Well, onto the last leg of our time in Europe. By this point, we were pretty keen to get out into nature – we had spent a lot of time in cities, and both Charlotte and I have come to realise while we have loved the truly remarkable cities of Europe, in nature is where our hearts are. So, a cheap flight to Croatia later, we found ourselves in…
Zagreb
Zagreb was meant to be a stopover for us, but we extended our stay a little longer as my sister got unwell. So, we spent a lot of time in our very soviet-era Airbnb avoiding the heat, really only getting out once. That evening explore that was full of surprises however – live music on the streets, people everywhere (locals for a pleasant change) and cute little old-town laneways. I don’t necessarily feel the need to return to Zagreb, but it definitely was a more interesting place than I expected – Croatia as a whole is this fascinating blend of Soviet past and European present.
Plitvice Lakes National Park
Eventually, we made our way via winding bus trip to the pretty small Croatian town of Korenica, next to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. I’d heard a lot of great things about the Park from other backpackers on our travels. I’d also read online many people suggesting the hostel we were to stay at, the Falling Lakes Hostel, was one of their favourites. In both cases the recommendations were right on the money. Despite some more illness between the three of us (inevitable on the backpacker scene alas), we had a great time at the Falling Lakes Hostel. It was comfortable, had great communal spaces, attracted cool volunteers and backpackers (interested in exploring rather than partying) and most importantly, provided a bunch of fantastic activities in the local outdoors. On our first night, we joined a 2 hour hike up to a lookout over Korenica and surrounds. It was tough walking in the humidity and on an extreme gradient, but the views made it all worth it. Charlotte did an even more intense walk on another day while I was unwell, which was some 25+ kilometres and took her and other hostel-ers to a mountain on the border with Bosnia – madness.
On another day, we clambered into a minibus and headed to the National Park. This was truly one of the most incredible natural sights I have ever been to. The Plitvice Lakes are a series of 16 lakes, fed by underground rivers and separated by natural layers of tufa or travertine – a combination of chalk, algae, bacteria, and plants that is forever growing and changing (at a rate of about 1cm a year). These layers help create many of the remarkable waterfalls that the park is famed for. The colour of the lakes is spectacular – the same chalk and algae that helps build the layers of tufa also contributes to the vibrant colours of the water. Tourists get around the park by boat and/or by walking over remarkable wooden boardwalks – the network of paths is so large that the maintenance and rebuild of these boardwalks is somewhat of a full time job for the park workers. One of the toughest parts of our visit was that no swimming is allowed as the ecosystem is so sensitive – entirely logical, but very tough on a 30+ degree day with humidity from all the water. We walked the whole way around the lake complex and just tried to take in as much of the remarkable scenery and natural life as we could. There was an insane number of tourists in some areas, but we managed to avoid them for much of the day by starting early, walking the path the opposite way to recommended, and walking around the main lakes instead of taking the boat. It was another unforgettable experience!
The last Falling Lakes Hostel adventure we joined was white-water kayaking. We jumped in yet another minibus and headed just outside the national park, to a kayaking centre that felt more like some sort of military operation – there were multiple groups there, and group by group it was helmets on, bags packed, instructions given, and back on the minibus. We eventually got onto the water with our kayaks, and had a blast of a day. The gorge was spectacular, deep and green, and the water was once again a beautiful shade of blue. Charlotte and I managed to fall off our kayak on the very first waterfall, but after some laughs and finger pointing, we managed to avoid that fate for the rest of the adventure. We cliff-jumped off 8 metre cliffs, kayaked down multiple several-meter waterfalls, made friends with fellow kayakers/hostel-stayers, and got out of the boat and swam at every opportunity. We took lunch break on the water’s edge, and the leader showed us a spot where you could lie flat and be pushed down a mini waterfall, like a slide. When the adventure eventually came to an end, I was pretty reluctant to get back in the mini-bus – just wanted to keep kayaking and swimming forever. When I get around to it, I’ll put together a video from my GoPro and add it here/on the Instagram page – it did a pretty good job of capturing the magic.
