We spent a day in Kotor, a small town with Venetian / Dalmatian ancestry and a 13th century Fort on a hill overlooking the largest Fjord in Europe.
Here's a link to a google map.
About 1500 steps lead to the top of the hill, although some of it is just loose rocks, and not really steps. The climb was well worth it, fantastic views, and a good bit of exercise. (We haven't really been doing a lot, but it is a holiday.)
We found a nice bar right on the beach called "Malibu". They had nicely priced large glasses of good local beer for €1. Shailee and Lib decided it might be nice to have a malibu and pineapple.... "Can we have a Malibu and Pineapple?" ... "NO!". They don't have malibu. One of the girls was even wearing a Malibu promo shirt. Quite funny.
Then we went to pay our bill. We couldn't see the waitress who served us, so we took the bill and money to the bar. "Can we pay?" .. "NO!" we had to pay the waitress. We found another waitress... "NO!" ... wrong waitress, back to the bar. The bill was €4.50 so we figured that we'd just leave the fiver note on the bar and walk off. "NO! " They wouldn't let us go without giving us our change.
It seems that "NO!" is a standard response whilst they think of what the rest of the sentence should be. Hilarious...
We stayed in a local house, which is commonly done in these parts... Usually the family has a spare room that they rent out to travelers, but we felt a little uncomfortable in this house as there was no spare room.... the hosts gave us their beds and then proceeded to sleep on the kitchen floor. Oops.
And we didn't sleep all that well due to the road noise - mostly car horns. It seems that Montenegrin drivers think the horn is the best think since sliced bread and use it at any given opportunity.
Now we are relaxing in the coastal town of Budva, where we'll be for a couple of days before heading back to Dubrovnik.
Oh.... and the girls' fashions over here are crazy too. It seems that the general objective is to look as much like a stripper or prostitute at all times. Mums and little girls included.
Take care all,
Matt & Shailee.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Dubrovnik - a small world.
When we arrived in Dubrovnik, we were assaulted by what seemed like hundreds of old ladies, and a few old gents too, offering accommodation in their homes. Holding placards with photos of their rooms and maps of town.... it was really crazy.
Eventually, we gave in to the noise, and decided to go and stay with one nice old Lady who had her son there to help her. I figured the good family values there were worth supporting. George had a car and drove us around to the house, which was very nice.
Coincidentally, there were two girls staying in the house too, (there are 4 rooms in the house dedicated to providing accommodation for tourists) and we figured that one of the girls was the younger sister of a school friend, and that both girls had done the same degree at University as Shailee...
What a small world!
Eventually, we gave in to the noise, and decided to go and stay with one nice old Lady who had her son there to help her. I figured the good family values there were worth supporting. George had a car and drove us around to the house, which was very nice.
Coincidentally, there were two girls staying in the house too, (there are 4 rooms in the house dedicated to providing accommodation for tourists) and we figured that one of the girls was the younger sister of a school friend, and that both girls had done the same degree at University as Shailee...
What a small world!
Monday, 25 August 2008
Photos on Facebook!
Check out some of our photos on Facebook!
Barcelona:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47827&l=12a8b&id=606441735
France (Avignon & Cannes)
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48628&l=1ffdc&id=606441735
Italy (Rome):
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48629&l=b3b0e&id=606441735
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48632&l=9654f&id=606441735
And more to come.....
Barcelona:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47827&l=12a8b&id=606441735
France (Avignon & Cannes)
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48628&l=1ffdc&id=606441735
Italy (Rome):
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48629&l=b3b0e&id=606441735
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48632&l=9654f&id=606441735
And more to come.....
Croatia
Croatia is amazing.
No other opening line can describe this place. Marble steps and crystal clear waters, friendly people and great food.
Some places, like Split, have an enormous population of tourists, so it feels a little cheesy. We decided to go see some Islands, and every Aussie we met (along with many others) were all heading to the Island of Hvar.
We decided to follow a recommendation made by a Portuguese guy we met on the train out of Venice to go to the next Island down - Korčula. This is a special place.
