Ok, I just have to warn you. My trip to Croatia with Mike and Patty was my longest vacation in years. We did a lot of stuff and had such a great time, that I can't fit everything into just one blog entry. I might get lazy and skip some stuff, but you won't notice because you weren't there (too bad for you!). So, here we go...
Zadar and Plitvice
After my 20 hours in Copenhagen, I met Mike and Patty in Split. That's the name of a city in Croatia, not slang for "let's get outta here". They had already picked up the rental car after a night where they slept for an hour before their flight from London, and off we went to Zadar. We stayed in Zadar as a "layover" to Plitvice Lakes the next day. Our first meal was at a nice outdoor restaurant in the Old Town of fresh seafood (you will hear the same exact description for basically every meal on the entire trip). I don't think I've ever eaten so much fish and squid as I did in these 12 days. I had squid for 4 out of the first 5 days without realizing it. Every time we sat down, I'd scan the menu, find myself torn between pasta and squid, and order the squid because I hadn't eaten it in a while (i.e. since the night before). Only after the 4th time did I realize I was doing it every day (good thing I always take pictures of my food, as it helped me verify this). Finally, on the last night of the trip, when Patty cooked for us, I finally got tired of it (but that had nothing to do with Patty's great cooking, it was because the squid came with a shrimp head sticking out of it's mouth and it gave me the CREEPS! - you'll see a picture later).
A lot of work went into the making of this jumping picture
The next morning we left for Plitvice Lakes National Park, one of the many must-sees in Croatia. The drive from Zadar was about 2 hours, so we arrived some time before lunch. We did the full park hike in about 5 hours, riding buses and boats around, and stopping to eat our packed lunch on a dock on one of the lakes. There were many nice trails to walk around, from which you can enjoy the millions of different beautiful views. On each day of the trip I took a "picture of the day" to post on Facebook, but at Plitvice, it was really hard to pick just one picture. The air smelled clean and wonderful, the water was crystal clear, the birds were chirping happily, waterfalls were flowing everywhere...it was exactly like being in the movie Avatar (because I know exactly what it's like to be in the movie Avatar). The only difference is that we weren't blue, and that there was no swimming allowed. I guess that's probably how the water stays so clean. It's definitely worth a trip if you're in Croatia because of the scenic waterfalls and eerily clear water. You can see so deep into the water that it made me think of one of the Harry Potter scenes, when he looks into the lake and sees dead bodies, and then faints and falls in (but don't worry, he didn't die...I think Ron saved him).
Definitely go to Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia
We couldn't stop saying "the water is SOOOO CLEAR!" because it really is SOOOO CLEAR!
Waterfalls everywhere
After the park we drove back a few hours to Split. It was a lot of driving for Chen (I conveniently forgot to bring my driver's license), and Patty and I happily "offered" the front seat to each other, so we could take the back seat and (ahem) rest our eye lids. It turned out that it didn't matter who was sitting in the back, because we both fell asleep anyway. I blame my parents for putting me in the car to get me to fall asleep when I was little. I really can't stay awake as a passenger in a car (or plane, train, ferry, hovercraft, space ship, back of a dragon, etc).
Even though it was only the second day, we already noticed some trends in Croatia. Most people were very friendly and spoke very good English; all the waiters, toll booth operators, shop assistants, etc. But even those that didn't speak, tried really hard, rather than speak to us in Croatian, which I'm sure they'd be more comfortable with. They acted very friendly and made an effort to communicate with a smile on their faces, even if the words didn't come out right. One lady pulled up along side our car as we were parking and gave us her parking pass that she didn't need anymore. I guess when you live in a country that relies so heavily on tourism, they make the extra effort to make you feel welcome. I'm not saying anything bad about Poland, because it's not bad at all, but it would be really nice to have this kind of friendly (almost "American") interaction with people on a daily basis. Poland doesn't quite have that.
Split and the islands
We only spent one night in Split, but it was a really cool town. It's right on the water with Diocletian's palace smack in the middle. It's a maze of narrow streets with a big cathedral, filled with bars and restaurants, with a harbor and several piers filled with boats. It's a great little hub to hang out in on your way to the islands. We stayed in a nice place in the middle of the square, steps from the water, in one of the "luxury" places Patty booked for us. When I booked places, I booked cheap hostels. That night I ordered my first ever whole fish for dinner...and all I got was a whole fish on a plate. Uhh, can I get some rice or something with that? Anyway, it was a sea bass, and it was amazing.
Finally we headed to the places we were looking forward to the most: the islands. We tried to be spontaneous in our route, not planning anything until a day or so in advance. Patty' personality really wanted to plan things out, and she made a "kinda plan", but we wanted to play it all by ear, to maintain our flexibility. We headed off to Brac island to a town called Bol. This is the "sporty" island, as there are lots of different water sports here. We took a ferry from Split to Supetar (on Brac island), then shared a taxi van with strangers to get to Bol (we thought it was sketchy at first when the taxi drivers suggested we do it, but in the end, like everything else we experienced, it wasn't sketchy at all). It cost about 50 kuna each ($8.50), which was about the same price as it was to take the public bus anyway. Our driver was really cool, and not someone who seemed like he was trying to rip us off, as we half-expected to see at these ferry docks. He also came to Poland for one of the Croatia Euro matches, so we talked about that for a while (he didn't stay with me though). I really think he drove the taxi to Poland.