Zaton
We wanted a slightly different experience for the next few days, so we hired a car in Zadar and drove to some accommodation in the tiny, tiny town of Zaton, on the coast near Šibenik. We spent a great couple of days here, swimming in the bay, exploring nearby islands and towns, and just enjoying the perks of being back in some private accommodation.
My favourite part of being in Zaton was being able to swim in the ocean in bath-water temperature on one side of a beachside path near the village, and freezing cold freshwater soaks coming out of the rock on the other side of the path. It also meant that there were bizarre patches of warm and cold water in the ocean there, which was an unusual experience! We also made an evening visit to the beautiful town of Šibenik – a magical Croatian town set in to the side of a hill next to the ocean, with cobbled streets and small laneways.
A day driving and diving in Bosnia
For years, I’ve wanted to jump off the Mostar Bridge. It just seemed like the ultimate personal mental and physical challenge – you against your fears at 23 metres above the water in one of the most scenic places on earth.
So on our last day in the Croatia, we hopped in our hire car and headed for the border, nervously crossing through a border crossing, where bored staff stamped our passports and waved us through. It ended up being a rather slow drive through the mountains – Bosnia has average roads and slow speed limits, and the local police are legendary for taking any opportunity to fine foreigners. So we meandered our way through very humble roadside towns – I don’t believe Bosnia has seen the same recent economic transformation as Croatia, and it shows in the prosperity or lack thereof of the locals.
We arrived in Mostar in the middle of the day. My nerves had been growing throughout the drive from Croatia to Bosnia. It was 40 degrees outside, but despite that I still almost got cold feet when we first saw the bridge from a distance. It was huge. Then we got up on the bridge, and the distance to the water didn’t look so bad. We watched a local jump, and I thought – I can do this!
So we found a guy who was collecting money for the jumpers (there are two crews of local jumpers who jump 4-5 times a day every second day) and he directed me to the dive club next to the bridge. I paid my money and a diver was assigned as my coach. He took me to the practice jumping area. There I did around 6 or 7 practice jumps from the 17 metre platform, which I’m pretty sure WAS my highest jump ever. I was getting technique tips and getting better each time – he actually told me I could jump the bridge after around 4 jumps but I wanted to get it right. Charlotte was watching from the other side and was worried I was getting told I couldn’t jump because my arms were flapping too much – but this was intentional for balance.
Then we went up on the bridge – I was shaking a bit from the adrenaline of so many jumps. One of the local pros jumped before me, then it was my turn. The last piece of advice my coach gave me was to smile when I came out of the water for the photos. I crossed the railing, and my coach counted down. 3, 2, 1. I emptied my head, took a breath, and stepped into the air. Not a lot goes through your head when you’re falling, just a sense of acceptance I guess. One way or another, there’s no turning back. So when I hit the water and realised I wasn’t injured, I had this sense of pure exhilaration. I was alive! I surfaced celebrating. I’m now a Mostar Diving Club life member, and can return and dive for free whenever I want. Never say never, but I think it’ll be a while.
Somehow, our day wasn’t over yet. We began our drive back to Croatia, stopping in at a waterfall for another refreshing swim. Here, we had a chat with a friendly local, who finally solved the mystery of why we had seen so many German shops and German references across Croatia – many Croatians and Bosnians live and work in Germany where the economy is better, returning home for holidays. Between that and Croatia being a popular tourist destination for Germans, the mystery was solved. We then crossed back into Croatia and back to Dubrovnik Airport, where a plane took us into Athens. Our day finally ended at 3am in an Athens hotel – a crazy day, and one I’ll never forget.
