Croatia by Bus, Car & Boat

I haven't left yet and I already know I'll be back. I remember my friend Elena telling me about a country she visited 10 years ago when we studied abroad. She called it Croatia, I said 'what is that?'. She described it as 'the one that looks like a C' and used her hand to demonstrate the C-shaped country. I remember her telling me about old walled cities stretching along a sparkling blue sea, some story about arriving at a sketchy bus stop at 2am, and a bar where you had to climb through a Castle wall to sit clinging to the cliffs.

So when a month ago my travel buddy Chantal texted me asking 'What do you think about Croatia?' I said, 'Let's go'. This was our third trip together, first Chile, then Bali, and now Austria and Croatia (I'm writing these out of order, Austria was awesome, but I'll get back to it). Since the beginning of the year we've spent 60 days together. There are the big moments; trekking through mountains, exploring desserts, wandering cities, becoming yogis. And the small moments; sitting on patios enjoying coffee (for me) and Coke (for her), researching new hostels, sharing countless meals. And then there are things that are harder to list. We've both taken this leap, given ourselves this break from regular life to just see what happens. And she's been there as it's happens. So when she asked if I wanted to go to Croatia, I figured we might as well add a third continent to round out the trip.

We met in Austria to visit our friend Lea (who we'd met in Bali). Three trains brought us to Munich, and then an 8 hour red eye bus deposited us in Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia. We had planned to rent a car for our 7 day trip beginning in Zagreb and making our way down to Dubrovnik. Planned... but when we went to pick up the car we realized there were a lot more taxes and fees than we'd planned, and that maybe we didn't want to spend $650 for a 7 day road trip. So we changed our plan, kept the car for the first three days (which was when we were planning to do the things that required a car anyway) and then figured we'd make our way without it for the second half.

I knew Croatia was going to have beautiful water on the coastline. But it pretty much has beautiful water everywhere. Our first day was spent walking through the Pliticive Lake national park which consisted of a series of aqua lakes connected via waterfalls. It was raining when we were there, which wasn't ideal but it did make the park feel more alive. It was obvious that the water was higher than normal, it was nearly overflowing some of the paths. I have to give Croatia credit. They have created beautiful national parks, they are accessible for everyone without disturbing the natural beauty. We walked on wooden paths built inches over the surface of the lake, allowing us to walk into the magic, not just observe it from afar, you really feel like you are integrated into nature.

After a few hours in the park we continued our drive to the port town of Zadar where we were spending the next two nights. Driving in Croatia was a breeze compared to being on the wrong side of the road (New Zealand) or being constantly worried that you were going to be run over by a scooter (Bali & Vietnam). Actually, they are so clever. Their road signs transmitted a signal to a panel in our rental car, so we could constantly see what our speed was vs the speed limit and if we could pass or not on that section of the road. So brilliant! The only not great thing about driving was finding a parking spot in Zadar, but even that ended up okay (and cheap, only $5 for the night).

Walking to our hostel in Zadar was when Croatia stole my heart. I don't even know how to describe why. The towns just feel so solid. They are built of stone, roads paved with stone, city walls made of stone surrounding towns of stone. They literally do not build with anything else. It's not only aesthetically pleasing to see entire cities built in white stone with red tile roofs, but also somehow reassuring. Time hasn't stood still in these places. But as they've added and built and rebuilt they've done it in a way that remains true to the heritage of the city while adapting it to enhance the lives of the people that live there. The buildings have all been restored in a modern way, a wide stone boardwalk had clearly been added around the entire city to provide park space on the waterfront. Oh! I almost forgot. on the edge of that boardwalk they've added a 'Sea Organ' it is hollow tubes cut into the stone that are 'played' by the wind coming in off the sea. As you walk along you hear the music of the wind translated into a self playing pipe organ. I love this about Europe. I love their sense of art. They do things just because they are beautiful. Americans are practical. And there are nice things about that too. But I think sometimes we miss the point of it all, racing towards a finish line that is constantly shifting.

After an solid 8 hours of sleep (all of that we did post our red eye bus, aka it was a long day) we headed to another national park for the day. This time it was all about mountains. As Chantal pointed out, Croatia was the perfect country for us. I got my water, she got her mountains. This park was a haven for rock climbers, we were just hiking, but saw climbers all over the place.

Croatia has been a lesson in wandering. In taking a few extra minutes to walk down a street that calls to you, or hike another 10 minutes up a path just to see where it goes. On this particular day, after an extra 10 minutes we emerged from the treeline to see a little house perched on the side of the mountain with this view.

Two thoughts I want to mention here. First, Europe has these little mountain houses all over. They are somewhat hostels, or maybe you just go and buy a beer. Either way, it has become a life goal of mine to bring them to the US. WE ARE MISSING OUT! Second, a note about weather. We haven't had the best weather in Croatia. Everyone keeps telling us it's unseasonably cold, cloudy, and rainy here. I don't know if that makes it better or worse... but for those of you considering a future trip apparently the first week of June is usually an excellent time to be here. I can't complain though. Our hiking day was actually perfect. I love the days where the air is cold but the sun is hot. When the breeze blows you get a chill, but when it stops you can just bask in it and feel the warmth.

