Being Brave: Zip Lining in Croatia and Solo Travel in Bosnia

This trip has been all about me challenging myself and moving outside my comfort zone to grow as a person and learn more about myself. As a result, I’m trying hard to say yes to new and different experiences. So when Aussie G decided to organize a zip lining trip in Omis, I thought why not? He and English M had already gone the week before, and said it was amazing. I wasn’t too worried about it as I’ve gone zip lining a few times in Manitoba and loved it.

So a couple of important differences between Manitoba and Croatia zip lining: Manitoba has big hills and stringent safety regulations. Croatia has mountains and a “survival of the fittest” attitude in place of safety regulations. We drove up into the mountains and the views were breathtaking. We got our gear on and had a steep uphill hike to our practice zip line. Another important difference? Croatian people don’t sugar coat anything. They’re very to the point and quite abrupt. So when I had some confusion over when to brake on the practice line, I was told in no uncertain terms, “Brake or don’t brake. What part of that don’t you understand?” A further hike into the mountains followed, ending with climbing a ladder over a cliff to reveal our first zip line. It was a bit scary but the views were absolutely breathtaking, and I did great on my first 8 zip lines.

 Climbing the ladder to get to the first zip line

Aussie L and I looking cute in our helmets

Optimistic that I was going to be able to handle it!

Stunning views!

I got the hang of the whole braking thing and loved both the long and steep lines. Things were rolling along nicely until night began to fall and everything got a whole lot more scary. On the second last line, we had to clip our harnesses to a rope and pick our way down the side of a cliff. I felt like a very terrified mountain goat as I tried to navigate my way down the cliff—other than the skinny rope I was attached to, there was nothing keeping me from falling off the mountain hundreds of feet to my death. I finally made it to the zip line which passed over a highway.

The zip line I almost wasn't able to do

 

At this point I was completely rattled and basically done with the whole experience! The final zip line was also on the side of a cliff and I could barely make myself walk along it. One of our Croatian guides decided the Canadian girl needed some babying (wow, couldn’t believe it) and took the rope attached to my harness and led me along like a dog. It was kind of demeaning but it got me to the tenth and final line.

We returned to the boat just in time for supper and our pirate party. Several large glasses of red took the edge off my frayed nerves and we donned our pirate costumes. I looked more like a sailor, but we had a great time playing King’s Cup (Sociables) and visiting the other boats docked beside us who were also having pirate parties. Things shut down pretty early, so English A, Aussie C, and I decided to head into town to see if anything was happening. We found a few other pirates at a nearby bar and proceeded to order our drinks. We were certain the bartender was one of our zip lining guides, and when he said our drinks were free we thought it was because we had zip lined earlier. Either we were super confused or the guy was messing with us, because the night ended with him chasing us down the street demanding we pay for our drinks. Oops.

 More cruise ship than Pirates of the Caribbean.... 

Some of the ladies of Ika getting their pirate on

We had to wear this pirate mask if we drew a certain card during King's Cup. In addition to spreading lots of germs, it made it impossible to drink without a straw!

Aussie C, English A, and I before we did the runner on our bar tab

For our final day on the boat, we sailed into Split. After an orientation walk with Naomi, we had free time. Since I’ve already been in Split, I decided to do some shopping and browsed through the markets, Guess, Zara, and Bershka, buying nothing but having a nice afternoon with a latte in hand (the best one I’ve had since I left Starbucks in Greece).

Naomi had recommended a wine bar called Zinfandel, so I hung out there and sampled Croatian wines and cheeses. Wow—absolutely fantastic. After supper, the Busabout crowd headed to Charlie’s Backpacker Bar which I had already visited last week. Aussie H (who is a news reporter from Sydney, how cool is that), Aussie L, and I decided to visit some cocktail and wine bars instead. I drank a delicious Lavender Kiss cocktail (gin with soda and lavender syrup, lavender is produced in Croatia and you see it everywhere) at our first stop, then we decided to visit my afternoon wine bar, Zinfandel. There was live music and we shared a fantastic bottle of wine and a huge Dalmatian cheese platter. We all agreed it was our favourite night of the trip!

Aussie L, Canada (I barely remember my real name after two weeks on Busabout), and Aussie H

Goodbyes were sad the next morning as I had met so many great people—this girl, Aussie J, definitely broadened my vocabulary of Aussie slang (which I’d better not repeat in polite company at home) and the constant banter between her and Aussie M (Madison Carter Official to her fans) kept me laughing the entire trip!

Aussie J operates the camera for selfies... because she has a good side in pictures, and besides, no one does it better than a safety manager!

