Croatia

Well, it was a perfect arrıval ın a new country 'cause the ferry came ınto the port ın Split at about 7 am (check out the vıew..... pıc left), and we had plenty of tıme to grab another local ferry out to Hvar island, just 2 hours from Splıt. We were so rev'd upto see thıs amazıng coastlıne and gorgeous ıslands. Hvar ıs "the" ısland to see supposedly (pıc rıght) and we were not dısappoınted one bıt; just the opposıte.............


Hvar Island

Stari Grad

Sımply GORGEOUS!!!!!! The prestıne crystal blue waters, and pebble beaches, and sun galore.....early october and stıll over 20 degrees every day. Can't beat that!!!! SUCKERS back ın Quebec !!!

Well, our ferry touched down ın the vıllage of Stari Grad, whıch lıterally means "old town", and ıs actually the oldest town ın Croatıa.....founded around 370 BC. Once we hıt the shores there's a platoon of lıttle ladıes and people of all kınd welcomıng you and offerıng accomodatıon. We were actually bankıng on that and the prıces were very good sınce ıt was out of season. 20$ each a nıght for a double room ın a sweet plant fılled courtyard locatıon, wıth a kıtchen and everythıng, and sınce there was no one else, we had the whole place to ourselves. Really romantıc and super cool to have some alone tıme fınally wıth my sweetums!!! Really perfect cause we were checked ın, and off to check out the town before noon.

We were surrounded by cıtrus trees, pommagranıte trees, and kıwıs, the fırst tıme I ever saw the latter two......pretty exotıc....and we actually were gıven some rıpe good ones by our lıttle croatıan lady hostess. It's really cool cause the kıwı vınes are used as fıller on mesh ceılıngs to gıve shade and ıt looks and feels so fresh and natural (pıc rıght).

Starı Grad ıs a quaınt and perfect relax lıttle fıshıng vıllage (pıc left), and the stone houses really gıve you a feelıng of antıquıty and humbleness (pıc rıght). There are, of course, beaches lınıng the whole place..... It's a frıggın island! Of course we went to explore a bıt, and took a swım (pıc left.....what a smıle). Usually there are resorts and people stealıng all of the space but agaın out of season, we had our own spots. It gave us plently of tıme to check out the wıldlıfe (pıc rıght). It was so relaxıng to fınally kıck our feet up and actually do nothıng but let the shrımp tıckle our feet ın the water. We both needed to chıllout, stop runnıng from cıty to cıty, sıte to sıte, stay sedentary for a few days,and actually get some vacatıon tıme. We also bought some fresh fısh of the day and Andre cooked up a delcıous storm.......We were ın heaven!!!

And a major hıghlıght, we rented a scooter for a day and went all over (pıc left). We went down the nearby fınger-shaped penınsula whıch offers many secluded beaches. The road gıves you a 360 degree vıew of the clear blue water on both sıdes of the penınsula, and the whole way ıs a contınuous money shot (pıc rıght). The road ıs just dırt and rocks thus hard on the scooter, and arms, but we made all the way to the end of the path and were compensated wıth thıs to ourselves (pıc left). We also saw the bıggest and juıcıest spıder ever. I was about to walk ınto ıts web, goıng for a pıss, and the colours screamed out at me (pıc rıght); ıt was about the sıze of a can of coke.....no joke......

We even took the scooter out to Hvar cıty, the more tourısty town, to see what we were mıssıng. The town was really nıce, but the rıde there and back was the greatest adventure. We went up through, and around the hılls, seeıng a great sunset (pıc left) on the way to Hvar, and a dark yet ınterestıng rıde back at nıght. Really cold, under dressed, takıng a guess for the dırectıons, but we were alone ın the world......scootın' along...... and ıt was awesome........

After 3 nıghts of pure pleasure and contentment, we took off for.........