A lot of people kite surf off the tip of the Golden Horn
We had been spending a lot of money so far (dinners were usually around $30 each, and hotels were around 50 Euros per person). So luckily we found a 2 bedroom apartment for about 17 Euros per person per night in Bol. It was "Apartment Mila," named for the woman who lives downstairs (presumably also known as "the owner"). She was super friendly, but didn't speak any English. She always smiled and waved at us, and we managed to communicate somehow. Her daughter was often around to speak to us in English when necessary as well. It was just a short walk down to the center and beach, so the location was good. For the price, I'd definitely stay there again. We also noticed lots of signs all over the city showing that people's private apartments were for rent. I guess you can just walk up to a place with an apartment sign and ask if they have vacancy. We also saw a few people sitting on the streets or at the ferry and bus stations with signs offering their apartments for rent. If you're brave and not picky, that's one way to do it.
Bol was definitely the quietest place we visited, in a good way. There weren't many people on the beaches, and at night, the bars were pretty empty. I don't even think the streets had street names, it was so small. We wanted to "go out" one night and found a bar, but the waiter for some reason stopped serving us after a couple drinks (and a couple friendly chats), completely ignoring us, so we lost interest. Brac is known for its white stone. Parts of the White House in DC are made with stone from Brac. Besides the stone, the main industry on Brac is tourism. The main beach was about 1.5 km down the road, called the Golden Horn. It's a beach on a peninsula, very pebbly, quiet, and relaxing. There were tons of boats on the docks, several of which were Polish. Patty wanted me to use my Polish skills to make friends who could take us on their boats to the next islands. Basically, that didn't happen.
Enjoying probably the best fries I've ever eaten (really)
At one of the restaurants (Vagabundo), the waiter was super friendly with us. On the day after we ate there, as we were walking by, he called down to us from the balcony to say hi and chat with us. I was very impressed that he remembered us from the previous night, but also that he cared to even say hello. The seafood at this place was so fresh, that they only have a certain number of things each day (probably caught by some fisherman down the beach). We were the first customers that night, and they told us they only had 1 lobster and 2 kg of shrimp in the whole restaurant for the night. This was the complete opposite of our dining experience in Lviv where the food available was always a surprise!
Squid, polenta and vegetables at Vagabundo
A lot of Italian restaurants in Croatia
One of my main goals while in Croatia was to swim and run at least a little. I tried to swim in Bol, but after about 25 meters I got too cold and came out of the water. I guess I can still say I swam "at least a little", but it wasn't too good. This early in the Croatia season, even though it's great without so many tourists, and the outside air temperature is great, the water temperature is still a bit low. Well, some guys were swimming, but I guess I didn't want to swim that badly. Maybe September would be the best for both air and water temperature and a lower number of tourists.
At least I made a couple morning runs in Bol
After 2 weekdays of no work emails, I felt like I was missing out on the world. However, somehow I managed the entire first week without checking work emails on my Blackberry (I guess that's how vacation is supposed to work, not the way we do it in the US where we're always on call and always checking emails). Then I ended up checking my emails on the weekend, so that pretty much defeated the purpose of staying away from the work emails during the week.
One of the most mysterious things to me about the Croatian tourism business is that even though they are so highly dependant on it, the sales people are the most un-pushy sales people I've ever seen. It's like they don't have to push you, because they know if you want it, you'll get it, whether it be a souvenir, a boat rental, or a meal in their restaurant. It seems that all the sales guys had a pact that they wouldn't undercut anyone else's price...the prices we noticed were consistent across sales people, and the guys couldn't be bothered if you didn't want what they were selling. In fact some guys would even tell us about cheaper options. One guy said "my private boat would be 250 Euros, but if you're not in a hurry, you can just take a ferry and bus for much cheaper...like 20 Euros". What kind of salesmen do that? It was awesome. Taxis were super friendly and un-sketchy, we never felt ripped off anywhere, and even when we said "no thanks" to someone, they just smiled, thanked us and wished us a nice day (except one guy who grunted loudly, like an grumpy troll). One theory is that it was still early in the season so they are all friendly and patient...but by the end of the Summer, they'll all be grumpy trolls.
Relaxing in the Bol harbor
On our last day in Bol, I got a call from the hostel we booked for our next destination, Hvar. At first I was worried that they were going to give us bad news. But in fact, the news couldn't have been better. We planned to take the ferry from Bol to Jelsa (on Hvar island, which was only about $3.50...so cheap!), then to take the bus from Jelsa to Hvar Town, where the hostel was. Apparently the hostel emailed me to tell me that the bus was not operating yet, because it was still May (everything picks up on June 1), but since I wasn't checking email, I didn't see it. They decided to call me to tell me they would just pick us up at the Jelsa ferry, 40 kilometers away from the hostel! And they'd do it for free! We would have had to take an $80 cab ride, so they saved us from that, without us even asking. They wouldn't even accept a tip. From this moment, we knew this was an amazing hostel (well, not immediately...moreso after we got over the "is this too good to be true?" phase). Ivan, the son of Marija (of Villa Marija hostel) , came out to pick us up, drove us back, got us settled, and even gave us some beers, because "it was May and the bar wasn't open til June 1". I have to say, if you ever stay in Hvar Town, Marija's is the place to be. We even convinced some Canadian girls on the catamaran to stay at this hostel too, because we loved it so much (before we even got there!).
It's safe to say that the first half of the trip was a great success. Stay tuned for more about Hvar and Dubrovnik!
Excited to make our way to Hvar!
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