Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Paris

Private Walking Tours and Broken Hearts

As we’re wont to do when arriving in a new city, we headed for the local free walking tour upon morning in Zagreb. We’d exchanged numbers previously with Mike and Vicki and they were set to meet us there. As we were waiting for the tour to start, we ran into Ann and Mary; who had arrived in town the previous evening. 

Five minutes before the tour was set to start, Mike comes running up to Em and I and informs us the he and Vicki have a private walking tour that they didn’t remember they’d booked. They asked us to come with them on their tour. So we arranged to meet up with Ann and Mary later and headed out on our four plus one (guide) tour. Our guide was a young, enthusiastic, and passionate girl that really knew her stuff. One of her favorite people was Archbishop Aloysius Viktor Stepinac, who many consider a national hero, while many others consider him a traitor. According to our guide, he saw the atrocities that were occurring during WWII and after when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. He tried to help as many people as he could and spoke out against the state and those he thought were wronging the general masses. As a result, he was brought up on charges of being a Ustaše (a fascist regime that believed in a “pure” race in Croatia) collaborator and tried as an enemy of the State. At his trial, all 100+ witnesses in his defense magically didn’t show up. He was found guilty and sentenced to jail. His sentence was eventually commuted to house arrest. When he died in 1960 there were traces of arsenic in his blood (whether this is a result of poisoning or from the blood letting practices of the 1950s is the subject of many conspiracy theories). Today, his body is interned in Zagreb Cathedral and there is a small museum next door that tells about his life.

If any of you have actually been reading my blogs entry by entry or at least all of them, at one point or another, you might remember that back in Cavtat, that a few of us wandered to the top of the hill to see a cemetery that had a mausoleum for a family I know nothing about. Additionally, you may remember the statute of the naked man that stands high up on a pedestal in Belgrade because it might have affected the sensitive dispositions of the wealthy ladies of the time. Turns out that these two items were both designed and created by the same person, Ivan Meštrović. 

Well today on our walking tour of Zagreb we discovered a bit more about Meštrović. It turns out that he was the most prominent Croatian sculptor, as well as a renowned author, architect, and well known for his political beliefs. He lived for a very productive portion of his life in Zagreb and is cherished by the people of the city. 

In addition to Zagreb loving him, he exhibited around the world, was friends with Nikola Tesla; taught, lived, and eventually became a citizen of America, attempted to help Archbishop Stepinac when he was unjustly thrown in jail by the Communists, and so many other things. He was truly a fascinating individual. Unfortunately, by the time I figured out how cool Meštrović was, his workshop was already closed for the day and Em and I couldn’t visit. 

After our tour, we thanked Mike and Vicki for allowing us to join them and parted ways. Em and I headed to the Museum of Broken Relationships. This museum was created by a couple (that I don’t think are together anymore) and is comprised of objects from relationships and personal stories from the people that left those objects as to how they relate to a failed relationship. The items and stories on display are ever changing as anyone can submit to the collection and the curators will design different themed exhibits at different times. Currently, there is only room to display about 15% of all the objects received. 

Going through the museum is a bit like being a temporary voucher into other people’s lives. I liked how all the stories related to each object were written in the prose of the author. Some stories were short, some long, some funny, and some tragic. I definitely recommend this museum if anyone makes it to Zagreb; maybe even bring an object to add to the collection.

After the museum, we wandered through Grič Park and Grič Tunnel (an ex-bunker that no is used as an underground pedestrian walkway from the Upper city to the Lower city) on the way to the Archaeology museum. The archeological museum in Zagreb is wonderful. This museum houses a large collection of Egyptian scrolls, jewelry, sarcophagi, and four mummies (which they are super ecstatic to point out). Additionally, there are exhibits on the various towns in the area that were excavated and what knowledge archaeologist have gleaned from them.

After the archaeology museum, we had some time to just wander the lovely streets and then get a bite to eat.

Trakošćan Castle and Varaždin 

Upon arriving in Zadar, Em and I had been slightly dismayed when we realized that a castle we’d wanted to see was a bit outside of the city and not really accessible by public transportation. As a result, we’d booked a private car to take us. We’d tried to go on a tour but due to the declining tourist season, the agency we’d inquired at only had private tours. This turned out to work out well for us.

Ivica, picked us just from our hostel at 9 and drove us to the old city of Varazdin where he pointed out the castle and the old town and let us run free for a few hours. 

Varaždin is a cute little city in Northern Croatia that is known for its fantastic baroque architecture and the fact that it was the capital of Croatia in the 1800s (back when it was the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia). 

Em and I took a tour of the Varaždin Castle; a medieval castle whose construction began back in the 14th century and lasted for over four centuries, as it was built and rebuilt several times in different architectural styles. In 1925 it became home to the Varaždin City Museum. Its walls hold several collections such as historic documents, glass, clocks, ceramics, weapons, and fascinating rooms furnished in several different styles and chronologically displayed starting from Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Empire etc.

The Castle is also surrounded by a moat, but Em and I couldn’t figure out how this particular moat was helpful as the castle was situated on the lowest point and the berms were about 30ft high, above the plane of the castle.

The end of tourists season was also felt when we arrived in the town center, as there were a lot fewer people out and about (most appeared to be locals) and many shops were closed. We wandered around a bit, read some of the informational sign posts on various buildings, grabbed some lunch, and went to find Ivica to leave for Trakošćan.

Trakošćan was built in the 14th century but no one really knows who owned it back then. There are records of several military personnel having possession of the house for short periods of time. In 1584, King Maximilian gave the estate to Juraj Drašković and it stayed in his family until the mid-1800s, when it was abandoned. A hundred or so years later Juraj V. Drašković (a relative of the original Juraj) turned the castle into a residential manor-house, while the surrounding park was turned into Romanticist pleasure grounds. In the 1940s the house became property of the state and now is a historic museum.

Around the castle is a lake was started as a small pond, but was enlarged by  Juraj V. Drašković during renovations. The trail around the lake is now about 3 miles and possesses various points of interest that are told to you via information signs from the fairies (the people of this area were superstitious and liked the idea of an Earthen creature relaying information. We didn’t quite have enough time to walk the entire circuit, but we walked far enough that we were able to enjoy the tranquil waters without other humans around.

Ivica was kind enough to drop us at the train station upon our return to Zagreb. At 6:38 we set off for Slovenia, our last Balkan country (at least for this trip). Because Slovenia is part of the Schengen part of the EU and Croatia is not, border control came down the aisles of the train and we were able to get an additional stamp in our passports.

