Where do I even start to catch up from the week! Croatia is probably a good place.

The boat behind me is not the ferry I took. I was already on that. 

My travel to Split, Croatia was by ferry from Ancona. Departing at 8:30pm, arriving at 8am the next morning. Since my 20’s are securely in the past, I had a cabin room, which allowed me to have a bed for the long journey.  It’s not the Ritz, but it was a hell of a lot better than the option of sleeping in the equivalent of an airplane seat or the floor.

At the train station before arriving at the port, I met two American girls. They were both in undergrad, but I was happy for the company. During our chat, it became clear they were the back packers of the group (aka, young) and I was a 32 year old still figuring out what I’m doing with myself. All of us ran into yet another back packer whose first question was “So, what hostile are you staying at in Split?” I think the look I gave her explained I don’t really do hostiles anymore. However, one of the girls who knew my age had the best line of the year and says “Don’t they have an age limit for hostiles?” OMG! I couldn’t help but laugh. And the poor girl turned every shade of red after realizing what she said. I still laugh every time I think about it.

Dinner

So the 4 of use board the ferry early and head out for something to eat. By 7:15 we had a bottle of wine and plenty of food. And we still have over an hour until the boat actually left the port. Added to the 12-hour ride. It was going to be a long one. But we killed the time with a few beers and some card games. By 12;30am, I was happy to be setting off for some form of bed. Even if it mean walking into every cabinet and door making a lot of noise in my attempt to not wake up the woman already asleep in the room. 

We had plans to meet at 5:45am for the sunrise, but when my phone died in the middle of the night, I missed it. Which worked in my favor being it was too cloudy to see the sun. We had breakfast together and then said our goodbyes.

After a few drinks

 The line for passport control once the ferry docked was insane. 1 hour and 15 minutes to get through. It was a massive line 10 people across trying to get into one small door with 2 workers. Not fun. But during this waiting time, I was able to thankfully see my hotel. I had all the information in my phone of how to get there – which was now of no use without power. Small victories!

Cathedral in Split

Afshin met me in the afternoon at the hotel after I had a massage and a much needed shower. It was a great morning! Split was a lot of fun. We had a bit of rain (OK, maybe one night it was a bit of downpour) but we did luck out with some good weather during the day, which was perfect for an afternoon snack and wine. The nightlife seemed to be pretty happening if you could just figure out which small street to turn down.  Overall, if I do say so myself, we had a good 2 days there. And I saw people from my ferry ride all over town! Still waiting for the bar where people over 30 go! :)

Sunday was the 4.5-hour bus ride to Dubrovnik. This was also Easter Sunday. We made the attempt to do something church-like just to experience it, but they pretty much knew we weren’t from there and we got a bit turned down at the church doors. But we got to see the inside of the cathedral, which was mostly our purpose.

Unfortunately Afshin didn’t get a lot of time in Dubrovnik. We arrived there around 4:45pm and he was off to the airport at 5:30am the next day. But we wandered around and had a good meal at a Bosnian restaurant. Speaking of which, who knew you had to drive the tiniest part of Bosnia to get from Split to Dubrovnik??! I sure didn’t! Does that count as a country I’ve visited? :)

Dubrovnik from the cable car

 next two days I was solo – good thing I’m used to that. The city is incredible. I took the city wall walk the next day and you literally walk above the city with amazing views of the sea. It got to the point I was sick of taking pictures!! I ended up back at Exit Club for 20 Kuna ($4) beers and some free WiFi. I know how to live! The next night over dinner I met a lovely Australian family. That night ended at 1:45am with a few more beers at a local jazz bar. I ended up running into them in the morning for coffee and again in the afternoon after lunch. You can’t get too far in Dubrovnik!

The city wall in Dubrovnik at night

Dubrovnik at 4:45am - not because the bars were hopping, but because I had a plane to catch

I always heard Croatia is a beautiful country but I was definitely amazed at just how breathtaking it is. Definitely happy I got to cross that one off the list!

Tomorrow (or soon thereafter) I will post about Paris.....