In Bosnia catching up with Sarah Jevo!

22/08/12

Leaving the hostel at 12 pm meant the first stop for four hungry travellers was a good feed. And after getting a taste of a Burek in the countries before Bosnia, we thought we would dig in to some wood-fired pastry treats in the country that it calls home. On the advice of some young Bosnians sitting at a nearby restaurant who recognised 4 lost, tired and hungry Australians we headed down a small laneway to a hole in the wall burek shops. Ordering one of each type of Burek the shop had, all with yoghurt, we ended up with nearly 2kgs of aggressively sliced between 4 of us. Working our way through the endless supply of filled pastry we soon pulled up stumps on the dim sim-style Balkan treat- it was simply too much for us. We were Bu-wrecked! Leaving with our stomachs stuffed we headed to the markets.

4:30 pm had arrived and it was time to start our Free Walking tour of Sarajevo. Meeting a local and hearing them pronounce Sarajevo really put us to shame in our pronounciation- it became of a bit of a running joke so much so that we renamed Sarajevo with what we thought could be a good Australian bogan girls' name, Sarah Jevo! Anyhow, the free walking tours in most major cities around Europe are often a great way to see the sights and get your orientation for only a small tip or donation to your often University student guide. This walking tour was no different. Guided by a passionate young Bosnian man Alun, we were educated on all things historical, political and religious about Bosnia. But most striking from the tour was Alun’s message of tolerance especially in light of all that has happened in the recent history of Bosnia.

With great kitchen facilities at our hostel we were trying to make the most of them by cooking our usual feasts. On tonights menu was mushroom pesto spaghetti with a large Italian salad. After dinner we were privileged to witness some pre-pub crawl drinking; sometimes people watching and observing people dynamics ois more entertaining than actually being involved. Additionally we could play 500 to the sounds of Big Dave the American smashing out some pub rock hits. Naturally 500 led to the Super Team Harris and Batts storming to victory!!!!!

23/8/12

Rolling into bed with the tones of Big Dave in our head, Harros was again confronted by an invasion of the dreaded bed bugs. This was at a time when we were sure that the days of the bed bug attacks were over. But while many suggest a thorough clothes washing and a hot iron to kill them and antihistamine tablets and cream to reduce the itch and swelling, we preferred to take the Bosnian approach- eating 10 cevapcici with pita bread and a scoop of kajmak.

Nursing a Tiba’s-like food baby, we decided it may be a good idea to try and walk it off. Our destination would be the Yellow Fortress sitting on a hill above Belgrade where many had suggested going to catch a great view of the city. And they were not wrong! Our long walk had paid off and being a beautiful clear day we were able to see for miles over a city that was beautiful yet had a tortured past. From this vantage point, it was easy to envisage the Serbian forces perched high atop the surrounding hills about to begin their siege. Walking down from the lookout, we thought we would pop in to an interesting tea house owned by quite an old man with shoulder length white hair and dense white beard. Through a translation from Italian to English from some Italian friends in the shop we discovered that the charismatic owner had lived in Italy for about 20 years but returned to Sarajevo in the early 1990s to visit his family. However, before he knew it, he was caught up in a bloody and complex war. Since then, Sarajevo has been his home where he has made a living through his tea house selling 20 or so types of organic teas, tea blends and tisanes. Sipping a cup of chai whilst watching the streets shop owners locking up to go to the mosque after the call to prayer was a special moment of the trip. It really says a lot about Sarajevo- unique, beautiful with a story always to be told.

Euro posing our way to the vantage point

24/8/12

We decided after a couple of days in Sarajevo we would head to Mostars, capital of Herzegovina and famous for its landmark the Stari Most or Old Bridge. The Bridge is most famous for its bridge jumpers who dive 25m from the bridge into the Neretva river below. Many of you may have seen the concept on Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year so I briefly considered it before I got there but seeing the bridge in real life all bets were off. However, we did get the opportunity to see a professional give it a crack; and that was something to behold. You can see the video below.

Bosnian Business Train

Apart from the bridge there is really nothing else to see in Mostar despite all the good reviews. The highlight in Mostar apart from the bridge is the small old town which took us about 10 minutes to walk through. After fulfilling our craving for some more cevapcici with kajmak and pita we were back to the train station to jump back on the much loved Sarajevo-Mostar business train. This time we hoped to stay awake for the journey through the Bosnian gorges, past long winding rivers and in sight of some ridgetop wildfires. A 2 hour train ride also brought game of 500. And with 500 brought a Harris and Batts 3-hand clean sweep; amazing scenes.

After recuperating from a long hot day in the sun, we thought wed get dressed up and celebrate Megans last night with the wolf pack. So with a suggestion from the Hostel guy we headed to a small enclosed courtyard within Sarajevo’s old town to get some of the best Italian food in Bosnia. The restaurant didn’t disappoint and after some killer pizza and a few beers we looked for an onward venue. We decided that the venue would be a Sisha bar in the old town’s main street. But it was necessary to also get some dessert. Picking 4 different desserts from an amazing looking patisserie we concluded that all 4 desserts were chocolate nut dessert simply in different shapes, sizes and colours. Nevertheless, they were delicious and an accompanying coffee made it all better. Arriving at the Sisha bar we were faced with a long menu of flavoured tobacco. On Harros suggestion we picked cherry and were pleased with our choice. Conforming to the choices on the males on other nearby tables we ordered various types of coffee and tea; Megan choosing her favourite or not so favourite chamomile tea. Out quite Shisha pipe however quickly turned into a turbo folk Bosnian dance party with some crazy Bosnian crumper. Having a quick dance we then moved on to a bar close to our hostel for a quick beer before calling it quits.

