April 17th, 2014 (Thursday)
If you are like I was a month ago, you probably had absolutely no idea there was a country called Croatia, let alone where it was or what there was to do there. But Croatia is a smallish country right across the Adriatic Sea from Italy with a lot of islands and coastline (in other words, it's absolutely beachy and perfect). I was SO ready to be in Split, our first stop, considering I spent Wednesday night alone at the airport in Oslo, Norway thanks to an eight hour layover. I almost cried with relief when I saw Megan, Angelina, and Daryl's familiar faces at the Split airport because I had had quite the time getting to Croatia (long story short: people don't speak English as frequently as they do in Luxembourg). We headed out to our hostel, where we met up with David and Regina who had arrived via train earlier that day. Starving, we found a cute little place in the center of town called No Stress Bistro, which was what we all needed. After lunch, we walked around Split and looked at all the little shops before heading out to the coast to walk along the sea. We meandered over to a pier and laid down in the sun, listening to the waves, where we may or may not have fallen asleep for a little bit. When a truck boarding a ferry brought us back to reality, we realized we probably shouldn't be in the middle of a parking lot and decided to go back into tour, where David pointed out we could climb the bell tower. It was a great decision because we got absolutely gorgeous views of the city. Afterward, we shopped some more and then got some dinner before making our last stop of the day at a bar called Ghetto.
If you are like I was a month ago, you probably had absolutely no idea there was a country called Croatia, let alone where it was or what there was to do there. But Croatia is a smallish country right across the Adriatic Sea from Italy with a lot of islands and coastline (in other words, it's absolutely beachy and perfect). I was SO ready to be in Split, our first stop, considering I spent Wednesday night alone at the airport in Oslo, Norway thanks to an eight hour layover. I almost cried with relief when I saw Megan, Angelina, and Daryl's familiar faces at the Split airport because I had had quite the time getting to Croatia (long story short: people don't speak English as frequently as they do in Luxembourg). We headed out to our hostel, where we met up with David and Regina who had arrived via train earlier that day. Starving, we found a cute little place in the center of town called No Stress Bistro, which was what we all needed. After lunch, we walked around Split and looked at all the little shops before heading out to the coast to walk along the sea. We meandered over to a pier and laid down in the sun, listening to the waves, where we may or may not have fallen asleep for a little bit. When a truck boarding a ferry brought us back to reality, we realized we probably shouldn't be in the middle of a parking lot and decided to go back into tour, where David pointed out we could climb the bell tower. It was a great decision because we got absolutely gorgeous views of the city. Afterward, we shopped some more and then got some dinner before making our last stop of the day at a bar called Ghetto.
April 18th, 2014 (Friday)
We started out the day getting breakfast from a street market and then taking a 45-minute ferry ride to the island of Brac, where we finally got our beach time in. It was a little cold and cloudy, so we couldn't swim, but it was still nice to just lay on the sand (or rocks, rather) and enjoy the sound of the waves and the scenery. David, Daryl, and I did some exploring along the coastline where we found what a local told us was normally nude beach, but it was too cold for anyone to be out (sad face). We then headed over to the island's city center, which basically consisted of a couple of restaurants and some houses. It was super small, but very relaxing and chill, much different from any other towns I've been to in Europe. We ended up eating gelato and sitting on the coast before we had to return to the pier and board the ferry to go back to Split. We ended up getting dinner at a nice restaurant with some people we met in our hostel who were from Australia, so it was really interesting getting to know them. It's amazing how they were only a few years older than us but had seen so many more places in the world. I was talking to one of the girls who had used her gap year (a year-long break in between high school and college) to travel the world, and she couldn't believe it when I told her in the States it's frowned upon to take a gap year, especially if you use it to travel. You're expected to go to college straight after you graduate high school, which I didn't think of much before but now find ABSOLUTELY ridiculous and absurd...how can you expect to know what you want to do with the rest of your life when there is so much learning to do? Some things you just can't learn in a school. It's got me thinking about how completely screwed up the American education system is compared to other countries (for example, in Germany, it costs them less than $500 a semester to go to uni [side note -- the way Ohio funds its schools is literally unconstitutional, we learned all about it teacher academy in high school]. I should stop talking about this topic now because I could actually go on for hours about how infuriating this country is when it comes to the way students are treated!!!). I'll stop ranting now so you can see some pretty pictures of the beach in Brac :)
