Budapest and now India!

We spent a week together with Tara's family in Kesthely on the western shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. While there we spent a day taking a dip in a thermal lake (Europe's biggest maybe? who knows) at a nearby town called Hevis. We also took a day trip to Vienna, which was a good time (we all had sausages too, if you were wondering) Outside of that we just relaxed there for the week and enjoyed our trip interlude. We've passed the 3 month mark of our trip now. Seems like a ton has happened already and we've still got so much more planned...

After Balaton, we drove with Tara's brother, Ryan, to Budapest. We stopped just outside the centre at the Statue Park. Once communism fell in Hungary, all of the great statues people loved to look at for a reminder of who their heroes are, were taken down and eventually moved to this park. It was interesting to see these big statues of once powerful people. good job for making a park out of it though, instead of just destroying them like some of the other post-commie countries. After the park we drove into the city and parked our car in Pest, near the Jewish Quarter, and walked around for a few hours. We walked around some more of the city over the next couple of days and there are many great buildings in Budapest. However not all of them are well kept, like in Vienna. So you've got a lot of grand, beautiful buildings, and a bunch with broken windows and whatever. and of course, Hungary's claim to fame, the thermal baths. we spent our final afternoon in the city swimming in both hot and cold pools in a very nice bath house, I think it was Baroque architecture... but i don't know anything about architecture, so not sure if you can trust me.


Our host in Budapest also took us to a wine festival in a small town called Etyak which was good fun too. We ate some new foods and had wines too. Deep fried goose wings. some pizza like thing called Langos, cooked in a mud oven. and a sweet doughy pastry cooked over hot coals, that was both huge and delicious!

Right now we are in Mumbai, India! Big change. We spent 14 hours or something in Amsterdam on Tuesday before flying here early Wednesday morning. We arrived last night and spent today just walking around. It is hot! although to be honest i expected hotter. Like near death heat and I'm just not feeling it. But we're sweating up a storm either way. It's a big city, something like 16 million people, so its crowded with cars and people. On our walk today we saw an incredibly poor slum and then 15 minutes later were inside one of the most expensive hotels in the city. Pretty big gap in wealth I guess. After sitting in a large field (under some trees) watching a bunch of people play pick-up cricket, we had some lunch and spent the last few hours of the day on Chowpatty Beach. not swimming because the water is gross, just chilling (in the shade).
We kind of expected it to be like Egypt with people hassling us everywhere, but so far it hasn't been like that.

just a short update...ok maybe not so short.

Slovenia was excellent! we loved it there right away. it has a very quiet charm to it, which is our kind of charm. Ljubljana, the capital, was a very nice city. The architecture was grand of course, like many European capitals, and there was also a river through it, which always makes for a nice place to have a drink. The city also had a small area called Metalkova, which was an old army base that squatters took over in the 70s and have since lived there under more liberal rules than the rest of the country. There were a couple of bars there as well as a hostel which was converted from an old prison. some of the rooms were the cells. we didn't stay there, but it was pretty cool to see the rooms with bars still on the doors and windows.

After Ljubjana, we drove our rental car (a really old Renault 5 with 175,000 kms on it) into the Julian Alps. Driving on those mountain roads was a lot of fun, and provided us with some nice views. First we stopped at Lake Bled, which is right at the foot of the mountains, has a very nice old town that overlooks the water, and Slovenia's one and only island in the middle of the lake (it had a monastery of course). After Bled we went further into the mountains to Bohinj Lake, which was much quieter and less touristy. We parked our car here and started to walk. We trekked for 2 days, 4 hours on the first and about 8 on the second day. On the first day we walked up from 650 meters above sea level to about 1500m. we slept in a mountain lodge that is only reachable by foot and had some incredible views of the surrounding mountains peaks and down below of Bohinj Lake. The next day we got up early and walked 4 hours, up another 100 m to a place called Sedmera Jazera (7 lakes). it was fun walking through the snow, which still covered the trails in many places. the views were incredible! its too hard to describe. ill put up some pictures and you can see for yourselves. After having lunch there, we started going down. It got pretty steep at times, we had to hang on to cables that were in the rocks. Looking down it seemed that pretty clear that if we fell down we would roll/slide for a while and likely die, so that made it a little more thrilling. On the way down, we stopped at Crno Jazero (black lake), and then continued on down to where our car was. It was a great feeling when we got to flat ground again. Made us really excited for trekking in Nepal... although Tara said I need to move my ass a little faster.

After the mountains, we went to a cave, one of 7000 in Slovenia. It was pretty cool to see, because the walls, floor and ceilings of it still "grow". it grows by water slowly dripping through the rocks and just hardening over time... like 1cm per 100 years. So there were many of these finger shaped things everywhere. There was a river that ran through the floor of the cave as well. The only downside was that we had to tour the cave as part of a huge group with a guide, which we don't really care for, mostly because you have to deal with stupid people who don't be quiet, or are drunk like a few Polish guys.

