Birthday Split!

LOCATION:

Split, Croatia

 

I can't imagine a better place to celebrate my 26th birthday (haha!) than Croatia. The first seven hours of birthday were spent on the twisty-turny bus from Plitvice Lakes to Split, so as soon as we arrived we were on a treat finding mission. We noticed that people don't seem to eat actual meals here, the only thing we saw consumed on a regular basis was ice cream and beer. Perfect! Birthday treats one and two.

 

Birthday gelato - caramel.

Birthday beer - on the steps below the cathedral.

 

The main attraction to Split - besides its sunny temperatures, bustling harbor, and overall fun bright vibe - is Diocletian's Palace. The palace isn't really a palace at all anymore, but it serves as the commercial heart of the city. The ruins are filled with shops, restaurants and bars, and it was fun to wander around getting lost and finding our way out again.

The cathedral inside the palace walls.

Palace ruins, with vendors lining the streets below.

Strange to think the palace is now just shops and apartments!

Squares inside the palace walls, filled with bright colors and outdoor cafes.

 

Our last day in Split unfortunately started with rain showers, so we took the morning to sleep late, read, relax, and do our laundry. After lunch the rain stopped and we decided to venture out. Walking down to the harbor we stumbled across a rowing race - Split vs. Oxford vs. Cambridge. Oxford won the first two heats so the race was over. It was fun to watch though, I don't think I've ever seen a crew race before!

Looks like a close race!

 

While the skies were still somewhat clear, we decide to continue our walk along the water and found the only sandy beach in Split. We also found a new sport - Croatian water soccer (or football maybe?) which was fun to watch for a while. These guys would often dive for the ball and end up belly flopping in the shallow water - ouch! Near the beach was an old rundown playground, so we tried our best to get as dizzy as possible on the merry-go-round.

 

 

"Whee!" Says Erin.

"I'm going to puke!" Says Angie.

 

My thoughts on Split were along the same line of those about Hvar. While it was fun and relaxing and beautiful, this is one of those places I would like to return in a busier tourist season. We head next to Dubrovnik, which is touted as the "pearl of the Adriatic" by some. I'm really excited to see more of Croatia! I will say this is the least western- feeling place we have been, and though getting by with English hasn't been a problem, it feels the most different from any city I have been to thus far. We have two nights in Dubrovnik with a day trip to Montenegro planned, before an overnight ferry to Bari and then a week in Italy. Hard to believe my trip is coming to an end - I can count the days on two hands now!

Bye Split - thanks for a memorable birthday!

 

 

 

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One Island Hop

LOCATION:

Hvar, Croatia

 

When planning the Croatia part of the adventure, the Dalmatian coast was high on the priority list. Side note - until yesterday I assumed the Dalmatian coast was called such because of the islands that spot the Adriatic Sea, but "delme" means sheep in some language, and this region was apparently once home to lots of them. We first looked into taking an island hopping cruise throughout Croatia, but the shortest one we found was five nights and they all seemed to feature more time on a boat than exploring the islands, so we opted to base ourselves in Split and do our own hopping via ferry. Unfortunately, we are still a few weeks early for tourist season and - while the lighter crowds are fantastic - the ferries don't run as frequently to as many islands. We decided our hop would be to one of the more popular islands, Hvar, a 2 hour ferry ride from Split.

The ferries, lined up and ready to go.

Waving goodbye to land!

 

We got off and walked to a town called Stari Grad, which was just perfect. It was small and uncrowded, and our first activity was a hike to the top of a hill. At the top there was a cross with benches for what looked like hilltop services, and beautiful views of the town and sea below.

The walk into Stari Grad.

The cross at the top.

And the views of the Adriatic!

 

Walking around the town we discovered a few churches, a Dominican monastery, and - the most famous building in the tiny town - a Croatian poets house designed so all divine creatures could live in harmony. We didn't want to pay the divine entrance fee though, so had to use our imaginations as to what harmonious living looked like from the inside.