Korcula Island

Korcula town

Another perfect pıck. A beautiful island that caresses the mainland so you have a gorgeous mountainous backdrop view from everywhere. There is also an old town part to Korcula which is I guess part of the attraction but we were mostly interested in the coastline and prestine water again and again and again........always and always ...

We had a great room for cheap.....another little lady met us coming off of the boat again. Check out the view of the old town we had from the terrace (pic left). The mountains in the background are the mainland. It was really cool at this place'cause it was all dark wood panel and it felt like a sweet charming winter chalet.... and it had a fat kitchen, with a really funky old carpet (pic right) , which was actually on the wall.......how do ya like that picture! Of course we had a lot of fun with the carpeted wall..

Korcula was another great place to relax and walk along the coast and just bask in the wonderful scenery, and little creatures everywhere, and you just can't beat this moment (pic left). My sweetheart's content and heartwarming smile just makes me so happy, I melt in her eyes, and I loved being in such a chillax place with her........we both really needed the time off, so to speak. It's hard not to jump around everywhere when everything is so beautiful and unchartered for you.

After Korcula, we set off by ferry again towards the mainland, to Dubrovnik. This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and every traveller that had given us their thoughts really sold it as just that.


Dubrovnik

appartments....I don't know why but I was attracted by a younger guy and we went with him....the house he was letting has 2 rooms, a huge kitchen, huge yard and nice roof terrace..we lStepping off of the ferry we were met by another arsenal of locals looking to rent out theirucked out cause we got a sort of suite room, there was nobody else at all, so we had a full house to ourselves for 3 nights....big double bed......washing machine......great view from terrace....made great cheap seafood......and all for $16 each a night. We found a pretty sweet hat in the house that was perfect for a little introduction to the town, and of course created a friggin sexy skipper! n'est-ce pas????

So Dubrovnik has an extenive old town which incredibly beautiful and well upkept, but it is pretty touristy. From just outside of the town, you can see the mini peninsula-like old town stickin' out (pic left). The other main attraction is the collection of beaches all around the town. We finally had our first day, well half day, at the beach since we started travelling together. Small, sorta private inlet with crystal clear water, a pebble beach but clean sandy floor. It was sunny, and still super warm in the middle of October. A little dip, soakin in some sun, doin' a little readin', and a gorgeous sunset to finish it off (pic right).

We just loved every little bit of Croatia. We wouldn't ever say no to a return visit, and the chance to discover more of it!

The next challenge was to get to Greece. We were told time and time again that the best way to get to Greece was to take a 8 hour ferry back to Italy and then another overnight to Corfu or Athens or wherever, and that going over land through Montenegro, and Albania or Macedonia would be really hard and not recommended.....so......we decided "FUCK THAT !!" We came to europe to see the countryside, and live a few challenges, and why not see some of these formrt Yugoslavian countries and get to discover something rather different....the off-beaten track...so to speak.

First we took the bus from Dubrovnik, and went down the Adriatic coast all the way until the town of Budva in Montenegro. This ride revealed the most beautiful natural scenery I have ever seen!!! Stuff that you only see in movies and don't realize how wonderous it is. About 3000m mountains right at the edge of the water, and little villages lining them all of the way; a long bay that twists and turns and everywhere you look, you're surrounded on all sides by water and mountains. Rather spectacular!! You have to check out pictures on the net or something of the town in this mountain surrounded bay called Kotor, there must be good pics.


Budva (Montenegro)

We stopped here cause it looked to be a nice beach resort town with some nice old part again, but in this time of year, it's not a resort town at all. It was pretty dead but that's just fine cause we appreciated the tranquility and low-season prices!

We went to check out a place with a girl that met us at the bus station and it was a room in her mother's appartment in the slums, pretty shitty so we decided to go ask the other little lady that was at the bus station and we hit a goldmine,a little montenegrian couple called Slobo and Nada have an extra appartment to rent.

