8. Croatia

Croatia is by far one of my favorite places we have visited. We bused into Zagreb and picked up our rental car. We stopped for lunch on our way to Plitvice, we had a massive pizza (Croatians really love pizza). It had snowed a lot earlier, so the whole park was covered in snow, the trails were blocked off but we didn’t let that stop us. The park has wooden walkways that run over the lake and around the falls, but because of the recent snowfall there were snowbanks about 3 feet high covering the walkways. Some of the snow started to melt so you could see where people had stepped and their feet when straight through the snow, oh and there are no handrails. So we are precariously making our way along the walkways, trying not to slip. And then we get to the part of the walkway that skirts around the water fall, one side of the walkway has about a 2 foot gap along the cliff wall and the other side has the waterfall gushing right under it. Well remember those snowbanks I told you about? So the snowbanks are angled at the perfect degree that if you slip off you will go right under the second railing and over the waterfall, more than likely plunging to your death (this is not a small waterfall). So here we are walking along this snow bank I’m gripping the railing so hard my knuckles are turning white, and Alwin is walking in front of me, with his fucking fruit bag no less and all of a sudden he is no longer upright, he’s holding the second railing for dear life, feet hanging over the waterfall. I actually thought he was going to die. But thankfully for Alwin, he works out, he was able to muscle up back onto the bank. We both had so much adrenaline rushing through us after that I think I was shaking. But we survived, and continued on to explore more of the lake, we climbed more precarious routes and found a cool cave. After about an hour we piled back in the car and started towards our next destination, split. It was crazy to see the change in weather from snow in the north to coastal beaches. In split we had an amazing breakfast overlooking the ocean, with some of the best coffee I have ever eaten. We wandered around the city a little and ran into an acapella group singing in this ancient round open air cathedral/room. We walked through a fruit market and Alwin haggled for the best fruit prices, we found some amazing oranges there. Then we found a park near a monastery that overlooked the ocean, that may have been the most peaceful place I have ever been. We headed out to a beach after that and wandered around, Corey and I climbed on some rocks in the middle of the ocean and got hit by some massive waves, my pants were completely soaked. We got back in the car and headed to our next stop Dubrovnik.  We stopped at a restaurant that served more pizza, they even had a desert pizza with nutella, banana and strawberry jam. We got into Dubrovnik late, there are cats everywhere around the city and one popped out of a hole in the walls around the city and scared the shit out of Corey, he jumped at least a foot. We stayed in old town, which Is surrounded by a castle wall and sits right on the ocean. The water is so blue it is incredible. Corey and I got up early before the sun came up and went to the coast to take pictures and explore. We met back up with Nicky and Alwin and explored the city. We found a really neat souvenir shop that had handmade gifts and artwork, all done by locals. That night we went out to a few bars and met some Australians and Americans. The next morning we walked along the old town wall the view from the top was gorgeous, we were about a quarter around the wall when it started pouring rain. It was soo cold and windy and we were completely soaked. On our way out of town Dubrovnik pulled through with the sunshine, it was 80 degrees, the sun was out and shining off the water. Our uber driver drove us along the coast highway with the windows down, that may have been one of the most beautiful drives of my life.