Now that school is officially done with for the year, I decided to stay in Europe for another month to travel before heading back to Canada. Summer vacation got off on the right foot with a two and a half week trip across six countries that border the Adriatic Sea: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. I guess you could also call it a bit of a Balkan trip, as we hit up a good chunk of the Balkan geographical regions. Some people include Greece's mainland as part of the Balkans, while others do not. So, you can have your pick. Nevertheless, my roommate, cousin, and I were nothing but excited to embark on this final adventure together. La Mer Adriatique - le 22 avril au 9 mai 2018 Slovénie First stop was Ljubljana (Lyooblyana), Slovenia. We survived the 13 hour bus ride and happy to report that there were hardly any hiccups along the way and minimal motion sickness! A great way to start off the trip. We spent our first couple days in the country's capital. It reminded me of a medieval village with all of its mythological dragons situated across the city, including on the famous Dragon Bridge. Legend has it that Jason and his argonauts defeated the first dragon in Ljubljana and became the first citizens of the city, which is why the dragon has become an important symbol for them. We also walked up to the castle which had some great views, but nothing like watching the sunset across the city from the skyscraper tower. Wow. Breathtaking! Since the city isn't overwhelmingly large, we took a day trip out to Lake Bled, and we were so glad that we did. It was very picturesque with beautiful walking and hiking trails. Although our original intention wasn't to go hiking for the day, that's what it soon turned into as we climbed a 500+ m ascent to the most stunning lookout point I have seen yet! Good thing we packed some Bureks (traditional Slovenian pastry) and Radlers ;) What I loved most about Lake Bled was how connected with nature it was. It's great to see all of these metropolitan cities, and it's also lovely to escape and be surrounded by nature once in a while. Slovenia has provided the perfect mix for that! Later that night, we went to look at some old abandoned buildings filled with graffiti and abstract art. I have no words to describe it - the pictures say it all. Then we went out for supper, which consisted of potatoes and sausage along with sour red wine (Cvićek) and layered poppyseed, apple, raisin and walnut pastry (Prekmurska Gibanica). The perfect way to wrap up our first country! CroatieOur first day in Croatia mostly consisted of us settling into our hostel and becoming familiar with the area we were staying in. Our hostel was right next to the world's shortest funicular (a 62 second ride), which meant we were in between Old Town and the newer part of the city. Zagreb has a very metropolitan feel to it in the new area. It kind of reminded me of Toronto. Old Town had a much more medieval feel to it - think Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We had some fun that evening, as we decided to try some local craft beer. Although I'm not a huge beer drinker myself, the one Zmajska Pivovara wasn't so bad. It even had two dragons on its label, making it that much more authentic ;) The next day, we went on a walking tour of the city so we could learn a bit more about the major areas. Fun fact: they shoot a canon every day at noon, like they do in Nice, but for a different reason. Croatia used to be divided by two different time zones, so a canon was shot to signify the common local time. One of my favourite buildings along the tour was St. Mark's Church. I absolutely loved the roof! It is made out of the most expensive ceramic tiles that com from Hungary, and they are weather proof. It had a picture of the country and the city's coat of arms on, which made it quite the colourful sight. We also went on our own walking tour later of a park on our way to see the art pavilion. The pavilion was a colour of yellow I had never before seen in architecture. We also went up to the Zagreb 360 viewpoint tower that evening, but we couldn't see the sunset because of the clouds unfortunately. Still quite the view, despite the crazy wind! We concluded the night off with a ride up the funicular to see the Old Town lanterns lit up at night. Bosnie-HerzégovineAfter a nine hour bus ride that was supposed to be six, we had arrived in Mostar. We were dropped off at the wrong bus stop, but at least we had made it! By this time, it was the late evening, so after meeting our lovely hostel host and getting settled in, we made our way to the restaurant Tima Irma for a traditional Bosnian meat platter, and I was instantly in love - talk about garlic! The owner was delightful as well, and a friend of the hostel owner, so she gave us some Mostar beers to take back with us. If you ever travel to Mostar, I would seriously recommend Taso Guest House. Taso grew up in Mostar and lived through much of the war before it ended in 1995, so he was able to share so much of its history with us. The following day, Taso took us out on a tour of the surrounding Herzegovina region, which makes up around 30% of the entire country. We started off in Blagej to see a natural spring along the river Buna. We also saw the medieval village