Honeymoon Around The World

After a relaxing five day stay in Amani, we decided our next destination would be the western side of the Usumbara mountains-Amani is on the eastern side.  We had heard of a farm in Loshoto that produced it’s own jam, cheeses, and breads and also offered nice accommodations overlooking the town of Loshoto which is home to some amazing hiking, so we decided that this would be our next destination.  The only issue, how to get there from Amani.  There is zero public transportation off a mountain and through a rain forest.  The closest town was over an hours drive away.  Luck was on our side again, however, because the owner’s our campsite in Amani were actually headed in that same directions and offered to drop us at the nearest town where we could catch a shuttle up the mountain to Loshoto.  PERFECT!  So, in the morning after breakfast, we piled into Steven’s and Pia’s land rover and headed down the mountain.  About ten minutes into our drive, we rounded a corner and came face to face with a huge downed tree that stretched all the way across the road, making it impossible to pass.  Now, this type of situation in the U.S. would be no big deal.  You make a call on your cell, someone comes out, cuts the tree with a chainsaw, hauls it out of the way and off you go.  In Africa, first off, there are no chainsaws, which is really baffling considering these people live off the land, making their houses out of trees.  So, how do they cut trees?  With a knife about the length of my arm.  A very thin knife.  They hack away at a branch for hours and hours.  So, when we arrived at the downed tree, there was already a local man hacking away at this massive tree trunk with basically a butcher knife.  We were stuck.  So, the local man and campsite owners spoke in swahili and the local said he would walk back to a friends house and barrow an ax.  This was a bit more promising than the knife.  By the time he showed up with the ax, there were about 20 other locals waiting like us to pass through this narrow mountian road.  So, for about an hour, each local took turns swinging the ax at this massive tree.  Each took about ten swings, then passed the ax on.  Amazing teamwork.  About half way through the process when all was going well, we heard a big SNAP and the falling of more trees, directly above our heads.  People dashed in all directions, trying to escape the new falling tree.  Luckily, branches and vines from neighboring trees caught it and no one was hurt.  The chopping resumed and we were soon pushing the giant log off to the side of the road.  We were off again.

Pia and Steven dropped us off at the bottom of the western Usumbara mountain and we were able to catch a shuttle up to Loshoto.  Similar to the Dhala Dhala, we piled into a small mini van with about 21 other people, some hanging out of the side sliding door and away we went.  Upon arriving in Loshoto, as in most bus stations in Tanzania, we were met with hagglers pulling us in different directions, asking if we need a taxi, do we need a place to stay, how about a bottle of water, banana, coke, sunglasses, melted candy bar???  We decided to stick with our originial plan and took a taxi to Irenti Farm, which was about 6 km outside of the chaos of Loshoto.  It was a beautiful place and the homemade jam was incredible.  Some of the sweetest jam I have ever tasted.  The farm was on a hillside and a 1km trail walk leads you to the most incredible over-look/view point I’ve ever seen.  The view-point was on a cliff-side so high that you could see the ocean, which was a least a three hours drive away.  It was really a beautiful experience until locals started approaching us for money.  It seems everywhere we walked people were asking for “changey, changey” meaning bills not pocket change of course.  We came across a kid with a chameleon and he offered to let us hold it, so we did.  Little did we know we would have to pay him for it.  When we tried to refuse, he insisted so we gave him pocket change of about two dollars and he looked at us like we spit in his face.  He said, “no, no, my friend, more.”  We were shocked.  Here was a little kid expecting us to give him several more dollars for holding a chameleon.  We just laughed and walked away.

