Eastern Europe: Budapest, Croatia, Bosnia

Budapest

After what should have been a 24 hour train ride, we ended up getting into Budapest from Malmo in 31 hours because a section of the track went out of commission due to the weather. Which meant we had a few hours to kill in Munich and become ever more excited for Oktoberfest at the end of September. Since we were carrying all our bags we just walked over to the main square and then found a courtyard to hangout in until our afternoon train. The ride from Munich to Budapest was very pretty. It routes through Austria, hitting Vienna along the way. When we finally arrived in Budapest, it only took our walk from the train station to the hostel to see what a party town Budapest is (it was a Saturday night). Lots of bachelor/bachelorette parties going on. We, however, had no energy left after our long travel day (what do you call a travel day when it goes beyond 24 hours?) to join in the festivities.

The next day happened to be a very big national holiday for Hungary so a lot of the town was shut down and there was a big festival going on over on the Buda side. After going for a run and then securing some overnight train tickets to Croatia for the following night, we went on a city walking tour. I don't know about you, but I had zero knowledge on the country of Hungary prior to this tour. I had just heard Budapest was a great city to visit and the beer was cheap so I figured we should check it out. The first thing we learned was that we're all saying Budapest incorrectly. It's pronounced Buda-pesht. Secondly, the city used to be two separate cities. I forget why they joined up - wah wah - but Buda and Pest are separated by a the Danube River. Pest is the party side, Buda is the living/royal/expensive side. Hungary itself is a relatively new country having been founded in 1896 if memory serves me correctly. Dating back to the 9th century, many empires have occupied the land. Eventually communism took its hold after the WWII and the country went through some very difficult times. Once the wall fell in '89, Hungary became a democratic state and remains so today. But the traces of the country's past are evident in its people and infrastructure, what seems to be a common theme in Eastern Europe. There is a wide range of architecture in Budapest, some very beautiful classical buildings to some very ugly buildings clearly from the communism era. It seems they don't really know their identity either, as a lot of things, cultural or otherwise, come from somewhere else. For example, their parliament building is a replica of the Westminster Abbey in London, although 2m longer just to one-up England. Nonetheless, the city is gorgeous with the river, bridges, beautiful buildings, and varying topography.

Entrance to the City Park

From the top of the Royal Palace on the Buda side with Parliament on the Pest side in the background

The end of the walking tour left us on the Buda side and we huffed it back over to Pest in order to catch the Tottenham vs. Chelsea Premier League rivalry game in an English pub.  We got dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant called Blue Rose that had traditional Hungarian food. Hungary is known for its goulash, paprika, meat, and wine. Naturally, I made sure I had all of it in one sitting, and I was not disappointed. It might have been the best meal I've had in Europe so far. Goulash is a stew/soup with meat, vegetables, and potatoes. And then I had a crepe-like thing filled with meat and smothered in a paprika sauce...yum. After dinner we headed back to the riverfront to enjoy the fireworks for the holiday.

Parliament from the other side of the Danube River

St. Stephen's Basilica 

Fireworks over the Chain Bridge for the Hungarian National Holiday

The next day we did a communism walking tour and learned all about life in Hungary during the communism era. It was all very interesting and we learned a ton. It's hard to imagine not living in a democratic state, and we should all be very thankful we are lucky enough to live in one. After the tour, we headed to a Turkish bath - a must-do when visiting Hungary or Turkey. Although I'm glad we did it, I'm not so sure I'll be going again. Lots of old, fat, hairy men and there's a whole science/routine to it as well that just seemed to make something as simple as sitting in a hot tub overly complicated. There were four different temperature baths ranging from 24 - 40 degrees Celsius and a sauna that was hotter than hell - I could barely breathe for the first few minutes in there. Anyway, it was an experience. After the baths we headed back to the hostel, getting a doner kebab on the way, and then to the train station for our train ride down to Split, Croatia.

One of the Turkish Baths from the outside.

Croatia

After arriving in Split in the morning we hopped on a boat headed to the island of Brač right away. Originally we were going to island hop, but we ended up realizing it was much easier to make the beach town of Bol on Brač our home base and do day trips from there. We made it to Bol in the afternoon of that first day and soaked in a couple hours of sun on the beach after setting up our campsite. The next day we woke up early to catch the sunrise from Zlatni Rat, which is the top rated beach of Croatia (although I'm not entirely convinced of that fact). The majority of the beaches in Croatia are rock versus sand so that took some getting used to. Eventually I just opted for straight concrete when it was available. Each night we got dinner at the cute little waterfront restaurants of Bol. The food in Croatia is very similar to Italian (but definitely not as good). The national dish is cevapi which is little sausage-like things of minced meat with ajvar sauce and onions. Croatia is also known for their wines, which again were not quite at Italy's standard, but still good.

