Where to begin to describe a place surpassing all others in natural beauty, trusting and absolutely charming people, and temperatures that make you sweat to walk? Croatia is the absolute image of paradise. With 10 days here, it's our spa vacation from the high speed pace of backpacking. Usually. We couldn't keep our jaw from hitting the ground the first day seeing each new view. We stayed at two different families houses with our own room, and lots of coffee and treats. The second one we buzzed in and two girls of about 7 and 4 led us in, showed us around, gave us a key, and said pay later. Typical of these wonderful, kind people (Dalmations) we came to know. Dubrovenik is scattered with beaches; most rock, but some sand, and all very busy. Got too used to Canada and its big space. We usually laze our way to a new beach to swim, read (between the Iliad for the 2nd try and learning Korean, just some light reading), but NO beach vball or frisbee my Port Elginers! Most do have bars and music though, and a great boardwalk at Lapad, a favourite.
Another favourite is walking to Old Town. The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site, completely surrounded by high stone walls and towers that made up its fortress! Formerly for defense, the towers have changed with the times. We met two Canadian guys on the beach who we got drinks with one night, and went crazy dancing the night away into the wee hours in one of the towers that was converted into a huge electro club. First night out at an Irish bar, some local came and sat with us. Hugely helpful with advice, though a bit socially off, he insisted on doing the "good local thing", and introduced us to the best cheap local bar, and we all shot the Croatian liquour. Old Town is expensive as it's tourist central, but so full of action. Lots of museums, restaurants, shops and of course ice cream. Our first Dalmation meal was at a cute seafood restaurant on the water, where in big, black, stone pots I got squid, and Keelin got a pot full of grilled minnows! Who knew when we caught all those minnows at the cottage, forgot them, and as kids often let them burn to death in the heat, we were chefs in the making?
For a day trip we ferried to Lokrum island. We hiked around it hitting up Fort Royal, the wild Botanical garden of exotic plants, scaled then huge white rocks on the nudist beach, and did some rock jumping. The whole island was home to wild peacocks that you actually had to sidestep in the paths and fight for good tanning areas. We also swam in the Dead Sea there in a small lake, and finished off with some iced coffee at the outdoor patio with music. We also did a boat trip to the three Elaphite islands: Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep. Gorgeous beaches, fun hiking paths, and great local fish cuisine for lunch.
Another day we took a mini bus to Montenegro with a crazy "family vacation" type crowd. Our somewhat comprehensible guide Mario drove, with an old bickering couple in the front, and an old, grumpy Italian in the back in his Hawaiian shirt. Three high spirited ladies sat in the middle, two women taking their old, fantastic white haired mom (spitting image and voice of granny Fraser!) From England. We got along so well with them, laughing, jaw dropping at the views, and sharing stories. Though we protested profusely, at the end they insisted on giving us money to get a great supper out that night and a drink, then waved as I blew them kisses away. Montenegro has two beautiful Old Town's that we visited, also former fortresses, with churches, restaurants, shops, and a long line of tent stalls where we snagged a bit of great jewellery. There was also a big boardwalk with funky themed restaurants, and a great sandy beach for swimming and people watching. 10 days is a long time here, but it gave us some time to refuel, tan, and do some day trips! Parents and family - this is the number one we know you'd love.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Rome: Take two
Lots of marble men staring gallantly into the distance, drawing your gaze to the 3 things that it seems is mandatory for statues: a bulging but covered penis, a flowing cape, and probably a horse or sword. That is Rome. But before we got to Rome, slight mishap with the flight. First we thought it left at 745pm not 945. Then it was delayed until 10 30. Then when we got there, no surprise, busses have stopped running. By chance, after awhile, a night bus decided to come for 4euro! After much wandering around (our handcrafted map from the bus station to hostel held one street name) we finally got into bed by 3am.We're adjusting from Berlins traffic laws to Rome's super speedy chaos of cars and vespa's, pedestrians dodging every direction. Piazza Del Popolo was a beautiful, large, open piazza right beside a wild palace with a breathtaking city view. We climbed the Spanish steps. Nice view from the bottom, but very truly just steps. The Trevi Fountain was so crowded you could hardly get close enough for the picture, but completely worth it. After much searching found a little pizza and pasta restaurant for 5 euro! To unwind at night, we sat (finally) in Piazza Navona to people watch and listen to music (m&d it hasn't changed one bit).
