Mount Plješivica

After a very short night - in the evening I couldn't sleep because some people had the guts to have sex in a fully booked 10-bed-dorm, in the morning I woke up with the people getting up for their busses - I went shopping for breakfast and prepared for our hike. Covering 15km walking and a height distance of about 1100m, this would be by far the longest hike I had ever done.

A very charming American offered me his leftover scrambled eggs, and I also had some leftover from the sandwich I had prepared for lunch, so I ended up eating way more than I usually have for breakfast. That I noticed when we started our hike - my stomach felt like the heaviest part of my body. On top if that I had forgotten to bring my hat: best premises.

Our leader Scott, who volunteers at Fallen Lakes Hostel, started off with a pretty high speed - you will know that I'm not exaggerating in the end. The first part of the trail was quite steep and all in the sun; after some hundred meters I was already doubting I would make it to the top. We had breaks every now and then, but I felt like I'd explode if I drank some water, so I went without, while another guy had already finished his one-liter-bottle. 

When we finally reached the shady forest, things got better. So I thought. The flat parts of the way were so short that my body almost didn't notice until it was over, the rest was crazily steep trails straight up the mountain. I don't know if you can call this having fun, I guess you can't, but the view in the end just pays off for everything. 

At some point the way went down - for me it was one of the most frustrating points, because it suggested that the work was over, but it wasn't :D 

Somehow we all made it to the top - probably sweating more that we had drunk - and everyone got their personal high five from Scott.

From this point we actually continued walking on the back of the mountain to an abandoned army base, had a short cool-down in one of the various tunnel entrances around there, and saw lots of other abandoned... stuff.

Then we walked around the barrack you can see on top and finally reached our actual aim: a huge rock coming out of the middle of nowhere and overlooking the whole area. After sliding down a very steep hill and climbing up the rock, everyone had their lunch, while my stomach was only starting to feel normal again, so I only had a Nectarine and some cookies. By the time I also managed to drink 1 1/2 liters of water, so everything started to feel better.

At this point Scott revealed that we had done the track in record time - only 2 1/2 hours instead of 3 1/2. High five, bitches!

After 50 minutes of enjoying the view and the sun on top of the rock on top of the mountain, we had to make our way back. One word: slippery. 

Still everyone made it back down safe, and when we got picked up by the hostel's shuttle (for free!), there was "We are the champions" playing in the radio. Oh yeah.

Plitvice National Park

The woman at the information counter had told me that I should probably take trail B, which was supposed to take 3-4 hours. But when I had fought my way through the masses and arrived at the boat station after half an hour or so, I realized that I would have more than enough time for something more extensive. So I went for the longest trail (K) that lead up a hill from where you could see the lakes from the top. Not only did I enjoy the exercise, but also I happened to be completely by myself up there, which was very relaxing.

I told myself again and again that it doesn't make sense to take pictures with my phone, because everyone can see much nicer ones on google anyway, but sometimes I still couldn't help it.

The later it got, the emptier it got, the more enjoyable it got :) Around 7 I picked up my backpack, which was the last one in the locker room - I really don't know why people leave so early, the park actually closes at 8.

Then I tried hitchhiking from the entrance, and although the spot was very good for stopping, and every single car passing by was definitely going to the village I had to go to, I didn't get lucky. After half an hour or so a very nice taxi driver called Mario offered to take me to Korelica for 50 Kuna, which was a very good deal compared to the 200 Kuna-offer I had received earlier. I know I was cheating here, but it was already getting dark and I wasn't really prepared to spend the night on the Plitvice parking lot ;)

Arriving at the Falling Lakes Hostel, I was already satisfied when I saw their gender-neutral toilets and bathrooms. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

But got even better. The hostel, newly opened this season and run by two siblings, was fully booked and the atmosphere was just awesome. Even though it was an all-you-can-drink evening, you would see people playing cards (okay, it was probably a drinking game..) or chess, or just hanging around on the terrace and the kitchen. It didn't take long for Boris, the co-owner, to convince me to join the free mountaineering trip they organize every other day - actually I hadn't even checked in when I decided to skip my planned second day in the park for this awesome hike.

Hitchhiking X (Rijeka - Korenica)

On Friday I had the luxury of being dropped off at the gas station I needed to go to by my friends, who were returning to Germany. Still we only got there around 10, and I had to ask around for about half an hour until I got a lift towards Zagreb. I hadn't been sure which way to take, because the highway to Zagreb wasn't really the right direction, but the land roads would probably still take me longer. 

