"I'll be here a while, aint goin nowhere"

As we pulled into the port of Santorini it was clear why this is one of the most popular Greek Isles. The historic volcanic eruption that took place nearly 3500 years ago has carved out a dramatic coast with steep cliffs and caldera on the eastern side of the island. We got off the boat with the hoards of backpackers and quickly realized that we would not be able to hoof it to the beach like we planned. The port is located at the very bottom of the aforementioned cliffs making walking with packs hardly possible. Although it went unsaid at the time, we both remember thinking how inconvenient for us, but how convenient for the gangs of local hotel/villa owners that were making their way towards the crowd of recently departed tourists. We didn't want to pay for accommodation since there was a nice comfortable beach that awaited us, but since we needed a ride up the mountain we bit the bullet and ended up negotiating for a reasonable rate. We pulled in to Villa Demetri which is a peaceful place with flowering vines growing up the sides of the atrium walls and walking distance from the black sandy beaches of Perissa. Feeling like we made the right decision, we wanted to celebrate with a bottle of the local spirit, Ouzo. We whipped up some dinner in our little kitchen, which includes a hotplate, fridge and dishes then began the celebration. The best way to describe Ouzo is to compare it to Sambuca or black liquorish. It is intended to cleanse the pallet after a meal and after a few hours we had the cleanest pallets on the entire island. The celebration carried on into the night as we went around to a few bars and chatted up with the locals and other tourists. We apparently were such good company that we ended up landing a job with one of the bars! Full Moon Bar, hired us part time to walk around the beach handing out fliers, then make an appearance and talk with the customers at night. It sounded like an amazing gig and we were totally pumped about it! We got to wake up whenever we liked, go hang out at the beach all day...make a couple rounds and meet people and still go out and drink at night...so we decided we would work out a deal with Villa Demetri and stay for 3 weeks!

This did not work out for us. We spent about 4 days walking around annoying customers trying to coax them into the bar. Its poor location (away from the beach) combined with the bad specials and lack of tourists proved to big a hurdle. It was a mutual departure. Luckily the very same day we
parted ways with Full Moon Chelsea inquired about a waitress job at the restaurant across the street from the hostel called Atlas (seen on the left) and walked out with a job. At the time of writing this we have been on Santorini for nearly 3 weeks. Chelsea works morning and evenings at Atlas and I, well.. here is a picture of what I spend most of my time doing:

..just kidding. After two days of Chelsea working and me doing nothing I landed a job with a small pub called 'Blues Bar' handing out fliers during the day and waiting tables at night. Meanwhile i was falling in love with Atlas, the people i worked with, and the people i was meeting....so we decided to extend our stay!

Athens

FINALLY....we arrived in Athens where we found out there were no more ferries to the islands. At this point, we were pretty afraid (after Mum's numerous emails about ATHENS RIOTING!!!!) Haha thanks for looking out Mum! But it was actually alright! We found a hostel...Hotel Zeus, and made our way out to see the Acropolis at night! We knew immediately when we were close because all of a sudden, there was outdoor cafe after cafe and music and tourist shops everywhere! We got our first gyro and WOW it was incredible!!! Way too good....and way to hard to resist! After dinner we started our way up the hill to see the Acropolis...unfortunately it was closed off at some point, but it looked nice all lit up!

On our walk back to the hostel, we only knew one way to go, but it was a BAD way! As if we crossed an imaginary line and without warning, we went from the nice cafe area to the slums. The music was gone, it was dark, there was trash everywhere, and tons of people sitting around on the streets. We were still with Zlatan, so even with 2 guys by my side, we were all quite scared. We tried to get out of it, but every corner we turned gave us a worse result. At one point...we looked ahead and said we are NOT going that way, so cut through a building when a mob of them came around the corner...im clutching my bag for dear life and walking as fast as i can. One of the locals says so us..."GO...before they come for you" or something to that effect and it scared the daylights out of us. We start almost running ... passed some prostitutes..when poof...our hostel is right there...in the worst part of town! It was safe inside though and i sighed with relief when we got inside! There were a couple girls in there using the computers and immediately said "You went left didn't you..we made the same mistake last night"....Thanks for the warning reception man!!