Then up and at `em! First we saw the Ports Pia, then strolled through the wild, jungle-like Villa Borghese park. Picturesque lakes, ruins, statues, birds, and gardens under canopy trees made it snag #1 park spot. We saw the National Art Gallery, which had one floor covered in broken glass with marble pillars and statues on it. The exhibited was Emilio Isgro (look him up). He has rooms with pianos, statues and blacked out books, with ants slowly infesting the entire room. Not sure we get it. Another room was dark and held 20 clocks ticking faster and faster. Each face has a scene painted on it, often with white washed faces or black holes (gives you the creeps). Very spine tingling. It represents the massacre at Bolognese Station.
Then 2 became 4. Zander is a guy we met in our London hostel who we decided to bunk with in Rome along with his friend. Best decision! We went through the colloseum with them and saw the ancient ruins. Amazing to touch stones and see what still remains from the great empire. Venezia beside it is the largest building yet so white that it blinds you with its glorious walls and huge statues decorating it. The giant dome ceiling of the Pantheon was pretty cool too. And then there was the Vatican. This enormous catholic center far surpasses any church we've seen. But mixed emotions. Is that grandeur really necessary? Good use of money? It sure radiates power. It also has 5 museum sections of old religious art. And the Sistine Chapel. One night we met up with the guy's Italian friend Cecelia, who showed us the biggest and cheapest ice cream, and a secret hole in a door that shows a hedge framed perfect view of the Vatican. Then she brought us to a birthday grill out in the middle of Circus Maxim us (where the chariot races were). It's now a giant field beside the colloseum and ruins, where we ate homemade Italian food and drank sangria by candlelight.
And so my family Italy trip had its benefits: dad can read a map, money isn't tight, you eat at restaurants not grocery stores, and it's slower paced. You also probably don't live in a seedy area with no windows and giant rats outside. BUT there is magic in experiencing it with friends, sharing in the wonder, going at breakneck speed till your feet ooze (first time), and feeling absolutely accomplished. With family however, you also probably wouldn't be up at 330am with 2hrs sleep to walk to a bus stop and then fly to Croatia. But we are Keelin and Jess, and so we do! And the wonder at seeing the most beautiful natural scenery ever has kept us awake all day.
Then up and at `em! First we saw the Ports Pia, then strolled through the wild, jungle-like Villa Borghese park. Picturesque lakes, ruins, statues, birds, and gardens under canopy trees made it snag #1 park spot. We saw the National Art Gallery, which had one floor covered in broken glass with marble pillars and statues on it. The exhibited was Emilio Isgro (look him up). He has rooms with pianos, statues and blacked out books, with ants slowly infesting the entire room. Not sure we get it. Another room was dark and held 20 clocks ticking faster and faster. Each face has a scene painted on it, often with white washed faces or black holes (gives you the creeps). Very spine tingling. It represents the massacre at Bolognese Station.
Then 2 became 4. Zander is a guy we met in our London hostel who we decided to bunk with in Rome along with his friend. Best decision! We went through the colloseum with them and saw the ancient ruins. Amazing to touch stones and see what still remains from the great empire. Venezia beside it is the largest building yet so white that it blinds you with its glorious walls and huge statues decorating it. The giant dome ceiling of the Pantheon was pretty cool too. And then there was the Vatican. This enormous catholic center far surpasses any church we've seen. But mixed emotions. Is that grandeur really necessary? Good use of money? It sure radiates power. It also has 5 museum sections of old religious art. And the Sistine Chapel. One night we met up with the guy's Italian friend Cecelia, who showed us the biggest and cheapest ice cream, and a secret hole in a door that shows a hedge framed perfect view of the Vatican. Then she brought us to a birthday grill out in the middle of Circus Maxim us (where the chariot races were). It's now a giant field beside the colloseum and ruins, where we ate homemade Italian food and drank sangria by candlelight.
