Balkanology

Bosnia is... a little rough around the edges...  The river is brown, there is trash everywhere, and evidence of the recent war runs rampant.  However, it has a unique flavor all its own.  Muslims constitute 45% of the population, Orthodox Christians 36%, and Catholics another 15%.  This unlikely combination gives Bosnia a curious intrigue that draws you in.  The tops of the minarets peek out over the city and the crosses on the cathedrals stand beside them.  Then the call to prayer sounds throughout the town, in stark contrast to the church bells.  It's a little strange, but somehow it works.

Stari Most, Mostar

  After my stay in Dubrovnik, I traveled across the border to Mostar, famous for its bridge that collapsed in 1993 after persistent shelling attacks.  Now the bridge is rebuilt exactly as before, but the town still houses many ghosts from the past.  The owner of the hostel I stayed at picked me up from the bus station and gave me a tour of the city, showing me the front line of the war, where the snipers used to hide, and she described what the sunken-in buildings used to be.  Entire cemeteries, not just in Mostar but throughout Bosnia as well, are full with people who died only between the years of 1993-95.  It was really one of those eye-opening experiences, and I realized how lucky we are as Americans that we haven't had a war fought on our ground for over a century.  In Bosnia, and even across Europe from the World Wars or other recent conflicts, you can still see scars on the towns, and inside the people's minds as well.  Every person I met in Bosnia had a story about someone who passed away, or someone who escaped across the border, or even their own stories about getting personally involved in the conflict... we are very lucky indeed to not have had to deal with something like this for sometime within our own borders.

Sarajevo

   After Mostar, I traveled up to the capital Sarajevo for two days.  I met a guy from California who was taking a break from running his orphanage in Ethiopia, so we explored the city a bit.  Sarajevo is easy to see in a short amount of time, and we got to cross the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, starting WWI.  I had another little wake-up call then, as I passed a young girl, no older than 12, dressed in dirty clothes and smoking a cigarette.  Of course, I instantly started judging her (why is it that humans judge each other so much?), when she suddenly introduced herself and her friends to me, shook my hand, and told me I had beautiful eyes.  We got to talking and she actually turned out to be a cool kid.  Later, I looked back, slightly ashamed of myself as I realized that even if someone has a lifestyle I wouldn't necessarily choose for myself, that it shouldn't give me grounds to judge anyone, especially if I know nothing about them.  After all, we're all just trying to get by, right?
  I finished up Sarajevo with a St. Patty's Day beer with some German girls that knew of this great place that used to be an old cinema, but is now refurbished as a bar...such a genius concept!
   After a few days in Bosnia, I headed off to Montenegro, one of the world's newest countries.  This part of the world has been great to travel in, but it is definitely not easy to get around.  Trains are virtually nonexistent, bus schedules are nowhere to found online, and the routes can change without notice.  Buses might go only once a day, or only on even-numbered days.. it can be a bit of a headache.  I've stopped booking hostels in advance because I never know if I'll make it where I want to go that day, but luckily it's still the off season, so I can always show up knowing any hostel will have a spot for me.  I've done a lot of figuring things out by word of mouth.. this region can be enjoyed as long as you are really willing to listen to other travelers' suggestions on where to go, what to see, what to avoid.  It's fun, because I don't really know where I'll be two days from now.