We arrived in Ljubljana and headed for Celica Hostel; our home for the next three nights. This hostel is located in the alternative section of town and used to be a Political Prison. Originally, Em and I had planned to stay at a different hostel, but the chance to bunk down in a prison cell converted into an art piece was too much to pass up. Our cell was designed with one bed on the floor and one lofted above, a desk and chair, and a sculpture on the wall that resembled books on a shelf. Additionally, the artist added mounted papers talking about the treatment of prisoners in various countries. 

The hostel is located on an ex-military compound that was set to be torn down after the last war. At the time, many youths and NGOs had started “squatting” in the buildings in protest and stating that the government had granted the buildings to them. There were a few years of back and forth, but now, it seems the punks, artists, do-gooders, and outcasts have won. The entire area is a huge open art canvas, with sculptures, graffiti, and murals all over the place. While the area looks very suspect and numerous people will offer to sell you drugs, it is safe.

Castles Built for Safety and Not Comfort and Caves That Go On For Days

Due to the way the connection for our flight home to the States was, we ended up having to sacrifice a day in Ljubljana for a day in Paris. This meant that two all day trips we’d originally planned, became one super long trip (with a slightly different itinerary). Em had really wanted to see Lake Bled and Bled Castle and I had really wanted to see Predjama Castle and Postojna Cave. The tour we found combined both sites.

In the morning we visited Bled Castle, overlooking Lake Bled. The castle is the oldest castle in Slovenia and a huge tourist destination. Walking the lake and visiting the the church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary on the small island in the middle, are some of the other highlights of this small town. At the church, you’re supposed to climb the 99 steps of the old Baroque stairs to ring the bell for good luck (Em and did not visit the island so no extra luck for us).

Of the five people on the day trip, Em and I were the only two that wanted to see the castle; so we dropped the other three at the lake at the base of the hill and continued to the top. When we got to the castle, there were reenacters there and we got to watch some archers prancing around each other, holding a competition for the best. At one point they invited all of the school children there on a field trip to try their hand at it.

The castle serves as a museum and has some great exhibits related to the history of the area. Additionally, they converted on tower into a wine cellar and one into a honey shop, so Em and I were both super excited and may have spent a bit on local products. The last thing of note for Bled Castle is that they have a reconstructed Gutenberg printing press where a master printer will explain how the press works; about Slovenian Protestant reformer Primož Trubar who visited the castle and wrote the first books in Slovene and Catechismus and Abecedarium (both printed in 1550 on a Gutenberg Press); and he’ll print you something if you pay for it.

In addition to the castle, you can’t go to this area without trying the Creme Cake. This cake is a 7 cubic centimeter cube of custard, cream, and light flakey crust deliciousness. The fact that we enjoyed our slice at the castle, while looking out over Lake Bled, didn’t hurt one bit.

In the afternoon, we drove back through Ljubljana, picked up an additional couple, and headed out to Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves. Predjama Castle was built for protection rather than for comfort. It is an exemplary example of man made creations and nature being combined harmoniously. The original castle started inside a natural cave and then expanded over time (as funds became available) to have true buildings. 

In the 15th century, the castle became the home of knight Erazem Lueger. Lueger got into a conflict with the Habsburgs and became a robber baron and local “Robin Hood”. He ended up being besieged in his castle for over a year, but due to a secret vertical tunnel, he was still able to supply the residents of the castle with food and to continue to rob the local Habsburg towns during this time.

Erasmus may have survived longer, but a greedy servant sold him out for some spare coins and one night when Erasmus went to visit the loo (the least fortified area of the whole castle), the servant signaled Leuger’s enemies and they blew up the loo and Erasmus with it. Game of Thrones liked this death so much they used it to kill off one of their main characters.

From the castle we headed to Postojna Cave. Postojna Cave is an extensive karst cave system that is the second largest in the country. The cave system is 24 kilometers long, but tourists only see about 3.5 km. There are three levels to the caverns, but many areas of the top level have collapsed and the bottom level is not fully explored yet. 

While there is evidence that the cave was visited as early as the 13th century, it wasn’t until the the 17th that it was really studied and written about. In 1819, with the visit of Archduke Ferdinand, it officially became a tourist destination. It was deemed such an important destination that it received electrical lighting before anywhere else in the country (including the capital).

Tours into the cave start with a 2 km train ride that whip you by cavern after cavern with beautiful colors and large columns, curtains, and other features, and deposit you in a huge chamber from which everyone is divided into smaller groups by language. Your guide then takes you at a fast clip around a 1.5km trek, relaying interesting tidbits along the way. Maybe because they have a schedule to keep in order to get the most people through or maybe because of time constraints due to being the last tour of the day, but I felt our guide just continued to briskly walk and didn’t allow you to truly see or experience the wonder of the cave. As a result, we lost her relatively early on and ended up having to hurry at the end to catch the last train before they left us there for the evening.

Why Does Everything Open So Late?

Our last day in Ljubljana. We thought we’d get up early in order to see as much as possible. Seems that in the shoulder season this was a silly idea. We were walking around at 7 am in the freezing air and the rest of the city slumbered until 10 or eleven. At least at 9 am a few restaurants opened and we were able to get a bite to eat and warm up some. 

Our plan for the day involved another free walking tour, where we ran into Ann and Mary again (as we suspected would happen). The four of us trotted along behind our local guide, but we were less than impressed with the tour in general. It seems that the most notable things in the city were all designed or renovated by the same person, Jože Plečnik, who was all the guide really talked about. 

Besides Plečnik, the guide did mention the Dragon’s Bridge. The bridge is considered one of the best examples of reinforced concrete bridges and of the Vienna Secession style. There are various legends surrounding the bridge, including that women are supposed to walk across it before marriage as a sign of purity. If they are pure, the dragons will raise their tails or wink.

After our not so thrilling walk through the town center, the four of us hiked to the Castle. The castle has a main courtyard around which there are different galleries, a restaurant, and a viewing tower. The gallery that turned out unexpectedly to be great was the Museum of Puppetry. This was a hands-on museum that told you about the history of puppets in the city and Slovenia as a whole and allowed you to play with different puppets and different styles of theater. The four of us reverted to children and had a grand time. 

