ESCAPING THE FREEZING COLD AND SNOW OF EUROPE - CROATIA ISLAND LIFE IN THE WINTER
yesterday morning we pulled out of our campsite just outside of the beautiful city of Venice and we drove about 3 and 1 half hours and we were driving towards the east and then we turned South now that meant that we drove through the country of Slovenia and we did not stop although we did try to stop at a few places a little restaurant for lunch but none of them were open but do not not worry we will be back to explore slovania when it is a bit more warm there's some beautiful hikes and stuff to do here but right now we're actually running from the snow so we are headed south now one thing we did do the minute we crossed into Slovenia is we pulled into a gas station because the fuel is cheaper here uh more like a140 or a e 40 a liter versus a 90 0 a liter so that makes a big difference and made us very happy another thing about driving through slovania and also when we crossed into Croatia we noticed that there are still border checkpoints in place now going the direction we're going we did not get stopped but we did see they were stopping some people coming north into more of the developed part of the European Union so when we come back North we may get stopped for some border checkpoints we'll see when that happens but we are in a hurry to get to Croatia for a very special reason or actually two three three very special reasons the first being we are going to go run into an old buddy of kurts from way back in the high school days he's lived over here for years so we're going to go run into him for a day or two and and see what life is like living over here and then we have not one but two very special packages to pick up and that is at a little farm up more in central or maybe even Eastern Croatia and you may wonder how we ended up finding a place to get stuff delivered here well we have some subscribers who have reached out to us and uh it is Tim and Valentina and Valentina is from Croatia they actually met here when he was doing a multi-year bicycle ride through Europe and now they're married and they live back in Florida and her parents still live here and one of our very special packages is actually a gift from them and we'll tell you more about it when we get there and the other one is something very cool that we had delivered in and it's kind of big so we needed a secure delivery address so these guys have come through and saved us on that so that is why we were kind of in a hurry to go ahead and get down here to Croatia that and of course we're trying to get farther south because it's getting colder and colder and colder but then we drove out onto the island of I'm going to call it Kirk it is krk one thing we noticed the minute we crossed into Slovenia and Croatia is all the signs seem to be lacking vowels the letters the words and the pronunciations changed drastically when we get over here but we will do the best we can but we are at a campground out here and it is a beautiful campground on an island with beautiful blue water surrounding us now it is cold and it is chilly and we are just about the only ones here because it is so far into the off seon that no one else except for one or two people will Brave this place but that makes it nice for a place to just settle in and rest up from the long drive one of my favorite things about this place the showers without a doubt the best shower on the entire Journey since we started van life at any kind of Campground hostel anything it was amazing the water was so steamy hot the pressure it was clean you had your own changing room it had a rain shower head and then all along out there they even have hair dryers on the wall shaving stations it is a beautiful facility but from what we understand if you come in here in June July or August it is slam Pack full of people but it does sound like if you can squeeze back through here in March or April that it might be a perfect place for an offseason Beach visit now we don't know if that will fit into our schedule or not we'll have to see as the road lays out in front of us but this place is wonderful there is a little kitty that has come to visit us at the door a couple of times which Vana and G are not too crazy about but the little Kitt's just trying to be friendly hi Kitty how are you but we're parked here on this little protected Cove a little boat anchored out here on that side you can rent little mobile home cabins and then Here Comes Kurt how was that shower best shower on the whole journey oh man it's the best for sure this is a nice facility but that was our parking place now this is a premium spot that you would pay a lot more for especially during High season but Kurt sweet talked to the lady at reception we paid for a regular spot but got a premium one so I've told them it doesn't hurt that there's nobody here we have to place to ourselves yeah we're almost to Tim's house now Tim is the Buddy from high school I just told you about so it's been a long long long time V is high school yeah but on our way there we're practicing a few Croatian words and boy are they different so how do you say hello stra stra and thanks uh voila those are the two words we're going to focus on because it is a very different language and you guys know good and well we are linguistically challeng to put it nicely nicely so D voila are two Croatian words that we're going to focus on all right we stopped over to have a little authentic Croatian dinner I guess that's what I'm going to call it that's s how authentic it is but you're in combination set of combination balcan Croatian dinner huh okay