Bosnia-Herzegovina - Mostar

After enjoying four beautiful days in Dubrovnik we had one more stop before heading home to Canada - Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Mostar was like no city we have ever been. Evidence of the recent war was apparent in the bullet riddled buildings and the local Muslim cemetery where every tomb was dated 1993, 1994 or 1995. Despite this, the locals were very welcoming (apart from a young guy in a cafe who sternly reminded us that we were in Bosnia and therefore Croatian currency was NOT welcome) and the scenery picturesque. It was a very rewarding and unique place to spend our last days traveling.

Building lining the Bulevar which used to be the main drag in Mostar. However, today much of the Bulevar is in ruins as this was the front line between the Bosniak and Croatian forces in Mostar during the war.
Buildings with damage from war.

View of the Old Bridge which has spanned the Neretva River for four centuries and is considered a point where east meets west.

View of Mostar - notice the cross on top of the hill.

Jade walking along Coppersmiths' Street.

View from inside the Koski Mehmed-Pasha Mosque.

The gardens at the Mosque.

Dubrovnik

Hi everyone!

While we are now back in Canada, we wanted to outline the last places we visited while in Eastern Europe. One of those places was the very lovely Dubrovnik, or the "Pearl of the Adriatic", on the Croatian Dalmatian Coast.

Dubrovnik's Old Town is surrounded by just over a mile of walls and forts which have protected the city for centuries - most recently in 1991 following Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia and the siege from the Serbians as a result. There is still evidence of the siege in the Old Town as numerous buildings were destroyed and have not yet been replaced and new brighter orange tiles replace those older tiles that were destroyed.

We all enjoyed our time here as the weather was excellent, the seafood amazing and the water warm!!


View of the Old Town (and the new bright orange tiles) from along the city walls.
The main Stradun promenade through the center of the Old Town.


Hiking along the city walls.
View of the Stradun from the city walls.
Dubrovnik's old port and the nearby island of Lokrum.

Lance enjoying his view of Dubrovnik from Lokrum.

Amy striking a pose....thinking about Jenny Craig and how to justify that extra bottle of wine she drank.
Ian and Jade enjoying the warm water. Notice Jade's starfish impression and Ian's "Doggy Paddle Jackson style" impression (under-bite included).

View from our apartment in Dubrovnik overlooking the Fort of St. Lawrence.

Plitivice Lakes National Park - Croatia

Hello from Croatia!!!

Budapest was amazing and it was sad to leave, however, Croatia is BEAUTIFUL. Our first stop in Croatia was Zagreb where we ate with some locals on their lunch break at a traditional Croatian restaurant. It was $7 Canadian for soup, salad, bread, calamari with vegetables and pancakes (crepes!). We were pleasently surprised with how affordable it was and grabbed our rental car for the drive to Plitivice Lakes National Park in the interior of Croatia.

The park is the oldest national park in Croatia and is also where the first shots in the Croatian - Yugoslavian war were fired. In 1991 a park policeman was the first casualty. On the drive from Zagreb to the park we actually saw numerous abandoned Serb houses and buildings damaged from the war.

Below are all pictures from the park except the last two....those pictures are from when we attempted to be cheap and walk our way into the park. We were given directions from the lady at the sobe (Croatian bed and breakfast) we were staying at...however....english was her second language and the directions did NOT translate. We ended walking deep into the Croatian forest which had an eerie fog around it. After 20 minutes Ian had the sense to make us turn around, take the car and pay the park entrance fee.

The park was one of a kind with 16 waterfalls and two large lakes. The beautiful colouring of the lakes which can be seen in some of the pictures is from calcium carbonate which is a mineral deposit from the nearby limestone (the same thing that makes hardwater hard).

Budapest at 1 AM

Hello All!!!


It is 1 AM in Budapest and Lance and I are going to do a very quick post on our way home for the night.

The 0vernight train here was much better than our previous one from Prague and we found ourselves very refreshed and ready to see all that Budapest has to offer.

We are staying in a gorgeous apartment off of the Vaci Utca which was where the first McDonald's in Eastern Europe was opened. Mmmmm filet o' fish. Budapest is a stunning city and seems to be, by all accounts, Jadian's and Lamy's favourite destination. The sites are grand and powerful as is the Danube running through it. It is truly amazing.

We have hiked up the main hill on the Buda side, viewed parliament on the Pest side and even soaked in a bath-house with local Budapesters. Amazing ;) We have one more day and night and we are super excited to take in all the city has to offer.

As for this moment, Lance and I have just come back from a delicious dinner on a boat on the Danube followed by a "Student Party" also held on a boat on the Danube. Too much wine and student beer :)

Bye for now! We will post more pictures (and maybe videos of me getting my groove on at the student party????) soon!

