Dubrovnik - Pearl of the Adriatic

There are places in this world that make you believe in fairy tales - Dubrovnik is one of them.

This beautiful walled city is also the filming location for “King’s Landing” in the famous “Game of Throne” series – Lovrijenac Fortess has been used as the “Red Keep”, A small museum used as Rector’s Palace (city of Qarth), certain scenes have been shot at the nearby Lokrum islands, the famous “walk of shame” being shot in the old town of Dubrovnik.

But there is so much more to this city than Game of Thrones..

The beautiful walled city of Dubrovnik ringed in the Azure blue waters of Adriatic

We reached Dubrovnik around 11 at night; we were completely exhausted and decided to retire to our beds. Next morning, I opened the windows of my room (still half asleep) to get some fresh air - the sight that greeted me made my heart jump with joy! Glistening turquoise waters stretched as far as my eyes could see...sound of the waves soothed my soul...the calmness, the happiness I felt at that moment is something I cannot describe in words. I stood there, gazing at the azure blue waters, with cool breeze caressing my face; I felt rejuvenated.

Before I knew, it was time for us to get ready and explore the magical town of Dubrovnik...

The 100 odd stairs from our Apartment to the Old town were good exercise after all the margharitas(pizza) we had!

We crossed the gate and stepped into the old town – as we walked through the narrow alleys discovering the hidden corners and cafes, a mystical charm gripped us all. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the streets of the old town. 

First view of the Old city

Wandering in the narrow alleys..

Stradun Street

In the evening, we took a cable car to Mt. Srd to get a view of the city from top...And what a spectacular view it was! The best part was that we were able to reach Mt Srd just before the sunset enabling us to feast our eyes with varied views of the city – the vast sea around the city changing colours as the last rays of the sun fell on it; the city coming alive with bright lights as the night set in, shining like a pearl in the vast Adriatic..

We just stood there, dazzled, as the city transformed itself...

View of Old city from Mt.Srd just before the sunset

The Perfect sunset

No wonder it is called the Pearl of the Adriatic!

We were forced to tear ourselves apart from that splendid view as the winds started getting chillier up there. We, then, went back to the old town – trying to choose a place for dinner from amongst the innumerable cafes that lined the brightly lit streets of the town. The city, with all the lights around looked even prettier!

Brightly lit Stradun Street

With these lights..it looked even prettier!

Just outside the walls of the old town

Next day, we started early as we wanted to spend a good amount of time walking around the city walls...This “Walk” was one of the best parts of our trip to Dubrovnik. It provided stunning views of the old town – the bright orange rooftops - with the backdrop of the ocean. It is difficult for me to find words that justify the magnificent views from the city walls...So, I will let pictures do the talking here –

View from the walls with Lokrum islands in the background

The distinctive bright orange rooftops..

Picture Perfect!

Sun shining bright over the city

A large part second half of the day was spent lazing around at the Lokrum islands nearby – walking around in the island and sitting by the sea doing absolutely nothing.

Swimming hole in the Lokrum islands famously called as "Dead Sea"

One of the shooting locations of  "city of Qarth"

Queen of the seven kingdoms..;)

We returned to the town of Dubrovnik in the evening, and headed directly for Fort Lovrijenac. However, we could spend only about 20 mins there as the fort shuts down for tourists at 6 pm. Nevertheless, we were treated by some amazing views from the fort.

View from Fort Lovrijenac

We spent the night, once again, walking through the streets of the old town – charmed by it, yet again! Soon, it was time for us to say good-bye to this magical old town of Dubrovnik as we were to leave early next morning...

Charmed..yet again!

We left Dubrovnik, early next morning, with the hope of going back to this fairy tale town someday..

Hopefully..we will come back someday!

Tips:

• Rent an Apartment in the Ploce region of the town..Although this would mean climbing up and down a flight of stairs..one shall be rewarded with some stunning views. Also, it is a short walk away from the old town.
• City walls tour is a MUST!But, it is better to do it as early as possible in the morning to avoid the crowds
• Tour to Dubrovnik is incomplete without visiting Mt Srd to get some amazing views of the city. It is advisable to visit Mt Srd around sunset.

Slovenia - A hidden gem..!!!

We were to travel to Ljubljana (Slovenia) from Salzburg (Austria) in the afternoon. We reached the train station an hour in advance; it took us sometime to figure out the coaches we had to get into – not our fault, the display board showed the destination station as one located in Austria; it was after we enquired that we got to know that only the last three coaches of the train would go on to Ljubljana!

