Rastoke - Croatia

We took longer than we planned to get to our lodgings in Croatia as we were being careful with our wonky tyre although to be honest you wouldn't know that it's size was slightly different. Our lodgings in Croatia were  a few kilometres from the Plitvice Lakes and belonged to an elderly couple who spoke little English. They were very welcoming though and knew enough to get you settled in. The room was absolutely gorgeous and they had complimentary beer and wine in the fridge as well as tea making facilities, although it was only fruit tea available. The couple seemed to sit all the time on the porch so every time you walked in and out of the building you felt obliged to say hello, there wasn't much more we could say! 

As we drove towards our lodgings we passed through a lovely area called Rastoke which is also known as the little lakes, after we had settled into our room we decided to go back and have a look as it was too late that day to go to the Plitvice lakes. 

Rastoke is absolutely stunning, so beautiful it looks like a film set, too nice to just be a normal town that has evolved over time. It is full of lakes and waterfalls, with quaint old fashioned mills dotted around which originally took advantage of the churning water from the waterfalls to power the mills. A lot of these mills are now tourist lodgings but some are still working. 

It was a lovely evening to wander around. Parking near the falls is metered up till 6 o'clock at night but there are places within walking distance where you can park for free. 

While we were there David decided to look for a geocache which was on a lamp post on a bridge which went over a river. It was easily found being close to a religious figure at the side of the road. 

It was a magnetic geocache which was stuck to the underside of a  metal plate on the lamp post. As David grabbed hold of it , it slipped out of his hand plunged down into a tree, bounced and landed in the water and floated away , never to be seen again. Oops! That was not supposed to be happen.  Secretly, I thought it was quite funny, but now we had a dilemma, the geocache was no longer there for other people to find. Luckily, and I know you will find this strange, David had spare magnetic geocache tubs in the car, so he managed to replace it, saving the day. Hooray! 

A hero in Serbia

As we are staying in Bulgaria longer than we expected, while we wait for the puppy to be old enough to travel we decided to have a few days away in Croatia. A few years ago we went to Dubrovnik which was lovely, during that trip we heard about the Plitvice Lakes which are supposed to be amazing and a place we had on our wish  list to visit, so decided to take the opportunity to go. 

Actually getting there from Bulgaria meant travelling through Serbia. We had initially decided to avoid driving through Serbia on our travels as we had heard so many horror stories, but it was the quickest way to go and we found it to be really nice, the people were very helpful, the roads very scenic and the immigration border so easy that we are now going to travel back home that way. 

The journey was so long we stayed over one night in a hotel just outside Belgrade, very close to Mount Avala which we decided to explore. 

On the way up the hill there is a memorial to Soviet generals who had flown over to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Belgrade being liberated from the Germans. However, their plane crashed on the hillside so a memorial was made for them. There is an interesting sculpture there and stunning views but typically at that point my IPad wouldn't take photos as it said I didn't have enough memory. Once we were back in the car we carried on up the hill while I frantically tried deleting things so I could get some photos. 

At the top of the hill there is a car park which strangely is guarded by a sphinx. There are also some stalls there selling souvenirs. 

We got out of the car and went looking for the tomb of the unknown soldier. This was very impressive, placed high up on a structure made out of black stone. The black stone actually showed some sign of damage probably caused when the nearby television tower was bombed by the Croatians. 

The drive was beautiful with many tunnels cutting through the mountainside. At one stage there were thirteen tunnels in a row. 

 Early the next morning we set off on the road once more. The road we were driving on had lots of tolls, we have come through a variety of toll roads on our travels, some countries have machines you put money into at the toll booth, others you pay cash before you go on, in Serbia you get a ticket as you go onto the road from a machine then as you leave it you hand your ticket to an assistant in the booth and they work out how much you owe. 

We had been through several of these booths and were going alongside another booth when we 

suddenly heard a huge bang and the car rocked. Turns out we had gone too close to the kerb , hit a 

 sharp bit and the tyre basically popped, it looked like it had been shredded. Well, we thought we were well and truly snookered, stuck in the middle of nowhere with only three tyres. The car we have doesn't have a spare tyre,  you get a can with some liquid foam type of stuff in it (is that technical 

enough for you) which is supposed to fix a flat tyre until you can get it sorted. Well, I tell you that can 

was going to be no good with that tyre. 

