Well Internet, I've come to my last full day in Europe before I start traveling home*. Today I start to make my way back to California and then finally Vancouver. Since I'm getting over a cold, sitting in a park in Zagreb loopy on whatever medicine the pharmacist just gave me, I thought it was time to make a final Europe post about the past three weeks. TURKEY! Andrea and I set off to Istanbul, Turkey the same day my mom headed home. We had unfortunately flown Alitalia, an airline I will now avoid like the plague. After being rescheduled and then three hours late, we lost an entire day in Istanbul and had to cram it all into one. We felt optimistic though; the three weeks of ambitious backpacking had begun. Steph had told us to stay near Taksim square and after plenty of research I had found a newer hostel called '#bunk'. I know what you're thinking, I laughed too. But it was actually perfect; everything looked like the pictures and the small pool of reviews were accurate. We couldn't have been happier with this hostel. It even had a rooftop bar/common area overlooking the city... It was spectacular. The night we arrived we only had time to check-in and grab dinner, so we walked to a nearby restaurant suggested by our hostel. The city was much cleaner and organized that we had expected, but holy is it busy. Stores seemed to be open until 11pm and people were everywhere. There were also police everywhere. Now, I'm not sure if that's because it was a Saturday night or because of the earlier demonstrations in Taksim square... My guess is the demonstrations. We later met a guy at our hostel who told us that earlier that day he was shopping on the Main Street when people started yelling "tear gas". Then, everyone went into the stores and they barricaded the doors. Apparently it was just a threat by the police, but nevertheless it was crazy to think that had happened only hours before we had arrived... And about five minutes from our hostel. Everyone we met was so friendly and helpful. I can't imagine growing up somewhere were you feel your voice isn't properly heard. We had gotten up early for our crammed-packed Sunday in Istanbul and we were able to do almost everything we had wanted! We walked to the Blue Mosque, took the ferry over to Asia and back and attempted to go the Grand Bazaar. I say attempted because there's a story here. We followed our map and soon noticed it was funnelling us into an street/alley packed with pushy vendors. It seemed a bit off, but it's where the signs pointed and we thought maybe it would lead up to the entrance. Andrea then turned to me and whispered "this guy in the leather jacket just ahead has been following us since the main road". I looked behind and also saw a taller man in a leather jacket and said "I'm sure it's ok, they're probably heading to the market maybe trying to pickpocket, just watch your bag." But after a few minutes, with us watching them, passing them, then them passing us, we realized that no, they were in fact following us and kept looking at each other. We then decided to get the heck out of there and speeded out the way we came. Eventually we lost them, but felt really bummed we hadn't seen the Grand Bazaar. That night we found out that it had been closed for a national holiday, so we didn't even have a chance! Yay! This was a relief, nothing you can do about national holidays you had no idea existed. I told the awesome hostel staff member our creepy story and he said that unfortunately near the tourist areas that can happen; some men follow young women to pickpocket or just for their own pleasure because to them you're exotic, ew. All that mattered is that we were safe and trusted our instincts. Cheers to Andrea for being in the ball! We both loved Istanbul and were sad we didn't have a couple more days (cue evil glare towards Alitalia airlines). But we did feel we got to see a lot though and look forward to going back someday. All of a sudden we were back at the airport and headed to Bodrum, a town on the west coast of Turkey where we could catch a boat to Greece. This was a major gem to find and although quite touristy, it was way less busy than Istanbul. Bodrum is beautiful, the streets are picturesque and the knock-off shopping is outrageous. We stayed at the 'Red Lion' which also had a bar on the beach, and they hooked us up. We had a great couple days there enjoying Kababs, Apple tea, Turkish delights and Hookah on the beach. Ahhhh, Turkey... I'll be coming back to you. And next time for more than four days. GREECE! I think Greece is one of those countries that even if you're not a big fan of travel, or Europe for that matter, you still hope to visit once in your life. Islands galore, beaches for days and food that makes your mouth water, this was our paradise. Yes, Greece had been high in my list for years and I wasn't disappointed. Our first stop was Kos, an island not too far from Turkey and a great link-up to the rest of the country. This turned out to be a great island to start with: less expensive, lots of beaches and all very walkable. We had no idea that it was a big destination for Swedes and Norwegians, but we had arrived just before high-season and missed the big influx of travellers. We beached it, ate a lot, and played cards. One of the days we rented a doon buggy and drove around the whole island, beach hopping and taking in the sights. It was a lot of fun and took up the whole day. Andrea was a great driver, especially since there was no windshield and it maxed out at 50 mph! It was a blast. In order to get to Santorini we had to take a 'Blue Star Ferry' that left at 730pm and arrived at 130am. Seemed like an odd hour, but the sunset we saw from the water was breath taking and it had given us a full extra day in Kos. The boat was huge and I think that it was once a cruise ship. Worth every penny! After a long sleep we set out to explore Santorini. We stayed in Thira at the 'Villa Soula' and were very happy with the location. The room was great; we had our own deck with lots of sun and plenty of space. We were only a few minutes walk to the town filled with shops and restaurants all tucked-in with the dreamy white and blue buildings. This island was so unique and romantic we didn't know what to do with ourselves. I think it's safe to say that it was our favourite island. The day after we attempted to go out and meet people (I say attempted because there weren't many travellers, mainly locals and a con-tiki tour of all girls) we went on a planned day trip. We went by boat to hike a volcano, then a small town on the water for lunch and ended in Oia, another town in Santorini. This is were something magical happened... we rode donkeys up to the town. DREAM COME TRUE. I'm still a bit disappointed that I haven't been on a camel, but the donkey was hilarious and a lot of fun (One day imaginary camel, one day). I was at the front having the time of my life, while an annoying 40-something woman behind me yelled and screamed about how stupid her donkey was and how it was trying to kill her. Andrea (who was behind her) and I just kept laughing at this woman because the donkeys were clearly aware of what to do: zigzag from side to side on to get up the very steep hill. I understand that it could be nerve racking when it comes to the cliff face side, but lady, if that scares you get off the donkey. Her husband who was further back was also laughing, so we just continued up happy as can be, while this woman threatened to murder her donkey. I myself was petting mine and cheering him on. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing. What a little trooper just clip-clopping up and down. When we got to the top we walked around and found a nice restaurant to watch the sunset. It was beautiful and the litre of wine for $15 CND was delicious. Day after day seemed like a travel dream come true! Our final Greek Island was Mykonos. I don't have much to say about Mykonos since we mainly just laid by the beach and pool, but I do think that one or two days is plenty. The town is super cool; a white and blue labyrinth. Yet it can be very expensive and unless you rent a car or scooter, it's quite hard to get around. We walked a ton and enjoyed the exercise, but it was our least favourite of the three island. A few months prior we had a tough decision to make: cut out Athens and fly from Mykonos to Croatia, or get to Athens and fly from there. We heard from lots of people that Athens was overrated so despite it being expensive, we decided to fly from Mykonos to Dubrovnik. Realistically by cutting out boating to Athens and the city itself, it probably would have added up to the same amount. We went early to the airport, but finally when it was time to board... We were delayed. The wind was crazy and we waited every twenty minutes to see if we'd ever take off. As the minutes passed we became more and more concerned that we'd miss our connector to Dubrovnik. Since the airport had free wifi, we were searching when the next flight was and were concerned since the next Croatian Airline flight was in two days. Trying to stay calm, given it was out of our hands, we waited and waited until eventually we could board. On the flight we met a group of five Australian girls who were trying to make the same connector. I was really grateful we met them, not only because they were lovely, but travel mishaps are always less stressful when you're in a big group. Despite being moved to first class so we could be the first ones off, we missed the flight by about twenty minutes. All that extra money spent to get us to Croatia faster and here we were in Athens after all... lol travel gods, lol. The seven of us finally found the help desk, after many failed attempts, and crossed our fingers for the best. That's when the travel gods (or maybe Zeus, we were in Athens after all) smiled down on us: the airline provided a free nights stay across the street at a luxury hotel, free dinner and breakfast and rebooked us to Dubrovnik the following day. We were all relieved and also very excited that it was all covered. That hotel turned out to be the nicest one we stayed in the whole trip! Fast forward to the next evening, after a four hour layover in Serbia, andwe had arrived in Croatia safe and sound. CROATIA! I realize that the majority of my posts have me saying "I love this place! It rules! Can't wait to come back!"... and this portion of my travels will sing the same tune. Croatia was a treat, this country has so much to offer and I feel it doesn't get the credit it deserves. We started in the south in Dubrovnik, where Andrea's Dutch friend Milou was able to meet us. We had a great full day in Dubrovnik, checking out the old city, laying at the beach and drinking in public. The architecture is straight out of a medieval novel, and explains why some of Game of Thrones is filmed there. Unfortunately there were no run ins with John Snow, but you can't win them all. Milou had rented a car so we were able to road trip from Dubrovnik to Split. I loved seeing the country from the road, and we even had to pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina to get there. We arrived in Split by the early evening and stayed at an awesome Airbnb. Split was another interesting city; right along the water there is an old palace where you can now find restaurants, hotels, stores and bars. It's very beautiful and although very old, it feels alive. We could instantly tell that there were more backpackers here than any other place we'd been the past few weeks. We explored, played lots of cards and drank a lot of wine. After Milou left, Andrea and I had one night to hop over to Hvar. We stayed at Skansi hostel, which I highly recommend, and met some really fun people. I even got see a friend I had made back in Berlin... He was now working at that hostel! We went on the nightly pub crawl and had a blast. I was really glad we got to Hvar and experienced a backpacker feel in Europe, it had been awhile since we'd met younger travellers and it was nice to just hangout and enjoy the sun. After one last night back in Split, we caught an early bus to Plitvice National Park. This was possibly the most challenging place to reach without a car, but we were able to get there without any issues. Plitvice was one of my top things to do in Croatia and I was very excited to have a hiking day. We spent the entire day walking the trails, taking the water boats and snagging pics. Everywhere we went we saw waterfalls and teal blue lakes; we felt like we were in a fairytale. We lucked out on weather too... it was around 33 degrees Celsius! Our final stop was Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. You cannot buy a ticket in advance for the bus out of Plitvice, you just have to find out what time it comes and wave it down. Luckily, the shuttle bus that takes you to the next town had shown up on time and we made it to Zagreb before noon. We checked-in to our hostel "Hobobear" and headed out to explore. It's actually a very nice city and reminded me a bit of Budapest. The next day Andrea and I said our goodbyes as she headed to the airport, and I spent the next two days in the hostel fighting a cold. I was thankful for the nice hostel staff and the comfy common room to rest up before my travels home. It also gave me time to think about the amazing roller-coaster that the past 9 months in Europe had been. It was finally coming to an end and although I love to see new places, I was ready to come home. That brings me to now, sitting in the park waiting for my flight to London. Tomorrow I will fly to Oslo and finally Oakland. The pilgrimage back begins. North America, here I come! *written June 9th.
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