Lovely Montenegro

   Anyways, to get from Bosnia to Montenegro was an adventure.  The road crosses into Croatia, back to Bosnia, and back to Croatia, where I caught a 'bus' (really a tiny van) to Montenegro, and then two more city buses to reach Kotor.  Phew!  But it was definitely worth it, because the Adriatic coast of Montenegro is beautiful!  I truly regret not staying a day or two more.  The first night, we went out to Club Maximus, the biggest club in the country, and I have to say it was one of the most impressive clubs I've seen in Europe.  Which is funny, because Kotor only has about 13,000 people...   The next day I went with Jimmy from California, and we climbed a mountain!  At the edge of Kotor, there is a trail up to an old fortress, but then beyond that is part of the mountain range, and I'm proud to say we successfully reached the summit of one of them.  And we made some donkey and goat friends along the way :)
    Too quickly I left for Albania.  Now if Bosnia is rough around the edges, Albania is like sharp knives.. or something.  After 4 bus rides, I managed to find my way to the capital Tirana.  Dirty, loud, and chaotic are good words to describe Albania.  Earlier I prided myself on not having been culture shocked thus far on my trip... that ended when we drove past a meat market with an entire dead skinned cow hanging in the window.  And around the corner were live, sedated chickens just waiting to be someone's dinner. Add that to squat toilets, and the first city where I was told not to drink the water... Alright, Albania... you got me :)  But quite honestly, for all the mess and chaos happening, Tirana has a pleasant atmosphere about it.  Everyone just seems so.. happy.  Much more so than in Bosnia, where everyone seemed kind of down in the dumps.  There isn't too much to see in Tirana, but I met an American girl who had been living in Albania for almost two years, so we spent some time together and went to a local pub one night with an extremely talented Serbian singer.  I also got to experience Nowruz, the Persian New Year.  In reality, it didn't mean much except that no one had to work, but it was a national holiday to observe the first day of spring as well.

Tirana

      People have asked me if these countries are particularly dangerous to travel in, but I have to say I don't feel any more unsafe than I did at any point in my trip.  I've been a bit more on guard, mostly due to the beggars, but I haven't felt threatened at all.  People are genuinely nice and I haven't seen much difference in regards to personal safety as I've moved east.  Although one thing I'm extremely grateful for is that my hair is brown.  People are nice, but they have a tendency to stare.  It's not a horrible thing to have people find out I'm an American (a lot of people over here love Americans), but I try not to draw too much attention to myself when I'm just walking alone.  And having bright blond hair in countries where literally everyone has dark hair is just like putting a sign on my forehead.  Some people take notice anyway, since I'm a young girl walking alone, but I think that most people dismiss me as a local high school kid.  The blue eyes, however, are a dead giveaway, and the stares once people realize you are a foreigner can be a little relentless.  So I thank my lucky stars that my hair is brown instead of blond (and Sarah and Jenny for dyeing it :)
Next stop from Albania will be Macedonia and then possibly on to Kosovo! Until next time :)

Eurotrip Part Two

Plitvice

   It's official.  Croatia is my new favorite country!  For the first time in over a month, I'm almost warm again.  No more snow, no more clouds- it's incredible!  After my stay in Ljubljana, I went to the capital Zagreb for two days.  Nothing too exciting is going on there, but it's a lovely city to just wander and get completely lost for a few hours.  I also took a day trip to Plitvice National Park, which was amazing!  There was no one in the whole park, so I conveniently avoided the $11 entrance fee and wandered for a few hours.  My only regret was that I didn't get to see it when it was warmer, but everything was still gorgeous with miles of waterfalls, trees, rivers, and forests.

 

Sunset in Split

   For about a week after that, I holed up in the bustling town of Split, right on the Dalmatian Coast.  And for the cool price of just $30 a day, I had the luxury of my own bedroom, bathroom, closet, refrigerator, and microwave!  It made for a nice change from bunk beds and being woken up at 2 every morning by people barging in from somewhere trying to make their bed in the bunk above you.  Split is a nice little town to base yourself in, the epitome of coastal city.  Everyone is always out and about on the streets, but never in a hurry.  I've decided no one actually works there, because the main promenade is always packed with people dining at the cafes and going for a stroll.  It's not quite warm enough to shed my jacket yet, but the days have been beautiful and sunny, perfect for an hour or two on a bench watching the world go by.  My days in Croatia have been spent doing a lot of nothing.  Reading, sitting in the sun, getting myself purposely lost, and hours of walking aimlessly.  It's nice to do nothing for a change.  One day I randomly hopped on a bus and ended up in Trogir, a little walled island. Another day, I went on a ferry to Bol, a city on Brac Island. I also got to experience Carnival, which in Croatia basically means dressing up like it's Halloween, drinking in the streets, and hopping around to different free concerts across the city :)  And the children do a little Carnival parade which is absolutely precious to watch.