Also in the castle, there was an exhibit on dragons that went through the mythology related to them throughout time and how these stories differ in different cultures. At the end you got to solve a riddle and find the dragons elixir. It took us a second to figure out how to play the game (cause there were no directions), but eventually we deciphered the answer.

After the castle tour, Em and I parted temporarily from Ann and Mary in order to go on a graffiti walking tour. But first, we wandered back through the “Open Kitchen”, an every Friday food market where many local restaurants open stalls and sell items from their shops. It’s like a food truck convention, but with stalls instead of trucks. 

I had wanted to try rolled ice cream, which I guess is a new thing popping up around the world (Em said it’s taken over in LA and we saw it in Hvar). While enjoying some rolled ice cream (which is delicious), I got side tracked watching this guy make a huge vat of a pancake type thing...pancake goodness with raisins and browned sugar butter, all simmering together on a huge cast iron skillet. 

It took about 20 minutes to make each batch and we were three people from the front of the line when they ran out of the first batch. Having waited so long already, Em and I were willing to miss the graffiti tour to get our pancake goodness. We got our plate of deliciousness (topped with Nutella and some sort of berries) with two minutes to spare and a ten minute walk to the meeting location. Running along the riverfront, trying to alternatively eat our little bit of heaven and miss colliding with the hordes of other tourists, we arrived just as a group of people were leaving the meet up point. We caught up to them and found out it was in fact our group.

The graffiti tour turned out to be a little different than we’d originally thought. It was led by a young man that was heavily linked with the whole alternative scene and most likely a graffiti artist as well. I was expecting to see giant colorful murals like I’ve seen in other countries and learn about the meanings behind them. And while we eventually saw some of those at the end of the tour, the majority of the tour taught us about the different types of graffiti that are put on walls, from tags (the ugly signatures that are considered the lowest form of graffiti, but vital to have to get your name out) to throw ups (which are quick pieces that can be done in a pinch but have more to them than tags) to masterpieces (the murals I love). We learned what it means when others mark on top of your work and how not all street artists use spray paint. The tour overall was very informative, and while I still think the majority of scrawls I see desecrating buildings is ugly, I can understand it a bit better.

We ended our day, our exploration of Ljubljana, and the Balkans portion of our trip with a nice middle eastern dinner out with Ann and Mary.

Aww Paris

Due to flight issues when originally booking, there wasn’t a way to fly home all in one day, therefore we had the chance to shop around and figure out which major European country we wanted to spend a day in. Paris was the winner.

Paris is the capital of France, one of Europe's major centers of finance, commerce, fashion, science, music, and painting; home to 12.5 million citizens, and “The City of Love.”

This last day started out pretty poorly in that Em and I arrived in Paris and wandered to the baggage carousel only to find out that our bags were missing. We’d seen them be put on the plane, but the unhelpful baggage agent insisted that they never came into the country. We had to fill out missing baggage paperwork and then just hope that the bags showed up. 

So with only our day packs (thankfully with everything important and most everything valuable) we headed by train to our hostel. About this time, a reoccurrence of the illness Em had had in Kotor made itself known and she steadily lost energy as the day progressed. 

After a brief respite at our hostel, Em felt well enough to venture out and we ended up wandering the Seine a bit before arriving at the Louvre. Since Em’s energy was failing and Paris is huge, we opted to get on one of those open topped tour buses that take you around the major sights of the city. As much as I’ve mocked these in the past, it turned out to be a great idea. We opted for one that did a two hour loop around the heart of downtown and provided random tidbits of information at various locales. If you have little time and aren’t up for walking far, I highly recommend this as an alternative.

In the evening we shopped for some bare essentials since our bags still hadn’t shown up at the hostel and then Em retired for the evening. We didn’t quite get the gastronomic day that we’d envisioned, but it was as pleasant as circumstances would allow. 

The next morning, bright and early, as we were preparing to depart for the airport, we were greeted with the wonderful sight of our bags. It turns out the airport had located them and dropped them off around two in the morning. Em and I think that because we put them in colorful laundry bags to protect all the straps from getting caught on things, that someone thought they were linens or some such. Either way, I am glad to note that the trip ended with our stuff safely returned. 

Until the next adventure.

A Walking City, An Empty City, and a Masterpiece

Too Short of a Time in Split

When originally creating our itinerary for this adventure, we’d found most reviews of Split saying that besides the Diocletian’s Palace (which we’d erroneously assumed was an empty fort) there wasn’t much to the city. Therefore, we’d only scheduled an evening there. As our ferry docked at the pier and the impressive fortified Old Town greeted us, we realized that there was more to this city than we’d originally thought.

Split started out as the Greek colony of Aspálathos in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. The Diocletian’s Palace was built for the Roman Emperor in 305 CE, and the city because a prominent settlement in 650 CE. It then spent a few millennium being gifted from one ruling power to the next (the Venetians, the Ottomans, the Habsburg Monarchy, part of the Illyrian Providences, the Austrians, Yugoslavia, etc., etc.) and is now the second largest city in Slovenia.

Since our ferry got in in the late afternoon, there wasn’t a lot time to see the sights, but luckily for us, this was a city that liked to stay open late. We dropped our bags at our hostel (which had expanded some to include apartments in the neighborhood for private rooms and that’s where we were deposited...an apartment to ourselves, which was nice, but cut off from the social aspect of the Hostel, which is half the reason we stay in them) and headed out to explore.

We headed into the Old City and made our way to the center where we stopped to watch a wedding procession that was leaving the Cathedral of Saint Domnius (the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world that remains in use in its original structure, without near-complete renovation at a later date). Apparently it is tradition for their to be singing as the wedding party exits and so we were transfixed by hauntingly beautiful melodies being sung and the wonderful acoustics of the walls sending the sound around. While we watched and listened, a woman approached and offered us a spot on a walking tour that was leaving in a few minutes. Wanting to learning something about the city in our short time there, we decided to purchase tickets.

The tour was lead by an older gentleman who was a professor in his previous career. He walked slow, talked low, and had the awful habit of asking you a question and then making you feel like and errant pupil when you answered (whether correctly or incorrectly). The tour though, gave us a change to wander through the old town and learn a bit more about its history. 

About half of the old city was comprised of the Diocletian’s Palace, built for Roman Emperor Diocletian’s expected retirement on May 1, 305AD (I didn’t realize Emperors could retire, I figured it was a gig until death). While the Palace today is the world’s most complete example of a Roman Palace, the original rooms and buildings have been converted into shops, restaurants, and hotels.

