Croatia

SPLIT | Concrete cottage

Where is Croatia and why are we going there? Thoughts like this quickly disappeared when we arrived in Split. As we wrapped up our tour through Italy, we decided to take the quick one-hour flight across the Adriatic to the city of Split. Croatia made our list of countries to visit for two reasons: #1, It’s cheap, not standardized on the euro (the Croatian Kuna to USD is about 6 to 1) and #2, we had tentative plans to meet one of Anna’s friends there.

Once we cleared customs, we set out in search of the bus to the center of town which was about 45 minutes away. There is a bus heading in each direction (to the city and away from the city), so, being well established travelers at this point, we walked blindly to one of the two bus stops. It turns out my ability to read Croatian is sub-par as I confused what I believed to be the name of the metro system with the name of the city that the bus was heading to. Fortunately, while waiting for the WRONG bus, a taxi driver approached us and asked if we wanted a ride to Split (I swear we don’t look like tourists or do we?). We said, “no thank you” but he proceeded to ensure us that we would be better served if we just caught a ride with him. After Anna insisted we were not interested, he asked if she was the decision maker, told us that men make the decisions in “this country,” and then advised us that we were waiting for the wrong bus (headed further out of the city). So, we are still not expert travelers, just tourists, and we were oddly grateful for the mean but also helpful cabbie.

Our Airbnb host met us in the city right at the bus stop. She spoke great English, like most people in Croatia, and took us for a short walk from the bus to our home for the next few days. The building was in the center of a courtyard encircled by 3-story townhouses. The best way to describe this little gem is by calling the “apartment” by its original name: A single-car garage. To make it even more comforting, right outside our door was a metal machine shop where we could see guys grinding steel and shaping metal all day. Fortunately, this rectangular concrete cottage with a bed, kitchenette, and bathroom was actually pretty nice.

The city of Split beat all expectations. The first thing we set out to see was Diocletian's Palace, which we knew nothing about. The palace was built at the turn of the 4th century AD for the retired Roman Emperor Diocletian. Having toured through France and Italy, we had seen our fair share of castles and thought this one would be no different: A historical landmark that has been rebuilt from ruble to resemble what once stood years ago. While we appreciate the history and a look into the past, we were happily surprised to find this palace had a modern twist. Apparently, in an attempt to escape the invading Croats in the 7th century, residents fled to the then-abandoned palace and eventually made their homes and businesses within the palace walls. The palace has kept its historical appearance throughout but is filled with shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and residential housing. We walked through the palace’s narrow, maze-like alleys every day, continuing to find new places to eat, drink, and relax.

One of the palace walls faces the sea. There, you can find even more shops and bars with ocean-side patios that offer amazing views of the water and phenomenal people watching. Outside the palace, you can head to the left or to the right to find beaches with crystal clear water filled with people soaking up the sun.

We loved Split. Everyone was extremely nice, the city was so clean, and it offered an array of cuisine. (Don’t get me wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed every meal in Italy, but we were all pasta’d out and really appreciated having options. And maybe some fruits and vegetables.) It was immediately clear to see why Split has attracted so much attention over the years. It was actually used for the filming of season 4 of the popular HBO series Game of Thrones and I think that alone has added a flux of new visitors. Outside of the rocky start at the bus station, we breezed through Split. We did not end up meeting up with Anna’s friend, but our time alone would come to a quick halt at our next stop in Croatia: Pag.

Pit of Split: 2 Months of traveling and we still cant catch a bus on our own.

Peak of Split: Getting lost in the maze that is Diocletian's Palace and discovering new shops, restaurants, and cafes.

PAG | Lucky number 7

Pag is an island on the Dalmatian coast consisting of two cities, Novalji and Pag. From the outside (and even from the inside), Pag can appear as a sleepy island. It has a population of about 10,000 people (a ratio of about one person to four sheep) and has a barren, moonscape appearance. However, if you are there at the right (or wrong, depending on your idea of fun) time of year, you’ll quickly realize it’s a party mecca. This island has become a stronghold for festivals, spring breakers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and an epic ocean party called yacht week. With its long coastline and massive beachside clubs, those who visit Pag are more likely to sleep during the day and party all night.