Trogir

    I've decided this marks part two of my journey, because I am now no longer in the EU.  In Europe, yes, but not within the Union boundaries.  The next part of my trip will take me to that obscure part of the world know as the "Western Balkans."  This exhilarates me a bit, because I know absolutely nothing about any of these countries.  My first stop will be Bosnia and Herzegovina and then I'll go around the area.  "But aren't those countries scary?" people have asked me.  Well, maybe, but I've decided that between the media and our government, we are spoon-fed so many misperceptions about the world, and these places aren't as 'scary' as we might think.  Actually, most places end up surprising me.  Like Croatia, for instance.  All my travel book managed to do was unnecessarily freak me out about losing my leg to a landmine, but from what I've seen, the place is a lot cleaner and more efficient than, say, the southern parts of some EU countries.

Bol

   In reality, this trip so far has really not been met with many difficulties.  Sure, I've had some language barriers to cross, and I get lost a lot, but in general, traveling on my own has not been that hard at all.  I guess the fact I've been to Europe several times has been working in my favor, so culture shock has been a non-issue.  Also, I've been with Alex for over two years, so that might have given me at least the tiniest insight into a European frame of mind... maybe?  But with my computer it's been so easy to look up train schedules, metro stops, and google map just about everything.  More than that though, it's the people I have to thank.  I know that I mentioned before some people being rude, but for every disgruntled local I've met, there have been 10 more who have gone out of their way to help me out.  The little old lady who walks with me to whatever place I've asked directions for, the bus driver who gets out at my station to make sure I get on the right connecting bus, the passerby who offers to carry my grocery bags... people look out for you, and in today's world, I think the underlying kindness of humans needs to be remembered.  Well, I suppose that's my inspirational speech for the day :)  Now I'm finishing up a few days in Dubrovnik, another one of my favorite towns, then I'll slowly make my way across the Balkans to Turkey. Wish me luck!

Dubrovnik

Heading East

I am so far behind in this blog.. everything I'm writing happened so long ago!

View of Pest

Well last week after my time in Austria, I went to Budapest for the weekend and stayed with Geri, who I met back in January in Rome.  Budapest just might be my favorite city so far!  Once again, it is a little off the typical tourist path, at least at this time of the year, and for the first time, I could really see the Eastern influence in the architecture and buildings, which adds an irresistible charm to the place. My first night there, we climbed up to the citadel for a fantastic view of the city.  For reference, Budapest actually used to be two cities, Buda and Pest, split in half by the Danube river.  Buda has the castle and citadel, and Pest contains most of the old town, but now they've been combined to make one city that we know as Budapest.
The next day, Geri had to do some things for class, so his roommates took me to the gym to play squash! I didn't even really know what squash was until I got there, but it's kind of like racquetball.  And it turns out that I'm actually not that bad at it!  I gave the boys a run for their money :)  Later that day, we walked around the city a bit, but it was so cold that we ended up going back to the flat and watching episodes of the Big Bang Theory.  Typical Hungarian day, I suppose.  My last day in Hungary, we walked around and took a visit to see the medicinal baths (too expensive for my budget to actually go in though..), and we went to the Terror Haza Museum, featuring exhibits about the communist regime in Hungary.  In the basement were reconstructed prison cells to show how prisoners were tortured and confined in that very building... a little unsettling..
   Then my time in Budapest was over too quickly, leading me to probably the biggest monetary mistake I've made on this trip.  Oops.  My plan was to go to Ljubljana, but almost any destination from Budapest is... well, tricky.  The only direct train that I found didn't get in until 2 am, and I decided that showing up alone in a new city at the wee hours of the morning was a poor choice.  So I opted for the 11 hour train that went back to Salzburg and arrived at 6:30 in the morning.  Only problem? I failed to figure out the cost beforehand, so instead of the direct train which would have cost me $40, I ended up paying $120.  Ouch.  And it turns out, I got kind of sick on the train... probably too much pizza :)... but I decided to hop off in Salzburg around 1 am, wander back to the hostel I stayed at before, sleep for a few hours, and then head on to Slovenia, adding another $20 or so to my total cost of the day.  Fail.