yeah and and the company and the chef was Mount Everest you know and what do you call this dish I would call this like a [Music] goulash no we have goulashes with meat okay and the only meat and this be I don't know some maybe juit juit juit okay yeah but this like bit different so there's beans there's peas there's carrots there's chicken looks like tomatoes and bay leaves on Rice I think it's kind of like almost like a tomato based sauuce with a couple mushrooms looks pretty tasty how is it snow it is really really tasty I'm going to eat it all so we're here on the island of kir and we're staying at a friend's house here you can see the van parked right here but it's a SL small little village up here on the hill and I'm headed over to Tim's little cabin to meet with with some of his friends but we got really lucky I haven't seen Tim since high school and it turns out I mean he's the same awesome guy he was back in the day which is good but I kind of expected that but what is really amazing is he is like the expert the expert on Bosnia penia and on this whole Balkan region he's been written the first travel guide and it's been majorly published for Bosnia and so we're going to head over this morning we had an amazing time last night just hanging out and catching up and talking about all the exciting things that this part of the world has to offer so we're going to spend some time with us he's going to even take us on a hike tomorrow he's going to take us on a little tour today I'm off the charts excited this has already been an amazing visit but I'm headed over there now we're going to have a little coffee with them and chat and set the plan for the day or in in Ireland they they called it Irish coffee yeah yeah wanted to experiment with rakia he wanted to make the some cocktail we Dr and that was like story was like story was like like because when they make they they drink yeah and then he said said first day he was like just like wake in room and he didn't know what's happening so that's the name of this this is draia yeah it comes from a Turkish word and it's basically it's Brandy it's schnaps yeah it's distilled plums distilled pears apples um all right it's cold day we got G's jacket on we're out going for a little walk what do you see buddy [Music] [Music] that's good quite [Music] well so I was a vegetarian for like 19 years and then I um started started eating occasionally started eating meat um and then a few years ago maybe 2 3 years ago um I became vegan I think this is Rosemary yeah this is Rosemary okay so Rosemary Rosemary all right so today Tim is taking us around the island and showing us some cool stuff we are starting with a lunch here in the city of Kirk that is on the island of Kirk and it's supposed to be an incredibly old really cool City and I I already see a little narrow streets and all that but first thing on the agenda is well we stopped by the vet first but now lunch so it's always a treat to walk through streets like this in the off seon and see everything empty with no people but at the same time I can imagine that when all the people are walking these streets and all the shops are open all the cafes set out that it is proba we truly a fascinating place so I think the key would be to find it at the perfect shoulder season which we're here in might be late March and into April when you start to get the good weather some of the places start to open but the huge summer crowds aren't here yet who knows maybe we'll be back when it's not closed up tight oh this is pretty wow look at this CH so we're taking a stroll around the old city and you can of course see the beautiful old walls that we love so much gone into church now we're walking past a medieval castle and we pop out to this beautiful view over this beautiful blue water now it's windy and cold today but we're definitely going to walk down here and get closer but I wanted to let you know that the city of Kirk is over 2,000 years old it's just crazy the history over [Music] here got to stand up got to clear your eyes got to walk on to the other side let a new s feel your mind bring the bra to life there's a wild world waiting on you full of wonder ring fire see it all laid out before you come alive come alive come Al come [Music] alive so we just wrapped up a yummy lunch down there on the waterfront Kurt had a tuna burger and and some onion rings I had a Falafel burrito same thing that Tim had all the food was delicious and now we are going to leave the little town center get back in Tim's car and quite honestly we don't know where we're going but we've just been told it's epic views so we know we're going to love it so let's go all of ORS on the island and and Vineyard yeah these are allive oh these are all olive trees yeah trees all these Alles okay and then yeah the forest is is mainly like small laks um but these are yeah this is all olives no South we're looking South so the wow Southeast that's the main the mountains there are the mland and that's the coastal road that you guys are going to go on so oh wow you see it you can see the L yeah I can see it the road you'll be driving you hear that snow that's the road we're going to go on yeah turn around so we've made our first stop just a quick one to take a peek over into this beautiful Valley that's called the boska valley and we're parked right down here so this is a roadside little Monument here and what we have learned is this is from the ancient Greek alphabet I'm sure I'm getting the formal name of that wrong but it is basically the letter A I thought it was a big fork in a meatball to be honest with you guys but for