Splitting our way down the Dalmation Coast

We caught a morning bus from Skradin, the journey back to Sibenik was much better - the driver used two hands on the wheel and even braked at corners!!

We hopped on board the bus to Split and several hours later we arrived at Split Harbour only to be ambushed by elderly natives trying to sell you accomodation for the night. Like turtoises, with our rucksacks on our backs, we set off to find our pre-booked apartment. The apartment was beautiful with air conditioning (not to mention very overpriced) however it was extremely close to the harbour and Diocelin's Palace.

The harbour and Diocelin's Palace in the background

The next day we went for breakfast and Sam was faced with a big disappointment. The "Americano" he ordered was so small he dreaded to see the size of an expresso!

we hunted out a quiet beach and spent most of the day there, swimming and relaxing, before catching the 5pm Catamaran to Korcula Island.

Despite arriving half an hour early for the Catamaran, we were yet again let down by the "continental queueing system" which resulted in us arriving first and boarding last. We arrived in Korcula at 7.30pm and found our LonelyPlanet recommended guesthouse overlooking the beautiful harbour! As it was a Sunday night and all the shops were shut, unfortunately we had no choice but to eat out..again! Not only had our room airconditioning, but also satelitte tv with Little Britain dubbed into German, "computer sagt nein.."

The view from our balcony

Korcula is the home to famous explorer Marco Polo

The following day we rented snorkels, masks and fins and boarded a taxi boat to Lumbarda on the other side of the island.

After a hard day swimming and relaxing we headed back to Korcula and went out for dinner to a traditional 'taverna' restaurant. We enjoyed Pogacice (a kind of Croatian pizza with roasted veg on top) and home made macaroni.

Noone offered to take our photo so we compromised...

...some were not as lucky as us - such as this stray cat who could only find a few strands of grass between the cobbles to nibble at...

Before leaving Korcula we treated ourselves to a giant ice cream! During our holiday we have been quite the connoisseurs of ice creams - having one most days! Although this home made ice cream was good - it still did not beat Enricos in Vienna! Yum...

After a long journey on the ferry, a rip of taxi up the hill, a walk down the hill and back up again (because he dropped us in the wrong place) we arrived in our gueshouse in Dubrovnik yesterday evening. After we 'freshened up' we found this view over the harbour!

Dubrovnik is our last destination of this holiday... our final blog post will from London town! Bye for now :)

Bye Slovenia, Hello Croatia!

On our last day in Slovenia we headed to the Karst region to explore the Postojna Caves full of stalacmites and stalagtites. Sam was excited to hear that tour involved a 5km mini-train ride around the cave network...unfortunaely we were both disappointed to find this "5km" was actually 2.5km there before returning on the same stretch of railway.

After the caves we returned to Ljubljana to Hostel Tabor our non-prison but prison feeling hostel...

The next day we had an early start and caught our last train of the trip, the 8.15am train to Zagreb! As we left the EU we got a Croatian passport stamp...Sam was excited by this! 

 

 

At Zagreb we boarded a 4hour bus to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. After what felt like forever we arrived at Plitvice, at a stop in the middle of nowhere - thankfully we were met by our guesthouse owner, Igor (Mary was disappointed he didnt look like this...)



Soon after we visited the beautiful Plitvice Lakes National Park:- we walked around and soaked up the scenary and had a very nice afternoon.

Back at the cottage we settled in for a nights sleep but ran into a few problems with insects. Mosquitos buzzed past our ears, spiders lurked under pillows whilst little-jumping-unidentiable insects jumped underneath blankets in our beds. The biggest shock came whilst Mary was trying to murder mozzies...a giant dragon-fly decended from the ceiling, we made fruitless attemps to trap it with a saucepan in order to free it outside but in haste of the moment it flew into the light fitting. Mary was distraught, feeling responsible for its death, meanwhile the distinct smell of burning toast did not ease her pain!

The next morning we found giant moths outside the front door...thankfully they had not been in the room...they we as large as Marys hands put together which is more than a little disturbing.

We hopped on a bus bound for Sibenik and 4 hours later we arrived, only to find out we had missed our connection to Skradin by 10minutes and that the next was not due for over 4hours. The bus had been so hot, when we made a stop at Zadar we were not surprised to see the temperature outside was 36degrees, however thankfully a seabreeze at Sibenik made it a little more bearable. The sea looked very inviting and refreshing, alas to our dismay there was no swimming area so we did what we do best - wasted time people watching with a beer and lots of food...

After waiting an additional 45mins on our delayed bus to Skradin, we boarded what could have very well been our "final journey." The busdriver (who rudely tutted at us getting on for giving him the equivalent of a £10 note for the £4 fare) was rushing, flirting with young female passengers, whilst steering the prehistoric bus at high speed around sharp corners with one hand on the wheel!!

After a good nights sleep we caught the ferry from the nearby harbour to Krka National Park. Here we walked around the park on boardwalks and swam in a plunge pool of the mighty Skradinski Buk waterfall (Sam had issues with the algae on the rocks, touching it and saying "ewwy" in a heartfelt feminine way...nevertheless the brave soul prevailed and we both really enjoyed it).

 

Exploration of the Julian Alps

Here is a snapshot of our time in the Slovenian Alps:

Being our usual lazy selves, we rented a Oprah the Opel in Bled (backpacks + hills + hot temps = silly!!!) and journeyed through the Triglav National Park. 

Visited Kranjska Gora, an out of season ski resort with a 1.5km toboggan run, which we braved.

Looked in awe at the world's largest ski jump.

Nipped accross the border to Italy (it looked the same as Slovenia but they spoke Italian).

Stopped at the beautiful Italian Fusine lakes and ate Italian ice cream in Tarvisio.

