Cruising in Croatia

 

A true miracle has happened – I have a few spare moments in which I can finally write down a bit about my new and truly incredible job.



Sunset on my first evening



Eighteen days ago I arrived in the beautiful old city of Trogir and began my new life chapter as a boat and bike tour guide for Islandhopping in the breath taking country of Croatia. Starting off I was so nervous and, on my first day, standing there wide eyed and not understanding a single thing that was going on. Watching the goings on was like walking into a large beehive, that from the outside looks like a crazy chaotic busyness but that was somehow organised and resulted in something fantastic. While one person was running around carrying an impossible number of helmets in one hand, others were looking at long lists I later found out was numbers and types of bikes to sort out which boat needed what for the coming week. Instructions were being yelled in Croatian, German, English or a combination of the three and trying to follow these was quite a skill especially while dodging the flying water bottles and boxes of food as the boats crew men restocked their week’s supplies.

While for some Friday afternoons and Saturdays may signal the beginning of relaxation and a much anticipated weekend off, for us Islandhoppers this is the busiest time of the week. The ending of one tour and reorganising for the next week. However, despite having these busy intense days, and at other times having incredibly long midweek ones, I truly enjoy this job so much I finally capital U Understand why when you find a job you love you never work a day in your life. Even on a so called “bad” day all I have to do is look out the window and I will either see the clear stretch of the Adriatic, ancient Roman and Greek cities such as Split or Stari Grad, a unique stretch of beach, the Golden Horn, on the island of Brač or the purple, lavender covered island of Hvar. That is when I remember what a perfect life this is. I could easily be sitting in a cubicle on the 8^th floor on a computer and that a bad day in the office isn’t solved with a look out the window – doing so then just gives a further view of more office buildings! Rather than being hunched over a computer for long periods of time I get to stretch out my legs and explore the islands of Croatia by bike, revitalising and reenergising myself for the days or weeks to come. Furthermore every week I get to know and work on a different, beautiful boat with different colleagues and crew. Though it is impossible to be bored in the Croatian islands, I never would be as tour routes also get to change and I get to meet an entire group of interesting people from all over the world.



Waking up to find yourself on the move again



Though the day may start out early with a check that everything is organised and ready, and end late sitting up in bed reading to learn more about the rich and complex history of Croatia or specific specialities of an island I couldn’t be happier.

Now I realise I have not even got to telling you the how amazing Croatia is part, our boat is getting close to docking at our next destination and somehow I have already written over 500 words. Therefore I will draw this post to a close with the promise that in my next free moment I will take the time to write down a little more of my new, exciting life. But for the time being feel free to have a little look at a few more photos from my first few weeks.

Until then, take care!

Bee

xx

 

 

Beautiful days in stunning bays

 

 

 

The incredibly clear and colourful Adriatic

 

Beautiful small village of Ložišća

 

Sunsets and yachts

 

Stunning refurbished Shepards hut on Opat

 

Resturant decorations

 

 

 

Trees and seas

 

Rewarding views after long bike climbs

 

Finding perfect stops for coffee and swim breaks

 

Picture book views

 

Islands islands and islands

 

Sundeck cruising

 

Sailing in the Konati

 

Gelato stops in Jelsa

 

A Year Today

 

Wednesday 4^th March, 2015. A date, much like any other, and of little consequence to the grand populace, but one with an abundance of significance for me. You see, it was this same date a year ago that I left my beautiful, wild, Lord of the Rings famous country, New Zealand. A year ago that I sat rigid in the car on the way to the airport, feeling neither sad, happy, nor excited. All I could feel was an all-encompassing fear that shook my hands, pulled at my stomach and emptied my brain of just about everything. Before leaving home I had the spontaneous idea to sew myself a small bag to store my passport so it could stay safe, under my clothes, next to my body. I knew what I wanted it to look like in my head, and after 15 minutes of sewing all I was left with was the most basic, ridiculous little bag that, apart from its ability to hold my passport, looked nothing like what I had set out to create. That was the first time I ever realised that your brain can totally and completely be switched off by fear.
 

