Linchakin: Zadar

And here comes the end of another travelogue of mine - like, finally! This year I managed to complete at least 5 travelogues before year-end; Solo Trip To Europe (2017), 9D8N Australia Melbourne & Sydney (2017), 6D5N Central Vietnam (2018), 6D5N Kyushu Japan (2018) and now this one - 17D of my Balkans trip covering Turkey, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. Feeling accomplished cause my motivation for blogging is finally back on track! I almost lost my interest and passion not just in blogging, but in travelling too dating back 2 years ago.

SUMMARY OF MY 17D BALKANS TRIP COVERING ISTANBUL, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA AND CROATIA

Here is the compilation of my Balkans travelogue at a glance (obviously I'm lazy to summarise everything 😜):

(Just click each of them and it will link you to the individual blogpost)

For this post also, I would like to share not comprehensive one but a brief and basic travel guide based my own first hand experience to Turkey (Istanbul), Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia.

VISA

For Malaysian, visa is NOT required to enter into these three countries. Therefore don't have to worry about applying any visa at all. That's show how powerful our Malaysian passport are, right? However if you are intended to stay more than 90 days for each respective country, then you have to go and apply for the visa. I don't have experience for this cause normally, I only stay one or two weeks for each country.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE

Before embarking for this trip, I exchanged Euros and some Turkish lira (I changed in KL Nu Sentral). You can bring along US dollar, British Pound or even Singapore Dollar cause these currencies are also widely accepted in most of the European countries.

Turkey's national currency is Turkish lira. It can be found in Malaysia. But in case you don't have the time to change, no worries cause you can exchange in Istanbul. TRY100 = RM102
Convertible mark (KM/BAM) is the only legal tender in Bosnia & Herzegovina. I exchanged in Sarajevo International Airport - the first Bosnia's airport I landed. €1.00 = 1.95KM on average*. But because there is 1% commission being charged, hence I got €1.00 = 1.93KM
The official currency for Croatia is Croatian kuna. €1.00 = HRK7.13 on average*

*The rate I exchanged in May 2018

Top: Bosnia & Herzegovina's convertible mark

Bottom: Croatian kuna

PURCHASING TRANSPORTATION TICKET

The most frequently asked travel questions - where to buy all these transportation tickets and when? Being "kiasu" in me, I always prefer to buy all my buses and trains ticket prior to my trip in order to secure the seats, especially when the bus and train schedules are quite limited. Except for my train ticket from Sarajevo to Mostar and a-return day trip between Split and Sibenik, I booked all my bus tickets from GetByBus (click here). It's a legit and reliable website, so don't have to worry cause it's really pretty save and secure buying bus tickets from this website.

The only downside of this website is that you have to print out your tickets. They don't accept mobile ticket. And another thing you have to take note is that for all intercity buses, there is an extra fee of €1-2 charge for luggage fee. Remember to keep some small change.

SIM CARD

Because I was travelling alone, hence it's freaking costly to rent a pocket WiFi by my own. Besides that, for your information Bosnia & Herzegovina is actually doesn't consider to be part of European coverage even for both pocket WiFi and travel sim card. What I did is I bought my travel sim card from Hello1010 (click here) and purchased another one for Bosnia & Herzegovina in Sarajevo Airport.

There you go! Hopefully I don't miss out any important travel tips and info relating my trip to these Balkans countries. In case you have any queries or doubt, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

TOTAL SPENDING

As usual, I simplify everything for easy reference - which include means of transportation, hostels, entrance fees, food but excluding my shopping spending throughout my trip around 17 days.

PARTICULARS	AMOUNT
PARTICULARS	€/KM/CZK	RM
Air Fares Singapore Airlines (Return fare Kota Kinabalu to Istanbul) Pegasus Airlines (One-way Istanbul to Sarajevo) Turkish Airways (One-way Zagreb to Istanbul) Cities Sarajevo – 2 days Mostar – 2 days Dubrovnik – 2days Split – 2 days A Day Trip to Split Zadar – 1 day Plitvice Lakes National Park – 1 day Zagreb – 2 days Istanbul – 2 days Ground Tour Herzegovina Tour Others 4GB Travel Prepaid Sim Card - Bought from Hello1010	- - - - - - - - - - - - 60KM -	2,190 293 955 301 188 782 419 149 289 300 363 250 150 103
	TOTAL:	6,732

Exchange rate €1.00 = RM4.84 as at May 2018

Curious about my souvenir travel haul? There are two items I die-die must buy whenever I visit different country or city which are the fridge magnet and postcard. Besides these two, another one would be the stamps. Sometimes I would spend up to RM100 by just buying these three things. As for this trip, my total spending for souvenir and shopping is RM1,026 including numerous of fridge magnets, postcards, stamps, a T-shirt, a skirt and a dress when I was in Croatia.

A hardcore collector for fridge magnets.

Souvenirs from Croatia including tea towels, liquid soap dispense and a T-shirt for my nephew.

Pouch and fridge magnets from Istanbul.

Turkish ceramic bowls in various sizes.

AIRLINES EXPERIENCE & THEIR IN-FLIGHT MEALS
For this trip, I flew and experienced 4 different type of airlines:

1) Silk Air for my journey between Kota Kinabalu to Singapore. I even blogged about this airline before (click here).

In-flight meal for Silk Air. I like their fresh fruits but not their main meal. Feel like eating thick flour instead of fish meats.

2) Singapore Airlines for the trip from Singapore to Istanbul as well as for the return. Finally I got to fly with the World's Best Airline. However, I'm quite disappointed with the fleet for the flight to Istanbul cause it's one old aircraft being used. The in-flight entertainment wasn't fascinating and not many options were given. Even for the in-flight meals, I found out it's just so-so and nothing to shout.

