Zagreb

Next stop in my euro trip was Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. An oversight on my part was not knowing that Croatia is actually not part of the EU. Zagreb is one of the weirdest cities I've ever been to. It was completely dead when we got there, mind you it was 40 degrees, plus there is literally nothing to do there. So we promptly decided to go to the plitvice lakes which is about 2 hours outside of the city.



Buses in Croatia are very interesting they assume you know where your stop is and there is no need to mention any of the stops over the loud speaker. So of course we got off a stop late 15km away from the lakes. Not a problem I thought just catch the next bus or at worse just get a cab there. Well we went into a local hotel and they inform us there wasn't a bus till the afternoon and that because it was a small town there were no cabs. So we were effectively stranded in this town. The only thing I could think of was to hitch-hike hoping hitch-hiking isn't as bad as it is in Australia. Thankfully it didn't come to that and we got a ride with someone in the hotel bar that the receptionist organised. Once we got to the lakes it was one of the most incredible places I've seen. Also we had found where all the people had got to. Supposedly they get an average of 10,000 tourist a day at the lakes.

Next stop Budapest.

Istanbul

First stop of my summer holiday was Istanbul. Staying with my Turkish friend from Copenhagen in the European side of the Bosporus. We actually were staying in student accommodation but most of the other students that stay there had left for the summer. So it was just 2 Aussies and 2 turks = awesome time.



It was an amazing 2 weeks as essentially we were living as Turks. By the end I really got to know and experience life in Istanbul which includes bargaining in the grand bazaar which ironicly is closed on Sunday when bazaar in Turkish means Sunday. Supposedly it was just too busy on Sunday they had to close it.

One of the most memorable moments was crossing over to Asia and drinking tea while the sun set over Europe. The only thing that I think turkey is missing this time was the feeling you were a multi millionaire. With the re floating of the Turkish lira the Aussie dollar is almost 1 to 1 unlike 8 years ago when it was 1 to 1 million. Shame. Anyways thanks so much Alperen and Erdi.

Tomorrow Croatia.

Take care
Jono

The summer is coming to an end

Hey everyone

So I'm here in Amsterdam at the moment coming to the end of a jam pack summer. Currently I'm enjoying glimpses of sun shine as I enjoy a coffee overlooking one of the numerous canals. Definitely the life :)

I'm sorry that I haven't written on my blog for ages. But I've come up with a cunning plan to rectify this. Don't worry it will not include one massive post outlining in extricating detail everything I have done in the last 2 months which I'm sure would bore you all. I have instead decided to post one entry a day on each city I visited. Starting with Istanbul tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy it.

Take care
Jono


- Posted from my iPhone