Food food food in Bibinje

Staying at Bibinje gives us the perks having cheap seafood.

I've missed my eggs and tadah.. I got an omelette!

In italy and greece,it was infinitely difficult to find an egg dish. Even when i did,it would cost 20sgd for a plain omelette. 

But here.. Its more humane.. The omelette usually comes with ham& cheese cost me 8sgd

This is our bench right outside the pension. Perfect for sunsets~

As Bibinje is a tiny tiny town,we have been frequenting the handful of restaurants more than once.

This one has really good pasta and always has a "complimentary" dish. The waiter.. Is super super cute.

It's pizza is hugeee.

This one (nearest to our pansion marta) is out fav. It has really reallyyyyy good and cheap mussels. A KG costs us 12sgd for mussels and the sunset here is really wonderful

It also had a good seafood platter

This is our walk home from e city busstop to the pansion. It is PITCH black other than e car lights infront of us,we usually hafta use a torch.

Another restaurant by the sea.. It gets deathly cold at night!

We did a day trip to Preko,as island across ours and found this place where i had the best tomato soup EVERR

TADAHH

i chose scrambled eggs and zucchini as my main w an additional mashed potato. 

Our ferry tkt costs us 12sgd (2way)

It was a good trip,only wished i didnt rent e damned bicycle and brought my swimsuit along.

The water was SOOO clear it was so tempting to just jump in.

This is the night view from our port in Bibinje,it was beautifully depressing

Went grocery shopping and bought some pasta and sayce to cook on our own.

The really yummy mussels (6sgd) for this place

A few more days of seafood eating before we leave for Split. Im thinking there would be more seafood there as well! 

Plitvice lakes tour

After much contemplation on how to get to Plitvice Lakes..-whether to sleepover there-whether to drive-whether to take public transport-whether to book a tour-

We researched and sleeping over at a town near Plitvice was advised BUT for those who drove.

I am not too good with manual cars neither am i good w left hand drive.

Public transport was IMPOSSIBLE as you reach the lakes only in the last afternoon.

So.. We went to e Centar and hunted for tours.

There weren't much information on various tours online cept a brief one with Romeo & Juliet tours. 

So we walked into the first tour agent we found and they quoted us 500kunas for a 9-6:30pm tour. All in inclusive of breakfast and lunch.

After some walking,we found Romeo and Juliet tours stand quoting us a higher price,cant rmb exactly, but the tour ends at 3pm. All inclusive as well.

Since the first one had a lower price,a longer tour AND an official office,we decided to go for that. 

BEST DECISION EVER. 

The waterfalls were beautiful but i did love the lakes more.

You could see whole trees underwater where the ground had fallen.

The agency MORE TRAVEL was good..

They arranged a free pick up from Bibinje at 8am for us,drove us the the centar and met up with another 10people. A group of 12 we were.

Our guide,Marco was excellent in German and English,conversing and explaining in turns. He was very kind and patient with all of us. Cheerful guy who really loved his job! 

The tour was a full 4hrs in the park. As much as we would have loved more time,the traveling to and fro zadar did not allow it. The pace was wonderful though. He waited patiently when some wanted more pictures than others. The park was soo beautiful.

A magical land it seemed.

It was sad leaving it. After the park,we were driven to a restaurant that had bears,deers and ponies. Up close and personal. Food was above average and we had a smooth drive back to Zadar.

This tour,was everything i had hoped for!

Because it was a pain to figure a way there,here are e details:

More travel: www.morezadar-travel.com

Zadar

Arrived in Zadar at 2pm.. The scenery from Zagreb over was wonderful. A 5 hour bus ride cost us 114 kunas per pax (23sgd)

Zadar is a city by the sea and we decided to book a place at a lil town at e outskirts of Zadar, a fishing vilage called Bibinje. 

Off the coach with no idea which way to head. The host told us the taxi cost would be 60kunas one way,but we were approached by veryy young and good looking guys w "taxi" lanyards.. They quoted 75kunas EACH person. -.-

We passed. Asked e inofrmation,they lead us to a bus stop,city bus 10 would bring us to Bibinje in 15mins. 