Andros
The following day, we met up with Charlotte’s siblings, who had just started a Europe trip of their own. Together, we headed to the port of Rafina, where we boarded a ferry to the Greek island of Andros. Now, out of all the Greek islands out there to choose from, how did we end up on Andros? Well, one of the French-Canadian folk we met several times on our trip mentioned he was going to volunteer at a hostel on Andros during the summer. We’d been trying to work out which island to choose and I’d never heard of Andros but he made it sound great – so we rolled the dice and booked. Then our friend ran into visa issues… but we were already locked in! And I’m glad we were.
The very first night we were there, we walked down into the township of Batsi, and it felt like we were walking into a fairytale. It was a warm evening, the lights were glowing across the quaint town, the restaurants and bar were full of people out late eating, drinking and chatting, and the bay with its beach and boats was glorious.
We stayed in this quaint, quite odd hostel – Lemon Tree Hostel – in a town called Batsi. Run by a Greek middle-aged character by the name of Miltos, all shared spaces were outdoors, under the shade of the lemon trees, as were some of the beds. There was very little in the way of air conditioning (it was between 35 and 25 every day, day or night), and everyone was very much living in each others space. Despite all of this, which I know sounds rather grim, we had an absolute ball. Lots of lovely people drifted through during our week there, Miltos made breakfast for everyone each morning, and he made sure we all went on unique adventures around the island during our stay. And we even found a hedgehog wandering around the garden!
Thankfully, by this part of our trip my sister was feeling much better and was able to really enjoy her time here alongside Charlotte and her siblings (a confusing sentence I know. Trying to explain how we all knew each other to people at the hostel was hilarious). I on the other hand shortly after arriving in beautiful Andros… got a nasty bout of food poisoning. After a rough couple of days though I too was able to experience the island and the hostel and all it had to offer.
On one day, we headed up with other hostel-stayers into the mountains of the island in Miltos’s rattling van. He dropped us off high in the hills with some very vague instructions that he promised would get us to a great freshwater waterfall. So off we went through the fog (the only time during our 9 days here it wasn’t clear and hot). Eventually after plenty of scrambling down rocky paths and broken staircases of stone, we arrived at a spectacular waterfall and waterhole. We spent several hours here jumping, swimming and using the rope swing (the most impressive and fun rope swing water-jump I’ve used).
On another day, we hiked to the island’s capital of Chora, filling our bellies with fresh fruit from trees along the way. We spent some time exploring the pretty white-washed houses and stores of the township, then headed down to the ocean and made the 300 metre swim out to the town’s abandoned lighthouse. This was pretty hard work on the way with the current against us, but we made it eventually and victoriously climbed the lighthouse. Thankfully the current was on our side on the way back and we completed the adventure without issues. Another pretty special experience!
We spent endless time swimming (night and day) in the ocean, which was often a balmy temperature but still helped us to cool down in the unrelenting heat. We spent some time paddleboarding with other hostel-visitors which was a lot of fun (turns out you can get 3 people on a paddleboard with only a little chaos). We ate a stupendous amount of cheap souvlaki, and by the end of our stay, it felt like “our” island, and it really was the perfect way to end our European adventure.
Athens
However, it wasn’t quite over yet! We caught a ferry back to Athens, and reunited with my dad, who had been on a family history mission across Europe since we last saw him. We spent a couple of days exploring Athens (when we weren’t avoiding the absolutely brutal heat), enjoying another free tour and a visit to the museum of Greek antiquities. On our last evening, we visited the Acropolis, completing our journey back through European history with this centre of Greek culture. We took in the sights in the golden hour then sat nearby to watch the sunset. One more delicious Greek dinner rounded off our Hellenic experience.
And just like that, our time in Europe was over. Our last couple of months passed in an absolute blur, and it was definitely brave to visit Southern Europe in peak tourist season, but we had a ball. It feels like we nailed the timing to be honest – much longer and I think some of the shine would have worn off a little, but as it was, we left fulfilled and ready for the next adventure. Next stop, Thailand.
Next Stops: Thailand – Bangkok, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui