Take it to the Kulla!

Another great weekend adventure with friends. When the weather is nice one actually forgets they are in 'Kosovo'. A couple weeks back we were invited to join a group of 8 others to spend the night in a restored, traditional Albanian house known as a Kulla. These were essentially fortified stones homes with very little (and few) windows with massive stone walls encasing the property for both protection and warmth. Very few people actually live in them anymore but there are some still around in the villages.

But prior to our arrival in the village, Molly, Pranvera and I went to a neighboring city (Peja) to explore another one of the historical (and well guarded) Serbian monasteries right at the beginning of the Ragova Valley (which I had photographed in an earlier hike). The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a short hike into the grounds after getting our ID's inspected by the Italian KFOR responsible for the safety of the clergy. It is sad to see such a beautiful place surrounded by barbed wire and an entire army. Of course one does not feel any threat but it is all there just to make sure nothing happens. Unlike our earlier attempts at the Decane Monastery this one was actually open and we were able to explore all of the chapels, gardens and ruins that surround the newer buildings. It was so peaceful to just sit listening to the brook, feel the sun on our faces and watch the honey bees do their thing.






Having waited all day for the perfect late lunch Pranvera lead us to the top of the Sky Tower that has an awesome restaurant and views of the entire valley. A large draft beer and local fish platter were the perfect celebration to prepare for the evenings competitive round of Pictionary in the Kulla.




By the time we met up with the other 2 cars, it was getting late which made for an interesting drive to try and locate the tiny village in the dark. After attempting a number of different roads Pranvera saved us all by actually speaking to the locals at an intellegable level. Never fear we arrived at our evening quarters with snacks and plenty plenty of alcohol to basically drink the night away. And so we did, but not without playing one of the crudest, most creative and socially competitive game of pictionary I can recall. The entire experience was a cross between camp and a fraternity party. Since this website cannot be rated I must leave out most of the words but will say a highlight must have been at my own expensive when I had to draw a penis (among) other things and upon my team successfully guessing the object realizing I had accidentally used the one permanent marker we had brought and we were unable to erase it from the Kulla whiteboard (to be used for presentations). As everyone rolled around uncontrollably Molly thoughtfully grabbed the vodka we had brought and proceeded to use it like rubbing alcohol. It eventually came off but certainly elevated the evening to an entirely new level.

Although the evening unfolded into rounds of outside story telling and dancing in the oda (main sitting room), Pranvera and I retired a bit early (don't all couples;-) to wake up nice and early and take a walk through the village. It was great to hear the roosters, smell the fresh morning dung and see the kids staring at us from behind the cracked doors of their family kullas. As we joked about the events of the night a bit later, Pranvera's local friends said that if her Albanian boyfriend had suggested such an activity (ie take an urban girl to a village) she would have dumped him, but since it was I it was a perfectly acceptable experience that we all really enjoyed. Thinking that this was not the case she laughed while admitting there might have been some truth to their theory.

Brother and Sister Explore Croatia's Dalmatian Coast

And live to tell the tale! For my summer holiday and to celebrate my sister's 35th birthday, we decided to spend over a week traveling around northern and central Croatia to give Stacey a 'soft' sample of life out here in the Balkans. Of course there is virtually no notable difference between anywhere in Europe and Croatia except for maybe even more beautiful coastlines, walled fortress cities and a different currency.

I guess Stacey and I have taken for granted how unusual it is for just a brother and sister to do holidays together. Almost 1 year ago exactly we went to New Orleans for a week to work on rebuilding homes from Hurricane Katrina. And this year we spoiled ourselves a bit but especially considering her very intense work and travel schedule, it was much needed. Now even though we do do these trips, it is not without the usual brother and sister issues. However we have tried to work on talking any issues through and treating each other with the respect of a friend rather than that of a relative. Generally speaking all went really well even though Stacey's style is to travel with mostly pre-arranged lodging at nice hotels verses my (and the regions) style of staying in sobes (rented rooms and apartments) usually upon arrival at one's destination. Even though it was peak season and some places were booked, it would not take long to find something very affordable and accommodating. This was true except for all but 1 night when it was getting late and we just wanted a place to sleep for the evening.

