C●R●O●A●T●I●A

We’ve been in Croatia for almost two full weeks now (how have the weeks passed so quickly?!) and, as usual, I have a lot to share about our time here! Our train took us from Budapest into Zagreb – the capital of Croatia – for two short nights. And although lengthy, I would not be doing this post justice if I didn’t share a certain story from our train travels with you.

Our train was structured so that we shared a small cabin with three other young individuals making the same trek as we were which was wonderful as we shared travel stories and tips and met some like-minded individuals (or so we thought…). The group consisted of a girl from Budapest en route to Dubrovnik, a guy from New York who was traveling following his post abroad in the United States military and finally, a girl from South Korea who spoke broken English and left her seat five minutes into the journey for another cabin, resulting in her bag being unattended for almost the entire duration of the trip. The remainder of us were somewhat shocked at her absence from all of her personal belongings throughout the entire 6 hours, to the extent, that the ex-military guy could not mentally set aside earlier jokes/commentary of our co- passenger (an extremely innocent looking female) potentially carrying, and leaving behind, a weapon of some sort in her baggage. Of course, he was being antagonized by Andrew along the way that there could be a bomb we should all be worried about. 

After about five minutes of silence when we were all independently reading, our fellow American passenger hopped to his feet and searched the ENTIRE contents of Yu's bag – no nook or cranny too minuscule for him to be certain! Every single article packed in her belongings was dug through by our inquisitive co-passenger; all the while making comments that we all must think he is 'crazy' and a 'crazy ex-military guy.' Yes - at that point we absolutely did. About 30 minutes later, we had time to meet Yu (phonetically sounds like 'Jew'), our Korean co-passenger, as she innocently explained she was too hot and spent the trip sleeping in the restaurant car. Needless to say, there were many awkward and dumbfounded glances between us as we wondered just how our new Army acquaintance, who unsurprisingly had 'Strong Island' tattooed on his arm, could have made such a grave miscalculation. As for Yu, she unknowingly went about her business and even asked Andrew and I if we would pose for a picture because we are such a 'cute couple'. The girl obviously cannot lie....!

On a side note: We randomly saw Yu about two hours after we got off the train aimlessly walking the streets of Zagreb with her pack STILL ON. She said there was a mix up at her hostel, but not to worry, because they found another location for her... we can't even make this type of thing up! 

Moving forward, our Croatia travels started upon our arrival in Zagreb….

Zagreb

We stayed in an AirBnb on the main street of downtown Zagreb (Tkalcica) allowing us fluid access to restaurants and bars in the area. Our first night we tested out a popular brewery (Malo Medi) which was less than twenty steps away from our place. While we’ve seen some brewery/craft beer places throughout our travels I have to admit none of them have exactly met expectations….Our two days here included another walking tour, a trip to the Museum of Broken Relationships (a very unique and interesting museum you can read more about here: https://brokenships.com/ ) and a peek into a few stores along the main shopping street. 

 Our second, and final, night we partook in a Euro Basket game as we attended the Croatia vs. Netherlands game. Innocently enough, I mistakenly wore a coral scarf which leaned closer to Netherland’s orange then Croatia’s red (my intent of course while in Croatia) which led to some concerned questions from our surrounding Croatian fans. Andrew identified more than a handful of NBA players on each team which was exciting to see them playing abroad.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Next after Zagreb came two nights at the Plitvice Lakes National Park which is approximately a 2-3 hour bus ride from Zagreb (can definitely be done in one night but it was nice to have some additional time to slowly work our way through the park and beautiful surroundings). This National Park is, as it goes without saying, is incredibly beautiful and boasts 16 interconnecting lakes, all of distinct colors, spotted with various cascading waterfalls throughout the park – the largest waterfall is 78 meters tall.

We were shocked to find out upon arrival that our accommodations were 7 kilometers outside of the National Park and outside of all stops that our bus typically makes when dropping people off (our bed & breakfast definitely appeared to be INSIDE of the Park on the map!). Over the course of two days we maneuvered our way into a hitched ride from our bus driver, the owner of our bed & breakfast (twice) and last, but certainly not least, another couple staying at the bed & breakfast. We came to learn that the last couple lives in a type of commune in Germany – contact information was exchanged! Although overwhelmed with tourists (selfie sticks and packed paths all around) the two days were well spent mulling around nature and finding creative ways to get back and forth from our accommodations!