The next day, we decided to go out exploring more hiking trails.  Instead of heading toward the view point again, and in an attempt to miss all of the hagglers, we hiked in the opposite directions.  We past a few young kids along the way and in broken english they told us we were heading toward their school.  Sure enough, the trail wound right past a school and school yard.  Needless to say, schools are very different in Africa than in the U.S.  If I had to explain it, I would say that it’s basically a couple of concrete building, no windows, no doors, no sign of books, blackboards and basically no one inside any of the buildings.  The kids are usually hanging out outside in the yard, playing tag or talking in little groups or just watching people go by.  No one is outside supervising them.  In fact, all of the shools that we have seen all over Tanzania, there are never any adults arounds what so ever.  This school was no different and when we walked by on the trail, we were mobbed with kids!  About fifty of them came running toward us, saying “Jambo,” “Hello,” “How are you?!”  It was crazy!  Several of them were carrying large amounts of wood and big sticks, so we asked them what the wood was for.  Many of them didn’t know English (which they are suppose to be learning in school), but a few of the older kids said that they were collecting fire wood for the kitchen.  That was their project for the day…collecting fire wood.  Once they realized that we were walking the trail, all of them wanted to go with us and be our guide (for a fee of course).  We politely refused and told them that we didn’t have any money, but the didn’t care.  As soon as we started our hike again, we were being followed and lead down the trail by about 50 kids.  None of them would go back.  We stopped every now and then and asked them “Shouldn’t you be in school?”  “Yes,” they would all reply, but not a single one turned to go back.  So, we continued on and after about a half hour we stopped to rest.  Again we said “You should go back to school.”  “Yes,” they would reply but not a single one turned back.  So, we told them again “We do not have any money, no changey to give you.”  They stared at us blankly.  Christy then said “Where are your teachers?”  A few of the kids shrugged their shoulders “I don’t know.”  So, we said “Go back to school” but none would go.  We continued on our hike and a few of the kids in front pointed us toward another view point and when we arrived, they asked for money.  We said to them again “we have no money.”  So one kid pulled on Christy’s watch.  She pulled her arm away and it was at that time we decided to call it quits on the hike.  So, we headed back down the mountain with kids in tow back to their school.  We scanned the grounds for any teachers, but there were none.  Luckily the kids stayed behind as we continued our hike back to our bed and breakfast.

We left our lovely beach paradise in Pimponi with fears of more African public transportation nightmares. Luckily for us, there was a school from Dar Es Salam that was camping at the grounds in Pimponi where we were staying and the teachers offered us a ride with them in their bus because they too were headed for Amani. Score!  Now this was not just some normal Tanzanian school which is very poor and can barely afford books-more on schools or lack-thereof in Africa later…these were ambassodor’s kids from a very expensive private school. None the less, we were thrilled to be on an airconditioned bus with a bunch of teenagers heading to Amani National Rain Forest. Compared to the alternative of public transport (see earlier Dhala Dhala entry), we felt like we were in a limo!  We arrived in Amani in a torrential downpour (of course, since it’s a rainforest) and still had another 5 miles to get to our campsite on Emau hill. We thought we were going to have to hoof it, but luckily a local let us use their cell phone (amazing that Africa’s cell phones work even in the rainforest-U.S could learn a thing or two), the owner of the campsite was kind enough to spare us a long wet hike and picked us up about an hour after we arrived.

Emau Hill is a non-profit organization headed by Pia from Denmark and her husband Steven from England, two of the most unselfish giving people you could ever meet. I could write a novel on what they have done for the people in these remote communities. This is an area of Tanzania that is very poor, most people have no electricity, no running water and live in houses made mainly from mud. The average salary is about $50 a month.  Emau Hill has provided jobs to the community such as construction, fairming, cooking, and even sewing at their newly built craft shop.  Their campsite is located deep in the Amani Forest and used to be for foreign volunteers but now it has been slightly transformed so that tourists can also visit this non-profit establishment and stay in one of the already set-up tents. Christy and I were in heavan, a beautiful campsite sourrounded by tropical rain forest.  The tents were amazing.  Each one was huge with two beds equiped with new mosquito nets, a desk, chairs for outside and inside, candles, spice packs, etc.  We loved going to sleep at night to the sounds of the crickets and birds right outside out tent. We spent 4 days hiking through the rainforest, meeting the local kids from the villages and hanging out with Steven, Pia, and Frank and Martina also from Denmark. We ate wonderful, fresh meals (they grow most fruits and veggies on site) under the palapa in the main dining area and heard great community service stories from Steven and Pia about things they have done in the area to help out the local people. Currently, they are trying to raise money to purchase and deliver mosquito nets to everyone in their surrounding community to help reduce malaria, which kills so many people in Tanzania each year, particularly the very young and very old.  It was great to experience a part of Africa that most tourists dont get to see.   