Thursday I ran, or maybe more so hiked, up to a viewpoint just outside of Bol which we later found out is the highest point of all of the Dalmatian Islands at around 2,500ft. There were some gorgeous views around the islands, and the water in Croatia is so so blue. Then we continued our sunbathing on the beach for the rest of the day. On Friday we did a day tour to other island towns of Hvar, Vis, and the green and blue caves. It was an all-day affair and probably my favorite day. Hvar is the party and the rich people spot - apparently a lot of celebrities vacation there. It is a beautiful city. Vis was much more low key and cheaper than both Brač and Hvar, but still gorgeous. I'd describe Croatia as a Greece with off-white, rather than white, buildings and cheaper. Vis actually has a massive bomb shelter system that was built into its mountains back during the world wars. It can house ~6,000 people! The caves we went into were cool, and a couple of them you were allowed to swim in. The combination of the cave structure and the reflection of the light off the rocks is what makes it so interesting. In particular for the Green Cave, a tree used to be growing at the top of the cave. Eventually the tree was starting to die so they had to remove it all, which created a hole for sunlight to penetrate into the cave, causing a concentrated sunlight beam to be able to be seen several feet into the water. On our boat ride back to Bol from the blue cave we were lucky enough to come across a group of 12 or so dolphins and got to watch them popping in and out of the water for a few minutes. Then we stopped at Stiniva Beach which was rated the best beach in the world in 2016. It's hard to find as you have to go through a channel between cliffs to get to it. I suppose the seclusion of the beach is what got it the high rating. After we left Stiniva we saw a big old tuna jump high out of the water. I thought the tuna was more impressive than the dolphins!

Saturday we did another day tour, this time to Hvar and Palmižana Island. We had a bit longer in Hvar for this tour so we went up to the abandoned fortress for an awesome view of the town and the surrounding islands. Palmižana didn't really have much of a town, but had a beach/bay area that would be similar to the Play Pen in Lake Michigan in Chicago with a bunch of boats anchored up and bars all around the beach area. On our last day in Bol we intended to do some windsurfing and/or kitesurfing. However, we found out the kitesurfing company was actually a school where multiple days were needed to learn unless you already had experience, and for windsurfing the wind was too strong for beginners. Total bummer. So after some pizza and gelato we got on a 4 hour boat trip to Dubrovnik. Our hostel in Dubrovnik was just about at the highest elevation you could be at in the city so after many stairs and inclines we arrived, doused in sweat.

Bol Waterfront

Sunrise on Bol 

Sunrise from Zlatni Rat Beach on Bol 

Sunlight Beam in the Green Cave 

Blue Cave 

Looking down on Hvar from the Fortress 

Bol from the tallest point in the Dalmatian Islands 

Coastline along Vis

Secluded Stiniva Beach

On our only full day in Dubrovnik we toured the Old Town area and hiked, rather than take the cable car, up to a viewpoint for the city. The old town, or "Stari Grad" in Croatian, is actually a fortress with walls all around it and is located right on the water. Although it was lost on us because we do not watch the show, Game of Thrones is filmed here and so was one of the Star Wars movies. Only pedestrians are allowed in the Old Town area, there's a bunch of tiny streets that create a bit of a maze if you don't know where you're going. There is a bar called Buza Bar that is just outside the wall of the fortress on a cliff and there are a few spots you can jump off of into the water. Of course, doing these jumps were a top priority. I jumped off the two lower rocks, which were probably 20ft and 30ft high, that first day. There's another one that was around 45ft high and you had to do a somewhat sketchy climb to get to it. The thrill seeker in me grudgingly decided not to go for it. Only one guy was daring enough to try it the whole time I was hanging out there. But of course I thought about it all night and decided before falling asleep that I would go back the next day and scope it out again. 

We had an afternoon bus to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina that next day so after running and packing up the backpack I went straight back to Buza Bar. I did the two smaller jumps again and with more confidence. Then four different guys went and jumped off the tall one and survived just fine. Figuring I'd be mad at myself later if I didn't do it, I went for it. The fall was definitely long and since you had to jump out a decent amount, my bum may have experienced a bit of an enema, but, as the Kiwi (New Zealand) guys that did it before me said, it was "soooo chilllll dude!"

Cliff jumping at Buza Bar

Bird's Eye View of Dubrovnik's Old Town Area

Sunset over Dubrovnik from the Fortress

Bosnia-Herzegovina

The drive to Mostar was only about 3.5 hours, but the whole drive was gorgeous. We went up the Croatian coast and saw cute beach town after cute beach town. Now, originally the only reason we were going to Mostar was because our fellow Wolfpack member, Mike, (it's a wolfpack of 3) had been there in 2016 and did the famous jump off the Stari Most Bridge (translates to Old Bridge). It's 26m high, or about 85ft - aka high AF. But Mike had done it so of course we had to do it.

