That's right. Please share all your travels with me as I love to listen and love to look at all the great pictures.
totally awesome thread idea.
this is Bryce Canyon, Utah.
Utah is a mecca for mountain bikers and I have yet to make it there. I need to plan a trip to this place.
Ahhh, I like the idea.
I think I should post some photos of the places I visited this summer.
I started my 2-weeks Balkan trip in
Zadar, Croatia.
Church of Saint Donatus
Main square near the Church of Saint Donatus
The port of Zadar
The Sea Organ -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_organThe music it is playing is quite soothing. I spent the entire day lying in the sun near the sea organ and enjoyed the sea breeze while listening to the music.
Greetings to the sun -
http://www.find-croatia.com/zadar/greeting-sun-sea-organ.htmlWhen the sun was going down, I was close to the Greetings to the sun but sadly I missed the spectacle. They say that the sunset in Zadar is the most beautiful one in the world. So I preferred watching the sunset instead and snapping lots of pictures of it with my phone. It was breathtaking indeed.
During my stay in Zadar, we went on a guided tour to
Plitvice Lakes National Park.
Normally I hate nothing more than guided tours but unfortunately there are only very few busses running from Zadar to Plitvice and back. That means if we had taken a bus, we would have only had 2 hours or even less in the park. The guided tour allowed us to spend 6 intensive hours in the park. I'm used to walk a lot but after 6 hours in the heat and basically running after the tour guide (who was very eager to show us everything in very little time), I thought I would die. There were 2 girls from Ireland going on the tour with us and one of them was wearing high heels. I wonder how her feet felt at the end of the day.
Well, what's there to see in the park? Waterfalls, crystal clear waters, wildlife, untouched nature. All too beautiful to be true. My own pictures only reflect half of the beauty of the park. I think I was also too amazed by the landscapes so that I didn't take that many good pictures.
In the park itself I didn't see too many wild animals but on the way back home we visited a wildlife sanctuary which gives shelter to bears, deers and wild pigs which are still too young to live in the national park by themselves or which are injured.
Just found out that the bears living in the park are called "European Chocolate bears" (or European brown bears). They are sweet as chocolate indeed. I just wouldn't want to be attacked by one.
Split is touristy and way too expensive for Croatian standards (nothing compared to Dubrovnik though). I loved it though because the Roman monuments were just amazing, the views of the city and the harbor from Marjan hill were amazing and the nightlife was top. Although I partied every night until 5 am, I got to see a lot of the city.
Some of my favorite places...
Waterfront
Some of the many Roman monuments in the city
I wouldn't suggest going near these places around lunch time. There are so many restaurants everywhere and all of them are packed, people standing in line waiting to get a table, etc. Incredible.
View from Marjan hill
A Croatian guy who we had met wanted to show us a less crowded beach on our last day in Split. So we went to a village called
Omiš which is in the East of Split. Afterwards we went back to Split to have a drink. At midnight I had the guys singing me Happy Birthday in Croatian. Hahaha.
Then it was time to say bye bye to Croatia for a few days. I was nervous about my first trip to Bosnia, the country where East meets West, a country which is - according to my Croatian friends - still traumatized from the horrible war in the 1990's and a country of contrast and contradiction.
Anyway, upon arriving in
Mostar I quickly realized how warm and welcoming the people were. You could see that it is a poor country compared to its neighbor Croatia but with a rich culture and lots to offer to tourists who are interested in history and beautiful landscapes.
The famous bridge
"Don't Forget" - You can see these stones everywhere in the city... And it is impossible to forget about the horrible war which killed so many people in Mostar and the rest of Bosnia. The war damage is still present in many parts of the city.
Ruins of a bank. I didn't go inside but apparently you can still see documents dated from the day when the Serbs and Croats took it over and turned it into a sniper tower that they used to pick off the Bosniaks.
What else is there to see? Hummm, many beautiful mosques:
Ottoman bazaar with beautiful cobblestone streets (slippery when wet)
Upon arriving in Mostar, I decided to explore the city on my own. It was my birthday, already dark outside (around 10 pm or so) and I just wanted to get a first glimpse of the old bridge. Just when I was about to snap a picture, someone approached me from behind saying "Hello". I turned around and saw a guy who was about my age. We chatted a little until he suggested that he would show me a beautiful place. When we went to his car I thought that the "beautiful place" was most likely the place where he would chop off my head and
**** me afterwards (yeah, such sickos maybe exist). Fortunately I was wrong. He took me to
Blagaj. A historical village on the source of river Buna. They have a Dervish (a Muslim sect as far as I remember) monastery there and a neat restaurant directly by the river where you can enjoy a cold breeze and a refreshing drink to make the summer heat bearable.
I had my first Bosnian lemonade there. The first Bosnian coffee - which is, hands down, the best in the world - came the next morning.
The monastery
The next day we were planning on visiting arriving Sarajevo. Unfortunately when we arrived, it was already raining and it seemed like it wouldn't stop anytime soon. The next morning, our host told us that he was going to his native town
Tuzla in the North of Bosnia for a few hours. He suggested taking us with him to get to know this city as well. Said and done. After 2,5 hours in the car we were in Tuzla, a rather industrial city.
Market square
Serbian orthodox church
Somewhere in the center
Tuzla massacre memorial -
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tuzla_massacre
The Tuzla "Salt lakes" - It is a biiiiiig outdoor pool made up of artificial salt water lakes and pools as well as artificial water falls
After a rainy day in Tuzla (more clouds than rain, thankfully) it was time to explore
Sarajevo, Bosnia's wonderful capital.
Main square in the Ottoman quarter
This place is truly magical. I could spend hours walking around there, just enjoying the smell of freshly-made coffee and food and looking at handicrafts.
Cathedral
Latin Bridge, the place where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was killed. His assassination led to WWI.
Martyrs' Memorial Cemetery for victims of the Siege of Sarajevo -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo
Sarajevo Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track from the Winter Olympics 1984
After a little change of plans (was supposed to go to Dubrovnik but received a last-minute invitation from a friend of mine to visit him), I ended up in
Makarska, Croatia. It is mainly a place for those who are interested in beach holidays and a beautiful coastline.
Here are some pics:
Next up was my first trip to Montenegro. I visited
Kotor in the beautiful Bay of Kotor which is home to Europe's southernmost fjord.
Kotor has so many beautiful narrow cobblestone streets, old churches and houses, fortified city walls and a beautiful small port. If you manage to climb up the countless stairs to the fortress, you are rewarded with a beautiful view of the entire city and the fjord.
View from the fortress
City walls
Stairs leading up to the fortress
Old town
Main square
One of countless churches
