Holy shit lads just floated the 10 day holiday of Dubrovnik/Mostar/Sarajevo/Dubrovnik for my 30th and it didn't go down too badly at all (apart from her thinking Bosnia is a 'developing country' #alrighthazza)
Its on.
Don't think I'll get to Visegrad though.
'Developing' isn't the worst description of Bosnia. I quite liked Mostar but the river is filthy (not that you'd know to look at it) and the town is full of people after your change. Pretty enough to spend a few hours in though.
I absolutely loved Dubrovnik and will go back for a short break at some point. Great atmosphere inside the walls at night especially. I'd recommend a bit of time in Montenegro if you can manage it. I spent a small amount of time in both Budva and Kotor on a day trip and either would be fine for a night or two.
I'd like to give Sarajevo a go. And Belgrade.
Mostar sounds like Dundee.
Problem is the traveling though the little one would be nearly 7. Scary. Plus the wife hates travelling.
Developing would be generous were that true.Originally Posted by Magic
Mostar sounds like Dundee.
Fuck 'em. Go on your own it's your birthday.
Did you get by with English Leigh?
What kind of spelling is that?
Yeah, Dubrovnik and Mostar are full of tourists. There was a little shop in Mostar where the woman inside struggled a bit but it hardly mattered. She wanted our money and we wanted her stuff.
Did you learn any Serbo-Croat?
Nah, it was enough to just walk about praising Radovan Karadzic in English.
Nice. I've been working on my 'Sloba! Sloba!' chants and have a t-shirt of General Mladic good to go. Should go down a treat in central Sara.
I reckon the Yugoslav stuff might be my favourite war. Have you watched The Death of Yugoslavia?
If you do go to Dubrovnik mane sure you get a little further down the coast to Kupari. There are three hotels still standing which were battered in the war. You can walk all around them. They would have been lovely in their pomp. Nice beach and bar there as well so you could easily spend an afternoon. Mainly locals (no new hotels there for tourists) but plenty of families so nice for the wife and kid too.
Yes. You should read Trusted Mole.
Is it a bus ride away?
Yeah only about twenty minutes down the coastal road.
What's Trusted Mole?
It changed my life and developed my love for the Balkans. It's a war book from a UN preservative. Really amazing book.
Discovering that there is a whole region full of angry maniacs must have come as a relief.
Yes but their deep seated hatred is understandable.
If you can get up to Split and out to some of the islands round there than I'd do that too, but it's a four hour coach ride up the coast from Dubrovnik. Split's a lot cheaper too, but not as nice. Mostar's just somewhere you want to go on a day trip and see/learn some of the history. As Lee says, Montenegro's meant to be nice and just down the road from Dubrovnik. If you can get up to Slovenia then do.
We were planning to go to Croatia in the summer, she's thinking Split. Would Dubrovnik be better?
Off to Dublin tomorrow for St Pats, then the Six Nations game on Saturday.
Recommendations for the rest of our time there?
I spent five nights and went to both. They're both really nice, but Dubrovnik has a great old town and city walls and is generally more picturesque. It's also a lot more touristy and expensive. In Split you can also visit the islands and national parks. Hvar island is lovely.
Thanks, I shall dig deeper.
I want to go to that crazy lakes / falls national park in Croatia. Looks bananas.
When you go on holidays do you take out a lot of cash with you or just a nominal amount to use until you find an ATM?
Do one of the hop on and off bus tours. They're a tad expensive but a decent way to get around the city without having to really think about where to go. Allows you to quite easily do 2 or 3 different things all in one day. Kilmainham Gaol is an interesting place. Stephen's Green will be nice if the weather stays as it has been this week. Head out to Tallaght on Friday night and take in some live Premier Divison football - Shamrock Rovers vs St. Pats at 8pm. Two decent teams and a nice new stadium.
We used to change all of our cash before going. Now we change about half of what we'd normally save and rely on ATM/card payment for anything else.
I take £200ish to tie me over for the first few days or so, and then draw cash out using my FairFX card.
Planning my next trip. Eastern Russia or Mongolia, maybe even one of the central Asian -stans. Anyone been to either?
Don't go anywhere near Dublin is always the best advice. Nothing but junkies and beggars these days, rancid kip.