Four of us were traveling together - Prateek, Madhav, Varttika and Me - this was after we had settled in the train

...And then began our spectacular journey – passing through the snow-clad mountains, lush green valleys and picturesque small towns tucked into the hillside – as our train made its way through the mighty Alps. We sat in the train, looking through the window – soaking in the surreal beauty and wishing for this journey to never end...

Lush green pastures..

Through the Alps..

Soaking in the surreal beauty..!!

Snow clad mountains with a waterfall in the background..

Posing!

But then all good things do come to an end...to make way for even better things!

We reached Ljubljana early in the evening; as we were trying to navigate our way to our Apartment, we realized that there were not enough people on the street for this time of the day – the streets that led to our apartment were almost deserted – had we met the right decision by choosing to explore this city? After all, this was not a place frequented by tourists! Only time could answer this question.

After dropping off our luggage at the Apartment, we decided to visit the city centre. We reached the place in 10 mins – and the first sights of it left us dumbstruck! Ljubljanica river ran through this part of the city, dividing it into two parts - bank of this river was adorned by umpteen open air restaurants, with some fabulous lightings – it was vibrant and lively. As I sat by the bank of the river, on a moonlit night, gazing at the beautiful city, a feeling of complete tranquillity washed over me..it was like a dream that I never wanted to end – how I wish I never had  to leave that place..! Sooner than we realized, it was time for us to return to the apartment and get ready for the next day. But this was not before we tried the icecream at one of the various ice cream parlours – it tasted simply amazing..!!! And thus, this fabulous day came to an end..

The Triple Bridge..

Lightings along the river..

The pretty city!

Beautiful moonlit Ljubljana

The Posers..!

And we too..:)

Musicians performing at the city center on International Music day

Next day we planned to visit the Skocjan caves – located around a couple of hours away from the city of Ljubljana, It is a massive underground canyon – almost 150 meters high with some breathtaking views and sights. There are two parts to the cave – first one known as the silent part have numerous wonderful stalagmites and stalactite formation. We were simply awestruck by the massive and varied formations that appeared before us! As we approached second part of the cave, we started hearing the river gushing through – no sooner we could see the river flowing 90 metres below us...what we saw and experienced left us speechless – it seemed straight out of the Lord of the Rings! What a fantastic experience it was! Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in this cave and as such all we have are the wonderful memories of this place that will remain etched on our brains forever. 

A few clicks of the Skocjan we were able to capture at the exit..

By the time we reached Ljubljana, it was already late evening. We spent the rest of the evening by the Ljubljanica river, enjoying the beautiful sights the city had to offer...

Next day, we decided to visit Lake Bled. I had heard a lot about this place, while researching about Slovenia. However, as we had already spent three days in the lake region in Austria, we were a little sceptic about visiting “another” lake. But, then we decided to go ahead and explore it...and thank god we did! The first sight of the lake made my heart jump with joy...it was simply breathtaking –perfect like a postcard – surrounded by lush green mountains with a castle in the middle of it, pretty white swans swimming swiftly through the lake – how I wish I could go back! 

Mesmerized!

Bled castle..

Pathway around the lake

We took a walk around the lake with Prateek breaking in between, going ahead with the Mala Osojnica trek known for amazing views of the lake – Not that we did not want to accompany him, but its not an easy trek and we weren’t fit enough for this (as we had to move fast for we were to leave for Zagreb that afternoon!) – and he was rewarded with some stunning views of the lake from the top. After completing our little walk around the lake – which took us about 2 and a half hours – we sat on a lakeside restaurant to quickly savour on the famous cream bled cake...it was simply yum!

Walking around the lake..

Bird's eye view of the lake 

Savoring on the Bled Cream cake..

Post this, we returned to Ljubljana as we were to leave for Croatia that afternoon. And thus ended our two-day tryst with the beautiful country of Slovenia..at the end, we only wished we had some more days to spend in this place..!

Exploring the majestic picturesque valley of Ladakh - An itinerary

We had around 12 days in hand (including travel) - definitely not enough - to explore the mystic beauty of the magnanimous Ladakh valley. The small amount of time we spent there could not do justice to the beauty of this place - there is so much to see, so much to soak in - and so we departed with fond memories and a promise in heart of getting back to this enchanting valley whenever next we get the opportunity.

Here's a day-wise breakup of our itinerary -
Day 1 - Landed at Srinagar around noon. Hired two Innovas (there were 11 of us) to take us to Leh. Left Srinagar around 5:30 in the evening..halted at Sonmarg for the night.

Day 2 - Started for Leh early in the morning - Reached Leh late in the evening as we took a lot of short breaks in between. We let go of our Innovas at this point. Spent the night at Leh.