Just wanted to let everyone know we finally found a computer in Africa that is fast enough to upload pictures. We’ll update the blog in a few days when we get more time. In short, we camped in the Usumbara mountains for about 5 days and then  we took a little 10-seater plane from the mainland over to an island called Pemba. We spent 9 days on the northwest coast at a little lodge with nothing else around. Our days were filled with scubadiving, long walks on the beach and hanging out with all the great staff at Swahili Divers. It was one hell of a cast of characters and we had an absolute awesome time. It felt like we took a break from traveling and got to just hang out with friends. We’ll update with more good africa travel stories, they seem to just keep on coming.  For the pics, go to:  www.picasaweb.google.com/smccrosky. 

Pimponi, where we are currently staying is a small town, not really town per se but a jumble of huts by the sea in Northeast Tanzania. Were staying at a really nice place called Pimponi beach lodge. They are like thatched huts you stay in right on the beach. They have a restaurant which serves great cheap food and everything comes from the local area including the fish and the fruits and vegetables. I had a huge piece of fish last night and it was around 4 bucks. Today we walked about 2 miles down the beach and there was nobody, just an occasional family walking out to there dhows which are little sailing boats they use here for fishing and getting around. A very unique thing about the ocean here is that when the tide goes out, it goes way out about a half a mile. Then when it comes in, it goes over all the hot sand which warms the water up to an increbile 90-95 degrees. That’s not a misprint, the owner of the lodge we stayed at took a thermomter out in the water. And when you go in the water, the first 50 yards is like a jacuzzi. Not exactly what you want though when its 90 degrees out and humid, although Christy seemed to love it.  There are monkeys running around which I just love.  Now that’s all for the “how beautiful Africa is” story.

Now let me try to describe the experience of us getting here to this lovely beach paradise.  We got to Moshi with no problems, the safari company we’re using had a shuttle for us and it brought us straight to Moshi, right to their front door. From Moshi to here we were on our own and had to use  African public transportation. The bus station was just pure chaos, we were the only white people there and it was just packed with people coming and going, people selling food, candy, clothes you name it they were selling it. And they carry everything on top of there head, Women carrying huge stalks of bananas or big bags of grain all on top of there head. So we get on our bus which is like a greyhound bus from 1960 and they just pack it until people are standing in the aisles with no room to spare. When its packed full and there is no chance of fitting anyone else on, they depart and off we go for 7 hours straight, stopping at little villages along the way. Things went fairly smooth until it started to rain and naturally the bus isn’t too water proof so we had to dodge some streams of water flowing in from the outside.

We then get to Tanga where we need to change buses in order to get to our final destination (Pimponi) and once again we just get mauled by people wanting to know if we want a taxi, bus, hotel, bananas. We tell them we need to go to Pimponi and they take us over to a dhala dhala, which is a minivan that that has seen better days. How this vehicle is still running is beyond me.  I go to get in, open the door and its filled with about 12 locals just jammed in there. Well, whats the saying “when in rome” so we pile in, put our backpacks on our laps and off we go…that is as soon as they tie up the door with a rope to keep it closed and from falling off. 

Two minutes into the ride the driver gets into a fender bender. We all sat in the minivan for about 30 minutes as the 2 parties involved screamed at each other. Finally we get going along this dirt road and the drivers door keeps flying open which he has to hold with one hand and drive with the other. Then the sliding door on the side of the van which was held on by rope starts to break away again from the van but luckily they caught it and tied it on better. We continue on, dodging bikes, chickens goats and people. At a stop sign the van putters out and dies. No problem, a passenger jumps out, gives it a push and we’re off again.  Along the way we’re stopping and picking up more people so I think we maxed out at around 15 people in a van built for 7…let me remind you that most of these people haven’t touche a shower in about a week.  Anyway we finally made it.  It was fricken hilarious. Christy and I were just cracking up and all the locals treated it as just another day at the office. Mind you, the people are as nice as can be, one guy had Christys backpack on top of him and he didn’t mind. That is what makes it an incredible journey and not a scary one, the people. Africa, Chaos, comedy and beauty all wrapped up into one pretty picture.