Split is shit compared with Dubrovnik. If it's one or the other, make sure you go with Dubrovnik.
Island hopping is the way forward though in Croatia.
Some of the islands around Dubrovnik are lovely. I enjoyed Lokrum; a nature reserve rather than a place you'd stay but it's beautiful. Saw a peacock rape as well.
I want to go to Split and some of the islands further north. Might be worth a late summer break, actually.
Dubrovnik all day of the week. Can't add more other then what Lee has already said.
It's a beautiful place, recommend going to Montenegro as the Bay of Kotor is really pretty damn stunning whilst Budva is a lovely town. Mostar is nice enough and I didn't get hassled at all as I looked like one of the many gypsies by this point. The hotels further along the coast are great, especially the one where they filmed Game of Thrones, the girlfriend was a massive fan so we had to venture to it, had all the emblems/marking left over from the shoot there.
Test.
Durovnik's one I've always wanted to go to based on the photos. Same with that place in Greece where all the buildings are on a hillside and gleaming white, although you only ever see the same angle so it's probably surrounded by KFCs and betting shops if the photographer turned around.
Santorini.
Going there in two months' time. Does look pretty stunning, flights/hotels cost a bomb though.
Test.
I rarely take much cash at all, mostly just because I don't like carrying any more than I have to. I was wondering whether it'd be worth taking out Euros for later this year before the exchange rate falls any further, but I'm not sure I really spend enough on holiday for a change of 10 or 15 cents on the pound to really make much difference.
Montreal is outstanding. I'll definitely live there at some point in my life. Boston is way less chill in comparison, though still nice.
I'm off to Poland in the morning for a few days.
Quite looking forward to it.
Looks like I'll just have a week at the start of June, but I'm still thinking of going to Scandinavia. What would be my best bet for 7 nights? I was hoping to fit in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki but with travel (including an overnight ferry) that's not really realistic, so I'll probably only get to see two places.
What's the list of places you'll live in at some point in your life?
Salt Lake City. He's talking about his missionary work.
Going to Japan in a couple of weeks. I wanted to go to Hokkaido and go skiing, but after going to Lapland the girlfriend is now terrified of snow, so instead we are going to Tokyo. Should be pretty good given all the great food they have, as well as amazing buildings. We're going at the best possible time as well given the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
Anyone else been that can suggest places to go?
Off to Bangalore and Jaipur in a couple of weeks with work. Rip.
Why is she scared of snow?
Mount Fuji is the obvious one. Don't think you'll be able to go up it this time of year (I might be wrong), but it's worth a look anyway (you can see it from Tokyo on a reasonably clear day).
You could check this out on the way as well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-left-rot.html
The hot springs at Hakone are pretty cool too.
Oh and then there's this...
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourc...iku%20daibutsu
About an hour from Tokyo by train.
I loved Japan, but thought the food was dogshit, so if you can cope with/love that, you should have an amazing time.
Barcelona was awesome. Cracking city and loads of great things to do.
I haven't been in Copenhagen (going there in September for my 30th) and I think you might enjoy Stockholm more than Helsinki as Stockholm has more to it. The latter two are very much alike, but Stockholm is bigger. I haven't actually been there in ages either though. All three are quite pricey, so make sure you'll have a decent amount of money to use.
I just booked 4 days in Berlin for me and the missus in mid April. Loved it when I went last year so really looking forward to it.
edit: If you do come to Helsinki, I'd be happy to show some good places .
We can't decide at all what to do for this summer and we'd need to be booking soon. I'm not interested in anything farther east than Poland, America would be a waste of money with the wedding next year which only really leaves the likes of lanzagrotty and all that tack.
I'm in a good mind of hiring a car and doing a week spinning around south west England.
Could simply be fly to Copenhagen for a few nights, train to Stockholm for a few nights and fly back from there.
Afraid of snow.
Not very long, tbh; there are a ton of places that I'd like to visit but nowhere has made me actually imagine settling down and living there in the way that Montreal has. I would like to live on every continent at some point though, except perhaps Australia.
The Chinese (more so than all the other rubbish foreigners) used to go mental for the snow when I was in Norwich. You could understand the Arabs and that, but I thought they had snow there.
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