Croatian Vacation

I love Croatia. Love it. It's beautiful and sunny and the water is like blue-green liquid glass and the food is delicious and cheap and there are waterfalls and beaches and boats. 

For Easter break two of my friends studying in Edinburgh, Scotland came to Bologna to visit me. We had a great few days in my city, eating our weight in gelato and pizza and enjoying the sunshine, and then took a train to Ancona to catch our overnight ferry. 

It was really cool. For about two hours. And then there were eight more hours of cramped seats and loud passengers and freezing cold wind and overpriced food. But when we crept up onto the top deck at 5:45am to watch the sunrise over the Croatian coast, I would have spent another 20 hours on that boat just for that experience. The water turned from black to silver to rose-gold and finally bright turquoise just as we arrived in the bay of Split.

We had a few hours to kill before our catamaran to the nearby island of Hvar, so we set about exploring Split and Diocletian's Palace. Right outside the palace walls was a bustling Saturday market. They had everything from fresh fruits and veggies to fresh warm bread to bright red radishes. Since it was the day before Easter, there were even boxes of baby chicks and bunnies and ducklings! I was *this* close to buying ten of each.

Inside Diocletian's Palace the ancient Roman structures are subsumed by apartment buildings and adjoined to quaint shop fronts so well that it almost seems intentional. It's hard to believe that the whole compound used to be one emperor's domain. I imagine the walk to the bathroom would have taken at least ten minutes. Now it is a little city in its own right with piazzas and coffee shops, clothing stores and booksellers, all alongside forums and bell towers and twisty-tiny alleyways.

We came upon these gentlemen singing some gorgeous Croatian folk songs in this cavernous space.

Afternoon came quickly enough and we hopped on a brief catamaran cruise to Hvar, arriving in a tiny sun-drenched port and climbing up limestone stairs to the top of the hill and our very own apartment with a view!

That view though...

I can't recommend this apartment enough! It had two beautiful bedrooms and a tiny kitchen and sitting area, but the real gem was the terrace in a little lemon and olive grove with the greatest view ever. Ivana is a wonderful host and airbnb came through for us again! If you're in the area, check it out.

We dropped our things off, popped back into town for some groceries and fine Croatian beer, and then relaxed on our private terrace drinking beer with freshly picked lemons from the surrounding grove.

As the sun got lower we took advantage of the last daylight to hike up the rest of the hill to the old castle overlooking the town.

As the sun set we walked back to the apartment and started chopping up onions and garlic for a spicy sausage pasta made with the chorizo we'd purchased in the Split market earlier. Fresh bread and more beer topped of a fantastic outdoor dinner.

The pictures from that night end here. All I can say is that it was one of the best I've had and included quite a lot of dancing and a somewhat ill-advised jump into the freezing-cold ocean around 3am. The next morning I woke up thinking I had cut my foot on something when I jumped- turns out I had stepped right on a sea urchin and two weeks later I still have about 15 tiny black spikes in my heel. Quite the souvenir. The next morning we had coffee on the harbor and then walked over to snap a picture of the scene of the crime. Looking at all those little buggers I'm surprised I only stepped on one!

We relaxed in the sun as we waited for our 2pm boat back to Split...

...where we were staying inside of Diocletian's Palace! We had a great apartment right in the heart of the palace with a huge living room, bedroom, and full kitchen. The host Mayk was a treasure, and I can't stop raving over airbnb. Here it is if you're looking.

After settling in, we left to explore the city from the promenade along the harbor to the parks behind the palace. As the sun set we settled on a charming local restaurant for our Easter dinner.

As an Easter special, our sweet and friendly waitress treated us to some colorful hard-boiled eggs with fresh Croatian bread and a savory chickpea spread. Zach ordered some heavenly combination of bacon-wrapped monkfish in a cream sauce while Alec and I decided to take a more perilously adventurous route and order the two local specialties- shrimp "stew" (more like a pile of creatures we had to messily dismember with our bare hands) and cuttlefish pasta with lima beans (surprisingly good, even the tentacles).

We headed home for a relaxing evening of movies in bed. The next morning we woke up early and decided to climb the bell tower in the center of the palace. Halfway up I remembered I am afraid of heights. That was fun. Boy, but the view was worth it!

After a dizzying (for me, the boys were laughing) descent from the tower, we got caught in a torrential downpour and escaped to the balcony of a little coffee bar where we drank cappuccinos and watched the rain come down. When it let up, we decided to hike the hills right outside of town. It was a cool and grey evening, perfect for the walk. We met some snail friends and passed an old zoo just as the bats were starting to come out for their evening rounds. 

As we rounded a bend, we heard far-off chanting through the trees. We made our way to the summit, and discovered the source of the primal noises- the soccer stadium was lit up like a beacon and we could hear the Croatian cheers from miles away! It was an incredible moment, standing at the top of that hill listening to the distant shouting and singing.

When we made it back to the harbor it was lit up like Christmas. We had a lovely dinner of home-made bruschetta with cheesy mushroom pasta and sweet Croatian wine. Our last night was us gathered around the tiny dinner table watching stand-up comedy and avoiding the monsoon outside.

My last day in Croatia was spectacular. We woke up early to meet our tour bus at the harbor, and our friendly guide welcomed us on board with an assortment of honeymooners and backpackers eager to see the famous Krka waterfalls. We stopped in the town of Sibenik first to tour their incredible cathedral, and then headed onwards towards the national park.

Krka is a magical watery wonderland fairytale paradise of green and blue water, gushing white bubbles, and sapphire dragonflies. It's so hard to capture what an amazing place this is. There are wooden plank walkways over the countless waterways, passing from still ponds to torrential rivers. The sound of rushing water is everywhere. 

The boys decided to go swimming in the freezing water. I watched and then waded in (flinching) to join them on their mini island. It was like something out of a movie.

Krka is a dream. Wow, looking back at these pictures is so soothing. I absolutely loved Croatia, it was one of the best weeks of my life. If you can, go. Go as soon as you can.