After a spectacular month in Spain & Portugal is was time to head back to the tropical paradise of the United Kingdom for a couple of weeks. Actually, all jokes aside, after the intense heat of the previous month it was a nice change to wear a cardigan again!

From Madrid I flew to Edinburgh where I met up with Johno & Cass again. We spent an awesome five days together enjoying all the laughs we could handle at the Fringe Festival. I think in total we ended up going to about 12 shows (yep, all comedy, we are not really that cultured) and I think that is about all we could have handled. It was a great time where we got to see people and shows that were both old and new but all lots of fun. Being there while the Fringe Festival and the Military Tattoo were both on we definitely didn’t get to see the real Edinburgh but thats ok because it just means we have an excuse to go back again, which I really want to do. It is such a magical looking city and I found my breath taken away several times when looking out at the landscapes. Oh, I also had a deep fried Mars bar …

 

London was my last stop before I headed off to America and the plan had been to do not much at all for the ten days I had there … thats not exactly what happened but I still managed to feel nice and relaxed by the end thanks to the amazing hospitality of my hosts. I spent the first five days in London staying at my friend Tina’s newly purchased flat (such adulting) while she was away in Portugal. Tina’s flat is in Enfield, in north London, and as much as I love staying in the middle of big cities it was so nice to be staying in the burbs and feel a sense of normalcy for a little while. For my second five nights I moved down to the other end of London and stayed with the lovely Whatleys in New Malden. After being on the road for six months it was so nice to feel settled down and stay with friends and family for a little while.

During my ten days I managed to fit in a west end show (The Book of Mormon – see it!!), visit areas of London I’ve been to plenty of times and some for the first time, walked through parks, squeezed in some shopping, went to the movies, ate my way through Borough markets and spent an awesome day at The Notting Hill festival. My love for London is as strong as ever and I can’t wait for the next visit.

 

 

Ever since I first visited Spain, about 15 years ago now, I have been longing to get back. I felt such an affinity with the culture, the lifestyle and the people after that first visit so it’s really a surprise that its taken me this long to return. During that first trip I only visited Barcelona and Málaga so I made sure to give myself a good month so that I could see much more of the country this time around.

Barcelona

Barcelona has been in my top three favourite cities since I went and I was actually a little worried before I arrived that maybe I had built it up in my mind too much and it would end up being a disappointment. I needn’t have worried – it was every bit as wonderful and fun as I had remembered.  Being there with friends and sharing great meals and drinks over our five nights really set the tone for what was to come in Spain. We did the typical tourist thing and got around the city on an open top bus, saw all the Gaudi we could manage but most importantly, spent a lot of time eating a drinking – in squares, alleys, by the beach.

 

 

San Sebastián

San Sebastián has been a destination on pretty much every travel and/or food show ever made and it was easy to see why as soon as we arrived. It is such a lovely setting and has such amazing food it was really hard to drag ourselves away after five nights. The weather is known to be very temperamental in that region so we happened to be quite lucky with a good number of sunny days to enjoy the beach and outdoor dining all over the place. In the same day I had a plate of churros, ham in a cone (!?) and some amazing lemon gelato to rival the one I had found in Hvar. The food was great and the people were lovely, what more can you ask for.

 

 

Lisbon

Portugal had been on and off my itinerary several times but luckily a quick jaunt over to Lisbon made the cut in the end. We caught the trenhotel (not nearly as glamours as it sounds) from San Sebastián overnight on our last day to arrive in Lisbon early the following morning. Lisbon was such a lovely surprise and I wish that I had of had more than a few days there. The people were overwhelmingly lovely and food was also amazing. I am pretty sure if its possible to overdose on pastéis de nata (what we call Portugese tarts) I came dangerously close.

 

 

Sintra

One my last day in Portugal, before heading mack into Spain, I decided to go to Sintra for the day. It was only about an hour away and lots of people had recommended it so even though there was still lots to see in Lisbon I decided to make the trip. Sintra was simply gorgeous and cemented for me that I need to get back to Portugal and explore it more.

 

 

Seville

After saying goodbye to Johno, Cass & Rach in Portugal it was only a short 24 hours until I made it back to Spain to meet up with my friend Lucy in the beautiful (and exceptionally hot) Seville. People had said we were crazy for visiting southern Spain in August … and maybe they were right, but we still had a great time. Seville was full of great food and beautiful old buildings. The Moorish influence on the architecture of the city is instantly recognisable and gives it a very exotic feel. We visited the cathedral where we found the tomb of Christopher Columbus as well as some amazing views of the city after climbing to the top of The Giralda (the bell tower). We really had a great time in Seville, eating lots and visiting some great sights but one of the highlights was definitely the flamenco show we saw one night. It was a very small venue and audience with just three performers – one singer, one guitarist and one dancer. All of them were amazing and we spent the whole time feeling the intensity that was so beautifully expressed through the performance.

 

 

Cádiz

During our stay in Seville we decided to spend one of our days visiting Cadiz, just an hour away by train. I am so glad we decided to make this trip as Cadiz was beautiful and being on the coast a lovely relief from the heat we had been enduring for the last couple of days. We walked around and visited a few of the older sites before we made a beeline for the beach for a delicious seafood lunch and a dip in the Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean Sea/Strait of Gibraltar … still not really clear on which it is. It was without a doubt the busiest beach I have ever experienced in my life but we found ourselves a spot and set up with our towels and umbrella and had a lovely time surrounded by the families who were so well set up they basically had the kitchen sink with them.