The next morning Brad and i parted ways with Zlatan and even though a bit disappointed to leave without seeing the Acropolis...mostly happy to leave Athens! We hopped on a ferry to Santorini, and being 14 hours, decided to take a nice nap on the benches...broke out our mats and everything! Then we spent the rest of our time playing Rummikub and reading our crazy book about junkies in Dublin!

Our adventures through Albania and into Greece!

The next two days of our life was pretty much spent in busses! Our first bus ride was to the southern tip of Montenegro..to a town called Bar. The whole time we were traveling, Zlatan was talking about how horrible Albania was and how we have to try not to get ripped off, and how the roads and horrible, and so on....Brad and I were pretty interested at this point to see what Albania was going to be like. So our next bus ride was just to cross the border into Albania, and it definitely wasn't the best place to be. We crossed this dodgy wooden bridge that people had to take turns crossing and it looked like the bus was going to make it collapse!! But...the bus driver did it no problem! There was lots of trash everywhere...and quite a bit of poverty. Luckily when the bus dropped us off...the other bus was waiting to take us to Tirana, Albania's capital. And surprisingly, it was really nice!! We were a bit upset to learn that we had missed the last bus into Athens, and that we would have to wait until 4am, but decided to just check out the town and stay up until then! It apparently has one of the biggest squares in a city! And there were pretty paved roads, parks, and TONS of cute outdoor cafes! There was some political protest going on, which was exciting to see...but we did stay clear of it! Luckily, it was a Friday night and we found some cafes that were open really late. We tried this AMAZING fast food...it was basically the Albanian version of Souvlaki...a pita with meat and french fries in it..with this delicious sauce! It was at the recommendation of some Mormon girls from Utah (big surprise!) we met earlier! It was interesting, because these little kids came by and asked for our empty can, so we happily gave it...they said thank you and moved on. THEN...at about midnight these other little kids came by...both smoking cigarettes and couldn't have been older than 8..and we thought they too wanted our empty can. We gave it to them and they threw it back at us..practically laughing in our faces and kept asking for money. Zlatan threw some change to them, but they would NOT leave us alone and kept lifting up his bag...we were SO frustrated. They were bothering us for about 10 minutes before they finally left...but they were little brats...laughing and smoking cigarettes in our faces. When it was eventually time to head towards the bus at 3am...we felt surprisingly VERY safe walking through the city...despite what we had heard about it being such an unruly country! At one point though, these 2 little kids came up to us and followed us the whole walk back..they did not say a word, but just walked beside us with their hand out. This time...we didn't acknowledge them AT ALL, and even tried to duck into a restaurant to avoid them. Afterwards though...we felt a bit bad, because they really did loook bad off...the little girl cuddled in her brothers jacket on the side of the road as our bus took off...but those other kids completely ruined it for us.

Right before we hopped on the bus, we noticed someone hand our bus driver a really shady looking package (drugs perhaps...probably!) but on we went....for our 15 hour bus ride to Athens. It was crazy too because NEVER before has anyone ever sat in their assigned seats on the busses we have been on. 3 hours after we had been sleeping in our own seats (although i dont know how, because the roads were AWFUL...just paved bumpy crossings), we hear this commotion, and these older Albanian men come and sit right next to me...in a practically empty bus...so of course Brad and i moved...but this kept happening until we realized we had assigned seats. But MAN...they gave us death looks when we were in their seat! So then the sketchy started...right before we got to border crossing..the bus driver pulled over on the side of the road...got off and put something in the luggage area...then hopped back on to precede to the border. I was soooo scared...thinking they tried to sneak it in our bag and we were going to be in crazy Albanian jail... ah! It took FOREVER to go through customs but thank god everything turned out alright. Then we pulled over at a gas station (didn't get gas) and waited from some man to pull up on a motorcycle...the bus driver handed him the package..and off we went! SKETCHY!! But i guess interesting story since everything ended up alright!

Montenegro!