Anyway I ended up going towards Zagreb with Nikola and his friend, hi had both been working on Dimensions festival in Pula. As drug dealers. No just kidding ;) 

They dropped me in front of the toll station of Karlovac, from where I went to a gas station first, but then figured that they way they had recommended would not really help. Actually I don't really understand how they could think it would help. Anyway :D 

After 10 minutes of illegally standing in front of (not on!) the kind-of-highway, a guy with a local license plate and his two little daughters in the back stopped, thinking that I want to go to the city center. He took me to the next gas station on the road instead, which wasn't a perfect spot, but on the road is on the road :)

I was standing in the sun for about 45 minutes some 30 meters before the gas station in order to maybe catch a car from the street, sometimes running back to the station when I saw that a car with a foreign license plate had stopped to refuel. Three times I got people who were just getting some gas and then returning to the city, but the forth time I got lucky: An elderly man, who had been living in Bergisch-Gladbach for 34 years, was going to Plitvice to go hunting in the bordering reservoir. He was living in Croatia for almost 10 years now, but still uses the German license plate - lucky me.

It was only shortly after 2pm when he dropped me at entrance No. 1 of Plitvice National Park, so instead of going to the hostel first and then returning, I dropped off my luggage there (surprisingly for free) and went to see the park.

(Not so) lazy days!

Just in time for my grandfather's and brother's birthdays I got home to Bavaria last weekend. Apart from eating cake, I went hiking with my parents in Tegernsee valley - I don't know what was more awesome, I guess the combination made it ;)

I also met with two of my friends from school, who happened to have planned a trip to Croatia, but apparently needed my convincing powers to actually pull it through. So off we went to the coast on Monday morning - in my friend's car!! 

We found a very nice apartment overlooking the coast of Rijeka and Opatija and enjoyed our first evening on the terrace playing cards and drinking tea. 

The next day it was quite cloudy, but my skin didn't mind, and when it finally started raining we shared an awesome pizza for lunch. We had walked all the way from the apartment on the hill to sea level, so when the rain stopped, we started our trip back. Let's say the shower was really worth it afterwards.

On our second day I was able to convince my friends to go for a short hike to a church we had seen from the beach. Afterwards we took the car and drove to the north a bit, where we found a very nice spot for swimming and free parking, yay! In the evening we went for dinner in Volosko, where I ordered a pizza with vegetables, which ended up to be the worst. pizza. ever. But at least I enjoyed drawing the cute elephant you can see below.

(That's actually the street one can use to drive down to the apartment - not up!! :D)

On our third day we again took advantage of our car and drive to a place south of Opatija, which was close to a camping site. Still we had lots of space and an almost private access to the sea. That evening we finally managed to go to the city again instead of staying on our cozy terrace, but it was a bit ruined by the fact that I desperately neede internet to book my stay in Plitvice, but suddenly the public wifi wasn't working anymore. Anyway this issue was solved in the end, and we finally found out where the music came from that we had heard on the terrace every evening: from Hotel Ambassador, the ugliest building in town. Yay :D

Krakow

Random collection of pictures of buildings, food, and awesome graffiti.

Remu Synagogue and cemetery: the famous Rabbi Moses Isserles was buried here. He wrote the so called "Mappa" to Josef Karo's "Shulhan Arukh". Please google the rest :D

Temple Synagogue

Chair memorial on the main square of the former Jewish ghetto of  Krakow.

Helena Rubinstein, one of the first big businesswomen, was born in the green house on the main square (which is formally a street) of the Jewish district, Kazimierz. Here core scenes of the movie Schindler's list were filmed, although Kazimierz was never part of the Jewish ghetto.

Awesome street art all over the place

Wawel Castle with the most important church of Poland (?)

Main Square with St. Mary's Basilica

On my last day in Krakow, which also kind of ended the first half of my trip,  I felt really fancy and got a even more fancy-sounding coffee on the terasse of the so called Cloth Hall, overlooking the square. That's how my parents must feel like! ;D

I also went to a man-made hill in the east of the city. It had a nice view, but I still don't understand why people would - allegedly voluntarily! - carry tons of earth to some place just to memorize whatever kind of event (I forgot). The Austrians, who occupied the area some time ago, probably didn't understand either, so they built a fort on/around the hill, for with you can now pay 10zł to enter. Yay!

Last but not least: Food! 

I almost gave up, but when I saw Strawberry Pierogi on the menu, I decided to give this dish one last chance.  I went for five Pierogi with spinach filling an blue cheese sauce and five with strawberries in it. And the blue cheese turned out to be uh-ma-zing. Now I know the secret of good Pierogi: the topping! :D

I also didn't get around trying Zapiekanka, a dish mainly prepared in Krakow and the mountain region of Poland. Very delicious, but keeps you full for two days I guess :D

That's it. Bye!