As aways getting anywhere in the Balkans is inevitably a pain. Although my plane was direct and only lasted 1 hour, I had to actually drive to another country to get the flight out. Which would have cost about 70 euros taxi each way direct to the airport in Skopje from Pristina and taken two hours. Another option would be the 2 hour public bus to Skopje and than a taxi. Third was to apply for a security waiver, then take the UNMIK shuttle direct from Pristina to the base in Skopje and then to the airport, for free and only taking 2.5 hours. DONE! Problem was I needed to take the day off work since the shuttle left at 7:40 and my flight wasn't till 4pm. Unlike most airports, Skopje has only 1 smokie bad cafe to sit so I was not looking forward to 'killing' 6 hours there. As luck would have it I was the only one on the shuttle heading to the airport so the driver dropped me off in downtown Skopje to kill 3 of those hours before he picked me up in the refueled and washed bus to take me to the airport. So I enjoyed the perfect weather, walking plazas, frappe and croissants while reading my book in Skopje first. Shume mire!

I have actually been to Zagreb before so was only going to stay there to meet up with Stacey and let her have a day to explore. I landed a night before her due to availability so I had the day to kill just wandering around before she stumbled in mid evening on the second night not sure what timezone or meal she was on. Since our hotel was well outside the central (she was using miles for it) we stayed locally and had our first Croatian vacation meal at The Dream Team Pizzeria (yes, that is in reference to the Chicago Bulls NBA Championship Team lead by Michael Jordon). Plenty to catch up on and an average pizza and local beer to wash it down, we were off to a good start.

Unfortunately, there wasn't all that much to show Stacey about Zagreb since on Sunday everything is basically closed. Main market, stores, and even most restaurants. Not to mention it was still August which means that in Zagreb EVERYONE leaves for a month of holiday and they take advantage of that time to redo many of the streets. We were still able to see the churches, fort, plazas, parks, opera house and other landmarks with very little people around. Kind of nice till we had to search and search for just anyplace to eat non-fast food. We were eventually successful but looking forward to the coast for all our fresh seafood.

So we hit the road the next day in a rented FIAT to cruise the incredibly beautiful highways and even secondary roads. Some massive infrastructure projects should complete the newest roadways in all of Europe by next year. And the tourists will certainly help pay for this since the tollway cost us around $34 to use going from the north to the south. We headed northwest to cover the Istria Peninsula in a couple days stopping by some of the less touristed hillside villages and walled cities that speckle the beautiful countryside. The first town know as Han is supposedly one of the smallest registered cities in the world with only 27 residents. I think we saw 10 of them as most houses were closed up or being used to sell souvenirs to the tourist. Very peaceful place with perfect single lane winding roads. We checked out the local cemetery and I enjoyed watching a clever bee follow my sister around most of the town:-)

Our next stop was known as the truffle capital of Croatia where we drove to the top of the fortressed city to wander into the most expensive lunch of our journey. But we had to try the famous vegetable and it was just a mater of picking what would enhance the flavor for these highly overpriced shavings. That's right. We didn't even get the pleasure of sinking our teach into one of these bad boys. Just the shaving on top of our trout and risotto. Needless to say it was a great lunch with a spectacular view to boot. The lost killed town before we arrived at the coast was more of the same. Cobblestone streets, stone homes, big wall around everything and incredible gardens and vistas looking as far as the eye could see. I was quickly appearing that this holiday might end up as drive and eat vacation. Considering my arm that wasn't going to be a bad thing.