25/8/12

Our last day in Sarajevo we thought we would start by completing another MUNBATS pre season training session in a cemetery kind of park on a fairly steep hill in the centre of Sarajevo. Avoiding the pack of wild dogs that roam the streets of Sarajevo we completed a sweet hills session and an accompanying weights circuit past a variety of muslim graves. The shisha was hurting all of our lungs so we called it quits and headed back to get some lunch. Then we were out and about just wandering the streets sipping coffee at various locations in the pedestrian zone and old town.

Then it was about time to get Megan to the airport. Saying her goodbyes to the 2 boys of the wolfpack I took her to the airport to make sure she got away alright. All went well and she was off to Istanbul.Finlay returned from the airport with the red eye syndrome which was quickly cured by Andy and my home made risotto and a few hours of spooning. Safe Travels Renault Megane!

26/8/12

Everyone enjoys a train ride but no one more than one Paris Petrovic, a local Belgrade man who was returning home from Croatia via a 20hour train journey with his wife and two daughters ages 6 & 8. He was not in our compartment but barged in and started to make friends. He informed us that the best way to ride the train is to start with a line of coke followed by 10 beers and some pot. His parental techniques were questionable however his life and tourism advice was second to none as he owned ibikebelgrade (offering some fantasic deals) and pulled out some excellent one liners such as “The Balkans are like south east asia except more expensive and complicated”.

Arriving in Belgrade we said our goodbyes to Paris and his family and headed off to our hostel. However our hostel informed us that they overbook and we could no longer stay with them which was not what we wanted at 9pm after an 8hour train ride. We eventually found a hostel and put our tired bodies to rest after a Loki burger- a meat pattie filled with melted cheese topped with all kinds of sauce, kajmak, onion and cabbage. Mmmmm delish!

see video

Croatia means ruined!

15/08

Zagreb on a public holiday!

Arriving in Zagreb we hadn’t heard great things about its vibrancy but we thought we’d give it a try. Stepping out to explore the city we noticed that it was unusually quiet; everything was closed and there was no one about. But we, Tristan, Megan and I, persisted while Andy recovered from a bit of Sziget flu. Our first port of call was the Australian embassy where I hoped to pick up my new full Australian passport. Oddly located in a Shopping centre, we found the embassy to be greeted with a notice that told us the embassy was closed today because of a Croatian Public Holiday- this explained the quietness. Later we were to find out that it was a Croatian religious holiday whereby most people went to Church then spent the day with their families.

By this time it was lunchtime so we headed to the bakery for a customary burek which we ate in a lovely park overlooking Zagreb’s main square. We then decided to head to Zgreb;s famous Museum of Broken Hearts. Preiously a traverlling exhibition. The museum had now settled in Zagreb to display items that were donated by individuals which reminded them of a past relationship. All of the items had an attached story but Harros favourite item was the axe (see below). With everything closed we thought we might as well head back to the hostel to further our recuperation from Sziget and for the boys to cook up a salami pasta storm. An early night was needed by all so it wasn’t long before everyone was in bed.

16/08

Zagreb is open!

A new day meant high hopes for the openness of Zagreb- we thought any level of openness could have been better than the previous day. And it was. This time we hired bikes to explore the city. Megan and I equipped with new, Croatian step throughs and Andy and Harro equipped with Hero Honda Indian step throughs straight from the streets of Delhi. On the agenda was another visit to the Australian embassy, a stroll around Zagreb’s famous cemetery then some more recuperation.

Getting a passport!

Harro's Axe!

Off we went to the embassy and it was refreshing to see at the top of the escalator that it was open; it meant I was getting a passport. A few formalities later We were off on our bikes to the Cemetery some smooth navigation by Andos soon saw us face the Col De Tourmalet of Zagreb. With the 3 of us dancing on the pedals up the hill Andy was left trailing behind with his super bouncy seat. It wasn’t before long that we hit the summit and and as we turned around we noticed Andy was walking up the hill with bike in hand. A snapped chain meant the day was nearly overin bike terms for the big man. However, it didn’t stop us from investigating the cemetery where Tudjamn, father of the Croatian state is buried. Some other fascinating gravestones later we thought we should head back to the hostel after all, Andy really couldn’t ride any longer with a snapped chain – scooting was really his only option. But we bypassed the fresh Fruit and Vegetable market to buy some ingredients for Dinner- Mum’s Fattouche was on it.  Grabbing more burek for lunch round the corner from our hostel meant lunch and a movie to tick the off recuperation and eating as things to do on our list.  Another quiet one was had despite many attempts from the hostel staff to do shots of their horrendous home-made rakija.