We started out the day getting breakfast from a street market and then taking a 45-minute ferry ride to the island of Brac, where we finally got our beach time in. It was a little cold and cloudy, so we couldn't swim, but it was still nice to just lay on the sand (or rocks, rather) and enjoy the sound of the waves and the scenery. David, Daryl, and I did some exploring along the coastline where we found what a local told us was normally nude beach, but it was too cold for anyone to be out (sad face). We then headed over to the island's city center, which basically consisted of a couple of restaurants and some houses. It was super small, but very relaxing and chill, much different from any other towns I've been to in Europe. We ended up eating gelato and sitting on the coast before we had to return to the pier and board the ferry to go back to Split. We ended up getting dinner at a nice restaurant with some people we met in our hostel who were from Australia, so it was really interesting getting to know them. It's amazing how they were only a few years older than us but had seen so many more places in the world. I was talking to one of the girls who had used her gap year (a year-long break in between high school and college) to travel the world, and she couldn't believe it when I told her in the States it's frowned upon to take a gap year, especially if you use it to travel. You're expected to go to college straight after you graduate high school, which I didn't think of much before but now find ABSOLUTELY ridiculous and absurd...how can you expect to know what you want to do with the rest of your life when there is so much learning to do? Some things you just can't learn in a school. It's got me thinking about how completely screwed up the American education system is compared to other countries (for example, in Germany, it costs them less than $500 a semester to go to uni [side note -- the way Ohio funds its schools is literally unconstitutional, we learned all about it teacher academy in high school]. I should stop talking about this topic now because I could actually go on for hours about how infuriating this country is when it comes to the way students are treated!!!). I'll stop ranting now so you can see some pretty pictures of the beach in Brac :)
April 19th, 2014 (Saturday)
Saturday was a super early rise, but definitely worth it. Zagreb is about seven hours away from Split by bus, but we wanted to stop at the Plitvice Lakes, a national park consisting of a ton of waterfalls and lakes and pretty hiking areas. It was on the way to Zagreb anyway, so it worked out perfectly with our schedule. Plitvice took up pretty much the whole day, but it was absolutely gorgeous and so relaxing just to walk around and look at the beautiful waters. After we finished up at the parks, we had about another two hours on bus until we got to Zagreb, so we got in pretty late. We grabbed a quick dinner and walked around a bit before going back to the hostel and getting some sleep
Saturday was a super early rise, but definitely worth it. Zagreb is about seven hours away from Split by bus, but we wanted to stop at the Plitvice Lakes, a national park consisting of a ton of waterfalls and lakes and pretty hiking areas. It was on the way to Zagreb anyway, so it worked out perfectly with our schedule. Plitvice took up pretty much the whole day, but it was absolutely gorgeous and so relaxing just to walk around and look at the beautiful waters. After we finished up at the parks, we had about another two hours on bus until we got to Zagreb, so we got in pretty late. We grabbed a quick dinner and walked around a bit before going back to the hostel and getting some sleep
April 20th, 2014 (Sunday)
We only had a few hours to walk around Zagreb before we had to go to the airport, and since it was Easter, everything was closed. We were able to find a nice restaurant for breakfast, but I wish we could have seen more of the city since it seemed like a really cool place and much different from Split. I didn't get back to Bettembourg until after 11pm, so our day was pretty much completely full of travel: taking trams to bus stations, buses to train stations, trains to airports, etc. Happy Easter.
But in all seriousness, Croatia was exactly what I needed. It was a beautiful country with lovely beaches, great food, and a strange obsession with 80s music (seriously, they played 80s stuff in every single shop or restaurant we went into). My spring break was a great way to relax before I gear up for two more big travel weekends. Split is probably in my top three favorite cities I've been to, and my only complaint is that I didn't have enough time there.
We only had a few hours to walk around Zagreb before we had to go to the airport, and since it was Easter, everything was closed. We were able to find a nice restaurant for breakfast, but I wish we could have seen more of the city since it seemed like a really cool place and much different from Split. I didn't get back to Bettembourg until after 11pm, so our day was pretty much completely full of travel: taking trams to bus stations, buses to train stations, trains to airports, etc. Happy Easter.
But in all seriousness, Croatia was exactly what I needed. It was a beautiful country with lovely beaches, great food, and a strange obsession with 80s music (seriously, they played 80s stuff in every single shop or restaurant we went into). My spring break was a great way to relax before I gear up for two more big travel weekends. Split is probably in my top three favorite cities I've been to, and my only complaint is that I didn't have enough time there.