The pace of everything on the Island is very slow and relaxed, so it`s good that we had our hectic stuff out of the way already and are in the mood for some swimming and sunbathing.
A highlight so far was renting scooters and riding along the coast of the Island. Such beautiful views and water. Amazing.
We also rode to one of the only beaches with sand in the South East corner of the Island, to find it covered in burnt German tourists (Prost!). Still, it`s more comfortable than walking on sharp rocks and shells to get in the water.
We`ve decided to stay her a little longer, just because it`s so beautiful and relaxing.
Shortly we`ll be heading inland to see Mostar in Bosnia, and then back to Kotor in Montenegro, and then to Dubrovnik back in Croatia.
Stay tuned for more photos and stories.
Matt & Shailee.
No other opening line can describe this place. Marble steps and crystal clear waters, friendly people and great food.
Some places, like Split, have an enormous population of tourists, so it feels a little cheesy. We decided to go see some Islands, and every Aussie we met (along with many others) were all heading to the Island of Hvar.
We decided to follow a recommendation made by a Portuguese guy we met on the train out of Venice to go to the next Island down - Korčula. This is a special place.
The pace of everything on the Island is very slow and relaxed, so it`s good that we had our hectic stuff out of the way already and are in the mood for some swimming and sunbathing.
A highlight so far was renting scooters and riding along the coast of the Island. Such beautiful views and water. Amazing.
We also rode to one of the only beaches with sand in the South East corner of the Island, to find it covered in burnt German tourists (Prost!). Still, it`s more comfortable than walking on sharp rocks and shells to get in the water.
We`ve decided to stay her a little longer, just because it`s so beautiful and relaxing.
Shortly we`ll be heading inland to see Mostar in Bosnia, and then back to Kotor in Montenegro, and then to Dubrovnik back in Croatia.
Stay tuned for more photos and stories.
Matt & Shailee.
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Uploading photos.... :(
I'm having a tough time uploading photos from overseas, because our nice camera takes photos that are about 4MB each, and the upload is very slow - especially from cheap internet cafes around the place.
At home I use the great facebook upload tool for iPhoto so the photos are compressed on my computer before they are uploaded, saving time and bandwidth.
Facebook does have a similarly neat tool that compresses the photos on the computer right from in the browser, using Java (at least on Firefox) but so far I haven't found a single computer in an internet cafe that has the required software installed. Grrr..
So if anyone knows of some PC software that is simple (ie: i can install it on a memoery stick) that can do the same thing as the Facebook Photo uploader for iPhoto, I'd love to know about it.
Thanks,
Matt
At home I use the great facebook upload tool for iPhoto so the photos are compressed on my computer before they are uploaded, saving time and bandwidth.
Facebook does have a similarly neat tool that compresses the photos on the computer right from in the browser, using Java (at least on Firefox) but so far I haven't found a single computer in an internet cafe that has the required software installed. Grrr..
So if anyone knows of some PC software that is simple (ie: i can install it on a memoery stick) that can do the same thing as the Facebook Photo uploader for iPhoto, I'd love to know about it.
Thanks,
Matt
Monday, 18 August 2008
Italy
We're on a pretty tight schedule, so we don't have as much time to spend in places as we would like.
We left Cannes and headed for Milan. Once we got to Milan, we figured that we would head straight to Rome on one of Trenitalia's fastest trains, taking only 4.5 hours.
We stayed in a hostel close by to the main station. The hostel was fairly lifeless, with a bar downstairs that charged upper class London prices for their backpacking clientelle. Ridiculous I say. Perhaps they're catering for the upper echelons of backpackers, who are travelling with their Apple Mac laptops..... I'm not one of them, my Apple Mac laptop is at home, and I'm travelling on a budget. We did get stuck in a history lesson of South America with a very sociable backpacking grandfather from Argentina; entertaining, but also long and tiring.
The sights in Rome are amazing. We saw the Collosseum, Palantino Hill, Roman Forum, Vatican Musem and Sistine Chapel, Parthenon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps.... to name a few (and all in 2 days). Rome is full of amazing things to see, and is filled with so much history. A really amazing place.
