Croatia: 4 Cities in 3 days, 21 hours

Insane! Where do I even begin? Croatia was absolutely amazing – even the few low points we had couldn’t even put a damper on the amazingness of our trip!


Thursday, April 5 2007

Whenever I fly anywhere I always err on the side of caution. I’m the type of person that always shows up at the airport a couple hours before take-off. Today for some reason I just couldn’t do it. With 40 minutes to go until my flight is expected to depart, I’m just checking in. Somehow I manage to walk straight through passport control, security and right on to the bus that takes me to the plane. I think I have found a new way to travel – waiting is no fun!

As the bus pulls up to the plane my stomach gets a bit queasy as I just remember one of my previous managers joking about how he would rather die than ever fly with Croatia Airlines – what was I thinking, I ask myself? I nervously board the plane and consider taking something to knock myself out for take-off, but on second thought, decide it isn’t wise to take such drastic action for just a 50 minute flight. To my surprise, and luck, it was one of the best flights I’ve ever been on! The staff was very friendly – they even served us sandwiches and drinks (and for once my juice didn’t even have bubbles!!) – AirCanada should take notes! I even picked up a few words in Croatian (Izlaz means exit!).

After landing in Zagreb I found my way to the waiting bus that would take me to the city centre to catch a bus to Zadar, where Erin and Jordan were meeting me. The four hour bus ride to Zadar was a great glimpse of the country. I was amazed the whole drive. I had no idea that Croatia was so beautiful! We drove through the mountains, past field of olive trees, quaint towns, stone houses with free range chickens walking around the yard and lemon trees growing in the front lawn and as we got closer to our destination we drove along the coast – the water sparking in the sunlight! We also passed through a lot of sad sights – buildings that obviously saw their fair share of gun fight during the Bosnian/Serbian War, with the roofs blown off and the bullet marks permanent scars in the stone. The unexploded mine signs along some roadsides were also evidence of the hardships the country has seen in its recent history. But these sights, although somber, added to the experience – it makes their history that much more real, and allows you to appreciate all they have had to endure in the past decade to make the country what it is today.

Erin and Jordan are at the bus station waiting for me when I arrive, and they whisk me off to show me all there is to see in Zadar. The streets are paved in marble, the sun is shinning, there are palm trees everywhere, yachts docked in the harbour, Roman ruins in the centre and beautiful walks along the water. I am in love with Croatia already. A highlight is the sea organ. They have drilled holes in the marble so when the waves hit air is forced up, creating music… Amazing!

We all indulge in a traditional Croatian meal at a local restaurant and then grab some gelato for the walk to the hostel. A great start to the Croatian adventure.


Friday, 6 April 2007

We wake up at what I can only say is an ungodly hour in order to catch our 7am bus to Split. Another four hours on the bus driving along the coast shows us more beautiful sights of the country. We arrive in Split and set out to find accommodations for the night. We quickly find a backpacker cafe and ask if they have any recommendations for us. They call some woman they know that rents out rooms to tourists. As Jordan and I wait in the cafe, Erin steps outside to walk around a bit and meets a girl offering an apartment for rent. In the meantime the cafe owner has arranged for someone to come and meet us and take us to another place. When the woman arrives to take us to the rooms, we find Erin with this other girl also offering us a place to stay. The two women start to argue. We, not really caring who we stay with, just ask each how much they want for a night. The girl Erin found gives us the better deal so we agree to go home with her, angering the other woman who then proceeds to chase the poor girl, kicking her. This only strengthens our decision – we are definitely not changing our minds now to go home with the crazy abusive woman! Our time in Split has started off as an adventure to say the least.

We follow the girl through the narrow and twisty alleys of Split to an apartment in the centre. She introduces us to a woman who rents out apartments to tourists. Unfortunately, she doesn't have anything free for us, but we sit with them on her patio for a while discussing Canada and our European adventures while the girl that brought us here calls other people to try and find us a room for the night. She finally has success and we leave to meet someone else and to see the girl’s apartment and dog while we wait. Soon we have settled into our own apartment and are ready to explore all Split has to offer.

