Category: The Balkans
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • CROATIA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 10, DAYS 13, 15, & 16: MODERN AND MEDIEVAL MAGIC IN DUBROVNIK, CROATIA
It had been a very sombre couple of days chasing the ghosts of war in Mostar and Sarajevo. So it was with some relief that I left Bosnia-Herzegovina and drove down toward the Adriatic Coast to Croatia. At that point in my whistle-stop tour of the Balkans I had already visited the Croatian cities of Zagreb, Plitvice, Trogir, and Split; and my final stop before moving on to Italy was Dubrovnik. Unlike my previous destinations on this 20 Days in 20 Cities and 6 Countries road trip, I enjoyed the luxury of having more time in Dubrovnik. With 4 days and 4 nights to indulge (excluding a day trip to Kotor, Montenegro) in the offerings of this ancient walled city, my time Dubrovnik was a welcome change of pace: languid yet vibrant, laid back yet luxurious - in other words, my fantasy of what life in Dalmatia should be.
October 20, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 9, DAY 12: FOOD FOR THOUGHT in SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Having spent the better part of the day in Mostar - the fifth largest city in Bosnia-Herzegovina and home of the country's most iconic bridge - it was time to head to the capital city, Sarajevo. Sarajevo seems like an obscure travel destination, being either a city that doesn't register on the mainstream mind map (Bosnia-Herzegovina itself being one of the least-visited countries in Europe) or a city that brings to mind images of desolation and destruction. Of course, now that I'm a little past halfway into my series 20 Days, 20 Cities, and 6 Countries in Austria, the Balkans, and Italy, you'd know by now that the catalyst of my 3 week road trip was my fascination with Yugoslavian history. I have heard Croatian and Serbian perspectives on the turmoil that seems to shadow the former socialist state, so now it was time to see the story from the Bosnian side. I knew that Sarajevo wasn't going to be all sunshine and roses, yet I wasn't completely prepared for the darkness that haunted this beautiful city...
October 14, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 8, DAY 11: UNEXPECTED OTTOMAN EMPIRE AT MOSTAR, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. "Hey now, you're a Mostar, get your game on, go play..."
Before heading from Split to my next Croatian city, Dubrovnik, I made a detour and drove across the border into one of Europe's least-visited countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina. My 20 Day, 20 Cities, and 6 Countries Balkans road trip was inspired by my recent reading list of Yugoslavian history* - more specifically, the events surrounding its collapse in 1992 (I was especially haunted by the scenes depicted in Joe Sacco's journalistic graphic novels Safe Area Gorazde and The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo) - so it was inevitable that I would eventually find myself in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was a long drive from Split, Croatia to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, so I decided to break up the journey by stopping midway at Mostar - a city of great architectural and natural beauty with Turkish influences that was a world apart from anything I had seen on this trip thus far.
*Yes, it's not the most romantic reason for a "holiday" - Other people: "I want to go to Paris because l'amour!" Me: "I'm going to Bosnia, because war..." - but I've always been a nerd for conflict history and socio-politics.
October 11, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 7, DAY 10: Catching Feels in Croatia - a Sentimental Return to Split
Even before I embarked on my epic 20 Days in 20 Cities and 6 Countries road trip across Austria, the Balkans, Tuscany, and the Italian Riviera there was one particular city in my itinerary that filled me with equal parts trepidation and anticipation. As the calendar inched ever closer to Croatia, the butterflies fluttered more rapidly in my stomach at the thought of Split. Not because it was a hitherto unknown destination to me; but because I have, had, and have had strong feelings for this Dalmatian coastal city. It was a little over a year ago in this very city where two people reunited then parted (not for the first nor last time, in many cities across the world) - or should I say, split. A summer later, I returned to the stage where last summer's love story played but the leading man was thousands of miles away. Despite my solo encore, the other star was there in spirit, which made my return to Split, Croatia, all the more bittersweet. 💔
October 09, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 6; DAYS 9 & 14: DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE PARTS 2 & 3 - DRIZZLY DAYS IN TROGIR, CROATIA AND KOTOR, MONTENEGRO
When it rains, it pours. 😫 I thought I had used up a lifetime of getting soaked - having endured a 6-hour nightmare trek through a thunderstorm in one of Croatia's most breathtaking natural wonders, Plitvice Lakes National Park - but even after having sworn off the great outdoors my wet weather woes were far from over. 😠Now, I'm all for posting in chronological order but the thought of writing two separate posts on getting caught in the rain in two different countries gives me the chills - so today I'll recant Day 9 (Trogir, Croatia) and Day 14 (Kotor, Montenegro) just to get the showers out of my system. Like ripping off a bandaid all at once instead of peeling it back millimetre by millimetre. On the morning of the 9th day of my 20 Days in 20 Cities and 6 Countries road trip, I woke up in Hotel Jezero at dawn - without a cold, miraculously - and without even looking back I quickly revved the engine and set the coordinates to the Old Town of Split.