The me that left New Zealand

Now, with the sun warming my back as I write on a park picnic table in the little village of Lamporecchio where I live, I am so grateful that despite my fear, I decided to get on that plane, leave my incredible family and head into a mostly unplanned future. Unplanned as it was I could still never have imagined, even then, that I would still be in Italy, be who I am now, headed where I am heading. This gap year that has turned from an OE to so much more than that, to a chapter of my life in which the “travelling” I thought it was all about, is only a small part of this amazing experience, was the best decision I have made in my life so far.

I have seen the ruined remains of Rome, the famous mosaics of Ravenna and eaten the chocolate, Gianduian, in its birth place, Turin. I have walked the streets of London, explored the small typically English town of Sherborne and revisited my childhood friends, school, parks and memories in Stourbridge. From the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the canals of Amsterdam and back to the narrow streets of Venice. I have seen the rolling hills of Heiligenberg, eaten Currywurst on the banks of the Hamburg harbour, and seen the sun rise over the Swiss Alps beyond Lake Konstanz. I have attended Mass in St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican City, and seen Raphael’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel. I have learnt about how many different types of cheese there are, and how amazing and different each one tastes. That biscotti is not a type of biscuit, but the Italian translation of the word biscuit. That gelato wins over ice-cream every time and oven baked pizza blows Dominos out of the water, through the atmosphere and far into space. Preferably into a black hole. How Italian slow cooking beats anything out of a can. Which wines fit with what, and how to progress through them during a multi-course meal. I am a grappa and no-sugar-espresso drinker. A mussel, octopus, and cuttlefish eater! These are a mere handful, a small paragraph worth of the things I have experienced, seen and learnt. They are the tip of the iceberg, the icing on the cake. The filter on your photo. What I am saying is they are the things that look good on paper, Facebook, Instagram. The things that make it look like I am having the most amazing time ever. Which I am. But what is mentioned above is by all means is only the smallest part of the Why.

The tip of the iceberg

You see, what I did was take myself out of where I am most comfortable. Away from everything familiar, family, friends, expectation to go to university or get a job, even my native language. I did not let myself PLAN each and every day, unlike my previous habit of creating 10 year life plans, almost to the day of what I would do when, to get me to where I wanted to go. As cliché as this is going to sound, I have to say it because ultimately there is no other way to explain. And though it has been said to me a million times before, I now realise there is a difference between understanding and Understanding. Or knowing and Understanding. I have and am still, learning to live my life as the destination, not aiming for it. I am not doing things to GET somewhere. I am not doing things so my life can start. Because what I have realised is that this is my life, it has started. It is Now. I am living life every day for that day, not only to reach a goal and thus clouding everything in between setting it and achieving it. This experience has forced me to grow up in a way I did not realise I was so in need of doing.

Though from the outside there may not seem much difference, red is still my favourite colour, I still love fifties dresses. Chocolate and croissants are still my all-time favourite foods, I am as sarcastic as I ever was and I still believe Game of Thrones is the best program ever. But, on the inside there has been a massive, positive shift. That scared girl who left the airport, tears in her eyes, fear gripping every single tiny part of her body and mind, her newly polished shoes, pristine clean top and brand spanking new backpack, is now more like an old friend whose life shaped mine in an incredibly important way, but who is now no more than a fond memory of the past. And who I am now, the work-in-progress that I am, is still an upgrade from  the past model.

The new though still ever growing and learning me

When starting to write this post, I really had no idea what direction it would go in, and the last thing I expected was for it to turn out how it just did. I don’t want this to be taken heavily, this is not a self-help or journey-of-my-inner-development story. As far as I am aware the biggest thing I have learnt is that I don’t know anything, there is so much for me to learn and that this is only the beginning. But I just want to say to anyone who is even considering doing something remotely similar, DO IT. I don’t care if you are leaving school and want a gap year, have finished university and need a break before full-time work, are in the middle of your “work-life” and need to get out or have already retired and realised you haven’t done anything like this yet. Just do it. Because you will learn not only an abundance of knowledge about the world that you can never get from a book, a movie or the internet, but also more about yourself than you ever realised was there to be learnt.
 

