This story is about three Americans and one Austrian and his car heading south. The ambassadors of Croatia organized the fifth Balkan meeting in Zadar. Of course, I and some friends attended it. In fact, there were more than 200 people from countries all overof the world! We had a great time by roadtrippin' and partying all night long :-) - Sorry for posting this story so late, this all happend in May 2009 :-D
Getting there
We went there a day before the beginning of May. As soon as I finished work, I picked up three stranded Americans: Colleen, Liz and Ari. They were from Minnesota, Iowa and New York. As my friend Colleen wanted to drive a car again, we swapped drivers. She drove us safely to the border of Slovenia/Croatia. This was the point at which we switched again.
First break
When we reached Croatia's capital city, Zagreb, we stopped at the next restaurant, because we were all hungry.
It was a Chinese restaurant and I think it was Croatia's worst. Even the waiter asked us - afterwards, why we had decided to eat in his restaurant! Strange, isn't it? However, it was the first restaurant we found. Colleen tried frog legs. She didn't expect so many bones in it.
Hopefully we'll have more luck with the restaurant next time :-)
After this “interesting break” we continued our journey to Zadar. It took us almost nine hours to get there. We arrived around midnight and our helpful organizers showed us the way to our apartment. It was nice, spacious room.
Liz in the day nursery
Because we were expecting Mascha (another Couchsurfer), Ari, Liz and I shared one room. Mascha never showed up, but instead of her, Lubo from Slovakia came :-)
The first day
We got up 11ish and went to the city center with Lubo. The CS-organization team prepared a treasure hunt. We had to find nine different spots in the city. At each spot, we got a secret clue.
Sea organ
So were almost running through the city trying to be the fastest team.
crkva svetoga Donata
On the way to each of the hidden spots, I got some shots from the city itself...
We were able to solve the clues very fast, but there still there were two teams faster than us. Anyways, it was a nice game :-)
After the treasure hunt, we headed back to our apartment and rested a bit.
Party time
Friday night sunset
Friday night: Party time! The Croatian CS-ambassadors organized a pizza party & disco. They played Balkan music! As we were over 150 Couchsurfers from all over the world, it was an awesome time!
Nearly everyone brought a national specialty for a gift to exchange. I took some Mozartkugeln and Stroh80 with me. On this night you could try a lot of different things!
Couchsurfing Party Time in Zadar
We danced all night long and made many new friends! Here are some shots I took that night.
Relaxing on an island
Ships in Zadar
On Saturday, it was planned to go on hike on an island close to Zadar. But because we missed the ferry we were supposed to take, we couldn't find the CS group. But hey’ who cares? We decided to stay on the island and relax a bit.
We met some other Couchsurfers that didn't want to go on the hike. Overall it was a very quiet afternoon. However, some of the people weren't able to do more than relaxing, because they had partied way too much :-)
Because we had some time, we took some pictures and fooled around a bit! As soon as we got back to Zadar, we headed back to our apartment to get ready for the next night.
The organization-team managed to get a seven course meal, for those who had pre-registered. The food was good, but I guess the restaurant was swamped, because it took more than two hours to serve to main dish.
I guess it was midnight, when Colleen, Liz and I left the restaurant. We went back to the city center of Zadar, because someone recommended that I go back to the sea organ. It was definitely worth it because I took some awesome shots at the solar collector.
Check them out here:
Solar pictures
Solar pictures
Solar pictures
We knew that there was also a party going on Saturday, but actually not one of the three us was in the mood to have a party evening that night, so we just headed back to our apartment. I know that sounds boring, but you know, I am getting old too :-D
Sunday
Having a coffee break
We met Ari together with Eveyln and Lubo to have a final coffee in Zadar. We picked up Ari again and packed our stuff. Afterwards we were “almost” on the way back home to Vienna. Why almost? Well it took as a bit longer than expected. First of all, we got stuck in this huge traffic jam. The strange thing about this traffic jam was that, there was an empty traffic lane. At the beginning I hesitated to change to this lane, because everyone remained in one. But as soon as some car’s passed by, I also changed lanes. So far nothing special. We were able to save some time by doing that. BUT, after passing about 20 or 30 cars, one guy from Zagreb blocked our way. This guy really sucked! We tried a few times to overtake him, but every time we changed lanes, he did too. However, a few kilometers later, we all got stuck in a traffic jam.
Ari from NYC
Colleen jumped out of the car, Liz armed with her camera, and ran towards him and took a picture, just for fun. It was great fun actually, because that guy was really pissed about that. We all hope that he noticed how ridiculous he acted.
Long way home
Road trippin!
After two more traffic jams, we were able to continue our way without any stops. Unfortunately I forgot to check the GPS in Zagreb, so instead of heading to Maribor, I took the wrong exit. So it happened that we drove towards Ljubljana.
I had already driven for a while in the wrong direction, so it didn't make sense anymore to turn. We crossed the border to Slovenia somewhere other than where we were supposed to. I got a map at the gas station and decided to take an alternative route.
We switched drivers and Colleen headed back to Vienna. We accidently drove by a beautiful castle somewhere in Slovenia.
We stopped for dinner in a place called Celje. It was pretty late already. We could find only one restaurant that still served food.
In a restaurant in Celje Slovenia
It was good and quite cheap. Compared to what we got in Zagreb, it was almost a banquet.
We continued our way back to Vienna. It took us hours, but still it was a very nice road trip. We had so many interesting conversations about life and perspectives. It was inspiring. If we had never reached Vienna, we probably would have been the first humans on earth to find out, what the meaning of life really is. But instead we went back to my apartment and went to bed.
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