Croatia is surely famous for it’s incredible coastline dotted with beautiful venetian towns as well as gorgeous pebble beaches perfect enough to cleanse the mind, body, and soul. People flock from all over Europe during Summer to soak in the sun on the Adriatic. My first time in Croatia was a sizable chunk of my 5 and a half month voyage across the Balkans, spending an accumulative one month in this beautiful country, a former republic of Yugoslavia.
Croatia is an iconic country on this voyage as it served as the open door to this Balkan voyage. Before 2013, I had never even heard of Croatia and was probably one of the many people who only was familiarized with the overly commercialized cities in Western Europe. My first discovery of the Balkans was indeed the Croatian islands, second Croatia’s coastline. Killing my curiosity by dropping the streetview pin man on Google Maps led me to explore other nations. Next thing I know, here I am living a dream in a gorgeous country.
The one place that stands out in my memory is the small island of Vis, a small island in the middle of the Adriatic. Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to learn of this place only a few days before my arrival. A two and a half hour ferry ride brings you to the quiet and peaceful port town of Vis (yes on the island of the same name.). Right off of the ferry you can catch a cross island bus for 20 Croatian Kuna. Komiza is an incredible picturesque seaside town I had the pleasure of calling home for two days. It was the perfect place to simply relax and embrace being on the road for 3 months straight.
Grand room view from my favorite Airbnb
Komiza was also home to my favorite Airbnb to date, crashing in an average sized room for $70, 2 nights. With a comfy bed, a small fridge, and neat computer desk next to a window that opens up to the sea, a sight that seemed to come out of a dream. Walking each end of town only takes about an hour including taking photos and taking in all in. Although Komiza wasn’t too packed with tourists, just about the entire sea front it dotted with rentals. Despite this, a block inwards is where I found the locals, hearing families chat away through their door panel windows, taking slow walks around town. While there are plenty of beautiful sights to take on and off the island like it’s many cove beaches and nearby Bisevo island, where you can take a boat ride to the Blue Cave, I needed a place to simply do nothing and relax. Komiza was that place, to do NOTHING.
After three months of go, go go, Komiza was the perfect place to take things slow and take it all in. The city center is small with a few restaurants/cafes on the water and a small church. Within a short walk are a few beaches to catch rays and the sounds of the calm sea. And if you are there during the Summer, taking a dip in the sea is one of the most refreshing feelings in the world. I highly recommend people to visit Vis island, a place where you can escape commercialism. At the same time, don’t visit, wouldn’t want to spoil it TOO much 🙂
Ljubljana (Loob-lee-yana) is one of those few cities I’ve traveled to that has a charm like no other. It’s a city that I appreciated on a different level compared to most European cities I”ve seen so far. My first impression, was calling it a big, small city. Because it’s not on the sizeable scale such as Paris or Rome, nor is it a city I would classify as small.
The city has a population of about 275,000, thanks to Google, with romanticism like you would see in Venice films, Austrian architecture, graffiti on walls like a large city, the backdrop of mountains like a mini Denver, but the charm of a small city. When I arrived in Slovenia, my first day was quite unusual. Refusing to hitch it across the border, I took a bus to Ljubljana and a second bus in reverse down to Novo Mesto to meet my couchsurfing host. But the first impression riding through the town was just WOW. It made me feel good. Like the town had a certain kind of spirit I connected with.
After Novo Mesto, I refused to pay for a bus and hitched my way to LJ, what I wrote on my sign. My driver was kind enough to treat me to a brew before we parted ways. My stay, was with my host’s sister, who is a local student in the city and brought me into her dorm to stay, sort of bringing me back to my college days in Central Florida. While she was busy, I took a nice stroll around to Metelkova, a Yugoslav barracks turned (I can’t put into words). Lets just say, tons of graffiti ART, ensemble of creative mashups of mosaics and of course metal. Photos explain better.
I say the city has romanticism like a Venice film because of the river that runs through the center with boats passing under the unique Triple Bridge. If you walk from the start to finish of a sunset with clear skies, the buildings look incredible. Fortunately, if you are sunset chaser when the opportunity stands, take a hike up to the Ljubljana fortress in the center of town to catch an incredible sunset over the mountains. You even get an incredible panorama of the Julian Alps not to far to the north.
