Romania and Serbia: I wonder if Dracula drove a Barina?

We finished off our time in Bosnia-Herzegovina with a couple of days in Sarajevo. We checked out the spot where Franz Ferdinand was shot (which eventually started WWI) and did a tour of the Tunnel of Hope. The Tunnel was the only way in and out of the city during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s by the Serbs.  There's a pretty big party scene in Sarajevo, but thanks to the copious amount of partying and eating on the Croatia cruise our livers and arteries just weren't ready for a repeat in Sarajevo.

A random Bosnian man in my lovely picture of a Turkish street in Sarajevo

We hopped on a train to Belgrade, which is quite close on the map but took over 8 hours by train as the tracks have not been repaired since the war. Belgrade has the best nightlife in the world (according to Lonely Planet) and our free walking tour guide was pretty keen to prove it by providing a free shot of her uncle's homemade rakija - tasting rather like metho than 'plum brandy'. We were also lucky enough to share a hostel with a 40 year old 'Bohemian poet' and 5 Americans who refused to eat so they could get drunk quicker. Lucky us! 

Damage from the 1999 NATO bombing 

Homemade rakija tastes like ass.... at least I caught my sunnies

Tom working on his 'tan' just before being told off by the security guard for being too close to the edge. What a rebel.

 We then started our epic journey to Transylvania with our new awesome travel buddy Hana. 1 bus, 3 trains and 20 hours later, we arrived in Brasov. It was like a step back in time - cobblestone streets, gothic churches and huge mountains and forests surrounding us. The highlight of the trip so far was definitely our decision to hire a 2 door Barina and jam 4 of us inside to go castle-hopping for a day. Tom took the wheel, and I attempted to navigate. We overtook horse and carts, saw shepherds herding sheep and cows (wearing cow bells, of course), saw some ridiculous overtaking maneuvers and drove 120km for dinner in Sighisoara. It was an awesome day and we drove through probably the best scenery we have seen on our trip so far, it was absolutely beautiful.

Love a tacky photo op - Rasnov fortress

Tom overtaking his first horse and cart, yeah! We probably had only 2 more horsepower but we owned that horse and cart.

Peles Castle and the fussy stray dog who refused to eat half my sandwich. Probably wanted money for the pokies instead, soz.

Tom and his trusy steed - Doris the Barina.

We then spent a day in Bucharest before catching our overnight bus to Istanbul. The train station did not give a smashing first impression - stray dogs EVERYWHERE, dilapidated buildings and pushy cab drivers. But we ventured into the old town and it definitely improved. We had lunch at a ridiculously classy restaurant with silver service, a live violinist and pianist and spiral staircases. Dressed in jeans, hooodies and sneakers we totally fit in. Kind of. Not really. 

Bucharest Old Town

Croatia and Bosnia: Beaches and bureks

So after a few turbulent days with KG's beloved cousin Scotty and his girlfriend Kate, it was time to part ways and make our own way to Croatia - land of the cevapcici (I'm not making this up, it is their national food and they are SUPER proud of it and so they should be, it's absolute money!)

Our introduction to Croatia was quite mediocre with Zagreb providing such highlights as a passed out hostel receptionist, a man snoring that sounded like Susan Boyle rolling down a hill and a man who asked us for money 5 times in one day... all class! We did however managed to find a locale to watch the AFL Grand Final in a pub with the Euro AFL Championship winning Croatian football team. Our next destination was Zadar and, despite being on holiday for a solid 8 weeks, we finally felt as though we were on a proper holiday! We spent a few days dawdling around in Zadar before heading off to Split.

|In Split we spent 4 days sitting at beaches and knocking back Karlovackos on the promenade. We decided that we needed to take it easy before we embarked on our 7 day cruise through the Croatian Islands. We were debating whether the cruise needed its own post but we just decided to give you all a quick recap of how much we ate, drank, slept, read, swam and generally did very little whilst cruising through some of the most picturesque coastline the world has to offer... The group we had on our boat were absolute legends and the crew members that staffed the boat were also amazing (Tom & Luka the barman became quite good friends) and it was an insanely enjoyable week.

A view of Dubrovnik from the city walls

Standing at a look out looking over Split (2nd decent photo taken by other tourists)

Tom jumping off a 14m cliff in Makarska

Tom stretching out in his spacious bed - you should have seen the size of the cabin...

After getting off the boat us and our newest friends, Cam & Emma from Canada (legends) headed to Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnia was definitely a stark change from Croatia. The fighting between Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia only finished in 1995 and there are still parts of Mostar that are in ruins. We were lucky enough to have a local, Miran, who was 14 when the war started, walk us around and point out what happened in certain parts of the city - a very eye opening experience. We were also lucky enough to stay at an amazing hostel, where we basically had our own 3 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a family's house. The owner, Almir, and his brother brought us fruit from their farm and showed us how to drink traditional Bosnian coffee. We sat around for hours each night talking about sport, the war and life in Bosnia - an amazing experience! We truly felt like part of the family.

Katherine rocking a hijab for her first visit to a mosque

The Old Bridge in Mostar

A street sign in Mostar damaged during the war

A Croatian sniper's roost overlooking most of Mostar

A house damaged during the war - people are living in the top stories while the bottom floor has the remains of an old Serbian bunker and there are bullet holes everywhere

We are now in Sarajevo soaking up a bit more history, before heading off to Belgrade then Bucharest (which is renowned for its packs of wild dogs - excellent). We will keep you updated!