… on my trip to Croatia for the October half-term break the answer to this question was most often ‘no’. However, people were surprisingly helpful, often calling people on their mobiles to find out where the hotels were. When travelling I’ve learned to always have addresses printed out for places I’m staying. Sometimes the hotels/hostels are kind enough to give directions from the airport or bus/train station, or even a map of the area. This trip, that was not the case. Adventure was imminent!
My friend, Jenn, and I departed London on Monday, flying on Croatian Airlines. I have to say it was incredible flying on a real airline, as compared with discount airlines like Ryanair. They even fed us during out two hour flight. Impressive. On arrival in Zadar, we got on a sketchy looking bus that took us into the centre of town. Here we ran into our first instance of trying to find our hostel. We asked someone sitting at a cafe, and he passed us on to a group sitting at the next outdoor cafe. They didn’t know where the street was, but they knew the main square it was supposed to be near. When we got to the main square, we started showing shop keepers the street name, but no one seemed to know. Even a lady working at a shop that was two doors down from the street in question didn’t recognize the street name. We soon found it on our own.
In Zadar we checked out the sights. The old city of Zadar, where our hostel was located, was founded by the Romans and surrounded by 16th century stone walls. One of the coolest things around the old city was the Sea Organ. On our second day in Zadar we took a trip to Dugi Otok (Long Island). This was a last minute decision, as our first choice to visit the Plitvice National Park was out due to a good chance of snow that day. It was an hour and a half trip on the Jadrolinija ferry to get to the island. It was a rainy day, and we took the local bus to a little place called Bozava. Everyone else who got off at that stop went to their houses. We were left out in the cold, wandering around the beautiful waterfront village. To get out of the rain, we found a little restaurant where the owners were eating lunch. While we had some coffee, the owner told us about the island with a population of 2000 in the off-season.
After Zadar, the next stop was Split. The weather in Split was much warmer and sunnier, so we spent as much time outside and by the waterfront as we could. Again, we were sent on a wild hunt for our hostel. No one seemed to know where the street was, but many well-meaning people tried their best to send us in the right direction. Because it was the off-season and no one else was staying at the hostel, we were upgraded to an apartment, which was so great. I only wish our time in Split could have been longer.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog. I suppose I should briefly say something about the last year in London. This is beginning of my third teaching year here in London. As with my first and second years teaching here, I find that I'm evolving as a teacher and continually learning from the classes I teach.
Aside from work during the last year, I have taken every opportunity to travel. Since I last wrote here I have seen bits a pieces of Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Holland, Norway, Monaco, and Turkey. One of the most surprising and memorable places I’ve visited was Krakow, Poland. Seeing the Auschwitz sight was an eye-opening experience, and the salt mines outside Krakow were incredible.
It's been a wild ride! I'll sign of now and leave you with a smattering of pictures from my journeys of the past year. Enjoy!