Day 3 - Went for bike scouting to take us further on the trip. Finalized on 5 bikes and an Innova - that we were to hire from day 4. As for the day we hired scooties for some local sight seeing. Spent the night at Leh.

Day 4 - Left for Pangong Tso - reached our destination early in the evening. Spent the night at a camp close by.

Day 5 - Started our journey towards Tso Moriri - Stopped for the night at Chuma Thang.

Day 6 - Continued our journey towards Tso Moriri - reached there around noon. Spent a couple of hours here before setting off for Tsokar. Reached Tsokar in the evening. Spent the night at a camp near by.

Day 7 - Made our way back to Leh (through Tanglang La) - Reached here late in the evening. Returned our bikes and car at this point. Spent the night at Leh.

Day 8 - Hired a Traveller to take us to Nubra Valley.Reached our destination early in the evening. Spent the night at Nubra valley.

Day 9 - Made our way back to Leh - Reached Leh by noon. Spent the rest of the day going around in this small town. Spent the night here.

Day 10 - Went for river rafting on Zanskar river (a must do!!). The starting point is around 50 kms from Leh - there are many agencies organizing this sport; they pick you up from Leh and drop you back to the town. We were back in Leh by around 3 in the afternoon. Spent the night at Leh.

Day 11 - Hired two innovas again to take us back to Srinagar. We left early in the morning - took an hour's break at Kargil visiting the famous war memorial there(a must do!) - could have easily spent couple of hours more at this place had there been no dearth of time. Reached Srinagar at night and spent the night there.

Day 12 - Took a flight back from Srinagar to our respective destinations.

For a detailed description of our journey, refer to the following links -

Journey from Srinagar to Leh - http://mystiquetraveller.blogspot.in/2014_08_01_archive.html

The stunning lakes - http://mystiquetraveller.blogspot.in/2014_09_01_archive.html

Bikes and us - http://mystiquetraveller.blogspot.in/2014_12_01_archive.html

Enjoy the journey:)

The "Journey" - Bikes and Us!

We were in Leh now – excited and brimming with enthusiasm – ready to explore the resplendent beauty of the majestic mountains of Ladakh. We had booked ourselves five thunderbird bikes well in advance to take us further on this trip. But things never go as per plan - our bookings got cancelled at the very last minute!! And there we were, out in the markets, scouting for bikes - It was peak season and as such the probability of finding bikes at such short notice was very less. Hence, we had started planning for alternative - hiring two cars; though at this point the second option seemed more plausible, our hearts laid with the first one – the one that would allow us to soak the elements of the untouched nature, that would let us feel the still clean crisp air wiping across our faces and let us experience the pure raindrops and dust penetrating the cover on our bodies.

And then the event happened – the less likely one - after spending half a day in the market, we were able to get 5 Enfield 500 cc!  We also hired a car along with the bikes; firstly to carry our luggage and secondly to defy the law of diminishing marginal utility - yes, you heard me right, to defy the law of diminishing marginal utility - as the tiredness from riding the bikes would start reducing the incremental utility from every additional km covered, a brief rest period in the car would rejuvenate us and bring back the utility to the initial levels.

We were ready now – ready to scale the heights on this hostile terrain.

And the "journey" starts..

For others it was first long motorcycle journey, for the two of us it was first ever motorcycle journey - yeah Prateek’s entire driving experience was barely 150kms before this; I, on the other hand, had sat on a bike only once before this that too like for half an hour!. But then this was one of its kind experience, everything about it was new to all of us.

And thus began “The journey”; the journey that took us through some of the most spectacular terrain in the world, across high passes,streams and tumbling mountain surfaces.

An unforgettable Ladakh trip with > 2,500 Kms of road trip including ~900 kms of tripping on Royal Enfield covering 2 of the World's top 3 highest motorable roads (Tanglang La & Chang La), 3 breathtaking lakes (the scenic Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri with its crystal clear waters and the pristine TsoKar) with an amazing bunch of people ! Truly the trip of a lifetime.. !!! Courtesy: Narsi

The first leg of our journey was from Leh to the Pangong Tso – not a very easy terrain to navigate I must say, at least not for the novices that we were. The first 100 kms were smooth – splendid roads, clear blue sky, brightly shining sun and a slight chill in the air – a biker’s delight I shall call it.  We were now making our way to the Chang-La Pass; as we approached closer, it started getting colder – and it was expected, after all it is the third highest motorable pass in the world or so it claims, We reached the top and to our surprise some parts of it were still covered in snow. As we made our way past this, the road started getting tougher – broken patches and covered with small pebbles that made the bikes skid – we had to be very careful. Nevertheless, we got past this patch, crossed the streams that flowed through the roads and finally reached Pangong Tso towards the evening. We spent a night here. Next morning, we started early towards our second destination - Tso Moriri.