 

Going to miss these days on the top level of the boat!

And now it was time to really strike out on my own. The pictures of Stari Most (the famous old bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia, beckoned me to travel there by bus, so for $20 Canadian I set out on the 4.5 hour bus ride into Bosnia. It rained almost the entire way, and still hasn’t stopped. The bus trip was uneventful and I slept a lot of the way. A midway bathroom stop ended in me NOT going to the bathroom as the toilet was literally a hole in the floor. Thank goodness that as a kindergarten teacher I’m used to not peeing for hours at a time! Solo travel was going reasonably well until I got off my bus in Mostar. The bus station was dingy (I think they all are) and it was pouring rain. I was directed to a taxi line to catch a taxi to my hotel and I stood there forever as no taxis appeared. Then this creepy man missing many crucial teeth approached me saying “Taxi? You come with me.” I ignored him as even this small town girl knows that you never get in a car with anyone who approaches you, but he continued to persist. Then throw in several begging gypsy children who would not leave me alone and I really started to become unnerved. Fortunately a nice Bosnian girl approached me and informed me that all the taxis were busy in this torrential rain, but she had one coming and I was welcome to share it with her. When a legitimate taxi arrived in a few minutes and the creepy man and gypsy children were still there, I decided that was my best option. It was all good, and I ended up at my hotel within a few minutes and things really improved from this point on.

I stayed at Hotel Pellegrino, which I booked on Expedia for $45 Canadian a night, and it was highly recommended in my Lonely Planet guidebook. As soon as I arrived, I was escorted into a beautiful lobby and presented with a tray and told to help myself. There was a bottle of homemade plum brandy (in a Canadian Crown Royal bottle of all things) and Bosnian sweets. After several restorative swigs of plum brandy I felt much better and more like myself again.

My room was absolutely gorgeous and huge—two queen beds, a little kitchen and dining area, and a nice bathroom.

 

 

I spent the afternoon exploring the old part of Mostar, umbrella in hand as it was still raining. Sadly, most of Mostar (a Unesco-protected heritage site) was destroyed during the Yugoslavian Wars 20 years ago. However, the bridge and old town were painstakingly restored using stone from the original quarry and centuries-old building techniques. There are still many bombed out and crumbling buildings, and many of the gift shops sell all kinds of art made from bullets and shell casings. I had a wonderful afternoon exploring all the little shops in the bazaar, wandering along the cobbled streets, walking over the bridge, and hearing my first-ever live Muslim call to prayer. I ate an early supper in a Bosnian restaurant recommended by my hotel, and for $15 Canadian I had a local beer, delicious tomato soup and bread, and chicken schnitzel with creamy mushroom wine sauce. It was delicious.

The iconic bridge, Stari Most, in the background

View from Stari Most

The shops and streets in the old town were beautiful at night

Delicious meal!

My courage was exhausted by this point, and I decided the most prudent idea was to return to my room before it was dark. I had a relaxing night in my room enjoying Bosnian wine from the mini-bar ($9 Canadian, what a high roller) and planning the next few days of my trip. A hot shower in a proper bathroom and a great sleep in a luxurious bed were fantastic after two weeks of hostels and boat cabins! The only bad moment was loud yelling from the streets and what sounded like gun shots. I did some googling and discovered there was a soccer game that night, so I told myself that no doubt it was rowdy soccer fans and fireworks. Or a car back firing….a lot! Breakfast the next morning was huge and included in the cost of my room. I couldn’t believe it when I was offered shots of cherry brandy at breakfast! By the way...I declined!

As I write this post, I’m riding a bus to Sarajevo where I’ll spend the day and night. There’s a group of Aussies behind me so I feel very much at home! Now time to enjoy the scenery as this is meant to be one of the most beautiful routes in Europe!

Whatever Floats Your Boat....Sailing the Adriatic with Busabout

I really enjoyed my first experience with Busabout, which was a four-day bus trip through the Balkans. This left me in Split, perfectly timed to board my Busabout Croatia Island Hopper experience. This was probably the part of my solo travel that I was most excited about, and here's what has been happening.

We sailed from Split, Croatia, about 1 pm on Saturday. There are 16 people on my boat, plus our guide Naomi (AKA Nomes), our captain (often found at the table with a glass of wine in hand... hmmm), our bartender and waiter Tony, a sailor named Luka, and our chef, Frenki. There are four couples from Australia, a girl from England, a guy from England, a guy from Australia, four girls from Australia, and me. I was really fortunate to get my own room as they are super tiny! I am using the top bunk for all my stuff, the bottom bunk is a single bed, the floor space isn't even big enough for a yoga mat, and the entire tiny bathroom is also a shower. But it's adequate and I feel pretty fortunate to have my own space above deck.