 

 

Granada

From Seville Lucy and I made our way onto Granada, another heavily Moorish influenced city most famous for The Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex, which you will notice I am pretty generous with photos of below. Before we visited the Alhambra on our last day we spent a good few days eating our way around the city. Granada is well known for its classic take on tapas and still follow the traditional route of providing a free tapa with each drink you order. I drank a fair bit in Granada …

 

 

Madrid

The next and final stop for my Spanish adventure was its capital, Madrid, which I had never been to before and had always been sceptical of liking as much as I did Barcelona. Well, I was totally blown away by this city and can honestly say I think its my new European favourite. It is a huge city with grand buildings and parks all over. There are so many people everywhere but the city is so spacious and the streets so wide and grand that you don’t ever feel like you are stuck in a crowd. I had one more night with Lucy here before she headed off to Scandinavia so we decided to take advantage of the weather and the fact that we were staying right next to Retiro park so visited a local market and stocked up on all the best things in life … meat, cheese & bread. we had a lovely picnic in the park that afternoon and it was the perfect start to my week in Madrid. I had a couple of days by myself in Madrid before my friend Alex then arrived so I had a new companion for all the sitting and eating to be done.

I completely fell in love with this city and I know I will be back in the not too distant future. It is somewhere I could easily see myself living for a few months as I try to finally lock down my Spanish language skills. After an amazing month in Spain I was feeling confidently fluent … if it involved food or drink, but thats about it I’m afraid …

 

It has been about 5 weeks since I left Croatia (at the time of starting to write this) and it actually feels like a lifetime ago! I have been to 7 countries since then (one of them twice) and caught up with friends and family and just generally had an awesome time. I have been pretty slack in updating the blog or Facebook so I apologise for that. I will give you a quick rundown of where I’ve been since Croatia and a few photos but I wont go into too much detail or this post will end up like a book!

Budapest

From my last stop in Zagreb I headed to Budapest for a 5 night stay. It was just as beautiful and fun as I remember it being years ago when I was there on a family holiday. The architecture in the city is some of my favourite and I found myself happily wandering around the streets just looking at the old buildings. While in Budapest I spent a couple of days in their well known and very busy thermal baths, picnicked on Margaret Island, drank plenty of beer in a ruin pub and enjoyed some great meals in restaurants all over the city. I reallllllly love Budapest and I already want to go back.

 

London

My original plan had not included this detour to London but it was just too hard to be that close to Leo (and Tom and Lana I guess) and not go and see him. I managed to find a fairly cheap flight and an Airbnb just around the corner from the Whatleys so it all worked out very well. It was SO nice to spend a couple of days with family and not feel the pressure to sight-see but instead just drink wine and watch terrible reality TV. It was really great and left me feeling totally refreshed and ready to get back out and continue my travels.

PS. My lovely school friend Yasmina, who now lives in London, came over to do a little family photo shoot so I have some beautiful photos to add here!

 

Brussels

Belgium was such a mixed bag for me. I only had 2 nights in Brussels planned but within an hour of arriving and making my way to my hostel I was ready to leave. Due to a number of reasons Brussels is easily, and by a fair margin, my least favourite destination to date. I had a particularly shit hostel experience (I had 3 different rooms over 2 nights and was woken up at 2am one night and made to move rooms!) but the main issue for me was that the entire time I was there I felt on edge. The hostel was near the main train station and had a general air of menace all around it. There were lots of men in groups standing around and I always felt like I had eyes on me. Once I made it into the main and perfectly lovely old town I did like it more but even then I still felt on edge, probably due to the massive presence of military police with machine guns – it made it hard to forget the recent terror related events in Brussels and added to the feeling of unease.

 

Bruges

Due to my dislike of Brussels I spent my entire second day visiting Bruge which is only about an hour away by train and I am SO glad I did. Bruge was so so lovely. It is a beautiful little town and the vibe there was so much more relaxed and I felt safe the entire time I was there. I really didn’t want to go back to Brussels and I think if I had of had my stuff with me I probably would have just stayed in Bruges. During the day I did a canal tour and then just walked around the streets or sat in the main square. It was a perfect day.

 

Frankfurt

Visiting Frankfurt was driven more by a eagerness to break up my travel rather than an actual desire to visit it. It ended up being a perfectly nice city but you can tell it’s an economic hub by the fact thats its neat and clean but seemed to me to lack any real culture and heart. I don’t think I would return to Frankfurt anytime soon but it was a nice place to have a little transit break and start warming up my German skills …. for some reason the 4 years of primary school German haven’t stuck with me all that well. I am afraid that Frankfurt made so little impact on me I don’t even have any photos to share!