The very kind bus driver,told us which way to walk and dropped us off for 10kunas. We were still kinda lost,followed the bus driver's instructions and asked around for Pansion marta. A friendly guy told us "20mins walk" THAT we could not do with our backpacks.

So i asked if he could lend us his phone to call,he did,told our hosts the location and the hosts picked us up in 10mins!

The pansion was wonderful. 10steps away from the beach! A small beach but wonderful all the same.

Our supposed "sharing bathroom" became a private one in the balcony!

Yes,we have our own balcony and fridge.

We decided to extend our stay from 5nights to 6.

:)

We spent the rest of the day walking,supermarketing and having a really good dinner by the port.

Squid ink risotto.

The next day,we visited The Sea Organ, it plays music made by waves contact of the Adriatic Sea.

We met a pervert there who literally ruined my night but other than that,everything was perfect.

We had the most perfect yolk of a sunset ever.

It was abit of a pain to travel from Bibinje to Zadar. The bus 10,only runs every hour. It stopped us at the autobus terminal where we arrived on the first day and we had to change bus to the "Centar" only 2 buses that ran every half hourly.

So timing is critical.

First taste of Croatia

Croatia was never on the list for this trip.

It sounded like a dangerous scary and 3rd worldish place.

But during our travels and meetings with others,we heard good things.

A plus (on my side) was Game of thrones being filmed there!

How bad can THAT be?

After some extensive research,it seemed like a beautiful and safe place to visit.

So we planned a stopover. 

With our visa problems,where better to spend our time at?

Our route: Train into Zagreb and train out from Dubrovnik.

We had 44 days to spare and here it is,this was the place we planned to stay e longest.

Met wonderful Croatians on the train in.

I first thought they were really friendly Austrians and after some friendly chatting,they turned out to be local! BEST ppl to meet and ask for advice!

2 guys were tgt,outta army starting new lives as piracy security. And the girl was a DJ/broker. All met on the train.

The way dominik giggled over the gummies i gave him is unforgettable.. Finally someone who loves them as much as i do! 

The guys were hilarious and vulgar to the max. Many tears came about from laughing.

The joker was actually a Bosnian and kept advertising his country to us.

The girl,Barbara invited us to her DJ gig at a hugeass gay festival. Sadly,we didnt go. Too many factors to consider..

So first impression of Croatia was already made awesome before even stepping in the country. These people were FRIENDLY and WARM. They probably didnt have much interactions w asians/PRCs yet. Unlike most of Europe who really.. Dun like us too much.

Barbara gave us a couple of restaurants to head to and much advise. Another PLUS was that even though the official language is Croatian, most speak fairly good english.. If not,perfect english.

I've been here 5days and i already love it. And this is supposedly the least exciting city of all. The temperature is perfect,slight drizzles bring in really cool air. And the heat isnt too bad. We really melted in Dubai and Austria.

Tomorrow we head to Zadar,the joker and e flower swore that it was their fav city. While Barbara swore by Split.

So we'll see.

Looking forward to much awesomeness this coming month.

Our hostel is only 12 days old. Honestly,i was skeptical as it had no reviews on it but it has been a wonderful stay!

The 2men looking after this place has shown nothing but kindness and patience. Called Zagreb Soul Hostel.

We had a 4 bed room to ourselves and even though they had much lacking,the half empty kitchen,the filmsy shower curtains,empty toilet roll holders,a study table as a reception.. None of it mattered when you see the hosts working so hard to make you happy. We even try to help them. Switching off the corridor lights t save them energy wo being asked.

Cleaning up to lessen their work.

And the location is PERFECT. So many trams stop right infront of this place,its so convenient. I love it.

Can foresee them becoming really popular soon!

Had their macdonalds beef mcwrap.

Never have i had such a tasty meal from macdonalds! I just a had one again today. Last dinner of zagreb.

We also visited the central cemetery,known as one of the most beautiful ones in europe. It really is.

