C●R●O●A●T●I●A

We’ve been in Croatia for almost two full weeks now (how have the weeks passed so quickly?!) and, as usual, I have a lot to share about our time here! Our train took us from Budapest into Zagreb – the capital of Croatia – for two short nights. And although lengthy, I would not be doing this post justice if I didn’t share a certain story from our train travels with you.

Our train was structured so that we shared a small cabin with three other young individuals making the same trek as we were which was wonderful as we shared travel stories and tips and met some like-minded individuals (or so we thought…). The group consisted of a girl from Budapest en route to Dubrovnik, a guy from New York who was traveling following his post abroad in the United States military and finally, a girl from South Korea who spoke broken English and left her seat five minutes into the journey for another cabin, resulting in her bag being unattended for almost the entire duration of the trip. The remainder of us were somewhat shocked at her absence from all of her personal belongings throughout the entire 6 hours, to the extent, that the ex-military guy could not mentally set aside earlier jokes/commentary of our co- passenger (an extremely innocent looking female) potentially carrying, and leaving behind, a weapon of some sort in her baggage. Of course, he was being antagonized by Andrew along the way that there could be a bomb we should all be worried about. 

After about five minutes of silence when we were all independently reading, our fellow American passenger hopped to his feet and searched the ENTIRE contents of Yu's bag – no nook or cranny too minuscule for him to be certain! Every single article packed in her belongings was dug through by our inquisitive co-passenger; all the while making comments that we all must think he is 'crazy' and a 'crazy ex-military guy.' Yes - at that point we absolutely did. About 30 minutes later, we had time to meet Yu (phonetically sounds like 'Jew'), our Korean co-passenger, as she innocently explained she was too hot and spent the trip sleeping in the restaurant car. Needless to say, there were many awkward and dumbfounded glances between us as we wondered just how our new Army acquaintance, who unsurprisingly had 'Strong Island' tattooed on his arm, could have made such a grave miscalculation. As for Yu, she unknowingly went about her business and even asked Andrew and I if we would pose for a picture because we are such a 'cute couple'. The girl obviously cannot lie....!

On a side note: We randomly saw Yu about two hours after we got off the train aimlessly walking the streets of Zagreb with her pack STILL ON. She said there was a mix up at her hostel, but not to worry, because they found another location for her... we can't even make this type of thing up! 

Moving forward, our Croatia travels started upon our arrival in Zagreb….

Zagreb

We stayed in an AirBnb on the main street of downtown Zagreb (Tkalcica) allowing us fluid access to restaurants and bars in the area. Our first night we tested out a popular brewery (Malo Medi) which was less than twenty steps away from our place. While we’ve seen some brewery/craft beer places throughout our travels I have to admit none of them have exactly met expectations….Our two days here included another walking tour, a trip to the Museum of Broken Relationships (a very unique and interesting museum you can read more about here: https://brokenships.com/ ) and a peek into a few stores along the main shopping street. 

 Our second, and final, night we partook in a Euro Basket game as we attended the Croatia vs. Netherlands game. Innocently enough, I mistakenly wore a coral scarf which leaned closer to Netherland’s orange then Croatia’s red (my intent of course while in Croatia) which led to some concerned questions from our surrounding Croatian fans. Andrew identified more than a handful of NBA players on each team which was exciting to see them playing abroad.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Next after Zagreb came two nights at the Plitvice Lakes National Park which is approximately a 2-3 hour bus ride from Zagreb (can definitely be done in one night but it was nice to have some additional time to slowly work our way through the park and beautiful surroundings). This National Park is, as it goes without saying, is incredibly beautiful and boasts 16 interconnecting lakes, all of distinct colors, spotted with various cascading waterfalls throughout the park – the largest waterfall is 78 meters tall.

We were shocked to find out upon arrival that our accommodations were 7 kilometers outside of the National Park and outside of all stops that our bus typically makes when dropping people off (our bed & breakfast definitely appeared to be INSIDE of the Park on the map!). Over the course of two days we maneuvered our way into a hitched ride from our bus driver, the owner of our bed & breakfast (twice) and last, but certainly not least, another couple staying at the bed & breakfast. We came to learn that the last couple lives in a type of commune in Germany – contact information was exchanged! Although overwhelmed with tourists (selfie sticks and packed paths all around) the two days were well spent mulling around nature and finding creative ways to get back and forth from our accommodations!

Split

Hopping on another bus, we made our way to Split - the "hop off" point for all of the islands in Croatia as well as the Southern coast. My opinion of Split may have been made hastily however, to me it had a party vibe swarmed with tourists and good to see for a day/night but most exciting given the possibilities of incredible places you can travel from here. It also was really intriguing to see all of the luxurious boats that were docked, either permanently or for a few nights, in the Split harbor. 

View from our apartment

We took one of our days in Split to drive south down the coast and search for a town to spend a few nights in later in our Croatian travels which turned out to be a great opportunity for us to see almost the entire coast.We also determined on this drive that we'd rather jump from island to island then spend our time in one of many towns which somewhat mimicked each other along the coast.