 

Salzburg

Salzburg, and more specifically the Sound of Music tour, have been on my travel to do list for ages now so it was so good to finally get there and experience it. Salzburg was even more beautiful and scenic than I had imagined. Basically every time I would look up it seemed I was gazing at a painting. Apart from the Sound of Music tour (the funnest sing-a-long ever) I also went to a mini Mozart concert in one of the historic music halls in the city centre. I am by no means a classical music connoisseur but this was still one of the best experiences I have had. It was a small 8 piece orchestra but a very intimate setting with there only being about 20 of us in the audience.

 

Vienna

Vienna was another classically beautiful European city. It was great to meet up with my friend Alex there so we could basically spend 3 days moving from one cafe to another, marvelling at the beauty of the place and laughing at our selves for not really fitting in there. The food was fantastic and I am still dreaming about the first wiener schnitzel meal I had there. Also, cake.

 

Bratislava

I headed off on my own again to Bratislava which is only an hour away by train but feels so different to Vienna. It certainly felt like the smallest European capital I have visited but that really added to its charm. It is located on the Danube and has some lovely pedestrian only streets and squares full of cafes, restaurants and bars. I had a very chilled 4 days there and would recommend it to anyone. Two things surprised me in Slovakia – they had amazing street art and people seemed to be drinking beer with a straw.

 

Prague

Prague was to be my last bit of solo travel for a while as from the next stop I would be meeting up with various friends to travel with for the next 6 weeks or so. Prague really is as amazing as everyone says but to me it definitely felt like a party town and I spent a lot of my time there wishing I was with people to really enjoy that aspect of it. The old town is classic medieval and totally charming but outside of the old town is just as lovely. There are lots of parks and green spaces and anyplace where beer is cheaper than water is ok with me. I will definitely return to Prague one day, I’ll just be sure to be armed with my favourite beer drinking friends.

 

Berlin

Oh Berlin! Still firmly in my top 5 worldwide cities list after this trip. Berlin is so different to so much of Europe that I had just travelled though. It is just so cool, but cool in the most effortless way that I myself will never achieve. One of the big differences to the last lot of European capitals is that the places you want to spend most of your time are actually not in the centre at all. The suburbs of Berlin are so varied and fun that I am sure I could spend a month there without going into the centre once and have the best time. I had been to Berlin only about 6 years ago and done all “the sites” so this trip was much more about just hanging out. It was so nice to be with friends again as well. We had an Airbnb in Neukölln and enjoyed many days and nights discovering the cafes, restaurants and bars in this totally eclectic suburb that seemed as full of turkish grocers, shisha bars and kebab shops as it was full of craft beer pubs, organic breakfast cafes and jazz and wine bars. Johno was lucky enough to spend his 30th birthday there and to celebrate we spent a very boozy afternoon and evening in the nearby Tempelhofer Feld – an abandoned airport now transformed into a huge park. Berlin is one of those places I know I will keep coming back to. Until next time ….

 

 

As I emotionally posted on Facebook a few weeks ago now, Croatia has been on my travel wish list for a while and was actually the place that got me starting to plan the trip I am on currently. Over the years the itinerary morphed, expanded, contracted, extended and shrunk again but one thing always remained – I wanted to visit Croatia, especially the Dalmatian Coast. As I waited for my bus to Dubrovnik from Kotor I was honestly overwhelmed with emotion (yes, I cried at the bus station) that a small thought I had a few years earlier had now come to fruition and actually bloomed into something beautiful and life changing. I am struck often with the fact that I am so incredibly lucky to have the life I do. I know that I have worked hard to be able to get where I am but nothing can take away the fact that if I hadn’t been born into the incredibly loving family, in the beautiful prosperous country that is Australia I could have worked 10 times harder than I have and still not been able to do the things I have. Travelling is such a privilege that I wish everyone could experience in the way I have been fortunate enough to.

This might be a longish post as I have been here for nearly 3 weeks and visited 6 different places so I will break it down into a section on each so feel free to come back and read it in chunks. As always, I have found ups and downs here and was surprised to like some places much more than I had expected and some much less. All in all, as I sit here on my last day in Croatia writing about it I can say without a doubt that I have loved it here and I will be back, maybe not for a while, but one day.

 

Dubrovnik 

People rave about Dubrovnik so I was expecting a lot from it. I certainly wasn’t let down when it came to the beauty of the place, but …. I found it really hard to truly enjoy it as I was either constantly in awe of or annoyed by the shear number of tourists visiting, especially during the daytime hours as it is a popular day trip destination from other parts of Croatia. I know I don’t really have any right to be annoyed by tourists when that is exactly what I am but it was frustrating to not even be able to walk down the alleys of the old town without being bumped into by a certain type of tourist who don’t even bother to take their phones off their selfie sticks anymore. They walk around with the selfie stick extended in front of them like some kind of blind persons cane and I don’t think there could really be a better metaphor because I don’t feel like these people really saw the place for what it was at all. The old town is so packed during the day that they actually have to put up entry/exit ropes at the gates which, along with almost all of the shops being souvenir stores, really makes the old town feel like it is almost set up purely as an exhibit for the masses of visitors. I hate to think what it is like in the middle of summer.