October 06, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 5; DAY 8: DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE PART 1 - GETTING SOAKED IN PLITVICE NATIONAL PARK, CROATIA
Blue is the warmest colour? You jest. 🙄 Not even the sapphire blue waters of Plitvice Lakes could convince me that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse hadn't cometh on a giant storm cloud, their hooves clanging like crashing thunder, stabbing from the skies with spears of lightning. It was Day 5 of my 20 day road trip across Austria, the Balkans, and Italy when the weather took an abrupt turn for the worse. I'm not talking about the occasional shower here and there; I'm talking about freak storms across Croatia for the first time in 3 very hot, very dry weeks. Where was the rain when wildfires were spreading across the countryside?! Waiting for me to show up so that it could ruin my holiday like a literal wet blanket. 😩
I refuse to let the unseasonable showers put a damper on my diary-keeping, so for the sake of posterity here is the (possibly overdramatic) story of how I nearly drowned in Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia. This is just Part 1 of my three-part 'Don't Rain On My Parade' series - there's also Trogir, Croatia; and Kotor, Montenegro (I'm not even going to mention the wetter days in Split and Dubrovnik 😶 ). Wrap up warm and pour yourself a hot toddy because this is going to give you the chills... ⛈
October 05, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 4, DAYS 6 & 7: CHASING CROATIA IN ITS CAPITAL CITY OF ZAGREB
Croatia is a country that is very near and dear to my heart. So much so that I sometimes catch myself singing, to the tune of the famous Tourism Malaysia jingle: "Croatia, truly Aaaaasia!" (What). It's not that I know every nook and cranny of the country - far from it, my first and only (up to then) proper visit to Croatia was a sultry Summer of Love 2016 in Split. Rather, my affection for this gorgeous country is because someone close to me is half-Croatian, and their own embracing of their heritage (including egging me on to drink fiery shots of rakia) has made me also love Croatia by osmosis. 😚 Aside from Split, the only other time I had been to Croatia was passing through Dubrovnik to get to Montenegro. I was more than ready to see more of Croatia than just the Dalmatian coast. So it was with eager anticipation that I left Ljubljana, Slovenia for another capital city - Zagreb. ðŸ‡ðŸ‡·
October 03, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • CROATIA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 3, DAY 5: THE SERENE SPIRITUALITY OF LAKE BLED AND SLOVENIA’S ONLY NATURAL ISLAND
On my 2nd and last day in Slovenia, I woke up in Ljubljana with a feeling of missed opportunity: for I had failed to capture the capital city's vibrant nightlife, which came as a surprise to me given the tranquil and traditional nature of its charming cobblestoned Old Town. Those close to me *does the Mockingjay salute to my long-suffering friends and family* know that my need to be aware of every detail of my travels borders on the obsessive (some would say I'm a control freak, I prefer the phrase 'detail-oriented'). Having found myself unprepared for the dark side of Ljubljana's moon, I drove to the most famous destination in the town of Bled praying that I had done my homework, and that Lake Bled would be as breathtaking as I had hoped it to be.
Once again, I discovered that nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to see...
