Discovering the southeast European cultures

It was June 20th 2016 and my last Erasmus week in Bratislava was coming to an end. My brother and sister came to visit me and travelling is something that we have always shared, so I planned a week full of plans and places to visit.

I rented a car in Bratislava and went to pick them up in the airport. We were going south; to discover some of the countries of the area we hadn't visit yet. Slovenia and Croatia was what my sister wanted to visit and apart from that I wanted to see Bosnia. So we rented a car and as easy as that we went to those countries. We had 6 days and more than 2 000 km ahead of us.

Bratislava - Lake Bled: 470 km

My sister was amazed to discover the lake we were going to visit was the one she always dreamed of visiting. There is not much to say about Lake Bled. It's just beautiful. Calmed water, calmed surrounding, quiet place. Mixture of nature and small villages. Great walks around the lake...

If you have time I recommend to rent one of the boats and row to the island that is placed in the middle of the lake. You should also go up to the view-point where you can see the lake from the upper parts of the surrounding hills. It doesn't matter where do you see the lake from, you will just get amazed by its sight.

Lake Bled - Ljubljana: 53 km

After spending some hours in Lake Bled, we went to the capital of the country where we were going to spend a night. The center of Ljubljana is small and colorful. We walked around, saw the three bridges, the pedestrian streets, the castle in the upper part with great views over the city, the church, the square...

To have dinner there is a small restaurant in the city center called Sarajevo which gives traditional food. It's a small place in a very cozy basement. Small vaults made by bricks, no sunlight inside, but the isolation from the outside gives the place a special atmosphere. Maybe the local people and traditional food helps making it special.

Ljubljana - Plitvice National Park: 200 km

The entrance is around 15 € (students) and there are many walks you can do of different lengths. You can choose the one that best suits you, but I recommend to do one of the longest to see everything.

The place is quite famous, so expect people from all over Europe walking through the park. Everything is prepared for the tourist. You cannot swim and there are buses and boats to take you from one place to the other. The way is really easy, you just have to follow the path which sometimes goes through the lakes and others along the shores.

After spending 6 hours walking through this beautiful landscape (too many people for me); we took the car and went to sleep to Mirna Dolina which is basically in the middle of nowhere.

There are many other lakes in Croatia and Bosnia that are worth visiting. In some of them you can even go for a swim. We didn't have much time to see everything we wanted to, so we just went to Plitvice.

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Plitvice - Split: 250 km

The interesting part of Split is the old town. It is surrounded by walls and the floor plan has square shape. Inside those walls we found narrow streets, small shops, restaurants, buildings made full of stone...

We went in summer and the temperature was too high for us so we decided to stay only one morning in Split and to head south to Dubrovnik.

Split - Dubrovnik: 230 km

I now get why Game of Thrones decided to shoot some of its scenes in this city. If you don't know it yet; Dubrovnik is the place where many scenes of King's Landing were shot.

Dubrovnik is huge, but the most interesting and touristic part is the old town. A city inside huge stone walls, with small stone houses and red roofs, very characteristic typology of this area. The old town is located next to the sea and it has a harbour which leads you inside the city.

The old town is not big: narrow streets, many restaurants, plenty of people... The city is very alive! When you go into the city gates you will find the main street of the old town which leads you directly into the harbour. Once you cross again the city gates and you get into the harbour, I recommend you to walk to the right along the city walls and you will reach one of the most amazing places of this city. There you will swim in a beautiful place between the sea and the foot of the city wall. From there you can see the boats sailing, the island located in front of the city, and the Mediterranean sea.

There are many other places where you can swim next to the city walls besides the one I mentioned; another which is between Lovrijenac historic fortress and Danče (5 minutes walking from the old town); and the one that is in the other side of the Danče are my three favourites. If you go to the tourist information, take a map and you will see that all these places are marked.

If you go in summer to Dubrovnik I recommend you to go sightseeing with your swimsuit under your clothes because anytime you will find one of these swimming spots and you will want to go into the water to refresh yourself.

You should also go to the Lovrijenac historic fortress (no need to go inside, it's just for the view) and up to the city walls and walk all around the city. The view from both places is amazing. From the Lovrijenac historic fortress you will be able to see the "harbour of King's Landing" where many scenes of the tv show were shot and behind it you will see the old town. From the city walls you will be able to see the Mediterranean sea in one side and the compact city in the other.

If you love the sea and kayaking is your thing, you should definitely go on a kayaking tour. They start from the "King's Landing harbour" and then go around the city walls, to the island, to see some caves in the shore... It's great to experience the city from the sea apart from the land. If you have a good camera don't forget to take it with you; they will give you protectors for the camera not to get it wet and you will be able to take great shots of the place. One of these tours is at sunset; great opportunity to take good pictures!

If you stay several days in this area, there are some excursions that you could do. Visit Mostar a small town in Bosnia which has an iconic bridge. Go to Budva in Montenegro, a small town with similar image to Dubrovnik; stone walls around a small city with small houses, red roofs, narrow streets and next to the sea. Another place you could visit are the lakes of Krka in Bosnia which I mentioned before.

Dubrovnik - Sarajevo: 235 km

Small town, great differences in culture. On the way to Sarajevo we were amazed by the landscapes we were going through. We enjoyed every minute of that part of the road trip. We took a small road which went through the mountains and I have to say it was a great choice.

Leaving the beautiful nature of the Bosnian mountains behind, we arrived to the capital city. We thought Sarajevo was going to be bigger, but the city center is quite small. Even so, it has a lot to offer. The different cultures can be seen in the very center of the town. The moment we went there we felt like walking through a bazar, but at the same time you can buy in stores and streets that look like any other city in Europe. You can see this contrast also in the architecture. We didn't have time to see much more that the city center but the city just got to me and left me wanting to know more about it.

Sarajevo - Zagreb: 400 km

Our last stop. Zagreb. We started the road trip in a rainy day in Bratislava and we were ending it with another rainy day in Zagreb. Walking through the cozy pedestrian streets of the city center didn't seem such a bad weather. We were even able to watch a live free concert in one of the squares. Great atmosphere!

Our trip was coming to an end and my Erasmus year too. But instead of being sad, all I could think of was the experiences that those months in Bratislava gave me, living in a foreign country, a language I didn't understand, people I didn't knew, all the travelling around... And after those months all this became as part of me. So familiar, that when I came back home I missed hearing a foreing language in the street, being in a city I didn't yet know.