Oh ya, before going into details, I shall once again thank Philip, Philip and Karl for letting me to tag along to go Dubrovnik from Trebinje. yes, two Philips. The boarder was very jam, we waited for more than 100 mins, I remember that because we were betting on the waiting time.
Upon crossing the boarder, we headed to the infamous old city, where the iconic castle is located. It's just too touristy to me, and to go up to the wall, you gotta pay 100 Kuna, that's like RM50. Each of us had a slice of pizza, even that cost us 23 Kuna. Didn't even dare to dine at the restaurant; a plate of pasta easily cost 90 Kuna. FMLLLLL.
We went to get some drinks at the supermarket (still expensive) and then they dropped me at my hostel before going to a waterfall at Bosnia.
Then I was on my own. Paid freaking 18 Euro for 13 bed dorm. Bla bla bla.
In order to make full use of my time in Dubrovnik, I walked the entire city which includes the old city, Babin Kun and Lapad. More than 10km walk I think. There're a lot of island trips but it's too costly to me so I did not sign up for any.
Left Dubrovnik for Split the next day.
The funny thing is that Dubrovnik is kinda stand alone, separated from the rest of Croatia. Sort of being blocked by Bosnia. I gotta study the history to find out why.
Split, in my opinion, is a much better city compared to Dubrovnik, at least it still preserves the local elements, less touristy and cheaper as well. Same as Dubrovnik, it has an old town too and a long streets. It's easy to get souvenirs. Another nice part of Split is the national park. Rented a bicycle to tour around the park (trust me, you need one). There you get beautiful cliffs and beaches, and no crowd, PERFECT! Went to swim and chill there.
I also went to HVAR, two hours boat ride from Split. There are two main towns in HVAR : HVAR and Stari Grad. I stayed at Stari Grad, a quieter town compared to HVAR. There's also an old city (so many old cities) but this is quite special. At one glance, it looks just like another old city elsewhere but when there's someone to tell you the story about the cities, it's totally another case.
So Croatia had never been really independent until the very recent year separated from Yugoslavia. For so many years, HVAR was colonized by venetian, Turks etc. So there's this building that has 3 windows of different era. One from ancient time, another one which posses Gothics element and the last one with Venetian design. This old man is like a walking history book, turn out that he studied ancient history and did a lot of researches. So ya, spent the afternoon listening to his stories.
Went to swim too and cooked dinner. Food are pretty expensive and I craved for chicken wings. So, cooking was the best solution. Left Split after 3 nights and headed to Plitvice National Park.
Here's where I got 3 hitch hikes! The thing is there's no bus terminal at Plitvice so the bus will just stop at the bus stop along the road. And I did not have GPS so I didn't really know the exact location of the hostel. The bus driver wasn't that friendly too and I ended up alighting at a bus stop 4km away from my hostel. At first I thought it's only 1 km so was thinking of walking. But when the locals told me that it's 4km away, immediately I put up my magical hitch hike sign. Thank god this Audi S5 stopped and gave me a lift. Really appreciate that.
It was 2pm when I reached the hostel and since there's nothing to do I went to the national park.
The national park is really very pretty. Anything that is protected by UNESCO is worth visiting. Just like St Naum in Ohrid. Just prepare to walk, a lotttt. Wont't write much, let the photos do the talking.
Bus ticket to Zagreb costs 100 Kuna but I had only 70 Kuna left with some Euros. Didn't feel like changing any more since I would be going to Budapest from Zagreb on the same day. The bus to Zagreb was 1pm and we reached the bus stop at 12:30pm. I thought why not try hitch hiking, putting up my magical hand?!
The 3 other indian girls from the same hostel saw me doing that and wanted to try. After 20 mins with no result, they gave up. And now two other travelers from the hostel arrived at the bus stop too waiting for the bus.
It's around 1:15pm and I wanted to give up. But somehow goodluck struck! A man in a truck with tow stopped and gave me a ride, in front of all the other travelers! That feeling, goshhhhh, I felt like I'm the pro in hitch hiking!
The guy doesnt speak english, so it's just body language throughout the 3 hours journey. He's so kind that he stopped me at the main bus terminal. I was so grateful to meet so many nice people along the trip.
Bought ticket to Budapest on the spot. It's not the local company so there's no information about the bus. Thankfully another guy helped me to ask around and I was able to buy the ticket on the spot. It was 20Euro but well, I got to leave Croatia!
And upon crossing the border, I was officially in the Schengen Area. No more stamps after here.
No comments:
Post a Comment