I did ask David why he had gone so close to the booth and he said it was so I could reach the machine, goodness knows how short he thinks my arms are! In his defence it was harder for him to gauge how close we are  as the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car for their booths. The annoying thing is we had gone through so many already with no problems. 

Anyway,  we drove a little bit clear of the booths to examine the damage and have a little freak out moment. Thinking we were well and truly stuck, David set off to see if we could get some help while I eyed up the land, considering whether  we were going to have to pitch our tent, which was in the boot of the car. 

David quickly reappeared with two guys. The first one he spoke to had looked at him like he was an 

alien, thinking he sort of sounds like he is speaking English but not quite. So guy number one told him to wait while he got someone else, he came back with the second guy who was also Serbian, he realised as soon as David spoke that he was Scottish. He was actually quite excited that we were Scottish as he hadn't spoken to anyone from Scotland before, I tell you he understood us very well. 

He said that a lot of people burst their tyres there, looked at the tyre then offered to drive David to a garage to see if we could get a new one. The problem was that basically we were in the middle of the 

countryside, the nearest garage was in a village so had a limited range of tyres and it was Saturday 

and most places were either totally shut on a Saturday or shut early and wouldn't open again until Monday. With fingers crossed I watched David disappear with the man, clutching the tyre which he had removed from the car and I sat on the verge to wait. It seemed ages before they returned by that time I had visualised the best place to put the tent, scared off two street dogs and people watched 

everyone going through the tolls. There was one car that stopped to use the not very nice looking loos 

and the amount of people who clambered out was incredible, it was like a comedy sketch. 

Thankfully,  when David did eventually reappear he had another tyre, however it was slightly smaller than the other three we already had but it was better than nothing. Rather cautiously we set off on the road with me in particular constantly thinking , does the car sound funny, is it moving funny but no, we not only got to Croatia we also managed to get back to Bulgaria where we managed to get a new tyre. 

So it goes to show, you can find heroes anywhere, that Serbian man who helped us at the toll booth saved the day and he wouldn't even take any money for his help, or the petrol used. Although to David's disgust he seemed to know a lot about Hearts football club, not good when David is a Hibee!

Obidin monastery - Dobrinishte

We have been in the Bansko area a few times now so David has done a lot of the geocaches around but there is one near Obidin Cathedral,  so that was the next place we headed. Now,  in theory it should have been straightforward and eventually it was, but of course we had to make it difficult for ourselves and eventually got it on our fourth attempt. 

The geocache is actually within walking distance of the house but we didn't  know that so for attempt number one we headed out of Dobrinishte in the direction of the Bezbog ski hut. At this hut you can catch a chairlift up the mountains to either go for walks during the summer or skiing in the winter. So we made our way up a very pretty road,  which got narrower and narrower the more we worked our way up, even up here you see some interesting sights,  we passed  two men walking a horse in the middle of nowhere. Anyway,  after a while the GPS was showing that we were actually getting further away from the geocache so we carefully did a u turn on the road and made our way back down. The GPS was telling us to head in a certain direction but we couldn't see how to go that way,  so we decided to leave it for that day and think about it some more. 

We found out that just outside Dobrinishte we should have taken a left turn up a dirt track and that is what leads you to Obidin. So this is what we tried on our second attempt, all was going well and the distance was going down on the GPS but the road, or should I say dirt track was getting more rougher and steeper as we progressed. Worried about the car we decided to leave it as we knew there was another road to it which may be more easier but was a far longer drive. 

This longer drive led us out of Dobrinishte, on the same road we took to go to Greece. We headed back down the mountain we are on and then back up it on the other side.  It is a beautiful road with stunning views. Once more, the further away you get from main roads the more worse the roads get but at least this time we were on Tarmac and eventually reached Obidin . 

Obidin is a tiny place but has a very nice town square in the middle of it with a cafe. There is also a lovely church just as you enter the town which I hoped was the monastery, no such luck I am afraid. The GPS led us out of the town and once again we found ourselves on dirt tracks which would have been ideal for quad bikes, not for our car. David at long last admitted defeat, we are both aware that we cannot afford any damage to our car as we need it to get home. What amazed us though was the amount of large lorries we saw trundling along these tracks. 

On the way back down we saw lots of cones lying around by the side of the road, we picked up some of them for our daughter as they are good to start fires in the winter. So at least it wasn't a totally wasted journey, although I must admit it is a beautiful drive and well worth it for the views alone. 

