May 9-17; Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Visegrad, Danube, Pecs)
fly...
May 17-22; Turkey (Istanbul, Bosphorus Strait, Uskadar)
fly...
May 22-25; Turkey (Selcuk, Ephesus, Selince, Kusadasi)
ferry...
May 25-26; Greece (Islands...Samos, Naxos)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Short greetings from Naxos...
Just a short update on where we've been since the beginning of May. Hungary and especially Turkey really engulfed us (in a good way) and we've got lots to share, including pictures and stories. For now, here's where we were and now are.
May 9-17; Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Visegrad, Danube, Pecs)
fly...
May 17-22; Turkey (Istanbul, Bosphorus Strait, Uskadar)
fly...
May 22-25; Turkey (Selcuk, Ephesus, Selince, Kusadasi)
ferry...
May 25-26; Greece (Islands...Samos, Naxos)
May 9-17; Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Visegrad, Danube, Pecs)
fly...
May 17-22; Turkey (Istanbul, Bosphorus Strait, Uskadar)
fly...
May 22-25; Turkey (Selcuk, Ephesus, Selince, Kusadasi)
ferry...
May 25-26; Greece (Islands...Samos, Naxos)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
10 May, 2007. Zagreb Center.
Breakfast. Sunny and 10:20am. It’s gonna be a scorcher but right now it’s shady and cool. I just polished off a chocko-croissant and have to note the ratio of chocolate filling is at least double, maybe triple that of chocolate croissants in America. This was also true yesterday morning in Piran, Slovenia, as it poured out of my warmed croissant and onto the plate. Yummm.
Back tracking…
On the 6th we drove from our fairytale castle stay in Sepulje, Slovenia south through the amazing wine region until we decided to hang a right turn into….ITALY! A painless border crossing with passports flashed and we were on our way to Trieste which sadly was a hideous let down from what we could see; a huge industrial port town with pumping smoke stacks, scary freeways built into the side of the mountains before they ultimately descend down to the crammed and viewless waterfront, a sea of city signs in Italian and Slovenian pointing in every which direction. We headed for Muggia and then Koper in Slovenia, with only a few mis-steps. On this gloriously sunny day, the silly Italians packed the coastal “beaches” which were literally cement walls and cement walkways on the other side of the only road the gripped the coast. It was a laughable and almost disturbing that these tanned bodies crammed in here like pigeons scrounging at a garbage heap in such an undesirable location as this. We literally breathed a collective sigh of relief when crossing back into Slovenia and headed towards Koper (Slovenia’s small but serviceable port on their paltry coast) and on to Piran – the coastal jewel of Slovenia.
But that’s another story. Back to Zagreb.
When we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia by train on the 7th, we had no place to stay but as has been our experience, generally we can find a decent place after one to two hours of door to door shopping at hotels, pensions, guest houses, apartments, treehouses, backseats of cars, etc. We’re pros now and even pre-pack little high-energy snacks in our backpacks in the event that during the scramble our blood sugar dips dangerously low and we make a rash decision. A candy bar or a hunk of cheese in these moments can easily mean the difference between settling for a $120 hotel right in front of you vs. a cute guesthouse at the top of a nearby hill for $45.
Our Lonely Planet Europe book has every single European country listed and weighing in at forty five pounds still has managed to earn its keep in my backpack. But a capital city like Zagreb is lucky to have three pages devoted to it. Luckily one tourist agent called EVISTAS was listed, and being just ten minutes from the train station on foot, it was our first stop once we arrived. As we walked there we noticed right away that Zagreb isn’t as pristine as Ljubljana and many of the cool, older buildings are clearly dilapidated with flaking paint, darkened entries, and some looking as if a carefully placed sneeze might bring them down.
We entered EVISTAS and were kindly greeted by a bearded man in his 40’s named Davor. After explaining our needs he sent us off down the street to view an apartment on the ground floor*. This place, while tidy enough, was a mildewy, dank mess with dark paint and painfully un-fengshui’d bed set up that truly creeped me out. You know those times when you walk into a room at a hotel and you feel like someone or something awful happened here? You get the picture.
We left in a hurry and back-tracked to EVISTAS. Molly chatted with Davor and we asked respectfully for something better. M charmed him a little to improve our odds, and he located another unit through switching another reservation and proceeded to start another drawing with verbal directions…which I will detail below in all their splendor.