The journey back till Chang-La Pass was more or less the same except that we got to encounter, on our way, these beautiful shy little creatures called the marmots – there were a bunch of them, enjoying the morning sun in the open meadows – a wonderful sight it was!

The playful marmots

After crossing the Chang La Pass, we became more relaxed and may be a bit less careful, as we believed the tougher patch of the road was over. After travelling for a while, we realized that two of the bikes were not to be seen, perhaps they might have stopped for photo shoot, or so we thought. We decided to wait for them before moving ahead. We waited for almost twenty minutes and when saw still no signs of them, started getting a little impatient and a little afraid. We prayed and hoped that they were safe. We thought of going back and checking for them; as were about to leave, we saw them coming – we all heaved a sigh of relief! Once they reached, we learnt that one of the bikes, while trying to get past an army truck, had skid but thankfully the bikers (Karthik and Rekha) weren’t hurt; perhaps there was also some issue with the bike that they were riding. Hence, this point on, we decided to move together.

We had barely moved a few kilometres, when one of the other bikers – Jigish – suffered the same fate; but this time it was bad – the bike had apparently skid a few metres ahead and Jigish was trapped under it - our hearts skipped a beat; thankfully he escaped with a few minor scratches. The bike, however, was completely damaged and could go no further. We called up the agency from where the bike was hired and asked for it to be picked up from that location. This incident had scared us all – me especially given Prateek’s experience or rather inexperience at riding a bike. At this point, a kind of debate spurred up – whether we should go back to Leh, forfeit our bikes, hire another car and then continue with the journey or we should just move ahead with the original plan. I, intimidated by the incident, was supporting the first option. It almost seemed like the debate would never end. It was at this point, that Narsi came up, and said something which put an end to all this; wondering what? So it went something like this –“I had come along not because I was interested in seeing all these beautiful lakes, but because I wanted to enjoy the thrill of riding bike through this challenging and exciting terrain. But if you guys wish to hire a car, it’s ok, go ahead”.

And that was it; we all decided to stick to our original plan, but this time with some more precautions. So before we started, we decided on the speed limit that we shall maintain through the journey as also the position that different bikers would take as we moved ahead.

BRO doing some wonderful work out there..hats off

That night, we took a stop at Chuma Thang – and it turned out to be one of the best stays we have had during the tripWe reached Chuma Thang at around 8 at night – welcomed by a light drizzle that had further intensified the chill in the air. We started searching for an accommodation for the night – asking people if there was one nearby; we came across an army personnel and posed the same question to him. He took us with him and showed us some of the rooms that were available in their guest house – and the rooms were awesome, equipped with heaters to keep warm. We happily took the accommodation and expressed our gratitude for helping us out. But their hospitality did not end here – they arranged for a sumptuous dinner spread for us – chapatti, vegetables, chicken, rice, daal and kheer – the food was lip smacking! They provided us with extra mattresses and blankets so that we could keep ourselves warm. In the morning again, they arranged for some delicious breakfast for us. When before leaving, they handed us over the bill, we were amazed – it was lower than what we had paid at any of the other places we had stayed at! What more, when we tried to offer them some extra money out of our gratitude, they simply refused it and did not take even a penny extra than what was mentioned on the bill. These rare awesome living souls, none of us will ever forget.

Stay at the Army Camp at Chumathang

Post this, we made our way to Tso Moriri, first passing through a stretch of what we called the “vibrator roads”; then a stretch of buttery smooth road and lastly through a long patch of dirt (plus vibrator) road. Having spent the afternoon there, we then left for our next destination – Tsokar – again passing through a similar combination of roads. The only difference I believe was that we hardly encountered any other car or bike or for that matter a living soul – and I am not exaggerating when I say this - on our way to Tsokar from Tso Moriri. We reached Tsokar around the evening and spent the night there.

Smooth roads, dirt roads, pebbled roads..this journey had it all!!

It was now time for the last leg of this (bike) trip – journey back to Leh. We started the next morning; covered the rough patch of road to reach Tang Lang La –the second highest motorable Pass in the world. After a quick photo session here, we continued our journey traversing through the smooth curves of the mountains, travelling by the crystal clear streams to finally reach Leh.

Tang Lang La: Second highest motorable Pass in the world

The amazing bike trip had come to an end; but the incredibly wondrous experience that it was shall never fade away from our memories - Not in this lifetime.

The vivid memories of the amazing journey will stay with us forever..