From Dubrovnik...our plan was to make our way to Greece, but to stop at some cool places along the way! As we boarded the bus, we were both sad to leave Croatia, but excited to see a new country...especially one we hadn't even planned to visit originally! It was only a couple hour bus ride to Kotor, Montenegro, and it went by super fast thanks to our new found friend, Johnny from San Diego. We all got off together unsure of what we wanted to do, but soon realized we wanted to hike up to the fortress on top of the mountain! First we stopped to enjoy some lunch and fresh strawberries from the market, and then went on to a surprisingly hard hike. It was just what i like though...lots of little passageways you can choose to take, steep stairs to climb and scary bridges to cross! It had absolutely beautiful views! We stopped at every corner to take pictures, and it just kept getting better and better! We hung out and enjoyed ourselves at the top for a bit, but eventually made our way down to catch the bus to Budva...our original destination at Montenegro. According to Lonely Planet, it is the spot to be!

When we arrived, still traveling with Johnny, we originally planned to camp or sleep on the beach again, but unfortunately the weather had other plans. Instead we found the Hippo Hostel which ended up being AWESOME! And it wasn't even listed in Lonely Planet, which we were quite upset about! The guy running it was from Italy and really cool...it had a full kitchen, included breakfast, free internet...i could go on and on..all for a great price too! We met another guy there named Zlatan...he was born in Bosnia and could speak the language, but lived in Florida...(so could speak ours too!) We all wanted to go out together, and started drinking local Montenegran wine...but it started storming like crazy and sadly we didn't get to see the old town in Budva...big disappointment! Zlatan had told us his plans to get to Greece, which is really what we started out to do from Dubrovnik...and he seemed to know exactly how to get there! Yay...this was a relief since Brad and I definitely didn't...it is really difficult from the coast..which we wanted to stick to! So we decided to leave the next morning with him! We left Johnny with a little goodbye note in the morning...telling him how awesome the club was that we went to in town, and how we met the owner and got hooked up with drinks haha! He was the one that was begging everyone to go out, but fell asleep before all of us...so who knows...maybe he fell for it! :) Bye Johnny and Bye Montenegro!

Dubrovnik!!

To get to the camp site we had to make a 5km trek around the harbor and up a hill. When we arrived we found that it was outrageously priced; no view, no good ground to set up and they cramed us in with all the auto campers. So instead of spending the money we headed towards the beach and figured we'd camp out there. Most of the beaches in Croatia had little to no sand and this was one was no exception. The copacabana beach lacked the glamour of the NYC night club it was named after but it seemed to be a good spot to bed down for the night. Chels and I formed some grooves in the pebbles and ate some bread while we watched the sunset. The best part of the night came soon after the sun had fallen and half our bottle of wine had been drank. In the middle of our converstation we both happened to catch a shooting star!

We slept about as good as you can and had the sound of the waves to lull us back to sleep after any interruption during the night. The rest of the day was spent doing absolutely nothing! We lounged on the beach from sunrise to sunset, taking a coffee break about mid day to write some postcards and a walk to the market around dinner time. Unfortunately this market had no Vegemite, which we would later run completely out of.










We changed locations on the beach for the second night because we figured if security saw us they might think we were making a habbit of this and ask us to leave. Our new spot was probably the rockiest spot on the beach which made it tough to find a groove. I was afraid that if I wiggled around to much it might not turn out to good for my backside. By the time we woke up the next morning we were ready for a night in a hostel.

Dubrovnik is not an easy town to walk around, it is spread out long ways and we refuse to pay for public transport; so we spent the morning walking around trying to find accommodation with free internet. The youth hostel was a ripp off (becoming a trend), so we ended up hitting up this villa that our new friend Long Hii (who we met on the beach and helped fix his sandal) had told us about. When we arrived the owner told us that he had accidentally overbooked the room but he could place a mattress on the floor for one of us. Instead of being mad, we were pumped to be in a position to negotiate, two for one. After some rest and a much needed shower, we took a long walk to Dubrovnik's Old City.












The walk was well worth it. The old city is in great condition, even after being bombed only 10 years ago! Restaurants and shops line the stone streets along with a church here and there. We decided to grab a drink at this bar called Buzo, perfectly located on the water. Finishing up our tour of the old city with a seat on a bench on the port, where we ran into Long Hii. We grabbed a bite to eat on the walk back and the night ended shortly after.

korcula... fail

We hung out in the hostel and waited for our ferry to the island of Hvar. Well, turns out that we bought a ticket for the island further south of Hvar called Korčula istead. SO we rolled with it since we had read great things about Korcula in Lonely Planet and stayed on the boat after its brief stop in Hvar. The ferry dropped us off at Vella Luka, which is unfortunately on the other end of the island, 48 km away for the city of Korcula and since it was a national holiday, there was no bus. A decision needed to be made. Either walk 5 km to the nearest camp site in Vella Luka and catch the bus the next day, OR hoof it and press our luck hitch hiking. Fresh off the success of free transport and feeling confident, we chose the latter.

Chel's and I headed out with our packs, and new friend Trina from Vancouver who we met on the ferry. Quick note to those who live in America not familiar with kilometers, 48km is approximately 30 miles and by about mile 3, or km 5, we were hurtin! No driver wanted anything to do with three foreigners with massive backpacks so as soon as we got to the next small town Trina dropped off. Not feeling like backtracking, we pushed on hoping to get to the next town before sunset. Travelers luck hit us right as we were about to give up as a bus came bombing around the corner. We jumped in front of it and flagged it down. Just happy to sit down we didn't mind paying a few kuna to ride.

It was a good thing we caught this bus because we had to travel up and over the mountain to get to our destination. So instead of a multi hour trip, it took just 4o minutes. Although we were glad to have gotten a ride, those feelings changed when we realized that nearly all accommodation on the island was NOT OPEN yet (thanks for the heads up lonely planet). We used out traveler instincts and headed to the nearest watering hole. The owner of the wine shop ended hooking us up with guy who had a few rooms available.

We met some Aussie's staying at the same place as us and we had a few drinks in the owners cellar/bar. He kept giving us pitchers of wine and the day seemed to be getting better and better. The owners name was Simon. We took Simon for the type of guy who just didn't like to drink alone and shared his wine for a good time, and Scott, the Aussie we met, told us he had been giving out drinks the night before. We were all about it. However, when Simon called me outside and revealed that we owed him a good bit of money for the wine we had been drinking, I felt scammed and off to bed we went.

We woke up the next morning wanting to get out of there asap. Simon didn´t put up a fight when we refused to pay..maybe he knew he was in the wrong and we went our seperate ways. The highlight of the day was that we got to enjoy some bacon and eggs for the first time since we left, and it was delicous. We read some of our book as we waited for the bus and arrived in Dubrovnik around 7pm.

Travels with Klaus and Hter

After a lovely day at the park, we returned with Klaus and Hter to Senj...first stopping a very cute and quaint little restaurant and watermill down the road! It was really beautiful and they caught all their fish fresh before serving it to you...very cool! I didn't even get anything to eat, but they gave me a free tank top for a souvenir! :)

After another night in Senj, Brad and I had planned to find our own way to Zadar, but Klaus came up to us and offered to keep driving us, as they were heading south too! We happily tagged along, because not only was it a free ride, but it was great company! Zadar was really really nice! It had an awesome harbor and promenade with lots of cute cafe's! We spotted an awesome yacht and were temped to try and find some work :) But apparently Zadar is known for its amazing sunsets..which we sadly didn't see..even Alfred Hitchcock wrote about them! But really were mostly excited because this one nice cafe had FREE internet!! ahh we were so excited, cus at this point, were still anxiously awaiting for an email about Samantha's baby...boy..girl...was it here yet?! Still no news, and on we went to Sibenik

Sibenik the city...may or may not have been nice...but we did not find out! The camping site was way outside the city and the bus had stopped running from the campsite! But the campsite was actually a HUGE development of hotels, sporting activities, clubs and more! We again, saw a beautiful sunset like we have every night in Croatia *so lucky!!* and walked around to find some live music in one of the hotels! When we made our way back to our tent, Klaus and Hter had broken out their wine and chocolate and we sat and had great conversation with them all night! After the first bottle of wine, out came some German beer and champagne! They were truly so kind and generous to us!! And we just loved hearing all their stories and learning about the German music and culture! Before we left the next morning, we took a picture with them...or as Klaus says "I must make a picture"!