 Home sweet cabin on the Ika

It's a toilet, it's a shower, all in one. WOW! Not...

The food is also reasonably good, with a continental breakfast (I've only made it there once as it's from 8-9 am) and three-course lunches. All alcohol is extra, but the drinks are pretty reasonably priced and you run a tab for the week. Our boat has a lower level, the main deck level where we eat and socialize, an upper deck where there are more cabins and a seating area, then a very top level with a little guard rail. This is where I do yoga and we jump off the boat into the Adriatic Sea.

The view from my mat is pretty spectacular... when it's not raining!

English A and Aussie G swimming in the Adriatic

Aussie C faces her fear and jumps off the top deck!

How beautiful is this water?

So far we've docked in the following ports:
Hvar: had a great meal in an Italian restaurant where we were joined by a couple of other boats on the same route as us. Then we partied at a bar called Kiva. Everywhere we go, we're treated to free welcome shots and sometimes free drinks. The highlight of my time in Hvar? I met another Canadian couple from Thunder Bay, and they were newlyweds on their honeymoon. I started chatting with them, and the guy is big into snowmobile racing. He mentioned that he races in Beausejour, Manitoba, every year, so I asked him if he knew my cousin's husband from Beausejour who is also very involved in snowmobile racing. Yes he did! Everyone was amazed, but this is actual a pretty typical occurrence when you're from Canada. You can always find a common connection it seems.

 Free shots for the Busabout crew

People party in the bar, they party in the street outside the bar. Liquor laws? What are those?

So I really enjoyed hanging out with these Canadians and they joined our Busabout group for the night. Things went well until they got extremely drunk. The girl broke the heel off her shoe, so her husband decided the best plan was to take the other shoe and smash the heel off against the stone wall of the bar. It caused quite a scene. Then the girl spilled her entire mojito down her top, and then scooped handfuls of ice and mint out of her bra and threw them on the Busabout group. At this point I distanced myself and denied they were Canadian!

Korcula: Birthplace of Marco Polo and known as mini-Dubrovnik with a charming walled city... probably my favourite stop so far. We toured the old town then had sunset cocktails on top of a medieval tower... wow! After happy hour on our boat, we visited Billy's Bar, home of the 90 Kuna cocktail bucket (that's less than $20 Canadian). The bartender free pours all kinds of alcohol into a child's sand pail and it's a tremendous value! I decided on Long Island Iced Tea which was EXTREMELY potent... more like a ginormous martini in a pail. But I impressed everyone with my bucket prowess, drinking 3/4 of the pail, interspersed with bottles of water, and still keeping it together. The night ended with a bit of boat hopping in the harbour, as all the Busabout boats park one after another, and you have to walk through a bunch of boats to get to yours. The middle boat was the liveliest, so I had a drink or two there before calling it a night.

Entrance to the walled old town of Korcula, known as mini-Dubrovnik. It's charming!

Sunset cocktails on top of this old tower! Wow!

Saw my fellow Canadian girl A from Vancouver!

Beautiful views of the church's bell tower

Another yummy meal on the street

My first bucket experience with Aussie J, English A, and Aussie M

Dubrovnik: This was my second visit to Dubrovnik (I was there last Friday with my other tour). And thank goodness I visited on Friday as it was absolutely POURING rain. Most of my group decided to walk the walls of the old city which I had already done in the beautiful sunshine, so Aussie M and I visited the Game of Thrones store (it's filmed in Dubrovnik) and M posed for pics on the throne as she is a huge fan. Next stop was gelato, then I spent the afternoon the afternoon sipping a cider in an Irish bar doing "life maintenance". Life maintenance is a great term I learned from my friend Aussie Z that describes when you have to take a break from the fun of travelling to deal with responsibilities from home.

Aussie M is a big fan of Game of Thrones

 

Mythical Monsters and Wine
Aussie M headed back to the boat, and I decided to treat myself to a wine tasting in one of the posh little wine bars off the main street. I chose one that was highly rated on Trip Advisor and sat at a table by myself to order a flight of wine. I wasn't alone for long, as two nice men from England heard my accent and asked me to join them...I hope you're reading this Blair and Jerry! Blair tried to tell me that there was a mythical monster in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro (ha ha), while Jerry gave me a crash course in wine tasting (I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was pretty rock solid in this area, but I did learn some new things). An hour flew by over wine, cheese, and olives as they told me all about their work as professional sports gamblers! They each specialize in different sports, and it was fascinating to visit with them! Thanks for adopting me!

