petite on board
,the girl whom I met on a CROATIA BUS when I decided to leave the Plitvice Lake and head down south to Zadar.
a skier
a triathlon runner
a hammock camper est. montana
Danielle Montick
IT ALL BEGAN WITH A BUS JOURNEY-
Annoyed by a drunken guy sitting just across the aisle of me, a Croatian girl and an American girl saved my life from such a bizarre bus journey. Found out that we were actually staying at the same hostel while we were back in Zagreb. Yes, and that she is - Danielle from Montana.
ARRIVING ZADAR -
After saying goodbye at the bus station to find our way to our hostels, we accidentally bumped into each other later in that evening. On the following days, we met for lunch and decided to hop on the Peg Island.
(Follow the rest of my journey in Croatia and how I spent my 28 days in Balkans.)
"Before you might lose your interest and long story short, Danielle and I became travel companion since then" - Peg island, Split, Hvar, brac & Dubrovnik -
Zadar
My experience on the Peg Island was hilarious.
Hopping off the ferry, we quickly look for the sign for the beach. No judge, in Croatia they got a silhouette of a woman sunbathing at the beach on the direction board.
Walking along the coastline, we were talking about how fun it would be to participate in the Wipe Out TV Show. Just as we mentioned it, we spotted a slide at the beach, as if you can slide directly into the ocean.
Leaving off to Split on seperate buses, we met again. And this time, we went on a SUP excursion along the Dalmatian Coast together with her newly made friend.
(Self-guided stand up paddle board - €28 for day rental)
Btw, not to miss the cheapes ice-cream and seafood in Europe! Fried calamari, mussels, squid ink pasta and more.
Split
Danielle, "I am going to hop on few islands and do camping with my hammock."
Me, "OMG, really? That would be great fun, can I join?"
Trying to be spontaneous, I decided to make the island hopping route without realising that I didn't have any hammock on camping bag with me. And to be honest, taking ferry-trips detour through Brac and Hvar would be much more fun than getting on a 7 hours bus directly to Dubrovnik,
Back to the fact, how on earth am I going to camp without a tent or a hammock or even a sleeping bag?
What do you wish to see when you first open your eyes from sleep? I guess that'our answer to our camping site. The good thing of arriving in the evening was everything were in darkness and no one would knew what these two creepy little backpackers were doing in a playground outside a resort. With two bottles of beer and two granny swings, we made our beds. Apparently, we appeared to be homeless rather than wild camping.
Sacrificing ourselves in such windy 'cottage', efforts were well paid. The sunrise was gorgeous, the sea as blue as the sky, and we crashed on those benches to continue on our unfinished sleep with the goodnight kiss from the sun.
Brac
We got some watermelons from the shop while waiting for the ferry to Hvar, Of course, we were people watching too, especially when people failed to park their yacht again and again.
See the yacht behind me? That's the one.
I guess we were laughing too vigorous. They probably overheard our idea of getting hitchhike to Hvar by yacht. Hazar! They invited us on board a drink and also a lift to Hvar on the next day ON THE YATCH. Sad but true, we had already booked our hostel and we just had to take the ferry option.
No doubt that many youngsters come to Hvar to spend their semester break, it probably the cheapest paradise you could find in Europe.
Before I even succeed in getting my driving license, I made my first attempt to operate a speed boat. Not bad huh, at least no one were drowned.
Hvar
Farewelling to the girl squad at Villa Marija in Hvar, we seriously attempted to hitchhike by yacht to Dubrovnik. Did that work? Nope.
Anyway, we carried on our way to our next destination. As estimated on the map, it was suppose to be a 15mins walk from the pier to Dubrovnik Backpackers Club. What?! There was a bloody staircase right in front of us.
After all that sweat and workout, we were served with Croatian homemade soup and Rijeka (sweet wine) by the granny at the hostel. Running a hostel as a family business, granny is the sweetest person I have ever met on my travel. She must be so proud of her sons and not to mention, the fabulous breakfast with just 30kuna.
Woke up and decided to go for an adventure on a canoe, we were trying to seek for the secret cliff jumping island. Being a first-time jumper, I thought I am going to broke my leg or something.
My life in Dubrovnik is actually, ehhhh, quite unhygienic, Everyday, we just left our body soaked with salted sea water, party with our swimsuit and literally jump back to the sea the next day.
And that's us - walking up the City Wall with our swimsuit from cliff jumping. If I have to be touristic, the City Wall would be your ideal place to have the 360 view of the town. Imagining yourself being a navy soldier in the old days and overseeing all the red rooftops surrounded by the wall.
Persued by the lovely granny at the hostel, we joined an excursion to the blue caves with the fellows. |CHECK OUT VLOG|
If you have claustrophobic, better be prepared. You will have to dive through narrow gaps between rocks to enter the caves. Surprisingly, you tend to float easily in the cave with the concentration of salts in the water.
Part of the fun of the boat trip was actually 'MUD' up ourselves, which was also the reason we got persued. Well, apparently because of my tan skin, burying myself with mud didn't make me look any different at all.
-HVALA-
Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out the rest of my journey in Balkans.