Island Paradise

From Zagreb I headed south to Plitvice which is a national park with lakes and waterfalls and is the most beautiful place I had seen up to that point in my travels. I had arrived in the early afternoon, and immediately tried to find somewhere to stay - not so obvious a proposition in a national park. However, there was an agent and I ended sharing a room with a Croatian lady in her 50s (about), with whom I did not seem to have a common language. I only stayed one night and headed on the next day to Zadar. On the coach I changed my mind, however, on discovering there wasn't much to do there, and went straight on to Split, which is a beautiful town. I was accosted by a number of elderly ladies as I got off the coach, offering accommodation, so I had a room to myself (11 of my nights in Croatia I have had a room to myself). I walked back into town and drifted about, eventually finding an internet cafe hidden away. I had been trusting God to sort the evening out (I often enjoy company in the evening) and at the cafe I met the only two people I knew in town - the two Australian girls I met on the coach. We found a restaurant and then I saw someone else I knew from Zagreb!
I had been looking forward to getting away from it all in Croatia and spend time relaxing and focussing on God, so I headed for one of the beautiful islands in the Adriatic, to a place called Bol on Brač island. It was lovely. I met a number of nice people who I hung out with in the evenings. The accommodation cost me about €13 (I would have said it in pounds but I couldn't find the pound symbol on this keyboard!) per night. I was there for 4 nights. The latter two nights I was in the home of a lady whose husband had died one month before. It was sad, especially as noone else lives in her road now, because the houses have been bought as holiday homes for out-of-towners and foreigners.
After Bol I went to Hvar town on Hvar island. It too is beautiful. I can recommend going on holiday to the islands, especially in September when prices are much cheaper and the weather is very good and there are far fewer people about. In Hvar I met some people I had seen before in other places, especially a couple of Swiss girls who had been my neighbours in Bol. I also met lots of French people there.
Hvar to Dubrovnik via a stay in Korcula for one night. On the ferry to Dubrovnik I met the Swiss girls again!

Dubrovnik is a beautiful town, very Italian in feel. I met the Swiss girls again walking around the old town! I have hung out with an American guy, Michael (who lives in Ukraine) and a Mexican. We talked for ages about history and politics and the whole region. This is one of the things that has happened a lot to me whilst travelling. You get a different perspective on things meeting people from other countries and travelling around. For example, I have seen evidence of the Balkans war, especially here in Dubrovnik, with bullet holes around and new roofs built. It was pointless shelled during the war (1991-95 I think it was), even though there was no military reason for it.

Tomorrow I am intending to go to Kotor in Montenegro. In doing that, I am leaving that main thoroughfare of backpackers. Having said that, Michael is going on the same bus.