Then we found out that we could actually walk to the monastery from the place we are staying, with it only being about an hour and a half walk away. Early one morning we set off with Stella to finally get the geocache. It is a lovely walk but my advice would be to make sure you stay on the main road. You guessed it, we didn't , we tried to cut corners and ended up deep in the woods. I was just  starting to think about being in bear and wild boar territory when David said he was worried that we would lose the path back if we went any further. So we turned about and headed back the way we came. 

It was a nice walk and though I said stick to to the main road , it is just a wide dirt path, with varying degrees of smoothness, shall we say, and a lot of it was uphill. Although it was a hot day the walk is mainly shaded by trees which protects you from the sun and also the rain which it started to do at one point. 

As we were walking along David's GPS started making funny noises,  a sign that we were very close. Looking at a nearby tree David very quickly found it,  our mission was complete. That is the geocache in the photo above,  usually they have some small items  in it but they always have a little book or roll of paper for you to sign,  to say that you have been there. 

We were however puzzled as there was no sign of a monastery. So having walked so far we decided to continue. Just at that point a car drove passed so we had to stand to the side of the road which caused us to look down and we saw this little building. 

It wasn't the monastery but a little chapel. We walked down to explore it further, inside it was quite dark and gloomy with not much in it but a little table and a metal box which was padlocked. 

Running alongside it was a river with a picnic bench beside it.  

Stella loves water so took the chance to have a paddle. 

This is the path leading down to the chapel. 

Once we were back on the road we continued on our way as we wanted to see the monastery. Then into view came this building, it looked like a rather modern looking house with another one being built beside it. Turns out that this was the monastery, we were so disappointed. I am so glad we did the geocache becauseif we had just done the walk to see the monastery it wouldn't be worth your while. We didn't go in as I am not sure we could, as we got closer a very scary looking dog started 

barking at us  so we just left and made our way back. 

On the way Stella decided to go into more water and lie down, she came out absolutely manky, 

Walking the dirt path back towards home. 

Back to Bulgaria - Blagoevgrad

After our lovely holiday in Greece we headed back to Dobrinishte where we were going to do some dog sitting while our daughter went back to Scotland for a wedding. I know what you are thinking, you travel all the way across Europe to see your child and they leave - kids ! We actually did know it was going to happen as we had been asked a couple of months beforehand. 

We were welcomed back by Stella's happy face. 

There was a few days before our daughter had to leave and while she was still here we took Monty for his next lot of injections at the vet. The vet she uses now is in Blagoevgrad so while we were there David took the chance to do some geocaching. 

This took us to the top of a very high hill that overlooks Blagoevgrad which has a huge white cross on it . The cross is very impressive and can be seen for miles. There seems to be some nice walks around there but as Monty shouldn't really be out for walks just now we didn't do them. We did carry him about for the short while we were there. There are information boards on the local animal and species up there and a beautiful little chapel. 

The chapel is tiny but amazing. The walls and ceiling are all covered in paintings which are painted in bright, fresh colours. The cross and chapel can be easily accessed by car so not a lot of walking is involved unless you want to do some of the trails  and there is a small car park at the top. It is well worth the visit and gets you away from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

It was actually quite hard taking these photos as the chapel is so small you can't get any distance away to get a long shot. 

Back to Skiathos - follow that bike

After spending a couple of lovely relaxing days ( apart from climbing steep streets) we returned to Skiathos. Once again we found ourselves walking onto a ferry, the ferry that we used to get to Skopelos and back was a lot smaller than the ferry we used from Volos. Although it was a lot smaller, it was a lot noisier! It really chugged through the water. 

Unfortunately this ferry was really early in the morning which meant we arrived in Skiathos very early, too early to go to our next lodgings. So we went and sat on the picturesque area right beside the port which I mentioned in an earlier post. From our seat we could see the cafes setting up for the morning and cats, lots of cats milling around beside the boats. One of the cats seemed to be fishing, fishing for sea gulls. The cat had bread which was on the floor close to, but a little bit away from a park bench. The cat hid behind the bench and every time a gull came down the cat would pounce, the gulls however always got away. 