So, while the old town was pretty and definitely worth the visit I spent most of my time away from it, at the beaches. The first beach I visited was Banje beach which they consider the city beach as it is actually just to the side of one of the gates to the old town. The beach itself is pebbles with beautiful crystal clear blue waters, surprising considering how close it is to the city and the old town harbour. It’s a small beach with half of it taken up by a beach club that charge exorbitant prices for drinks and sun lounge hire with the other half of the beach left open for people to lay their towels down and relax. It’s easy to tell the locals from the tourists here. The best thing about the beach though is the amazing view of the old town from where it still feels authentic.

For my last day in Dubrovnik I decided to wander around Lapad where there was more cafes, restaurants and beaches and as soon as I got off the bus there I could instantly feel a different vibe. It was much more laid back and while there were still lots of tourists you could tell everyone was there for a more relaxed holiday, no day trippers seen rushing through to capture everything on film. I enjoyed my last day by relaxing on the beach and marvelling at pain-free swimming now that I had purchased a very sexy pair of swimming shoes to tackle the pebble walking.

 

 

Hvar

My plan had been to catch the one daily ferry to Hvar from Dubrovnik but when I went to buy a ticket two days before I was told it was already sold out! This was really annoying at first as it meant that I now needed to catch a 4 hour bus to Split and then get a ferry from there. It turns out though that it worked well to do it that way as, although it meant a very early start, I made it to Hvar by midday rather than 8pm when the direct ferry would have got in and it also gave me a quick chance to get my bearings in Split which was going to be my next stop.

I had been hearing from other travellers that Hvar was lovely but a massive party destination so I was feeling a little wary of that but I had no need to worry. Turns out it is a huge party spot and is very popular with English stag/hens dos but it actually provided a lot of entertainment for the two hours between 8-10 when I was still out and everyone was drunk and hilarious. I spent most of my time in Hvar at the same rocky spot I found on my first day that I shared with an old local man who, from the look of his skin, clearly spent all of his time in that sunny cove.

Hvar was perfectly sunny until the morning I was leaving which I was very grateful for as I really didn’t want to leave and the overcast sky made it a little easier. I also found the best lemon gelato I have ever had there and I am still sad today that I haven’t found another one half as good. I’ll keep searching though.

 

 

Split

I hadn’t done too much research on Split, I just knew that it was another popular town on the Dalmation Coast. It turns out that it was a highlight for me as it had all of the beauty and character that Dubrovnik and Hvar had but it was much more chilled out and soooo much cheaper. I had thought that I had just miscalculated Croatia as a whole and it was going to be a lot moire expensive than I had budgeted for but I worked out that it is really just Dubrovnik and Hvar, I guess because they are massive tourist hot spots, that are super expensive. Split also had some really cool beaches and a huge park next to the old town which had all walks of life strolling through it at any time.

My first day I just wandered around and checked out the beaches all within a 30 min walk from my hostel and decided where I would go back to the next day. I spent that night cafe hoping along the harbour promenade which is beautiful, wide and filled with cool restaurants and bars. On the second day I spent most of my time in or around Marjan park, either puffing as I walked up the hill or chilling out at Bene beach.

On my final day in Split I went to the other side of the old town to Bačvice beach which is my favourite kind of beach – no sand or pebbles (apart from in the water), just concrete slabs as far as the eye can see! I splurged here and paid $10 to hire a sun lounger as I knew I would be there most of the day and it was one of my favourite days in Croatia. It was sunny but not too hot and the water was the perfect temperature plus I had beer delivered right to me!

 

 

Zadar

I was really looking forward to Zadar and it is a really beautiful town but for some reason it just didn’t click for me and it was probably my least favourite in all of Croatia. I don’t think the problem was actually with Zadar though. I wish I had of tried harder to not let it affect me but I had some really annoying interactions with some of the people staying in in my dorm in the hostel and as a result I had a few nights of crappy sleep and I wound up being grumpy for most of my time there. I also woke up too late on my last day, when I was planning on going to visit a nearby island, and missed the only ferry so I

On a positive note I had some amazing meals and enjoyed some spectacular sunsets in Zadar. There are some really nice restaurants along the sea promenade as well as a really cool attraction called the Morske orgulje which is a sea organ that has been made with tubes underneath the marble steps leading down to the sea where the waves create different musical tones. It’s lovely to sit there and listen to the sounds as the sun sets, you do have to share this experience with hundreds of others packed along the stairs but it is a peaceful way to spend an evening none the less.

 

 

Plitvice Lakes

After one of the more frustrating hostel experiences in Zadar I was thrilled to check into my bed and breakfast in Rastovača, about 1km away from the entrance to Plitvice Lakes National Park. I had 2 nights to fully relax and spend my days exploring the national park which I absolutely loved. The lakes are stunning and hiking through the park is peaceful and invigorating.  My mood did a total 180 in the time I was there and I’ve been feeling totally reenergised and just generally really happy since being there. Nothing like fresh air and a nice walk to cheer you up!

 

 

Zagreb

The final stop on my Croatia itinerary was the capital, Zagreb. Much like Split I didn’t know that much about Zagreb but it was up there as one of my favourites. It is a classic European capital – charming old buildings, lots of long and wide streets and squares lined with restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars as well as some beautiful parks and interesting museums.