Lots of Love,

Amy, Lance (and Jadian from their bed back at Vaci Utca)






View of Budapest's Castle hill from a nearby dog park (for real!!!!- the nicest dog park we have ever seen!)
Budapest Castle....
More of Budapest's Castle....
View of the Chain Bridge from Budapest's Castle
Chain Bridge crossing the Danube.
Jade and Ian at the House of Terror which documents both the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Hungary.
Dinner on a boat on the Danube. Behind the stunning Canadian is the Chain Bridge and Budapest's Castle.
Budapest's castle by night.
Amy and Lance crashing "Student Night Party" on a boat on the Danube in Budapest. Lance felt out of place, however, there was a "student" there taking cover charge who must have been working on his fourth doctorate degree making Lance look like a baby....

Krakow!!!! Amy Style

Hello All!!!

After letting Lance and Ian control the blog for the first two posts, I have decided to regain some control. Please note that in the first post there is not a single picture of my face...only a shot where a small portion of my torso is included (only because I was sitting behind the pint of beer the boys were taking a picture of). Sigh.

So, with that, let me detail our trip from Prague to Krakow. Firstly, it was a 9 hour overnight train from Prague to Krakow. We were in a 6 person couchette and we were joined by "Anna" from Perth. "Perth" had mixed reviews but she was a relatively quiet bunkmate so that is good. The toilets on the train were scary as they had blackish sludge on the bottom of them. I tried my best to dehydrate myself before going on, but alas, my bladder got the best of me and I had to make 3 journeys to the dreaded bathroom. Shudder. Lance, Ian and myself did not have a very good sleep however Jade seemed completely refreshed in the morning and did not even stir when the conductor woke us up in the morning. Ian had to give her a love tap (i.e.: a swift kick in the ribs) to wake her up.

Krakow is beautiful but quite a bit different from Prague. It is much less touristy and many of the buildings are in the process of being restored. There are fewer crowds and the pace is not quite as fast. This might be however because some of us are still recouperating from Prague. We are staying in the Old Town right near the Main Market Square on a street with many great restaurants, pubs and ice cream shops. It is a 10 minute walk from Krakow's Wawel Castle and a 20 minute walk to the Jewish quarter (Kazimierz). Tomorrow we are off to Auschwitz and then on another night train to Budapest!!! We will make sure to update you all once we land in Hungary.

We hope you are all doing well. Big shout out to Dayve who just had his birthday and to Chick Pea Herman- I hope farm school is "WHEEAAAWWWW" worthy.

Love,

Lamy and Jadian

Couchette on the overnight train to Krakow from Lance's view point on the top bunk. Ian called bottom.

Lance on the overnight train looking like he has been overcome by heat stroke and Ian using the wrong hole (for his earplugs). I have heard that is a common problem for him.....

Ian, Jade and Lance outside of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul joining the 11 apostles.


The Old Cemetery in Kazimierz.

Lance and Ian in the Old Cemetery covering their heads to show respect.

Fine dining with wine and good friends.

Jade and Ian reading Rick Steves - a happy time for everyone involved.

Wawel Hill - a symbol of Polish royalty and independence.

Cappucino time in a square in Kazimierz.

The fire belching dragon beneath Wawel Hill - one of the founding fathers of Krakow slayed the dragon according to folklore - and Lance.

Lance contemplating dragons and folklore.....with an authentic Irish coffee....in Poland....hmmmm.....

Hello everyone. Sorry for the delayed update. We had several problems with the computers in Prague at our hostel. Below are a few more sightseeing photos for you to enjoy. We basically kept to the same itinerary ..........eat, drink, sightsee and then more eating and copious amounts of drinking. I think to the extent that Ian and I basically forgot our names. I believe Ian said it best the next morning when the only thing he could recall was the second jagerbomb at the Italian restraunt we were at and everything after that just faded to black. Note to self do not have a beer drinking contest the day before you have to leave. Not to mention the girls were less than impressed when they had to babysit us that late night. Amy said she woke up several times just to make sure I was still breathing. LOL! Honestly though we were ok. We had a great time, paid for it a bit the next day but all in all , it was worth it! :P.

We took an overnight train from Prague to Krakow. It is now 3:30 in the afternoon on Thursday, and we had quiet the experience in the overnight train. But I will elaborate on that in the next post as well as bring you pictures ect. once we do a little sightseeing here. So far what we can tell you is it is very pretty and clean with polite people, lots of shopping and great food.

Bye for now and we will talk to you all soon.

Lamy and Jadian


Here is a pick of Jade on the 4 person paddle boat we rented. Probably one of the best things we did while in Prague. It was extremely relaxing, quiet and very picturesque.
This is a shot of the inside of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle. It contains the tombs and relics some of the most important local Kings and Saints of the region.
This is a shot of Amy from the top of the clock tower (pictured below from the square). It gave us a great view of the sqaure and people below.
The shot of the clock tower in the square. Directly opposite from the Tyn church which was pictured in an earlier post.