After a few hours we decided to go and look for our next lodgings, we had been told it was right on the sea front and we did have a rough idea where it was as David had looked for it on google maps. We wandered up the street we thought it was on but no joy, at the end of the street was a tourist information place so we popped in there and asked them. The young girl in there told us to ask at the nearby cafe as they knew the island and she didn't , mmmm maybe not the best person for her job, tourist information ! So we asked at the cafe, the waitress there wasn't sure but very kindly phoned the number on our booking form, after a short conservation on the phone she told us to wait in the cafe as someone was coming to get us. 

After waiting about 15 minutes a woman turned up on a scooter, very doll upped, heavy make up and wearing a silky dress, she leapt of the scooter skipped towards us and gave us big hugs and kisses. This was the owner of our lodgings, after a quick chat she told us to follow her, she then leapt on her bike and drove off, with me and David trying to keep up as she sped off, bizarre ! Thankfully, it was a very short distance, I mean ridiculously short, so we never lost sight of her but why, oh why did she need to bring her scooter in the first place, it was so close! 

The lodgings were lovely, decorated in beautiful Mediterranean colours,very romantic looking and once again we had a balcony which over looked the harbour. The photo above shows the view we had from our balcony. While we were there we watched the little fishing boats come in and sell their catch from the back of the boat. Now, that's what you call fresh. 

We spent the day wandering around the town and managed to find some lovely hand made souvenirs. On our first visit to the island we saw a man making ceramic things outside his shop, this time we went in and treated ourselves to a ceramic fish mobile. 

After a good nights sleep we caught the big ferry back to Volos and headed for Bulgaria. 

Skopelos

 A short ferry ride took us from Skiathos to Skopelos, again we were met at the port by the person we were renting our apartment from. She took us on a long drive to our apartment but once again it was just a short walk through the narrow streets. Our apartment this time was on the top of a hill overlooking the bay and we had a balcony that we could sit out on and admire the view. Unfortunately it was a bit cold to do this as the sea breezes made it too cold even though we had lovely weather.  

Skopelos is the bigger of the islands but is less populated and has less tourism, this is partly due to the fact that Skiathos has an airport which makes it easier for tourists to visit. 

On this island is the church which is featured in Mama Mia.

This is the view from our balcony, the photo below shows the view from the door of our apartment. It looked out onto a lovely courtyard which had grape vines and flowers all around. There were lots of apartments here so would be great for a group of people to go to, they would have their own personal space but be able to meet in the courtyard area, which even had a barbecue and tables for get togethers. 

Of course being on a hill meant we were back to mountain climbing to explore the town! Goodness 

knows how many steps I have climbed up and down this holiday. My poor thighs! What helps though is that the streets here were so pretty and therefore lovely to wander around and explore. We did however need to keep a track on where we were going as this place was very maze like. 

Most of the houses were painted white, the grey building in this picture is a little church which is tucked away amongst the houses. 

I awoke on the first morning to this lovely glow coming through the curtains. There was a lovely sunrise, so I took a photo and went back to bed. 

This is a cathedral on the hill beside the port, yes we walked up to that too. Lovely views from there. 

Down in the port area there were many cafes set up for tourists and also some shops. In one of the shops we went into the shopkeeper asked me excitedly if I was a grandmother, when I said no, she never said another word. Just served me, never spoke again, very bizarre! I wasn't even buying anything for a young child. Oh dear, time to  start using the Oil of Olay. 

Back at our apartment we decided to eat outside on the balcony but once again it was a bit too breezy for comfort,  so we went to the barbecue area in the courtyard. This was too hot and sheltered, we are never happy, we  were like Goldilocks  trying out the different areas. 

Mama Mia - Greece holiday - Volos and Skiathos

This part of the holiday was organised by our children as a birthday present for me , although I let David tag along, I must say, he does well out of my birthday treats. 

When we arrived at our daughter's house in Bulgaria there was a folder waiting for me, which contained all the details I would need for my excursion to Greece, such as hotel reservations, ferry tickets, an AA route finder etc. There was also information on where parts of the film, Mama Mia was filmed. I really enjoy that film and also the stage show , it is so upbeat and happy and of course has songs that you can sing along to. 

As the film was mainly filmed on islands this meant we had to catch four ferries in all, two to get out there and two to get back. The first ferry was really early in the morning so we set off the day before to drive to the port town of Volos in Greece. 

