Krakow last hours

Originally I was going to do a day trip to the mountains today but after getting there and trying to figure out the logistics it didn’t seem like I’d have much time to hike, the activity I really want to do. Tatra does have a tourist area but it seemed mostly shopping which isn’t my thing. People also recommend the thermal baths but I can take or leave those. If I couldn’t do a proper hike I didn’t see the justification to spend all that time commuting for just a view. I think when I return to Poland I’ll do at least two nights there and schedule a proper hike. Instead it is laundry this morning.

I decide to go back up to Wawel castle today but purchased tickets to the Wawel underground. Here one can find remains of old churches and pieces of the castle that’s been destroyed and raided on the past (most famously by the Swedes). The main castle is probably a pretty impressive museum but I don’t have it in me to tour another castle today. My ticket includes two old churches, a museum of columns, facades, and restoration work in general, and also access to the royal gardens where I am loving springtime.

I also buy a ticket to Wawel cathedral because it is said to have some famous people buried there. During the tour I end up in a bell tower (I didn’t do audio tour so I barely know what is going on). No pictures allowed in church but I do snap a couple in the tower. The famous people are mainly polish kings and queens many most in USA have never heard of but I was familiar with a couple because I did about ten episodes of a polish history podcast prior to this trip. Also Chopin (except his heart…more on that in Warsaw) and a former polish president is here.

Royal Gardens at Wawel

Pierogi Time

I need a snack so it’s time for pierogi. This time I do a mix of ruskie (potato and cheese) and spinach and feta and a small local restaurant.

I’m exhausted from the drinks last night (my courage potion might have just given me the courage to not drink again). – just kidding I am drinking a wine at a cafe as I type this. By the way my wine is costing me about $3.20 USD. I relax for a couple hours before dinner at a cafe and then go Kazimierz for dinner and after dinner drinks. I stop at Schindlers Passage one last time to see it without crowds.

Tonight I have reservations at a Alice in wonderland slash mystical speakeasy cocktail bar. The drinks are an interesting combination that correspond to the elements and if you tell them what you like they can custom make something for you; I ordered off the menu of the exiting choices.

Stalking cats in a cat cafe after hours on the way back to my hotel

For the most part I did everything wanted to, main exception the Czartoryski Museum. I waited too long to commit to a visit time and tickets are booked up a week in advance. There is no more go with the flow travel in Europe anymore. If there is something you want to really see you must book in advance, sometimes months).

The reader will get a kick out of learning that the “far away” train station in my arrival post is actually the main station next to my hotel. I am here now and it is exactly as I remember – AND I only walked about 20 minutes to get here. I don’t know why google told me I had over an hour to walk but I can only explain that it was a google failure. It’s odd though because I’ve had google failures in many cities but my days here it has worked perfectly except from my arrival at the train station (it couldn’t possibly be my error?!?).

Anyway I am now heading to Wroclaw.

It’s a holiday today (constitution day) and the train is busy with lots of seat confusion. Me claiming my seat caused a cascading effect where one girl got booted from our car because she didn’t have a confirmed reservation. Note to self – make sure I have confirmed seat reservations on all my legs in the future if I travel from country to country.

Goodbye Vienna (and Austria)

I go to the famous cafe Sacher to try their torte cake. I order the combo with the coffee and the special Brut champagne. If I return I’ll insist on sitting upstairs in the beautiful velvet dining space.

I visit the lovely Austrian National Library. I love a library with old books.

Finally get to try wiener schnitzel at Huth Gastwirtschaft.

I visit the Imperial Crypt, the crypt of the royals.

I then visit the Stephansdom Crypt where I see a plethora of human bones as well as intestines and other innards in alcohol jars. I highly recommend this tour if you like creepy things. No pictures inside.

Some internal body parts, juicing up for hundreds of years

I walk around town and then have cocktails at an American bar.

What goes with crypts, bones and cocktails? Seeing the Barbie movie in a historic theater. This theater also is famous for showing the movie The Third Man. If I had more time in town I’d come back to see that.

After the movie I take the train and walk to my hotel through the Prater amusement park where I get to view it lit up for the evening.

My final day I visit Belvedere Palace and its weird art. The palace is a museum and holds some famous artwork by Gustav Klimt and other artists.

Finally I eat a late lunch at an old glass building, the restaurant called Brasserie Palmenhaus Wien.

There is so much more to see and do in Vienna but but I am flying to Serbia in the morning for my final stop so I go back to pack. This time I have to pack for flying since all the bus and train routes were terrible.

This time tomorrow I’ll be back in the Balkans

Afternoon on the water Dubrovnik

I wake up early and take a short walk and get a coffee. Finally I am able to find coffee to-go, rare in the Balkans. It’s not great coffee, but at least I am not required to sit at a cafe. I also get a cheese and spinach burek and make kitty friends as I sit on the steps to eat.

M wakes up and we decide to walk and get some snacks while we wait for our kayaking tour to start.

