Bear and Jackie’s Travel Diary

After a quick overnight in Porto we jumped back onto the bus for a trip inland to FundAo, home to an old mate of mine and his Mrs. After our experience at the Namaste testicle molester village, the words ‘off grid’ held a certain amount of fear and trepidation for us! An incoming heatwave didn’t look much fun either! We needn’t have worried, River Farm is awesome. A work in progress, but already awesome. Solar panels and batteries provide ample power and a handy river complete with Roman wier for cooling the wedding tackle, washing etc. Veggies and salad from the garden whilst quails provide a steady flow of eggs and entertainment.

Doing our best to avoid the 30,000 soap dodgers attending Boom festival was easier said than done but a couple of trips to see some highlights was on the cards.

Monsanto is dubbed the most Portuguese town in Portugal. Not sure how that happened but houses with entire boulders as a roof and a fortress from the Knights Templar era tick a few boxes.

And a trip to Portugal’s only ski resort at Serra da Estrela. No sign of the chilly white stuff when we were there, just awesome views

And a rock called bear rock!

Oh, and a handy selection of shops selling cheeses and cured meats. Don’t mind if we do

Many thanks for the hangover and showing us your part of the world. See you again soon.

Amarante next….

Budapest popped into the itinerary almost by accident. Portugal was next on the list but flights from any of the Balkan airports were crazy expensive! Wizz from Budapest to Porto was not much more than some of the bus rides we have been on. Off to Budapest then!

Segways are a hoot! Zipping around Budapest on Segways is not just an excellent means of transport, but a perfect opportunity for misbehavior! “Have you ever ridden a Segway?”, says the chirpy Irish lass touting for business. “No”, I said, climbing on board. “Just lean forward a little to move”. Wahay, as the Segway leaps forward like a startled cat. “Lean back to stop!”, I hear as my chariot heads towards the horizon. Turns out, these are not only very simple to ride but immense fun. Within a few short minutes, we are happily carving through unsuspecting pedestrians, (And cats!), and shoot over the Danube towards the cobbled streets up to the Palace. Buda and Pest are steeped in history but it didn’t take long before a fat bloke on horseback with a WW1 rifle told us to fuck off. Maybe the parliamentary building is more welcoming? Drag races in front of the fountains anyone? Less fat chaps on foot with very modern firearms seemingly disapproved of such behavior and encouraged our timely departure! Sadly our time limit draws to an end and we return to the office.

Novi Sad is probably best known for the 1999 NATO bombings and the ousting of the fat crook Slobodan Milosevic. Fast forward nearly 20 years, fatso is pushing up daisies, the refinery and bridges have been rebuilt and the annual Exit Festival is bigger and better than ever. Sadly for us, we were a day late to join in the fun and unlikely to have had the stamina/chemicals to reach the 6am finish time!

Small enough to walk around, parts of the City are postcard pretty

Eating fish from a muddy river was never going to be a Michelin star experience. Sure enough, carp tasted just like the water it lives in! Mushy and muddy, not recommended! Jax on the other hand had a fish stew that was awesome, if they left out the mushy, muddy stuff it could be perfect!

Off to Budapest next…

So! After the nightmare of the Namaste Nature/Mosquito/Soap dodger village, we head to Belgrade. Holy crap we could have walked faster! Heading to a town called Topcider was always going to be exciting for fans of the apple beverage, the slurp monster wakes up further as we pass orchards of apples on the way. Sadly, some dickhead has decided that the train from Montenegro should not make it to Belgrade! Topcider is shit! Nothing top! No bar, no cider, not even an ATM. Just a crappy corner store and a tram stop, not much use with only a few Euros lining the pockets! Cab it is then as we palmed him off with our remaining Euros and were dropped off at our address.

Belgrade seems to have recovered from the grubbiness of the 90’s and is now peaceful with a pleasant lack of tourists.

Lovely intimate dinner with our new best friends! Pork stuffed with cheese, breadcrumbed and deep fried is a speciality here, won’t be sampling it again!