We left Rome on not the most direct route you could take to get to Africa. We Went Rome-Milan-Dubai-Nairobi. In Dubai we had a 10 hour layover and best of all we arrived there at midnight so it was a night of no sleep. Dubai Airport however is one of the nicest airports I have ever seen. There is a shopping mall  and even at 2am was packed with people shopping. I guess Dubai has a lot of long layovers because there were people sleeping all over the place, hundreds of people. Add the muslim women walking around totally covered up except there eyes and you have plenty of people watching for one night.  We also got a free breakfast compliments of our airline because we had such a long lay-over…sweet!!!

At 10am we flew to Nairobi for the final 5 hour leg of our journey. Luckily, Emerites Airlines is one of the nicest airlines I have ever flown so we spent our time watching movies and eating great airplane food. Little did we know the fun hadnt even begun when we landed and exited the plane. The first thing we needed to do was get Kenyan shillings from the ATM. Well, in Africa everything doesn’t quite work all the time and the ATM in the terminal wasn’t working. So without U.S currency we had no way to pay the $100 fee for our visas so we could exit the airport. With thoughts of the movie “the Terminal” creeping into our minds, I began to get frazzled trying to figure out a way to get money. We approached the Customs guy and told him our dilema and luckily they are much more laid back here and he told us, no problem, theres an ATM outside, go get your money, I’ll hold the passports and your wife as ransom. So I ran out the airport to the ATM and took out my wallet to get my ATM card. My heart sank when I realized I somehow either dropped the card in the terminal or left it in the machine that didn’t work. I ran back to the airport and then I had to explain to the security guy why I had no passport, no money and why I had to go back into the airport. Again, thank god things are more laid back here and he let me in. Then I had to tell Christy what a moron I was and that we may never see our way out of this airport again. I ran back to the ATM that didn’t work and of course the card was gone. So then I pictured some guy buying thousands of dollars worth of stuff on my card. More horror, I quickly found a phone and called home to my mom where it was 4am and sure enough she thought it would be me and something terrible happened. So I got her to cancel my card as I ran back to the customs guy who by now thought I was a crazed American and wasn’t sure I should enter his country regardless. With more persuasion he let me go outside the airport again using Christy’s ATM card this time and finally we got money and got through customs. Oh, but the stories not over yet.

So we go to baggage claim and there are no bags to be seen and everyone from our flight it long gone. We ask the lady in charge and she just kind of shrugs her shoulders and tells us to go talk to someone else. We find the lost baggage department which is a lady in a desk with a computer from the 80’s. She enters our tag numbers and says the computer isn’t working right now and to give us her name and number and she’ll call us when she finds out something. Which in Africa translates to, I will do nothing as soon as you walk out of this airport and you will never see your bags again. So right when all hope is lost a worker comes up to us and asks if were missing 3 bags. It’s still up for debate, but Christy swears that I kissed the guy, I dont think I did though.  He said our bags were on the wrong turn-style.  Anyway, we were soooo happy as we grabbed our bags and headed for the taxi stand. Welcom to Africa!

I have never in my life had gelato as delicious as it is in Rome!!!  And the pizza…ohhhh gracious, my mouth just waters thinking about it.  We arrived in Rome via a train from Venice with a plan to stay five days before flying to Africa.  It was a little nerve wracking to think that we would be leaving for a third world country in a few days, but we were also amazed at how quickly time past while we traveled Europe.  It is strange to think that the first leg of our trip was coming to an end.

Steve was my hero when we arrived in Rome because he had taken the time to book us a really nice apartment just two blocks away from the Coliseum…and about 50 feet away from the best gelato place in all of Rome!  The apartment was perfect for us to get some R&R and take care of lose ends before we left for Africa.  Plus, with its great location, we could explore Rome very easily.  We also needed to have an address in Rome that Steve’s parents could ship a package to us.  Before we left home, we gathered up our hiking equipment and extra clothes that we needed for our Kili hike and boxed them up to ship so we didn’t have to carry all of that stuff through Europe with us.  So, once we had the address in Rome, Steve’s parents sent the package off via Fed Ex.  It was of course suppose to arrive two days before we left for Africa, but does shipping a package ever go smoothly?  We tracked the package on line and the day it was scheduled to arrive, we waited around at the apartment so we didn’t miss it.  Well, we waited and waited and waited.  We got such cabin fever that we had to take turns going for walks.  I visited a chathedral by myself and then when I returned, Steve went off to an internet cafe.  The package was set to be delivered by 8:00pm.  When it looked as if the package wouldn’t show, Steve started making some phone calls.  But of course, the customer service was Italian and we had a hard time communicating with them in English.  After calling three different phone numbers and being told everything from “It’s on its way” to “We don’t know where it is” to “Sorry it is set for delivery tomorrow,” Steve was able to track exactly where the package was and requested that it be held until he could pick it up himself the next morning.  The next day, we woke up really early.  Steve decided to travel across Rome by himself and I would wait at the apartment in case the package actually did get delivered.  He ended up having to take two trains, a bus, a trolley and then walk almost two miles through an industrial area to reach the Fed ex office where he could pick up the package, which luckily they held for him. 