A shot while driving along the coast

Hvar

Hvar, Hvar, Hvar....I could go on and on about this place. When we arrived to Hvar via ferry from Split, we had booked two nights thinking we would most likely move on from there. Two nights swiftly turned into six nights total as we continued to discover areas of Hvar that we loved. A few of my favorite experiences/activities here include:

Moped Rental – Yes, I gave the green light for Andrew to whip us around on a moped for an entire day – scary but incredibly worthwhile! Haha We were able to drive around the majority of the island stopping at hidden coves, beaches, and other towns along the way. We even caught the sunset on our drive back into Old Town and Andrew turned out to be a veryyyy skilled driver!  This was, to me, absolutely the best way to move around the island and to see the sights.

 

Private Beaches – As I mentioned in the moped section, for those willing to travel a little outside of Old Town there are a plethora of small coves/inlets around the island which create serene, incredibly beautiful beaches for you to enjoy with just a few of your closets friends (aka strangers in our case)!

Dalmatino – I’ve been saving our favorite restaurants for another post but this one has to be mentioned here. My friend Kelsey recommended this to us (also the #1 restaurant in Hvar via Trip Advisor) and it was INCREDIBLE. So incredible in fact, that we ate here twice within the first three nights of our stay! The staff was the friendliest, they supplemented your meal with a few Croatian drinks to try and they created the most delectable black gnocchi with shrimp dish & tuna tartare appetizer. I think I’ll be craving this place long after we return back to the states!

The pictures do NOT even do it justice!

Sailing – Due to my less than subtle hints - think researching countless island hopping cruises we could join up with during our time here and eyeing every boat coming in and out of the harbor on a daily basis - Andrew sweetly researched a sailing excursion for us to partake in. Splurging for a day at sea (when in the Croatian islands right?!) we spent the day with 8 others sailing to the island of Brac. 

We (really I for this one – Andrew has had plenty of previous sailing experience) learned the importance of ducking at the immediate request of the captain when sitting upfront, stopped for multiple swim and snorkel breaks and enjoyed an authentic homemade Croatian lunch at sea.

This was hands down one of my favorite days here and I remember already reminiscing on what a perfect day it was as we watched the sunset from our sail boat pulling into the Hvar harbor.

Our boat once docked for the day!

Nightlife – Not necessarily my favorite part of the island - unfortunately I think Andrew and I found ourselves favoring a bottle of wine & dinner at Dalmatino especially after meeting an 18 year old out at the bars one night - however, the nightlife is an indisputable part of Hvar so we had to check it out! Staying in a hostel our first two nights (actually a pretty nice set up given its price tag: http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Hostel-Villa-Skansi/Hvar/29932 ) we joined in on the “free bar crawl” provided nightly at 10:45 pm. We succumbed to the obligatory cheap/free tequila shots, mingled and shared stories with our new friends from the hostel who were traveling from Belgium, Britain and Australia. As our alarms went off the next morning and we had to haul our massive backpacks in a 30 minute hike uphill to our next apartment; we vowed to never repeat that experience!!!!! Still a fun night out regardless though…! 

Korcula

In order to not bore you, and lose followers, I won’t go into too much detail in Korcula as we once again rented mopeds here and were able to visit a few more remote, and incredibly beautiful beaches.

I will say this was probably both Andrew and my own favorite island as it had less of a touristy touch and more local Croatian authenticity. (Trust me I was surprised at how much I was enthralled with the relaxed nature of this island after being so in love with Hvar!) Don’t get me wrong, there are still tourists galore here however, you do lack the touristy shops lining every street and restaurant menus with pictures plastered all over them that can be seen in Split and in some places within Hvar.

Unique from our experiences in Hvar, we were able to do a brief wine tasting at a local vineyard in Korcula as well as partake in a private beginner’s windsurfing lesson! The wine tasting was hysterical as an older man who owned the vineyard completed our tasting of 4 wines, capped off with some type of local shot, in less than 10 minutes – rapid fire! But the tasting room had a breathtaking view of the vineyards and Adriatic behind. (see picture above)

The windsurfing lesson was a blast as it was both of our first time attempting this specific water sport. Our instructor Bruno, picture a local with a very laid-back surfer vibe, gave us a brief on-land instruction and set us on our way following us around on kayaks to make sure we didn’t make any "life threatening" mistakes! I think it’s safe to say we were above average for beginners as we were both up and making plenty of streaks across our designated training area in the water. We’re hoping to try our hands at this once more when we reach Vietnam!

Mljet 

We are now currently in Mljet, our final island in our series of Croatian island hopping via ferry. Mljet is unique from the other islands that we have visited as it predominantly consists of the National Park here and is therefore covered in forests with a few tiny villages hidden around and within the island's borders. Yesterday we spent the day hiking around the park and visiting the highest peak from which you can gain a wonderful view of the Adriatic, surrounding islands and the entirety of landscapes Mljet has to offer.

Today, we woke up to the very first drastic thunderstorm we’ve encountered here (and really any rain to begin with) so our rented bikes are taking the day off and I’m finally concluding this blog I’ve been failing to post! We are staying in a unique boutique apartment here located in a tiny village named Govedari which luckily boasts a very entertaining owner who keeps checking to see if we would like to watch a documentary about Mljet. He has also promised a homemade meal and a trip “into town” later this afternoon (we are fairly remote from any restaurants, stores, etc. in our apartment) so I will keep you posted! Tomorrow we head into our last stop in Croatia for four days in Dubrovnik before we're off to Vietnam – any and all recommendations welcome!

Cheers, xoxo!

Liz & Andrew