Right now we are in Khestely, which is on the western shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary. Tara`s family came to visit us and we are spending the week with them around here before we head to Budapest on Friday.

The last 10 days in Croatia

OK, so we're really behind on these posts. We're leaving Croatia for Slovenia tomorrow and are only now updating you... we've been busy, you know, seeing stuff...

We first arrived in Dubrovnik, which is a coastal city in the far south of Croatia. It's famous for its old town, which sits on the water and all of the rooftops are covered with red-stone tiles. We were hoping that it wouldn't be a let down, just because of all the other old towns that we have visited by this point, but it was not. We spent about 4 or 5 hours walking around the old town, and had our daily ice cream of course. There was a nice church to check out there, and while we were sitting inside an old woman approached us to beg for change. As she was walking away from us, she farted. It was a beautiful moment.

We rented a car there and drove up the coast, first to have some seafood for lunch in a town called Mali Ston (the area is known for its oysters and mussels, we had both). From there we drove out onto the Peljesac Peninsula and found a place to camp almost at the end of it, at an abandoned church. Sorry if that offends anyone, but it really was a great place to camp. Churches always get the best viewpoints, and there wasn't much flat ground around there, so God left us no choice. Besides it was probably one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. It was so pink/orange and we could see it sink into the sea in between the peninsula and an island right across from us. It was beautiful. After that we continued driving up the coast to an area called the Makarska Riviera, for some more beach time. We stayed in the main town called Makarska, and our balcony had a nice view of the beach and the sunset. We spent one day lying around the beach in Makarska and the next day in the town north of there called Brela. Most of the beaches here are pebble and not sand, which didn't sound great at first, but it has its benefits. Like there's no sand to stick to everything. I can't think of another one, but that's a big one for me. The water here is also really clear, we're constantly stopping to looking into the sea in amazement of it.

Once beach time was over, we drove to Split, but only spent a few hours there. There wasn't much to see, just Diocletian's palace. We drove out of town and camped in a quiet bay on the water. it was of course, a really cool place to be camping.

Our next day was spent at Krka National Park, which despite its name wasn't as much like a national park as we had hoped. The main thing to see there are these really beautiful waterfalls, which are formed by plants growing on top of other plants that have grown out of the limestone base. This set of falls comes down in 17 steps. However, we didn't realize but the day we were there was labour day in Croatia, so the park was rammed! Besides the fact that you could drive your car or scooter almost all the way up to the falls, there were people everywhere. It ruined it for us. We left the park in the late afternoon and drove further north to Pag Island (there was a bridge).

You aren't going to like the sound of this, but we felt we needed another day of some lying around in the sun. The island has a pretty limited amount of vegetation and is mostly rocky. For this reason, a kind of sheep's cheese is very famous from here. The only food for the sheep is salty weeds, which gives the cheese a pretty distinct flavour. We bought a little piece from a house off the main road. It was pretty good.. I don't know though. I like cheese, but I'm no Dutchman.

After Pag we drove over the coastal mountains to the east. We actually camped out that night at a site in the mountains, so it was a little colder. The next day we went to Plitvice National Park. It's basically a lakes park, but because it's in the mountains, there are many waterfalls. Furthermore because the same thing happens as does in Krka, the entire park is covered with waterfalls of all shapes and sizes. You walk around on these wood bridges while the water rushes down underneath and all around you into small lakes and ponds. The water is also really clear and blue, with an abundance of fish, since its illegal to fish. I know I've said this a few times before, but this probably was the most beautiful place I've ever been. We were taking pictures almost the whole time, because everything just gave you that feeling where you had to have a picture.

Last night we arrived in the capital, Zagreb, which is nice. The architecture is very similar to the other major cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so its nothing new, and we will get a much better version of it while we're in Budapest. It's also raining a lot right now, which is kind of annoying (and making us think of going to the beach again!)

Mostar, Bosnia

From Sarajevo we took the Swedish-donated Bosnian train (most infrastructure items in Bosnia have been donated) south to Mostar. Yet another highly scenic trainride complete with hairpin turns, switchbacks, mountains and a feeling that you riding in the clouds.

Mostar is most famous for one of its bridges, Old Bridge. The Bridge is suppose to represent peace and unity among the B0snian people.

Throughout the city there are many bridges, as Mostar is situated on yet another too-blue-to-be-real river. Why can't we manage to have any of these in Canada? Like Sarajevo, there is evidence everywhere of the recent war. Bombed out, bullet-ridden buildings are everywhere yet the same as Sarajevo, people remain resiliant. The main floors of destroyed buildings have been turned into cafes or flower shops,

and the old town (stari grad) which was previously destroyed has been almost completely rebuilt. Daniel and I have seen many Stari Grad's in our travels around the Western Balkans and we quickly agreed that Mostar's was the most beautiful. Although we only visited two cities in Bosnia we found the Bosnian people to be so warm, the food to be delicious (though lacking in tangible vegetables!), the country to be beautiful and the cities to be among our favourites. What a beautiful country.

