Photo by divje zeje

We first read about picigin, Hrvatska’s national sport, while planning our trip to Split. At first exposure, the beach ball game seemed kind of silly. Once we saw it played on a shore at Bačvice, however, we quickly became fans.

A handball game often compared to volleyball, some claim that Bačvice is the only spot where the game can be properly played. Žbirac Caffe’s Duško Cismic Marovic (a Split guide) picigin was born in Central America 6000 years ago using goat skin filled with sand. Today, a peeled and ground-down tennis ball is the preferred implement. Ideally, a match takes place in shallow water as five players, standing in a circle, use the palms of their hands to keep the ball airborne for as long as possible without allowing it to hit the sand below.

Live picigin play translates into tanned, toned, mostly tall guys spinning, body flipping and skidding over, under and along clear water for a beach warmers’ viewing pleasure. Said eye candy goes especially well with a side dish of trešnja gelato from a nearby stand.

U slast!

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveler, and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Photo by febpanda

Maybe it’s just us, but catching a flight from Budapest to Dubrovnik is a bitch at this time of year—unless one likes flying through London.

After researching major airlines for half an hour, we decided to pack it in a train to Zagreb instead. At Kelati Station, the southeast train station in Budapest, we bought two tickets for HUF7,280 (€30; $40) each.

The journey was six hours but the train car conversation seemed to stretch over an eternity. Riding in cushioned seats along Lake Balaton, the largest lake in continental Europe, we had the pleasure of chatting with Sándor and Martina. The two Huns had about 130 years between them and a treasure-trove of European history to share.

The train itself was clean, providing standard heavy metal bathroom facilities and both smoking and non-smoking cars. We made up for the lack of restaurant car with our own fruits and energy bars. Border patrol officials were friendly—and attractive!—in dark blue uniforms.

Upon arrival in Zagreb, we paid HRK2 (€.27; $.37) to use the toilet and HRK15 (€2; $2.75) to use roomy lockers at the train station. After acquiring a few hundred HRK out of the bankovni automat, we hit the city. Zagreb is small enough to tranverse sans tram. Tram rides, incidentally, are pricey at HRK6.50 (€.90; $1.20) apiece.

The gorgeous Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (formerly St. Stephen’s) provides free transportation to enlightenment while the funicular up to Markov trg cost HRK6.50. It was a heavenly sight to see both in use, enough to inspire us to surf the Internet at the Art Kaffee along the lively pedestrian Tkalčićeva Street (HRK.25 [€.03; $.05]) and write home about it.

Two tickets to Dubrovnik’s paradise aboard Croatia Airlines cost HRK475.80 (€64; $87) each. Providing between three and four flights daily, Croatia’s national airline also provided a thick, glossy magazine with lots of high quality photos of Istria and the country’s favorite cookie. It reminded us of gingerbread.

Arriving into Dubrovnik’s Old Town at night was spectacular, to say the least.

Toni Bokun of Guesthouse Bokun picked us up, at no charge, blasting Supergirl out of the CD player of his little Euro-sized sedan. Warm and friendly, he wasn’t afraid to get informal fast, teaching us some world famous Hrvatska slang on the way to his garden palača. But Toni and his garden paradise are tomorrow’s story…

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveller and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Last week we reported that Swiss lowish-fare carrier helvetic was considering opening a second base in Geneva. Today, the airline confirmed this expansion. From May, helvetic will offer flights between Geneva and Split (once a week) and between Zurich and Split (twice-weekly.)

It’s almost enough to make us hungry for rösti.

Popularity: 1% [?]

photograph courtesy of mhodges

The Balkans stretch from Croatia’s Adriatic coast to Bulgaria’s booming Black Sea resorts, and include cities from hip and brooding Belgrade to creative, chic Thessaloniki. The tourist infrastructure in the region is famously uneven, with Greece and Croatia among the easiest to navigate, and Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia among the most difficult.

For a number of reasons, tourism is exploding in the region. From the increasing popularity of the Montenegrin coast and Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid (pictured above) to waves of second home real estate sweeping Croatia and Bulgaria, there seems to be no stopping the tourist euro in the Balkans.

Here’s a Balkan region roll call: Albania; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM); Greece; Montenegro; Romania; Serbia; Slovenia; and Turkey.

Surrounded on three sides by the Black Sea and branches of the Mediterranean Sea, with extensive mountain ranges traversing the region, the Balkans feature a wide range of warm weather and cold weather delights.

And with their low price index—and with low-cost routes winging to destinations all over the region—the Balkan region has become the place to go for city breaks and affordable extended holidays. And given the European Union’s commitment to enlarge to eventually include the entire region, it is also a good bet that long-term stability is in the region’s future.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Today Ryanair announces four brand-new destinations, 16 new routes, and an official “base” designation for Dusseldorf Weeze.

Gulp. Even by Ryanair’s quasi-colonialist standards, this is a big day.

We’re most excited about the airline’s new destinations: Zadar, Maastricht, Alicante, and Palma. Ryanair will fly to Zadar from Stansted, adding to current low-cost routes to the Adriatic destination from central Europe on SkyEurope and Germanwings. Ryanair will fly between the pleasant southern Dutch city of Maastricht and Barcelona Girona.

The Irish low-cost carrier will enter into direct competition with other low-cost carriers on routes to two other new destinations. Ryanair will compete with Air Berlin on Dusseldorf-Alicante, easyJet on Liverpool-Alicante, and multiple carriers on London-Alicante routes. They’ll compete with Air Berlin on Dusseldorf-Palma and Frankfurt-Palma, easyJet on Liverpool-Palma, and multiple carriers on London-Palma routes.

Popularity: 2% [?]