After Sibenik, we made a quick stop over in Trogir, which was a beautiful old little town on the coast! We all loved it!!! They had some castles and pretty churches there, but i really like all the big wooden boats! We were also lucky enough to catch some traditionally Croatian music and dance right by the water! After some sightseeing, we ran into the fresh food markets, and had to buy some fruit and bread! We also grabbed some fast food...a cheeseburger...which was AMAZING and HUGE!! Brad and I shared it and were full! Half of it is still bigger than two cheeseburgers from McDonalds! It comes with tomatoes and cucumbers too which really add a nice touch! For some reason, i thought my Oma and Grandad would have really liked the Trogir!

Then we were off to Split, where we sadly parted ways with Klaus and Hter...only after eating some of their delicious strawberries they just bought in Trogir! We were so thankful for them, and will always remember them...hopefully even find them again when we are in Germany! We found a small family run hostel there, which was very clean, had a full kitchen, and satellite TV and free internet! SO nice and the son was super nice and helpful! Of course...i jump straight online to find out that KYLIE was born!!!! Brad couldn't stop smiling and we walked down to the promenade to celebrate with a bottle of wine by the water! There were tons of kids around, so of course we just couldn't stop talking and smiling about what Kylie will be like when we meet her! The promenade was great! Nice benches and plants everywhere with an awesome view of the ocean! We really liked it, but there was no camping, and we were ready for some beach time on the islands anyway, so decided to move on the Hvar in the morning!

Plitvice National Park!!

Not much sleep in Senj, I wish it was excitement keeping us awake but it was the wind blowing our tent around. There was hardly any grass at the site (mostly rocks) so our spikes made it about a half inch into the ground, which lasted about 2 minutes when the wind started howling. We would find out later that this particular valley is known for its wind lol. We shook off the sleepiness with a cup of coffee, generously offered up by our new travel mates. Their names are Klaus and Hetier (spelling sorry) and i am not positive of their age but we know they are retired and they are from Deutschland (and i feel sooooo uneducated because i saw Deutsche on some travel books and thought it was the Dutch way of saying Dutch, and i was upset...thinking i should have known that...being part Dutch and all! Well then i found out Deutsche is how the Germans say German and Deutschland is Germany!!... so embarrassed!) Klaus traveled the U.S 50 years ago and we enjoyed sharing stories with each other!

So we got to know each other a bit more before we took off towards Plitvice! Our seats were at their makeshift kitchen table in the back of there van, comfortable and free! The park is approximately 100km away from Senj offering up some of great views of the Croatian Islands and Adriatic Sea as we traveled along the windy roads up and over the mountains. Approaching the park the land was very flat and mostly and ripe with tall pine trees and herds of sheep. Lucky enough there is a camp site 8km away from the park and we set up tent there in the mid afternoon. We had a nice nap, then woke up with a shower and a trip to the market. After dinner we enjoyed some good old American drinking games with our cheap,1L Croatian Beer and watched the sunset. Just the two of us played circle of death, which is definitely a group game, but it ended up being so fun with lots of singing and laughter involved!

We woke up early, as we usually do when camping and packed everything up so we could leave right from the park. Klaus offered us a ride back...so nice!! So we accepted! The sun was shinning bright, we had arrived at the park free of charge and got a student discount for our entry tickets.