Maybe weather was my first experience in meditation. It makes me connect to my body. I love being cold because I can feel my skin. I'm reminded that it's there. That I am a physical being in my body (more yoga speak!) I've long attested that people don't understand what being cold is (growing up in Wisconsin I get to be an expert on this). Feeling a sensation of cold on your skin does not mean that you are cold. If you feel a breeze and are 'cold' and put on a sweater you are missing the point. The breeze is the best part, every time it blows it's touch reminds you that you are alive. I feel the same way about grass on the bottom of my bare feet, rain as it lands on my skin, and sun on a chilly day. This was a perfect example of the latter. Add in mountainside beers and mountainside naps and you have the ideal day in my book ;)

And one more, in case you want to see the view we saw from the top.

Day three we continued down the coast, making our way to Krka national park where there was more water to see! It was an equally beautiful day and just as beautiful at our trip to the lakes. We were glad we went to both, being nature lovers, but they really are quite similar, so if you had to cut something out of your trip then I would eliminate the Plitcive lakes and just go to Krka. It looks like this:

My heart was stolen again when we reached Split that night. Here was the end of our rental car, we managed to drop it off safe and sound. We had only an evening in this seaside down but it was a memorable one. We shared a delicious pizza, had an Aperol spritz and then as we were wandering home to go to bed we stumbled into a town square, with steps on three sides and a restaurant on the fourth. Outside the restaurant were two guys playing the guitar, giving a concert to anyone who gathered. I don't know how anyone walked into that square and didn't pause for a few minutes to listen to the music. It was just a charming moment. We stayed for an hour.

Our next form of transportation was boat. The next morning we took a ferry to the island of Brac... but ended up at the wrong port. Ooops! After a taxi and a bus we ended up in the town of Bol. It was just as charming as the other places we'd been. But now it was time for a touch of island life. Our weather the first day was only okay, overcast and a bit cold. So we decided to spend the afternoon tasting local wines. The next day we were back to hiking and beaching enjoying two more days of sunshine. It was just the start of tourist season, so the town wasn't overly crowded which was just perfect. On Bol it became obvious that you could see this whole country by water. When I come back it will be to cruise the coastline.

We left the sunshine and sailed into the rain of Dubrovnik (we were again told by multiple people this was not normal for this time of year). We Ubered from the port to the gates of the old town and walked into a Medieval city. We definitely progressed in the correct order through the country (from North to South). Each city was more impressive than the last.

Dubrovnik is recently famous as the filming location for King's Landing in Game of Thrones (more fun GOT facts to come). And once you are here it's so obvious why, it looks as if you have stepped into another century. This morning we took a tour around the city, and learned a bit about the layers and layers of history that have been built on top of each other.

Dubrovnik as we know it began around the 7th century (although new evidence makes archeologists think it might be even earlier, closer to the 5th), it was a major trading port, exporting silver and lead from nearby Bosnia and Serbia to the French and Spanish through the Mediterranean. Over time it was conquered by the Venetians, the Ottomans, the French in Napoleon's era, the Austrians prior to WWII, and finally the Serbians as part of Yugoslavia post WWII. For a span of nearly 500 years it remained an independent republic (with only 12,000 inhabitants) through it's wealth (aka paying tribute to the more powerful societies for protection and self rule) and diplomacy (aka paying bribes and selling secrets to governments around the Mediterranean). That self rule ended in 1808 when the city was surrendered to Napoleon. It then changed hands to be part of the Austrian Empire. And after WWII it united with the rest of Croatia and became part of Yugoslavia, under a communist regime dominated by Serbians despite a proclaimed equality across member nations. In 1991 Croatia began it's war for independence from Yugoslavia with an 8 month siege of Dubrovnik and bombing (despite having been granted a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979) You can see the divots out of the limestone rock where shrapnel hit the buildings. Croatia earned freedom in 1995. Our tour guide was born 12 days after the war started in the basement of a hospital and lived the first few years of his life in Slovenia with his mother and his brother as they fled their country. It is so strange to see the transformation of a place in what feels like such a short time.

Most of this we learned on our free walking tour of the city. We also learned some fun animal facts! First, there are lots of cats in the city. They are stray, but they are clean and look well fed. They were first brought here during the plague to kill rats and have become somewhat of a tradition since then. Also, Dalmatians, are in fact from the Dalmatian coast (the northern part of Croatia). They were spread around the world as diplomats brought them to foreign lands as gifts. And there you have it folks. The reason we should all love Croatians, they understand that dogs are the best gift you can ever give someone :)

Our last day was probably my favorite. We spent the morning on a Game of Thrones tour. Even though I haven't seen most of the seasons, I am of course a fan from the books, and it's still fun to imagine Dubrovnik as King's Landing. Plus we had the best views of the city so far, from the top of a fort to the top of the city walls. The city walls are pretty amazing. It 2 kilometers you can walk around the entire city as the city guard would have back in the day. In fact Dubrovnik used to be surrounded by a moat (now it's filled in) with draw bridges that were closed every night for protection.

And I ended the day sitting here, at an outdoor patio, having a beer and writing about my adventure. And finally, I've found something I absolutely miss about the US... being able to sit out in a public place and not smell cigarette smoke.