpack etc) anyhoo back to the point.. so i get my flight fine, it was delayed by over an hour which meant i arrived around 11.30pm at night in rijeka. golden rule of travel as everyone knows is always have first nght booked when arriving in strange country late. i had booked but had forgotten the minor detail of recording WHERE exactly, so depsite my printed out email of directions of how to get there i didnt know where "there" was. great.
my instructions had seemed so endearing at the time, written in broken english by the croatian ladies running the joint it included helpful tips like, get the bus at the river near the tree. awww how cute- until it is midnight and i have no where to sleep and no idea where i am going. SO by some miracle i stumbled acorss a bunch of lovely poms in pretty much the same predicament (they have assured me poms is not offensive, where as i assured them "abos" when refering to our indigenous australians most certainly IS hehe) we all jumped on the one bus heading to town, jumped off at some cross road and made for the campsite. so, sure, camping wasnt exactly part of my nine month game plan., mostly because you kinda need a tent and my back was already burdened enough without carrying my acommodation around as well! but i had a sleeping bag (thanks SOOO much to nikkis last minute donation!!!) and some clothes for a pillow and slept like a baby.
so my first night was spent sleeping under the stars, listening to the cicaders and very well spoken chatter of my new english companions with the full month stretching out ahead of me.. here! alone! scared, excited, relieved to have friends for the night, asssured by the twinkling of the stars that my place in the world was, for the moment at least, secure.
up early the next day we started the long trek into town to catch the bus to split- the gateway to all the treasures of croatia and her many beautiful islands. it was a long and rather scary hike, we were going on the promise of a bus, but the only buses we saw blasted past, the drivers moustaches set in a grim straight line. no sympathy there. after a rather disturbing convo with the toll atendant some ten kilometers down the road, we managed to ascertain that the bus stop was just up the road. he laughed manically in response to each of our questions and after each of his answers, which we took as a bad sign. but sure enough, the bus stop was jsut around the next corner.
ok so rijeka was somewhere you go to get somewhere else and we were grateful for the overnight bus outta there.
from split we caught the ferry to havar, a small island off the coast. GORGEOUS. this is the kind of place everyhere else tries to imitate. cobblestone alleyways, stone steps leading straight up the cliffs into endless white aprartments with their red-tiled roofs and charming little balconies dripping with coloured flowers and vines.
we had decided to camp so refused all the offers of "sobe" (rooms) from the many local old women who make their living from putting you up for the night. however the campsite was going to be a good hike out of town, so we went back to the old ladies and secured ourselves a very nice room, which amazingly lived up to her promises. it had a balcony incredible view, plenty of beds and PRAISE THE LORD a shower. all for the aussie equivalent of 25 dollars a night.
sorry for jumping all over the place but i am trying to be succinct and i know i am failing ..
the croatians are a weird mix of super friendly and rude to the point of contemptuous. for example.. the seond night we ( i should probably define "we" beyond pommy friends, "we" consists of two english girls Verety and Jini and three english lads, Laurence, Allistair and Alfie.) OK so WE decided to hike to campsite. we set off with mammoth packs and determined souls in the late heat of the afternoon. a quarter of the way into the trip we were stopped by a croatian lady who was willing to pile us all into her car with backpacks! when this prooved to be a spatial impossibilty, she called her son to come get the rest of us! we were all very touched by her kindness and very grateful!
then there is the dark side of the moon, waiting in a supermarket line checkout chicks will reach around your shopping to get the locals shopping who is waiting next in line and scan that, totally ignoring you. ok so this i can understand, let the locals do their shopping first fine. but when you are buying an icecream it is pretty annoying to be passed over again and again and then be snapped out by the stall holder and served a stingy little scoop (yes i compare sizes to local servings-of course! hehe) surely it is a little out of odds to resent the tourists wanting that your business is reliant on? i would reccomend a career change..
right, so the people seem to be a completely contradictory mix of total generousiy and hospitality and rude aggression. how about the beaches? mostly just rocks dropping straight down into turquiose waters and pebble beaches. we hired a boat yesterday and took that out for the day- i even drove it! none of us had expeirence but they happily hireyou out the boat for the day. six captains got a little trying at times, but we managed to navigate the open seas, get to a few more remote islands and get it back into the harbour without banging into or getting capsized by any of the gazillion dollar yachts cruising about. and it was a fantastic day!
SO IN TOTLAL, i have been in havar for five days camping, have spent days expolring island and sunbaking. we climbed up to the towns fortress, have eaten lots of local cuisine and wine and generally having a great time! its crazy here, you dont need sunscreen! you can bake all day and not get burnt. in fact the only place i have got a bit burnt is on my shoulders, the one place i put sunscreen!
today we catch a ferry to korcula, another island before heading as far down as dubrovnik. a spectacular old town, surrounded by fortress stone walls. i will spend a while there doing day trips out to national parks and hopefully get some hiking in, then its off to budapest!
My english companions are going as far down as dubrovnik with me so i have the pleasure of their company for roughly another week. it has been great having a group of friends and the opporutnitz to get to know them over a longer space of time. mind you, they mght not feel the same way!! hehehe but i am hanging on!
it is very funny being the aussie, they drill me about neighbours, and home and away and whether we really do say flammin gallah, and try and imitate my accent. (they seemed pretty impressed with mine, the only thing i could think to say was my lines from that highschool musical "the names jack, jack dawsons.." you know that musical with the starving kids?? cant think of the name.. ahah! OLIVER. anyhoo, they liked it hehe
I went for a run at sunset last night and had a massive local pizza, washed down with a free shot of moonshine from the lovely lady running the restaurant near our campsite. i couldnt finish the shot, it was ROCKET FUEL like i ever never tasted, but the local red was tasty!!
ok hope that has helped get you all up to speed a bit more.
basically i am happy and safe and missing you all of course.
James ward- thank you so much for that small bottle ofTtiffany, there is nothing like a dab of perfume to elevate you above the campsite grime and make you feel all Audrey Hepburn and human again :o) it has been a God send of a gist, thank you. and of course, thanks again to dear nickers, the sleeping bag has been a life saver!!
ok gotta catch the ferry, much love..
till i post again!
posted by Corrina Tauschke @ 1:33 AM
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