Anna and I met up with some friends from home, adding five people to our traveling tour. We added four more boys and one girl (Juan, Ramon, and Armando (all brothers) and their friends Max and Julie). Now that we were seven strong, we were forced to upgrade our housing from a single-car garage to a penthouse villa, which was perfectly fine with us. After further review of our penthouse, however, we quickly started to notice that it was more of a high-end shell with no quality products underneath whatsoever. Shower doors were falling off, bathrooms were flooding from leaky shower pipes, bathroom doors didn’t shut, power outages were happening too frequently, and it was empty of even the most basic household items. Regardless, we were a short walk to the center of Novalji, the weather was perfect, and everyone was happy to be together on Pag.

On our first full day, we set out to see the famous Zrće Beach that we heard so much about because of its lively clubs. When we arrived to an empty parking lot and practically vacant beach at 11 AM, we started to wonder if we had somehow missed the boat. We later found out that no one shows up until 10 or 11 PM and it stays busy until the sun comes up. This type of clubbing isn’t exactly what we had in mind, so we spent most of our time in Novalji, though some of the guys did get a late night or two in.

Despite having a new crew and getting a bit rowdier than we had been on our European tour so far, we still managed to work out every day and to our surprise were joined by the new comers. Of course with seven people exercising after a night out there are early signs of fatigue which proved to be disastrous for Ramon, who sprained his ankle the very first morning. Fortunately, nothing was broken and he managed to put together a hobble for the rest of the trip.

Novalji is beautiful, but after hearing about a state park called Krka 1.5 hours away, we unanimously agreed we could forego the beach for a daytrip. The drive went quick; the roads were almost empty the whole way which seemed to be the case every day regardless of time. Once we arrived at Krka National Park it was clear we were in for a treat. With its seven waterfalls and a total drop in altitude of 242 meters, Krka is a natural beauty that everyone visiting Croatia should see. Part of the walkway was a wood bridge that crisscrossed the river and rapids. Of course, having five boys in the group, one was bound to do something stupid that would lead to them getting wet before we reached the swimming area. That trophy went to Max, who insisted on climbing a nearby tree for an Instagram shot, which ended with an ungraceful slip and dunk into the water!

Once we arrived at the bottom of the waterfall, we had the opportunity to wade into the natural pool of ice-cold water that was flowing like a river. We all made it in despite the temperatures and also spent some time jumping into some of the smaller nearby waterfalls.

Once we made it through Krka, we headed back to Novalji for dinner. The restaurants offer plenty of fish as well as lamb (which the island is known for, in addition to its cheese). Our friends were certainly enjoying the exchange rate as a total of seven people managed to order 11 entrees in addition to the appetizers. They were balling and not on a budget, so while Anna and I tried our best to keep up, we eventfully had to call it quits and ask for separate checks as two entrees per person somehow continued to be a theme for this trip.

The last day in Pag may have been the best. We decided to charter a boat for the day which came equipped with a captain. We traveled around the coast visiting nearby coves and did some tubing in between stops. It wasn’t until I fell off the tube in what felt like the middle of the ocean that I realized I wasn’t wearing a life jacket. I found this extremely odd as I sat there treading water watching the boat circle around. When we asked the captain for life jackets for the next turn on the tube, he gave us a look like we were crazy (and thought we were joking). Experiences like this really reflect how different our cultures are.

Pag was great and we were very happy to have friends join us for the experience. It was a quick trip and after four nights we were off to the next destination. Fortunately, this group of seven had two more European stops—more to come!

Pit of Pag: Everything in our apartment was breaking

Peak of Pag: Our new travel buddies!