 

An Eternity in the Eternal City

Rome. Though only there for 5 days, I have never experienced so many different and amazing things in such a short period of time. Due to this very fact I was feeling rather anxious when I tried to think of how to fit it all into a single blog post. It seemed an impossible feat. In fact, it probably is. So instead I have decided to share little snippets of my time in theme with the city’s nickname, the Eternal City. I will try to share my eternal experience of this city from its ancient ruins to its renaissance riches and delicious gelato.

 

What I think when you say Rome - the Colosseum

I knew of course that there were ancient ruins and buildings throughout Rome. The first thing I picture when Rome is mentioned is the Colosseum. But what I did not expect how surreal it feels to walk through the streets and amongst what is left of the temples, Churches and buildings that were built so many thousands of years ago. On entering the Roman Forum shivers tickled my skin and I felt the pre-cry prickle behind my eyes. Playing my hand on the old ruins I could almost seem them transform into their past splendour before my eyes. I was reacting to these ruins the way most teenage girls react to One Direction! Each time when I thought ‘yes, it is amazing but I think I can wrap my head around it now’ I would turn a corner and see something new. The light would hit the intricately designed marble in a slightly different way and I would get the this-is-so-amazing-and-I-can’t-believe-it feeling all over again. Every step took me to a new, better, more breath-taking view of Rome’s ancient past. How it felt to stand on top of the Palatine Hill looking down on the Forum is indescribable. I could have stayed in the Forum all day, but I had a Colosseum tour date, and so after the fastest 3 hours of my life I had to leave. However, once on the Colosseum tour, my disappointment in having to leave the Forum almost totally vanished. Another 2 hours past in a blink of an eye. I went from feeling like a gladiator walking out into the arena, experiencing the simply massive size of the Colosseum, to being a poor animal trapped in one of the small rooms, windowless rooms in the underground. Lastly having all the power in the world, feeling like the Emperor himself on the third tier, looking down at those people giving their life in my honour, before turning around to look of my beautiful city of Rome. It was an incredible experience I will never forget.

 

The incredible, breath taking Roman Forum

 

Intricate marble work

 

The incredible, breath taking Roman Forum

 

The incredible, breath taking Roman Forum

 

Brick, columns, ivy and marble in perfect harmony

 

View from the Palatine Hill

Feeling like a Gladiator heading out to fight for my life

 

Under the Colosseum

 



Looking down from the third tier

My second day in Rome took me to the Vatican Museums. Luckily I had pre-bought my ticket as the lines were unbelievably long despite it not even being peak season. Rather than brush over every part to try and fit it all in I will tell you about my favourite part and simply say that the rest is amazing and definitely worth the visit. Now, without a doubt the most incredibly part of this Museum are the Raphael Room’s and the Sistine Chapel. I have been in love with Raphael’s work for as long as I can remember, partly because his art has always been in my life either in pictures on our walls at home or books full of his work, and partly because he is just simply incredible. Having seen our small copy of the School of Athens almost every day of my childhood, and it being my favourite, by the time I reached the Stanza della Segnatura it was all I could do not to start jumping up and down. I definitely couldn’t wipe the wide smile off my face, and not blinking had never been so easy. I knew it was a fresco and thus would be big, covering an entire wall. But knowing and experiencing and quite different things. I was able to see the colours in a whole new light, details in the expressions of every person was magnified and somehow new and different. They all but came alive as I stared up, ignoring the growing pain in my neck. It is due to this one, spectacular painting that I cannot agree with so many in saying that the Colosseum was the highlight of trip to Rome.

 

Such skill a painting looks like a sculpture

 

The incredible, amazing, beautiful School of Athens

  

