Feeling Home at the Adria

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Trip start
July 6, 2019
Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Adriatic Sea and Brick Walls
July 6, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
When you want to travel often, you have to look after your money. And usually, travelling alone is way more expensive as you have to pay for every accommodation or rented car by yourself. So, it was only natural for me, to look after a travel buddy for my next trip to Croatia. None of my friends had time or money to come with me, so I asked for company in several travel groups on Facebook. There were a lot of people replying, but I haven't had a good gut feeling until Ralf texted me. He was a man in his mid-50ies, also always travelling, but struggling to find a travel bud. We exchanged some messages and started to plan the trip. After fighting my scared thoughts, I've decided to actually go with it and take him with me on this trip.

We booked our flights and accommodation, and Ralf rented a car on his own (and paid for it) as he wanted to drive along the Adriatic coast, Dubrovnik to Split. I was totally fine with that, I mean... my own chauffeur was way better than taking buses from A to B.

The day of our flight came and Ralf offered me to pick me up and drive us to the Tegel airport in Berlin. That was the first time, seeing Ralf in person, and we instantly hit it off. It was fun and very easy to talk to him, which made the three-hour drive way more comfortable than I've expected. And the thoughts of "Oh, he wants something from you" were fading into the back of my head. I would trust this guy as it now was the only thing I could do anyway.

As we arrived at the airport, we sat down to drink a coffee (which he paid) before boarding the plane. After a two-hour flight, we arrived in Dubrovnik and had to pick up the car. I've never done that before, so it was interesting to know how fucking long it takes for car rentals to give us a damn car.

But finally, we got our car and drove to our first accommodation to drop off our luggage. We had one room with a queen-sized bed, which was alright by me. But it would definitely feel weird to sleep next to a near stranger for the upcoming week.

After refreshing, we headed towards the sea, strolling around the many tiny alleyways through the Old Town. We finally arrived at the little harbour and settled down to eat something. If I had been travelling by my own, I would have never ever paid so much to eat a fricking pizza, but Ralf, being a doctor and well-situated, paid for the dinner again (although I would have paid by myself, if he'd let me) and so I just enjoyed the nice view.