I spent my first couple of days walking the lower and upper parts of the old town, drinking a lot of beer and eating a lot of gelato (still none as good as in Hvar). One afternoon I went to a museum I had been wanting to go to ever since hearing about it a few years ago. It is called The Museum of Broken Relationships and it is exactly what it sounds like. It is a small gallery filled with everyday objects that people have donated along with a short, or sometimes long, explanation of the object and its significance in the relationship. Some of the stories are sad, some are funny, some are really … odd. It was great.

On my third day I got to once again do my favourite big city activity. I visited Dolac Market, the central market in Zagreb, during the morning and spent the usual amount of time marvelling at all the cured meats and cheese. I had to force myself to not buy every type of fruit I saw so I ended up with some cherries and raspberries which were incredibly cheap and amazingly tasty. I also bought some bread, salami and gorgonzola and then made my way to Park Zrinjevac and sat in the sun and relished in my market buys and a good book. Another perfect Europe travel day.

I had one day left in Zagreb and I wanted to do something a little different but also wanted to start writing this post so after a bit of googling I came across Booksa. Booksa is a little bit out of the city centre and is a cafe/bookstore/community space. It was nice to be surrounded by shelves piled with books and people also tapping away at laptops or sitting in groups discussing readings. The hours flew by and I had almost finished this post but all of a sudden I had strong desire for something colder than coffee so I headed back into the city and set up the laptop in a back booth of a classic Irish pub and thoroughly enjoyed my last few beers in Zagreb. The last photo is me feeling jolly and pretty much sums up my feelings towards Croatia. It’s been a really special few weeks.

 

After all my humming and hawing in Belgrade over changing my plans and possibly not going to Bosnia, it turns out that it ended up being one of my favourite places so far. I had read that the bus could take 8-10 hours for the trip from Belgrade to Sarajevo with big hold ups on the boarder crossing possible, especially if the bus was full, so I decided to go for a minivan transfer instead. The minivan was only a little more expensive than a bus would have been but had the huge advantage of being a door to door service which meant that I was picked up from my hostel in Belgrade at 5:30am and dropped directly at my hostel in Sarajevo 6 hours later. As there were only 4 passengers and the driver it meant that the boarder crossing was actually one of the quickest I had experienced so far!

By far the best thing about this trip ended up being that I got to meet the lovely Selma. Selma is from Sarajevo but has been living in the UK for the last 15 years or so and was coming home for a few days to visit family. The two of us were sitting at the back of the minivan and started chatting almost immediately. In fact, apart from some napping later in the trip we chatted for almost the whole 6 hours. I think the other two passengers were getting quite sick of us by the end. It was so nice to meet such a warm and caring person and was the perfect introduction to Bosnia as I later realised that everyone I had met in my short 4 days in the country was incredibly welcoming and sweet. 

After dropping my stuff at the hostel, which was right in the old town, I went for a wander and took all of 5 minutes to realise what a beautiful city it was and what a mistake it would have been if I hadn’t come. Sarajevo is in a valley which means that whenever you look up you are met with views of green mountains and cute houses that look so much like a painting it takes your breath away every time. The other sight you can’t really get away from in the city is the scars left on so many buildings of the war that occurred in the country so recently. This contrast of the natural beauty and the man made damage is quite shocking but it soon becomes part if the character of the city and doesn’t

Before visiting I had known that there had been various wars in this region not that long ago but I didn’t actually know anything about the Bosnian war specifically. On my second day I visited a relatively new museum called Galerija 11/07/95 and was blown away by the exhibition there. It was mainly made up of a series of large photographs that, accompanied by a fantastic audioguide, tell the story of the huge project that is still underway to exhume and identify the thousands of bodies being located in mass graves, still to this day. The other parts of the exhibit include a few short films that have interviews with the widows and some of the surviving men involved in the Srebrenica massacre which occurred in July of 1995 and ended up with the genocide of over 8000 muslim Bosniaks. There was also some short films and documentary footage taken during the siege of Sarajevo which occurred between 1992 to 1996, when I was between the ages of 8 to 12. It was impossible to watch the footage and not think of the life I had at that age as compared to all the children of Sarajevo at that time. Its actually overwhelming me again now as I am writing this because I know there are children experiencing this same war as a way of life now in parts of the middle east. The only thing these children are guilty of is being born in a part of the world that is beautiful but experiencing ugly acts by evil people that I can’t even begin to understand.

…. Ok, got myself a bit worked up there. Luckily the next part I have to tell you about is much happier. On the night of my second day in Sarajevo I met up with Selma and her cousin Amina, another gorgeous and kind Bosnian soul, who took me out to a number of places that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise gone to. We started the night in the old town at a restaurant where we drank rakija and had the best kind of dinner – cheese, olives and prosciutto. From here we walked a little way out of the old town to Sarajevska Pivara which just translates to Sarajevo Brewery. While here we drank some good beer and listened to live Bosnian folk music. Next stop was Sloga, an actual real life night club, guys … I don’t even remember the last time I was in one of those! Unfortunately I just don’t have the all night stamina I used to pride myself on so I made my way back to the hostel at 2am. Still my latest night on the whole trip I think. It was a great night and I had such a fun time with Selma and Amina, you really can’t beat spending a night in a city with locals.