Lake Bled and the castle

    Well, the train was still worth it, because I adored Ljubljana.  Hardly a tourist in sight, Ljubljana has a very eclectic, funky vibe to it.  All the shops and cafes were very unique, streaming fun music into the streets, and it almost seemed... hippie.  It was then that I realized that I just might have an inner hippie waiting to be free somewhere inside me.  Haha- I never thought that about before, but I guess bumming around Europe alone qualifies you for that status.  I also stayed in a sweet hostel that used to be a jail.  Now the cells are converted into hostel dorms. It was very cool until I saw the bloodstains on the wall... just kidding!  The next day I met Jin from Japan, and we took a daytrip to Lake Bled.  In the middle of the lake is Slovenia's only island, home of a huge cathedral.  The only way to get to church is by boat!  We decided not to take the expensive tourist ferry to the island, but to climb up the side of a mountain to Bled Castle for some fabulous views of the city.  Because of the cold, and the fact that we saw more chickens, dogs, and ducks than actual people, we decided to call it a day, and he went back to his hostel in Bled, and I took the bus back to Ljubljana for the night.
    After that it was off to Croatia!  Let me take a few seconds to explain the intricacies of visa regulations for the EU.  Currently, US citizens can travel to Europe for 90 days within a period of 6 months without a visa.  This means 3 months in Europe, then 3 months out.  The part that gets confusing is that this applies to countries that are a part of the Schengen Agreement, which is not necessarily the European Union, but it is close.  And countries that use the Euro are something different altogether.  The point is, I am reaching my max number of days in the area (I'm about at 70), so I want to pause and regroup myself before going back in, so Croatia it is, because it is not part of the Schengen countries.  Therefore, I can stay here as long as I want (within reason..)  This meant passport control for the first time since coming to Spain in December.  That is one thing though that the EU has done very well for itself- erasing the border controls.  Every time I pass a country border, I've gotten used to seeing abandoned checkpoints, and it makes the whole travel process so much easier, especially since countries are so small here. But now, I have a little stamp officially welcoming me to Croatia.  Anyways, this will be a good break for me.  I will travel down the coast and hang out in some beach towns and work on some job applications for the fall.  A breath of fresh air, because I feel like I might be getting burnt out on moving around so much and the fast pace of seeing so much all at once.  So after I have time to plan my next leg of my journey (and cry over the status of my bank account :), then I'll head out again with a revived energy.  That's all for now!

And the journey continues...

Wow... so much has happened in the past 2 weeks that I haven't had time to sit down and write!  I shall start at the beginning.  After my week in the Czech Republic with my aunt, I ventured back into Germany for a weekend in Munich.  Nothing too remarkable happened here, although I really like the city a lot.  I met a guy on the street doing some kind of survey, and when he found out I was American, he said, "Oh, I love America! I want to go to New York and I listen all the time to hip hop!"  He seemed really confused when I tried to explain that New York was great, but he should see more than just that if he came to America.  I tried to tell him that saying New York is "America," is like saying Paris is "Europe."  Sure, it gives you a good idea of the place and it's a great city to visit, but there's so much more to our country than just New York City.  And he was extremely appalled when I told him I don't even particularly like hip hop.  "But you're American!" he said... And I laughed and said, "Yes, but not every American listens to hip hop and lives in a big city."  Do you see sometimes how stereotypes can be dangerous things? It was actually quite amusing to hear what he thought about our country, because so many people have commented to me on things that they see in the movies or on American television, but aren't necessarily true.  It's also helped me remember to keep an open mind about the places I've been going, and not just rely on a few stereotypical things that I've heard.
   Anyways, while in Munich, I took a day trip to Fussen to see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, the one that that was the inspiration for the Disneyland Castle!  Very cool, to say the least, but unfortunately it was so foggy that you couldn't see it until you got right up next to it.