And so my family Italy trip had its benefits: dad can read a map, money isn't tight, you eat at restaurants not grocery stores, and it's slower paced. You also probably don't live in a seedy area with no windows and giant rats outside. BUT there is magic in experiencing it with friends, sharing in the wonder, going at breakneck speed till your feet ooze (first time), and feeling absolutely accomplished. With family however, you also probably wouldn't be up at 330am with 2hrs sleep to walk to a bus stop and then fly to Croatia. But we are Keelin and Jess, and so we do! And the wonder at seeing the most beautiful natural scenery ever has kept us awake all day.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Berlin: The Law-abiding Citizen
The first thing I can say with certainty about Berlin is that it is the ever-changing city. From any view over the city you look one direction and see construction & cranes, turn to the next to see the same...and the same. It´s young, vibrant, active and very much an alive city. Definitely tied with London as my favourite city so far. Recently they asked themselves what Paris and London have that they don't. Apparently the answer was a huge, old cathedral, because they have now built a huge one that was designed to look old and grand. Now the "fun and kind, but a very bad politician" mayor is reconstructing the old Berlin Palace...a 32million € project for Berlin. We are told 1\8 are unemployed, and it doesn't exactly seem popular. Berliners are also very keen on rules. Nobody jaywalks, even if it's huge crowds waiting for no cars. We're told it's because it sets a bad example for children, as well as for safety. Bus passes are something everybody buys, though it's mostly on an honour system (if ticket patrol jumps on to check tickets and you don't have one you get fined). They are also exact in their timing and transactions. Keelin and I are actually taking a break from hostels to stay with her sort-of relative Alison, husband and clown Sven, and their two adorable children. Not only do they give us a comfy place to stay and hot showers, but they feed us delicious suppers (Sven's a former cook), give us loads of advice and help, and together we drink and chat the evenings away. We owe them BIG.
Most of Berlin's museums are located on Museum Island, where we had to decide between them. We visited the National Museum with its vast history of Germany, and strong focus on the Nazi impact. Next we went to the Pergamon Museum on Alison's recommendation and were very impressed: huge ancient Greek columns & mythical statues covered the walls, and there was an enormous room that was covered floor to ceiling in an ancient bright blue gate that had some new parts, but was modelled after the ancient Uruk metropolitan palace. Most of the exhibit focused on ancient Uruk artificats, from the city that is thought to have made huge original contributions to language, writing, and administration. The Jewish Museum was very modern and artsy, containing lots of dark voids in the walls with jagged edges representing the loss of Jews to German society. It also included The Tower- a dark, stone room with a high ceiling and a sliver of light at the top, giving the entrant a cold, fearful & hopeless feeling that starts to creep in. Another impressive piece was The Memory Void: Fallen Leaves, a sea of 10,000 metal faces with mouths open in screams that you can walk over and hear the clanking and rattling. We went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where over 60,000 people were imprisoned and mostly used for labour if they were strong enough. The remains of Tower Z was most emotional because that's where people were shot or gassed and exterminated. Even once liberated by the Allies, the building was still under use but this time by the Soviets. We also went through an underground tour that took us through the bomb bunkers and huge underground system of just one section of Berlin.