17/08

With an enthusiastic “it’s really good” recommendation from Jake the Snake (which isn’t dished out lightly), we decided that on route to Split we need to bi-pass the Plitvica Lakes a UNESCO National Park and tourist stop for what seemed the entirety of Europe. We had organised a mini bus along with some English guys in uniform maroon beaters that picked us up from the hostel, stopped 4hrs at the lakes and then would continue on to Split. Marcos the jazz and blues guitar loving driver filled us with confidence informing us of how wrecked and hung he was from the night before, fortunately it didn’t seem to impede his ability behind a wheel and the 50 tracks on repeat of electric guitar solo seemed to accelerate the ride.

The lakes themselves, despite the numbers, where truly amazing. 18 blue, fish filled crystal clear lakes connected by waterfalls cascading over and between an ever changing landscape of rocks and vegetation. The walk around the area was pretty spectacular also with buses to take you through the less incredible uphill areas, floating boardwalks built out over the water and boats to transport across the largest of the lakes, words don’t do the place a whole lot of justice.

After an ambitious 8km adventure through the lakes, I think it was collective nap time for the remaining hours of the mini bus leg. We were informed from the English contingent that we missed some spectacular scenery but did wake for a brief stop at an obscure old fortress with some interesting characters dressed in chainmail and medieval drag. A chat with the man Marcos as he re-caffeinated gave us some insights into Hvar and Carpe Diem and how to retaliate if they don’t let you in. Thankfully there would be no need to employ the retaliatory super soaker full of urine.

We were dropped outside of the old town in Split as there’s no vehicle access and left to fend for ourselves, relatively map-less and with a tiered and not so savvy sense of direction. Eventually we found ourselves at what we thought was a hostel we had booked earlier, but actually the residence of Malena a lovely old lady who had an affinity for referencing herself in the third person and who appeared to be the leader of a league of coordinated old ladies opening up their spare rooms to travellers for a fee, escorting us around the corner to Ana’s house which we would call residence for the evening. With a complementary bottle of wine inside us and some dinner time suggestions we headed to a local restaurant for some amazing seafood and mixed grill. With the impending nights of Hvar debauchery we opted not to discotekka the night away and instead ascend the treacherous marble staircase back to Ana’s for some well deserved shut-eye.           

18/08

Split to Hvar

The next morning we were off to Hvar so the first port of call was the ferry ticket office. At the office we were greeted with a long line of people, clearly frothing to get to the islands for the week. Additionally, the greater congestion in pedestrian traffic of Split was attributed to what we approximate as 50% of the 18-25 Australian population all there to jump aboard their Sail Croatia boats. With tickets in hand, we were free to explore Split’s hold town.

Split’s Old Town is beautiful as it was settled by the Diocletian’s in the 293 AD. In fact, we were in Split at the time of the Diocletian festival, to celebrate the settling of the Diocletians in Split. There was Italian music in opera and various other forms, blacksmiths, shoemakers and roman guards lining the streets which made for a great atmosphere.

The time came and we made our way to the port to jump on the super fast ferry to our destination. 2 ½ hours of sleep later we were in Hvar Town and ready to settle into our home for the next few days. We made our way into the Old Town with the guidance of directions from Vila Majic but these directions led to imminent failure. We were left calling our main man Majic to collect us from some unknown location in Hvar’s Old Town. With our 4 large backpacks nearly falling out of the boot in his 1988 Volkwagen Golf we were driven up a large hill to a place we never would’ve reached on our own- predominantly because of the odd and evidently average directions. However, when we were led to our apartment we were stoked with our Hostel World choice. 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen (most important with Chef Harris and Batts on tour) and 2 balconies, 1 overlooking the port of Hvar and 1 with a sweet outdoor setting.

When one is in Hvar, one parties. Or as Fenners would say, when Fenners is in Hvar, Fenners parties. So we hit Konzum, the local supermarket down the hill and first purchased 24 of the finest Lasko as well as ingredients to make Nachos. Eating Nachos, having a few beers and free drink cards in hand left us keen to test the local nightlife. Judging by the number of Sail Croatia boats in port, we suspected it could be a lot like heading to Chapel St but we persisted regardless. Bar hopping along the port to Kiva and Lion Bar saw us meet one of Andy’s high school friends. Hence we followed her and her Sail Croatia crew to the nightclub Venerandah, a place to be seen atop the hill overlooking Hvar’s Old Town. Hours of dancing seemingly to Swedish House Mafia’s greatest hits, further giving us a Chapel St vibe, wore us out so it was time to get some shut eye.

19/08

Hvar island hopping!

Faced with mild throbbing heads and not much sleep we decided to get wet as much as possible. And the best way we decided to do that was to hire a boat and check out the archipelago of small island off the Hvar coast. Stocking up on snacks we set off and stopped off the coast of the first island, Plankovac, lowered anchor and jumped in. After Andy snorkelled his way to through a small cove to discovering and creating some of his own sea life, we were off again to the main pebble beach of the island bypassing some of the most ridiculous boats we had ever seen- super yachts and cruisers some bordering on cruise ship size. Lying on the beach for hours on oversized bean bags in between quick dips in the chilly water ended when Harro was told off by an Italian boiler for some unknown reason. We abruptly left to the next destination which was Palmitiana, another popular destination for boats cruising around Croatia’s island in the Summer. As the hours passed, it soon became time to take the boat back to our man in the port. Navigating the boat back through choppy seas and multimillion dollar water craft we delivered the boat back in one piece before heading to Konzum to prepare for our next big Hvar cook up.