Raphael's incredible works

In amongst all this incredible history Rome somehow manages to be almost flawlessly modern at the same time. Segways, as stupid as I think they look, wiz along the streets. There is at least one smart car on every corner and the latest fashion is displayed like art in shop windows. However, the one problem, the part that makes Rome almost flawlessly modern, is with our modern era, trying to live alongside and ancient city comes into conflict when trying to build metro lines. Rome currently has only two of these (attempts at more lead to dead ends when they discover new underground tunnels and crypts. A fact I find rather funny). This, as you may imagine, leads to massive overcrowding. I had thought London underground was busy, but it is nothing compared to Rome rush hour. One evening on my way from the Colosseum back to Termini the platform was so crowded that I decided to wait for the next train. Well, that was what I had wanted to do, but when the train came I was involuntarily swept along and into the already bursting carriage. I don’t think I have ever been in such close proximity with so many people in my life. In fact I am pretty sure there was at least 5 other people touching some part of me. The last two people in had to push off door frame until the doors closed and they could let go, faces squashed up comically against the glass. Though this aspect of modern life doesn’t quite fit into Rome so well, the new, jazzed up Gelaterias certainly do. The best I tasted was without a doubt at La Gelateria Romana which had a wide selection of flavours from ricotta and fig to the smoothest chocolate fondant. Two taps in the centre of the counter ran with milk and white chocolate, incredible looking intricate ice-cream cakes stood on display in the glass doored freezer. Crepes and nut, fruit or chocolate topped yoghurt was also available. I am not going to lie, going there became a favourite, nightly ritual.

Ice Cream Cake taken to the next level

Gelato and nutella filled crepe - heaven!

Strawberry and yoghurt gelato (with white chocolate in the cone!)

 

Ice Cream Cakes taken to the next level

The Beauty in Language Learning

As I have been rather busy with work, application writing and travel planning I am short on both time and content so this will just be a quick and light little thing that I have been thinking of jotting down for a while.

When you arrive in a new country where you know you will be living for some time, that speaks a language other than your own, you expect that you will have to learn at least a little of this new language. This was obviously a thought that crossed my mind when I decided to spent over a year in the amazing shoe shaped country of Italy. Slowly, word by word and phrase by phrase the language becomes more familiar to you. You begin to notice the same word over and over, you look up the meaning and you’ve learnt a new part of the language.

I have found that language learning seems to always be labelled as easy or hard. This seems extremely limiting as an explanation for the incredible journey of learning a new language. For me, the best word (or rather two words) are amazingly interesting. And this has all come from how and what I learnt from the lyrical language of Italian.

It was pretty soon after arriving in Italy that I learnt that direct translation is a complete and total waste of time. That you will just become so confused that you will never want to try again. I actually remember the exact moment I realised this. I had sat down with one of the children’s books, Il Mio Cucciolo. I decided to learn the language I would just look every word I didn’t know up in the dictionary and slowly I would be able to say eloquent phrases in no time at all. That was until I translated the title.

The My Puppy.

Yeah, that didn’t quite seem right. Nevertheless I persevered to the first page.

Questo e il mio cucciolo, Ha le zampe morbide. Gli piace rotolarsi, grattarsi, saltare, e quando abbaia fa… Bau Bau!

Which I translated to;

 This is the my puppy. Has the paws soft. The like rolling, scratching, to jump and when bark ago… Bau Bau!

That was where I stopped. I mean, seriously. WHAT?? Reading it back now is actually rather comical, as I can easily translate it into a more understandable;

This is my puppy. He has soft paws. He likes rolling, scratching, jumping, and when he barks he goes… Woof Woof!

From this one story I began to see certain characteristics in the Italian language. Like there obsession with shoving one of their 6 versions of our word “THE” absolutely    E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. I mean really, is it necessary to but THE before my puppy?  I also began to see their weird placement of adjectives. Excepting quantities, adjectives always come after the noun so no longer is it a black cat, but a cat black.

Though at first these differences frustrated me to the ends of the earth, I have started to appreciate them. Every time I see a difference between Italian and English I keep thinking how amazing it is that people, all over the world can say something so completely abstract to the way in which you say it, yet the meaning the exact same thing. Once you decided to learn your given language from its own roots, not from your native language, the process becomes so much easier and ten time more beautiful.

The last thing I want to mention, which I have found the most entertaining and least expected, are the difference in sounds in a different language. I don’t mean as in the pronunciation on vowels or words, but the things that aren’t really words at all, but rather expressions that you would never even think to have a translation for.

I am sure every English speaking person has seen the YouTube video Charlie Bit My Finger. In here is a lovely example of what an English child does when they are hurt.

OUCH!!!

However, if Charlie had bit the finger of an Italian child you would instead be hearing;

IIIIIIII-AAAHHH!!!

Another fantastic sound that I now cannot help but using ALL the time is the beautiful “BOH”. Which translation is I don’t know? It’s like a shrug, but oh-so much more satisfactory!