 Great little wine bar with fantastic wines

Professional sports gamblers Jerry and Blair... an entertaining duo!

Our night in Dubrovnik included a delicious meal at Ragusa II and more cocktail buckets at two different bars!

Mljet: We sleep on our boat every night, and it usually starts to sail about 5 am. We have a swim stop around noon, a later lunch, then we dock somewhere. Naomi our guide always does an orientation tour, then sets us free. Mljet is a small island that is 90% national park. Everyone did their own thing--kayaking, biking, and swimming. There are two inland salt water lakes on the island, and on the largest lake there is a little island with a medieval Benedictine monastery. I met up with some nice girls from New Zealand, and walked with them to the nearest boat dock, and took the boat over to the monastery. I had a great afternoon exploring and taking pictures. There's a beautiful little chapel there, and I was able to light two candles... one for my Papa and one for a family friend that left us too soon.

Benedictine monastery on a little island on the large salt lake

So beautiful and tranquil in Mljet

Since Mljet is not very happening, we had a barbecue on the boat and played a few wild rounds of Sociables or King's Cup. It was lots of fun, and at one point I got knocked off the bench when the person beside me fell over backwards. Thanks English A!

Makarska: Today we're docked in Makarska and it's pouring rain again. I had a failed attempt to wash my hair in my tiny bathroom/shower thing--no hot water and I just couldn't do it. So I decided enough was enough, I've been roughing it for long enough! I booked a pedicure at a nearby hotel and shampoo and blowout at the salon. As I write this post, I'm getting a beautiful shade of pink shellac on my piggies and my hair is clean, straight, and shiny! Yay! My blowout only cost $20 Canadian and included a deep conditioning and bang trim.

Makarska is known as the Croatian Mediterranean and it's a charming little city with palm trees, beaches, nice restaurants, clubs, and a market. Despite the rain I've had a great afternoon exploring here and getting back in touch with my inner princess!

Beautiful town square in Makarska

Famous statue dedicated to tourists on the waterfront. Supposedly if you rub the woman's breast, you'll get lucky in Makarska!

If It's Good Enough for Beyonce

Driving through Montenegro was nothing short of beautiful. Twisty turny roads along a stunning coastline with blue blue waters made for amazing views. The only downside was some abrupt stops on roads that weren’t wide enough for our big tour bus and another vehicle—people and objects flew from seats a few times!

We had a photo stop with a view of St. Stephen’s Island, home to a gorgeous hotel complex for the mega-rich. Supposedly Beyonce and Jay-Z have stayed there, and they named their baby daughter for a blue flower in Montenegro. This prompted us to crank the Beyonce tunes for the remainder of the drive.  And by the way, that’s MontenEGGro, not MontenEEgro as I was incorrectly saying.

Stunning Montenegran coastline and St. Stephen's Island

The Balkan Trek Busabout Crew!

We rolled into Budva, Montengro’s number one beach destination. I wasted no time in grabbing a Montenegran beer to try while some people opted for spiking their slushies with the little bottles of vodka that were available everywhere. We had a great wander along the famous beach and then explored the walled old town. It was charming with little streets, high walls, and interesting shops.

I wasted no time in sampling a local beer on the beach!

Walking along the beach and marina in Budva

Walled old town in Budva

We opted for lunch on the beach as a few people wanted seafood. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad which turned out to be a nightmare. The first time it came, the chicken was either uncooked or had those yucky broken blood vessels in it. I sent it back and just said not to worry about it as my appetite was gone at this point. I decided to focus on my carafe of local red wine which was lovely. Well, I give them an A for effort at this restaurant as they brought me another salad. This time they’d added some balsamic vinegar to the lettuce (like WTF?) and another batch of chicken. Still undercooked and yucky. A nice calico cat benefited though and she really seemed to enjoy the chicken! Gelato on the beach was enough sustenance to keep me going for our next stop—the magical town of Kotor, Montenegro, located on the Bay of Kotor.

 Some of the group decided to climb up the town walls for beautiful views, but I opted to explore the walled old town and update my blog. I had a wonderful couple of hours roaming around the beautiful old city, discovering interesting shops, bars, restaurants, and churches down narrow little alleys. A glass of local wine gave me time to upload one post, but the pokey internet stopped me from getting my second one done.

The old walled city of Kotor was magical!