We then boarded the fast train again and headed for Venice. Some nice girls we met on the previous train to Milan told us about a nice camp ground in (near) Venice called "Alba D'Oro". It's lots of fun. Very close to the airport, but the planes don't fly all through the night, so the noise isn't really a problem. The atmosphere here is excellent. Great facilities include a pool, spa, restaurant, bar and market with nicely priced drinks and food.
Venice is beautiful. Completely overrun with tourists, as one might expect, but a truely amazing city. Everything is so pretty. And, as you might expect, very expensive. Even at the out of town camp site, internet access is €5/hour - the most expensive we've paid for so far.
Tomorrow we catch an overnight train to Budapest. We decided to keep it cheap and get the 2nd class seats as opposed to the 1st class sleeping cabin because the reservation fee alone for sleeping cabin is actually more expensive than any reasonable hotel room, completely defating the purpose of saving a night's accommodation by taking the overnight train. So instead of paying €90 on top of our prepurchased tickets, we are paying the backpacker budget price of €5 each for the seats. 13 hours.... we may regret the decision... I hope our backs don't ache more than our wallets would have if we took the sleeper....
Till next time,
Matt & Shailee.
We left Cannes and headed for Milan. Once we got to Milan, we figured that we would head straight to Rome on one of Trenitalia's fastest trains, taking only 4.5 hours.
We stayed in a hostel close by to the main station. The hostel was fairly lifeless, with a bar downstairs that charged upper class London prices for their backpacking clientelle. Ridiculous I say. Perhaps they're catering for the upper echelons of backpackers, who are travelling with their Apple Mac laptops..... I'm not one of them, my Apple Mac laptop is at home, and I'm travelling on a budget. We did get stuck in a history lesson of South America with a very sociable backpacking grandfather from Argentina; entertaining, but also long and tiring.
The sights in Rome are amazing. We saw the Collosseum, Palantino Hill, Roman Forum, Vatican Musem and Sistine Chapel, Parthenon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps.... to name a few (and all in 2 days). Rome is full of amazing things to see, and is filled with so much history. A really amazing place.
We then boarded the fast train again and headed for Venice. Some nice girls we met on the previous train to Milan told us about a nice camp ground in (near) Venice called "Alba D'Oro". It's lots of fun. Very close to the airport, but the planes don't fly all through the night, so the noise isn't really a problem. The atmosphere here is excellent. Great facilities include a pool, spa, restaurant, bar and market with nicely priced drinks and food.
Venice is beautiful. Completely overrun with tourists, as one might expect, but a truely amazing city. Everything is so pretty. And, as you might expect, very expensive. Even at the out of town camp site, internet access is €5/hour - the most expensive we've paid for so far.
Tomorrow we catch an overnight train to Budapest. We decided to keep it cheap and get the 2nd class seats as opposed to the 1st class sleeping cabin because the reservation fee alone for sleeping cabin is actually more expensive than any reasonable hotel room, completely defating the purpose of saving a night's accommodation by taking the overnight train. So instead of paying €90 on top of our prepurchased tickets, we are paying the backpacker budget price of €5 each for the seats. 13 hours.... we may regret the decision... I hope our backs don't ache more than our wallets would have if we took the sleeper....
Till next time,
Matt & Shailee.
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Avignon to Cannes
Our train to Cannes from Barcelona was booked out, so we got a slower train all the way to Avignon and camped there for a night.
Avignon is a beautiful little town. The camp ground is on an island in the river, and really close to a lot of the sites. The church bell sounds exactly like the one in Daft Punk's Discovery album... in the song "Aerodynamic" (I think).
And the traffic lights make this totally strange little song and dance sound to tell you when it's time to cross the intersection, and a plain old boring recorded voice to tell you when not to cross.
The next day we managed to get first class tickets on the TGV to Cannes (the playground of the rich and famous). Very Nice!