In short, Slovenia is what I consider a crossroads between western Europe and the Balkans and Ljubljana sits right in the middle of that. Something interesting to experience and highly recommend travelers make a stop. 🙂
Croatia is one incredibly beautiful country and to think it was one massive part of an even larger country, the former Yugoslavia. Oddly, but fortunately, I discovered Croatia via Google Maps. I was sitting at my work desk looking at the central region of Italy and these long islands to the east quickly grabbed my attention and curiosity. A few days later, I fell in love with this newly discovered country, Croatia. A few weeks later, I discovered the Balkans. A few months later I wanted to make a trip to the Balkans. 3 years later, I had the most incredible 5 month adventure in this region of Europe.
Croatia is kind of a big deal in a sense that it opened up a huge experience to me by simply, it’s geography. It not only has many long islands sitting off of the coast, but it has an unusual shape of a country. What I see as far as it’s shape goes is a crocodile with it’s mouth open. Not to forget, the end of it’s bottom jaw is separated by Bosnia, hahaha. Taking it’s unusual shape into consideration, I had to figure out how I would see all of the country in one shot on the same trip.
Most people I know that go to Croatia, only visit the most famous cities in the country, that is Zagreb, Plitvicka, Split, Zadar, Hvar, and of course Dubrovnik leaving many other incredible places out. How I managed to figure out travel in almost all of Croatia was to come from Serbia. Although I did want to visit these listed historic towns, I wanted to see other less known places, especially with my massive curiosity of the Yugoslavian wars in the 90’s.
North Croatia
Vukovar & Zagreb
Vukovar water tower, a symbol and reminder of what happened here in 1991.
For starters, I visited the Danube town of Vukovar in the north Croatian region, Slavonia. From Novi Sad, I crossed the border to visit this once completely destroyed town. In 1991, Vukovar was not the place to be as it was the crossroads between war. A nearly three month siege decimated the town and killed many people. Although the town has bounced back and caught up with the times, it still has scars throughout with bombed out homes, bullet riddled walls, and a damaged water tower as a reminded through dark times. I’m not the kidn of person to brag, but i certainly bragged about being in this town throughout my time in Croatia. Why? Vukovar is a reminder to many Croatians about strength and perseverance during a time when they were outnumbered by a massive military power. Reminds me of the colonists vs. the British army when America was in beginnings.
Sitting on the Danube River
Bulletholes remain from the Siege of Vukovar
Across Slavonia, I made it to the capital city of Zagreb, small and decent city to spend time in. For the third capital city in a row, it rained miserably and was really difficult to enjoy. But in the two days I was there, I did enjoy decent slow walks around the small city center. Hell, they have a Museum of Broken Relationships there to get out of the rain. It was here where I saw the most streetcars in one place at the same time. Kind of chaotic.
Grafitti near the bus station.
Zagreb city center and beyond
Zagreb city center
The Croatian Coast
Istrian Peninsula
From Zagreb, I made my way into Slovenia for about a week and change before I boomeranged my way back into Croatia. This was by far the most clever way to enjoy all of Croatia. How did I do it? In order to enjoy the Istrian peninsula, I hitchhiked from Portoroz, Slovenia to Bale, hitchhiked from there to beautiful Rovinj where I spent two hours walking around, and finally catching a bus to Pula where I stayed for a night. Long enough to walk around town and see Croatia’s very own colosseum.
Bale city center
Bale city center
Beautiful Rovinj
Rovinj city center
Pula Colosseum
Pula Colosseum
Sunset over Pula
Rijeka
Using Blablacar, I got a cheap ride to the port city of Rijeka, an energized city with a large local crowd and a mountainous coastline. It was here where I put use to my hiking boots, went a few KMs inland and hiked to the top of a mountain overlooking the harbor, a few islands, and beyond. This was by far one of the best views I’ve ever had, and best off, I was the only one on the mountain.
Main walkway in Rijeka
Fortress in Rijeka
Mountain hiking near Rijeka
Atop a mountain near Rikeka
Zadar
Since the day I discovered the Croatian islands on Google Maps, I’ve always dreamed of riding along the Croatian coastline with the most insane views of the islands and this is exactly what I experienced on my way to Zadar from Rijeka. The very islands that basically created this trip in the Balkans is what I was seeing with my own eyes. It was a HUGE deal. I arrived in Zadar with enough time to enjoy the sunset with many other travelers and locals alike in the old town. Sadly, the massive sea organ was not working.