Now, some of you may have noticed that in my children’s story extract above I did not translate Bau Bau until my last translation. That was because it did not appear in my dictionary or in Google Translate at the time. Why? Because it is not a word! In English a dogs goes Woof Woof, but in Italian, I later found out, it goes Bau Bau! Another example is that while in English a rooster wakes you up with a Cock-a-doodle-doo an Italian rooster starts the day with Key-key-ree-key.

So there you have it. For anyone who thought language learning could be summarised into either easy or hard, I have just given you 750 words why that is just simply not true!

 

Touring Turin

A very good whatever time of day it is to you all! I am currently sitting in my bed feeling rather sorry for myself as I am recovery from the flu. It would appear having a chest infection is not enough sickness for one winter so the flu came to say hello too. In fact that is why there was no post last week as my brain could not hold enough concentration even to read my book let alone write out a relatively eloquent post for you all. Which, by the way, bugged me as I do happen to have a particularly fantastic 3 day weekend I wanted to share with you all while it was still fresh in my mind, however, a week as not completely lost it from memory. So here we go, my three day holiday in the amazing city of Turin.




The best thing about Turin is that in that one city name, so much significance is stored. To any football fanatic they will instantly think JUVENTUS (a team I have come to learn far more about in my time here in Italy than I ever intended learning about any football sports team. Ever!) To historians it is full battles between Europe, it holds the old Parliament house from its time as Italy’s Capital. For chocolatiers it is the birth place of the idea to combine chocolate with hazelnuts which eventually brought that amazing spread everyone has come to know and love. Nutella. But whatever your passion is, it would seem this city holds some form of it in its chock-a-block full history.

My lamp lit rain wet first view of Turin

 When I first decided to go to Turin, Filomena went through my Lonely Planet Italy book, pointing out all the sights I simple HAD to see. This then gave me an idea. As any regular readers will know, when I go and play tourist in a new city I always end up seeing the big sights famous to the area and then just end up wandering the streets and exploring the city that way. I am in no way saying I dislike this approach, in contrast I love it hence always doing it. But this time I figured, why not do a proper, full on, Lonely Planet recommended tour of Turin? So that’s exactly what I did. I mapped out activities, cafes, sights and museums for each day. That meant that when I arrived in Turin, despite the fact it was 5ᵒC and raining, I grabbed my map (as little help as it probably would be to me!) and finally found Grom which according to my guide book was the number one gelateria in Turin. That hazelnut and chocolate gelato did certainly manage to find a place on my top gelaterias in Italy. The smoothness of it, and the real and intense but not too sweet flavour was truly delicious.

As I only had an afternoon that Friday due to the train ride, I decided to spend the rest of it at the Egyptian Museum. And here is where I become lost for words. I honestly don’t even know how top describe how amazing this museum is. The first room is so jam-packed full of artefacts that you could spend an entire day just in that one room and not have seen everything in all its detail. The intricacy and age of these pieces blew my mind. And from there, every room just got better and better. I saw real life (well dead) mummies, their sarcophagus’ and treasures which were laid to rest with them. Statues lit in an eerie gold light casting spooky shadows across the floor, reflected by floor to ceiling walls making their quantity more yet ever changing. Whenever I try to find a way into which to describe the amazingness of this place all I come up with is asdfghjkl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just please, if you EVER even pass through Turin, go to this museum!





A real life (dead) Mummy

 

Ancient Book of the Dead



Incredibly preserved remains of a Mummy



Ancient Egyptian statue



Ancient Egyptian statues

 The next day was full of more museums, the Museo di Rigmento  and the Cinema museum. While the Museo di Rigmento was very interesting, the Cinema Museum definitely stole the spotlight for the day. It is a fully interactional museum showing both the history of film on the first floor and a huge variety of fully themed rooms for different time periods, film generes and film making techniques/methods on the second. Another museum that would easy take up several days leaving you still wanting to see more. If you have time after the Egyptian museum you simply must go here next!



Mole Antonelliana - home to the Cinema Museum



Costumes from Gangs of New York (yes including Leonardo's!)