The lonely planet advises that unless you arrive in your own private helicopter you probably can't afford to stay in this town. So, we're camping in a small town up the mountain, which is only about 20 mins bus ride to the main part of Cannes. The camp site is really below average (utter cr*p) and more expensive than the flash one in Avignon. The toothless old woman who runs the camp site has less charisma than she has teeth. And the camp site is a long walk along a windy road with no footpaths to the bus stop, which wouldn't be much of a problem, except for the French motorists' love of speeding around blind corners.
So we're doing a lot of soaking up sun on a tiny patch of beach between the 10000ft long speed boats and cruisers, and between larger lobster-like english families and smoking italians and old topless women who have nearly got their skin to match their dark leather hand bags, and mahogany furniture, and the thousands of hotel owned umbrella deck chair combinations reserved for the ones who are willing to pay the 20+ Euros to sit on them. (Actually we don't know the price, because we wouldn't pay for it anyway - I like a towel on the sand!)
And the water is quite nice, except for the excessive amount of cigarette butts and trash that's washed into the Mediterranean. You definitely feel like you need a shower after a swim.
We forgot the camera cable, but we'll be sure to add some photos to here and facebook soon.
Take care all,
Matt & Shailee
Avignon is a beautiful little town. The camp ground is on an island in the river, and really close to a lot of the sites. The church bell sounds exactly like the one in Daft Punk's Discovery album... in the song "Aerodynamic" (I think).
And the traffic lights make this totally strange little song and dance sound to tell you when it's time to cross the intersection, and a plain old boring recorded voice to tell you when not to cross.
The next day we managed to get first class tickets on the TGV to Cannes (the playground of the rich and famous). Very Nice!
The lonely planet advises that unless you arrive in your own private helicopter you probably can't afford to stay in this town. So, we're camping in a small town up the mountain, which is only about 20 mins bus ride to the main part of Cannes. The camp site is really below average (utter cr*p) and more expensive than the flash one in Avignon. The toothless old woman who runs the camp site has less charisma than she has teeth. And the camp site is a long walk along a windy road with no footpaths to the bus stop, which wouldn't be much of a problem, except for the French motorists' love of speeding around blind corners.
So we're doing a lot of soaking up sun on a tiny patch of beach between the 10000ft long speed boats and cruisers, and between larger lobster-like english families and smoking italians and old topless women who have nearly got their skin to match their dark leather hand bags, and mahogany furniture, and the thousands of hotel owned umbrella deck chair combinations reserved for the ones who are willing to pay the 20+ Euros to sit on them. (Actually we don't know the price, because we wouldn't pay for it anyway - I like a towel on the sand!)
And the water is quite nice, except for the excessive amount of cigarette butts and trash that's washed into the Mediterranean. You definitely feel like you need a shower after a swim.
We forgot the camera cable, but we'll be sure to add some photos to here and facebook soon.
Take care all,
Matt & Shailee
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Barcelona
We arrived in Barcelona. Thanks to a smooth flight on British Airways. (Much smoother and more comfortable than (sl)easyJet on last weekend´s trip to Belfast - Big hello to John and his family for having us stay and showing us such a great time!)
We´re staying at a cheap hotel/pension just off Las Ramblas. There´s a stack of prostitues outside who work day and night trying to drum up business (we don´t have a view of them from our room though...) And we haven´t been hassled at all and the hotel is incredibly clean and comfortable - especially for the price!
We spend a bit of time at the beach today and saw a few of the sites.
I went to Barcelona a few years back and it´s really nice to see that the construction on the Sagrada Familia is progressing. It´s even more amazing than when I saw it before.
There´s no photos to put up here just yet - but stay tuned.
Matt (and Shailee)
We´re staying at a cheap hotel/pension just off Las Ramblas. There´s a stack of prostitues outside who work day and night trying to drum up business (we don´t have a view of them from our room though...) And we haven´t been hassled at all and the hotel is incredibly clean and comfortable - especially for the price!
We spend a bit of time at the beach today and saw a few of the sites.
I went to Barcelona a few years back and it´s really nice to see that the construction on the Sagrada Familia is progressing. It´s even more amazing than when I saw it before.
There´s no photos to put up here just yet - but stay tuned.
Matt (and Shailee)
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