Riding along the Croatian coastline
Riding along the Croatian coastline
Zadar city center
Sunset over Zadar
Plitvicka (Plitvice Lakes)
is a very touristy attraction, but is certainly not something to miss in Croatia. Despite the hoards of tourists coming off of tour buses and rumbling the boards of narrow paths over the water, the park is beautiful with so many interesting and picturesque waterfalls. If you choose not to ride the long boat ride, you can walk a nice path along the water alone without the noise of tourists.
Sibenik and Krka Nat’l Park
From Zadar, I tried my luck with hitchhiking and found a ride in a van turned RV with a Spaniard and Brazilian headed to Split. On the way is the town of Sibenik where I made my next stop. Here is where I found one of the most beautiful city centers in all of the Balkans. The city center is nothing but narrow paths, grey colored walls, green window panels, and orange colored roofs. Welcome to Dalmatia. Krka National Park is like the smaller version of Plitvicka, except here you can swim near the falls. This I did, but my god it was extremely cold. :O
Trogir
Hitchhiking attempt didn’t exactly work out so well, but i took a quick 45 minute bus ride to Trogir where i couchsurfed for the first time with an incredible host. Oddly, Croatia sucks for couchsurfing. Either I am in too many tourist towns or Croatians aren’t too CS friendly. But, here I enjoyed lots of personal time with my host, enjoying delicious Cevapi, laughs, and good conversation about America and the war of Yugoslavia. Next day, him and his girlfriend showed me around the city center sandwiched between and island and the mainland, enjoyed some time at the beach and I made my way to the next city, Split.
Couchsurfing in Trogir
Beach near Trogir
Trogir City Center
Trogir City Center
Split
Split has a lot of hype for a city and personally, didn’t fascinate me so much. It’s Croatia’s second largest city. So it makes it just another big city, only it sits on the coast serving as a focal point of many island ferries. It’s city center is quite nice but due to the “hype”, it’s crowded with tourists and stupid bus tours. This is all in May by the way which is when things get started up. I would kill myself in July.
I got very very lucky to find a couchsurfing host in this busy city who eventually showed me and another guest around on his bike to the high point in Split overlooking the city and islands in a panoramic view. The other guest, a girl from Taiwan, cooked an incredible meal for us and we had a late night conversation about life. Despite my low impression of the city, this experience made up.
Couchsurfing unites travelers 🙂
Croatian Islands
Vis
The Croatian islands was once a dream, and now became a reality. My first island was the island of Vis, an island referred to me by a friend I made in Slovenia and his girlfriend. During this time, it had been 3 months since I started traveling and I felt like I really deserved some vacation time within my, vacation. I stayed in a fairly cheap Airbnb with an incredible view of Komiza and the nearby island. This was probably the most relaxed I had ever been throughout the trip, literally doing almost nothing. Aside from relaxing at a nearby beach, eating at a local restaurant and befriending a family. This was certainly one of my favorite places in Croatia and on the journey.
Hvar
Next stop was the town of Hvar and coming from Komiza that same day, I’ve got to say, I have dissapointed. Hvar is a hyped up tourist town where just about everyone coming to Croatia stops before going to Dubrovnik. When I went, it was jam packed with tourists and the streets were noisy with terrible music from 15 years ago (And people were dancing to the music like it fresh records in a club). I did however spend the evening with two beautiful, sweet Jewish American girls sharing stories and tossing back brews at a local spot with live music. The following morning was much quieter and was much more pleasant to enjoy taking a walk to the Adriatic side of the island and enjoying a nice dip in the sea.
Vela Luka & Korcula
After one night in Hvar, I made my way over to Korcula island, making a 1 hour pit stop in the small quaint town of Vela Luka. I stayed two nights in the historic town of Korcula with a hostel dead center of the city referred to me by a friendly Indian woman the night before. Although it seems as if I keep saying “X is my favorite place in blah blah”, Korcula is def one place I’ll never forget. The home of Marco Polo is a beautiful Venetian walled city on a peninsula that sits in between two islands. The views are insane! I had the awesome pleasure of kayaking in this area, even if the wind was way too strong. The sunsets here were incredible.
