Croatia & Montenegro: A tale of two countries

17th June
We arrived in Zagreb about 8pm with a 3 hr wait until our next train left. This was just enough time to walk into the city centre, grab some dinner and see a little bit of Zagreb.


The park opposite Zagreb train station.

We walked beside this park for about ten minutes and every park bench had couples making out, must be something in the water in Zagreb!!!
Sunset in Zagreb.
We had dinner on the other side of this square. They didn't have anything that was on the menu, just one item and we were told we could have a large or small. We shrugged our shoulders and Nick went for a large and I a small. We were served a kind of hamburger, pretty much just a big bread roll with these spicey rolls of mince meat inside. I could have enjoyed it a little more for a piece of lettuce. It was pretty good though.
Oh well, if we missed the train to Split we could've hit Venice (Venezia) instead!

So they were all out of sleeper spots on the train but we thought 'hey we can sleep in a chair, right?' well I have before on Countrylink but the seats on our train seemed to give a whole new meaning to the word 'painful'. It didn't help that our carriage was particularly full of some smelly boys on a rafting trip from the UK. I attempted to sleep while Nick didn't even bother. It turned out to be lucky that he didn't sleep because the guys in the next car (from the same group as our lads) got robbed. Some of their things were taken from the far side of their cabin so the crook would've stepped over them to get it! Nick said several people opened our cabin door and looked in during the night. You don't really wake up because its usual for people to be looking for a seat. Eventually though we made it to Split (with all our belongings) and headed for our couchsurfers house.
One of the many beaches of Split. No waves on the Adriatic!!

18th June

We met Maja (Maya), then headed straight back out to explore Split, she works from home so we didn't really want to bother her too much. Needless to say we were somewhat sleepy, we found a spot out of the sun with a nice breeze and fell asleep by the beach. After our little nap we headed to a beach side cafe for some brunch. Already we were noticing how friendly the people of Split were, even the touts at the train station left us alone after one 'no'. We walked into the main part of the city and had a look at the Diolectian Palace, once the palace of the Roman Emperor Diolectian. Its apparently the most complete ruins of a Roman Palace and dates back to the 4th Century AD.
The locals have businesses and even live within the Palace and actually in its walls, they have done this since like the 7th century when people hid there in the abandoned castle from invading armies.
We went back to Maja's place in the afternoon and she cooked us some delicious pasta. A few hours later we headed into town for an evening stroll and there was like some kind of talent contest on. Think baton twirlers and dance groups :)
The view from our snooze spot.
The view from Maja and Jurica's apartment
Split by night.

19th June
We went out early in search of some supplies. Nick needed new swimming shorts as he has lost his (I know, now thats 2 credit cards and 1 pair of shorts), he also needed a new book to read and I was looking for a sun hat. We found everything except a sun hat for me :( And headed to the beach for a much needed swim. Some of the beaches here have some kind of sand but most are concrete then rocks or concrete then sandy in the water. Even though this sounds yuk, its actually heaps less hassle than sand. Concrete is less comfy to lay on than sand though :) We made several observations about Split people, they are mostly extremely good looking, especially the women, they love to smoke, and they love the beach! The people of Split were in full force and the beach was packed with good looking smokers. They even smoke in the water (theres no waves) they just stand in the water puffing away... well I have to admit it was mostly teenagers doing this. When a Ferry went past and some 'waves' were created, it seemed like the whole beach squealed and jumped in the water with delight. We are seriously lucky to have such good surf in Australia. The beach isn't as exciting without them!!

Maja's boyfriend Jurica was home this afternoon and a friend of his came over and we had a light dinner and some beers (see below)...

They told us lots of funny stories about Croatians, Serbs, Czech people and their recent wars. Apparently Czech people come to Dalmatia to die and every summer remarkable numbers float away on Lilo's never to be seen again! The story goes that the Czech health minister had to go on TV in Czech and ask his people to stop embarrassing him abroad! A friend of Juri's runs cave tours, where you go with a guide and take maps and torchs and hiking boots, and they frequently find Czech people in thongs, feeling around in the dark using their mobile phones as a torch!

After lots of talking and comparing countries, Juri took us out to his favourite little bar in Split, and then on a quick tour of some of the more interesting spots in the Palace walls. One thing is for sure: Split people love their town and theres a certain passion about the place, its definitely more than just a stop over on the way to Dubrovnik or the Islands.

Diolectian's Palace at night.

Saturday 20th June
Today we headed off to our first Croatian Island, Brac (Brach). After lots of talking with Juri and Maja we decided we wanted to go to Brac, Korcula and maybe Mljet. On Brac we were destined for Bol, a small town on the South side of the Island. Maja had told us about her friends camping on the grounds of a monestry there. We missed the last bus to Bol :( and started walking :) Its 45km so I don't know when we thought we'd get there but eventually a taxi driver came along and plied us inside his cab with his comfy seats and airconditioning. Inside the cab we met a New Yorker, and an Israeli who were both studying medicine in Budapest. The taxi driver dropped us off at a campsite (not the one we wanted but ok for one night), and while Nick set up the tent I headed out to the supermarket to buy some dinner.

Our little camp

By the time I got back from the supermarket this was all inside and it was pouring!

Our smorgasboard, eaten inside the tent due to the foul weather.