me fortunately we have expert here who kind of straightened me out the size cracks me up you can never do this in the US so we've been trying to map out and figure out our plan for our timeout of the shenen area and Tim is really an expert on this Balan region has kind of been giving us some suggestions some ideas is and in any event we have to go pick up a package in Northern Croatia but we are going to head south after that to get out of this cold weather and there's a cold front coming through you might even be able to see the snow on the mountains out in front of us but this mountain range in front of us is to the south of the island kir that we're on right now and if you can see that little line across there on the bottom that is the road South so when we get done with our business up north we are going to be taking that Highway North along and we're just going to keep going south until we can find some warm weather till we run out of road but look at this beautiful view that Tim's brought us up to and there's a little town down here and it's called Bush boska boska boska and so I think we a way of butchering our fifth or sixth language on the journey so but anyway what a beautiful Viewpoint and this is up at a maum church and Cemetery and uh if you guys can see up there on the hill there's some sheep up there as well sort of grazing and we've come up through the olive Fields uh where they have all the olive trees and stuff is it Fields uh Orchards Olive Orchards Olive Orchards and uh but what a stunning Island and some had been promising views you'll tell us what you think but I think he delivered look at this just the beginning just the beginning oh and in addition to there being some sheep up here you can see there's some old ruins and I don't know if this is a house or some sort of defensive for Fortress or what have you but you can just see how these things are just made with stones just like a lot of the buildings we've seen on the side of the road and the archway look at that how it's shaped and we can actually see right down into it it's so cool and beautiful what we did and how we did [Music] it all right Tim is taking us to one last secret spot on his tour today and it was a wonderful tour but this one is going to bring us right down by the sea on the west side and it looks like down here there's a nice little church and there's a little nice dock where we can walk out to the water I think Tim might even jump in today I don't know Tim did you say you're going to jump in the water while we're here wa if you will one last stop for the day Sun's getting ready to set Tim's brought us down here to I would call this probably the west side of the island not far from Tim's Little Village he says he comes here when the water's a little warmer and the weather's a little better and swims it's a beautiful view Sun's about to go behind that Mountain Ridge they're still sharing old high school stories of basketball Glory Days and just a little history funny tidbit on Kurt in high school Kurt was apparent ly really good at basketball and could even dunk so I'm hearing all kinds of basketball stories but look at this beautiful view and of course y'all know I love the sound of the crashing waves what a beautiful day here in Croatia on the Adriatic [Music] cty [Music] that me that means you're a great cook and a great company that's what that means people want to hang out with you can I film can I film the kitchen all right our second night of getting served yummy yummy dinner oh something looks good in there and this is where the magic is happening in the kitchen Place aha it's good place good energy it's going to be good food and good company jam out you're very good dancer man let him try first first here cheers don't shoot it now what is this called it's good this is and you said it's with walnut walnut it's a wal hello H hello hello [Music] hello I [Music] don't steing domet Chef we have regular chef and Chef C okay thank you what is this they like winter winter s in this period when we have a Carnival Carnival takes place here around the V and the islands it's very famous so Carnival uh what month is the carnival here well after the year uh one week later okay Begins the carnival okay so dinner is over and it was delicious and this is a traditional Christmas bread right so we're getting to try some local I think it's going to be a little sweet let's see M it's got a little lemon oh it's really really good guys good morning everyone what a beautiful morning here in kir up in Croatia we are having an amazing time last night we had a beautiful authentic dinner another one with all the folks here Tim's introduces to and we just had some really good authentic food and Company and traditional drinks and we just visited and chatted and it was just fun and really uh special experience but today of course we had the tour yesterday too but today we're going on a hike and so we're going to hike I don't know what what exactly the hike is but we're headed up right there we're going to find out when we get over to see Timmy steady ready to go ready to go enjoy your day all right thanks what a beautiful day right yes perfect we'll see you look at this ice it's pretty thick up here guys if you're wondering what we're talking about when we say it's been cold I think it's about did you say 8 degrees today Celsius Z last night it was Zero but the sun is out it's 40° fah for those of you who don't know Celsius but we are on the way and it looks like this Trail is turning into an asphalt Trail long so we we can handle this one thing we've seen a lot of since we've strolled