Going Out with a Bang (or a Beach?)

Somehow, my time as a Fulbright grantee has quickly drawn to a close. I'm not sure how that happened, as it seems just yesterday was still February. Somewhere in between then and now, my Fulbright friends and I decided that we wanted to celebrate the end of our Fulbright experience the only way we knew how: Travel. So we packed our bags, loaded them up into a Marco, our trusty rental VW Polo, and set off southeast for eight days of adventure in Croatia.

Here we all are with our trusty little car, who took us 2,200 km (1,367 mi)

 Our first stop was Korenica, a little town right outside of the world-famous Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Inside the park is a series of freshwater lakes, connected to each other by countless waterfalls. The water in the lakes is crystal clear, allowing you to see the little fish as well as the bottom of the lakes. There is a path that goes around the lakes, occasionally turning into a boardwalk, allowing people to essentially walk among the waterfalls -- which makes for a beautiful hike, naturally. We spent the better part of a day wandering the park and enjoying being in nature, a nice change from downtown Budapest.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Group photo near the top of the lakes.

 The lakes are quite far inland, almost into Bosnian territory. Next, our journey took us through the beautiful Croatian countryside, over the mountains, and to the coast.

Driving in Croatia was an absolute treat. Around every turn was another beautiful vista.

We were fully equipped with plenty of snacks and road trip music. 

 Our next stop was Split, a coastal city and the second largest city in Croatia, located in the Dalmatia region. I was hoping to see some dalmatians (dogs) there, but we only ever saw hordes of friendly stray cats.

The Split waterfront, Riva.

The center of Split was built within and around Diocletian's Palace, a 4th century Roman structure that remains the heart of the city today. When we first began wandering around, we wondered where Diocletian's Palace was. We didn't realize that it was all around us -- the walls of it still make up much of the city today.

Diocletian's Palace. Restaurants, shops, etc. can be found inside the remains.

Pretty cool to wander around a structure that's thousands of years old like it ain't no thang.

 Split is, of course, a coastal city, so we took an afternoon and headed to the first of several Croatian beaches we would visit on our journey. It was a lovely quiet beach, away from the city, and we relaxed there for several hours. At one point, there was a guy sitting next to us on a beach towel, and he got up and asked if we would watch his stuff while he took a dip -- we said sure. From his accent, we could tell he was clearly American. When he came back, he thanked us and we got to talking. Turns out, not only was he American, but he was a REAC -- Regional EducationUSA Advising Coordinator. (Remember, I worked for EducationUSA as part of my grant). Turns out we had several mutual acquaintances! What a small world.

Beach time.

 The Dalmatian coast is famous for its many islands, so on one of our days there, we took a big catamaran ferry out to Hvar, one of the older and more well-known islands.

Hvar Island

Parts of Hvar's old town stem from the 13th Century, and walking around the small, winding streets was a treat. Around every corner was a lovely little house or a cute café -- and the whole town was on a hillside, so there were always wonderful views of the ocean to be had.

The streets of Hvar,

 We borrowed a guidebook from one of our Hungarian friends, and it said that Hvar is "where one goes to see and be seen." That seemed to be true, given the number of yachts around. So, naturally, we made sure to be seen.

This is us, seeing and being seen.

 Soon, it was time to move further down the Dalmatian coast, in the direction of Dubrovnik. We started our journey on the highway, but soon noticed on the map that there was a coastal road we could take instead. "Let's just pop on over to the coast and follow that road," we thought. So we turned onto the road that would supposedly take us there, and began to follow it. Turns out, the road we turned on to was a mountain pass somewhat famous for being extremely fun -- and ever so slightly dangerous -- to drive on. First, we climbed our way up the mountain and then zig-zagged our way back down. On one side of the car was sheer rock face, and on the other side a several hundred foot drop into the ocean. It was beautiful, terrifying, and mesmerizing. Nate was driving, and, as a car guy, he drove himself into a bit of a trance, and had a smile plastered on his face the rest of the day (Jasmine and Tanya, on the other hand, were quite happy to get back to sea level at the end). It was amazing.

Post mountain pass, feeling pretty cool.

 Well, we finally got to the coastal road and followed it all the way to Dubrovnik, passing through a tiny little sliver of Bosnia on the way, eventually arriving in Lozica, the town outside of Dubrovnik where we would be staying. There, we spent the first evening lounging around on our private beach, drinking sangria and enjoying life.

Our private beach <3

The next day, we ventured across the bridge and into Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was already the most famous tourist destination in Croatia, and became even more renowned when Game of Thrones filmed there. The result being: crowds. Crowds everywhere. We had planned to spend a whole day in Dubrovnik, but after walking the 2 kilometer perimeter wall with throngs of people in the blazing sun, we were all pooped after a half a day. So, we took our photos and went home to go enjoy our private beach again.

Dubrovnik: Been there, done that.

One thing that really struck me in all of the places we went was how friendly Croatian people were. Even though Croatia is overrun by tourists every summer, Croatians are still incredibly welcoming and kind and it made us all feel welcome and happy. Even the lady selling jewelry and embroidery on the wall, the most touristy part of Dubrovnik, was friendly and personable. 

As an example, on our last night in Dubrovnik, we ran out of wine when the stores were already closed, and walked a few doors down to the local restaurant to see if they would sell us some. "No," said the restaurant owner, "I won't sell it to you because it would be too expensive. Just take this bottle, enjoy it, and bring me a new one tomorrow when you can go to the store," she said, pressing a bottle into our hands. As we left with the bottle, incredulous about what had just happened, she shouted at us to have a fun evening.

The second thing that struck me about Croatia was how beautiful it was. The lakes and everything inland was green and lush -- separated by striking, rocky mountains, and then everything on the other side of the mountains was dry and rocky and equally breathtaking. I have been to few other countries with so much natural beauty.

View from Dubrovnik.

From Dubrovnik, we started to make our way back in direction Hungary. Our rental agency would not allow us to drive through Bosnia, the most direct route home, so we made our way back along the coast and stopped overnight in Zagreb. Weary from being tourists, we took it easy in Zagreb. We watched a movie, went shopping, and stayed up late talking and laughing.

You get one guess as to which movie we watched.

Weird neon lights in a geek store, selling Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, etc. merch. But no Star Trek. They NEVER have Star Trek. *grumble grumble*.

On our last day, we spent the morning leisurely wasting time in Zagreb, trying to stretch out our trip as long as possible. Eventually, we piled back into the car and went back to Hungary. Although we were supposed to drop Tanya off in Pécs, no one was quite ready for the trip to end, so instead we all had dinner in Pécs together, and then more or less kidnapped Tanya and took her back to Budapest, where we hung out, spent the night, and had lunch together the next day. Eventually, though, we had to say goodbye -- but not before taking one last picture!

Love these people!

In a way, our Croatia trip was our grand finale to the Fulbright experience, and it was perfect. I have taken a lot of trips with a lot of people in my life, and I can say this one definitely ranked among the best. Rarely does everything come together so well as it did this time. Thanks for a great trip friends, and I'll see you back in the U.S. of A!




Next blog post: Conclusion of Fulbright :-(