DUBROVNIK - CROATIA

i was lookin forward to crotia. sun and water. felt like an eternity since i had seen that combination.

i stayed at irish kimbo's parents holiday house at cavtat which is bout 20mins on a bus from dubrovnik. all i had planned to do now til i head bak to london was relax and relax i did.

sittin on a beach (by the way in croatia a beach is pebbles n concrete next to water), in the sun, drinkin a cold beer, goin for refreshing swims in the clearest water in the world. magic! doesnt get any better. did this for 3 days.

one of the days we headed into dubrovnik to have a wee looksy. its a breathtaking looksy at that. sitting looking over the andriatic sea with pebble lanes and steep steps down to the old town. it truely is a magnificent city. me n kimbo headed to a bar called cold drinks which sits on the cliff edge overlooking the sea. one of the most amazing bars iv been to, watching the cliff jumpers as we had a relaxing beer. ended the day with fresh mussels and squid.

definately was exactly wat i needed. loved it!

SARAJEVO - BOSNIA

now this is wat made the radovan capture so interesting. goin from upset betrayed nationalist serbians to celebrating muslim bosnian. weird.

sarajevo have reconstructed itself pretty well. had a good look around sarajevo. the old town isnt too big but enough to keep u occupied as time flew by. sarajevo is the home to bosnian muslims, croatians and even serbians so it has an interesting mix but the muslims aspect definately stands out.

had a great bunch of backpackers at my hostel where we enjoyed a few bevies. in the shops pivo comes in cans, 1litre bottles 1.5litre bottles and wait for it ......2litre bottles! quantity not quality must be the key.

went for walk up some massive hill that looked over sarajevo and its mountains. nice view but i was exhausted. definately noticed not playing footy this year as my fitness is shite.

on my way to croatia i stopped over in mostar for an hour. its a city south/west of sarajevo and unlike the capitol is stil destroyed by war. blown up buildings, bullet holes everywhere.

like serbia and probly all countries in the baltic ex-yugaslavian region, its interesting to hear the locals stories. there is always two sides to everything.

NOVI SAD - SERBIA

not feelin much better i thought i'ld face my sickness head on and decided to head to serbia. it was an interesting train ride. i arrived in novi sad which is 70km north of belgrade late at night but managed to find my hostel no worries.

i did my apprenticeship with a serbian named miklos who is from novi sad and happen to be there on holidays. it was great to catch with him and have a tour guide and experience the serbian culture. i kno i wee bit of serbian which i successfully used on a few occassion.

i caught up with miklos for a few beers and a walk thru town on the first day. shite weather, rained all day. met up with him later for dinner.

next day it was shite weather again. but always goin to be interesting when you start it with rakija(the traditional liquor).
we went to the beach on the danube where they hav an awesome set up for a great day. bars, restaurants, family areas, sporting areas etc. pity the rain kept the punters away.
we headed up to the fortress which is where the famous exit festival is held. exit was on my itenary but i couldnt get there in time without back tracking so i gave it a miss. now exit is definately a must on my next trip. to have music festival with 20 stages in a fortress like novi sads is unbelievable. i couldnt imagine it. it overlooks the city and the river.

when i was in serbia radovan got caught. he was an ex-general for serbia and had been one of the most wanted men in europe for his war crimes against the muslims 7years ago. its to hard to explain it in writing but it is a massive for serbia to give up an ex-general no matter wat the circumstances are. the nationalist felt betrayed.

had an interesting and enjoyable couple of days in serbia with plenty of pivo included. to hear serbians side of view on things is amazing in an area of europe thats has had conflict for wat seems like forever. surprisingly serbians are one of the most friendliest people i have met. i would have loved to hav stayed longer and headed to belgrade too.