Our tummies filled, we wandered back through the Old Town and somehow found a very hidden bar at the Blaze Beach, where we sat down drinking cocktails and watching the people swim at the shore. Walking in sandals all day, I now got my paycheck. My feet were burning and hurting everywhere, so I decided to take my shoes off and waltz around barefoot. In the flat surfaced alleys of the Old Town itself, it was actually quite pleasant to cool off my feet. However, when walking back to our apartment, spiky stones and sticks were making my feet worse. So, I was very relieved, when we finally arrived and could go to bed.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Dubrovnik from Above
July 7, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 30 °C
The next day, we started into the day with a very lovely breakfast. First, we had some scrambled eggs and afterwards, I got a treat for myself. Yummy crépe with chocolate and ice cream. I was soo stuffed after that. Good, that I would walk the calories off during the day. Again, we headed to the Old Town, but this time, we were searching for the starting point from which we could jump on a gondola to ride up the Mount Srd and look over Dubrovnik. We found it pretty easily, bought us tickets and off we went. Arriving at the top, the panorama was astonishing! Being on a lush green mountain, looking down to the blue sea, that is such a good feeling. We decided to sit down at the Panorama restaurant and enjoy some cocktails. Unfortunately, the minute we sat down on the terrace overlooking Dubrovnik, clouds came up and blocked the view. But after about thirty minutes, the sun came through again. We strolled around the Mountain for a while, talking about the possibility of reincarnation. It felt so familiar to me being in Croatia. As if I've just arrived back home. And I've never been here before. Ralf shared that his wife died from Cancer and that he believed she was reborn somewhere, so he completely understood my thoughts. It was a very spiritual talk, and I found myself being even more comfortable with Ralf afterwards.
A while later, we took the next gondola back into town and made our way to go on a tour on the city wall. Starting and finishing with looking at Dubrovnik in different perspectives from the top.
For the evening, we just got ourselves some pizza and bought lots of candy at one of the very atmospheric candy shops.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Sneek Peek into Bosnia
July 8, 2019 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
Today, we would do the first real roadtrip-part of this roadtrip, as we were heading away from the coast and into Bosnia and Herzegowina. Although Bosnia isn't in the EU, crossing the border was not much of a deal and we entered very smootly. Lush green mountains very rising left and right of the streets and it was just a very peaceful drive. Ralf and I talked about politics and how every media is somehow related with the Rothschild family. I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories but it definitely looks fishy from the outside.
After a while, we stopped for a short refreshment on a river and I spotted a pretty bridge. The reason, why we were driving through Bosnia despite being without any call reception or WIFI, was not only to tick off one other country but also to see the famous bridge in Mostar. But that river bridge wasn't it.
So we jumped back into the car and drove further until we reached Mostar. I've spotted another bridge, but that wasn't the Stare Most we were looking for either. We drove by very old, bombed houses that have never been rebuild or restored after the yugoslavia war ended in 1995. And next to the very much useless buildings, there were beautiful, big palace-like houses that just looked stunning. It gave me a similar feeling like when seeing an extremely modern house inbetween old barock buildings - odd, misplaced.
Finally, we found the right bridge and not only took a photo of it, but also went to the bottom of it. But honestly, you can just do so much with a brdige, really. So, we stuffed ourselves in the car once again and drove further to Park prirode Hutovo blato, a landscape protection area. We arrived and saw that we had to pay money to some weird looking guys to enter the Park (it definitely didn't say so on the website), and we were both so against it, that we decided to just drive to our accommodation in Medugorje. We checked in and went to a shopping centre because we were curious what prices and products were like. I found a very interesting hat and giggled until Ralf maneuvered me to the exit. We bought ourselves some food as Euros were widely accepted and had a simple dinner.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Island Life on Brac
July 9, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
The next morning, we raised up early, as we had to get a ferry from Makarska to the island Brac. So we left Bosnia behind and re-entered Croatia to find we missed our ferry in Makarska. We started to ask a bit around and some men told us, that we could drive to Split and get a ferry from there to Supetar. As much as it wa against our plans, we couldn't see a better way, so we drove north-bound for an hour and buying a ferry ticket for Split-Supetar.
After oversetting to the other coast rather quickly, we checked into our Apartment Plazibat in Skrip. Packing my bathing suit and some towels, we set off to find Beach Zastup. As usual, the beach was full with spiky stones, but I've been smart. I've taken swim shoes with me. It looked rather funny from the outside and someone might have laughed at me. But seriously, I bet they've stopped laughing when putting one foot on the ground.
The water was pretty cold and I just made my legs wet. As it was getting late already, we packed our things and drove to Splitska, a very small but charming city. It actually had a harbour! After getting some food, we sat down at a restaurant, getting some pizza (again). And as much as I wanted to, Ralf wouldn't let me pay for my food (as usual). What can you do?Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Monastery in the Mountains
July 10, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 20 °C
Today we wanted to make use of our rented car, so we drove to the middle of the island and left our car on a parking spot. Then we made our way "over stock and stone" (German saying, but here quite literally), towards the monastery Blaca that was built into the mountain. We did find it, but we were like 100metres above it on the other side and with that heat, we just couldn't convince ourselves to go down there. So, we decided to just enjoy the view over the mountains and sea, driving around the island some more. The roads were sometimes very old and other times extremely new and we had the feeling that we were the first people ever driving on it.
When the sun started to set, we made our way back to Splitska to dine at the same restaurant as yesterday, as it was fantastic. Today, I ordered the Risotto and O.M.G. I've never tasted anything better, I swear.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Sunbathing Shock
July 11, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
The morning began with a rather lovely time at the Zastup Beach, as it was warm enough to swim and search for some shadows. We went swimming and for the first time since the beginning of knowing him, I had a weird feeling about Ralf. He grabbed me from behind and from the outside (and inside) it must have looked as if we were a couple. It felt super strange. However, I know that he didn't mean to creep me out by it, so it was fine and over soon anyway.
When the sun became unbearably hot, we searched for protection by the shadows. Then, someone ringed Ralf and he talked rather feverishly with the other person. He hung up and said "My pregnant daughter is getting her child. Like now!" Okay... well and now what? "I gotta book a flight back home. Her husband is gone and I'm the only person being able to help her. Something is wrong with her and the baby." After processing this new information, we quickly packed our things. Ralf found a flight back for the late afternoon, so that we could take our planned ferry trip. He told me: "I'm so sorry. I will pay for the last apartment and you need to take a train back home, is that alright? I will book you a train ticket." I have completely forgotten that he picked me up and drove us to Berlin. Well what else could I do? So, he bought a ticket for me and gave me some extra money for the apartment in Split. Then we made our way to the ferry and set over to Split. He drove me to the apartment in Podstrana (near Split) and we hugged Goodbye. Then he drove off into the sunset, leaving me alone. The owner of the apartment wasn't there, I didn't know what to do. I tried to call them, they didn't pick up. I emailed them, telling them I'm already there. I've waited for about an hour until someone came over, as if it was just the right time to arrive, and gave me the keys. So after a very stressful day, I could finally relax.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Alone
July 12, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Next morning I didn't really know what to do with myself. I didn't have the nerve to research how to get into the city center of Split and as I looked it up how long it was for me to walk there, I decided I couldn't care less about a city. So, I researched what to do around Podstrana and found a Beach that I felt like going to.
So I went off and saw that it actually was a private beach of the Le Méridien Lav there. Sneaky as I am, I just entered the hotel as if I was a guest there and nobody asked me anything, so that I could just go to the beach and enjoy my day there until sunset.Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Yet Another Beachday
July 13, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 20 °C
The next day I just sticked to the feeling of not wanting to do anything, so I again, walked to the beach, sneaked my way through the hotel and chilled there.
I've heard from Ralf, telling my his daughter has born a healthy child and everthing was alright. So that was great.
And as I now didn't have a big spender on my side, I had a very sad ice cream and Bosnian liquor dinner...Read more
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Feeling Home at the Adria Traveler
Leaving the Sun behind
July 14, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
The last day I asked the apartment owner how to best get to the Split airport. He right away offered me a ride to the airport, which was for me kind of a "I'm sorry you had to wait an hour on your arrival". Gratefully, I accepted that offer and so he drove me to the airport. There, I got the next bad news. Delay. Shit. My train ticket has been issued for about an hour later so that it would be almost impossible to get the right train. Shit. I researched the hell out of the Deutsche Bahn but I didn't want to spend 60€ and then still getting the already booked train. So, I boarded the airplane and switched my WIFI off. Two hours later, we landed back in Berlin and my booked train was gone. Amazing... Now the next train was 90€ and I was completely torn whether to book the ticket or not. My conscience overruled my risk-favouring part and I bought the ticket, entering the S-Bahn to the main station. In hindsight, that was rather dumb as riding a train without a ticket would have "just" costet me 60€.... Next time.
At home, I opened the bag full of shells that I've collected at the two days on the Podstrana beach. It stunk like hell, but it looked rather nicely.

Song of the trip: Coldest Water by Walking On CarsRead more
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Trip end
July 14, 2019