By the time he got back to the apartment, it was noon, so whe high tailed it over to the Vatican and Sistine chapel, which was the last place on our list to visit.  Wouldn’t you know it, it was closed.  Of course I was pretty pissed by this time because we had wasted a day and a half  doing nothing, but then I realized  that this would  be my excuse to come back to Rome!!!  I love having an excuse to travel.

All in all, Rome is an amazing city.  There is so much to see that I cannot begin to describe everything, but to think that all of beautiful marble architecture was built over 2000 years ago is just amazing.

We all know Venice is a beautiful city with its canals and bridges and singing gondolas…but that would all have to wait for Steve and I.  Let me tell you about our little adventure to the Italian border…

We woke up early in the morning to check out of our pension in Bled, Slovenia so we could catch the 8:00 am bus to Ljubliana, which is the capital of Slovenia.  We wanted to catch the early bus so we would have more than enough time to catch the 10:45am train from Ljubliana to Venice.  Piece of cake right?  The owner of the pension dropped us off at the Bled bus station before 8:00am, on the morning of Nov. 1st which is All Saints Day, the day after Halloween.  Now,in the states, this makes no difference.  But, unbeknownst to us, Nov. 1st is holiday in Europe.  So, we sat at the Bled bus station waiting for our 8:30am bus to arrive.  At 8:45, we realized that the bus wasn’t coming.  No worries, another bus was scheduled for 9:30am which would still give us enough time to get to Ljubliana to catch the train.  So, we waited and chatted with a couple from Austria who were also waiting for the bus.  9:45 and still no bus.  Now, we were beginning to wonder.  So, Steve inquired at a  nearby hotel about the bus schedule and the lady assured us that the buses were running on normal schedule.  So, nothing to do, but wait for  the 10:30 bus.  We waited and waited and began to get nervous as 10:30 approached and no sign of a bus.  So, off Steve goes again into a coffee shop, but this time, the girl tells him that buses are not operating on their normal schedule because of the holiday…which we didn’t know about.  She assured us that the 10:30 bus should be arriving and  confirmed it on-line for us.  Around 10:40am the bus finally pulls in, but we know that by this time, we will not be able to catch the 10:45 train to Venice.  Since we assumed we would be on the 10:45 train, we didn’t bother to check to see if there was another train to Venice later in the day.  We arrived in Ljubliana at 12:00pm and raiced into the train station to check Venice train times, only to discover that the next train to Venice left at 2:00am the next morning!  So, we had to come up with another plan…normally we would have just waited and caught a train the next morning, but we had already booked a hotel in Venice, which is expensive and we didn’t want to be charged for the night without being there.  Luckily, our Lonely Planet guide had a suggestion, take a train to the Italian/Slovenian border, walk across the border into Italy, then catch an Italian train into Venice.  So, we inquired and wouldn’t you know it, there was a train leaving for the border at 3:45.  So, we booked our tickets and cruized around Ljubliana for a couple of hours until we could catch the train. 