My last day in Sarajevo was spent wandering around the old town some more, drinking coffee and eating delicious food. Cevapi for lunch, which was pretty much my lunch everyday, followed by dinner in a cute little restaurant which would have only held about 10 people. There was just the one lady who takes the order and then cooks for you in the kitchen which is right there in the room. You basically feel like you are in someones home as the host chats and sings to herself as she cooks for you. It was a lovely way to  end my visit to Sarajevo, a city that definitely stole my heart.

My next stop and last place in Bosnia (actually its in Herzegovina) was Mostar. All I really knew about it was that they have a pretty bridge, and oh boy is it pretty, the whole place that is. It is only small so I only had the one night there and it was just enough time. I arrived around midday and spent the afternoon and evening strolling around the town and just sitting a different cafes and restaurants with a different view to the Stari Most, which translates to Old Bridge. The place I stayed in Mostar was wonderful because it was right next to the old town but most importantly was run by another couple of amazing and lovely Bosnians. The next day I was heading to Kotor in Montenegro on an early bus and the owners of the hotel insisted on getting up to serve me breakfast (which was just a ridiculous amount of food and drinks for one person) and then drive me up to the bus station. My time in Mostar was short but very sweet.

My last stop before heading to Croatia wasn’t planned but during the previous few weeks I had read about and heard from some other travellers how great Montenegro is and after a bit of research I worked out that I could squeeze in a couple of days in Kotor before I made my way to Dubrovnik. The bus trip from Mostar took about 8 hours but it went surprisingly quickly and so much of the trip was just one stunning view after another as we made our way down to and then along the coast. It’s funny, I have never considered myself a “beach person” and to be honest the ocean kind of scares me at times but for some reason when I am in a landlocked country or away from the coast for more than a week I start to get a bit antsy so that first view of the Adriatic as we passed over the last mountain was quite a nice site.

Kotor was an unexpected delight and I am so glad I made the detour to get there. I stayed right in the old town and just spent my two days there lazing around in various cafes, eating gelato and drinking delicious Montenegrin wine. I really want to go back to Montenegro now to explore more of the country.

Ok, so technically Greece is also on the Balkan peninsular … but we will just pretend that this is the real start of my Balkan adventures. Am I the only one who never thinks of Greece as being in the Balkans? Anyway, after an amazing few weeks in Greece I really wasn’t sure what to expect for the next part of my trip. I was excited but also a bit nervous as these were countries that I really knew nothing about.

From Thessaloniki I caught (just, but we don’t need to go into that) a bus to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The bus took about 4 hours and trip went by fairly quickly and without incident, that is until one of the tyres blew in the middle of a main road as we were just coming into the city, about 10 minutes away from the bus station. The driver kept driving for 5 minutes until the sound coming from the back of the bus was actually scary. He eventually stopped and everyone got off the bus and kind of just stood around and it really didn’t look like anyone was going to do anything except maybe wait for the tyre to get changed but I was pretty sure that wasn’t such an easy task on a big coach and the driver looked like he had no idea what to do either. I checked google maps and realised I was about the same distance from my airbnb that I would have been from the bus station so I used my best sign language and convinced the driver to let me get my bag from the bus so I could walk from there. I apparently inspired everyone as this is what everyone ended up doing. For all I know the driver is still standing on the side of the road looking confused. The poor guy.

As for the rest of my time in Sofia, I am afraid that it really didn’t get to make much of an impression on me but thats only because I came down with a bad cold and spent a lot of time holed up in my airbnb, feeling sorry for myself. I did make it out one day to do a walking tour which was great and I got to see all the main sights in the city centre and learn some history about this country that I was completely clueless about. I had really wanted to go up to Vitosha mountain for a hike one day but I got progressively sicker and decided that a long day of hiking probably wasn’t going to help me recover. The view of the mountain from the city of Sofia is beautiful and I know it would be amazing to get up there so I guess I now have a good excuse to make my way back to Bulgaria in the future.

I had originally planned to go straight to Belgrade from Sofia but I was dreading the 8 hour bus trip while feeling unwell and after a little research saw that there was a smaller city (still the third largest in Serbia) on the way called Niš that looked pretty and I thought would be a good stop to break up the trip and see somewhere else in Serbia. I ended up staying there for 2 nights, which was more than enough time but I am glad I did it as there wasn’t much to do except wander around the small city centre and old fortress, which was actually surrounded by a huge beautiful park. This couple of days let me properly get over my cold and I finally started feeling better again – I actually attribute this to the beer I had in the sun in the park near the fortress on my last day. Honesty, it made me a new woman!

Next stop was Belgrade and to be honest my first impressions were a little iffy. I arrived in the afternoon on a Sunday and was right away overwhelmed by the size of the city. I could see straight away that it was way bigger than I had imagined and I was a little nervous about how I was going to tackle and get to know this city in just 4 days. The other thing that struck me as I arrived was that it just looked a little … odd. I am not sure how else to put it but I learnt the next day exactly what it was that confused me and how I felt about it changed straight away.