After a long day in the sun, sapping the energy of all aboard the small boat, it was always going to be an early night. But first, we all had to satisfy our craving for ice cream so it was a quick trip down to the old town before it was time to hit the sack.

As the two love birds went to bed Andy and I attempted to check out the night life, however being 20 beers behind everyone was disagreeable and the only interest came when we bumped into one Jane Larkin who was a tour guide on Sail Croatia… random.

20/08

We hit up this rad beach bar up called Hula Hula and swam for most of the day and people watched:

• ·         Extremely ripped gay dude doing ab exercises on his deck chair
• ·     An old man / pirate who had a deep cackle (see video) labelled Cackling Jack– He emerged from the water like Poseidon and proceeded to splash water on these two Bosnian girls who were made up to the nines trying to take a euro pose selfy in the shallows. He splashed water on them gleefully, they squealed and he cackled. Enjoyable viewing for all! Strangely he had a sail Croatia wrist band on, what a treat for some 30 Aussies on a boat.
• ·       Watching two English girls enter the ocean, presumably for the first time (noting that the Adriatic sea is flat) and a few ripples from a boat come to shore to the disdain of the poor girl she said “these waves are unbearable”
• ·         We have our Touch Football (Catey-Pooz) on tour and Finlay and myself were playing in the water with her when Finlay whipped the ball to me and I bicycle kicked it into a little kids head who snorkelling.

A trip to Hvar is not complete without visiting Carpe Diem – a club on an island off Hvar. Boats don’t start leaving there until 1:30am so we had a traditional carbonara (recipe from actual Italians we me in Zagreb) and commenced the pre-drinking. Andy’s obsession with purchasing awful low range spirits did not falter as the “New Generation” Blue Berry liquor shots flew down a treat. Arriving on Carpe Diem was impressive – huge dance floor, bars and swimming pools were scattered about. The only downside was the music. Three French girls we met in Zagreb who decided to leave after an hour of being there cited the music as the reason. We choose to stick it out in hope of a Sweedish House Marfia set, which never appeared. Luckily finlay’s two step came in handy to dance to the monotone beats. 6am came around and I was presented with two options get back on the boat with Megan and Finlay or go skinny dipping with Andy, I choose the boat. We got on a boat to the sight of Andy running off to chase an emotional connection in the water and we got home after some dawn photographs and Sally Pearson impersonations. Andy had the key to my room so it was a three way spoon with Megan and Finlay until Andy arrived home at 9:30am pissed as a skunk and raving about nudist activities in front of the Police.

The Wolfpack at Carpe Diem

On the way home from Carpe Diem

21/08

Carpe Diem Broken

In a world of pain, we pushed ourselves to get out of bed, on the bus to Hvar’s port town and onto the boat back to Split. All of us were utterly useless but Andy moreso; at almost any moment where we were sitting he would fall asleep then wake up in some sort of nonsensical daze. But in some way we made it to the port town with plenty of time up our sleeve. It was not long however before the ferry was ready to board even though Andy thought that the ferry in the port was not the Split ferry even 5 minutes before our scheduled departure time. 2 and a half hours would provide some valuable sleep time for the wolf pack. Off the ferry in Split, we made a decision to skip Dubrovnik for several reasons- to avoid more Sail Croatia Australians, to stop being ripped off by Croatian tourist towns and to get to Sarajevo, which all of us were looking forward to.

We found an overnight bus to Sarajevo which ticked all the boxes so it wasn’t long after a bite to eat that we were on the bus. Andy pulled up stumps in the aisle of the empty bus while the rest of us went about sleeping in a more conventional manner. However our overnight bus didn’t provide an opportunity for sleep but just hourly disruption by both conductor and driver. But the worst was yet to come- our bus broke down and we were shifted to a new and more crowded bus. 4 hours later we arrived in Sarajevo in the early morning. Negotiating the dodgy bus station taxis we arrived at our hostel where the hospitable staff gave us couch and floor space on which we could get a few more hours after Bu-wrecking ourselves on Carpe Diem. Out of the hostel at 12 pm we were out on the town in Sarajevo, Bosnia. 

Slovenia and Sziget with some new friends..