Throughout the Balkans rakia fruit brandy is ever popular. Our walking tour guide in the morning fished out a delicious honey number so we decided to sample a few more on the way home! Raspberry, Hazelnut, Quince, Plum and a couple of others. Raspberry was almost drinkable with the sugar hiding the worst of it, the rest just got worse as we shuffled down the line to the next throat burn experience! Finished with a few more raspberry numbers and staggered home!

Off to Novi Sad next

Thought that a party town might be a fun place to watch the England vs Croatia semi final! It was! However, given the result and the fact that Budva seems to be the place to be for all manner of fat, sweaty Eastern Europeans and Russians, it probably should remain unexplored! Music blares until 2am until the Rajika and Vodka slurping wobblebottoms finally pass out!

Losing the will to live now, it is nearly mid July and definitely time to get away from all things coastal! Albania was possibly next, but time to head inland! No thanks to the rudest, most unhelpful specimens masquerading as bus station staff, we head to Bar where we can take a train to Serbia. How bad can one more night near the coast be?

Booking into the Namaste Nature Village was always always a risk! The prospect of an evening/night with a bunch of new age alternatives listening to whale sounds over a quiet bong is not really our scene.

We picked the place on its proximity to the station and ability to dump our bags early. Things looked hopeful as we were collected from the station by a suitably bearded, baggy trouser wearing sort who cheerfully took us to the shiny new building in the booking.com photo! Things head South as he took us straight past the shiny building to the hippie commune a few gates further down. Welcome to our village he says as a large doberman shoves its nose into my bollocks! I am not a fan of dogs and less of a fan of having my ball bag explored by a 40+ kilo number! Also not a collosal fan of the clouds of mosquitoes that immediately began to drain me of several pints of claret. Tea he asks cheerfully? Yes please if it is laced with VEET or DDT! Meanwhile, the hound of Baskerville has found a new burst of energy and has renewed it’s assault on the meat and two veg with disturbing vigour! Come, I’ll show you to your room he continues. the kitchen was shared but happy that we had our own bathroom. Own bathroom shared with the rest of the commune, that is, together with a bath full of laundry and a toilet that threatened to fall over with each precarious use. An extension lead under the door brought power, (And mosquitoes), into the room where a dim light showed our new home in all its glory. Photos speak louder than words…

Light unplugged and replaced with an anti mozzie number that was in my bag. Beginning to show symptoms of hemorrhagic shock from the relentless mosquito attack and not keen on any further dog/crotch encounters, we close the door and head off to find a supermarket and a watering hole. Fortunately, Bar has a few bars so we blew the froth off a couple whilst considering our predicament

Ever the optimist, Jax decides that we should cook dinner for Leaf and our new dreadlock wearing best friends. Lentils and quinoa hashcakes anyone? Dinner it was then!

A small commune of well fed hippies then proceeded to get stuck into to the whacky baccy and we sloped off to bed after a few Cab Savs!

Fortunately, Mr Raid kept the airborne terrorists at bay and we said an early morning farewell to Namaste Nature Village and the testicle molesting doberman!

12 hours on the train flew past as our 21 journey through the scenic countryside took us into Serbia.

Topcider was our final stop and not a drop in sight! We arrived at our Belgrade apartment around 9.30.

Somehow, England are still in the World Cup and the knocking out of a mob that brought us Abba, Ikea and meatballs sends the POMs into delirious overdrive. The sounds of “It’s comin’ ‘ome” echo late into the night! Bit of a slow start the next day, opted to delay our climb up to the fortress by 24 hours!

Kotor is stunning! Wedged between mountains in the far corner of the bay, ancient fortress walls climb into the distance. The old town is literally a medieval maze that is home to more stray cats than people.