After the tour, Em and I wandered to the basement of the city. In the 1960s archaeologists started to excavate all of the debris that was below what once was the Diocletian’s Place and discovered that there was in essence an exact replica of the structure of the Palace underneath. Because this under-city was used as a trash pit for centuries, it was well preserved and weathered time intact (unlike the Palace above). 

The underground replica contains 80 rooms of various sizes, linked by hallways, and complete with arched ceilings. Archaeologists say that despite the detail and effort put into making this replica city, it was only used as architectural support for the Palace above ground. To me this seems far fetched, because if that was the case, why not just make random support pillars, why add all the detail? Today, the sub-city houses a art market and a museum of sorts in that you can wander the empty rooms of this underworld.

These Roads are Way Too Narrow

The next morning, Em and I had the brilliant plan of waking early and going sans luggage to snap a few photos of the waking city on our way to pick up our rental car. In typical fashion for countries that don’t rent automatic cars often, we were upgraded for free from a small crappy car, to a nice big, expensive car (the gave us an SUV with leather trim and a sun roof <— which I didn’t realize was there until I returning the vehicle). While everyone else may think this is grand, we hate it since these cars tend to cost a lot more if something happens and the roads in most of the places we rent the cars are small (one lane width for two directions), so a bigger car just means more stress. 

Trying to get back to our hostel to grab our bags turned out to be a nightmare where I’m pretty sure half my hair started to go grey. It turns out that most of the downtown area is a series of one way streets that get progressively smaller. We had to drive about three or four miles out of the center to find a main road back to the area we needed. To even get there though, required a lot of wrong turns down donkey cart lanes they called roads and some reversing back up hills at certain points when realizing that our car was way too big to fit through the gaps left between the cars parked on either side of the road. While I loved the few hours I spent walking around Split, I hated the few minutes I spent driving through it. 

Once we successfully retrieved our bags and hit the A1, things were a lot smoother. The A1 is the only major highway in Croatia, and transverses the length of the entire country. It also extends up into Slovenia. While it’s a nice road two lane road with a decent speed limit (about 85 mph) and direct shots to most cities, you pay an arm and a leg to use it. It’s a tool road and they charge a buttload to grant you the privilege of efficiency.

Having rented the car for a day, granted Em and I the ability to see some additional places that we might otherwise not have been able to visit. The first of these was the Vranjača Cave, which our aunt and uncle had visited a few month previously and told us not to miss. 

The cave is located about 40 minutes by car outside of Split. You head to the town of Dugopolje and then follow the signs up the steep and curvy road to the village of Kotlenica. Then park in the dirt lot and walk 300 meters (or venture a little further in your car on the unpaved road and walk 100 meters). 

Vranjača is comprised of two halls and was created by a river flowing through about 60,000,000 years ago. The first hall is mostly unadorned and has been known about since Neolithic times, when it was used by hunters. The second, larger, and very impressive hall was discovered by Stipe Punda in 1906, when he was crawling around looking for a pigeon. After researches spent years studying the amazing find and Grandpa Punda (the man’s grandsons still maintain the cave today) built stairs and installed electrical lights, the cave was opened to the general public in 1929. 

When you arrive, Marko, the current owner and Stipe’s grandson, gives you a short lecture on the cave and how his family discovered it on their property and has maintained it for over 100 years. Then Marko tells you “to respect him and to respect the cave” and let’s you head down the 500 steps into the earth on your own. Marko is all about allowing his guests to feel at home in the cave and get out of it what they will. The trail at the bottom is 360 meters long and you can take your time transversing it.

We enjoyed the slight cool and year around constant 60 degree cave and tried to soak up the healthy energies before thanking Marko and heading back on the road. 

Our next stop was a slight detour, but we were told it was worth it. We headed to the coast to visit Zadar. Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city, with evidence of human habitation going back to the Stone Age. We arrived at the waterfront in front of the fortress walls, paid our parking (to the amusement of some locals as it was a Sunday and parking was free <— it’s hard to remember the days of the week when you’re traveling) and wandered inside the Old City. 

Today, Zadar is one of Croatia’s most popular tourist destinations (I’m pretty sure it’s also on the itinerary for many cruise ships), but apparently Sundays are the wrong day to visit. I’m used to many European and South and Central American cities being culturally dead on Mondays, but I didn’t realize that entire cities shut down on Sundays. Walking through Zadar was a bit like when Em and I wandered Dubrovnik and Kotor at the crack of dawn, mostly empty; the only difference was this time is was one in the afternoon. In terms of being able to take photographs and see the wonderful architecture, this was great. In terms of taking a walking tour or seeing a museum or visiting some shops, this kind of sucked.

We found an opened pizza restaurant, feed the growling bellies, wandered a bit more, and headed out again.

We decided to take the scenic route to our hostel near the Plitvice Lakes since we had some extra time and cause the roads weren’t as bad as we’d feared (they were a single lane in either direction, but paved and wide enough to accommodate a truck, of which there were a lot).

We arrived at the Falling Lakes Hostel in Korenica, about 15 minutes from the park entrance, as the sun was setting. This hostel was on of the few hostels that we’ve found in recent years that is still a “true hostel” in that they actively encourage social interaction with other people and provide a welcoming, clean, and fun environment in which to do that. 

It turned out that the night we were there was trivia night. The hostel’s version of trivia is a little different in that each team has to design a question (for each category as they come up) and then those questions become the game questions. The catch is the questions have to be hard enough that at least one team won’t answer them correctly, and easy enough that at least one other team will answer them correctly. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end a day of driving.

So Freaking Gorgeous, Wish I Could Live Here

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest, largest, and most infamous of Croatia’s eight natural parks. The park covers just shy of 300 square miles, but the main tourist area is comprised of a much smaller region. Tourism at the Lakes revolves around The Lakes. Within the park there are a series of sixteen cascading lakes arranged in a series of Upper Lakes and Lower Lakes. There are also two waterfalls (the Big Falls and the Small Falls). The waters of the lakes are phenomenal, with ever changing hues due to the ever changing mineral content, the number and type of organisms living in them, and the angle of the sun that lights them up.

To see all of the Lakes, the curators of the park have built wooden walkways and blazed dirt pathways along the banks. As a visitor, there are various marked trailed that you can follow (from a short hour “ooh pretty, snap, got my selfie now let’s go” trail to the “see everything” 8-10 hrs trek). There is also a free boat and bus that will help convey a visitor to key places within the park.