04/08

Metelkova, Burek, To Bled, Lake swimming, Olympics

We had heard great things about a bohemian nightclub playground in Ljubljana so our adventurous consciences told us to go and check it out. A few beers under our bed at the Sax Hostel bar and we made the lengthy trek to Metelkova. We arrived and were greeted by lots of groups of slightly alternative looking people hanging and drinking in dark corners full of graffiti, broken bottles and 44 gallon drums. Down alleys and laneways led us to a large graffitied quadrangle where the real party was. On each side of the quad was another bar or nightclub and another social minority. There was the affectionately named Wigga corner with white guys in snapbacks, du rags and ice hockey tops crowded around a small boombox amongst a sea of broken glass. The metalheads corner that consisted of all things dark including clothing and lighting. The ‘chavs’ corner- local hooligans always looking for a fight with aforementioned minority groups. Then nestled in some outer areas of the quad were tents, hammocks and campervans for the diehard fans of Metelkova. Sitting in the middle of the quad was a large steel 3-storey playground which looked interesting and necessary to explore. After a beer each and observing that the environment was becoming more and more fragile we left on the long walk back home. But what better way to end the night than to have a Nobel Burek! An establishment of Ljubljana the Nobel Burek stocks gyros in all its forms as well as 3 kinds of Burek all of which exist as parties in the mouth! That made the walk much faster!

The morning of the 04/08 meant that Megan was to join the No Longer Anchored tour. She would arrive to join us for a couple of days in Bled and more. Since we were all in Europe it was only fitting that Megan be welcomed with a new European name; “Renault Megane”. Yes it has caught on – use it. The midday Bus to Bled meant we had the afternoon to hit the Bled beach. Lake Bled is amazing, a freshwater lake surrounded by hills and mountains where most of Slovenia go to spend some time over summer. The ‘done thing’ in Bled is activities so our time their was to be spent doing the exactly the same thing.

We decided that our first full day in Bled would be spent on a mountain bike riding to Vintgar Gorge, a gorge carved out by the Radovna River full of waterfalls and steep cliffs. A long walk along the walls of the gorge led us to the end where we decided to have a dip in the ice cold water of the river. Riding back to bled we thought another swim was in order, the lake was our destination. But near to the lake was a toboggan hill which had caught Megan’s eyes from our arrival in Bled. We headed for it and it was amazing!!! A small plastic cart down a steel course of 340 with a vertical drop of 120 and a max speed of 40 km/h. That left us worn out and ready to head back to the hostel, cook dinner and crowd around the TV in one of Bled’s smallest bar to watch the main man Usain Bolt dominate- legend!

The following morning got off to a poor start- Harros has been ravaged by bed bugs the night before in our crappy youth hostel- lucky it was our last night and we were checking out! So we headed to the bus and got our bus back to Ljubljana and the comfort of the trusty Sax Hostel.

Getting back late to Ljubljana we wanted a good feed and to chill out. So we thought we would try one of Ljubljana’s pizza establishments. Sitting down at one we were informed their oven was broken and to head to one across the river. Arriving to the new restaurant were told that this was in fact the best pizza restaurant in Ljubljana- and did it deliver! Amazing pizza left us wanting a bar, a coffee and a bit of Olympic action. With TV’s everywhere we’d finally caught Olympic fever.

07/08

Waking up to a revelation- Harros decided he was in need of another pair of shorts. This meant an elite squadron mission for some Sziget appropriate shorts to last him 5 days of madness. Trekking all over Ljubljana we succeeded in him getting some shorts but also me getting a new passport holder (in case you hadn’t heard- I got my passport stolen). But it was a day to relax and prepare for the train ride and Sziget festival- best major European music festival for 300 consecutive years, exciting! And moreover, to prepare for Sally Pearson to snaffle some gold, the London2012 app had to keep informing us that we were getting dick loads of silver. The plan of attack that night to find the famous, or infamous ,Ljubljana Hot Horse Burger shop. We set off looking for the Burger store with no such luck but Harro’s disappointments were consoled in the huge place of falafel dished out by an attractive girl at a hole in the wall fresh falafel shop. Turned out next door had the Olympics on so a quick bite to eat and we were front row ready to get all up, in and around her. Hi 5’s and hungry chicken’s got around and were ready to head back, hit the sack before an early get up.

08/08

Train ride

The day started early with a pretty cruisey 7 hour train ride to Budapest and checking into Astoria Hostel. One of the main attractions of Budapest other than Sziget was meeting My Man – Andy Oz. The crew was reaching equilibrium Batts, Harris, Renault Megane and Andy.  Andy not only brought long hair and a wonderful smile but the great track of “Stoorhoyryan” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te45-pQUcxk focusing on his Swedish music festival where a group of youths defecated on his tent then threw it in the lake.

Energised we rushed out to Sziget to catch the first act of the night Placebo. Epic! Finn got a semi chub over the drummer’s long hair and tattooed shirtless body. Next we ran around the festival in a dancing rage jumping from bar to bar until we stumbled upon a Hungarian Barn which unsurprisingly had a barn dance on. An hour later we emerged sweaty as a Langos baker and much better at Hungarian Line dancing.

09/08

We all awoke with some crazy hangover which strangely Andy did not have… was it because he was a round skipper? Our hangovers were quelled when we flipped though the program;

The US hip hop group The Roots played and amazing set in the A38 tent. Guitar, Bass, Drums Sousaphone and a rapper made for an always exciting show. Not only did Questlove, Black Thought and band rip through all of their own hits, their covers of Sweet Child of Mine and others were great! One of the highlights of the week.

“Arguably the best band of the past two decades” F. Batts ;
“My brother forced me to watch their video clips which gave me nightmares when I was 13.” M.Lane.