It’s finally time for our kayaking tour so we head out. We are both are experienced kayakers but I’ve only been ocean kayaking a little. We decide its for the best that she’s in the back of our tandem kayak since she the more experienced out of the two of us. Initially the tour is nice and easy. The guides decide to split the group into two: one for a shorter route and one for a longer route of about 8km. We decide on the longer route that takes us around the island of Lokrum. As we paddle toward the island we look back to admire the walls of the city.

We paddle around the island and reach a cave. Right outside the cave there is a ledge where we are to attempt a cliff dive. I plan on skipping the cliff dive but it seems the rest of the group is doing it so I guess I must too. The only problem is climbing up on the rock initially; between the sharp edges and the slippery parts I am a mess but with help I get up. There are two jumps to do, the high jump and the lower jump. The lower jump is high enough for me. I eventually do my jump into the very cold water and hang around on the lower rocks while I wait for everyone to finish their jumps – there is no way I am going to attempt to climb back up. The girls with wetsuits have it much better since they easily climb the rocks. I could have shimmied my way up if I had something protecting my body from the sharpness of the rocks.

The guide loads us back into our kayaks 2 by two and we head out a bit to wait and a quick look to the left gives us the vision of at least 3 naked men sunning on the rocks. Yes we were warned about this but it is no less jolting than seeing it for yourself. We giggle and make jokes about wieners and balls because we have the sense of humor of ten year old boys. Now it is time to paddle to the next cave for a little rest and swim.

Our views of the city from here are a little obscured from here due to the haze and the lowered sun. The cave is nice and cold. We do a quick swim and head back towards the starting point.

Our arms and shoulders are already pretty tired at this point but the paddle back uses all our energy reserves. We curse the kayak and waves a little bit but in time we make it to the calmer cove to exit our kayak. Despite the workout, it is a lovely tour. We will most likely be in pain tomorrow.

Our day isn’t over yet since we still plan to walk the city walls this afternoon. At close to 40 euros the cost is pricey but the money is used to maintain the walls that are pretty impressive. We have two hours to get around before they close. We make it all the way around and even stop at two of the bars up top for a drink along the way.

We stop for dinner to end the evening. My stomach gets upset from dinner or the physical effort or the alcohol so that night and the next day are a little rough for me.

We take the ferry to Lokrum island mid-day the next day. The island is nice and calm and big enough to escape the crowds. We see the place on the island where game of thrones is filmed and the associated throne. We also see some peacocks that are residents on the island. And we take a hike uphill to get a nice view of the city.

We try Buza bar once again. It is open this time but the Buza bar we find is the one that does not have full view of the sunset. It is nice regardless.

Our final morning in Dubrovnik we do some store browsing, visit an old pharmacy, eat ice cream, and seek out a naughty looking statue. We are catching a ferry to Hvar this afternoon but we do a visit to Cave Bar More and Love Bar. Both are lovely bars to stop at for a drink but I suggested not ordering food at the Cave Bar since it is disappointing. Come to think about it, most of the food in Dubrovnik has been disappointing. Hopefully things will get better in other parts of Croatia.

One of the few non disappointing meals I had Taj Mahal (Eastern European)

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Today I am taking a bus from Kotor (Montenegro) over the border to Dubrovnik Croatia. I crossed borders by vehicle a couple days ago, Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, and it was pretty easy . But now we are actually crossing into the EURO zone and I guess it gets more complicated. Our bus is 30 minutes late already. No big deal because its supposed to be only a two hour ride; but that was before I found out what crossing the borders actually meant.

Pretty rough street cat at the bus station. My heart hurts watching him.

Seems like an uneventful bus ride, at the beginning

Things seem simple enough leaving Montenegro. They don’t even stamp us on the way out. I have to go to the bathroom but afraid the bus will leave without me i decide to wait. We get to the Croatian border and the line is pretty long. We wait at least 45 minutes until they have us exit the bus to go through passport control. Everything seems fine as persons cross the border line one by one. Then they have us get back of the bus to claim our things and get in another line to get searched. Everyone is thoroughly searched. I am towards the end of the line so I don’t really know what is going on until the end. I just assumed they would X-ray our suitcases like they do at the airports. Instead they search each bag and it becomes obvious they are looking for drugs; not only illegal substance but also prescription drugs that are not accompanied by a prescription. I am even asked if I have marijuana multiple times. I have never been searched like this before, especially at the border of the EU. Two ladies from our bus are taken aside and have to paid fines for their antidepressants they can’t provide prescriptions for. One guy is taken in a private room and made to strip down. Another guy never returns to the bus. One can only assumed he is being detained at the border. After a very long wait we finally resume our journey.

The bus station in Dubrovnik is about 20 minutes from the old town by public bus which costs two euros. It looks like the bus station and ferry port are either the same or very close. The bus drops me at the main gate in town and I waddle myself in between the tour groups entering the city at the same time. This is supposed to be the shoulder season of traveling here but the crowds are so thick during the day I can’t see how it can be worse. It would be downright unbearable during season combined with the heat of the summer. The temperatures are just about right for me right now. Very warm during the day in the sun, chilly at night. Not great swimming weather but great for wandering around town.