Vela Luka
Sunset over Korcula
Kayaking in Korcula
Since Bosnia splits the southern coast of Croatia with a small piece of land, I strategically made my way into Bosnia for about a week and a half. I crossed the waterway to the coastal town of Orebic where I hitched a ride about halfway up the island. From there I caught another ride to the quiet town of Trpanj to catch the Ferry to Ploce where I was able to hitch a ride directly to Mostar, Bosnia :).
Kayaking in Korcula
Orebic, Croatia
Trpanj, Croatia
Southern Dalmatia
Dubronik & Cavtat
A week and change later, I found a very cheap Blablacar ride by someone traveling from North Croatia through Bosnia all the way down to the southern End of Croatia. I made my 3rd and final entrance into Croatia to the city of Dubrovnik. Actually, since I was expecting an expensive stay and wanted to do my own thing to stray away from travelers who will probably persuade me away from tight budget travel, I stayed about 5 and 1/2 KM away. It was a $72 Airbnb for three nights in a studio with a full kitchen, with an incredible view of many islands up the coast.
Dubrovnik is certainly an expensive and touristy place, but it is without a doubt an incredibly beautiful historic town. I spent the whole day strategically trying to see as much as I could. Starting with arriving at the city center mid day and walking the old town. I managed to find a lone spot to switch into swim trunks and have an incredible cool swim outside of the walls. I took the gondola to the top of the mountain for the infamous photograph of the old town and beyond.
Swimming outside of the Dubrovnik walls.
Walking the Dubrovnik Walls
Lastly, my last full day in Croatia was well spent in the small coastal town of Cavtat. As much as I wished I had brought my swim trunks, I simply walked around the shoreline, people watched, and enjoyed an ice cream in town haha.
My travel day into Montenegro was quite difficult considering I didn’t have many Kunas left and didn’t want to grab any more money from the ATM. Plus I hate buses. So I went to hitchhike. Hitchhiking was a 50/50 experience for me in Croatia and here was a perfect example, except Croatians hate Montenegrins. This goes back to the war. I waited 2 hours near Cavtat for a ride a few KM away. Then waited an hour only to start walking about 6 KM. I gave the thumb a shot for 20 minutes and a Croatian woman gave me a lift to Herceg Novi. She said that Croatian people have their heads up their asses in paranoia and fear. Hey, she said that, not me lol
Hitchhiking out of Croatia en route to Montenegro (trying really hard)
Beauty while hitchhiking near the Montenegro/Croatia border.
To wrap up my voyage across Croatia, this dream finally came true. But it came true in a way I never would have imagined. When I discovered Croatia, I learned about the common travel places first. I almost made a trip to Bosnia and Croatia in a meesly week and a half to two weeks, three of those days spent traveling and glad this never worked out. Being patient has allowed me to see more of Croatia than anticipated. I saw more places, some of which I learned about at home and some I discovered along the way. Although there is much more to see in Croatia, I honestly feel proud of how I did Croatia. Even Croatians were like “wow”.
For those of you who go to Croatia, go ahead and visit Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, and Zagreb. But do remember that there are wayyyyy more places to see than just those towns. If time is limited, I understand. But take it from me, substitute at least one of those places for a lesser known one. Hell, substitute all of them for lesser knowns places. I can guarantee you, it’ll be worth it. 🙂
I traveled to Romania like all other countries in the Balkans to kill my curiosity about the country. I originally only knew about Bucharest and the culture there. The buildings, the advertising on the building, the people and that was about it. Next I knew about Constanta and Bucharest. Then after following two Instagram profiles and doing a number of Google street views, I learned far more about what Romania had to offer than just Bucharest. Already with a bunch of stars saved all across Romania, I left for Europe with plans to see so many places across Europe and the Balkans.
From Varna, Bulgaria, I set off on a quite long journey through the Ruse/Giorgiu border into Romania. Fortunate for me, I found Couchsurfers that morning in Bucharest who took me in late in the evening. Now I won’t get in too much detail about how my itinerary went, but it went like this in this order. Bucharest, Constanta, Chisinau, Iasi, Cluj, Turda, Sibiu, Sighisoara, Brasov, Rasnov, and Timisoara. For my first time in Romania, although I missed out on a lot, I surely did see a lot of places and met a lot of people.