Split

Hopping on another bus, we made our way to Split - the "hop off" point for all of the islands in Croatia as well as the Southern coast. My opinion of Split may have been made hastily however, to me it had a party vibe swarmed with tourists and good to see for a day/night but most exciting given the possibilities of incredible places you can travel from here. It also was really intriguing to see all of the luxurious boats that were docked, either permanently or for a few nights, in the Split harbor. 

View from our apartment

We took one of our days in Split to drive south down the coast and search for a town to spend a few nights in later in our Croatian travels which turned out to be a great opportunity for us to see almost the entire coast.We also determined on this drive that we'd rather jump from island to island then spend our time in one of many towns which somewhat mimicked each other along the coast.

A shot while driving along the coast

Hvar

Hvar, Hvar, Hvar....I could go on and on about this place. When we arrived to Hvar via ferry from Split, we had booked two nights thinking we would most likely move on from there. Two nights swiftly turned into six nights total as we continued to discover areas of Hvar that we loved. A few of my favorite experiences/activities here include:

Moped Rental – Yes, I gave the green light for Andrew to whip us around on a moped for an entire day – scary but incredibly worthwhile! Haha We were able to drive around the majority of the island stopping at hidden coves, beaches, and other towns along the way. We even caught the sunset on our drive back into Old Town and Andrew turned out to be a veryyyy skilled driver!  This was, to me, absolutely the best way to move around the island and to see the sights.

 

Private Beaches – As I mentioned in the moped section, for those willing to travel a little outside of Old Town there are a plethora of small coves/inlets around the island which create serene, incredibly beautiful beaches for you to enjoy with just a few of your closets friends (aka strangers in our case)!

Dalmatino – I’ve been saving our favorite restaurants for another post but this one has to be mentioned here. My friend Kelsey recommended this to us (also the #1 restaurant in Hvar via Trip Advisor) and it was INCREDIBLE. So incredible in fact, that we ate here twice within the first three nights of our stay! The staff was the friendliest, they supplemented your meal with a few Croatian drinks to try and they created the most delectable black gnocchi with shrimp dish & tuna tartare appetizer. I think I’ll be craving this place long after we return back to the states!

The pictures do NOT even do it justice!

Sailing – Due to my less than subtle hints - think researching countless island hopping cruises we could join up with during our time here and eyeing every boat coming in and out of the harbor on a daily basis - Andrew sweetly researched a sailing excursion for us to partake in. Splurging for a day at sea (when in the Croatian islands right?!) we spent the day with 8 others sailing to the island of Brac. 

We (really I for this one – Andrew has had plenty of previous sailing experience) learned the importance of ducking at the immediate request of the captain when sitting upfront, stopped for multiple swim and snorkel breaks and enjoyed an authentic homemade Croatian lunch at sea.

This was hands down one of my favorite days here and I remember already reminiscing on what a perfect day it was as we watched the sunset from our sail boat pulling into the Hvar harbor.

Our boat once docked for the day!

Nightlife – Not necessarily my favorite part of the island - unfortunately I think Andrew and I found ourselves favoring a bottle of wine & dinner at Dalmatino especially after meeting an 18 year old out at the bars one night - however, the nightlife is an indisputable part of Hvar so we had to check it out! Staying in a hostel our first two nights (actually a pretty nice set up given its price tag: http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Hostel-Villa-Skansi/Hvar/29932 ) we joined in on the “free bar crawl” provided nightly at 10:45 pm. We succumbed to the obligatory cheap/free tequila shots, mingled and shared stories with our new friends from the hostel who were traveling from Belgium, Britain and Australia. As our alarms went off the next morning and we had to haul our massive backpacks in a 30 minute hike uphill to our next apartment; we vowed to never repeat that experience!!!!! Still a fun night out regardless though…! 

Korcula

In order to not bore you, and lose followers, I won’t go into too much detail in Korcula as we once again rented mopeds here and were able to visit a few more remote, and incredibly beautiful beaches.

I will say this was probably both Andrew and my own favorite island as it had less of a touristy touch and more local Croatian authenticity. (Trust me I was surprised at how much I was enthralled with the relaxed nature of this island after being so in love with Hvar!) Don’t get me wrong, there are still tourists galore here however, you do lack the touristy shops lining every street and restaurant menus with pictures plastered all over them that can be seen in Split and in some places within Hvar.

