The drive away from Mostar was just as beautiful as the drive there. We arrived in Sarajevo to find another culturally diverse city. On the first night we took a walking tour with a young guy about our age who was passionate about the diversity that the different religious groups brought to Sarajevo and was sad to have lost the integration they once had. Until late in the 20th century, it was the only major...

The drive from Split to Mostar was beautiful. We started off making our way along the Croatian coast and then followed the gorgeous Neretva river in-land. We were very happy that we made the trip in the daylight so that we could enjoy the scenery. Mostar is the home of Stari Most bridge, a replica of the original that stood for 427 years before it was destroyed in 1993 during the war in Bosnia &...

We needed a break from traveling and some time to catch up on a few things so we stayed put in Split for two weeks. After not being able to find a place to watch the rugby semi-final in Zadar, we were happy to find our accommodation 100 metres away from a rugby field with a ‘rugby bar’. Split is a city that gets its fair share of tourists even in the off season, with...

Another couch-surfing gem was found in Zadar, Croatia. We spent most of our time here with Natasha from Moldova, a country whose existence I questioned until seeing it on Google maps. Moldova is a poor country with rampant corruption. Recently 1 billion dollars disappeared from the countries main banks. This is equivalent to an eighth of the countries GDP! Natasha showed us around her favorite spots including the sea organ - tubes located underneath a...

We went to stay for 3 nights with Nina and her family in a small village in Slovenia called Leskovec. Nina had stayed at a couple of our Wellington flats while she was travelling around New Zealand. Nina’s Mum (Malena) introduced us to some delicious Slovenian food and Nina’s Dad (Bowen) introduced us to some delicious Slovenian wine. We really enjoyed the Slovenian hospitality especially the custom of providing your guests with slippers. Nina’s family...