August | 2012 | backpacksandshortstacks

Bok!

Sorry we haven’t updated this recently, we did three nights in Zagreb and stayed at a place called the Swanky Zagreb. The hosts there were awesome and we got quite drunk with them on the last night and they just would not stop pouring shots of Medovača which is a Croatia honey schnapps and one of them, Lavro, brought out his guitar and proceeded to play and sing some incredible and incredibly drunken ballads.

While we were in Zagreb we thought we’d go check out some cultural sites. We ended up at the Museum of Broken Relationships were people send their unwanted mementos after their relationship is over. While most of it was kinda sad, there were a few things that were quite amusing such as: a set of fake breasts a women sent in after breaking up with a man who demanded that she wear them during sex and pieces of a broken mirror from a break up fight.

We took a day trip to Plitvice Lakes while we were there. It’s peak time over here so it was crazy busy but still amazing, the photos we took just don’t do it justice. The water is eerily light blue and with the 37° heat, we had to fight off every temptation not to jump in for a swim!

We caught a 3.5 hour bus to Zadar and stayed one night in a small town called Bibinje about 20 mins out of the city centre. When we were in the centre we found a nice looking hostel right in the main square of town and have just spent our 5th night here. It has only been open for about a month so obviously there’s room for improvement but the location was so optimal it didn’t really matter.

Took a ferry to the closest island a few days ago and as soon as the ferry left it started to get cold and our intention of lounging on the beach and swimming all day looked a little bit hindered. We got a bus from where the ferry docked and got off at a spot where there was all boats but no beach so we decided we’d just walk back instead of waiting a few hours for the bus back. We walked along a path on the coast but after about an hour it ended and the only path up the hill went back to where we were initially so we bush bashed for a little bit and eventually found the road. It was at this point it started raining and we walked for what felt like a week and eventually made it back to the port to JUST get on the ferry (the gate literally closed behind us) I think we walked about 12km that day so we took the next day to recoup and get through as much of a bottle of Absolut as we could.

Yesterday we took a trip to an island further past the one we had visited. The beach there was just amazing, there wasn’t much in the way of sand but the water was the clearest we’d ever swam in. Unfortunately, we both got sunburnt (Fran’s was way worse!) As the beach was quite small, there was really only one thing we could buy for lunch…pancakes! Cause who doesn’t feel like eating pancakes on a stinking hot day at the beach?! Unfortunately, the bees also seemed to really enjoy the jam smothered all over our pancakes and we had to make the difficult decision to leave our beloved pancakes to the bees after only two bites.

Overall, we have loved every minute of Croatia, especially the very tiny and very cute kittens that live in a cardboard box right outside the local supermarket. We visit them at least 3 times a day and make sure they aren’t getting up to too much mischief, as are many of the locals who often leave food for them and their parents.

So today is our last day in Zadar before we head off to Pula where we are meeting up with our friends Nait & Linda for Outlook Festival! Dont be surprised if you don’t hear from us on Facebook or Skype for the next two weeks while we recover from what I’m sure will be one helluva party!

Hope everyone is doing well in Australia, we are starting to miss you a just a little bit

xoxo

It’s our last day here and after 6 straight days of sightseeing, we’ve decided to take it easy and just relax on the rooftop terrace of our hostel. Got a 9am flight to Zagreb tomorrow so it’s going to be an early night (hopefully)

We went out to a place called Sortie last night but I think we picked a quiet night to go out as it’s the end of Ramadan and despite it being one of the most deluxe restaurant/bar’s we’ve ever seen and had an amazing view over the Bosphorous, there was just nobody there and the prices were a bit crazy so we made our way elsewhere. We bumped into the three German guys staying in our room and went to about 3 or 4 bars with them, one with an incredible rooftop bar looking over the water. We tried to bring a cat back to our hostel but they all freak out once you pick them up. It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time but I’m glad our endeavour’s didn’t come to fruition.

So we’ve gotten to see the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Taksim Square, the Asian Side and a lot of the “new town” in Istanbul. It has been amazing, a lot of history here and we’ve loved learning about it, despite all the bloody walking involved. We really wanted to go further south and check out Anzac Cove and Cappadocia but with our flights and hostels booked, it just wasn’t possible.

We might try and get to the Galata Tower today which is about 2 minutes from our hostel in Beyoglu and apparently has the best view of the city. Unfortunately our camera ran out of battery just before we got to the Blue Mosque yesterday so we don’t have any interior photos.

We’ll try posting more photos shortly, we’re still trying to figure out the sizing issue.