Em and I arrived before the park opened so that we could make sure we had some time inside before the large tour buses arrived and disgorged their hundreds and thousands of picture happy short term visitors.

While waiting in line to purchase tickets, we made friends with some fellow Bay Area Californians. Mike and Vicki are an enthusiastic older couple that love to travel around and meet likeminded individuals. Mike was also an avid photographer and so the four of us set out with the other fifty early morning hikers to catch the Lakes with the mist still curling on the waters and the walkways mostly uncrowned. 

Our quartet wandered across the wood planks and through this fairytale for a few hours before Mike and Vicki broke off to head to Zagreb by private car and Em and I continued for a few additional hours until time and the crowding masses chased us out. 

We headed down the road to Rastoke, a quaint little village that is known for water mills and is sometimes referred to as "the Small Lakes of Plitvice". Here exists the same natural phenomenon as at Plitvice; water from the Korana and a natural travertine barrier with large deposits of lime, coming together to form cascading lakes and waterfalls.

The design of the land and the flow of the water, allowed the residents to develop water powered mechanical mills. These mills used paddle wheels to power the grindstones to grind various different grains.

Today, a section of the town is set up as a tourist attraction where you can walk around the old village and see relics of the life of the residents back in the day. Additionally, someone decided to add weird art sculptures all over the places, so you can have fun looking around and realizing that the wooden log in front of you actually has a face or there’s a woman made out of wires lazing on the grass.

After our little respite, we hoped back on the A1 to head to Zagreb to drop our bags at our hostel and then return our car at the airport. What we learned at the airport is that if you miss the one sign to turn, you have to go on a five minute detour that takes you completely around and away from the airport before coming back again. 

Walking the Walls, ATVing, and Lace

More Museums and Some Impressive Walls

Our last day in Dubrovnik, we awoke before dawn in order to catch the taxi with Ann, Mary, and Louise back to Dubrovnik. Ann and Mary were going to continue traveling with the Louise as a good through Croatia and Slovenia and were starting with a 7 am ferry to the island of Kocula. Since Em and my’s ferry to Hvar didn’t leave until 3:30, we dropped our bags at the bus terminal and headed back into the Old Town to explore for a few more hours.

I still love walking these ancient cities as dawn breaks. It’s incredibly peaceful as the only people out are locals delivering goods for the shops, travelers looking to move on early to their next locations, and other photographers trying to catch the mystique of the city before its calm is broken by the hordes that will arrive in mere hours. 

We wandered the nearly empty streets snapping away on our cameras to our hearts content until 8 am when the city walls opened and we could be one of the first to wander her walls for the day. The city walls of Dubrovnik are one of the main attractions of the city, as you can circle the entirety of the Old Town and see everything (both inside and outside) from its ramparts. Along the wall there are three forts, sixteen towers, six bastions, two corner fortifications, and two citadels. The circuit is 1940 meters long and takes between an hour and two hours depending on how leisurely you stroll, whether you go up every tower to take in the view, or weather you stop for an overpriced coffee or juice along the way. We did all of the above and finished our stroll as the hordes descended. 

After the wandering the walls, we hit up the last two museums that we’d missed the previous day: the Natural History Museum and the Archaeology Museum.

The Natural History Museum was hilarious in my option. The museum was originally founded in 1872 from the private collections of ship owner Antun Drobac. Over time, the collection expanded, the curators changed, and the museum evolved into multiple other museums (the maritime, ethnographic, and cultural history museums all started as collections in this museum). The current museum is designed by someone that wanted to appeal to children (of all ages), with bright, fun exhibits that are interactive or more than 2D. 

There is an entire exhibit on insects and how they hear that includes a sound track of chirps and clicks, as well as giant 3D replicas of ants poking out from the walls. I loved the sea animals room as the curators had created a psychedelic water world using CDs, crape paper, and multicolored lights. I loved this museum, while Em though it looked like a child was let loose in an IKEA with some scissors and glue sticks. 

The archaeology museum was small and tucked away. It apparently contained information on the five phases of the construction of the fortress in situ, as well as finds from the archaeological explorations of the fortress during 1985-1986. The museum also exhibited sculptures and religious relics dating from the 9th to 12th centuries from churches from within the city walls and those from the surrounding areas. I’m not sure if I missed a section or not because the only stuff I saw were the religious items.

Since we still had some time to kill before boarding our ferry, so we decided to go “swim in a Yellow Submarine.” The Yellow Submarine was small yellow tourist boat with an underwater area where one sit and watch the fishes swim by as the boat lazily toured the harbour surrounding the Old Town, headed out to the island off the coast and then circled back along the coast. Em and I were giddy as school children and spent the ride waving to people along the walls drinking their coffee (most did not wave back), going down below to glimpse the small schools of fish, and singing off-key “we all live in a Yellow Submarine” on repeat. It was great fun.

Our ferry ride to Hvar was little rocky and I was thrilled to be back on land three hours after departure. We were met at the local bus station (a short walk from the pier) by Tatjana, the kindly older woman that was the proprietor of our AirBnB for the next two nights. Tatjana loves to wait for her guests and walk them through the town to her place so that she can give them the lay of the land and help insure they don’t get lost. She was a lovely woman with way more energy than either Em and I and helped us make ourselves right at home in her converted apartment.

Badasses in Hvar 

Hvar is a nice sized island in the Adriatic Sea, just off the Dalmatian coast. The island itself has been inhabited from prehistoric times and the ancient Greeks founded the colony of Pharos in 384 BC on the site of the current city of Stari Grad, making it one of the oldest towns in Europe. The island was home to one of the first public theaters in Europe and birthed Juan Vucetich (born Ivan Vučetić), who is near and dear to me as a pioneer of fingerprinting in relation to criminology.

On the ferry ride to Hvar, Em and I had been subjected to an endless loop of the same few commercials so we knew about all the odd rules on the island and about a place to find Em’s White Whale, good coffee. 

First the rules. Due to the hordes of tourists flocking to the clear blue waters, plethora of beaches, and numerous bars and restaurants that the island provides (especially in the main city of Hvar Town), there became an unsustainable amount of drunk and rowdy foreigners destroying the city with litter, passing out in random locations, and insulting the religious people by wandering everywhere in bathing suits. Since the city couldn’t just ban certain nationalities from coming (and they tried), they instead figured out they could impose huge tariffs (they range from €400-800 for each offense) on the things that would most likely be done by an inconsiderate visitor. 

