Week 13a: Sorry Zagreb, But I've Gotta Split

April 17th-20th
Because the week has already been so amazingly jam-packed with adventure and beauty, I've decided to split (hehe) it up into two posts. I'm currently on a never ending bus ride down the coast, heading to Dubrovnik and I figured what's a better way to pass the time than blog a little.

So the spring break I have been waiting for my entire life finally arrived. After changing our plans about four times in the past few months, on Tuesday we booked a one-way ticket to Zagreb. And I haven't looked back since. 

We flew into Zagreb Friday night, after some mild panic that we would miss our flight because we were stuck in traffic an hour and a half away from the airport approximately less than three hours before our scheduled take off. But the crisis was averted and we made it in one piece. We headed to our hostel/apartment, which happened to be on the most poppin' street ever filled with cafes, restaurants, and people of all ages. After settling in, we explored that same street and ate some delicious (and amazingly cheap) dinner. 

The next morning was unfortunately cold and rainy. But the threat of frostbite in my chacos did not stop us from exploring what this amazing city had to offer. We walked through the Dolac market of fresh produce sold by farmers from surrounding villages and then also through another pop up artisan market. Then on the search for food we ended up at one cafe for coffee and another bakery-type store for fresh out of the oven chocolate croissants (literally so hot the chocolate burned my mouth). We then walked through the museum quarter, seeing the Stone Gate, St. Mark's Church, the Croatian Museum of Natural History (incidentally, the entire place was solely in Croatian), and the Museum of Broken Relationships. That last one was the highlight of the day and probably one of my favorite museums of all time. It was so interesting an captivating--I wanted to read every story they had on display. After some more relatively aimless wandering around the city center, we decided to hit up a Croatian mall and movie theater. And because the day wasn't emotionally charged enough with the MoBR, we watched Age of Adaline (shout out to the Croatian currency, the kuna, for allowing us to get two tickets, two medium sodas, and a large popcorn for a total of $15).

On Sunday morning, we made sure to walk by the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary (Zagreb's biggest landmark) on our way to catch our bus to Split. The five hour bus ride was uneventful enough, except for some pretty awesome views of the Croatian countryside and coast.

I've decided that Split is the California of Croatia--the weather and the coast are perfect and the people are as posh as can be. We walked down the main square to find our perfectly located hostel right off of another famous street in the area. Before exploring further, we had a bite to eat at the newly opened local restaurant on our block. I had black risotto, which sounds and looks weird but was actually one of the most delicious dishes I've had.

The evening's wanderings led us to the Cathedral of St. Dominus Bell Tower, which we got to climb up to enjoy a spectacular 360 view of the entire city and surrounding mountains. And because it was suggested to me multiple times, the evening was not complete without a gelato stop and a stroll down the water while the sun set.

This morning we hit up Diocletian's Palace (or at least the substructure and basement, basically everything we hadn't wandered through above ground the day before).

The best part about this spring break so far has been our power to do anything we want and the complete flexibility of it all. We decided it was going to be a chill spring break--a time for some much needed relaxation. So after our major sightseeing, we walked along the water to the beach and just chilled. I climbed up some rocks that jutted out into the sea, and my major goal for the entire week was accomplished. We also really enjoyed laying in some chairs on the beach until we learned you had to pay for them because "nothing is free in Croatia." It was all for the best though because by then we were ready for some food. We ended up eating the what I am pretty sure is the greater slice of pizza you can get outside of Italy. And topped that off with some gelato....hey, when in Croatia, right?

We have now driven down the rest of the coast of Croatia, and even through Bosnia & Herzegovina for a few miles, to reach our final Croatian destination. By far, the most beautiful and scenic route I've ever taken. We were right up on the turquoise water for the majority of it. And by the time the sun was beginning setting, we were driving through the country side in the valleys of the mountains that peaked in the orange and pink sky. 

Today, I watched the sun set from the top of a hill in Bosnia & Herzegovina. I'd say it's a pretty successful spring break so far.