 

There are cute cats everywhere and they look well-fed and happy

 

 Our next stop was our hostel in a nearby village. We were booked in at Montenegro’s oldest hostel, which truly made me feel like I was staying at REAL hostel. It had three levels with a rooftop and dorm-style bunk bed rooms. All of us agreed that it felt like we were at summer camp. We all gathered on the rooftop where Ivan, the hostel owner, welcomed us with shots of raki (an extremely potent local spirit that his friend makes). After supper, we decided it was time to get this party started, and the three Canadians bullied a few of our fellow travellers into playing Sociables (my favourite drinking/card game). We passed a fun few hours and learned lots about each other, sampling some Macedonian and Montenegran red wines. It was great—we could bring our own drinks into the hostel or purchase them from the bar on an honor system. Canadian J really dominated the honour system bar tab!

Common area of the hostel in Montenegro

Nicely done Canadian J!

The next morning was yoga with the Busabout girls. So for the third class of my yoga teaching career, I did the standing and chakra sequences on a rooftop in Montenegro as the sun was coming up. I have to say that I’m racking up some pretty amazing class locations very early in my career! International A says that I should start calling myself the Nomadic Yogi and it definitely has a ring to it!

We loaded up the bus and hit the road again, taking a ferry then driving about 90 minutes to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I have wanted to visit this beautiful walled city for years, and it did not disappoint. International A and I walked all the way around the walls for a couple of hours, meeting up with a few of the girls from our tour group. We climbed to the top of the tower and stopped for lots of pictures of red tile rooves, sparkling blue sea water, and charming buildings. Next we explored some of the little alleys off the main street in the walled city, stopping for lunch. I hadn’t eaten much the day before with the chicken Caesar salad debacle and a meal at the hostel that I didn’t really like, so I was excited for soup and bruschetta and my first Croatian beer.

 

 

International A filling her cup with Europe's best water

 Interesting facts about Dubrovnik:

-the walled city has some of the oldest and best maintained walls and battlements in Europe

-Game of Thrones is often filmed here and there is tons of merchandise and a variety of tours associated with the books and TV show

-during the Yugoslavian conflict in the 1990s, the Serbian dictator actually fired on the ancient walled city (like who does that?). Some of the red rooves are brighter than others, and that’s because they were replaced within the last 20-25 years.

-people from Dubrovnik strongly associate their identity with their city, rather than Croatia

-Dubrovnik has the cleanest drinking water in Europe, and there is an underground spring that feeds the fountain in the centre of town, within the walls. This allowed the city to withstand months of siege, in addition to the mandatory months of extra supplies always on hand.

After an amazing three hours in Dubrovnik, we got back on the bus and travelled through Bosnia to get to the rest of Croatia. In the settlement of the Yugoslavian war when the countries established their borders, Bosnia got 50 km of coastline out of the deal. So we got to have a quick stop in Bosnia on our way to Split. I think everyone fell asleep on the bus and didn’t wake up till we were on the outskirts of the city. I was completely disoriented when I woke up and couldn’t figure out where my backpack was. Turns out I was looking on the wrong side of the bus. Wow.

We got settled into our hostel, Fiesta Siesta….sister hostel to Snooze and Booze. I didn’t have high expectations for these accommodations, but they proved to be okay…in a two star kind of way. I shared a room with 5 other girls. I don’t mind sharing with people, but the hardest part for me is finding a spot to open my backpack and spread out my stuff so I can find everything. I had my first hostel shower (wearing flip flops) and of course when I went to do my makeup the bathroom light was burned out AGAIN! I still managed to get ready, and all of us girls got more dressed up than usual for our last night together.
Jen took us a on a walking tour of Diocletian’s Palace, the retirement home of a Roman emperor. It was built in 200-300 AD and is remarkably preserved. They have cleaned the stones but haven’t made any repairs. There are shops and restaurants throughout the complex and it’s really charming. I rubbed Gregory of Minch’s toe and made a wish. Supposedly your wish will be granted as long as it isn’t materialistic. We had a yummy meal out on the waterfront, then hit up Charlie's Backpacker Bar near our hostel. It was all about the World Cup rugby of course and was crazy busy, so everyone spilled out into the little street for an outdoor party. I spent the night visiting with my Busabout crew, saying goodbyes to everyone, and meeting my Croatia guide Naomi.

It was an excellent four days touring the Balkans with a great crew of people and a fantastic tour guide. I highly recommend Busabout for anyone wanting to see a lot of country with minimal effort on your part! Excited for the next adventure... sailing the Adriatic Sea and visiting a bunch of islands! I'll keep you posted!