So now you can’t have picnics in public places (or wander while eating ice cream), sleep in a public space, drink alcohol or be intoxicated in a public place, or wear bathing suits as your only clothing in public spaces. The only one that really terrified me was the no picnics or ice cream in public places cause I wasn’t sure how liberal they were with their application of that rule (like would they fine me for eating my morning pastry as I wandered the pier?).

Now for Em’s White Whale. An ad that popped up ever10 minutes or so on the ferry ride was one for a coffee shop called Kava 37 that spoke of only being a 30 second walk from the ferry dock and showed tantalizing images of pour over coffee. So of course, Em was determined to find this jewel as soon as morning came. It turns out that Kava 37 is a newly opened (April of this year) coffee shop owned by a couple where the female counterpart is Croatian and the male counterpart is German. The shop has a minimalist and elegant design and serves pour overs as well as traditional espresso drinks. They even had fancy smacy milks. Em enjoyed her nirvana in the form of a pour over and I had a wonderful almond milk cappuccino. 

Fortified on good caffeine, Em and I set out to rent a scooter to explore the island. Since a circuit around the island is about 35-70km depending on where you go, it’s best seen on a scooter or bike. We walked up to a random kiosk and asked to rent a scooter, but since we had never ridden one before and some of the roads were unpaved and slightly off the beaten path, they said no. Then we attempted to rent electric bicycles, but they were all out. Eventually we ended up with a quad, which made Em’s eyes light up. The main issue I had with the quad was that they gave us helmets with large visors on the front so that if I tried to sit up straight or lean forward at all during the course of the day, I inevitably rammed my visor into the back of Em’s helmet.

About five minutes after we headed out of the main square, we became super glad that fortune shinned on us and forced us to rent a quad, as it turns out the whole island is a series of large hills (possibility deserving of the title mountains) and we never would have gotten anywhere on bikes.

Our first stop of the day was the abandoned town of Malo Grablj (“Lower Grablj” or “Lesser Grablj”). The inhabitants of this village were once peasants that worked the land for a tithe to their owners in Hvar Town. In the 1800s they did very well as the lands were good for wine production and the phylloxera that was killing off grapevines elsewhere in Europe didn’t reach them until 1915. The profits from wine allowed the villagers to build a school, mill, water cistern, impressive library, and parcels of land for everyone on the coast a few miles away. 

After WW I, the land could not be reused for wine growing, but was great for the growing of Lavender, Rosemary, and buhač (pyrethrum). In the 1950s, everything was going great and so the villagers all decided to just up and move to Milna; the town on the coast were they all bought plots of land in 1905. Since that time, nature has been slowly reclaiming the village. Now, there is only one person that lives in the town, Berti Tudor, the man that owns a restaurant and will regale you with stories (which we might have heard if the restaurant had been open when we were wandering the town).

Besides a random biker that enjoyed starting a conversation while biking away from me and three other German tourists that showed up a half hour after us, we had the run of the place. We got some great photographs and Em almost became another name on the list of people that die trying to get the perfect shot, as she attempted to climb some of the rotting wooden stairs to see the remnants of a bathtub on what was left of the second floor of one of the houses.

We climbed back on our ATV and headed up the windy dirt road to Velo Grablj (“Upper Grablj” or “Greater Grablj”). This village started in the 1400s most likely as a sherpards village and once was the center of lavender production for all of Dalmatia. In today’s time, the village is almost as deserted as its lower counterpart, with just a handful of full time residents. In an effort to keep the town alive, a few of the locals got together ten years ago to start the Lavender Festival. This festival takes place one weekend every June and is immensely popular. Em and I were in search of the lavender fields (not having realized that they’d all been harvested for the years months back), but a kindly older gentleman laughingly told “All gone” and showed us the display bush he had in his front garden. 

After thanking the local, we continued up the mountain to the main road and wandered back down the other side to arrive at the city of Stari Grad (“Old Town”). Stari Grad occupies what used to be the Greek city of Pharos, which was established in 384 BC, making it one of Europe’s oldest cities. The city is rich in archaeological sites, churches, and surrounding rich agricultural fields.

We entertained a local shop keeper when asking where to park the ATV without having to pay or get a ticket and then being told to just drive the vehicle onto the sidewalk and leave it there. So we did. Then we went in search of lunch.

While digging into so decent chicken risotto, we heard our names being called and looked up to see Ann and Mary. Apparently, they’d arrived in Hvar Town that morning and taken the local bus to Stari Grad. Seems that faith wanted us to all meet up again since we’d all arrived in town at the relative same time.

After sharing lunch together, Em and I said goodbye to Ann and Mary for the time being and continued on our way. Our next stop was Tito’s Tunnels (AKA Kabal Bunker). To get to the tunnels (which Em had read about but thought were caves) we wandered down a small local road (after doing a few U-turns cause we weren’t sure it was a legit road) until it ended and became an seemingly endless unpaved path. About 10 miles of bumping along, up and down hills and praying the ATV wouldn’t die on us and leave us stranded away from civilization, we reached the end of the road. The only thing to tell us we’d arrived at our destination was a spray painted “Tunel” and green arrow. We dismounted and followed the green arrows for a quarter mile or so and reached the entrance.

I honestly don’t know much about the bunker except that it was used to either stock pile weapons in case of potential attack or as a place that could be activated if there was conflict. I think it might have been a satellite site related to the huge secret military complex on the nearby island of Vis. 

What I do know is that there is a long concrete tunnel that eventually become just a tunnel without the protective concrete barrier. Off the main tunnel are various rooms (presumably or storage of weapons or personnel) and some bats. There was a stair well to somewhere, but when we shown our flashlight on it, bats swooped down and freaked Em out so we didn’t venture up. We wandered around in the dark for a bit and then returned to the light and a long bumpy ride back to Hvar Town.

Our last tourist site of the day was Hvar’s fort Fortica, called Španjola by the locals. This is a smaller, Venetian inspired fort that was originally constructed in the 13th century, but renovated over time until it achieved its current form in 1579. In the later half of the 16th century when the Turks tried to take over the city, all the inhabitants were able to hide out in the fort, thus it saved their lives. Nature a few years later decided to send a lightening bolt that hit a gun powder room and the resulting explosion and fire, heavily damaged the fort. 

The fort affords some beautiful views of Hvar Town below it and host an impressive collection of amphora and other gems that were located in ships that had sunk around the area.