The view you are supposed to see

The view I saw :)

Nevertheless, the castle was definitely worth the journey, and on the way back down to the village, I met Mauricio and Jimena from Uruguay, and we tromped through the snow back to Munich and rewarded ourselves with a burger party at McDonalds!

Alps

        After Munich, it was off to Austria with Salzburg as the first stop.  I had the Sound of Music soundtrack on repeat in my head for a few days, and I roamed around the city to learn all about Mozart and see his two homes.  But by far the most exhilarating thing I think I've done on this trip so far was to take a cable car up to the top of the Alps.  Once again, it was super foggy, so we passed through a cloud on the way up, and then the worker guy just left me there alone on the top of the mountain... So I started walking.  It's hard to describe the feeling I had, but I guess a good word might be awestruck.  All I could hear was the wind, the snow was up to my knees, and I was surrounded by clouds and mountains.  Completely and utterly amazing :)

    That night in the hostel, I had another cool traveler's moment, when I went down to the bar and ended up sitting with a group of 11 people.  All of us were traveling alone, we were representing 10 different countries and 6 different languages.  Yet we all had the common bond of travel and a story about where we came from, where we were going next, and an innate desire to experience the world.  Better yet, we all understood each other, and I realized that while traveling, it's so easy to make lifelong friends in just a few short hours.  I know that sounds cheesy, but I've met so many cool people over the past month or so that have offered to let me stay with them when I come to Brazil or Dubai or Australia, and I've offered the same, and I really do mean it.  The people I've met understand quitting your job to travel or spending every last cent you have on a trip, and with almost everyone I meet, there is just an instant measure of respect.. like a backpacker's code or something :)

Hallstatt

        After Salzburg, I went by bus to Hallstatt, a gem of a village nestled away in the Alps.  I showed up, perhaps stupidly, without booking a hostel and no idea where to go.  A kind hotel receptionist pointed me to the only hostel in town, but after a thorough search of the whole place, I couldn't find a single soul.  So I stashed my suitcase under a table and went exploring.  The town was just so beautiful and quiet, although I was a little annoyed when I walked into the only open shop and heard, "the DJ got us fallin in love again!!"  Really, America? Do you have to spoil everything? :) Other than that, the town was just absolutely adorable.  Upon return to the hostel three hours later, I still couldn't find anyone... so I got on a ferry, crossed the lake, and hopped on a train to Vienna.  I love how relatively easy things are here.  

      Vienna was.. alright.  There was nothing particularly wrong with it... I just wasn't blown away with it as much as I've been with other places.  Most cities I visit, I instantly love, but Vienna to me was just kind of... meh. Regardless, I met Rebecca from Tasmania and Yukiko from Japan, and we took the grand tour of Schonbrunn Palace, which was gorgeous.  Then we came back and watched Eurotrip in preparation for my daytrip to Bratislava!  And of course, Bratislava was absolutely nothing like the movie :)  In fact, I think I liked it even more than Vienna.  The city just seems so... unexploited as compared to places like Prague and Vienna.  There weren't a million souvenir shops and people trying to sell you tours.. it was just normal people going about their normal day.. a nice change of pace for me.  But I must say I chuckled to myself when I was standing outside a cafe reading the menu, when a guy in a tuxedo opened the door for me and led me to a super fancy restaurant, where I ordered pasta and wine.  Total price? 7 euros!  Other than Slovakia's cheap food, nothing else resembled Eurotrip at all.  That night I went back to Vienna and saw a hauntingly awesome performance of the Mozart Requiem in one of the cathedrals.
   And then, it was off to Hungary for the weekend.  But I've already written a lot, so for now I'll leave it at that!