The day had started off great and was about to get better. As soon as we walked in we could see the largest waterfall in the park, which is about 78meters high with offshoots shooting in every direction falling to the turquoise blue lake below. The natural bridges made of split logs rest right on top of the waters surface. They coexist perfectly with the parks landscape, not disturbing any views and more importantly any ecosystems. The treasures of the park kept coming as we were able to walk right up to a collection of waterfalls, which led is into a series of tunnels and pitch black caves. After finishing up with the first half of the park we hopped on the ferry boat to take us to the next half. Although the pictures may all seem similar, each falls had a different look and feel. The flow of water in an unstoppable force, something to admire and respect, a reoccurring theme of Plitvice. Our hike ended with a walk through the forest. The leaves on the trees seemed lime green and their trunks were covered with an awesome dark green moss which. The surface area of the park is over 270 square km and we covered nearly all of it. Not trying to sound cliché but it is impossible to justly describe the beauty of Plitvice National Park, you just have to see it. This was a dream made reality for us, a definite must for any nature lover with proper means!

Rab!! ... and a fun night in Senj

This morning, we took a catamaran to an island called Rab, as recommended by the receptionist at the hostel! It was looking like a promising day, but the second we arrived, a crazy storm started brewing, and before we knew it, it was pouring down rain! It was our first time having to use our trash bags over our packs! The campsite was a Looonnnggg walk away, and in the rain with crazy wind...it was not fun! We went into a hotel and were told its only 500 meters more....then walked FOREVER and asked a random little hut on the side of the beach and were told...only 500 meters more! WHAT?! that wasn't the first time we heard 500 meters either!

BUT when we arrived, the campsite was very very cool! It had everything...tons of restaurants, cafes, a market, a bakery, a playground, mini golf, ping pong tables and it was right on the beach with beautiful sunsets!! People definitely lived there permanently! But it actually reminded me of the caravan park i would go to with Oma and Grandad! So brought back good nostalgic memories! Too bad though...a lot of the things were still closed...apparently the whole island opens up on May 1st...so we were a few day shy!

So it was pretty miserable as it did NOT stop raining for a day and a half straight! We pretty much hung out in the tent and at one of the cafes all day..played cards, did a lot of sewing, read our lonely planet book...luckily, on the 3rd day we were there, it was nice enough to walk around the town. The Romans had some old establishments there, and they actually let u walk in them and explore. We climbed to the top of an old lookout point, and had a beautiful view of the city! Then we stumbled upon this amazing trail that winds through the woods, and it was so nice! And we had been so good the last few days with not eating out, so we decided to go out for some cevap...mmmhhm Meat again!

Of course, on the day we leave, it is absolutely gorgeous outside with not a cloud in the sky!! Luckily our bus wasn't leaving until 4, so we found ourselves a big rock on the coast and soaked up the sun! It was sooo nice! I loved that rock...i think it was just because it wasn't raining...but we made a nice lunch on it...und a really comfortable groove to lay on! Didn't want to leave, but we had made a firm decision to go to Plitvice lakes national park...even though it was going to cost us some money!! So we caught our bus to a town called Senj! It was cool because the bus had to go on the ferry, and i had never really done that before...0o the things that excite me!

When we got to our campsite in Senj, it was straight rocks!! AND we found out a bus wasnt leaving to go to Plitvice for 4 more days!! Ahhhh we did not want to stay in Senj for 4 days....so we were planning on making the walk (we later found out...yeah right...we could NOT have done it!) and camping along the way! As we enjoyed the sunset, we suddenly head music and looked behind us to see an older man playing the accordion! How cool! Before we knew it, everyone from the campsite was gathered around and we were being force-fed (although we were not objecting) homemade Italian wine, champagne, Italian cake!! Everyone was singing or humming along..It was Great!! It was hilarious trying to communicate with everyone...we even broke out our language book as this Italian man was trying to speak French to us! Phew...that was hard! The accordion player, Klaus, spoke English too and when we said USA everyone immediately thought California!! It was awesome...everyone was so nice! Then these two younger kids who were backpacking from northern Germany joined us, and luckily spoke wonderful English! It was nice to be able to communicate again, and they brought up in conversation that we were trying to head to Plitvice to Klaus, and he offered us a ride with them!!!! It was the best news ever!! It was a pretty late night for everyone, but eventually we go to bed...excited for what was ahead of us!