The next morning we had a few hours to wander Hvar Town before catching a ferry to Split. We met up with Ann and Mary at Kava 37 (because the coffee was that good and we wanted to share the goodness with others).

Ann had read about a monastery that was known for its lace work, so we ventured up the cobbled streets of Old Town to locate the Benedictine Covent. The closed order covent has been in operating since 1664, when the nuns first arrived on the island. The nuns most important contribution to the city was in the form of education; they ran the first school, which operated from 1826 to 1866. Nowadays, the nuns are most well known for their intricate lace work that is made from agave leaves. At the Covent there is a small museum that displays some of this intricate work and for the price of a small car (slight exaggeration), you can take home one of these masterpieces.

Our morning wanderings also took us to the edge of town where we got a nice view of the city and the bay. There we used Mary’s selfie stick to get someone else to take a picture of the four of us. It was funny cause as Ann pointed out, “Isn’t the point of a selfie stick to be self autonomous when taking a photo?”

Em and I said our temporary goodbyes and headed out on the afternoon ferry to Split.

Goodbye Bosnia, Hello Croatia

Goodbye Bosnia, I’ll Miss You

Today was a multi-city journey through Bosnia and Herzegovina on our way to Croatia. 

Our first stop was Mostar, the economic and cultural center of the Herzegovina region. The city is most known for the Old Bridge in the old town from which the town gets its name. Bridge in many Slavic languages is Most and the bridge keepers (those who watched the bridges and collected the tolls needed to pass) were called Monstari.

The Old Bridge was originally built in wood, but was redone in stone in 1566 on the orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, in order to make it less of a death trap. At the time of its completion, the bridge was the widest man made arch in the world and quickly became a symbol of the city. To this day, the bridge is considered one of the most important structures of the Ottoman era and perhaps Bosnia's most recognizable architectural piece. 

The Old Bridge was destroyed on November 9th, 1993 during the Bosnian War. After the conflict was resolved, different entities from around the world came together to recreate the bridge just as it used to be. They built the bridge using the original materials (quarried from the same rock) and the same Ottoman building techniques. 

Our group was treated to an informative walking tour through the Old Town area and then left to wander through the colorful stalls of the Souk. There were beautiful copper works inlaid with gems and shiny Turkish lamps with their colorful glass mosaics that kept catching my eye. Em and I couldn’t resist their pull and ended up buying a few small trinkets for gifts back home.

A random tidbit from the tour was that in 2001, the then major of the city, Safet Oručević, stated he would build a Jewish community center and synagogue to repay the Jewish populace for the donation of their synagogue after WWII (which was later destroyed), but due to funding, a changing of the guards in the Majorial office, and too few Jews to fight for it (there are only 20 currently living in the city), the project never advanced past the placing of the cornerstone.

Our short free time having expired, we piled back into the van and headed to another of the hole in the wall locations that Louise had found during her wanderings, the town of Blagaj and the Blagaj Tekke.

The town of Blagaj is picturesque, nestled at the base of a cliff, split by the Buna river, and overlooked by the remains of the Buagaj Fortress. Most of the original town doesn’t exist anymore, but Blagaj Tekke, a Dervish Monastery built in 1520, is still present, as well as some modern homes surrounding the monastery.

We sat on the bank of the Buna and enjoyed a wonderful fish lunch and some terrible wine (Louise keeps trying to convince us that the wine in the Balkans is good, but so far the only wine I’ve liked was the local homemade manischewitz knockoff we had in Kotor) before wandering across one of the bridges that connect the two banks and venturing into the Dervish House.

The dervish house requires women to cover their legs, shoulders, and hair and men to cover their shoulders and legs. While the women in our group weren’t so surprised when we were handed scarves to wrap around our heads, Dale was super surprised when he was asked to wrap a sarong around his legs since he was wearing shorts. Of course we then had to take black mail pictures; which were slightly ruined by the fact that he was hamming it up and actually looked ok in a skirt.

After our tour of the Dervish house (which also acted as a mausoleum), we continued on to our next stop: Počitelj. Počitelj is another small city with a fortress built to encompass (and protect) the city. The cool thing about the ruins for this city though are that the tower is still mainly intact. Em and I climbed In through the door/window and braved the tiny slick marble stairs to walk ring around the rosy all the way to the top. There we took fun pictures of the lower town through the different windows of the turret. As long as you’re not afraid of the dark, small stair passageways, slick steps, and howling winds, I definite recommend the jaunt.

A short time later we had to return from our explorations and continue onto the last leg of our journey; across the border into Croatia, back down to the coast, and left towards Cavtat. 

Cavtat is an adorable little seaside town sitting on the Adriatic coast, 9 miles from Dubrovnik. The town has been there since the 6th century when the Greeks built a settlement in this location. The current town (the area we stayed in) is comprised of numerous hotels, guest houses, restaurants, and kitschy tourist trap shops. The town has become a place for people that want to see Dubrovnik, but stay in a more sedate and low key place. 

Cavtat also has a cute old city that is staggered upon the hill (Mary was thrilled that there were so many more stairs for her to climb after she swore off of them once we’d climbed the 1300 in Kotor). At the top of the town sits a nice little cemetery within which lies the Račić family mausoleum. I have no idea who the family is, but the mausoleum is apparently pretty popular because it was designed by a well-known Croatian architect, Ivan Meštrović.

Upon our reaching of Cavtat, we all said a heartfelt goodbye to Zejko, who was starting his journey back home that same evening. 

Winter is Coming and Here There Be Dragons

Our last day with the entire tour group began with a slightly hectic morning as a result of the mini hurricane that had taken place a few days earlier (when we got the freak wind and rain storm in Sarajevo). The group was originally supposed to taking the local ferry to Dubrovnik while enjoying the calm blue waters. But when we woke up, it was white caps and howling wind and anything but calm. Louise therefore was forced to hire two taxis to take the group to Dubrovnik; at which time as these things go, the wind had stopped, the sea had calmed, and the sun had came out.

Dubrovnik was once called the “Pearl of the Adriatic “ by poet Lord Byron and retains that infamy to this day. The original city (called something else) was most likely founded in the 6th century by the Greeks (either refugees from a nearby town that was destroyed by the Slavs or by sailors (the accounts differ) and went by the name of Ragusa (the city was also the Republic of Ragusa). The name Dubrovnik wasn’t introduced until the 12th century and then both names were used interchangeably until the late 1800s; when Ragusa stopped being use (mainly because the Republic of Ragusa was essentially destroyed - both financially and physically by a combination of the Mediterranean shipping crisis of the time and a catastrophic earthquake in 1667 that killed 5,000 inhabitants and leveled most of the city).