On our tour we hit the main Holocaust Memorial, which is a large cobblestone area with huge grey columns of varying sizes in rows to walk around. We walked along the remaining pieces of the wall separating East & West, and all across the city the former lines are marked on the ground in plaques. Tiergarden is a huge park with monuments, rivers, and a nudist section full of jolly old men. We met up with a group of backpackers and strolled through the huge Sunday Flea Market (sorry cousins, way better than Port Elgin's), beside which was a huge green field full of different musicians and performers in every direction: people salsa dancing, jugglers, Reggae, and our favourite, a huge stone staircase full of young, sweaty, and usually drinking & shirtless happy people singing & swaying with karaoke below them going on over loudspeakers.The alternate city tour took us through an amazing exploration of Berlin's famous street art, an exhibition, and the incredible graffiti of the East End wall. We went to a community beach bar there, and another night did a beach bar and at 2:30am a very popular club right now called Suicide Circus in the local club area under subway tracks. One room is neon, bright and electro, then the next is open air, vines, canopy's and Reggae. When we finally went home at 5:30 the locals were lining up to go in.
Most of Berlin's museums are located on Museum Island, where we had to decide between them. We visited the National Museum with its vast history of Germany, and strong focus on the Nazi impact. Next we went to the Pergamon Museum on Alison's recommendation and were very impressed: huge ancient Greek columns & mythical statues covered the walls, and there was an enormous room that was covered floor to ceiling in an ancient bright blue gate that had some new parts, but was modelled after the ancient Uruk metropolitan palace. Most of the exhibit focused on ancient Uruk artificats, from the city that is thought to have made huge original contributions to language, writing, and administration. The Jewish Museum was very modern and artsy, containing lots of dark voids in the walls with jagged edges representing the loss of Jews to German society. It also included The Tower- a dark, stone room with a high ceiling and a sliver of light at the top, giving the entrant a cold, fearful & hopeless feeling that starts to creep in. Another impressive piece was The Memory Void: Fallen Leaves, a sea of 10,000 metal faces with mouths open in screams that you can walk over and hear the clanking and rattling. We went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where over 60,000 people were imprisoned and mostly used for labour if they were strong enough. The remains of Tower Z was most emotional because that's where people were shot or gassed and exterminated. Even once liberated by the Allies, the building was still under use but this time by the Soviets. We also went through an underground tour that took us through the bomb bunkers and huge underground system of just one section of Berlin.
On our tour we hit the main Holocaust Memorial, which is a large cobblestone area with huge grey columns of varying sizes in rows to walk around. We walked along the remaining pieces of the wall separating East & West, and all across the city the former lines are marked on the ground in plaques. Tiergarden is a huge park with monuments, rivers, and a nudist section full of jolly old men. We met up with a group of backpackers and strolled through the huge Sunday Flea Market (sorry cousins, way better than Port Elgin's), beside which was a huge green field full of different musicians and performers in every direction: people salsa dancing, jugglers, Reggae, and our favourite, a huge stone staircase full of young, sweaty, and usually drinking & shirtless happy people singing & swaying with karaoke below them going on over loudspeakers.The alternate city tour took us through an amazing exploration of Berlin's famous street art, an exhibition, and the incredible graffiti of the East End wall. We went to a community beach bar there, and another night did a beach bar and at 2:30am a very popular club right now called Suicide Circus in the local club area under subway tracks. One room is neon, bright and electro, then the next is open air, vines, canopy's and Reggae. When we finally went home at 5:30 the locals were lining up to go in.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Prague: The non-castle, fake Eiffel Tower, and Absynth icecream
What an amazing city! Dad, every bridge we walked over my eyes automatically sought out any restaurant-bars that were on a boat and pictured you there. Prague didn´t have the huge grandeur that London or Paris did, but there was something that made me love it right away. Maybe the beer prices. But truly, I don´t know where else you can see huge mountainy greens, rivers and long bridges, and Europe´s largest "castle"...which is not actually a castle, it´s a palace all the people agree, but does not look like a castle in any way. Has breathtaking views of the entire city though. And since Prague was too poor to light the castle up at night they required an investor. Who stepped in, but Mick Jagger! Apparently the large astronomical clock we attempted to read in Old Town Square is one of the biggest tourist disappointments in Europe. Working for hundreds of years, this clock rings 78 times every hour, whilst tourists cluster below waiting...and waiting....and waiting for something great. Anything. Then a little skeleton and some apostles puppets bob their heads. We learnt a lot about their history during the communism takeover, and it was nice to find a country in Europe with a considerably new history and buildings. We went inside the Palace and St. Vuit´s Cathedral - huge and elaborate church, with sharp black and gold contrasts on its statues and architecture. Wallenstein Garden seemed to go on forever, and we climbed right to the top it its green mountainside to view their fake Eiffel Tower (which you could actually see from way across the river).