Johnathan Davis lead his charges proving to Sziget and the world that four washed up old 40yolds still have it. They were amazing and the two best tracks, Its On and Freak on a Leash were only matched by Davis’ sculptured silver naked women with horns mike stand. Korn’s performance could only be matched by Andy as he plucked a leaf off a tree and proceeded to play the leaf to the tune of “Freak on a Leash” dubbing it “Freak on a Leaf” – Gold.

Friendly Fires was awesome but probably most memorably was the front dudes dancefloor grooves. Boy, could he move those hips- just amazing. But past the dance moves, their tunes super cool and they had the whole circus tent grooving their shoes off.

Axwell – Crazy laser show mixed with one of the best dj sets I have seen was a real highlight of the festival and great way to finish the night. Played all sorts of club bangers; both his own and otherwise. Even played the songs Sambo loves (you know the one bro- de de de de de de de de d d d d d d)   and it went off But a good dance left us ready to hit the sack.

However a night is never finished in Hungary without a Langos. This is a traditional bready morsel with garlic, sour cream and cheese thrown on top. The whole week consisted of trying different Langos’ with varying success. Winner was the local Hungarian market just near our hostel where they were cooked by in a wood fired oven.

10/08

The vaccines, the xx- early night

Pretty stoked to see one of my favourite bands, The Vaccines so we were at Sziget with 5 minutes to spare. They rocked and the group consensus was that one of their greatest legacies from this set was that denim vests were now in fashion! Tiger Blood and Norgaard were crackers!

The whole group was looking forward to The XX all festival and this moment couldn’t come quick enough and my they didn’t disappoint. Romy Crofts voice delivered on all levels sounding exactly I had imagined and heard before. And Jamie XX is just a master on the synths ad beat pads up the back; kinda just dominating their whole dark synth/big beat sound. As expected Angels and Island rocked!

 

Post XX was a time for the wolf pack to retreat to its festival headquarters, an aptly decorated bar with a 4m high wolf head structure constructed around the entrance. There was some very moderate beer and coffee consumption and in anticipation of the Stone Roses, a casual rock whipping session amongst pack. As a side note who the ‘eff’ are the Stone Roses and a certain T. Harris lack of agility will undoubtedly leave your ankle bones stoned and rosy.  

A line up that didn’t excite us today meant the squadron taking the opportunity to have an early in anticipation of the next 3 days.

11/08

Noah and the much anticipated whale were first on our bill and a melodic delight, filling the masses surrounding the “Pop-Rock szinzpad” with a positivity that would last day long. Sentiments like “your life is your life” and “life goes on” resonated amongst the crew and the smiles as well as the afternoon beers would compound throughout the set.

The Horrors were kinda known by the squadron but not to the extent the other dark brit pop fans that existed in the crowd were. All we knew is they put on a show and rocked some seriously cool looking short leather jackets and super long hair.

Rocking chairs!

After some wolf pack down time and some crotch smuggled vodka and oranges we delved deep into the Pop-Rock faithful for Two Door Cinema Club. To the basement people and beyond, the Irish foursome did not disappoint pulling out track after track of their distinct lead guitar and sweet and insightful lyric. We danced, we drank, we sweated and some probably could not talk by the end of a most entertaining session.  

Fink was a must see on Megane’s Sziget agenda- she did it for all the Dear John fans, both male and female out there. Real solid live with his guitar and had a fair crowd for someone who I had never heard of until Megan showed me.

HUNGRY CHICKEN!!!

While Finn and Megan got their Fink on, Harris and Andy took to the circle pits raging for Sum 41. For what we thought we be a bit of a joke the crowd was probably the biggest and most aggressive we saw all festival at times having to dive into the throng to retrieve a shoe or a drunk girl who had fallen under, all this from some 50m back from the stage. 

SNOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPP. The rumours were circulating that his set could be dominated by all thing Snoop Lion (Snoop Dogg reincarnated) but they were soon thrown out the window when the boss opens with Still Dre! And it was only uphill from there playing every song that every hit the top 10 including the ones where he may have only featured in a verse- Katy Perry’s California Girls..WTF?!? But it was purely amazing. A massive party with his crew, an old dude and Nasty Dogg, an oversized dogg with a massive penis that he’d wave around the whole set.

Flux pavilion was the finish to our night; a heavy drum n bass/dubstep out fit we expected some serious headbanging deep bass action. Although some great tunes were played, the sound desk needed to understand that a big bass sound is imperative to dubstep having any significance within the broader musical landscape. So it was a bit of a bore and we left halfway through. Sorry Flux. 2 bureks out of 5.

New friends..Ben and Millie

12/08

Paolo Nutini was also another one of Megan’s must see’s. New Shoes and Jenny don’t be hasty were great but an MGMT cover in the set didn’t go astray as everyone was in a good mood in the lovely Budapest sunshine.

Beardy man was reputed to put on a great show- a loop box artist/ beatboxer/dj again didn’t disappoint. Super talented and super random but we had to cut our losses to ensure we reserved a great position for party rocking even though we suspected we’d have to apologise later.

Cauuuuttteeee..Pre-party rock!