We borded the train and we were off, but it certainly wasn’t smooth sailing from here.  Our train actually took us back to Bled where we just came from that morning where we had to switch trains (which we didn’t know and luckily we didn’t miss the other train).  Our new train was now bound for the border, but it was getting dark, so it was hard for us to see when our stop was coming up.  Neither one of us could relax the entire train ride because we were afraid we would miss  our stop. Finally, we arrived at the border town (whose name escapes me, but it’s   so small you wouldn’t know it anyway), but the train station was closed and dark so we couldn’t ask anyone where we needed to go to cross the border.  Luckily, a younge teenager was picking up his family outside the dark trainstation so Steve went up to ask him how we were suppose to cross the border.  Thank God this kid spoke fluent English (he was  Slovenian, love those people) and he was shocked that we planned on walking across.  Apparently the only place that you can walk across was about four miles away from the train station, so the family told us to jump in their car and they would drive us to the border so we could cross.  We never would have found it in the dark and if it weren’t for this nice family, we would have spent the night on the  ground outside the train station.  So, he dropped us at the border and told us to walk across, get our passport stamped by customs and then ask them where the trainstation is.  So, we did just that, except there was no sidewalk so we ended up waiting in line with the cars to cross  the border checkpoint in the middle of the rode.  It was a funny site to see us walking along with our packs following a line of cars.  Anyway, the border patrol stamped our passports and told us that the bus station was 200km straight ahead, which was  great because the bus station and train station are right next to one another.  So, we  walked straight ahead…no bus station.  We kept walking….no bus station.  We began asking people in horrible spanish/italian mixed language where the bus station was.  One lady said straight, so we walked straight.  The next lady said, back, so we walked back.  The next girl said, oh no , the bus station is about 20km that way, are you sure you want to walk?  By this time, we were ready to lose it.  It was after 7:30pm, which means even if we did make it to the train station there may not be a train to Venice.  So, we walked and walked and then finally this young Italian girl pulled us on to a bus that was headed to the train station.  However, we didn’t have bus tickets so for the entire ride I was sure we were going to be caught and fined.  Luckily, we arrived at the train station without being caught without a bus ticket and we ran in to  check the train  schedule.  There just happen to be a train leaving at 8:00, which gave us seven minutes to buy the tickets and board the train.  Shewwww, we made it onto the train, gave each other a high five and began to relax.  Fourty-five minutes into the ride, the train stops.  We wait for almost thrity minutes before they kick everyone off-there’s a problem with the train.  So much for a smooth ride.  Luckily, they brought in a new train and we were off again.  We arrived in Venice at close to 11:00pm, just in time to check into our hotel.

After a long travel day-from Hvar (island off of Croatia) on a ferry boat to Split (mainland Croatia) where we took a bus to Zagreb, then caught the train to Ljubliana (hope I spelled that right), we were finally in Slovenia!  And what a beautiful country it is.  Slovenia is like an outdoor paradise.  Even the capital Ljubliana is still a relatively small city, very easy to get around and very charming.  The houses reminded us a lot of Amsterdam, tall and narrow, sharing outside walls with the neighbors house.  There is a pedestrian area with cobblestone streets, outdoor cafes, and a beautiful stream with walking paths.  This was definitely one of our favorite cities.  It still hasn’t hit the tourist route, so you won’t see many other travelers, which is nice.  However, everyone spoke English.  Apparently they learn English as early as 4th grade, so most are fluent, which makes traveling super easy.

Our main reason for coming to Slovenia, however, was to take advantage of the outdoor activities it’s known for.  So, we headed off for the little town of Bled and we were not dissapointed!  Bled is incredibly beautiful.  The town is situated around it’s Lake, which has a walking path that wraps all the way around it (I think for about 3 miles).  We were lucky to be there in the fall to see the leaves changing around the lake and very little tourists to have to share the view with.  We felt like we stumbled on our very own paradise.  We stayed in a pension just outside of the town set back into the forest, so it was amazingly quiet.  One night, we were the only guests and had the whole place to ourselves!  The owner was amazing and let us use two of his bikes to cruize back and forth from town to the pension.  Of course, we can’t just ride to town…so we ended up riding about 24 kilometers (about 15 miles) outside the city and into the mountains just to get a glimpse of the snow covered Alps!  It was an amazing and of course tiring ride because we still had to get home….which gave us a grand total of about a 30 mile ride that day on bikes no better than beach cruizers!  It was fantastic, even though are butts were sore for a few days after.  Oh, and the food!!!!  We probably had some of our best meals here and it was actually inexpensive compared to the other countries we had visited.  Steve had some calamari that was probably the best I have ever tasted and I had some of the softest, sweetest tasting chicken ever.  Plus, we always had wine with dinner because it was about a dollar per glass!!!  Not only that, Christy was able to continue her hot chocolate quest and wouldn’t you know it, she found a winner in Slovenia.  Maybe it’s because we stopped to get it after our long bike ride, which made it taste even better, but it was very tasty, just the right amount of whip cream!  God bless Slovenia, we will visit here again for sure!

