One blog, two travelers, three weeks, four countries!

Aug
17
Zadar Sunset I don’t know what it is about sunsets and the ocean, but the combination of the two is almost always beautiful. Zadar is a beach town in every sense: the beaches are filled with people during the day, there are many docks and marinas, and the downtown has all kinds of tourist knickknacks available for purchase. My one little niggle with this town is that all the beaches are rock beaches, which are much less fun than sand beaches. It’s ok, because that’s why we have Southern California, right?

Zadar Sunset

I don’t know what it is about sunsets and the ocean, but the combination of the two is almost always beautiful.

Zadar is a beach town in every sense: the beaches are filled with people during the day, there are many docks and marinas, and the downtown has all kinds of tourist knickknacks available for purchase.

My one little niggle with this town is that all the beaches are rock beaches, which are much less fun than sand beaches. It’s ok, because that’s why we have Southern California, right?

Aug
17
Zagreb Park Zagreb is a nice little city, really clean and quiet. Here’s the park that runs though the center of the city, I really liked it. [this post a little out of order, since I already posted about us leaving Zagreb, but that’s ok because sometimes life is nonlinear]

Zagreb Park

Zagreb is a nice little city, really clean and quiet. Here’s the park that runs though the center of the city, I really liked it.

[this post a little out of order, since I already posted about us leaving Zagreb, but that’s ok because sometimes life is nonlinear]

Aug
17
Legs 7-8: Zagreb-Plitvice, Plitvice-Zadar We spent about a day in Zagreb, and then took a bus to Croatia’s first national park, the Plitvice Lakes. We spent the day at the park (with jawdroppingly clear lakes and awesome waterfalls) then stayed the night nearby. The next day we took another bus to Zadar, which is on the coast.

Legs 7-8: Zagreb-Plitvice, Plitvice-Zadar

We spent about a day in Zagreb, and then took a bus to Croatia’s first national park, the Plitvice Lakes. We spent the day at the park (with jawdroppingly clear lakes and awesome waterfalls) then stayed the night nearby. The next day we took another bus to Zadar, which is on the coast.

Aug
13
Leg 6: Budapest-Zagreb This has been by far the strangest leg of the trip. We had hoped to book this train trip as an overnight trip to optimize time in Zagreb. Unfortunately the latest train was a 5:30pm-11:30pm one, so we took it. In a rush, I went online and attempted to book an additional night at the hostel in Zagreb. We got to the train platform early in Budapest, and after some confused conversation with a few conductors, sat down in a car. Once the train got moving we found out this car was not bound for Zagreb, and the cars that were bound for Zagreb were all full. We had to sit on the floor in the section at the end of the car. A few passengers got off at an intermediate station, so we claimed a few seats! And things were fine until we crossed the Hungary-Croatia border, where two sets of police (one from each country) came by and inspected everybody’s passports. Meanwhile, the lights had been flickering in our car, and when we stopped for the inspection, they were completely out. After the inspection, everybody in this dark car was kicked out into the other cars, which by now were full, so we had to spend the last section of the trip on the floor again. Once we arrived, we walked to the hostel (around 12am local time). I said we were here to check in, I had a reservation. The receptionist couldn’t find anything under my name, so I pulled out my confirmation email. Turns out in my rush that morning, I did book a night, but the wrong one. The hostel was full, so obviously we couldn’t stay there. There were no other hostels in the area, but there was a hotel next door. Our other choice was to bum around at the train station. We ended up splurging on the hotel so now, after a long day, we at least have somewhere comfy to sleep.

Leg 6: Budapest-Zagreb

This has been by far the strangest leg of the trip. We had hoped to book this train trip as an overnight trip to optimize time in Zagreb. Unfortunately the latest train was a 5:30pm-11:30pm one, so we took it. In a rush, I went online and attempted to book an additional night at the hostel in Zagreb.

We got to the train platform early in Budapest, and after some confused conversation with a few conductors, sat down in a car. Once the train got moving we found out this car was not bound for Zagreb, and the cars that were bound for Zagreb were all full. We had to sit on the floor in the section at the end of the car.

A few passengers got off at an intermediate station, so we claimed a few seats! And things were fine until we crossed the Hungary-Croatia border, where two sets of police (one from each country) came by and inspected everybody’s passports. Meanwhile, the lights had been flickering in our car, and when we stopped for the inspection, they were completely out.

After the inspection, everybody in this dark car was kicked out into the other cars, which by now were full, so we had to spend the last section of the trip on the floor again.

Once we arrived, we walked to the hostel (around 12am local time). I said we were here to check in, I had a reservation. The receptionist couldn’t find anything under my name, so I pulled out my confirmation email. Turns out in my rush that morning, I did book a night, but the wrong one. The hostel was full, so obviously we couldn’t stay there.

There were no other hostels in the area, but there was a hotel next door. Our other choice was to bum around at the train station. We ended up splurging on the hotel so now, after a long day, we at least have somewhere comfy to sleep.

Aug
12
Budapest Tram Above ground, way cleaner than the metro! A very stark contrast!

Budapest Tram

Above ground, way cleaner than the metro! A very stark contrast!

Aug
12
Budapest Metro Underground, looks very… “vintage”.

Budapest Metro

Underground, looks very… “vintage”.

Aug
12
Leg 5: Prague-Budapest We are in Budapest! It’s a little like Prague, but grimier.

Leg 5: Prague-Budapest

We are in Budapest! It’s a little like Prague, but grimier.

Aug
9
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Krusta

Walking around town, we found a bakery that made these really sweet ring/tube shapes pastries.

Aug
9
More Prague This place is so picturesque. I want it. All of it.

More Prague

This place is so picturesque. I want it. All of it.

Aug
9
Prague We have been here for a day, and let me tell you, Prague is my new favorite city. It’s got this excellent mix of old buildings and modern, crisp style — we walked on cobblestone streets past like three super slick furniture stores.

Prague

We have been here for a day, and let me tell you, Prague is my new favorite city. It’s got this excellent mix of old buildings and modern, crisp style — we walked on cobblestone streets past like three super slick furniture stores.