La Dolce Vita

So after an intensive day of travelling, which involved flying Zagreb-Cologne, waiting, flying Cologne-Milan, waiting, catching a bus to Milan Centrale, waiting and finally catching a 2 hour train to Genova we met Zoe, my Italian friend from Paris, who was waiting at the station at 1am in her Fiat to pick us up!

We were exhausted (as always) and managed to sleep in very late the next day. Zoe lives in Bogliasco, a beautiful suburb at the edge of Genova. When we finally got mobilised she gave us a tour of her area, which is right on the coast and filled with typical Italian houses. We also stopped for some delicious coffee (the only country so far that seems to get it right) and focaccia, which is originally from Genova and is too good!

In the afternoon we went to fetch another Australian friend from the station (Isabelle) and then Zoe gave us a tour of the city centre, including the port, the building of the first bank in Europe and the tiny narrow streets called ‘vicoli’.

In the late afternoon we headed over to a bar perched on the rocks, which is quite difficult to get to but worth the trek and we tried some ‘Spritz’. I also love the fact that they give you free food with all drinks!

For dinner Zoe drove us all up into the mountains to a beautiful Italian restaurant where we tried incredible antipasto, pesto pasta and ‘pansoti al sugo di noce’ which is like ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce. And then for dessert there was chocolate torte with zabaglione. I nearly rolled down the hill (past the boars).

The next day we went to a beautiful beach called Camogli, to work on our European tans and try some fresh peach and almond granita (I think I would become obese if I lived in this country!)

It was a very hot day though, so in the afternoon we decided to go for a drive over the hill to Portofino to watch the rich (and famous?) dock their enormous boats. I couldn’t believe how small it was, but the streets are filled with shops like Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

We walked up the hill to a cute little church and admired some more boats before heading over to Santa Margherita for a drink.

It was an excellent few days of fun, sun and food and to finish it off we all went to get one last gelato. Alessandro, Zoe’s boyfriend came to meet us and gave me a ride to the gelataria on his scooter! I was so excited, driving along the Italian coast on the back of a scooter, my dream came true!

The next day we said goodbye to Molly (who is going home to Adelaide) and Belle (who I will see again in Venice) and Zoe and I started another long journey to Berlin. So now off to explore another beautiful city! Ciao ciao

Dubrovnik-ing

So I am actually in Berlin (after a speedy visit to Italy) but I will backtrack a bit to catch up! After leaving Hvar we had an epic bus trip to Dubrovnik (via Bosnia) and arrived at the bus station half-dead. Luckily the crazy guy from the hostel picked us up in his car, and managed to squish all 6 of us (including him), plus 7 suitcases into a 5-seater. It was like a game of tetris.

It was close to midnight by the time we got to the hostel, which wasn’t in the old town but in Lapad, a cool area near Copacabana Beach and we met Mrs. Bergovic who runs the place with her husband. She gave us all apple juice and told us stories, which was pretty funny except for the fact that we were all falling asleep.

Nevertheless we forced ourselves to get up early, and had a delicious pancake and ice cream breakfast (so healthy). They also had, uh, Viagra flavoured ice cream, which was bright blue. Only for the brave I guess…

We got on the bus to the old town, which was already packed with tourists from the cruise ships, and decided to go straight to Lokrum, an island just off from the old town. The water was amazing and we went on a bit of a bushwalk before finding a place to swim. Lokrum is also home to a nudist beach, but we were advised against it.

After catching the ferry back to town we had an incredible seafood lunch by the port.

After lunch Gabi and I decided to go and check out the Synagogue, which was tiny. I don’t actually think it is in use anymore, as the community was fairly small before the war and practically non-existent now.

From there we went to an amazing exhibition at a gallery called War Photo Limited. I learnt about the conflicts between Serbia and Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegova and also Chechnya. They also had a fascinating exhibition called ‘Eighteen’ by a Jewish Israeli photographer. It was a collection of photos of 18 year-old non-Jewish Israelis, with their story written beside each photo and it was interesting to see how some were so positive about the future of Israel, and some very negative given the discrimination they face.

http://www.warphotoltd.com/?

We spent a few hours at the gallery, and managed to avoid some of the heat, before starting the walk around the old city walls. It took us 2 hours to go all the way around and the views were stunning.

After a late dinner (of cevapi sausages!!) we walked back to Lapad and packed because the next morning we said goodbye to Amy, Gabi and Phoebe and had a painful 11-hour bus ride from Dubrovnik to Zagreb. We arrived in the evening, spent one night at a hostel near the station and then prepared ourselves for yet another day of intensive travels. To be continued...