Vliegende Lies

[vliegendelies]

Ha! Nogal onverwachts hebben Bob en ik een antikraakhuisje weten te vinden in Den Haag. In één klap had ik nachtmerries over veelste plotselinge verhuizingen, over alleen in een huis zitten als Bob straks naar Colombia gaat en waar ga ik al mijn zooi laten?! Uiteindelijk hebben we alle hulptroepen (aka de papa's en de mama's) in moeten schakelen om de badkamer schoon te maken zodat wij op ons al langer geplande tripje naar Warsaw konden. Waarom Warsaw? Easy, ik was nog nooit in Polen geweest, Bob had wel goede herinneringen aan Polen, en de tickets waren spotgoedkoop en overnachtingen niet al te duur. Dus nu, in een vreemde stad, nadat we al veelste veel geld aan onverwachte borg/huur/vloerbedekking/gaskachel hebben uitgegeven terwijl we (naja vooral ik) zitten te stuiteren van de stress en ik amper aan iets anders kan denken dan het inrichten van keukenkastjes. Stap 1: eten. Altijd een goed plan. Bob heeft een rare obsessie met sushi, dus hebben we de eerste avond in Warsaw naar ronddobberende kleefrijst met rauwe vis zitten kijken bij Tomo. 's Avonds droomde ik zelfs over lekker eten ipv het witten van muren. Stap 2: frisse lucht. De lucht is hier nu -medio maart- ongeveer even koud als in NL met een krappe 10 graden. Maar op sommige straathoeken zie je nog restanten sneeuw. De grauwe stad heeft wel iets spannends en maakt een makkelijk decor voor leuke kleine cafeetjes, gekke galeries en winkeltjes, hoewel je soms wel goed moet zoeken. Stap 3: een goede dosis kunst. Na wat ronddwalen door de Old Town, wisten we eigenlijk even niet meer waar we heen wilden. Surprise: op donderdag zijn een aantal musea gratis, waaronder Zachęta, de National Art Gallery. Het grootste deel was wel erg modern en erg abstract, niet helemaal mijn smaak- maar de tentoonstelling over kinderboek illustraties was erg leuk en inspirerend. Stap 4: meer eten! We denken aan wat Pools eten voor vanavond maar zeker weten doen we nog niet. Voor morgen staat er in ieder geval een Poolse food tour op het programma waarbij we in een communistisch busje door de hele stad worden gereden. Kortom, Warsaw stelt ons niet teleur en stappenplannen/lijstjes komen goed van pas in tijden van teveel/te snel/enz.

[vliegendelies]

So weird to be back and busy in the Netherlands, knowing I won’t step on a plane for at least some months. So hopefully I can find some adventure within these familiar walls and borders. As everyone else is spreading their wings and flying out for their summer holidays, I have just started my internships. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for shedding this white doctor’s coat during the hours I can go outside and enjoy some daylight?

[vliegendelies]

Budva Yesterday we had a lazy day and didn't do much except play games at the hostel and walk around the old town of Budva. Today we gathered up some people (3 Belgian girls) to go on a fishing trip. We found a really nice man with a boat and fishing rods who took us out onto the water. It was awesome. We caught 9 fish (the "captain" caught the biggest, no. 10) so we had enough to put on the BBQ tonight, even though our 9 fish were tiny. I also took a swim and a nap and felt so relaxed after the boat trip! Maybe we'll do it again tomorrow.

[vliegendelies]

Foodies in Old Town Bar After sightseeing we had some homemade pomegranate juice. After that we crossed the bridge to a restaurant where we had an amazing traditional Montenegrin 5 course dinner. I had the best tomato sauce ever! Then back across the street for some rakija and blueberry whine (=lemonade). Next day, we took the bus to Budva, only 2 hours further west.

[vliegendelies]

Old town Bar The walk up to the old town of Bar was about 5 km, but it was way more enjoyable than the Bar we had seen so far. Part of the town were the ruins of the old old town. Some of the buildings were nicely renovated, but it was also nice scavenging around the ruins. It had a quiet Pompeii feeling.

[vliegendelies]

More roads, more tripping We bought apricot rakija near the Tara Bridge and we made friends with a dog at Moraça monastery - beautiful frescoes!

[vliegendelies]

During the road trip we stopped at Black Lake to walk and stretch our legs for a bit. We bought some homemade blueberry lemonade and honey.

[vliegendelies]

Road tripping! After two days in the rafting camp we headed back to the coast. We made the way back into a road trip through Durmitor National Park, along the Tara Canyon and down south to Bar. Durmitor was really pretty. Sheeps herds, horses, cows, all grazing in a beautiful rough landscape. Apparently it's not that scary to drive through the clouds.

[vliegendelies]

On our second day in Šćepan Polje, we went to the town of Plužine to kayak on the Piva Lake. Bob wasn't allowed to take off his shirt because of his sun burns. We kayaked for about 10k after which we celebrated with a platter of local pork meat and local blueberry juice. We made animal friends.

[vliegendelies]

Perast On our third day in Montenegro we took the bus from Kotor to Perast. It's a little village also located in the bay of Kotor, famous for it's two little islands with churches. We took a boat to one of the islands and wandered around. The church was filled with antique and curiosa. The story goes a fisherman found a painting of Maria and baby Jesus on a rock in the water and since that discovery, people kept throwing rocks in the water to keep the painting dry. Eventually, so many rocks were thrown into the sea that an island arose, big enough to build a little church. After walking around in the heat (artificial islands don't have many trees) we relaxed on a terrace overlooking the sea.

[vliegendelies]

I don't have a lot of rafting pics, because I only had an analog waterproof camera with me. Bob does have proof he was wearing a life jacket.

[vliegendelies]

On the Montenegrin roads We picked up our rental car- a sparkling new Hyundai i10- and hit the road. The first road was one with 25 hairpin corners. Bob had a blast, especially when we had to back up again for oncoming buses. The road up north was also beautiful as we got surrounded more and more by beautiful mountains.

[vliegendelies]

More of yesterday

[vliegendelies]

Third day in Montenegro After the trip to Perast, we took a break. At night we climbed the hill to the old fort again. Such pretty colours! We arranged a rental car for the upcoming days and wrote down some places we'd like to see.

[vliegendelies]

Perast part 2

[vliegendelies]

Perast On our third day in Montenegro we took the bus from Kotor to Perast. It's a little village also located in the bay of Kotor, famous for it's two little islands with churches. We took a boat to one of the islands and wandered around. The church was filled with antique and curiosa. The story goes a fisherman found a painting of Maria and baby Jesus on a rock in the water and since that discovery, people kept throwing rocks in the water to keep the painting dry. Eventually, so many rocks were thrown into the sea that an island arose, big enough to build a little church. After walking around in the heat (artificial islands don't have many trees) we relaxed on a terrace overlooking the sea.

[vliegendelies]

Kotor part 2