around Croatia out here on the island is these rock walls that are just stacked here and you can see they're on both sides of the road now I believe Tim you can C correct me if I'm wrong but these are for shrimp or not shrimp these are for sheep or for goat herds and they use these as fences to kind of contain them and keep them in their areas oh yeah sort of like to one is to mark your your property line two is cuz there's no place for the sheep or the goats to graze because there's so many rocks so you take the Rocks off your land you build a wall and then your sheep and goats have places to graze and you mark your property as well so to keep the sheep and goats in I all right we've been walking for about 15 minutes and uh mostly up either an asphalt or a gravel road but now it looks like we're taking a little turn and quickly the Train on the trail has changed and you guys can see this is kind of like lime rock and so this is a little bit more technical a little more unsteady footing I actually broke out the walking sticks for this but it is a little more of a narrow path up through the forest look we have more ice look we have a big bear footprint what do you think it is Trick Boys in blue all right we kind of come up into an opening and it's more shrubby here so we're kind of out of the trees we're up on a peak maybe kind of above the forest line at least for now it looks like and we can see up at a peak in front of us I think Tim said he thinks our destination is beyond that we can't see it don't run you are old slow down like the Schwarz and slow down what's cool about all hike that involve elevation is the higher you get the viewpoints change and we can see down into the city of Kirk where we were yesterday we walked through the old town and you can sort of see the marina in the seafront and you can see the mountains and some of the little towns that we've ridden through as Tim's kind of taking us on tours throughout the island and then over there to the right if you can see in the background and maybe you can't snow cap mountains but down below that is the water that separates the mainland from the island and the bridge that we came in on and as we get closer to the peak up here you guys can see it's definitely gotten rockier in fact it's almost all rock it's more like quartz than Lime Rock so you have to watch your footing for sure and the breathing also gets heavier but we're about to get there so this is not it this is not it this is one got 35 minutes more to go we've got to go down a little bit and then go back up about 20 more meters than what we're at right now to get to the peak honest with you I can't imagine a more beautiful day to be out on a hike it's cool enough where you don't work up a sweat and uh We've peeled off the layers and actually probably going to peel off a little bit more before it's said and done I just heard from Tim he's uh going to take his walking stick and bust it this ice and do a little Polar Bear Plunge up here in this little body of water he's been talking about it ever since I've been here Kurt is going to take off his shirt and he's going to give me a big bear hug to keep me warm when I get out so we're going to rub our moves [Laughter] together ah no doubt this is a little place for watering the Sheep yep all right we're up here on the rocky surface of the Moon and we can definitely see the IND destination up there and we've thought a couple of these Peaks might be it but pretty sure that one down there is actually it and fortunately there's a lot of really good trail markers along here so you can see sort of the red and white Bull's eyes and then there's also a light blue and white flag and there is a Camino that that goes around the entire Island out here and that I believe is marked by the white and blue stripe right there so no doubt this is a hike that you could do off the Camino but we still got a couple more Peaks to go and a little further than we thought but we're in good shape and enjoying the day so let's keep going guys let's keep going so we've seen a lot of and talked a lot about these walls these stone walls on this hike and they were used for sheep hurting but I'm told that it takes a very special skill to stack these rocks like this and if you come along here you can see there they don't use any mortar and the actual walls are really thin and some of these walls are hundreds of years old and so they've stood the test of time through the winds the erosion and all the other stuff but apparently it's kind of a skilled it's almost died off here but something that's very specific to the region unconquered there goo good job guys oh nice there we go so we made it up to the top of OB zova 569 M and the look to the South is absolutely stunning you can see several islands down along there we can even see some snow cap mountains in the background and we told you earlier that when we get done here we are going to be heading south along the seab border of Croatia and we can see the road right along there wow what a stunning View and across the sea and out there and I'm not sure if we can see Italy from there but I'm told on a clear day you can I think most of what we can see out there is Islands from Croatia but the water is smooth and sparkling blue and up here against this Rocky sheep hurting terrain it is just a stark contrast and so stunning if you like this video be sure to subscribe to our Channel and hit that notification Bell so you guys know when we put out new videos and don't forget you can always follow us over on Instagram to see what's going on in between videos cheers guys
2024-02-20 20:23