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Another scenic ride through North-Western Montenegro and onto the unpaved mountain roads of Bosnia and a few hours later we arrived in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo. Daniel and I both agreed after a little time there that it was one of our favourite cities visited thus far. The city has a great energy to it, an interesting mix of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian architecture,
an evident arts scene and a resilience that we both found to be amazing. Walking the city you were reminded constantly of the recent genocide that befell them. There are spontaneous cemeteries everywhere - in people's backyards, in parks - and bullet holes can be found on most buildings.


Despite this constant reminder of the atrocities they had to endure only 10 or so years ago, the city is alive with people laughing, drinking coffee and getting on with their lives.

Everything's Coming Up Tara - Durmitor National Park, Montenegro

It was quite the feat getting to Durmitor National Park in North-Western Montenegro from Kosovo but after 3 buses and hitching, we finally made it. And believe me, the home of all things Tara (Tara River and Tara Canyon) was well worth it.

We decided to stay in the largest town in Durmitor, Zablyak. The town was situated in the centre of the park amidst snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, alpine lodges and clear-blue lakes. The place was idyllic. We spent four days hiking and relaxing amid the mountains. The highlight of our time there was hiking to a lookout over the Tara Canyon.

Though the Tara Canyon is much lesser known than the Grand Canyon (I had never heard of it before researching Montenegro), it is actually second to it in size and, unlike the Grand, it boasts amazing mountain peaks reaching towards the sky, an abundance of trees and the almost too-blue-to-be-real Tara River running through it. We took many a picture at that lookout but unfortunately, I don't think any of them accurately capture the grandeur of it. It was truly magnificent...kind of like me!!!

Montenegro is a country of astounding natural beauty and Daniel and I swore to each other that we would be back. It is gorgeous here!

Belgrade and Pristina

Really sorry, but the computer I'm using won't let me upload pictures. I'll do it next time I'm online. use your imaginations...

okay, so its been a long time since we last posted. we've been many places since the last one.
First off, the train ride from Bar to Belgrade was really beautiful. I think my mouth was open the whole time we travelled anywhere in Montenegro.
One of the first buildings we saw after getting off the train in Belgrade was the former ministry of defense building. It's been left standing as a bombed out wreck, whether the reason is to remind everyone of what happened or just legal arguments wasn't clear. Nevertheless it was interesting to see what was left of these 2 buildings, the bullet holes in one of the neighbouring ones, and then the 2 very nice classical looking buildings on the opposite sides of the street.
We spent most of our time in Belgrade in Stari Grad (means old town, pretty much every city we've been to recently has an old town), although we also went to see St. Sava's temple, which is the largest Serbian Orthodox Church in the world. it was big, whatever. The old town was nice to stroll around though, especially because a large part of it is pedestrianised. We also enjoyed the many city parks that are scattered around downtown Belgrade. While here we also got into our first conversation about politics and the recent history of the Balkans, which Tara and I only kind of know about, being 10 years old when Yugoslavia started to come apart.
It was interesting to hear a Serb of a similar age to us talk about her point of view. She said she didn't really know what was happening in Croatia and Bosnia, being a kid at the time but also because the people there were being somewhat insulated from all the news.
All in all we enjoyed Belgrade, it was a nice city and the weather was great while we were there, and that always helps.
We then took a bus south-west to Pristina, the Capital of Kosovo. We had originally intended on going here before Belgrade, but Serbia does not recognize the UN stamp you get when you arrive in Kosovo. To them it is still a part of Serbia and thus make it difficult on people going in and out of the area.
We didn't expect big things from Kosovo. In all honesty, we just wanted to see what it was like there and what the people were like. It definitely was not a pretty city like some of the others we've seen, but the people were noticeably warmer. About 80 to 90% of Kosovars are ethnic Albanians, and like I already mentioned, we liked them. Tara commented that the people we'd met there and in Montenegro gave off a warmer vibe than the Serbians, and I agreed. It wasn't a massive difference, but you did see it in the way people interacted. The nicest building in town was the library, which had an interesting design. There are also a bunch of mosques around town, which is a noticeable change from the churches of Serbia and Montenegro. One other thing we noticed about Pristina, is that many of the vehicles you see are white 4x4's with the logos of international organizations on the doors (UN, EU, etc.). We both agreed upon leaving that we liked visiting there and seeing what it was like this soon after being a war zone. One kind of scary thing about Kosovo, as well as the other former Yugoslav countries, is that they were heavily land mined during the 90's. The guidebooks make it clear that you should not wonder off trails when hiking in certain parts or poke around in abandoned buildings. We aren't doing either one of these things, don't worry, but still it's kind of a scary thought.
We took a couple buses from Pristina back into Montenegro, to go to Durmitor National Park. Once again, as soon as we got to the border it was mountainous and beautiful. How do they do it?