Sunset view from our balcony not too shabby either

Off to the party town of Budva next…

Having never been to this part of the world, there were a few places that had to be checked out! Turns out however, that a few thousand other people had the same idea! Prices are off the scale for everything and crowds that would not disgrace a Royal Wedding! Zagreb not horrendously busy unless you approach anywhere with history or a view! The mere sight of a crumbling brick attracts armies of Asians wielding selfie-sticks like Samurai swords! Bad weather helps as standard poncho length restricts their mobility!

Found some bears along the way including one in an iron maiden in the torture museum!

The port towns of Split and Dubrovnik were next on the agenda. Perfect timing to join a few thousand people piling off cruise ships and half of Europe’s tour bus fleet! The Terracotta Army would be utterly swamped by the daily tsunami of bodies that flood into these ancient Cities. Fortunately the tide turns every afternoon and the floods subside!

There is never a bad time for G & T’s when they are this good

Fortunately, our apartment was well enough away from from the selfie stick set. Even with its tiny bath!

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Dubrovnik old town is stunning. We happened to coincide our arrival with Nicole’s parents. Beers and noise ensued

Once the cruise boats leave in the afternoon and the daily, dickhead express departs, walking the city walls and climbing the ancient fort are a must for views and sheer pleasure.

A night or two here is probably plenty for most, although pointing out where Jon Snow took a dump to the endless groups of nerds on Game of Thrones Tours did have its moments! We took a day trip OUT of Dubrovnik on our last day. Cavtat is a small harbour town about an hour away by bus. Better still, take a boat

We decided to chuck the Croatian towel into the ring at this stage and jumped on a bus to Montenegro…

Many of our destinations have had something outstanding to recommend or remember.

Peru for food and Machu Picchu; Brazil for Carnival and Iguazu; Columbia for Pablo; The Galapagos for being in your own nature documentary; Mainland Ecuador for new friends and the Rainforest; Cuba for fabulous diving and no Americans; Mexico for so much but Copper Canyon tops the bill; Paris for Sam’s surprise; Lyon for Paul and Helena; Florence, Sienna, Pisa for being Italian and perfect; Cinque Terre for painted houses, crap food and tourists; Venice for Alex and gondolas; Slovenia for unparalleled beauty, and wonderful people; Pula, and Istria for …. Wild mushrooms and the football world cup. Too many tourists now flood this once beautiful place. Most areas of beauty like the lakes and falls are ruined forever. Pizza and chips does not get into the books as local food! Clowns dressed as Roman legionnaires don’t help either.

Surprise, surprise though! We had a stack of fun. Found ourselves a beautiful pad in the shadow of the amphitheater and avoided the numptys!

Quiet beverage on the balcony with Roman ancestors frowning in the background!

Markets a pleasure as always, wild mushrooms on toast for brekky!

Quick trip on the bus to Rovinj, (Rovigno!). Cheeky little harbour town with half the German population in town! Real shame seeing them sent packing by Korea in the footy!

Managed to watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones when it came out, so off to Dubrovnik via Zagreb next to see what all the fuss is about! …….

 

Piran is a fairytale coastal town. It’s has an exclusive feel to the place, the restaurants ooze elegance and the emerald green water of the Adriatic Sea adds to its dramatic charm and beauty. When we arrived, a brass band was playing the sound track to GOT’s, we watched and listened from the bell tower. Continue reading →

Its no secret that we absolutely loved Slovenia.

BOVEC and The SOCA RIVER.

 

Bovec is a mountainous town found in a valley surrounded by The Julian Alps. The Soca river runs through delighting us with its turquoise water, which is so clear you can happily ditch the drinking bottles and drink directly from the river. In Bovec we found our happy place. It’s magical for beautiful hikes, fresh alpine air, a place to feel vibrant and totally refreshed.

Glamping in Bovec!!

Our home in Bovec. We had the lower part of the house.

This amazing town is known for its many activities like rafting, hydro speed, canyoning, climbing and zip lining. It even had a lively drop zone, where a boogie was being held whilst we were there. Massive landing area right in the middle of the valley.

 

Actually quite sad leaving this vibrant place, off to the coastal town of Piran next.