Lunch at Bistro m&z which came HIGHLY recommended by Barbara. Woahh thisss was Some really good grub.

Chilli and cream cheese even followed me back to the hostel for rounds 2&3.

 

Back track Italy CinqueTerre Venice Milan

Cinque terre is famous amongst Italians. 

I've heard of this place by name but never actually took effort to remember anything of it. But before reaching,the research gave me a beautiful expectation of what was awaiting me.

We were advised to stay in La Spezia and do day trips as it was notoriously expensive in any of the Cinque Terre locations.

Cinque-FIVE 

Terre- areas/villages 

Another place much recommended by the Italians to us was PortoVenere.

So we decided to split the visits into 3 days.

1st-PortoVenere

2nd-The beaches

3rd-Cinque Terre 

Got our boat tickets to Porto venere by the port. portovenere can take a full day,so dont try squeezing everything in one.

It was beautiful. Seriously,magical/mythical castley feel to this  place.

Maybe it was the strong winds

Maybe be the clear blue skies and turquoise waters.

Maybe it was the hundreds of seagulls citcling the area..

It was worth e climb to the castle. 

There was a fear of the seagulls attacking us,but we got by fine.

The next day, we headed to the beach.

Oh boy.. It started out intimidating,tiny beach. Too many high school kids. But we decided to "rent a bed" 7euros for e whole day!

There,the peace started.

Bonassola beach.

We had a private area to ourselves. 

The water was freezing but once you get used to it,it was insanely enjoyable.

The waves were massive. Knocking me over and sometimes spinning me a full round!

I've never been comfortable with my body in the past. But now,who the fuck cares? 

After a full day in the sun and getting chao tar. It was time for the main treat.

3 of the 5 villages were chosen as these were the more beautiful ones.

So take your pick from pictures online.

I'm sure the conclusion would be similar.

I loved it. Even though it was a slight rush to complete all 3 in a day. But taking e trains between villages were easy. It was the leaving such beautiful places that was difficult.

There are hiking tracks to connect each village but im too weak and thank god,the easiest one was closed due to weather.

The bump of train strike had been mentioned in a previous post. So we move onto Venice..

This place,i heard so much about.

Top few places to go on my list.. But i was forewarned by a friend not to expect much. In fact,not to expect anything.. I lowered my expectations though the dreamer in me was still excited.

Conclusion: I think my dreamer commited suicide upon reaching Venice.

No romance, no magic.

Water was DIRTY. Gondolas were money making gimmicks (100€ a ride!!) Romantic bridges were filled with people trying to get to the other side.

Venice is lost to me. But at least ive been there,and done..nothing. Lol

Padua/padova was wonderful thanks to the people we met as mentioned in another previous post. 

So next,we headed to Milan..

I had read up much of Milan Centrale.

The dozens of people being robbed/pick pocketed/feeling watched and unsafe.

Some even goes to the extent of advising tourists NOT to arrive more than 5mins of their trains departure so as it minimise time spent at the horrendous dangerous station!

I was ready for battle. Ready to hit anyone who came too close.

But the second i walked the whole platform to the main area. I felt nothing.

It looked clean,safe. Very unlike rome.

In fact,it was much better than Rome Termini and i survived that without a scratch.

The next few days,we went back and forth the train station for tkts/postcards/water and it was fine. So dont listen to those dickheads online. Just stay smart and you wont invite trouble.

 

Milan... Was another place i was sooo excited to hit.

As much as i told myself no more shopping,this place still held hope..

Sadly,our days were wrong. All wrong.

It was the weekends and that monday we had there was an independence day of some sort.

So EVERY SINGLE DAY we had left there was nearly a dead town.

We could barely get water to bring back.

The hostel was pleasant enough. Extremely huge the room was and the toilets were really clean! Location: perfect seeing how we arrived by and left by train. It was an easier street across the main train station.

Of course,we did the famous gothic church.

I got more pandora stuff and that was it for Milan. Off to Bern we went and to the present it is.