of Pocitelj, and also the largest waterfalls in the country at Kravica. We even had the chance to take a dip in the water, and it was by no means warm - refreshing is a good way to describe it ;) Something else unique we saw was Tito's bunker, which was a secret airplane hideout during the Yugoslavian wars. We drove through the bunker in the mountains, and that was something else! We also drove up to a lookout point where they recently hung their flag in honour of their independence. The evening was concluded with a BBQ at the hostel with all of the new friends we made, and followed by some drinks at a local bar. We are definitely going to miss the hospitality we experienced! We spent the morning of April 29th in Mostar before leaving for Kotor at noon - another road trip for us! During the morning, we went to try Bosnian coffee at Cafe Del Alma and have the brewing process explained to us, as well as given suggestions on how to consume coffee as the locals do. Mostar really provided us with a personal experience of Bosnian life and culture. Monténégro Once we arrived in Kotor, courtesy of our private driver arranged through the hostel in Mostar, we were instantly in love with the medieval feel of Old Town, which is surrounded by stone walls like a fortress. The hostel we stayed at here used to be a palace! It didn't take us long to walk around Old Town - you can walk from one end to the other in six minutes. Such a charming vibe to it, and again so different than all the other cities we had seen. Supper was at Scala Santa, where we treated ourselves to a lovely meal and some wine. I ordered Adriatic Sea bass with vegetables. It was the first time I had Mediterranean food while on this trip, and it was delicious! The next day, we woke up early, but were rather disappointed to learn that the hiking trails are only free before 7am - we got there just after. Our original plan was to hike up to the top of a couple lookout points while it was still cool enough in the morning to capture some views of the town. Instead, we walked down to the port to enjoy the crisp morning air long the water. Later on, we took a day trip to Budva, situated just up the coastline, to explore (since Kotor is quite small itself). We had a pizza lunch there at a local pub where we tried lemonade made from Montenegrin lemons. More tart than I was expecting, but quite refreshing on such a hot day. We had to cool off once we got to Kotor, so we hit up a small beach where we snagged a cabana and some cold drinks for a lovely afternoon along the water. We are truly in paradise! AlbanieWe survived another bus ride. This time to Tirana, Albania, with minimal problems crossing the border thankfully. Our passports are quickly filling up with stamps! Along the way, we met some fellow exchange students from the US and Finland. They were all studying in Strasbourg for the semester, and we ended up spending the evening with them in Tirana walking around and seeing the surprisingly small city centre. It consisted of mostly a centre square with a few museums, statues and churches. We actually saw an Orthodox Church; I found it incredibly stunning with all of its mosaic art incorporated into the architecture. We also saw a "pyramid" from the former communist regime and enjoyed some of the parks. The evening continued with some very affordable Albanian cuisine, local wine, and some social time on a rooftop terrace of a neighbouring hostel. We took our second day in Albania very easy. Walked around Tirana, went to a BunkArt museum to learn about the fairly recent communist gendarmes, found a cafe to try an Albanian drink at (think warm pudding with cinnamon - I can't seem to remember the name), and then by 1pm we were off to Gjirokastra! Getting to our bus was a new experience; the bus station was full of drivers trying to persuade us to get on their bus, even if it wasn't our intended destination. Luckily, we managed to find the right bus and make it to Gjirokaster. Then, we walked up the steepest hill to get to Old Town, where we found our hostel - the cutest one yet! Stone City Hostel truly felt like home the moment we walked in. We had supper at Taverna Kuka and tried fried rice balls (qifqi) and milk/fig pudding (oshaf), both of which are very traditional dishes. The sunset was beautiful on the outdoor patio, and we had the sweetest waiter which made for a great first evening. The second day at Gjirokastra was a little cooler temperature wise, and the afternoon and evening brought us some rain. We did get to do a couple of things in the Old Town before we got caught in the rain. First, we toured a traditional house: the Skënduli house. The owner is an elderly man who lived here with his family before it was taken over by the communist regime. It's been in his family for 9 generations, so there was quite an extensive history behind it. We also toured the castle and a couple museums on the inside, which included the old prison cells. I'm not going to lie... it was a powerful experience. On the flip side, the views from the top and the exterior of the castle were both gorgeous. It truly is the city of stone. Grèce We arrived in Athens in the early evening just in time to meet up with some friends to watch the sunset next to the Acropolis. Crazy enough, the