Unique from our experiences in Hvar, we were able to do a brief wine tasting at a local vineyard in Korcula as well as partake in a private beginner’s windsurfing lesson! The wine tasting was hysterical as an older man who owned the vineyard completed our tasting of 4 wines, capped off with some type of local shot, in less than 10 minutes – rapid fire! But the tasting room had a breathtaking view of the vineyards and Adriatic behind. (see picture above)

The windsurfing lesson was a blast as it was both of our first time attempting this specific water sport. Our instructor Bruno, picture a local with a very laid-back surfer vibe, gave us a brief on-land instruction and set us on our way following us around on kayaks to make sure we didn’t make any "life threatening" mistakes! I think it’s safe to say we were above average for beginners as we were both up and making plenty of streaks across our designated training area in the water. We’re hoping to try our hands at this once more when we reach Vietnam!

Mljet 

We are now currently in Mljet, our final island in our series of Croatian island hopping via ferry. Mljet is unique from the other islands that we have visited as it predominantly consists of the National Park here and is therefore covered in forests with a few tiny villages hidden around and within the island's borders. Yesterday we spent the day hiking around the park and visiting the highest peak from which you can gain a wonderful view of the Adriatic, surrounding islands and the entirety of landscapes Mljet has to offer.

Today, we woke up to the very first drastic thunderstorm we’ve encountered here (and really any rain to begin with) so our rented bikes are taking the day off and I’m finally concluding this blog I’ve been failing to post! We are staying in a unique boutique apartment here located in a tiny village named Govedari which luckily boasts a very entertaining owner who keeps checking to see if we would like to watch a documentary about Mljet. He has also promised a homemade meal and a trip “into town” later this afternoon (we are fairly remote from any restaurants, stores, etc. in our apartment) so I will keep you posted! Tomorrow we head into our last stop in Croatia for four days in Dubrovnik before we're off to Vietnam – any and all recommendations welcome!

Cheers, xoxo!

Liz & Andrew

Budapest - Excursions

My silence on the blog while in Budapest will hopefully be made up for, given my thorough post below! While this post mostly details the major sights and attractions we visited while in Budapest I’ve tried to weave in a few more classic travel stories along the way…!

Moving forward, I’m trying to create more of a structure to follow in my blog posts recapping each city. My goal is to create a post for each of the three following categories: (1) Activities (2) Restaurants (3) Accommodations. (Feel free to leave a comment if you can think of any must-have additions!) This post represents the first of three Budapest posts discussing the activities we partook in paired with a few short stories as well! Please, obviously, scroll through any topics/activities you’re not interested in – it’s a long one!

Here's a makeshift calendar giving a better idea of how we spent our time in Budapest!

Note: I thought I’d take a second to speak to the migrant crisis which has been taking place at the Keleti Train Station in Budapest over the last week or so. The crisis stems from the Hungarian contradiction of its own anti-immigrant rhetoric and a desire to cut the number of immigrants in Hungary by allowing those with papers to move on to Germany. We actually did not spend any time near the train station and, therefore, unfortunately don’t have any real additional insight to the happenings in Budapest. We are returning there in a few days to catch a train to Zagreb so I can potentially update this topic further at that point if it hasn’t been resolved due to many migrants walking on foot to Austria. I know my mother appreciated the update so hopefully this helps ease any worries for anyone else reading the blog as well.

Historical Sights & Monuments

Guided General Walking Tour - As I mentioned in my Warsaw post; we LOVE taking the free walking tours! This one picked up in Vorosmarty Ter (a main square near the touristy shopping street of Vaci u.) two times a day and showed us all around the main attractions and sights of the Pest side of the city.

Typically this includes a walk across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side however; an Ironman competition was taking place throughout the city this day which made this crossing difficult with a large group.

Once again, our guide was incredible even following up with an email on recommendations for the rest of our stay as well as our trip to Balaton!

After this tour we had a much better idea of what we wanted to see, how to map out the rest of our stay and how to orient ourselves within our new city for the upcoming two weeks!

Hosok Tere (Heroes’ Square) - Hosok Tere is one of the major squares in Budapest centering on a statue commemorating the 1000-year-old history of the Magyars (Hungarians). The seven chieftans who led the Maygar tribes to Hungary surround this statue. This square stands at the end of Andrassy Avenue, a large beautiful shop and restaurant lined street, and quite close to the Széchenyi Baths. (Think lots of tourists and lotssss of selfie sticks filling this square).

Tour of Parliament - The Parliament building in Budapest is the world’s second largest and allows for regularly scheduled tours each day. On a great tip, we purchased our tickets in advance for this (the line was out the door when we got there!) and gained views of the lavishly decorated interior including the famous royal crown.