So I am not sure exactly what happened but I woke up after my first night in Belgrade and proceeded to have a mini breakdown. I, for some reason, convinced myself that I hated it there and that I was going to probably hate Bosnia as well and I should probably change my plans and go somewhere different before Croatia. I spent all morning tucked away in the darkness of my bed capsule thingy furiously googling flights and destinations and changed my mind about 20 times until I wanted to scream. I thought about going to Turkey, Italy, Montenegro, straight to Croatia … I basically worked myself up until I was completely useless and wouldn’t have been able to make a decision about what to eat for breakfast. Just as I was at the point of nearly being in tears I decided I should just go out for a walk and clear my head and then I could decide where I should go. This was the best decision and I am so glad in my flurry of research I didn’t hastily book something else.

After finally emerging into the daylight I slowly walked the 15 minutes or so up to Republic Square from my hostel. Once there I sat down at one of the many cafes and ordered a coffee and pastry … hmm, maybe this place isn’t so awful after all. I remembered that I had seen that there are a few free city walking tours that started in the square so I looked them up and saw that one would be starting in about half an hour so I figured I could join that and try to get my bearings. The tour went for about 3 hours and I walked away from it feeling like a different person in a completely different city. The tour was taken by a local girl named Tamara, probably a few years younger than me and it was so amazing to spend this time with her (and the other 10 or so people on the tour) and hear all about her city, it’s history – old and new, what life is like now, what it had been like in the 90’s and what she hopes for the future.

I will admit that I knew embarrassingly little about the wars and unsettled times in this region over the last few decades but I know now that I want to know and try to understand more about what happened here. During the tour we were told that Belgrade has been destroyed, at least partially if not completely, over 40 times and this goes a long way to explaining the reason why I got the impression the place looked “odd”. I realised that Belgrade looks so different to other big european cities that I am used to because of the architecture style, or more specifically, the fact that there is no coherent style throughout the city. In the one block you will see buildings that look 200 years old, although usually in disrepair, brutalist buildings clearly built during communist rule, some quite modern styles right next to buildings so clearly from the 90’s. When you don’t know why the city looks like that it can seem quite ugly but as soon as you know why it is the way it is you can see the beauty in this city that has been through so much.

I spent my next couple of days doing other walking tours, eating amazing food, going to the opera (I know, I am so fancy!) and generally just falling in love with this city which I had been so sure I hated for no reason. Lesson learnt – just go outside. Luckily I came to my senses and I didn’t change my plans and I am writing this from Sarajevo right now, where I arrived today and I am completely taken with already.

I am writing this on my last day in Greece and that is a fact that makes me very sad. I have been here for 20 days all up but I could have easily spent double that time and sill want more. I have absolutely loved everywhere I have been and I can’t wait until I can come back and visit some of the other islands I didn’t make it to this time around. Tomorrow I am off to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and at this stage I don’t know much more about it other than that it’s a pretty girls name and there is some good hiking to be done in the nearby Vitosha Mountains. I should really be doing some research but instead I’m going to write about the rest of my time in this awesome country.

My last post left off in Mykonos, from where I caught a quick ferry over to Santorini where I spent the next 3 nights. I stayed in Perissa, which is one of the black sand (pebble) beaches on the island. Being shoulder season it was still fairly quiet, especially in Perissa, which was fantastic! Almost all of the restaurants were open but had literally done so only two weeks to a few days before I arrived. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and I had a great time doing very little except appreciating the stunning beauty everywhere I looked. On my second day I decided to do the hike between Fira and Oia. I knew it was about 10km so I gave myself 3 hours as I knew I would be stopping a lot to take photos. The walk ended up being quite challenging and took nearly 4 hours (there was a lot of ascending and descending on loose gravel trails) but the views the whole way were so stunning it was totally worth it plus with the extra time it took me it meant I arrived in Oia right at sunset which was amazing. Three days was definitely not long enough for Santorini but I know I will be back.

My last Island destination in Greece was Crete and it was just as amazing and delightful as the last two islands. I was told that the people on Crete are even nicer and more welcoming which I definitely found to be true. There were still lots of tourists but I also encountered locals much more often than I had on Mykonos and Santorini. I arrived late to the port of Heraklion and only had the one night there before getting the bus over to Chania the next morning. I didn’t get to see much of Heraklion to see much but my 3 nights in Chania were amazing and I totally fell in love with the place. There were beautiful beaches, a lovely harbour and a huge pedestrian zone filled with restaurants and cafes. I spent my second day, which happened to be my 33rd birthday, moving from one restaurant or cafe to another while soaking up the sun and the relaxed vibes. It truly was the perfect day.

My final destination was Thessaloniki which is the second largest city in Greece after Athens. It’s a big port city in the north and to be honest I wasn’t really expecting too much from it, it was more of a stepping stone towards my next destination but I have really been pleasantly surprised. It is one of those cities which is both gritty and vibrant and I think it has a lot to do with the huge youth population. Down by the water the streets are wide and lined with beautiful buildings. There is great shopping and an amazing food scene. I could tell right away thats it’s a hugely social city with almost every street in the main part of town lined with outdoor seating for the many cafes and bars. I was staying in an AirBnB, about a 20 minute walk up the hill (everything is up hill as you leave the water) which was fantastic as it meant that I was in the middle of the residential area and was completely surrounded by locals going about their day to day lives. You can’t really walk more than 10 metres without passing a group of old Greek men or women sitting on a stoop or a balcony while smoking and chatting.