September 28, 2017
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • CROATIA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 2, DAY 4: THE LAID BACK CHARM OF LJUBLJANA AND MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
After acclimatising myself with 3 indulgent days in the opulent city of Vienna, Austria; I felt ready (or so I thought) to throw myself into my whistle stop tour of the Balkans. From this point onward, my 20 Days Across 20 Cities in 6 Countries would be a true road trip: crossing borders by land and spending as little as a few hours in each city as I traversed Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe before rounding up my trip in the Mediterranean. It was time to hit the ground running and burn some rubber, baby. So began the 4 hour drive through the rolling Austrian countryside, to the Slovenia capital of Ljubljana via its second largest city - Maribor...
September 25, 2017
20 days of summer. 6 European countries. 15 cities and towns (19 if I visit all 5 towns in Cinque Terre). Inspired by this month's travel linkup - in which we writing wanderlusters discuss destinations as a starter (short haul), mains (a looong trip) and pudding (a destination that leaves a lasting impression) - today I share the itinerary for my upcoming trip: My 15-Course Travel ‘Tasting Menu’ across Austria, the Balkans, and Italy.
Ya'll should know by now that I am super extra. Like, "consolidate my 'save for later' online shopping purchases into a master Excel spreadsheet and picture collage" extra. Extra, extra! Read all about it! So when I picked up the updated edition of Tim Marshall's Prisoners of Geography I naturally devoured the book in 4 days. Then I re-read the Joe Sacco graphic novel The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo. Curious to fill in the hole that is my lack of understanding on world history (thanks a lot, Malaysian Sejarah syllabus. What were we taught about WWII? Literally only: the Japanese f*cked up our sh*t and then the Americans f*cked up their sh*t. The end. Whut) I did what any lazy person would - learn about it on YouTube. So after watching Feature History - Fall of Yugoslavia, I wound the clock back a World War and discovered that Franz Ferdinand is more than just an excellent rock band from Glasgow.
Thanks to this information black hole I've now got the Balkans on my mind. How does one go forward? The only way is Essex Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Oh, and throw in a bit of Austria and Italy too for good measure, why not? This summer I'm spending just under 3 weeks touring *deep breath* Vienna, Maribor, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Plitvice, Trogir, Split, Sarajevo, Mostar, Kotor, Budva, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Pisa. Here is the Itinerary for My Balkans 'Tasting Menu' ft. Austria and Italy.
August 01, 2017
SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND
Talk about topical - I've just spend the weekend helping my mother organise her jewellery and helping myself to some bits n' bobs. You're looking at the proud owner of a mother-of-pearl choker which I plan to wear, walk 10km, and mimic an Slowpoke cry in the hope that I'll evolve into Slowking (who else is loving Pokemon Go Gen 2?). Speaking of precious stones, this month's travel blogger linkup topic is "Hidden Gems", which I clearly jumped the gun on with this post back in October: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 3 Hidden Gems in Petaling Street. No matter! As the sky is full of stars so is the sea brimming with pearls of inspiration, of which I present My 4 Favourite Hidden Gems In Turquoise Seas.
Above: The crystalline waters of Cayo Largo, a Cuban jewel in the Caribbean ocean
March 05, 2017
Eat Till You SPLIT! Cruisin' for Cuisine:
My 5 Must-Try Restaurants in Split
I know all about the perils of being a people pleaser. With Malaysian friends I speak the ubiquitous American accent peppered with 'lahs' and 'mahs' but in Britain I oscillate between sounding slightly Transatlantic to being mistaken for an extra on Downton Abbey (upstairs, naturally). It can be exhausting trying to keep up with one's audiences' preferences - you could say I've developed split personalities. I don't know how Croatian cuisine does it: between their Italian influences (the Croats love a good seafood pasta and risotto), meat platters to rival those of Spain, and octopus so fresh you could've picked it off a boat in Greece; never mind the locals, visitors to Croatia are contemplating mid-bite "Where exactly in the Mediterranean am I?" Culinary confusion aside, this hodge-podge of personalities on a plate makes for a dining experience that is diverse and never dull, as my 'souvenir' of a 3kg weight gain (!) from 5 days in Split will attest to. Lo, here are the five restaurants you must try in Split, Croatia...
🌊🌞ðŸ‡ðŸ‡·
August 02, 2016
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