same exchange group from Strasbourg was also in Athens at the same time as us, plus one addition, so we took this as a good excuse to meet up and take in the breathtaking sights of Athens. Sunsets had become a theme of their trip, and we were more than happy to join in! ;) We ran into some rain the next day, which didn't stop us from having a good time. The morning was spent at the Acropolis museum (free for students), and that was unfortunately all the dry time we had. I've really come to appreciate how much the Ancient Greeks worshiped their gods through temples and sculptures. The Parthenon only took fifteen years to build, and some European Cathedrals took hundreds! I'm not as big of a history buff as the rest of them, and I still find that all so fascinating. In the afternoon, we hit up a small and local craft beer festival and spent the afternoon playing cards, chatting and enjoying some down time together. I tried Baklava, a Greek pastry dessert, and no complaints here. We kept on the traditional Greek food theme at a local restaurant where I had Zucchini Fritters, which contained onion, egg, herbs and obviously zucchini inside a crispy fried batter. It was a night of delicious food with even better company. Meeting like-minded individuals while traveling, who have also shared the experience of studying abroad, is ridiculously refreshing. We had some of the best conversations I have had in a while. I know it may be hard to believe, but you can form meaningful relationships faster than you think while traveling, and that's what I love about it all! It was refreshing to hear the phrase "it's all a mindset" from this group because, when it comes down to it, you have the choice to determine your outlook on any given situation. This is extremely important while traveling, because it is so easy to be pessimistic and let things get the best of you. Thanks for the reminder, guys! :) The next day, we hit up two major tourist spots: the Acropolis itself and the Olympic Stadium. They were both nearly unbelievable to see. To think that how many years ago, dating back to nearly 500 BC, these buildings were fully functional and fully standing. Yet, much of them still remain today. Mind boggling really! They have truly stood the test of time and war. My favourite part had to be Athena's temple. It was a simplistic design, but there was nothing simple about its detail. Seeing as Athens was named after her, and Athena being the daughter of Zeus, she was a highly worshiped god of the Ancient Greek times, and this temple was built in her honour. Talk about girl power! Our fourth day in Athens was spent on a small cruise ship touring three close by islands: Hydra, Poros and Aegina. It was my first time on a cruise, even though it was only for one day. I think I could get used to the cruise life though ;) We only spent a couple hours at each island, seeing as they were smaller and we were hitting up three in one day. Thankfully, we never felt rushed, and they kept a very tight schedule. The only downside to cruises is the price while you're on board. We managed to see some beautiful sights and even saw some dolphins swimming alongside the boat for a brief moment. It's the little moments like that one that truly make you stop and appreciate the beauty and wonder of the world we live in. To sum up what we learned while on the islands, the colours of the Greek flag (white and blue) represent the sky and water, and the one island, Hydra, translates to water. Hydra is the island of almonds and no motorized vehicles (they use donkeys and horses), Poros is a small and quaint island, and Aegina is the island of pistachios. We enjoyed some tasty pistachio ice cream, and I bought some nuts to take home and "share". Lol. It was an enjoyable day learning more and more about the Greek culture and coming to appreciate the pride they have in even the smallest of communities. The final day of our trip was nothing overly exciting. We stopped by the University, the Academy, Parliament and the National Gardens on our way to some tourist shops where we spent the majority of our afternoon. I also bought myself some new summer clothes, and my roomy got some unreal wedge sandals for 10 euros. What can we say... once a shopper, always a shopper. ;) We also treated our feet to some pedicures after seventeen days of walking around the Balkan countries and Greece. I also got a fish treatment, where you stick your feet into a fish tank and they nibble away all your dead skin. I highly recommend it, as freaky as it sounds! Aside from that, our two and a half week trip and come to an end, and the next day it was back to Nice So, after 18 days of traveling and a minor, shall we say, "hiccup" on our return, we finally made it back to Nice! My cousin and I are staying here until next Wednesday when we return to Canada, while my roommate gets to enjoy the beauty of Nice for another month yet - kinda jealous! I am still in shock about how quickly this entire study abroad has passed by! I'm sure we will be able to fill our time with the list of things I have yet to do before returning to my life back home. Hopefully we can squeeze in some time to be "typical tourists" and soak up some final rays on the beach. :)
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