After researching a bit further we realized there was a decent amount of stuff to do in Mostar so we ended up staying two days. The first day we went on a tour in a vintage Volkswagen van through the region. The first stop was at the town of Blagaj that had a Durkish house for monks (although they're not actually called monks, something else) on a river that's fed by a natural spring which comes out of a cave - very cool scenery. If you're wondering what Durkish is like we were at the time of the tour, it's a branch of Islam. Our guide showed us a video of Durkish extremists which involved 24+ hours of dance-praying to get to a state where they could no longer feel pain, at which point they tested this pain tolerance by pounding daggers - yes, multiple - into the top of their skulls and sticking other knives and sharp objects through skin and other body parts. Only men are allowed to participate in the event, and for the first time in my life I was okay with gender discrimination. Look it up on YouTube if you have the stomach for it - totally insane. When they pull the knives out there is no blood. Anywho, moving on...

Next stop was the town of two towers, or Pocitelj. There is a clock tower and a bell tower in this town - hence town of two towers, neither are functional anymore. The city was built in the 15th century. There's also a big mosque. Islam is present in the country but not the main religion. Just basing a percentage on how many women we saw wearing burkas, I'd say maybe 15% are Muslim. I poked my head into the mosque because I had never been in one before. It's basically just a large open room with carpet to pray on. We walked up to each of the towers which had great panoramic views of the region. Throughout our tour our guide was telling us about the Yugoslavian War. I can't say we learned much about it in school and really did not realize how recent it was, having ended in 1995. From what our guide was saying, the feelings of hatred  (and he used that word) between the ex-Yugoslavian countries toward each other is definitely still there. He said Bosnia-Herzegovina was still trying to recover from it. For example, the country still does not have a proper highway system.

The third and final stop of the tour was Kravice Falls, where a bunch of waterfalls come down from a ledge and form a very refreshing swimming hole. Being that it was high 80's, low 90's in temperature (normal for this time of year as they have a climate similar to California), jumping into the water was fantastic. It was only until I was about to get out that I learned there were snakes in this otherwise pleasant place and of course there was a long one right at my feet... I got out quickly and stayed out. That night we ate traditional Bosnian food for dinner and it was very delicious. They even gave us a free welcome shot of the national liquor called Rakija, which tasted like a combo of vodka and tequila, and free dessert which turned out to just be watermelon.

Durkish House in Blagaj

 City of Two Towers, Pocitelj, near Mostar

Kravice Falls

The next day was bridge jumping day. Can't say I hadn't worked myself up the few days beforehand thinking about it. The way it works is, you join the local dive club for a small fee and they have a coach that takes you over to do some training jumps and teaches you the proper way to plummet to your hopefully-not death. If he is confident that you won't die going off the bridge, he lets you do the real thing. Then you get to sign your name in their records book and are given a number for what number person you were to do it, a certificate, and as our coach Johnny said "friend for life".

A little history on the bridge, it was actually destroyed in the Yugoslavian war in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004. The original bridge was 427 years old. The first training jump for me didn't go so hot. I landed with a forward tilt. It didn't hurt, but I just had a massive amount of water go up my nose and our coach, Johnny, was pissed and swore at me ha whoops. Doug's first one went better, but Johnny told him he could tell he was scared, nothing either of us could deny on that front. After 6 or 7 more jumps into the freezing cold water though, Johnny said we were ready to go to the big stage! He kept saying, "I believe in you, Jenny" with a fist over his heart - no point in correcting him on my name. Thankfully a few of the dive club members did jumps off the bridge while we were training so we got to see it done successfully before going.

Johnny was an older guy born and raised in Mostar and clearly had not seen many women doing athletic things, which was apparent in a few of his comments. For example, the training jump platforms were at 7m and 10m and he called the 7m jump the one for women. And then when I was up on the edge of the bridge getting ready to jump he hushed the crowed around us on the bridge giving the reasoning, "This is a woman jumping!" Can't fault him for being a product of his environment, and it gave me a couple of good laughs.

Doug was gracious enough to go first and he nailed it! Then I got up on the ledge and ended up having to stand up there contemplating the height I was about to fall while we waited for some tree branch debris to flow through and out of the way. Once the river was ready, I got back on the ledge. I had to restart my 3-2-1 countdown a couple of times, but I got there eventually and plummeted down. That first step is the worst part - feels like a drop on a rollercoaster, after that it goes so quick that it's over before you know it. We survived and are now the 2540th and 2541st people to successfully jump! There was a decent size crowd watching and some of them wanted to take pictures with us. There's our 15 minutes of fame :) RedBull actually hosts a cliff jumping competition series each year in Mostar. It's Red Bull so of course they build a platform that is 8m higher than the bridge and the professionals do flips and head-first dives from that height...yeah, no thanks. We got a celebratory beer afterward and then killed time until it was time to take off for our bus/train ride over to Venice - which ended up being a disaster and 29 hours long because we missed three of our transfers - to meet back up with my friend, Courtney, for some hiking in the Dolomites of Italy!

Stari Most Bridge 

Post-jump Pic with our Coach, Johnny

The jump