Week 8: Croatia!

Hallo again!

This post is all about my time in Croatia, the beautiful land of castles, clear blue waters, and of course, Game of Thrones.

We started the night off in Italy and took a FlixBus to Croatia; however, it was not the direct journey we had expected. Around 2am, Kate, Corey, Alwin and I were dropped off onto the mean streets of Slovenia and left to fend for ourselves for 3 hours until the next bus arrived. We ended up going to a fast food joint down the street that was luckily open 24/7, where we slowly ate two servings of fries and a burger to not get kicked out. Eventually, we made our way onto the second bus where we continued our journey. At around 6am on bus #2, every passenger on board was forced off the vehicle as we had to go through border control. I got a cool new stamp in my passport so it was worth the slight inconvenience. About an hour later, we were in Zagreb!

Once we got off the bus, we headed to our first destination: Plitvice Falls. I was looking forward to this waterfall since I’d looked up many pictures before going and longed to hike there. Once we arrived though, the railing-less bridges were piled with snow and I had to retreat off the trails due to my fear of slipping off the edge and dying. The others continued on without me, and I was upset when they came back 2 hours later with a lot of adrenaline and stories to tell. It took about 2 hours for me to cool down and the car ride after that was awkward for quite some time. We can kind of laugh about it now though!

Our next stop was in Split, and man, I wish I could have stayed there longer (refer to photo on the left). The streets leading to the house were narrow and windy and it reminded me much of Greece. There were cats EVERYWHERE and we took many pictures of them to start an Instagram account called “Cats of Croatia.” In Split, we went to the fruit market and haggled for some apples and oranges, and I got the best coffee I have ever had in my life! It was much unexpected considering the coffee cup said “Best coffee in Croatia” but it really didn’t disappoint, which is why I mention it. We continued to walk around the town for a bit and came across a men's choir singing in an opening of a castle. It was literally like a Disney fairy tale type of scene, and I marveled at the beautiful foreign men with their beautiful voices singing their acapella songs. We must have stayed there watching them for at least 20 minutes and it was a great moment watching them have fun while performing. It was the greatest free performance I’ve ever witnessed and I was happy to get my musical fix in while abroad.

The next day, we went to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is comprised on an Old Town, which continues to look very historical with its cobblestones and silver rocks making up the houses and church, and the new town which is your average city. We stayed in Old Town and walked around the famous wall that surrounds the town on a day that was pouring down with rain. Regardless of the weather, the walk was fantastic and I had great bonding moments sharing my umbrella with none other than Alwin Mathew, as shown in the picture. That same day we enjoyed ice cream and a seafood dinner paired with a decent red wine (I’m starting to acquire a taste for the fermented grapes), and that sums up Croatia.

I could have definitely stayed longer in this beautiful country and it’s the first country I’d traveled to since arriving to America that was completely different. It didn’t have that typical European style that all of the other places had, which made me appreciate and enjoy it even more.

If I can, I would like to visit again but until then, I will head off to Italy.

Ciao!