So here are reasons why Romania remains in my heart and is a place I certainly would return to.
Food and Drink
Coming from America where almost all the food ingested is shit and genetically modified, the biggest eye opener and appreciation I had was the food and beverages in Romania. Traveling around Romania, I realized one amazing fact. That just about everywhere you go, someone knows someone who’s related to someone that grows and makes something naturally. I’ve had soups with home grown vegetables in it. Eggs that came from a friends mothers village. Cheese that came from a friends hometown. The village lifestyle overrules any supermarket in Romania, it’s incredible. Palincă was a traditional drink I’ve tried many times all over the country. One does not simply drink one drink of Palincă :). Most of the Palincă I’ve had came from a village somewhere, most of the time sold in a Coke or other soda bottle. The same goes for almost all of the desserts I have tried. I really think the USA could take some notes from Romania.
Geography
While Romania doesn’t exactly have a desert, the country does cover many different kinds of terrains. From the Danube river, to the big city of Bucharest. From the peaks of the Carpathian mountains to the Transfagarasan road in Transylvania. From the plains of Banat in the west to the Danube delta and the Black Sea coast. And not to forget the Maramures region stuck in time to the north on the border with Ukraine (unfortunately I did not make it here.) If you travel around Romania like I did, or more, you will see how much geography can change from one region to the next. 🙂
BucharestRasnov Fortress RomaniaSalina TurdaTrain Brasovo-Arad-TimisoaraBeach in Constanta and the Black SeaCarpathian MountainsRosnov Fortress and Mountains
First time Hitchhiking
I started my traveling in this region of Europe in Istanbul making my way into the Balkans through Bulgaria and finally up into Romania and Moldova. Through Couchsurfing and one single Airbnb host, I had be told and almost always persuaded to hitchhike everywhere I can. I used to consider myself like most Americans, intimidated and afraid at even the concept of hitchhiking. I never said NEVER, but I always found excuses to not hitchhike such as searching hard for a train, bus, or Blablacar.
I always hitchhiked a short distance from Turda to Cluj but a bus pulled up as soon as I put my thumb out. However, a week later, I felt the confidence to hitchhike from Bran to Rasnov between two small towns. Although it was a short distance, it broke some serious ground in my world of travel. In 15 minutes I connected with another human being in the most amazing way despite the language barrier. It was this first time in Romania where I felt like no impossible train and bus schedule could stop me. Now in Bosnia, in the past 2 months, I have hitchhiked over 10 times and not only saved some money but connected with amazing people. Because of hitchhiking, I feel like I can see whatever I want and do whatever I want, even if a bus or train doesn’t go there, all thanks to Romania. 🙂
First time Hitchhiking in Romania
Language
The Romanian language is interesting considering that it is surrounded by Slavic languages with cyrillic alpahabets. Romanian to my ears, is probably one of the most exotic european languages and when I hear a couple talking to each other, it makes me happy. It’s interesting hearing a word like “da” for yes be in the same conversation with another world that sounds Spanish and the rest it’s own unique sound. Not sure if that makes sense, but it just sounds amazing, especially since I come from hispanic decent and noticing some similar words in Romanian to Spanish.
People
Despite what most people say and think about Romania (IE, Romanians are crazy. Romania is dangerous.), I found Romanian people to be some of the most incredibly, down to earth people ever. I have couchsurfed quite a bit around the country, some with foreigners, and some with Romanians. Those times with Romanians were extremely hospitable and welcoming into their homes. Obviously, I did run into some rude ones. Like the lady at the train station who just simply didn’t want any human interation. Or the old woman who couldn’t wait a single second to grab my train ticket and change and walk away from the ticket counter. But, most of the encounters with people were extremely kind.
Culture & Tradition
For Europe, I felt like Romania was one of the most powerfully connected to tradition than any other place I had been to so far. The culture is rich in every aspect everywhere I went. Although Moldova is it’s own country, I include Moldova in this as well. I feel like Romanians have an even stronger connection to their tradition and culture despite those many years under Soviet occupation. For the two and a half ish weeks I spent throughout the whole country, as a foreigner, I felt very welcomed everywhere I went.