Greece has been a total revelation and I am afraid that the rest of Europe has some big shoes to fill now. My next three countries I know so little about so I am quite nervous but it’s in a great way. Looking forward to sharing some Balkan updates with you all soon!

I love the Mediterranean. Every time I spend even a short time in a Mediterranean city I find myself feeling sure that I belong there, that I have somehow been missing a vital part of myself that is only now being fulfilled. Dramatic, right?? Well, don’t worry the feeling normally wears off, or at least fades to a dull nagging once I return home and remember how much I actually love Australia and will always call it home.

There are so many things about the lifestyle in the Med which I love. I have always found that the people are friendly, lively and welcoming and the way of life always involves late mornings (to accommodate for the late nights), great food & coffee and good music. No one seems to take life or themselves too seriously and I can definitely get on board with that attitude.  I am happy to report after finally making it to Greece for the first time I have found all my previous experiences and expectations above fully met. I love it here! I can’t actually believe it has taken me this long to finally visit but I’m so happy I am finally here.

I arrived in Athens after a particularly long and exhausting day of travel from Ko Lanta but as soon as I made it to the hostel I was so excited to finally be there I seemed to have found a new source of energy and decided to head out right away to explore the surrounding area. The hostel was in the Plaka area which sits, quite literally, in the shadow of The Acropolis being on the northeast slope. I hadn’t actually done any research on areas of Athens but really lucked out that I had picked accommodation in this area. It is a lovely little collection of narrow streets, mainly pedestrian, filled with hotels, restaurants, cafes and shops. The best thing was that you could really be anywhere and look up to glimpse some part of the acropolis looking down on you.

On my second day in Athens I decided to buy a ticket for the hop on hop off bus which would give me two days to use it and would also give me access to the Pireas port line which I would need as I had to go to the port to change my ferry ticket for Mykonos due to a strike they had planned on Labor day, when I was originally going to be travelling. I spent the first day just doing a loop on the bus to get my bearings and then wandered around the Pireas port area for a little while after I changed my ticket. I headed back to Plaka in the afternoon and had another great dinner at one of the many tavernas lining the streets.

On day three I saw a LOT of marble. I started with visiting the Acropolis in the morning and despite having looked at it pretty constantly from a distance for two days I was still totally in awe once I got up there. There were soooo many people there already at 10am and droves of school excursions kept rolling in. After walking around open mouthed for a while I made my way back to the entry and found out that what I thought was a lot of people was not even close. The line just to buy tickets now seemed to go for 500m when there had been a line of 2 people when I arrived less than 2 hours before. Crazy! I hate to think what it is like during summer. From the Acropolis I got back on the hop on hop off bus and continued around the city where I saw Hadrian’s Library, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora & the Temple of Olympian Zeus. To be honest, sometimes it really just is a bunch of marble you are looking at and apart from the Acropolis some of the sites have already started to meld into each other in my memory. Overall I had a great day visiting the sites and was so exhausted by 7pm that I went to bed and fell instantly asleep.

My last day in Athens was spent doing my absolute favourite thing to do, pretty much anywhere, but especially in Europe. I got up early(ish) and made my way to the Dimotiki Agora which is the central market in Athens. I wandered around the meat and then the fish areas for a bit and then headed across the road to the goldmine that is the deli section of the market. I have honestly never seen so many olives in my life. I walked around and made a “few” purchases (olives, feta, tzatziki, pita bread, cherry tomatoes, prosciutto & strawberries) before I had to drag myself away. I then headed back to the hostel so that I could watch Sydney FC win their a-league semi final … already such a great day. After a little siesta I packed up all my market goodies and headed over to the National Gardens. After walking around for a while I found my self a lovely sunny spot on the grass and set out a little picnic. I whiled away the afternoon by reading and snacking and basically marvelling at how amazing my life is that I get to do this.

After such an amazing 4 days in Athens it was now time to head off and start the Greek Islands portion of the show. First stop Mykonos! I was actually a little hesitant about Mykonos as I had heard that it’s really a big party place and as you know from previous posts I am an old lady these days and parties and drinking are the least of my priorities. I was so pleasantly surprised within 5 minutes of arriving though that I felt at ease straight away. My Ferry got in around the middle of the day and after dumping my bags at the hotel I went for a wander through the narrow pedestrian streets and saw how lovely and quaint Mykonos Town was. I could see there were a lot of bars and some clubs which obviously would open well after I was tucked away in bed but there was also so many restaurants, cafes and shops, ranging from souvenir to upmarket designer stores.

The weather was a little chilly for my 4 days as it was quite windy so I decided to only go out and have a look at the beaches on one day, mainly just so I could say I had seen them. I had actually originally booked a place in Paradise Beach to stay in but after reading up a few weeks before and realising the beaches were all day and night parties I decided to move my accommodation to Mykonos Town. I am soooo glad I did. I caught the bus out to Paradise beach around midday one day and walked towards one of the beach bar entries where I could hear muffled but loud dance music. The first things I saw were people dancing on tables and a girl throwing up behind a palm tree. I didn’t stay.

Mykonos was so so lovely and made me really excited for the rest of the time in the Islands. Next stop Santorini!