Dubrovnik, Croatia

We left Split, Croatia to head down the coast to Dubrovnik. We knew that we needed to get a ferry from Dubrovnik over to Bari, Italy before we could get another ferry over to Petras, Greece. As we were driving, we didn't realize what was happening, but along the way, our bus was stopped multiple times and our passport was checked. (If only it had been stamped...) After further thinking and inspection of a map, we realized that we went through about 11 miles of Bosnia! So add that country to the list.... ahaha!
We decided to go to Dubrovnik without any hotel/or hostel plans, and were greeted right off the bus, with an offer to stay in a room for a very good price. We went with our gut and were driven to an awesome house high up on the hill that had a great view of the city. The house also had a veranda that was covered in green grapes. It was a very easy bus to get to the old city center of Dubrovnik, which we did after we settled our stuff. Dubrovnik was an incredible city and I really loved the old part. It was surrounded by a wall and then all of the buildings were built up to this wall in all directions. So...lots of steps, but also a lot to look at. There were many shops and restaurants there. We got some ice cream and went around the city wall and found locals of all ages enjoying the weather and activities. The younger kinds were playing soccer with some older kids. The teenagers were playing that foot volleyball/tennis game. Some boys were playing cards. Older men, were watching and taking in the sun. Some were swimming laps. It was a great laid back atmosphere! It was as though we had stumbled over the locals hangout place.- Always a good thing! While walking around Leigh and I also both got necklaces of our names that were made of the spot out of wire. A guy bent our names in wire in just a mere minute! It was incredible!
Another thing that stood out in the city were the signs that were hung around on the walls that showed where and how many times that area of the city was bombed in 1991. I was in disbelief that anyone, no matter the circumstance could bomb such a historic and beautiful city. It was even on the UNESCO World Heritage Site! I couldn't tell any difference now over 20 years later, but the fact that this happened in my lifetime was startling!

 Our house that we stayed at had a roof that we went on to enjoy the sunset. Leigh and I had a lot of fun making mustaches out of our hair...don't ask! We had been traveling for a while at this point, so we were tired, and had a lot of sun! :)

Split, Croatia

 
We made it to Split, Croatia and knew that we had a hostel booked that was close to the historic center. We had no idea that it would be IN the historic city center. It was the perfect location! I guess, I should clarify...we didn't stay in a "hostel" per say. It was actually an old woman's apartment. She sorted through our information while sitting on the window in her pajamas, and a cigarette propped out the window. What a fun first Croatian experience! She told us to start walking up the spiral steps... So we started walking.... We could hear her saying, "Keep Going! Keep Going!" Finally after 5 flights and some makeshift stairs we made it to our room/apartment. It was in what we would call the attic with a separate kitchen, but still had many windows to look out of. We had a great view of the tops of the roofs and the rest of the city. It was just as I had imagined it!
We made it to the coast, so of course we really just wanted to relax and go to THE BEACH! After asking around we were told of a good beach with not as many people. It was a beautiful pebble beach a few kilometers from the city center. The water looks nice and refreshing but be prepared- it is extremely freezing! It took a lot of baby steps to get all the way in! 
After a beach day we walked around a bit, ate another amazing meal- goulash, and I climbed the tower that you see. It was a challenge because about half way up the stair turn into metal grated steps and those who know me, know that this is usually a challenge for me. I wouldn't say that I am scared of heights, but get me these stairs and my stomach gets a bit qweezy! Worst part: Leigh didn't go with me! ahahah! Anyways, I made it and it was an awesome view of the port city. 
Side note: I somehow managed to get a ton of mosquito bites on the back sides of my arms. It was really weird, and they stayed with me for the next 2 weeks. :(

This was the view from our window of our second hostel. Yup, that right. We were moved again to a different hostel than the one that we booked online. Luckily, it was again in the middle of the historic city center. 

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

We took a train from Budapest to Zagreb, Croatia. Along the way we passed a really beautiful lake that appeared to be a really popular vacation spot. We had many hours to kill on this train so Leigh and I took quite a few "selfie" pictures on my ipad mini.  Midway through what we thought was one straight train ride, we were told to get off of the train. Obviously we had hit the border of Croatia. After we showed officials from both countries our passports, we were moved onto select train cars that would continue to Zagreb. All seats were taken and only standing room was available. So we stood with our bags in the middle of the aisle. Luckily we had these windows open to stick our heads out and watch the view. It actually was a memorable experience. I put on some comforting music and watched the Croatian sun set with the wind in my hair... Ahhhhh.... Sometimes when you spend a lot of time seeing the things that man created, it always refreshing to see what God created............ When we got to Zagreb, we still weren't in the hostel we booked online, but we got a free taxi to the hostel they moved us to.

  

Our goal was to get to the coast of Croatia. The hostel had a really good deal that a minivan would take us to Split, Croatia, but also drop us off at the Plitvice lakes for 4 hours along the way. We were really wanting to see these lakes anyways, so it worked out perfectly for us. 

We had a really interesting van ride. Leigh and I sat up front and played "zlte auto" with the driver. He also added "policija" to the game and when we saw the police we were to yell that. It didn't help him, because he still got a ticket... Not for speeding, but for now wearing a seat belt. 