For the route Singapore to Istanbul, their meals are quite acceptable.

2018 Singapore Airlines In-Flight Meal Istanbul to Singapore

But for the route from Istanbul to Singapore, the meals look kinda sad and unappetising. Luckily there's an ice-cream to cheer me up

3) Pegasus Airlines for one-way journey from Istanbul to Sarajevo. Pegasus Airlines is a Turkish low-cost airlines with no-frills, similar to AirAsia where the fare doesn't include free baggage allowance, in-flight meal and entertainment.

2018 Pegasus Airlines Istanbul to Sarajevo

4) Turkish Airlines for a trip from Zagreb to Istanbul. Turkish Airlines is a national carrier airline of Turkey and it's full-fledged airlines. This is one of the most expensive fares I ever bought in my life just for a single trip.

2018 Turkish Airlines Zagreb to Istanbul In-Flight Meal

Never thought this is going to be a lengthy post but I'm glad that finally this is the end. Now I'm going to have a cup of nice hot coffee and at same time, thinking which travelogue should I blog next.

Continue with my previous post on A Day Trip To Sibenik From Split.

After spending two nights in Split which we found it's way more enough to stay there, we moved to the next destination, Zadar. As usual, I always book my bus tickets online prior to the trip in order to secure the seats. All my bus tickets for this trip including the one from Mostar to Dubrovnik bought from Get By Bus - it's secure and reliable website, in case you're wondering. Just remember to print your ticket cause they don't accept mobile notifications.

#1: Croatian countryside is really stunning and breathtaking.

2: The bus we took from Split to Zadar - Cazmatrans Dalmacija and it cost HRK95 (approx. to RM62)

FROM ZADAR BUS TERMINAL TO OLD TOWN

After three hours and a half of the bus ride, finally we arrived at Zadar Bus Terminal which requires at least 30 minutes of walking to the center of Zadar, or the old town. In order to get there, catch the local buses #2 or 4 at the bus stop situated on the main road just outside the station. The journey takes only five minutes and cost HKR10. But then, my friend decided to walk to our hostel instead of taking the local bus.

OUR HOSTEL IN ZADAR

We stayed in Three Corners Hostel, which located in the very center of Zadar, on the historic peninsula. All the main sightseeing spots can be visited within a few steps away and the seaside promenade is just less than 5 minutes walk. There is a small seating area within the dormitory and all the guests are provided with private locker. There is no reception within the hostel building and we received email stating that the check-in process is 50 meters away from our hostel. Well, it's a not a big fuss for us after all.

#3: A 4-mixed dormitory room

Three Corners Hostel, Zadar
Date Stayed: 22 May to 23 May 2018 (1 night)

Room Rate: HRK101 (approx. to RM67) per night for a bed in 4 mixed dormitory room without breakfast (Booked via Booking.com)

Once we settled down at our hostel and done with refreshing shower too, it's time to get out to hunt for lunch and also exploring time!

#4: Pasta in a box - our lunch in Zadar. I love the concept where we're allowed to choose what base and ingredients we want.

Due to its excellent size, the Old Town of Zadar is small and easy enough to get around on foot. You don't even have to bother to get around using any public transportation at all. It's historical centre is packed on to a narrow peninsula and it's so fascinating to explore.

#5: Walk around the atmospheric streets of the Old Town

#7: Obviously sugar overdose for having gelato almost everyday when in Croatia

#8: Church of St. Donatus on the left side with the belltower of Zadar Cathedral on the right side. Again, we decided to climb up to belltower for another panoramic view of Zadar

#9: Panoramic view from the belltower which facing the waterfront.

#10: The other side of the panoramic view

#11: I prefer this view more

#12

#13: Well preserved remains of a Roman Forum. This is a common place for the locals to stroll, sit down among the ruins and enjoying a nice weather during the summer day.

#14: Cathedral of St Anastasia - the largest church in the coastal region of Croatia

#15: Creative artwork - Nice to see and as well as the price tag too.

#16: Sea Organ - A man-made organ that transforms waves to create musical soundscape through a system of pipes and whistles. This is the main reason I chosen to visit Zadar. You can check out the video below.

#17: Video credit to Meanderbug

#18: Next to the Sea Organ is the Sun Salutation, a circle of glass panels that captures the daylight through solar cells and convert it to a spectacular light show at night.

It's another of our laid-back and relax trip where we're just sitting down by the seaside and enjoying the city, the people and the sunset. While there were still quite number of tourists around but it's not as crowded and packed like the one in Dubrovnik and Split too. Probably this place doesn't get much attention like the rest but then, do you know that Zadar is elected as European Best Destination in 2016? I glad I made it here, eventhough it's just a short visit.

#19: A three course meal to summarise our night in Zadar

TOTAL EXPENSES SPENT IN ZADAR

PARTICULARS	AMOUNT
	HRK	RM
Accommodation Three Corners Hostel – 1 night Transportation Split to Zadar by bus Admission Fees Bell Tower of St. Domnius Food Lunch – Pasta box Gelato Juice Dinner – 3 Course meal Groceries Others Magnet Postcards Stamps Souvenirs Laundry	101 95 15 35 23 20 70 20 19 3 6 40 50	68 62 10 24 16 14 47 14 13 2 4 27 34
TOTAL (RM)		335

Exchange Rate: €1.00 (RM4.84) = 7.13 kuna on average

Previous Post on My 2018 Balkans Trip

Linchakin

Summary of My 17D Balkans Travelogue (2018) Covering Istanbul, Bosnia & Herzegovina & Croatia

Balkans (2018): Short Trip To Zadar, Croatia