ljubljanjualjbja

ljubljana=adorable. i wouldn't recommend staying for more than a day because it's teeny teeny tiny but it's really cute and has a very cool vibe. last night there just happened to be a couchsurfing meeting at a cafe (which was perfect since my host had to work for a few hours after i first arrived). i met some really cool people and went to this amazing military-complex-turned-art-complex-slash-bar-and-club-place which is hard to describe but absolutely crazy awesome.






today i walked around the city with 2 polish girls i met at the meeting last night and it was really nice. not too much to see but the city has a nice atmosphere which i like a lot. tomorrow i'm going to bled with some other couchsurfers i met, a small and supposedly gorgeous town about an hour away. there's a lake and a castle and nature--should be fun. then i hop on a night train bound for zurich!

i <3 croatia

i spent another glorious day doing nothing but reading, swimming, and napping on the beach. absolutely wonderful. i probably shouldn't have let my thighs get so red since i'm going to be on trains for 8 hours tomorrow but i think it was worth it. all of this tanning time has meant that my legs no longer look like they belong to another person (it was getting really bad).

i think this is the first place aside from paris where i know i absolutely want to come back someday. i'd love to check out some of the other islands and head down to dubrovnik--if i ever get married i plan on honeymooning in croatia.

tomorrow i'm going to ljubljana, slovenia. i'll couchsurf there for 2 days and then take a night train to zurich, where i'll couchsurf for 3 more. i'm excited to stay with locals who can give me the inside scoop on what to do and where to go. and this time i actively chose who i wanted to stay with so i think it'll go much better than my previous cs experiences.

Zlatni Rat beach

this is where i spent my day

the view when you first get into bol

my little slice of heaven


i was trying to figure out a way to accurately capture the color of the water when i realized my camera is waterproof! so i took way too many photos like this


so many shades of blue



yesterday i spent the day at the city beaches, which were perfectly nice but definitely not picture worthy. today i decided to make the long haul out to brac island--it cost about $20 to get out there and took nearly 2 hours--first a 45 minute ferry ride and then an hour on a bus--but it was absolutely worth it. i've booked 2 more nights at the hostel here in split because it's makes for a nice base for exploring and i really don't feel like checking into somewhere new. i'd like to go to the island of hvar but given the fact that the ferry takes 2 hours each way i think i'll probably just go to the beaches nearby. supposedly there's a pebble beach in a park that's a 20 minute bus ride from my hostel so i plan on spending tomorrow there.

also, pebble beaches are so much better than sand ones. just sayin'.

fun fact; the croatian language is "hrvatski"

after a 6 1/2 train ride from budapest i arrived in zagreb, croatia last night. the funny thing about traveling is you tend to run into the same people. in vienna i went out with a group of guys from the hostel to a public music festival. 2 days later i ran into them at the train station in bratislava. and then yesterday i ended up sharing a cabin with one them on the train from budapest (he had split from the rest of the group and now he's headed to belgrade so i doubt i'll see any of them again). it gives this whole travel thing a sort of homey feel to it.

i decided to spend only one night in zagreb because i'm tired of city life and just wanted to get to the beach. it was another 6 hour train ride to get to split but now i am here and totally happy. i had planned on only spending one night here and then going to hvar, an island about two hours off the coast, for a few nights but i think i might stay in split and take day trips out to the islands. vis is only a 45 minute ferry ride and it's home to what is purported to be the most beautiful beach on the adriatic (weather permitting i'm going to check that out tomorrow). i really like this hostel and the idea of not having to lug my bag to a new place for 4 or 5 days is incredibly appealing.

i found my adapter!

remember what i said about bratislava and quirky statues?

cases in point;





conversely, hungarian statues from the communist era did not have nearly the same sense of humor.





however, these statues are now relegated to a park far outside the city limits.

off to croatia now!

every journey must end

i booked my ticket home! i'll be arriving at jfk around 4 pm on july 29th. i can't believe my adventure will be over in 26 days. i'm a little bit sad but it made the most sense financially/timewise. and i'm definitely getting to the point where i'm ready to go home.

the next 26 days are going to be awesome though, you can be sure of that.

back in budapest!

i ended up spending just one night in bratislava--turned out that was plenty. the city was cute but there wasn't much to it. there were lots of quirky statues everywhere, which was fun. unfortunately i appear to have lost the adapter for my camera so no pictures until i can buy a new one.

now i'm back in budapest! i booked 2 nights but i decided to stay for a 3rd. 1) because it's only 6€ a night, 2) because i really didn't feel like getting on another train tomorrow, and 3) because there's still quite a lot i want to see. i did a free walking tour today and i definitely remembered some of the sites, but my memory also skewed certain realities. tomorrow i want to go to memento park, a statue park where they keep the city's relics of the soviet era.

then i'm going to zagreb, croatia on saturday. i'll only spend one night there before heading south and hopefully getting to one of the islands, hvar, by sunday. i'm getting tired of old buildings and museums so i want to recharge with a few days on the beach.



doesn't look so bad, eh?