Not sure what this church was, but I love the stark inside!

St. Stephen's church, built in 1600.

The monastery from the outside.

Beautiful gardens inside.

Monastery vineyard.

 

One of the ponds outside the poet's house - this kid is probably sad because of the entrance fee too.

After our tour of Stair Grad, we decided to kill time before the bus to the other side of the island - where the larger Hvar Town is - at a bar, of course! Lucky for us, we found one with some shade, a swing, and a yummy yellow banana mystery drink.

I had forgotten just how great a swing can be.

 

We took the bus to Hvar Town but only had about an hour and a half before catching the last ferry back to Split, so we just wandered around the town for a bit, admired the harbor, stuck our feet in the water for a few minutes, and had a nice late lunch before returning. Hvar was a good day trip, and I'm glad we got to see at least one of the Dalmatian islands. It is really beautiful here in Croatia though, so I would love to return someday during more of a tourist season and see more of it! All of the beaches we found were rocky, so I would also love the chance to come back and find some of the smaller, less developed islands with hidden sandy beaches.

Hvar Town, the water is such a prefect color.

 

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Waterfalls, and Camp Songs, and Bears - Oh My!

LOCATION:

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

 

Croatia was kind of a big question mark to both Erin and I when travel planning - with relatively few major cities and even fewer train lines, it wasn't quite as easy to plan our route though the country. With recommendations from trusted sources though, we decided our first stop would be Plitvice Lakes National Park, towards the middle of the country. After a mostly sleepless overnight train trip and a four hour bus ride, we were hoping the long trek would be worth it. As soon as we got there we were pretty excited! It was beautiful and just what the "you have been traveling for 8 weeks" doctor ordered.

Plitvice Lakes is made up of about 16 lakes, which are all connected by waterfalls. Because the lakes are formed from snow melt, their size depends on the winter - and we must have gone at peak season because many were nearly flooded! A bit of history - the park was listed as a UNESCO World National Heritage site in the late 1970s, but was unfortunately the scene of the first armed confrontation in 1991 that started the Croatian War of Independence. From 1991 to 1995 many of the hotels and buildings in the park were destroyed or used for army purposes, and the park was listed as a site of danger for many years due to all of the land mines. After the war, Plitvice Lakes was one of the first areas declared free of land mines and removed from the danger list, so it is perfectly safe to visit today for us and the one million other visitors each year - even though we stayed on marked trails just to be super safe!

A park map, so many lakes and waterfalls!

 

The lakes were connected by a maze of cool wooden man-made bridges. It was fun to be so up close with all the lakes and falls! They were narrow though, so single file was necessary most of the time. Parts were flooded too, so we had to do a little mud sloshing in some parts.

The first bridge we took...

Some of the bridges were flooded, thanks to a snowy winter!

And some of the bridges went right up into the falls!

The lakes, waterfalls and caves were everywhere you looked - we really were oohing and aahing around almost every corner. Here are some of the most spectacular ones!

 

 

 

We easily could have entertained ourselves wandering the many lake trails, but decided we wanted a bit more of a challenging hike. Looking at the map we found a route that seemed to be about 6 miles of forest trail. Little did we know, almost no one ever goes back in that area (we only saw two people the whole time!) and though the trails were marked with painted trees, they were not very well maintained so we were slipping on leaves and climbing over fallen trees. Confession: I have a slightly irrational fear or bears (among other things) and - after seeing a few Plitvice Lakes postcards with bears on them - knew a bear could very well be lurking in the forest. It also didn't help that the map I was reading had a picture of a bear on it so every time I pulled it out of my pocket I got a little more scared. Somewhere in life I learned that bears generally stay away from loud noises, so I made Erin shout summer camp songs and 80's pop hits with me for the full time we were in the forest. Luckily we made it though, and ended up with an 18 mile day! We rewarded ourselves with massages in the hotel spa.

See, bears! At the Lakes! Super scary.