House of Terror Museum – This museum, although a somewhat melancholy portion of our excursions in Budapest, did a great job providing information on the fascist and communist dictatorial regimes in 20^th-century Hungary.

(No pictures were allowed inside of the museum)

 The building housing the museum itself served as a former headquarters for both the Nazi party and the Arrow Cross party (Hungarian communist party).  The tour ends taking you through the basement of the building which served as a prison/torture cellar (we did not spend too long in this portion of the museum!)

St. Stephen’s Basilica – Andrew and I passed and viewed this Basilica many times, finally touring the Basilica in the middle of our stay. This Basilica is named on behalf of the first King of Hungary whose right hand is on display within the depths of the Church.

Both Andrew and I moved quickly past this exhibit as well although plentyyyy of photos were being captured by other tourists! Finally, you can ascend the Basilica to a breathtaking 360 degree view of the city up top.

Vajdahunyad Castle ● Stock Exchange – Both of these we made quick stops at so I won’t give too much detail here. As Andrew is simultaneously blogging about the financial markets in each city we visit, and of course, having us take a peek and some pictures, we walked up to what promised to be Budapest’s stock exchange. Our buzzes at the outdoor gate were greeted by a confused employee of what was absolutely not the stock exchange……..oldddd stock exchange! Upon finding the new, modernized exchange we were not allowed to take a tour and definitely not allowed to take pictures as Andrew had to be informed quite curtly by building security!

Buda Castle & Fisherman’s Bastion – While the Buda side of Budapest is much quieter, it offers a beautiful view over the Danube and the reward of beautiful cobblestone streets, architecture and additional must-see attractions.

The castle district was rebuilt to mimic its original appearance after Buda was bombed to the ground in World War II. It was nice that our second AirBnB apartment was directly next to the hill housing the Buda Castle District allowing us to make a couple of trips up the hillside.

Elizabeth Lookout Tower – Probably not a must see given a shorter stay in Budapest however, still a great view of the city from the Buda side with a plethora of hiking trails and green space surrounding the tower.

Our Hungarian friend from the futbol match (see entertainment section) recommended this to us as a more local attraction and it definitely did not disappoint!

Communist Walking Tour – To wrap up our stay in Budapest, we gave into the communist walking tour (yes, hosted by the same company as the general guided walking tour). This tour was less of sightseeing tour and was more-so a description of the communist times in Hungary separated into the Stalin period of communism and the post-Stalin times (titled “happy communism”). Our guide walked us through changes in transportation, housing, media, employment, etc. adding stories specifically from her own family members during those times through 1991 when the last Soviet soldiers left Budapest.

Entertainment

Kincsem Park - If you know Andrew, then you KNOW that he loves watching horses so a trip to the Kinscem Park track, named for an undefeated wonder-mare, was essential. A little bit outside of the city we were greeted with a more authentic view of Budapest.

The most interesting part of the track visit for me was seeing a dilapidated, but historically beautiful underneath, grandstand replaced, but not removed, by a newer less grandiose space for visitors to watch and view the races. It was interesting to see that the new building trumped the restoration of such a beautiful structure.

 Placing our bets was an unforgettable experience as well as Andrew successfully sought out the only 2 English speaking individuals working there to assist us. The plot thickens when both women became busy with other customers as we were nearly unable to place any bets at all!

One woman working there requested Andrew write down his bet on a piece of paper only to turn him away when she still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted – probably should have studied up on a few key Hungarian terms prior to our excursions! All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend the day and we managed to get lucky on a majority of our wagers!

Operetta Show – Our goal was to attend a show at the main Opera House however, they did not have any scheduled performances during our stay. The Operetta was a perfect compromise as the cast performed clips of different musicals, dances, concerts, etc. keeping our attention throughout.  It was also quite a unique experience to view the show with no real knowledge of what they were saying and/or singing about and we had many laughs about the content after the fact!

(Thankful for a very artsy photographer who went as far as kneeling for this one! Haha)

Danube River Cruise w/ Wine Tasting – Being situated directly on the Danube, of course it is no surprise that one of the main tourist attractions is to take a cruise down the river at night taking in the city’s beautiful bridges and shoreline.

Andrew did a great job of selecting a cruise that included a tasting of various Hungarian wines and we were off! The views were beautiful, the wine was delicious and it was a perfect way to spend one of our nights in the city.

