It’s summer time!
Kind of. Germany’s summer so far has proved to be a lot like Alaska’s: mostly cloudy with some really nice days that lull you into a false sense of security before the next cloudburst. The weather is okay though, since I probably wouldn’t be able to resist playing outside in sunny weather instead of going to class, anyways J
Luckily, I got to spend a week in a country that has BEAUTIFUL summer weather- Croatia!! Thank you RyanAir ;)
One of my closest friends here, Tena, is Croatian and invited me to visit her during a mid-summer visit home, and it was AMAZING.
I could dictate the entire roadtrip, but honestly Croatia was so gorgeous, pictures tell it best.
All the trains going to Düsseldorf on my actual departure day were really inconvenient since my flight left at 9am, so I decided to just sleep in the airport. However,trains also weren’t going late from Düsseldorf to the actual airport (RyanAir has super cheap flights, but their airports are in the middle of NOWHERE so in the end it was a major inconvenience) so I decided to try my luck with a carsharing website, BlaBlaCar. I’ve heard both good and sketchy stories about carsharing, but it was one of my only options next to sleeping in train stations (sketchier than sleeping in an airport) and switching trains all night. I was lucky and the guy who drove was a really nice student from Bonn. We got to the airport without any problems and I thought it was really fun to hang out with a nice stranger for an hour and a half.
I flew into Zadar the next morning. Sunny Croatia greeted me with a beautiful seaside flying in and I was absolutely stoked for the week to come.
Tena met me in the historic city center (somewhat miraculously, since my phone was dead) and we spent the first day exploring Zadar. She’s been there before and was able to give me a little tour as we went. There is a university there that we walked by and it sits right on the edge of the sea- how perfect?! One class was having class outside! The old part of Zadar wasn’t so big so after eating and walking, we sat in a really nice café that was perfectly summery with little fountains and outside tables that were built into the faces of big rocks. Zadar was so lovely!
The University!!! Next to the seaside!!
At our wonderful cafe!
In the evening, we took a bus to Pag, the small island where Tena’s family has a summer house. The bus ride was entertaining because we sat by 5 guys from London who were just, so…British. Again, I enjoyed talking to nice strangers. The sunset as we drove to Pag was beautiful, a great end to the day as we arrived. We got settled in and ate dinner while watching TV. I learned that unlike Germany, Croatia doesn’t dub all their TV shows, so I got to watch TV in English for the first time since being here (with Croatian subtitles).
I could go on forever about their perfect seaside house! I loved that they had a little outside area that was covered by grapevines (the grapes weren’t ripe yet) and a barbeque pit- it was so perfect!
Looking out to the street from the house
The next day we laid on the beach and swam all morning. Seaside life is rough ;) Tena’s boyfriend, Filip, met us in Pag with the car we would use for the week. We napped in the afternoon ( after our exhausting morning and lunch, haha) and then headed back to the beach…where we laid some more. J That night there was a random little festival with food from different parts of Croatia (how perfect is that?!), music, and dancing. I ate grilled squid, which I loved.
Pag!
The beach at Pag
The next day our roadtrip began!
We were driving to Filip’s family’s summer house in Vodice, but spent most of the day at the incredible Krka National Park. We hiked around and swam in the river that the waterfall was pouring into. I was blown away by the beauty of the park. It was funny, Tena and Filip found it so strange to swim in non-salty water, but to me it had been weird in Pag to swim in salty water!
Krka National Park!! SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL
We swam here!! :)
We ended the day with a quick tour of Sibenik, another small seaside town on the way to Vodice. It was a little harbor town built onto a hillside/cliff. Finally, we arrived in Vodice where we would spend the night.
It was really, really hot in Vodice. We were at the beach again and were able to cool off but when we walked around the actual town, I felt the heat getting to me. Fortunately, we went back to the beach after walking around ;)
We packed up in the late afternoon and headed to Omiš, where we would spend the next two nights at Tena’s family’s (other beautiful) summer house. We arrived around sunset and climbed up to the old pirate fort overlooking the town. Her house was nestled underneath the fort, so awesome!
View from the living room window!
Looking down from the pirate fortress
Floating Lantern and the sunset! :)
We did a day trip to Split from Omiš. Split is Croatia’s second-biggest city. The old town is basically the remains of the palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian and the surrounding area. We had a tour through the palace and spent the day just walking though that part of the old town, it was really small but really old and pretty!
After our days in Omiš, we headed inland to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia where Tena lives with her family. On the way, we stopped and spent the most part of the day hiking at the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which had these gorgeous waterfalls and lakes. The water was unbelievably beautiful and blue!
We arrived that night in Zagreb exhausted and ready for pizza.
The time in Zagreb was also wonderful! Tena showed me around the city, and it was great to have a local with me! Zagreb has this wonderful, long street of cafes, SO MANY CAFES, where you can sit and have coffee for hours. If I lived there I would definitely go to all of them.
We went to a lake in the city with all of these swans and the water was SO WARM
One evening we went to their countryside house, an old house they have outside the city in a little town, and had a barbeque there. It was a really old house and Tena’s family used to produce wine there. They grew so much fruit on the property, we just walked around eating it from the bushes! I loved the traditional grill-food, which was mostly different meats and kebabs. Yum :)
On my last day, after 8 days of gorgeous sunshine, a thunderstorm came out of nowhere on my last day there. Luckily, we were “trapped” inside a traditional Croatian Štrukli restaurant, which was this delicious dish of baked cheese and streusel. I HAVE to try making it sometime!!
On my last night, the World Cup started, and the opening match was Croatia v.s. Brazil!! Everyone was going crazy and we all were wearing checkers. At one point, Croatia was beating Brazil, and it was absolutely mad!! Croatia played so good, even though they lost, and the atmosphere was so much fun!
And then, it was back to Bielefeld. I’m sooo thankful to Tena and Filip for sharing their country with me, it was unforgettable and I LOVED Croatia. It’s the kind of experience I would never have gotten to have if I hadn’t gone to Germany and met Tena. Love the doors that exchange can open :)
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