Moving to the main stage to get a great position for LMFAO we caught the last half of the set by Mando Diao, Swedish rock band that are veterans of 10 years and 5 albums. We had never ever ever heard of them. But in a quick pop quiz of the largely European crowd they were shocked to hear that we had never heard of them. Dance with somebody seemed to be their biggest hit- it went off and is still stuck in our heads.

Red Fu and his Party Rock Crew had been hanging around the festival the whole day and Megan and I were fortunate enough to grab a photo with the master shuffler himself. See below. In animal print pants and ridiculous make up they rocked out, drunk butt loads and shuffled through more songs than we all expected. Sexy and I know it can be seen all over facebook and even below.

The festival finished divided- two to The Ting Tings and the rest to The Killers. Both were great on all reports. But as I was at The Killers I can tell you they were fantastic- Brandon Flowers really just dominates the stage and the crowd…so impressive!

Jake the Snake and I had seen the Killers twice already and their album like performance were too clean for us – we decided to hit something a bit more aggressive. The Ting Tings (or as we dubbed them The Taine Taines on account of some French Canadians who speak like spastics). The duo was very raw and heavy in their set which was a much appreciated progression from their album. “That’s not my name” and “Make it work” were the highlights as the lead singer boped around the stage with her red flat brim that got all the hearts racing.

13/08

Recovery and eggplant parmas

Exhausted after 5 days of festivaling the day was spent recovering. A good hungover meal was first on the agenda- a langos topped with hot salami, sour cream, cheese, garlic sauce and parsley. And what better way to recover than to indulge in one of Budapests famous spring baths in the late afternoon to cure all of our ills. My gosh did they do the trick. Hungover, naturally, our next thoughts turned to another meal and we decided it would be home cooked. We decided on a massive cook up of eggplant parmas and lentil salad. They turned out much better than anyone had expected and on full tummies we quickly fell asleep before our long train trip the following day.

 Jake the Snake parted ways with us today. Good luck dude and have a killer rest of your trip. I’m sure we will bump into you in a Jo-Berg SPAR.

14/08

Reserved seating train to Zagreb with missing carriage, good Croatian feed

I was optimistic that the Croatians would have improved their train system from four years ago. Wrong. We had learnt our lesson before and decided to reserve seats from the man with fluttering eye lashes. When we arrived at the platform, carriage 211 and 213 were there however 212 was not. On questioning the conductor where the carriage was he brokenly told us that it didn’t exist and that we would just have to sit in the aisles for 7 hours. Lesson learnt; never catch trains in Croatia. We did arrive in one piece and made it to Funk Hostel where the bin welcomed us with open arms. A typical Croatian feed was in order so we went to a great restaurant whose mixed gill was excellent however it paled in comparison to Tibas. But we made it Croatia! 

P.S. Another moustache for you all...

Much Love from Tristan, Finn, Andy and Megan xoxo

The End of Brussels- Ljubljana, a boss city!

31/07 Passport success, skip-bo boilers, geriatric couchette, Koln wurst and crimp battles

Monday had arrived. This meant that we were able to apply for an emergency passport! Great news! Turning up at 9am on the dot with forms in hand the boilers at the Australian embassy immediately took a shine to our organisation and our bad luck. Credit must go to Mumsy for all her hel back home as well- going to the Australian Passport Office in Melbourne to get documents cited. Anyway, they assured us that I would be issued with an Emergency passport on the same day! Great news! We were out of the shithole of place that was Brussels. In fact, the Belgian security guards at the Australian embassy commented that their own town was a dangerous shit hole; they said being school holidays a lot of bags get snatched. I don’t know what everyone else did on their school holidays but I sure didn’t go and snatch bags for kicks! 6 hours layter we got a phone call saying my passport was ready and that my application for my full passport was submitted and would be sent to Zagreb to be picked up there! We proceeded straight to the train station to get a ticket out of there. What we booked was a 24 hour train journey direct to Ljubljana!

First leg from Brussels to Cologne was fun filled. Mainly because of the two German boilers from Aachen who were indulging in a card game called skip-bo. After making friends and then observing the incomprehensible rules of their game Harro was invited to play! With help from one of the boilers, he mastered the game quickly to beat the Germans at their own game. Australia 1- Germany 0.

Jumping off the train in Cologne we had 3 hours to kill. What better way to spend 3 hours than at a German beer hall. A Wurst and 3 beers later it was back to the station for our overnight train to Munchen. On this leg we benefited from our 3 bed couchette reservation. Of which a tour was necessary- see below. Me, harro and a geriatric cyclist from America made for an interesting journey. It wasn’t long before we were woken by the couchette and then our free breakfast.

First off the train in Munchen we were intent on getting out of expensive euro cities and keen on booking a ticket to Ljubljana. It would be 5 hours til our 6 hour train to Ljubljana so we went exploring – buying coffees and checking out the farmers market in the main square. This is where we bought 2.50 euro pp lunch consisting of home made capsicum dip, Turkish bread and walnut stuffed olives! Tired from the overnighter we got on the train and crashed- before we woke to the a Croatian angel sitting opposite us. With mila kunis like looks harro thought he was in a dream but then realised he was not so stared at her for the remainder of the trip in awe of her amazing facial features!

