Sobe, Croatian buses and other highlights
After almost two weeks in Croatia, a few small things have impressed us. The first (and maybe our favorite) is the ˝sobe.˝ Sobes are just private rooms in peoples houses that they rent to travelers. When you reach the bus station or the ferry station, you are sure to be bombarded by a bunch of old woman (sometimes young women or men) offering you rooms in their home. The price is negotiable, and for us it saved our budget and gave some negotiating practice for the markets in Asia. Each time, we agreed on the price before we saw the room, and in most cases we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the room. In fact, twice, we negotiated for a double room and got a full apartment with washing machine, kitchen, bathtub to ourselves. It also gave us an insight into how people live, and their taste in kitchy Catholic wall art.
The second thing in Croatia that struck as odd, is the bus network. Every long distance bus also acts as a local bus, picking up and dropping off people all along the way. What this means is that the trip, for example, from Sibenik (on the coast) to Zagreb (the capital) a total distance of 240km (180 miles) takes about 6 hours.
Croatia has been a wonderful country to travel. We spent a week and a half on the coast (since Istria, we’ve traveled through Dubrovnik, Korcula Island, Split, Sibenik, National Park Krka) and now to Zagreb. My favorite means of transport was definitely by ferry. A lazy afternoon sunbathing on the deck, drinking beer and playing cards definitely beat being crammed into a bus for a crazy amount of time.
Today we traveled from the coast to Zagreb, and left the warm summer sunshine to return to the European autumn. Only 6 more days before we finish the European part of our world odyssey.
Tags: BIG TRIP 2005-2006, In English 2005-2006
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