Davor: Go down the street to the right and pass the ‘new’ doors to the next building with old doors. Use the ‘green’ key and go straight passed the mailboxes and then out through the courtyard (he then scribble doodled a few tree shapes for effect), then up some stairs and into the next building, and up to the second floor** where you look at two doors across from each other.
Molly and David: Yeah, yeah, we got you.
Davor: One door has someone’s name on it. That’s not yours.
David: (looking at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the apartment that is not ours’ look)
Davor: The unmarked one across the way is yours. Use the ‘yellow’ key here, but….it’s a new door painted to look like an old door…
David: (looking again at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the new old door’ look)
Davor: …and the lock is a bit off, so what you’ll need to do is turn the key a half turn to the left, then jiggle the handle before turning the key the remainder of the way.
Molly and David: Um, okay, so that’s…
Davor: Once inside you’ll see another door in front of you. That’s not yours.
David: (thinks to self – a little less of the information we DON’T need might help here)
Davor: There will be another door to the right and that is yours.
David: (thinks to self – yes! That is what I like to hear. The directions I NEED to remember!)
Davor: Take the ‘blue’ key and use it to enter a very small apartment.
M and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. If we find this place we outta get a reward; a pot of gold or something. We asked Davor if there would be a leprechaun awaiting us inside on this treasure hunt. He laughed and laughed and said that there would perhaps be some brandy awaiting us. So M and I left in search of the magical apartment and unbelievably found it on the first try. It was great for us – and cheap. We returned to pay Davor and collect our reward jokingly. He turned out to be serious and without hesitation went into the back room and came out with 3 small glasses and an unmarked bottle with some mysterious clear liquid inside. We asked what it was but he poured first and said ‘you must try.’ As the full shot singed our throats, he explained it was grape brandy made by a friend. It was lethal stuff, and M was gasping for a bit of time. But it was a great lead in to another 30 minutes or so that we stayed to speak with him about Croatia and recent history since the early 90’s when everything turned upside down. It was a wonderfully memorable time and we thanked him as we headed out with treasure map in nad, back to our cheap two night apartment in the heart of Zagreb.
*In Europe, the ‘first’ floor is what Americans call the second floor. Of course this makes complete sense really, but being an American, I am hopelessly confused each time we check into a place and there’s that moment of counting on my fingers as I hesitantly take the key handed to me at reception.
**Remember to do the Europe to America floor conversion, this is the third floor!
Back tracking…
On the 6th we drove from our fairytale castle stay in Sepulje, Slovenia south through the amazing wine region until we decided to hang a right turn into….ITALY! A painless border crossing with passports flashed and we were on our way to Trieste which sadly was a hideous let down from what we could see; a huge industrial port town with pumping smoke stacks, scary freeways built into the side of the mountains before they ultimately descend down to the crammed and viewless waterfront, a sea of city signs in Italian and Slovenian pointing in every which direction. We headed for Muggia and then Koper in Slovenia, with only a few mis-steps. On this gloriously sunny day, the silly Italians packed the coastal “beaches” which were literally cement walls and cement walkways on the other side of the only road the gripped the coast. It was a laughable and almost disturbing that these tanned bodies crammed in here like pigeons scrounging at a garbage heap in such an undesirable location as this. We literally breathed a collective sigh of relief when crossing back into Slovenia and headed towards Koper (Slovenia’s small but serviceable port on their paltry coast) and on to Piran – the coastal jewel of Slovenia.
But that’s another story. Back to Zagreb.
When we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia by train on the 7th, we had no place to stay but as has been our experience, generally we can find a decent place after one to two hours of door to door shopping at hotels, pensions, guest houses, apartments, treehouses, backseats of cars, etc. We’re pros now and even pre-pack little high-energy snacks in our backpacks in the event that during the scramble our blood sugar dips dangerously low and we make a rash decision. A candy bar or a hunk of cheese in these moments can easily mean the difference between settling for a $120 hotel right in front of you vs. a cute guesthouse at the top of a nearby hill for $45.
Our Lonely Planet Europe book has every single European country listed and weighing in at forty five pounds still has managed to earn its keep in my backpack. But a capital city like Zagreb is lucky to have three pages devoted to it. Luckily one tourist agent called EVISTAS was listed, and being just ten minutes from the train station on foot, it was our first stop once we arrived. As we walked there we noticed right away that Zagreb isn’t as pristine as Ljubljana and many of the cool, older buildings are clearly dilapidated with flaking paint, darkened entries, and some looking as if a carefully placed sneeze might bring them down.