Dubrovnik was our first stop in this amazing country. This enchanting city butts right up to the Adriatic sea, providing stunning views and a romantic vibe. It was love at first sight for Christy. The popular old city is surrounded by 26 meter high stone walls, which were built to protect the city against military attacks from the sea. There is even a draw bridge that can be raised to seal off the walls. It was incredible. Once we were inside the city walls, we understood why Croatians wanted to protect this city. The streets were made of marble! The shiniest marble we have ever seen, it appeared wet all of the time even though it wasn’t. Even some of the buildings and churches were made of marble. Since Croatia is over 80% Catholic, there were beautiful marble Catholic churches inside the huge city wall. And the gelato…fabulous!!! We really lucked out with our accommodation-we were able to rent a modern guesthouse with a small kitchen inside the city walls! Having the kitchen was helpful since the cost of eating at a restaraunt here can get quite expensive. The funny thing was, there were cats everywhere! Tons of cats running wild inside the city walls. It was crazy. We assumed that Croatians must love cats…

At the start of our big trip, Christy decided that she wanted to try hot chocolate in every country we visited. She decided this while sipping a frothy hot chocolate on a cold night in Iceland, however, she continues on her quest to find the world’s best hot chocolate. It is pretty amazing how different a cup of hot chocolate can be in each country. We had no idea! For example in Iceland, the hot chocolate comes in a mug like at home, but only with whole milk and of course, topped with thick whip cream. London was a little strange. The hot chocolate is very bitter, not sweet at all. Almost like they use straight CoCo instead. She wasn’t too crazy about it. In Amsterdam, you can be a little more picky and request low fat milk. It was also usually served in a tall, skinny, clear glass mug, not like the standard coffee mugs. In Ireland, like Icleand, whole milk was the only option, but other than that, not too different from U.S. hot chocolate. The more interesting hot chocolates were in Bosnia, where the hot chocolate is served in a tall clear glass (like a glass of water) with a straw! Who drinks hot chocolate with a straw? But the real weird one, hands down, was Croatia. The hot chocolate is again served in a clear glass, not a mug, and resembles something like hot pudding. Seriously, they give you a spoon, we assume to help eat it because it is almost impossible to drink. And, they give you sugar! It is already sweet, but they give you more packs of sugar, just in case. Very strange…

Croatia has a large number of islands off its coast and visiting at least one is an absolute must if you make the trip here. We decided to visit one of the larger (and more popular) islands-Hvar. We took a really fun five hour ferry ride north to this spectacular island. It was amazing sitting out on the deck of this huge ferry watching all of the islands go by. The weather was nice as well and the sun was out, which made Christy a happy little camper. We were in search of a sleepy island where we could get some R&R and we found it on Hvar…although we were assured that during tourist season, it was not so relaxed. Most of Croatia’s coastline is fairly rocky and there are rarely any beachfronts, but the coast is still breathtaking. The main old town on Hvar, which is also called Hvar just to keep it simple, has the similar marble square as in Dubrovnik, just on a smaller scale and minus the enormous wall. Around the island is a large boardwalk. We took advantage of this with a nice morning jog and once the boardwalk ended, a hiking trail began. So, later in the afternoon, we hiked the coastline of the island. We could definitely feel the difference in temperature here, warmer than some of the other countries we visited that were further north in Europe. Christy again had some of the strangest hot chocolate here, she swears it’s just warm chocolate pudding…

On our way south to Croatia, we decided to make a two night stop at a little town in Bosnia called Mostar. The actual town itself is small, but makes up for it with its shear beauty. The streets were made of cobblestones, similar to the old town streets of Sarajevo, but the staple/landmark of Mostar is the beautiful arch marble bridge that connects on side of the town to the other. In the summer, very brave (or stupid) men and boys will jump from the bridge to the water below for some $$ from the tourists. We got lucky, a huge tour came through and prepaid a guy to jump off the bridge right as we were walking across it! Check out our pics of the bridge and the crazy guy in his wetsuit. Mostar was a nice break from the bigger cities we had been visiting. We also met some fellow backpackers (Jeremy and Megan) so we spent the day exploring with them in neighboring town.