Wall of fame

As per my stomachs rumblings and Lonely Planet’s instructions I made my way to Giordano, the famous chocolateria in Turin for a hot chocolate. Now my idea of a hot chocolate from my experience in England and New Zealand is the use of either a powder or syrup of sorts at the bottom of a cup with a bunch of boiling water or hot milk poured on top. Then you drink it. Well, it would turn out that Italian hot chocolate is not quite the same. What I was given was a spoon and a takeaway cup full of what looked like the syrup one may use in a hot chocolate. It soon became obvious that drinking this would be both take an incredibly long time and it would be rather messy so I opted for the spoon. My first mouthful I expected that sickly sweet syrup that is the base of what I know to be hot chocolate, but I was surprised and delighted when instead was an intensely chocolatey though not hugely sweet flavour. All I have to say on the matter is going back to my previously known watery version will undoubtedly be a bit of a let-down.



The incredible Italian hot chocolate

  On my last day I was blessed with a sunny sky and was glad that I had planned to use this day to see Lonely Plante’s Turin sights. This began with a walk up to the top of a hill where I was able to see over the whole of Turin as well as the stunning mountains as it’s backdrop. Here I have to let the photos speak for themselves (though in saying this, the photos still don't give the view justice!), but it was truly stunning and I must have stood there a rather long time, long enough for other sight seers to come and go in the meantime anyway. For the remainder of the day before my train I walked around finding and seeing the beautiful sights all of which will all be gems in my Turin memory box.



Panoramic view of Turin

 

Hill top view of the Mole Antonelliana

Now I realise I have written a rather huge amount today so need to wrap it all up rather quickly with this one simple sentence. If Turin is not already on your places to go, put it there.

Little Pieces of Ravenna

I have been in Italy for 9 months now. When I first arrived I could not stop marvelling at its beauty, how different it was to New Zealand. I loved the old cities and the amazing, ancient buildings. I thought I would never, ever get used to it! But, put someone in a place, no matter how beautiful, for long enough and you will find that they do. Of course I still find the cities, churches, cathedrals, narrow streets and bustling markets just as beautiful as when I came, but more in the way that you look at a sunset, find it stunning but it isn’t something you haven’t seen before. Each city I have been to in Italy, like each sunset, is slightly different, but still basically a variation on the same theme. So when I found myself walking the streets of Ravenna, I still admired the beauty of the place, but perhaps not in the way I would have had it been the first Italian city I had seen. That was until I walked into the first Basilica, Basilica di San Vitale. Then Ravenna changed from a beautiful though seen before sunset to one of those spectacular ones that still make you stop, catch your breath and marvel at the beauty in this world as though seeing it for the first time. 

 

Outside view of Basilica di San Vitale

 

Outside view of Basilica di San Vitale

Why? One word; mosaics.

I had of course seen mosaic work before, namely on the Duomo in Florence, but I had never seen anything of this magnitude, intricacy and beauty before. I cannot even begin to describe how I felt as I walked through those large doors of the Basilica di San Vitale, into the centre of the room, turned to face the Alter and stopped dead in my tracks. Undoubtedly my mouth dropped comically open. The entire back wall, side arches and roof were covered in beautiful, detailed mosaics. I had never seen anything like it. If you stood far enough back or slightly squinted your eyes it looked like a vibrant painting, but taking a closer look you could see the pea sized coloured tiles that made up the different biblical scenes and detailed patterns along the wall. The fact that they were made hundreds of years ago only added to my wonderment. I could have stood there for hours, every second seeing something new in those thousands of tiles. However, the multi-destination ticket I had purchased that morning meant that I had to move on so I could see the rest of Ravenna’s unique beauty before it was time to go home.

Mosaic work in Basilica di San Vitale

Mosaic work in Basilica di San Vitale

For the next 5 hours I walked in and out of museums and churches, each with its own stunning mosaic work slightly different from the last. Each making me catch my breath and stand speechless at the work of the artists who had spent so much time creating beauty that would outlive them for centuries. Though I am not particularly artistic myself and doubt I will ever leave such a legacy, it must be amazing to have created something like that. Something that took so much effort that it was truly a part of you so that even years after your death you will bring joy to the people who will look at that beautiful part of you that was left behind.

 

More of Ravenna's beauty

 

More of Ravenna's beauty

 

More of Ravenna's beauty

 

More of Ravenna's beauty