 

We followed the bullseye marks. Me, so tough before the fear of bears set in!

 

Plitvice Lakes was the perfect spot at the perfect time on the trip. There is no real town - which means no cathedrals, no town squares, and hardly even any cars or buildings for miles and miles. Two days of nature, healthy-ish food, hikes and a massage. The downside though is that it is a trek to get here (5 hours by bus from Zagreb) and tomorrow we have another long bus ride ahead of us (7) to get to Split, towards the southern end of Croatia. I'm looking forward to more relaxing, though this time on islands and beaches!

 

 

 

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Princess's Dreams Really Do Come True

LOCATION:

Fussen, Germany

Just about anyone that knows me well has heard my childhood nickname mentioned at one point or another. I'm not sure when or where it stuck (Mom? Help here?), but I was "princess" probably just a little bit longer than a girl should be known as such. Regardless, every princess dreams of dragon-slaying princes on white horses, tiaras and ball gowns, and - of course - big, opulent castles. A day trip from Munich to Fussen fulfilled my childhood dream with a look inside not one, but two romantic castles.

The first, Hohenschwangu, is where King Ludwig lived as a child. The 19th century Hohenschwangu was actually the royal family's summer home, where he and his older brother Otto grew up playing in the surrounding mountains and lakes.

 

Hohenschwangu, set high on the hill.

 

Erin decides she could see herself living here.

 

At a relatively young age, Otto was declared mentally insane and not fit to rule, so the job was given to Ludwig after the death of their father. Not wanting to move into the family home, upon assuming the crown he immediately began construction on his own masterpiece on the next hill over - Neuschwanstein. Though it was built on ancient ruins Ludwig found on the construction site, the castle was pretty much his vision coming to life - a vision which apparently served as the inspiration for the Disney Princess Castle!! Unfortunately our visit was on a super foggy day and - though the fog provided a cool mysterious vibe - we didn't get to see the castle in its full splendor.

 

The front, all fogged in!

What is is supposed to look like (according to google!)

 

See, so much fog! I promise there is a castle back there!

 

The interiors of each castle were amazing, and well worth the visit. Each room was ornately decorated, and surprisingly often inspired by famous operas and plays or heroic legend rather than religion or other more common motifs of the time. King Ludwig - unmarried and with no children - unfortunately shared the same fate of his brother and was also declared mad (our our guide informed us that now he would just be called "eccentric"). Just days after his diagnosis, however, Ludwig and the doctor that declared him insane mysteriously showed up dead in a lake nearby, with no witnesses as to what happened to the pair. Some say it was murder, some say it was suicide - but regardless, the Neuschwanstein castle to this day remains unfinished. King Ludwig only lived in the castle for a little over 100 days.

 

We also saw the beautiful Marian Bridge, a tribute to Ludwig's mother, a few minutes hike away from Ludwig's masterpiece. I think the fog actually made it more beautiful. The lake where Ludwig and Otto spent their summers was also spectacular, even dressed in fog.

Looking over into the misty waterfall!

 

From a vantage point at the base of the waterfall, see the bridge in the fog?

 

Not a bad backyard!

Our visit to the Fussen castles were inspired by a puzzle Erin had completed as a kid, so seeing them in real life was a treat for her, and we both enjoyed learning about the history behind them. And what can I say - as a princess at heart - any castle feels like home to me! We ended the day by toasting the ill-fated "Mad King Ludwig" with a brew bearing his name.

A toast to the "mad" king!

 

The Fussen blog post would not be complete without a shout out to Munich, where we spent the night. Both Erin and I had been before though and neither of us had a real desire to return, so our only tourist activity (besides the Fussen day trip!) was a beer at the world famous Hofbrauhaus.

More beer! Looking forward to wine in Italy next week!

 

Our familiar European adventures ended with Munich, and we now head into uncharted territory with Croatia and Montenegro. We are excited for the sun, beaches, and relaxation!

 

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