Stayed in a hippy eco-camp in the spectacular Soca Valley. We shared the camp with giant insects - thank fully our "lean-to" tent seperated us from the wilderness!

During our stay we met some interesting people, including the Slovenian Ant or Dec (the presenter of Slovenia's Got Talent) and one of the Slovenian Prime Minster's Advisors (although Sam is convinced he met a secret agent)... He did not give away any internal secrets, but did let slip that there are bears in the Julian Alps! 


Whited water rafted down the emerald green Soca River, managed to interpret the Slovene instructions without falling in (excluding the one time Mary back-flopped into the water and had to be dragged unceremoniously back in to the raft, did I say that? oops) and even had a swim in the freezing cold water.

Ventured through hair pin bends over the Italian border towards Sella Nevea Montasio. We drove the extremally steep, winding road (in first gear) to 1,660m; before heading around the mountain through the fields of ginger cows to a small cheese making cottage, in search of authentic Montasio Alpine cheese, which we later devoured in the car.  The area is Marmot territory, but Mary was disappointed not to meet another rodent friend.

Bravely trailed through tree tops, "tarzaning" suspended on high-wires and tight ropes. Although Mary conquered the first two courses, Sam was the only brave (idiot) to attempt the third...

Even though it was sketchy at times...

...he succesfully finished!

 Drove the hair-raising Vršič-Pass (dubbed by Top Gear as "the greatest driving road in the world")... Sam negotiated the tightest bends he had ever seen, whilst managing to dodge exhausted cyclists, suicidal bikers, hidden hikers, cars over the white line and humongous coaches!!

 

 Stopped at vista-points along the way including the Pagan Girl and the Russian Chapel where we made friends with a local, Shaun...

Swam in Lake Bohinj (Lake Bled's bigger brother). The water was beautifully clear and warm. 

 We then returned Oprah (begrudgingly) and prepared for the next leg of our journey: to the Postojna Caves and then on to our final country... 

Bled Cake and beyond

This blog post comes from our hostel room in Bled, in the Slovenian Alps. We have had abnormally hot weather up until now - peaking at 34 degrees! However, we are now sitting through the biggest thunderstorm we have ever seen... hopefully it will all pass by tomorrow night when we will be staying in a tent!!

Anyway, en route to Bled we spoke to a Slovenian couple on the train who insisted that the first thing we did when we arrived was seek out the legendary Bled Cake. Reluctantly (NOT) we tracked down the Park Hotel (where the cake was born 60 years ago) and ordered one each... 

It was Mary's idea of heaven... basically two layers of puff pastry filled with custard and cream = nom nom.

...all full up we set off to explore the surroundings! Lake Bled really is as beautiful as we envisaged. The lake is in a valley surrounded by the Julian Alps...

...has a fairytale-esque island in the centre of the crystal clear turquoise lake...

 

...and an ancient castle built on the cliff face overlooking the lake.

After our exploration we had a celebratory chinese (congratulations Emily!) at the restaurant next to our hostel. As you will see there are no photos of this meal - this is because the food was terrible! We do not wish to discuss this any further as we both still bitter about the experience. Nevertheless, we had a 'lol' moment when Sam played the ignorant tourist and "couldn't understand" when the waitress jestured to round the bill up for a tip (N.B. the bill was 30euro..and we were not full!)


Today we spent some more time around the lake and rented a swan called Max...

 Max was a beast to steer but Sam did a wonderful job there and back!!! (Mary supervised of course)

After a hard couple of hours rowing Sam cooled his feet in the lake in preparation for his next challenge: 3 days of driving through TopGear-alicious alpine roads.

Hungary for Slovenia...

On Sunday we left Lake Balaton and took the short journey to Heviz, home of the only thermal/mildly radioactive lake in the whole wild world (or so the sign told us). The lake was more of a day centre for the elderly, attempting to cure their ailments: we predicted the average age to be 65 years.

The lake was an amazing 35 degrees...a little bit nausiating (especially for Mary) considering the weather was 32 degrees and the mild smell of sulpher was like rotten eggs. However, this smell did remind Sam of Sunny Scunny. 

Sam enjoyed the water but found it a challenge swimming amongst the lilly pads and newts. Mary, however, enjoyed it. 

 

The next day we left our pension (our room was upgraded to an apartment!!) to make the long journey to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We took a 1 hour train to Ukk, where we waited 3 hours for the connection, where we had planned to rehydrate and eat lunch. However, our plans were thwarted and this was the view from Ukk station. 

Note: no vending machine, no town, no shop, no pub, no restaurant, no WC...
Somehow, we managed the rest of the day and the 7 hour connection with 1/2 a pack of biscuits, a few honey cheerios and a bottle of imitation Fanta...

Ljubljana, sLOVEnia - a beautiful city

The Dragon Bridge

The Triple Bridge

 Yesterday we spent the day sight seeing  in 30 degree heat. Fortunately, Auntie Christine's method kept us both cool and refreshed...

 We took a tour of the castle, in which we were shown an "informative" 3d film (even though it looked the same when you took off the glasses). Between doses, Sam made light of the situation...

From the top of the tower.

 Today we left our hostel and headed to Atlantis water park - the most overrated water park in the world! Despite only having 2 slides, we managed to have a nice relaxing day and soaked up some rays.

 Following the faithful lonely planet bible's suggestion, we checked in to a renovated prison for the night....

 

The hostel was a real prison until 1991 and all the cells have now been converted into guest rooms, fitted with door and window bars...

 

Sam particuarly liked to pretend that he was in Prison Break/Shawshank Redemption/Green Mile. 

Our funky dorm for the night

It is night night from us: we're off to go watch Prison Break and nurse Mary better before lights out. Tomorrow: Alpine fairytale land! Sweet dreams *clunk*...