The road initially was lovely, to get to Dobrinishte you need to drive up the mountain from the direction of Sofia, to get to Greece you basically drive down the other side. It was lovely all tree lined and rivers running by the side but eventually you do make yourself back to the motorways and there is where some of the charm is lost. Especially, when the motorway is still being built and you are basically on a dirt track running alongside it, trying to avoid potholes. 

We did eventually get back onto a proper road and made our way down towards the Bulgarian/Greece border driving behind a large lorry. Suddenly,  the lorry stopped so we stopped behind it, as you do wondering if it was traffic lights or more road works, only to realise after several minutes that cars were whizzing past us. Turns out we were quite close to the border and we were in the lorry queue to get through immigration. The lorry behind us must have thought we were right plonkers ! So, we did what the other cars were doing and started to make our way down to the border, the only problem was that it was only a two lane road, one lane for each direction and of course now and again cars would come the other way but yet there were lorries on our side of the road. Now and again the lorries would leave gaps for the cars to dodge into but these were not always in appropriate places, which meant a lot of manoeuvring onto the road side, field entrances and at times reversing. 

At long last,  after driving past several miles of lorries we made it, after a cursory glance at our documents at both borders , we were in Greece. I feel really sorry for the lorry drivers at border crossings as they must wait for hours, some do get out of their cabs for a wander and chit chat with fellow drivers. 

Driving into Volos was not very nice,  the outskirts were very run down and there was a lot of graffiti all over the place,  although I suppose many cities are like that. David had booked us into a bed and breakfast which was on top of the mountain overlooking Volos, so at least we were distanced from it and I must admit looking from afar it appeared very pretty.  

We woke up bright and breezy and after an amazing breakfast headed to the port, this is where it started to get very stressful. The roads in the centre of town, where very busy and very narrow, unfortunately a lot of these old city centres were built when traffic was few and far between but now cars, lorries and buses were everywhere, coming at you in all directions. Through all this mayhem we were trying to find the long stay car park, and it was one of those moments when you do eventually see what you want but don't know how to get there. We ended up seeing a tourist information place, stopping there and asking directions even though we could see it, we were actually pointing it out to her through the window. There were two things mainly confusing us about it, where was the road in and it looked like a shopping mall and basically it is a car park for the shops as well. 

So after that stress was over, we headed to the port, the same port incidentally that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from. Now, we had never used a  ferry as foot passengers before so we were not sure what to do, such as how early you needed to turn up what documents you needed etc. David, however decided he had time to look for a geocache which was a great long walk along the harbour wall which I could see shimmering in the distance. Apprehensive about time, I didn't go but David set off on his mission slowly disappearing to a speck in the distance. Well, the longer he was gone the more I was getting wound up, I was sure we would miss that ferry all because of a geocache. I had the suitcase, tickets and passports, so if need be  I was getting on that ferry myself. Thankfully he did return in plenty of time as , as it turns out catching a ferry is a bit like catching a train you just need to turn up and get on. 

The ferry ride was nice and smooth and took about one and a half hours, we were on one of the bigger, more modern ferries. We arrived in Skiathos in beautiful weather at a lovely little pier, with the traditional white painted houses which were nestled on the coast line glistening in the sun. We were met by our lodgings owner who drove us a very short distance to our room for the night. It was a good job he picked us up as we would never have found it in the labyrinth of streets even though it was only a five minute walk away. 

Skiathos is a beautiful little island and was lovely to wander around and explore. 

Looking over one of the harbour areas where the yachts were berthed. 

There was a lovely walk which went around a small bit of land which jutted out into the sea. It was very much like a small island in itself,  but was attached to the main island by a small bit of land. We were told by one of the local tourist boating companies that we should walk around it,  as it is very rejuvenating. We did but didn't particularly feel rejuvenated. 

The clock tower below was used in the opening scenes of the film when Sophie posts her letters to her prospective dads. 

The tower sits on top of the hill which has beautiful views looking out to sea and over the rest of the island. 

There are many water wells dotted around which are still in use today. You often see people filling up water containers from them. 

There are lots of lovely little streets to wander around , with cafes and shops dotted about. 

 

One of these walks, surprisingly enough was to find a geocache which turned out to be at a lovely beach side bar. See, geocaching does have its benefits! While David was pottering around looking for it I decided to have a coke. Sat at the table I suddenly became aware of what was on the coke can, Santa Claus !