BUDAPEST - HUNGARY

next stop is budapest, where a relaxing couple of hours in the traditional hungarian baths was on the cards. i arrived in the afternoon and headed to heroes square for a look, then to the baths. they had a heap of different baths, with diffferent temperatures, aromas, waters.

headed to bed that night not feeling the best. then my body shut down. dont need to go into details but after 2 injections, 15 tablets a day and 4days stuck in bed that was my budapest experience.

nae bother, it is expected when u live a backpackers lifestyle to hav a few days ill. just didnt need to be that ill. funniest part was i couldnt find an english speaking doctor, so explaining to the doctor my symptoms was like a game of chirades.

however hare krsna had a street parade that i could listen to from my bed on one of the days.

thats it from budapest!

VIENNA - AUSTRIA

my original plan was to spend a few nights in vienna, however plans always change. so i only had time for a day trip.
i was planning to catch the hydrofoil along the danube to vienna, however plans changes. one too many beers caused me to miss it but nah bother i just jumped on the train and got there only an hour later than intended.

i didnt want try and squeeze in everythin in one day so instead i just cruised around the city taking in which every sights i happened to pass. the danube canal runs thru the city with boats, bars, urban beaches set up alongside it. the town itself its as good as any when it comes to architecture.

walking thru the streets u can have a variety of street performers including amazing opera singers. my highlight was this amazing artists that only had spray paint, a stanley knife and a magazines as his tools, with an stunning outcome.

in vienna they love their icecream which freaked me out a bit. instead of catching up for a coffee or a beer, people also caught up for an icecream. imaging a table of men talkin nout watever eating icecreams.
for lunch i had the traditional viener schnitzel n beer followed by a schnaps.

i made the hydofoil home along the danube which was at sunset. bloody marveleous day out with vienna definately pencilled in for next time.

BRATISLAVA - SLOVAKIA

i took the train south to bratislava and book into my hotsel. nice city from first looks. went out for a drink and dinner with my roomies. with romanian, phillapino, norwegian, irish girls, irish, english, danish lads. so it was a multi national evening but a fab one at that.

next day i checked out the st martins church, bratislava castle (as u probly notice every city has a church on top of a hill and a church). took a massive walk around town and then had a well earned nap. went out for dinner again for a lovely original slovak meal then bak to hostel for a drink. the hostel had a amazing jazz band playing there and everyone was having a great time. then they ran out of beer! so obviously we had to move on. went to a few bars and it was always friendly atmosphere with the locals trying to teach me slovak which i butchered.

next day i took to a day trip to vienna.

bratislava was good. i really liked the city alongside the danube. unlike prague its untouched by tourist and you could feel the slovak vibe. coz its not over run by tourist they are so welcoming to help you in anyway and especially they love to share their culture. also slovak women are the most beautiful woman in the world.

PRAGUE - CZECH REPUBLIC

i went to prague in 2006 for a few nights and loved it, so i thought i would go bak for another look.

prices for trains were 120quid which is like $200 so i checked out busses. the busses were expensive too, they were 100 quid. so i hitch hiked for 10quid, well its organised hitch hiking. there is a website that people write where and when they are travelling, then u ring them and plan where to meet. but u still wait for them with ya thumb out so its hitch hiking by technicality.

anyway got to prague no problems and had a good sleep. next day i did my sight seeing of prague. taking in the prague castle, st nicholas church, charles bridge, astronomical clock etc. prague has loads of historical sights that look amazing day and night.

that night i went a bar and liverpool vs tranmere was on so i got settled there with a couple of welsh and dutch lads.

next day i just relaxed and wandered around in my own little world, finding little shops, bars, buildings that i didnt kno existed. in my dorm was this eccentric german chap that was in prague for the world amatuer chess tournament where he was seeded number 2 out of 350 players. that arvo we had a few games and he was amazing. the last game he told me before the game started that the rook would get me check mate, and it did! he explained after every game his strategy so now i will be unbeatable bak in oz!

that night we went to the biggest club in central europe with 5 levels with an elevator to acces each of them. each floor had a theme. it was a great night with pivo and the infamous absence involved.

prague is stil great but it has got to a point that tourist rule the city which is a shame. i heard many different languages but not czech and there are so many tours, souvenier shops that it sorta takes away the czech culture but stil worth a visit.