Replicated Traditional Romanian VIllageReplicated Traditional Romanian VIllage
Most people who come to Europe seek a quick “getaway” to common places like Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc, etc. Personally, I think people should give the Balkans a chance although most people think these countries are still stuck behind the Iron Curtain. The people I have met traveling through these countries are mostly on extended trip and seem to have been adventurers, excluding work abroad people. But for those planning a trip to Europe, I highly highly recommend a trip to Romania, you won’t be disappointed :)))
Before I began my voyage around Europe, I anxiously had some form of an idea of where I would be traveling. Working at a boring work desk 9 hours a day, 5 days a week (sometimes 14 days straight), it’s kind of hard leaving EVERYTHING for surprise. Although I didn’t necessarily plan things to detail, I knew where I wanted to go. As for Moldova, I kind of left this country optional, depending on how and if I could get there as a low cost.
Originally, I figured if I would be able to catch a bus at night to Chisinau from Constanta. But I was easily turned down at how complicated some of the options were. Such as going through Ukraine than back into Moldova. No thanks. Then I saw options from Bucharest by train to a border town then to Chisinau but figured that would be frustrating. Another was a Blablacar from Bucharest to Chisinau which seemed like a good choice.
But while I was in Constanta, my couchsurfing hosts made note that there was an overnight bus from there to Chisinau for 60 Lei. Even better, one of their Moldovan friends was catching that same bus the day I wanted to leave. So on a Thursday night with a 7:30 departure I headed for Chisinau. First off, i almost missed the bus as it was a small private owned bus you board in front of the train station, not the bus station. Thanks to wifi, my new friend connected with me and ran from the bus station 🙂
The ride was not much fun as it was dark and obviously couldnt see anything. Couldn’t sleep due to a police stop, border crossing, and the incredibly awful roads of southern Moldova. But after 10 hours on the road, I finally arrived in Chisinau at 5 am in miserable wet weather. Finding the hostel was a mission on it’s own but I found it after 30 minutes, was welcomed in, and slept for about 6 hours until 12:30.
Chisinau is no beautiful city but i enjoyed the grey and old appeal. Moldova is much poorer and is one of the more poor countries of Europe but I felth great and accomplished going there. I only spent one day in Moldova but well aware of how much more there is to do and see with tons of culture to experience. Not to forget the unusual breakaway region of Transdniestria, a stuck in time Soviet style section of Moldova bordering the Ukraine with it’s own currency, passports, and a 24 visiting rule for “foreigners”. Still, i was happy to make a stop in Chisinau.
After waking from my coma, I walked around the city to it’s many statues, monuments, churches, Circus building and local park to catch a unique Moldovan sunset. I picked up some wine and like an idiot, I picked up cheap wine. It was from Moldova, but not the best kind I should have bought. I did buy some Bucuria chocolate which was incredible. I took a blablacar really early to Iasi and fortunately due to the feedback from the driver and passengers, I bought some real real good Moldovan wine which i enjoyed with my CS host in Iasi. When I do return to Moldova, I have much more of itinerary in store for the rest of the nation. 🙂
Budget for Chisinau for one day
Transport from Constanta – 60 RON
Chill Hostel 150 MDL
Lunch – 110 MDL
Eggs, cheap wine, chocolate, and beer – 50 MDL
BlaBlaCar out of Moldova – 22 RON
Croatia is surely famous for it’s incredible coastline dotted with beautiful venetian towns as well as gorgeous pebble beaches perfect enough to cleanse the mind, body, and soul. People flock from all over Europe during Summer to soak in the sun on the Adriatic. My first time in Croatia was a sizable chunk of my 5 and a half month voyage across the Balkans, spending an accumulative one month in this beautiful country, a former republic of Yugoslavia.
Croatia is an iconic country on this voyage as it served as the open door to this Balkan voyage. Before 2013, I had never even heard of Croatia and was probably one of the many people who only was familiarized with the overly commercialized cities in Western Europe. My first discovery of the Balkans was indeed the Croatian islands, second Croatia’s coastline. Killing my curiosity by dropping the streetview pin man on Google Maps led me to explore other nations. Next thing I know, here I am living a dream in a gorgeous country.