We walk through the market towards the city sights. We are all amazed by the city – this city too has roads made of marble and roman walls and ruins throughout the city. After a couple hours of walking around we all decide that we are hot and figure the best way to spend the remainder of our afternoon is on the beach and splashing around in the Adriatic sea. Best decision ever! I was thrilled to lather on the sunscreen for Easter – such a change from home (I hear you had a snow storm!).

Feeling slightly crispy after our afternoon in the sun, we make our way back to the apartment to make our Easter feast. I’m quit proud of our accomplishment – a gourmet ham dinner… My cooking skills are expanding – more than just the KD now! To end our crazy day we take a night stroll through the city again to find some more gelato… yum!


Saturday, 7 April 2007


Waterfalls at Plitvicka Jezera National Park. Photo by Jack Brauer (widerange.org).


Back on the bus, this time our destination is Plitvicka Jezera National Park.

The Park is one of the most known Croatian sites, and is UNESCO Natural Heritage site. Our three hour hike showed us why. There are sixteen little lakes (which we maybe only saw about half), and they are all connected by waterfalls. It was absolutely amazing walking along the park paths and on the little bridges beside these breathtaking falls. The park is also surrounded by dense forests of beech, fir and spruce, several caves, springs and meadows. And even with the many tourists walking around with us, I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking through a piece of untouched nature – a secret that no one knows about yet. It was an incredible feeling. We caught a boat across one of the lakes and then a train that took us back to the gate where we entered the park.

I don’t think words, or even the pictures can even remotely capture the beauty of this park. If you even get the chance to visit for yourself, you should definitely take it!

After our hike through the park, we had a fabulous supper at a hotel across the street from the park gate. They served authentic Croatian dishes and even had various animals roasting on a spit over a fire.
We returned to our house to find the owners had put up an Easter tree for us – this is one tradition that I will be bringing home with me! And, that night I fell asleep to the sound of the big waterfall just a few meters from my window.


Sunday, 8 April 2007

It’s Easter! And what better way to spend it then sitting outside at a bus station on the side of the road for an entire day!? We soon discovered that even though we were told we could catch an 11am bus for Zagreb, that the country in fact seems to shut down for Easter. So because of this, we spend 7 hours waiting for a bus that we are told will eventually come. Needless to say we were completely overjoyed when a bus finally came barreling down the road at 6:30 that evening.

After arriving in Zagreb and finding our hostel we make our way to Ban Jelacic square – the city centre. It was very reminiscent of Vienna – I guess the guide books call it Vienna’s little sister for a reason! We soon discover that the restaurants also seem to close for Easter, so we settle on a little corner café that sells burgers and such things – the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had by the way!
Our night gets a little crazy when the locals seem to really take to us. Jordan is quick to make friends with some old man that, although probably isn’t really that old, looks like he’s been around the block few times – or as my dad would say ‘road hard and put away wet’ – he was quite the character. He kept on insisting he buy Erin and I drinks, but being the cautious Canadians we are, we kept politely refusing. He also insisted I looked Japanese – my eyes are narrow and slanted, so he says – we all found this amusing… First time I’ve ever been told that! When we finally had enough of the guy we made our escape and returned to the hostel for bed. My last night in Croatia.


Monday, 9 April 2007

Keeping with my new travel philospohy, this time I arrive at the checkin counter 28 minutes before take-off. The attendant checking me in doesn’t seem impressed, and tells me to please hurry to my gate. So, I weave my way through other travellers to security and then my gate, where again I am able to walk right out onto the bus. This time I don’t even consider my options as as soon as I am seated and buckled in for the flight I am fast asleep – the adventure and antibiotics I’ve been on for the past 5 days finally catching up with me.

The landing wakes me up and I can’t believe I am back on Viennese soil so soon. My Croatian adventure is over. But as wonderful as it all was, I am also happy to be home. Yes, Vienna is home.