We woke up at 5.15 am even though we did not get to bed
before 1.30 am as we were finishing our preparation for the
Busabout trip to Croatia starting at 7.30 am that morning from the Wombats Hostel. This was the only leg of this journey which would be completed using a fully guided bus tour. There was no other convenient way to get to where we would like to go and see what we want to see in the time that we have left considering all the things we wanted to accomplish by the dates we had set ourselves.
The reception at Wombat Hostel was most helpful in storing our
luggage for the short time we went to sort out our checking out and getting back our key deposit of our apartment. The Wombat Hostel's reception was run more like a normal hotel than a hostel. After checking out, we went over to Costa (the coffee place opposite the Wombat Hostel) for coffee
and croissant and found that these guys have soy milk. Hooray!! We have found the first place in Budapest that serves soy milk for coffee. As we were getting breakfast, Jo, an Australian we met on our
walking tour two days back said Hi. We had not
recognised her, shame on us, but we got
reacquainted. We collected our luggage
and waited at the breakfast area in the hostel for the rest of the folks for this bus tour. Shortly thereafter, this lady in Busabout uniform
walked into the Wombats.
There were only 25 of us in this big bus, so there was space to spread out. We secured the front seat as it would be
great for photography - we plan to shoot through the front windscreen. Most of our fellow travelers were in their twenties as that is the general target group of these bus tours. There were four of us who were young at heart travelers, though no one singled us out. On the way, we would be stopping at some tourist spots as this was more of a tour by bus rather than a mere bus trip from point A to point B.
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| Sign in front of the museum |
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| Front Gate of the Museum |
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| The Lenin Boots Statue |
Our first stop
was at the Memorial Park in the outskirts of Budapest. This is a park which preserves all the Communist statues that had been moved here from elsewhere within Hungary and the rest of Eastern Europe. It is a park to commemorate a time when the country was under tyranny and the ability to discuss that now that they are a democratic nation. The front entrance was flanked by a statue of Stalin to the left and that of Carl Marx to the right with a statue of Lenin’s
boots opposite. The security guard of the park spoke
German but no English. He informed us that the park would only open at 10.30
am. We were too early to visit, so we just had a peek. Not that the park was a must-see for anyone in the group.
Among the young at heart was a Saudi couple who had retired recently. They were in normal clothes like the rest of
us (no hijab or burka), and behaved exactly like the rest of us. The couple were sweet to each other in ways that one would not expect of strict Arabic social norms. We would learn that back in Saudi, they would have to comply with the local conventions there. We would also learn that the economy is declining in Saudi and folks are looking for alternative, just like any one in any other country. They were to become great friends later.
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| The pair of statues at Lake Balaton, Hungary |
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| The pier ending in the Lake |
The next stop was the last stop in Hungary, at Lake Balaton, at the border of
Hungary and Croatia. This was the Riviera
for the locals. It was formed from
volcanic activity and is Hungary’s inland sea.
It is also the largest lake of Central Europe.
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| The eider ducks swimming in the Lake |
Folks can be observed fishing along streams
near the town that serviced the lake visitors as well as on the lake shore.
The water looks like that of thermal baths in Iceland, a little milky, indicative of its rich minerals content. It was also not too cold temperature wise although we did
not take the option to have a swim. Instead we watched eider
ducks swimming in it.
Back on the bus and heading to the Croatian border, a game of coach Olympics was initiated by Di, our guide. This is a game
where an object that Di mentioned had to be passed from wherever it was initially found all the way to the front of the bus,
then all the way to the back of the bus, before being passed all the way to the front again. First to get the object to the front of the bus wins that round. The coach was divided into two teams along the aisle, one team named for the guide, and the other named for the driver, Michael. It was sheer mayhem as it was also possible to interrupt or steal from the other team as long as the deed was carried out without leaving your seat. Team
Michael won by a very small margin.
At the border crossing, Micheal, our driver had to go fetch the border officers
to check our passports. Di said that at least these ones were just late. Border crossing could be rather time consuming. She also said that elsewhere at previous times, there had been some requirements to pay breakfast expenses. Eg.
Bosnia-Herzegovina or Macedonia. The crossing of the borders, leaving Hungary (member of EU and Schengen) and entering Croatia (member of EU but non-Schengen) took almost an hour.
Two hours from the border, at our first Croatian stop near Karlovac, Michael and Di picked up supplies for the BBQ dinner that night. This was our first opportunity to get some Croatian currency as well as
some "spare" groceries for ourselves. The
little supermarket there has three ATMs in close proxomity. We withdrew some Kunas (Croatian currency) and then
went to get some groceries – muesli bars (we finally found some), some nuts, and some water –
all for 68 Kunas (AUD 13) . Then it was off to get coffee at McDonald for 7 Kunass (AUD 1.35) so that we can use the free Wi-Fi there. Finally we figured out why the wireless on
the bus had not working for us - Operator
error! Duh!! Busabout buses are fixed with wireless access to WiFi which works through the local phone systems.