We entered EVISTAS and were kindly greeted by a bearded man in his 40’s named Davor. After explaining our needs he sent us off down the street to view an apartment on the ground floor*. This place, while tidy enough, was a mildewy, dank mess with dark paint and painfully un-fengshui’d bed set up that truly creeped me out. You know those times when you walk into a room at a hotel and you feel like someone or something awful happened here? You get the picture.
We left in a hurry and back-tracked to EVISTAS. Molly chatted with Davor and we asked respectfully for something better. M charmed him a little to improve our odds, and he located another unit through switching another reservation and proceeded to start another drawing with verbal directions…which I will detail below in all their splendor.
Davor: Go down the street to the right and pass the ‘new’ doors to the next building with old doors. Use the ‘green’ key and go straight passed the mailboxes and then out through the courtyard (he then scribble doodled a few tree shapes for effect), then up some stairs and into the next building, and up to the second floor** where you look at two doors across from each other.
Molly and David: Yeah, yeah, we got you.
Davor: One door has someone’s name on it. That’s not yours.
David: (looking at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the apartment that is not ours’ look)
Davor: The unmarked one across the way is yours. Use the ‘yellow’ key here, but….it’s a new door painted to look like an old door…
David: (looking again at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the new old door’ look)
Davor: …and the lock is a bit off, so what you’ll need to do is turn the key a half turn to the left, then jiggle the handle before turning the key the remainder of the way.
Molly and David: Um, okay, so that’s…
Davor: Once inside you’ll see another door in front of you. That’s not yours.
David: (thinks to self – a little less of the information we DON’T need might help here)
Davor: There will be another door to the right and that is yours.
David: (thinks to self – yes! That is what I like to hear. The directions I NEED to remember!)
Davor: Take the ‘blue’ key and use it to enter a very small apartment.
M and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. If we find this place we outta get a reward; a pot of gold or something. We asked Davor if there would be a leprechaun awaiting us inside on this treasure hunt. He laughed and laughed and said that there would perhaps be some brandy awaiting us. So M and I left in search of the magical apartment and unbelievably found it on the first try. It was great for us – and cheap. We returned to pay Davor and collect our reward jokingly. He turned out to be serious and without hesitation went into the back room and came out with 3 small glasses and an unmarked bottle with some mysterious clear liquid inside. We asked what it was but he poured first and said ‘you must try.’ As the full shot singed our throats, he explained it was grape brandy made by a friend. It was lethal stuff, and M was gasping for a bit of time. But it was a great lead in to another 30 minutes or so that we stayed to speak with him about Croatia and recent history since the early 90’s when everything turned upside down. It was a wonderfully memorable time and we thanked him as we headed out with treasure map in nad, back to our cheap two night apartment in the heart of Zagreb.
*In Europe, the ‘first’ floor is what Americans call the second floor. Of course this makes complete sense really, but being an American, I am hopelessly confused each time we check into a place and there’s that moment of counting on my fingers as I hesitantly take the key handed to me at reception.
**Remember to do the Europe to America floor conversion, this is the third floor!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Short And Sweet
Updated Tonite:Links to pictures (see right side) for Morocco, Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia. Check 'em out if you have a sec.
Time flew tonite so here's a quick list of where we've been the last month. We are off to Budapest tomorrow early and staying there and in Hungary for about a week in all likelihood. Hopefully more internet time soon. We're doing great and having an amazing time exploring, talking with locals and getting a better understanding of the conflicts and recent (relatively) creation of Slovenia, Croatia, etc, and the tensions that still exist, as well as how joining the European Union is positively and negatively impacting the countries.
April 03-17; Morocco (Marrakech, Essaouira, Rabat, Fes, Casablanca)
fly...
April 17-19; Spain (Barcelona)
fly...
April 19-22; Germany (Berlin)
train...
April 22-27; Czech Republic (Prague, Ceske Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov)
train...
April 27-29; Austria (Graz)
train...
April 29-May 07; Slovenia (Ljubljana, Bled, Sepulje, Postoroz, Piran)
train...
May 07-09; Croatia (Zagreb)
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