We arrived in Ljubljana and made the trek down to the Sax Hostel, a jazz inspired hostel that looked awesome online and was sure to provide some good times. On arrival we made friends with the SAFA Jake with whom we sunk some beers and grabbed some dinner. Onward from dinner we hit up a bar where beers were consumed on a gutter and a month long street party at which the whole student community seemed to attend. Harro got his birding on straight away meeting educated types from ljubljana’s student community but it is his long game style that is seemingly being his down fall- but as Confucius said ‘a short game is only as long as your shortest long game’.  I sense he will learn!

The SAFA Jake

01/08

Our first full day in Ljubljana was spent getting lost in the small city that is Ljubljana. Wandering nd taking turns where you have no understanding of where you could end up is often the best way to discover a city. I met a great man in Vienna who shared his experience from Moscow with me. He said every day he used to go to Moscows’s central train station catch a suburban train to the end of the line and simply try to find his way back without a map; that is truly travel and exploration!

The highlight of getting lost in the city was coming across a Football and Art exhibition. As the name suggests all the exhibitors had somehow focused their artwork on experiences, events and concepts in football. With free entry, it was amazing value- just some of the coolest stuff Id ever seen from sculpture to movie to photography. It showed Ljubljana really does have a thriving art culture. After a long day walking a couple of beers at  sax hostel was enough to make us weary and suggest we probably needed an early night!

Slovenia is well known for mountains, lake bled and eating horse; however they are lesser know for being stuck in the 90s. The sport(I use this term loosly) of Rollerblading is still going strong. This is the second most popular form of transportation in Ljubljana.  In the first 4 hours of being here we saw 16 rollerbladers. I questioned many locals about the practicality of this, what happens when you get to your destination? Where are your shoes? This never seemed to phase them or Finlay who is wholehartady a full retard for liking rollerblading as a practical form of transportation.  Just use a bike.

The second most interesting “treaty” of Ljubljana is white pants. All the chicks wear these largely transparent pants…. Initially we were sceptical but then after seeing the ultimate combination of white hot pants and rollerblades that was the tipping point. Only this combination was acceptable.

02/08

We decided it was time for team NoLongerAnchored to get cultured, and what better way than a walking tour of Ljubljana. Our mate Jake said that this tour would put everything into perspective and explain the city, he was not wrong. Turns out that the citys pride and joy is a Preseren a drunk poet who creeps on 14 year old girls; with a large bronze statue in the middle of the city square dedicated to the man (the statue also stare directly at another statue of his muse, a 14yo girl). The majority of the students we have met all study literature and hence the cogs ticked why this is so. The ideal place for one Jonathan Hibbert.

The tour took us past the Milk vending machine where fresh unpasteurised milk is collected by the locals. This typical American tourist who constantly asked annoying questons proclaimed selling such milk was in fact illegal in American; and was somehow captured in an underground milk trade.

The highlight of the tour was the famous dragon bridge. The myth being that if a virgin walked across the bridge the dragons would wag their tails at said person. The converse story told to us by the locals was that the dragons wink at you if you are a slut. Naturally they had some epileptic fit when Finlay crossed the bridge.

The other interesting point from the tour was that one killer Slovenian architect, Joze Plecnik, designed pretty much the whole city. So much so that hearing about PLecnik, his ballusrtades and pillars became slightly monotonous. But big ups to Plecnik for designing cool stuff in a cool city with cool people. All in all, Plecnik is a boss!

MUNBATS 2012/13 preseason campaign began today with the sherbeb running down to the local park and showing the Slovenians how to get it done. Dips, push ups and squat jumps where performed. The locals crowded around as 2 man cut outs, sniper bounce and lightning were unveiled.

Dubbed the “very average terrace party” due to speculation the night before, we arrived and were led up to the very rustic and bohemian terrace. Jake felt ballsy and stepped in first and was greeted by a weary bunch of 30-somethings who seemed to not be expecting us. We eased into things as the night moved on and were fed various finger foods including horse and mushrooms. Well, it is possible that it wasn’t horse but our immediate assumption when eating any meat in Slovenia is that we may be eating black caviar’s illegitimate child. A few warm beers later and we went to explore the house. We found the most epic “onesi” with glittery stretch fabric and placed our orders on the spot, as well as other strange, but awesome designerish stuff, including illuminating pillow case masks, most with a shwearrib, made by the “happy tattoo” girl (who was incidentally really hot) and our new friends sister. Some other revelations from the night was that the largest Slovenian community outside Slovenia is in Kew- random?!? But also that the host of the party, for reasons unknown to us didn’t like Jake. He is the most chilled nicest dude from South Africa so readons to hate him were almost as foreign to us as eating horse. But we think she had issues given that she maintained that the vegetable she was chopping was a pumpkin when it clearly wasn’t.

03/08

With a new member, Mel from Sydney in tow the crew headed out to the #1 tourist attraction, the Postojna Caves.

bus trip, 12 euro

entry fee to the caves, 4 euro

Seeing a fish that looks like a dick, priceless.

The fish (called Proteus) is blind, can live for 3 years without food and looks like a dick (as described by a local Slovenian). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm

A 'i heart double dick fish' t shirt