Our first night was spent in Rovinj. Unfortunately with all the one way streets and very confusing layout of the city we finally just took an average room walking distance away from the old town. If it wasn't for the fact we couldn't sit outside to read in the yard due to mosquitoes and couldn't spend too much time relaxing in the room due to the jackhammer across the street, we were forced into town to catch a wicked sunset while kicking back a very large ice cold beer. The city buildings offered a picture perfect cascade of color as the sky turn from a soft blue to a dark amber with the burning sun. The town was alive with the tail end of the tourist season and we spent several hours marveling at all the bars, seafood joints and art studios selling overpriced paintings. Still a wonderful energy, full moon and when we finally dropped down at an outside table when our hunger overtook us, we met a great couple from New York that was on holiday as well so we joined then for a nice meal and a couple drinks at a very chilled bar in the harbor.

Although our original plan was to stay 2 nights, or less than desirable lodging encouraged us to pack up our things and head south to stay in Pula but first to spend the day out exploring Tito's Island and official residence including his own zoo. It was a great day out on the water, seeing perfect manicured fields (thanks to the deer), looking at all the historic photos of him and other world leaders. They even had his original 57 Cadillac convertible which was the only car on the island that he could drive. For a mere $1000 you too could drive around in his car for 1 hour. AND, it was rented when I had arrived from our little train ride around the island. I imagine is was folks from one of the huge yachts parked outside one of his guest hotels.The water was some of the cleanest and bluest we had seen so of course during lunch break I waded out from the stone beach to each my sandwich and couldn't resist the temptation to get in a little skinny dip before returning to the guided tour.

Once again the plan of our arriving in the cities close to evening worked out since the town was perfect for an evening stroll, some photos, a nice meal drink and then bed. And you had pretty much covered the town. Pula had the added advantage of a restored massive coliseum that we checked out before sunset. We were missing a concert by one night which would have really brought things to life. The old town wasn't as full and as exciting as Rovinj but it had its charm with a ton of kids, Roman ruins scattered about and a nice other restaurant to grab another relatively bland overpriced meal. All and all is was disappointed in that almost every menu we found was the same as the next and everything was twice the price as off season. Regardless it was holiday so we got our token half litre of local white wine and enjoyed mostly seafood and the occasional pizza.

So then we B-lined it all the way down to Split (6 hours drive) to explore the beautiful old city and then catch an evening ferry to take us to the resort island of Hvar where my sister had chosen to spend her birthday and finally unpack her suitcase in one place. It worked out wonderfully with allowing us 4-5 hours to play in the beautiful Palace, read, rest before loading our car onto this cool ferry full of military transports and fire trucks. I thought I had left this behind in Kosovo but apparently the island was on fire and they were heading out there to put it out (no one told us about this...) Since we were arriving a night early I had called our Sobe and asked if the room would be ready early. They said yet but must have misunderstood since we slept in their kids room the first night (toys and all) before we were luckily let into our 2 room apartment that was brand new and just perfect. A private view of the ocean and backside of Hvar away from the town. And the closest non city beach was just 4 minutes walk down the hill from our place...

So for four days we did a minimal amount of activity which included mostly exploring the town, hiking the castle, wandering the harbor, eating some wonderful meals and trying to catch some sun. Unfortunatley with the fires our first day was all hazy with ash drifting all around. However we able to see the unique spectacle of seeing the fire plane dip into the sea every 15 minutes to pick up water to dump on the fires. We also enjoyed a nice birthday drink at the 5 star hotel with an incredible layout for oceanside beds and wooden platforms hanging over the water. We even did a bit of hiking trying to find our way back to the hotel across the forested part of the island atop ancient stone walls that are interwoven across all the hilltops that have yet to be developed.

Our final stop was the perfect way to end the vacation with some incredible hiking and a stay at a quaint bed and breakfast in the mountains. Plivitca Lakes were an absolute marvel with no less that 30 crystal clear lakes connected to one another each at a different elevation with waterfalls everywhere. Stacey and I arrived with enough time to do the full park by tram, foot and ferry. We even added a final half hour power hike around the backside of one of the lakes before returning to our car and making our way to a picture perfect cottage for a final night's stay.

A wonderful 10 day break from Kosovo and a great excuse to spend quality time with the little sister. It's nice to know a sibling can become a dear friend once you stop fighting over friends, using the car, picking a restaurant to eat dinner at or who has to host the family for Christmas.