Croatia

SO. How does one start to tell about a trip like what I just had? There's just so much to tell!

What an experience I got to have. Croatia is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL country. It's slogan is "The Way The Mediterranean Used To Be", and it definitely lived up to that... Everywhere we went, there were white stone streets, stone buildings with peach-tiled roofs, exotic flowers and plants, gorgeous palms, cute sailing ships, and beautiful water that was a crystal clear, deep blue. There were times when we could see all the way to the bottom, even though the water was 30 feet deep. Amazing! It took my breath away.

I started by taking the train from Freiburg to Frankfurt Flughafen to catch a plane to Zadar, where I'd spend the night and then take a bus to Split, where the cruise would embark, the next day. Little did I know that I had taken the train to the WRONG AIRPORT. I got to the airport and started looking for the RyanAir terminal, which was no where to be found. I finally found someone to ask, and he kindly informed me that RyanAir leaves from an airport called Frankfurt HAHN, not Frankfurt Flughafen. He went on to say that Frankfurt Hahn is about an hour away from Frankfurt Flughafen, and the only way I'd be able to get my plane in time is if I took a taxi. So that's what I did. Most. Expensive. Taxi. I have ever taken. 166.65 EUROS. Yippee. Thankfully I had enough cash on me to cover the charge, so an hour and 166.65 Euros later, I was at the RIGHT airport, and getting ready to board my plane.

When I got to Zadar, I took another taxi to the place that I stayed for the night, which was a little apartment that you could book just like a hotel room. It was so cool, I felt like a local with my own apartment in Zadar! I took a walk around the town; my first glimpse into the beauty of Dalmatia. The sun was shining, gelato at every corner (practically) and the vast ocean in clear view... I absolutely loved it. I spent the evening reading and watching the sun set.

The next morning I got up bright and early to catch the bus to Split. When I got there, I wandered around the port for a bit, trying to figure out where my boat was. I really had no idea what to look for, and was getting a little bit nervous, when I saw some representatives of the boat line I was taking. So I went to them, realized they were the right people to talk to (YAY!!) And was directed to my boat; a cute little faux-sailing ship that housed 35 people plus the crew. Soon we set sail were on our way to our next destination.

On the way, I got to just relax and meet other cruise participants. I soon found that there were many Canadians, including a couple from Calgary. At first I didn't know if I should like them... hahaha. But they turned out to be very awesome. There was also a guy from Vancouver, who was also a musician, and we had fun listening to and exchanging some of our favorite tracks. There were also a few girls from Toronto, one of which currently lives in New York, so we definitely had a lot in common, having gone through the American Student Visa processes and such. She was absolutely hilarious. Almost every time I asked her what she was going to be doing at the next port, she'd say "I don't know, maybe just chill, walk around, GET GELATO". Thanks to her, I had WAY WAY too much gelato for one 8-day vacation. But is that possible? I don't know... how can one ever have too much gelato on vacation? No worries :)

All together we visited 6 towns: Split, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik, Trstenik, and Makarska. They were all pretty similar, but there was definitely something unique about each place that gave the tour some really cool diversity. In Hvar we had a delicious wine tasting, and then hiked up to a stone fort at the top of the hill just outside the town to catch the gorgeous view. The rest of the evening was spent partying; I'm not much of a party-er really, but Contiki cruises are definitely planned to allow for LOTS of partying. I went out that first night in Hvar, but then the next morning I realized that I don't want to spend all my money and time and energy on this trip partying, which isn't really me anyways. Luckily there were other people on the trip who shared my sentiments, and we had a good time NOT getting wasted every single night and being hungover every single morning.

Korcula is the supposed birth place of Marco Polo, and I think it was my favorite town. It was so cute! Every single street looked like it was straight out of the movies. I absolutely loved it. Just spent the time looking around, eating, and hanging out with my new friends.

Dubrovnik was pretty awesome too. It's a lot bigger than Hvar and Korcula, and is definitely one of the more tourist-y places in Croatia. We walked around the city wall to catch the view, which was absolutely BREATHTAKING. Had lots of gelato... and then the most DELICIOUS DINNER EVER. Oh man. This food was to die for. Three of the other attendees and I decided to do our own thing for dinner, and we ended up at this place called Lucin Kantun; a tiny little restaurant with an open kitchen; it almost could've been someone's house. I had these little lamb-kabobs in honey lavender sauce to start, which was AMAZING, and then the fresh fish in olive oil garlic sauce with fried vegetables, AND I DIED. IT WAS SO GOOD. AND MY WINE WAS AMAZING. OH MAN. I want to go back there so badly and eat there every single day. AND DESERT. OHHH MAANN!! They even gave us a desert wine on the house!! Best place ever. Period. I'm going back there one day.

The next day in Dubrovnik I went ocean-kayaking with the group, but then the weather took a turn for the worst, and we ended up stranded on a peacock-infested island with nothing to do but play cards and wait for a ferry to take us back. A friend of mine had the most REDICULOUS hamburger... it wasn't a hamburger at all, just a huge patty stuffed with cheese and the fixings on the side. No ketchup, no BREAD. So weird! But it came with fries... haha. I'll put a picture of it up. Eventually the ferry came and we were whisked to the safety of our own boat, where I spent the rest of the day sleeping in my warm bed. Although I did get out of bed to take one last stroll through the streets that night, and ended up playing congas with a trio that was entertaining an outdoor cafe for a few songs. It was pretty awesome. I was pretty stoked to get a chance to do some playing while in Croatia!

Trstenik was this tiny little rural town, and was definitely a nice change of pace compared to the busyness of Dubrovnik. I spent the day catching the rays at the beach and swimming in the Adriatic; I even got to snorkel a little bit and saw a bunch of cute fishies! And Sea Urchins... don't wanna step on those guys!

Makarska was a little bigger than Trstenik. It had a really nice beach where I spent some time swimming again, and an awesome market where I got a lovely new dress! I went out that night for a little bit to give my new dress some wear-time, but turned in before everything got too crazy ;)

When we weren't at port, but on the ocean sailing the lovely Adriatic, we spent our time catching the rays, reading, listening to music, sometimes jumping into the ocean, playing cards (our theme game ended up being Scum), and just relaxing in general. I guess this particular Contiki tour is very much designed to be a relaxing get-away, whereas most of their other tours are meant to be more on-the-go see-as-much-as-possible type touring. I was pretty happy to have a nice bit of time to myself to relax, but by the end of the trip I was definitely ready to get back to Freiburg and my own bed and a hot shower. Our hot water was kindof on and off during the trip, which was a bit challenging at times. But all in all, I had an absolutely lovely time in Croatia, exploring a country that I had no previous exposure too, and meeting brand new people, creating some friendships that will hopefully last for a while!

That's about it for now! Don't worry, pictures will be COMING SOON!!

Bis Bald,

<3 hannah ;)