Futbol Match – We journeyed to one of Budapest’s futbol matches versus Paks on a Saturday night which turned into an extremely fun night in the city! We showed up to a completely dead metro stop where we were convinced we had misread the schedule and there was no game that night. Even walking closer to the stadium, our doubts still lingered. Walking closer we were relieved to see a game taking place but less relieved to see an extensive line at what we believed to be the ticket window. Turns out, this was the first of two lines to receive your membership card to the Hungary Futbol League. Protocols include providing a plethora of personal information (birthplace, mother’s name, email, etc) followed by a picture and a scan of the vein in your arm (apparently a Hungarian invention to replace fingerprint scans) before being provided a membership card with which you could finally purchase a ticket!

That being said, while waiting in line we overheard an individual who mentioned connections to Cincinnati and knowing Andrew’s love for his home town I interjected to learn more about this English-speaking, Ohio resident. Turns out he grew up in Indianapolis (my hometown), attended Bishop Chatard (a high school very close and similar to my own in Indianapolis with multiple shared friends), attended University of Dayton for college and moved to Cincinnati (Andrew’s hometown) working for 5^th Third (Andrew’s cousin works here).

While traveling predominantly opens my eyes to how large the world can be, instances like this also reminded me just how small the world can be as our new friend’s Hungarian host laughed at the impossibility of us all knowing so many of the same places and people and running into each other in line for a futbol membership card so far from home. We shared the rest of the evening with our new friends as our new Hungarian connection helped us buy seats all together for the game and invited us along to a local bar for the night following the match.

Baths

Széchenyi Baths - The Széchenyi Thermal Bath is o­ne of the largest spa complexes in Europe; it's also the first thermal bath of Pest. This Bath was built in 1913 and is now one of many popular Baths within Budapest.

Andrew and I spent most of our time in the outdoor Bath, more like a pool, but dabbled a little with the more authentic indoor Baths as well to test out the water’s healing powers. (Forewarning, the indoor baths can be a little crowded, peculiarly colored/smelling, and may have miscellaneous debris floating in the water butttt I still think it’s worth the trip and experience!) It was also evident that the Baths bring a melting pot of tourists and locals alike as various languages filled our surroundings with English speakers soaking next to local Hungarians, next to Germans, etc.

Rudas Baths – I could probably write an entire post alone about these baths…..they were INCREDIBLE. We were only able to access the wellness side of the baths which housed plenty to keep us busy for an entire day: steam rooms, saunas, multiple pools of differing temperatures, and the icing on the cake an incredible mini pool with pool deck on the rooftop. This place was incredibly nice, especially given our $12 entrance fee! Note: We were unable to see the thermal baths established in the 16^th century as they have segregated days for men and women to bathe there sans swimwear – Tuesday was a women’s only day.

Sorry no pictures here but definitely google this Bath!

Miscellaneous

Great Market Hall - This hall contains a beautiful, and quite massive, indoor market selling every type of good you can imagine not short of: meats, pastries, candies, tokaji, etc. In an effort to not spend every last forint on our meals, and to save our waistlines, Andrew and I made 3 separate attempts to visit this market!

We arrived to shop there upon its closing at 6pm on Friday (and not a minuteee later than 6pm it shuts completely down!), at 4pm when it closes at 3pm on Saturday and finally, successfully, on Tuesday. The result of our ingredient purchasing and at-home cooking aspirations led to us  barely finishing the meal before instigating the loss, and subsequent call to our AirBnB host, of all electricity in our unit………..!

Rotary Meeting - Andrew, being a dutiful Rotary member in Philadelphia, led us to the local English speaking chapter of Rotary in Budapest during their regularly scheduled Tuesday night meetings. This was a great way to meet a group of individuals local to the area and we shared dinner and stories with them at the Marriott in downtown Pest. Interestingly enough, one of the members was a US ambassador who had met 7 U.S. presidents & had a number of great stories to share!

Margaret Island - This “island” was a beautiful addition to our tour around Budapest providing green space, running paths, and even a mini-zoo for little tikes to enjoy.

Andrew and I, giving in to our inner 7-year old selves, sat through a fountain show timed to music which plays each hour. On another morning, we even had the opportunity to take advantage of the running trails.

_________________________________________________________________________________

All in all, Budapest was an incredible city and I’m so happy we decided to spend so much time there! I learned an incredible amount and hopefully, this post gives you more insight into our time there (and doesn’t bore you to tears!). I’m planning on creating another post discussing the restaurants and apartments we had the chance to visit/stay in while in Budapest as well before moving on to Lake Balaton!

Happy Labor Day weekend all! xoxo