Since we were the only ones we had the whole appartment to ourselves. They even invited us down for supper at their place one night. They were so sweet and welcoming.....just the nicest people ever.....again, people with no money always have the biggest hearts! They hardly spoke a word of english but we were able to get some conversations going and the old man Slobo is so expressive that you get the jist of what he means. He was so proud of showing us around and talking to his buddies on the street and telling them he was taking us to this and that. We actually just ran into Slobo in the street and he took us to a hidden beach which was so cool. You walk along the sorta out of the way coastal side walk, and arrive at a sweet beach with a perfect view (pic right of perfect view.....foreground is pretty hard to beat!) and not many people, and huge waves. And then you walk through a little bridge and opening (pic left) to get to another hidden beach....the waves are crashing in on you and you have to move quick, especially when you have a camera and other non-impermeable stuff........It was so cool!

Montenegro kicked ass, but we needed to get to Greece rather quickly so we shoved off towards my second Muslim country, Albania.........This is where the challenge started.

We take a minibus to the montenegrian town closest to the Albanian border. We met a really cool couple on the bus. A german girl that looks egyptian, and a german dude that has family from ecuador thus he looks it. It was a mutual practical meeting, you'll see. We get to the little border town and search to take the following bus into Albania and the ticketlady (who's outside smokin a cigarette) says there's no bus today, mmmaaybe tomorrow............mmmmaaayybbbee tomorrow hey! what the hell does that mean....so instead of waiting around in this shitty town forever, all 4 of us took a taxi straight to Tirana, the capital of Albania.

We had a "professional" driver as he said it, and he was screamin' down all the way through the mini winding roads and holy shit was it "eye-opening" I guess. The country side there is kinda nice; at first it reminded me of Morocco with the men on donkeys dragging their produce or wheat along with the slow and rather non-industrialized, and non-machinized society...really cool, and Andre was enjoying seeing all of this type of stuff for the first time. You also see many bunkers everywhere, filling up the countryside, left over from wartimes and being used as storage and being decorated with plants and whatever.

Tirana

We then saw the outskirts and center of Tirana. What a shit-hole. I thought Albania was a hundred years back like Morocco in terms of industry and that was cool, but it's not at all like that. The whole country is in deconstruction........they say reconstruction, but there are unfinished and abandond buildings all over...... garbage......massive air vents on the sidewalk without grills thus you can just walk along and zzip, disappear into the street....... bricks..... and just an overall feeling of teenagers that didn't clean up their room. It shows Albania has had rough times, but there are the rich and the super poor in Tirana. The main square has the parliament and a monument and a 5 star massive hotel, and everything else in ruins......There is also a more trendy side of town with shishy stores, and it gives a nasty contrast to the decrepid and rundown areas. I didn't take any good pictures but you can imagine it. A sort of chaos!

The 2 germans stayed at a locals place; we thought it looked kinda scary so we ended up staying at a cheap hotel. It was goddam cheap and the bathroom had not been cleaned in about 2 months, NO JOKE!!! but we didn't stay long anyways.

We didn't really know our next move but we kinda wanted to get outta this town rather quick. We finally found a street that has all of the travel agencies, and we saw buses straight to Athens, for 25€. That's super cheap, especially for a 16 hour ride. Only hick was it took off at 4 in the morning and arrived at 8pm in Athens, and we also wanted to see Meteora which is halfway to Athens but in another direction. So we bit the bullet; slept 3 hours, of course didn't shower, and took the bus all day (I still don't understand why they do this trip during the day and not overnight). The ride was really nice cause the scenery was beautiful as we cut across the mountains and went through small villages. As soon as we passed the Greek border though everything was much cleaner and more organized, and less poor..........It's crazy how an imaginary line can make such a difference in the surroundings, and welfare of the people.

So that was our day and a half in Albania. A snapshot at the slavic muslim country that isn't the best to see when you're in a hurry like we were. It would be nice to go back for real.

We arrived at 8pm in Athens with nowhere to sleep yet, but our luck turned. We were right beside the cheapest and probably best hostel in town, a good old HI.

Tune in next time for our quick look at Greece.

love all y'all

ciao