One of the coolest things we saw, after a long time circling the neighbourhood, was the John Lennon Wall. It´s a long, graffiti covered wall of resistance and activism; but is actually the second one - the first was painted over during the communist reign. The Jewish Quarter was very moving, seeing the ghetto and hearing the stories their living conditions there. It´s cemetary is a small, elevated area for all the Jews in the entire quarter. The cemetary is elevated because it is 10 cemetaries buried on top of each other, every time one filled up! We went inside several synagogue museums there, the most touching of which was Pinkas Synagogue. It has the names of all the 80,000 (known) Jewish victims of genocide in Prague, handwritten; and the top floor has a collection of hundreds of artwork from the Jewish children in Terezin camp. Only 242 of the 8,000 children survived, and this was their emotional expression from the deathcamp.
Prague is a great place for people-watching in its squares, and an even more incredible night life scene. Beer here costs 1euro only. Cheaper than pretty much anything else. We went on the New Europe Club Crawl, which involves a free t-shirt, 2.5hrs of free drinking in an ancient church basement converted into a hole-in-the-wall bar, and two other clubs. It was bright lights, loud music, beer pong, and trying to make our way through the seas of people to get drinks with the wildest young travellers around. Another night we tried Absynth icecream - which is actually delicious- and listened to live music in the square. We became a group of 3 for most of Prague with a girl from London, who besides being a genius, is incredibly kind and surprised us with beer and coffee for Canada Day! Also got a red rose while we sat in the square for being the most beautiful person in the square...though the guy who gave it to me clearly had a beer or two. But he walked straight so I´ll count it.
One of the coolest things we saw, after a long time circling the neighbourhood, was the John Lennon Wall. It´s a long, graffiti covered wall of resistance and activism; but is actually the second one - the first was painted over during the communist reign. The Jewish Quarter was very moving, seeing the ghetto and hearing the stories their living conditions there. It´s cemetary is a small, elevated area for all the Jews in the entire quarter. The cemetary is elevated because it is 10 cemetaries buried on top of each other, every time one filled up! We went inside several synagogue museums there, the most touching of which was Pinkas Synagogue. It has the names of all the 80,000 (known) Jewish victims of genocide in Prague, handwritten; and the top floor has a collection of hundreds of artwork from the Jewish children in Terezin camp. Only 242 of the 8,000 children survived, and this was their emotional expression from the deathcamp.
Prague is a great place for people-watching in its squares, and an even more incredible night life scene. Beer here costs 1euro only. Cheaper than pretty much anything else. We went on the New Europe Club Crawl, which involves a free t-shirt, 2.5hrs of free drinking in an ancient church basement converted into a hole-in-the-wall bar, and two other clubs. It was bright lights, loud music, beer pong, and trying to make our way through the seas of people to get drinks with the wildest young travellers around. Another night we tried Absynth icecream - which is actually delicious- and listened to live music in the square. We became a group of 3 for most of Prague with a girl from London, who besides being a genius, is incredibly kind and surprised us with beer and coffee for Canada Day! Also got a red rose while we sat in the square for being the most beautiful person in the square...though the guy who gave it to me clearly had a beer or two. But he walked straight so I´ll count it.
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