Luckily my apartment is available for early check in because there are no guests before and after our reservation. I haven’t had a chance to eat lunch because of out extended bus ride. There are a plate of taffy like candies that I end up devouring. I don’t even really tend to crave sweets and I cannot stop eating these things. I must go out and get some food.

My big plans were to get laundry done but the only nearby laundry closes in 30 minutes and is not self-service. Luckily they have a quick turn around so I plan to drop off first thing tomorrow.

Wandering the back alleys you get a feel for how it was in the past walking the stone streets, especially the streets not packed with tour groups.

As expected I reward my long stressful bus ride with a wine and a cheese plate.

I meet up with some new friends I had met in Mostar a couple days ago and they introduce me to Bar Dodo. We enjoy a drink, good conversation and a good view.

My new friends need to leave early because they are flying home tomorrow so I head to dinner. I din’t plan well and pick a pricey restaurant for my first meal. I try the local black risotto and fresh oysters. The risotto is good but I am disappointed with the oysters. Ive had much better oysters outside of Croatia. For being on the water I’ve had disappointing seafood during my travels thus far.

The next morning is laundry and breakfast. I wander around town while I wait for my friend to arrive. I also light a candle for my mom at a local church as a gesture to remembering her during my travels. I am not a christian but it gives me a moment of peace to do this for her.

I notice a statue of a local Marin Drzic’. There are only a few statues erected in town and this is one of them. People rub the nose for luck or such but there is no official lore related to that. We learn more about him later during a walking tour.

Our apartment overlooks the famous stairs featured in game of thrones – a show I have not watched. The one scene in question has a character walking down the stairs while people chant “shame shame shame”.

I will periodically hear people chanting “shame, shame, shame” outside.

My friend arrives and we decide to eat. She’s had a long flight and she is hungry. I drag her to a restaurant that I see on a travel program Barba. I want to try their octopus burger. The bread isn’t exciting but the burger itself is good. My friend’s shrimp burger not good. It looks like the octopus burger is the best choice there.

We check out some stores and an outdoor market. There are some fun dresses I am tempted to buy. There seems to be a specific style of Dubrovnik tourist fashion.

We try to visit the “must-see” bar buzz bar but it is not open for service yet. I decide to take my friend down to the bar I had visited the night before.

We sign up for a free walking tour to get a feel for the city. We learn a little more about the history and get some advice on places to eat and visit. We learn about the orphanages in town and a story the sounds almost like the original “kids to get off my lawn” from a priest yelling at boys playing football.

We go to one of the restaurants suggested by the guide and it turns out disappointing. I guess we are a month too early for mussel season. They are small, gritty and not very tasty. Bad luck agin.

We take our wine bottle back to our room (yeah fridge) and finally notice the bottle of unmarked brandy in the room. The host left some local treats and this bottle that we can only assume to sample. I taste the wormwood right away. It’s a bit rough to get it down but when in Rome (or Croatia). Hopefully it helps me get to sleep quicker!

We think it’s Pelinkovac, a bitter liqueur

Tomorrow we plan to kayak and walk the walls. Nite nite.

Back to Christchurch

I am still in Christchurch New Zealand for one more night.

My aunt has left me this morning to travel to Sydney and then back to the United States. On the way to the airport she stops at the International Antarctic Centre. I did not join her but she tells me later that it is a very good attraction to visit. Maybe next time!

I start the day with laundry instead. After I hang all my clothes outside to dry I head out on my own to do some sightseeing in town.

I end up exploring inside the Canterbury Museum.

I see an exhibit of Moa birds that were used for food but are now extinct. At the time it was the tallest bird to walk the earth.

I also see artifacts of the Aotearoa, the East Polynesian settlers, the direct ancestors of Maori.

I am fascinated at the exhibition of a study done in New Zealand. In 1975 they studied about 1000 children born in Dunedin. They have been following them for their entire lives. The exhibit displays their findings. A good amount of valuable information has been gained from this study in the areas of mental illness, antisocial behavior, drug use, and much more. It is especially meaningful to me because the study is of members of my generation.

Antarctic Exhibit

Earnest Shackleton! This name runs familiar because his struggles during one of his expeditions is now used as a tool for leadership training. In the past I was assigned an exercise in survival based on his experience as part of a leadership program at my previous job. It is interesting to see an exhibit on it now.

I scope out the local birds so I will know what to look out for when I start exploring more of New Zealand.

I visit an old timey town based on Christchurch in the late 1800’s.

What is squawkzilla? Apparently it is a recently discovered massive ancient parrot. Glad that thing is not around anymore. The cool thing about New Zealand versus Australia is you don’t feel like there are a bunch of animals trying to kill you in this country.

After the museum I wander around town a little more.

I start noticing what is still leftover from the damage done by the earthquakes of 2011.

I stop for an unhealthy snack and a cocktail at a bar with a nice view. Original Sin

I leisurely walk around town for a little while longer before heading back to my lodging for the evening. Tomorrow I set off on a new type of adventure.