At Plitvice lakes, we walked around on paths and walkways. They even had a ferry to take you from one side of the lake to the other. The water was ridiculously clear. BEAUTIFUL. My complaint was that there was too many people to really enjoy the beauty. 

Photo Fail....

Photo Fail: This picture cracks me up! It was so windy at the top of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Budapest, Hungary. My hair was going crazy. Also it's funny that we are lined up with the only other part of the Cathedral in view. Some how Leigh looks amazing still! PHOTO FAIL... :)

Budapest, Hungary

 We didn't have much time in Budapest so we had to make the most of our hours. We took a train from Slovakia to Budapest and our first experience in Hungary was a fail. We couldn't find the bus that would take us to our hostel because all of the roads around the train station were under construction and they had made temporary bus stops in new locations. So it really wasn't our fault... We ended up taking a taxi and had a really lovely taxi driver who made sure we were at the right place before dropping us off. Good thing too, because the first location was not the right one. We didn't stay at the hostel that we booked, but were transferred to another one and we got a private room for the misunderstanding. This started a trend for Leigh and I's hostel experience throughout Europe.  The first full day in Budapest we went to St. Stephen's Cathedral and climbed to the top to get a view of the city.

 We went to Dohány street Synagogue after the church. This is said to be the largest synagogue in Europe. The interior was decorated absolutely beautifully! There were frescos and chandeliers and lots of great lights. To view it, you had to be part of a tour. Even though ours was in English, we still struggled to understand one word of it.  Our guide had such a Hungarian accent, I doubt anyone in our group really knew what she was saying.
The area around this synagogue was blocked off and used as the "Jewish Ghetto" during WWII. Many people died on the steps of that synagogue. This memorial below is probably my favorite memorial I have seen to date. How appropriate to have a weeping willow. The leaves have individual names of people who did not survive the Holocaust.

 We walked around and enjoyed the rest of Budapest. We crossed the river into the Buda side really only once to get a good view of the parliament building. We also ate over there. For the most part we stayed on the Pest side. I really loved Budapest and actually strategically planned to not see everything so that I have an excuse to go back!

 We went to a market and tried a langos with sheep's cheese on it. It was really good. Eve had told us to make sure we tried a langos. Good Advice! It was like fried bread with a cream cheese spread on it. All of this good food wasn't helping our waist size any!

 They used hungarian paprika in a lot of the dishes and I thought the food was delicious!

This was another memorial along the Danube River. It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

Kosice and EVE!

 Eve (Eva) was absolutely amazing! I had not seen her for 10 years, and when you coordinate plans from the other side of the world, you always get a little nervous. Reflecting on Slovakia, there was no reason to be nervous! It all worked out so well. We got to see so many beautiful areas of Slovakia. Košice is Eve's home town. It had a really neat historical part of downtown where we ate in some of the restaurants.
Thank you so much to Eve and her mom. You both were absolutely wonderful and made Slovakia one of my summer highlights! :)

Trip to Krakow, Poland

We left for Poland early in the morning thinking it would be around a 5 hour drive or so. We stopped on the way and picked up Dalibor, Eve's friend. Let me just mention that Dalibor didn't speak English, although I'm pretty sure he could understand what we were saying... It was hard to call him "Dali" because I already have a good friend named Dalli and she looks nothing like him! Plus, I had already told myself that I would never meet another Dalli... Luckily we had Eve and Dalibor's constant bickering in Slovakian to keep us company because the trip turned into 8 hours! This was because the people were driving very slow in the rain.
We constantly heard...,"Dalibor- PRESTAN!" Which we soon found out was Eve yelling at Dalibor to stop. Then we would hear, "Eeeeeeeva?" Which was when Eve was going to fast for his liking. We learn a lot of other words on this trip and also played a bit of "zulte auto" on the way. We first went to Auschwitz and stayed the night in Krakow. That night we went out to find some Polish perogies! Unfortunately, the other food items that we ordered were better than our very dry perogies. 
The next day we got up early and walked around Krakow. There was some very interesting architecture and I especially loved the goat playing the flute. Who wouldn't?  We had seen a beautiful church the night before, St. Mary's Basilica, and since we made it a habit of going into many churches we wandered in. I think my breath was actually gone when we walked in. It was absolutely beautiful and painted in a way that I was not used to! Hundreds of painted stars littered the ceiling. It was quite magical...
I definitely could have spent more time in Krakow, and hope to again visit it in the future. You have to leave some things unexplored to get you back!

St. Mary's Basilica...

We had to leave Krakow and Poland to get back to Slovakia to get on a train to go to Hungary. Eve drove us through the Tatra Mountains. We skimmed the high Tatras, but mostly drove through the Low Tatras. They were beautiful. Many of the towns we passed in the Tatras, had "Gypsies" on the sides of the roads with buckets full of blueberries. They were trying to sell them. Gosh, if I knew where they had picked them, I definitely would have raided that place! We stopped one last time on the way back to Kosice to eat more wonderful food. Leigh was needing to try the goat's cheese since she was sick the other night we ate it. Of course she liked it... :) We told our goodbyes to Eve and Dalibor and boarded the train to Hungary...