So what had been sunny perfect weather just an hour before had deteriorated into a thunderstorm of epic proportions. Our little tent held up beautifully though and a dry night was had by all.

Sunday 21st June
The day dawned sunny and we headed out to check out Bol and see if we could find the elusive Monestary camp ground. We did! Its a Dominican Monestary and has a fabulous private beach! and Nick headed back to pack up camp while I was to wait half an hour then come with a taxi to get all our stuff and transport it back to the Monestary. The Taxi driver we spoke to misunderstood though and as soon as I turned around he was off, and waiting for Nick as he madly packed up all out stuff and the tent. Staying at the Monestary was totally worth it though, it was built in the 15th Century, has its own swimming platform and is adjacent to a gorgeous pebbly beach with crystal blue water. We camped in the garden under the shade of some big Pine trees with a couple other campers.
The beautiful town of Bol on Brac.
Next order of business was to sample some of Bol's lovely seafood, Nick dived into these mussels so quick I had to do an 'after' shot instead of before :)
I had some seafood pasta and it was really good. That night it rained again, but we'd had a sunny day so it wasn't too bad.

Monday 22nd June

Today it was very overcast. So a day that should've been spent lazing by the beach was spent lazing in Bol's cafe's and restaurants :) We also explored more of the town and some of Bol's small shops and boutiques. We also decided to leave the next day. We'd checked the weather report and the rain was due to continue for at least a week, too long to be hanging around in a tent waiting for some sun.
Me on the beach asking 'why isn't it sunny Nick??'
The view of the monestary and the beach. We were camped under the trees that are directly under the bell tower.
Seafood pasta in Bol!
The perfectly clear water of Bol.

Tuesday 23rd June
Us at about 6:10am on Tuesday morning.
As you can see we were up early to get the 6:30am Ferry to Split direct from Bol. We arrived in Split at about 7:40am and headed straight for the bus station. We made the 8am bus to Dubrovnik just in the nik of time. We reached Dubrovnik at about 12:40pm with the plan to head to the beach side camping ground in Lapad Bay. But we hadn't escaped the weather yet...
As we looked out on this we decided to take up one of the old lady touts up on their offer of a private room and a lift to their house. We were picked up by a nice old lady that spoke very little English but led us to her cosy house. She has 3 bedrooms and rents out 2 of them to travellers, 2 British guys were in the other room. After an hour or two the rain eased up, Nick bailed but I headed out to explore Dubrovnik. The Split couple had warned us that the old city has been completely sold off to foreigners and therefore was a bit of a tourist trap. They were right, it lacked Splits' feeling of liveliness, and it was crawling with package toursits but beautiful nonetheless.
Part of the city's fortifications.
Sunset, the view over the Dalmatian coast walking back to our room.
Sunset view over Dubrovnik.

After perusing the city for a couple hours I headed back to the room to get Nick up and make him come out for dinner. We had Pizza at one of the little cafe's along the main square in the old town. The hostess gave us a delicious desert wine to try and the Croatian hospitality was extended yet again.
You can see why Dubrovnik was never taken by force.
Church
Bell Tower
The city walls, even more imposing at night.
Nick was allowed to get an ice cream for dessert, you can see he is very pleased with himself... little scamp.

Wednesday 24th June

The view of Dubrovniks old city and coast as we drive away.




More gorgeous Dalmatian coastline.

Massive boat with huge masts

Despite having a massive day yesterday we decided to keep moving. Dubrovnik was beautiful but we'd seen the old city and we couldn't stay to enjoy the coast as the weather was too unpredictable. We headed to the bus station to catch the 10:30 bus to Kotor in Montenegro. On the way we met a British Serbian guy on a roundabout journey to Exit festival in Novi Sad, Serbia. The bus took MUCH longer than it had to, due to ridiculous border crossing delays. We got to Kotor about 2pm, and as if on cue the rain clouds roll in. The touts in Montenegro could learn some manners from their Croatian neighbours. Due to Nick talking to one guy and me talking to another girl, a fight almost broke out between them. We ended up going with the girl, because she was nicer and the guy was really rude to her. The room was expensive (30 euro... eep) but was literally next door to the old town, and it was only for one night so hey...
Cool door

Kotor is like this really old Venetian port located in the secluded Bay of Kotor . The Bay of Kotor is sometimes called the southern most Fjord of Europe (its actually a submerged river canyon). The fortification of Kotor dates back to the middle ages (Romans) and later the Venetians ruled, and their influence here is very strong in the current old town.
The storm clouds following us :(

Church from a long time ago
6th Century clock tower, one of the oldest things in the old town.
We perused the old town for most of the day, taking photos and watching over our shoulders at the darkening clouds. They eventually broke and we headed into our room for a few hours. We went out for dinner at yet another pizza/pasta restaurant.... the service was so so and the food was ok.


The walls of Kotor.

Thursday 25th June
We headed for Bar, a beachy town, as the weather was now turning good. We got the bus to Bar, and the people at the Bus Station were so rude and the town so over developed we decided to blow this pop stand and get on the next train going in the general direction of Bulgaria. Which just happened to be in Nis in Serbia...

The friendliest Montenegrin we met, at Bar train station.


The view from the train. Montenegro is clearly gorgeous, pity it didn't treat us a little better :)

Kotor again :)