Our next stop was the Turanj war memorial open air museum which is located on the bank of the Korana River.
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| About Turanj |
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| An example of the information provided |
What was interesting was to hear it from the viewpoint of those who lived and experienced it. We have noticed from earlier briefings that we have had from the various walking tours conducted by the locals, that the media broadcasting to the world often drowned out the voices of the local. The media often analysed situations the way they saw it through their filters - be it their political agendas, their attempt to increase their rating or viewership (so that they could make monetise the opportunities to sell more advertisement) or their attempt to bring about certain results.
Here is the version from local Croatians : Tito (that the world often know as a dictator) wanted to
unite the Balkans. He was of mixed origin himself - his father a Croat and his mother a Slovene (Serb). He did this by balancing powers between all three warring
factions - Croats (mostly Catholics), Serbs (mostly Orthodox) and Bosniaks (mostly Muslims). During his time as Secretary General of the then Yugoslavia, the country enjoyed peace and prosperity. He was a hero to his own people.
Although originally appointed to the position of Secretary General by Stalin, Tito was also one of the co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement (the league of nations that steered a middle course between the Western and Eastern blocs during the Cold War). Today the Non-Aligned Movement have 120 members (there are 196 nations on Earth today). For the sake of his country, Tito steered a middle path balancing between the Soviets and the Americans as well as between all the different ethnicities within. He was what some management schools would today probably refer to as a very successful "cats herder".
What was interesting to note was that before the issues raised by the Cold War, there was the matter of the Nazis and the liberating-then-colonising forces of the Red Army. And before them were the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. All these events in history would leave their marks that continued to influence the course of political situations in this region today.
Following Tito's death in May 1980, the changes that occurred in what was then Yugoslavia would see it broken up into the countries we know today. Subsequent leader, Milošević, who was later tried in the International Courts as a war criminal, was deemed to contribute to further instability. The well known and very sad war between the Bosnians and the Serbians would later last more than five years. There were so many versions of how and why this war started and why it continued. It became a
war tainted by, among others, religious differences between the Muslim Bosnians (influenced by
the Ottomans) and the Eastern Orthodox Serbian.
To this day, the truce that has come to exist there is relatively fragile.
During this discussion we discover a surprising fact : Marco Polo was actually Croatian but because Croatia was then under Venice rule, he was deemed Venetian. It goes to show that context and wider understanding of history is important before political analysis is carried out. This principle is probably applicable to a lot of other critical analysis as well. We would have to investigate this piece of new fact to us later.
Our final stop before camping for the night was a much nicer one - Slunj, the town built on top of waterfalls. An impressive almost hobbit like scenario greeted us as our coach approached. The town appears to be built on a ledge. In between are traversing streams that have become huge waterfalls. It was a very
pretty sight. It is also interesting geologically in that the water dissolves the calcium carbonate as it flows but also deposit it along the paths it flows. There also ecological implications in the existence of the scene before us. It was a fascinating place with waterfalls in backyards and within the immediate neighbourhood.
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| Traffic on not highway enroute |
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| Information on the Rastoke part of Slunj |
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| See the waterfall peeking under the leaves |
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| Some of the waterfalls below the town level |
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| One in perspective |
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| And closer up |
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| Imagine this in your backyard |
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| Or your neighbourhood |
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| Some ecological information |
We walked as far as we
could in the time allocated to take in all in. The time allocated for this
activity was just not sufficient. This is the thing about organised tours that we dislike - insufficient time to spend exploring things that we like to do and having to spend time on things that we do not like doing. We could have spent less time earlier where we were picking up groceries so that we could spend more time here exploring!! :-( But sometimes, we cannot have it all, even when we want to because time is never unlimited. Alas!!
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| Our log cabins |
As this was a tour for the younger folks, a toast of high proof Croation distilled alcohol was drunk at Slunj.
Our camp site was in a national park. These consisted of log cabins like those in Safari South
Africa. Two to each log cabin with centrally shared bathrooms and
toilets facilities. Facilities were all clean and modern. Most important was the availability of ample hot water for showers.
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| BBQ in progerss |
Our BBQ dinner went really well with all of us pitching in to make it a family like event. Croatian skinless sausages (ćevapčići), chicken and vegetarian options were part of the great menu. The company was great too. We stayed up chatting with our fellow travellers till 10.30pm before heading for bed. The camp was only 6km from the famous Plitvice Lakes
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