Yesterday I had a pretty relaxed day just doing some laundry, shopping for supplies, and hanging around the hostel. One of the guys staying there, Luciano from Argentina, had heard my concert the night before and asked me to do some jamming with him and his banjo. So we jammed for about an hour on the porch and had a few people hanging around to listen. Several people told me they had never heard my kind of music live and that they loved it – I think I made a country fan out of Luciano and maybe a couple other people at Vila Veselova!

In the evening, I went to watch Jimmy play a set at the bar where I originally met him and to say goodbye to him. He and I became pretty fast friends in Ljubliana, and I hope to see him again before I leave Europe this fall. On my way back to the hostel, I was treated to a random fireworks display coming from the Ljubliana Castle, but I still have no idea what the occasion was.

This morning I got on the road towards Croatia. I crossed the border with ease and made my way down the road and stopped in a few coastal towns in the far north of the Istrian Peninsula. I went as far south as Novigrad, where I had some fish for lunch and then took a dip in the Adriatic Sea.

After going as far as Novigrad, it was time to cut back inland to Groznjan, where I had booked my Airbnb for the night. I booked in this town randomly because it had a cheaper Airbnb than places on the coast (and I really wanted a one night break from the hostel scene), and to my surprise the town is incredibly pretty and on a giant hill with great views out over the landscape and to the sea.

I’ve also been watching this really interesting documentary tonight about the breakup of Yugoslavia that was recommended to me, in order to have a better understanding of what happened here when I’m talking to local people. I highly recommended it if you are interested in the Balkan wars. It’s a BBC documentary called “The Death of Yugoslavia”

That’s about all that I’ve been up to since I last checked in. Tomorrow I’m headed further down the coast and will stay in the city of Pula for the next two nights at a hostel. Hope to meet some more cool people there and maybe do some busking. After that, I have no idea yet what’s next.

Talk to ya soon!