Ragusa was a maritime merchant town that acted as a free state (via hearty tariffs) of the Ottoman Empire from the 1400 to 1800s. The city was ahead of its time in that it started a medical service in 1301, the first pharmacy (still operating to this day) was opened in 1317, an almshouse was opened in 1347, the first quarantine hospital (Lazarete) in 1377, it abolished Slave trade 

in 1418, and it opened an orphanage in 1432. Additionally, a 12 mile long water supply system, instead of a cistern, was constructed in 1438 by the Neapolitan architect and engineer Onofrio della Cava. So pretty much this was a city that you wanted to live in.

In very recent times, Dubrovnik has become a super popular tourist locale as a result of its picturesque beautiful, its gorgeous weather and proximity to lovely beaches, and the popularity of the television show: Game of Thrones, which films there. This uber tourism, while a boost for the economy, has been steadily destroying the atmosphere of the city. The increase in cruise ships and tourists has lead to many locals leaving their homes in the Old Town, wear and tear on the 800 year old city, and talks of UNESO revoking the city’s status as a heritage site. Luckily for us, some of the hordes were not present because we were (a) traveling during the shoulder season and (b) the city has placed some regulations on the cruises ships in terms of how many can be there at once and how long they can stay for.

When we arrived in Dubrovnik, we all went for a guided walk through the Old Town. A few fun facts that we learned were:

There is a statue of Orlando (Italian version of a Ronald) that stands in the middle of Luza Square in front of St Blaise Church. It was erected in 1418. One version of the story goes that Orlando heroically saved the city from a pirate attack, and was also a fair and honest trader. The other story goes that Orlando was erected as a sign of loyalty to Sigismund of Luxembourg and various other King’s when they helped the city fight off Venetian attempts to take away Ragusa’s independence. The statue is a symbol of independence and autonomy.

Luza Square was the main marketplace in medieval times, where laws were passed and law breakers punished. Today it still is the most famous square in town and focal point of the Summer festival. The white independence flag proudly flies from the top of the column. The fun fact here is that because Orlando was associated with honesty, the length of his forearm became known as the “Elbow of Honesty,” and was the Dubrovnik unit of measurement. This unit was the Ragusa ell and equal to 51.2 cm or 20.2 in.

The other fun tidbit was the town clock bell tower. The tower was originally built in 1444 as a symbol of the free state of Ragusa, but was torn down and completely remade in the 1920s due to its dangerous listing as a result of numerous earthquakes. While the tower itself is beautiful, it’s not that that’s the cool thing; it’s the Zelenci, or “The Greens.” 

The Zelenci are two bronze Roman soldiers (named Maro and Baro) that are covered with a green patina (which is how they got their name) and they strike the massive bell of the tower every hour to chime out the time. Their origins are one of the few mysteries in the history of Dubrovnik; a city that wrote down everything and they’re a point of contention with the Venetians, who state that their “Moors” are older when they were actually built 21 years after.

After our walking tour, Em and I split from the group for a few hours. Everyone else only had the one day in Dubrovnik, whereas we had one and a half. Due to having a bit more time, Em and I bought a one day (24hr period) Dubrovnik card which gave us access to walk the wall, visit seven museums and two galleries in the Old Town, and a one day unlimited bus pass. All this for only 50 kuna more than a ticket to just walk the wall. Since we had the pass and some extra time, we decided to spend this day visiting a few of the museums, wandering the small alleyways, and climbing more evermore stairs to see what was around the different corners. 

With our card, we visited the house of Marin Držić, the greatest Croatian Renaissance comedist; the Rupe Ethnographic Museum, the Friars Minor Franciscan Monastery Museum, Cultural Historical Museum, and the Maritime Museum.

Each of these museums has some thing neat or interesting about them. 

From the house of Martin Držić, I learned that he was essentially the Croatian Shakespeare and that there is a statue of him in the old city where because it’s considered good luck to rub his metal nose, the nose has become a completely different color than the rest of him. 

The Rupe Ethnographic Museum contains a lot of great information and dioramas of daily life in Ragusa, as well as a nice exhibit on the making of olive oil. Additionally, this museum is located in the old granary, which took 42 years to build (most likely because the architect wanted to continue to collect the gold coins he was getting paid).

The monastery contains the Friar’s Pharmacy in it. This pharmacy is one of the oldest in Europe (in terms of construction), but the oldest continuous Pharmacy in Europe - operational since 1317 AD and still going strong.

The Cultural History Museum turned out to be Em’s favorite. This museum is located in the Rector’s Palace and is like three mini museums in one. On the ground flood there is a court room, dungeon, and a scribes office, as well as the original Zelenci. On the second level, a selection of the cartographic collection from the maritime museum and a numismatic collection of Dubrovnik coins, seals, weights. The jewel (in Em’s eyes), was the third floor, in which the rooms were decorated with artistic paintings, furniture, and everyday items dating from the 16th and 19th centuries.

The Maritime Museum had some great exhibits on the history of Ragusa and how the Republic used its smarts to essentially become the free state that developed into a maritime superpower for centuries. 

After our afternoon exploring the museums and sites of Dubrovnik, Em and a I met back up with the Aussie and we got our boat ride back to Cavtat. The boat ride was a little chilly, but beautiful. As we were cruising along, we passed some  remains of bomber out and abandoned hotels left as silent monuments not to forget that the war also impacted this country. 

Since it was the last night that the tour group was going to be together, everyone decided that one final dinner together was in order. We enjoyed a nice seafood dinner on the Cavtat pier and finally some good wine (a Croatian Pinot Gringo). After dinner Dale, brought out pieces of paper filled with chicken scratch that turned out to be questions about different parts of the trip. He turned it into a game where he’d ask someone a specific question and that person would have to see if they remembered the answer. Questions could be anything from remembering a city we visited on a specific day to the word in Serbian used for “Cheers” to a detail about a group member’s life from a conversation they’d had with someone while on the Narcoleptic Van.

The game was super fun and soon we all started shouting out our own questions and seeing how much everyone was paying attention during the course of the trip. Louise liked the idea so much she was trying to figure out how to incorporate it into future trips. It definitely was a fun and laughter filled way to end the evening and the trip.