Balkan Trip Part 2 — Rachel and I in Croatia
Rachel and I departed from Kotor via bus in the mid afternoon. The road from Kotor to Dubrovnik hugs the Adriatic Sea. It’s a spectacular drive. The mountains plunge directly into the ocean. I doubt there are many bus rides its equal.
I was surprised at how rugged the mountains of southern Croatia and Montenegro were. The rocky 40 degree slopes were sparse with vegetation. This terrain in Canada would invoke descriptions of ‘inhospitable’, ‘desolate’, and ‘un-forgiving’. But I’ve never heard anyone describe Croatia that way. Probably because your gaze doesn’t linger long on the mountains when you’ve got all that water to look at as well. As if to emphasize that point, as we drove the sun set over the coastline treating me to one of the nicer bus rides I’ve done.
When Rachel and I travel together she is the Master Trip Planner. She researches, maps, and budgets. Once on route I come into my own as Chief Navigator. It’s not exactly an equal distribution of work — planning vs navigating — but we complement each others’ styles. Her calculated plan maximizes the experience, and when we must deviate from the script, my incredible intuition and sense of direction saves the day, most of the time.
An example of my thoroughness in trip preparation was made apparent a couples days into the trip: I had only brought one pair of shorts, and no pants. Two and a half weeks is a long time with only one pair of shorts. However not to worry, we adjusted our route to pass an H&M and buy some pants.
Regardless of how many pants I had, we got to Dubrovnik, aka King’s Landing, without issue. As you’d expect, Dubrovnik is worthy of its reputation. Dubrovnik is different from the other Venetian cities I’ve seen because (it’s not Venetian) and its streets are a grid. Dubrovnik was one of the first cities to be built with a plan instead of letting a random mess of structures grow into a city. The highlight of Dubrovnik for us was swimming under the cities walls. There is a cafe outside the city balanced on the cliff the wall is built from. At this cafe you can watch cliff divers practice or go for a swim yourself. After a coffee, the perfectly clear blue water was too tempting to pass up. We climbed down and got in, floating around as tourists peeped over the wall. The sun was blazing, the water was cool, and the city looked magnificent.
One reason for traveling is to be inspired. This summer, after seeing many ancient cities and towns, I’m inspired to build something that will last 1000 years. Specifically, I’m inspired to build a stone wall. Walking around medieval cities and thinking about what’s missing at home on the east coast of Canada, I came to the conclusion we’re missing something built out of stone which will last a thousand years. Therefore, I think I should build a wall and leave my mark on the world. If there are any stonemasons (or stonecutters) reading, consider this my application: I want to build a wall. Out of stone. And not on the Mexican-US border.
I’ve traveled to Italy, Greece, Montenegro, and Croatia, and I can say with confidence I’m sufficiently inspired for now. I have had my fill of historic architecture for the time being, and Rachel feels the same (I assume). So to mix up our travel pattern on our second day in Dubrovnik we took a day-long boat tour of three islands. You can’t go to Croatia and not see some of the islands via boat. In fact I’d say the only way to truly appreciate Croatia is via boat. There are a thousand islands waiting to be discovered for the thousandth time. And regardless of how many people were there before you, in this part of the world traveling via boat beats traveling in a car or by bus every day of the week. During our day on the water we got to do some beaching, eat some fresh fish, and enjoy some ice cream — maximizing ocean time before the coming fall months in waterless Pristina.
After Dubrovnik we bussed north to Split. Split felt like more of a hub then a destination. We played by that tune and rented a car to drive up the coast. We had brought camping gear courtesy of our French friend Fabien (from Pristina). I owe Fabien 100 beers for lending me his tent, as a tent opens up so many options while traveling. We had nothing planned for two days so we simply drove up the coast till we found a campsite (my unparalleled navigational intuition coming into its own). At the campsite we claimed a spot by the water, sat back in our chairs, and chuckled at how clever we were to find ourselves camping by the ocean in Croatia in September. Life ain’t to bad sometimes.
The next day with our car we went to Krka National Park. There are multiple sections of the park you can visit, and the first one we went to was the most popular one. The park is full of waterfalls flowing over karst rock. Although it was beautiful, Rachel and I were a little overwhelmed with the crowds and the heat. We appreciated it, but didn’t enjoy it as much as we probably should have. Luckily we still had some energy left and we went to another section of Krka further from the highway. At a place called Roski Slap we got the national park experience we were looking for. Not too many people, wonderful views, and a pleasant walk.
After Krka we returned to the campsite for the night. In the morning we returned to Split to return the rental car as Rachel had to return to Pristina. Croatia was great fun. I have a vague plan in the back of my mind to come back with a boat for two weeks. If you want to join me let me know and we’ll start planning. This marks the end of Part Two of this blog, and the beginning of part Three: me, alone, in the Balkans.
