CROATIA

Ah, Croatia. My roommate Abbey and I decided last Thursday that we wanted to go somewhere for the weekend. The problem? We couldn't decide between Italy's Amalfi Coast and the beaches of Croatia. Hard life right? We decided on Croatia and booked our weekend with bus2alps, the same tour group that I traveled to Cinque Terre with a few weekends ago. We began our weekend with a 12 hour bus ride overnight on Thursday; arriving in the port town of Split, Croatia at about 8 am Friday morning. We checked into our hostel with the other study abroad students, had a free breakfast (with big, real cups of coffee!) and went out to explore Split. We decided on a day at the beach followed by shopping and a delicious seafood dinner by the water. I decided on a delicious risotto with zucchini and scampi and a small Croatian beer that I can't pronounce the name of. After dinner we wandered around Split, and the ancient Roman Palace of Emperor Diocletian.

Saturday we signed up for an island hopping excursion that included lunch on the boat, and a full day of sun. We sailed two hours away from Split to the small and barely inhabited island of Brac. We ate full bone fish while docked in the harbor and when we were done, jumped off the top of the boat into the crystal clear turquoise water. We sailed around to the other side of Brac where a private beach was awaiting us. We swam and laid out in the sun on the white rock covered beach, sipping Croatian lemon beer and wishing we could never leave. That night we took a 30 minute bus ride to Trogir (another port town) for dinner where I had one of the most delicious margherita pizzas of my life.

Sunday morning we headed off to Krka National Park, two hours from Split, but closer to our eventual destination back to Florence. We walked around and explored the waterfalls, enjoying the green wilderness before our return to Italy and city life. I had a delicious fish soup at the base of the large waterfall, followed by some candied almonds for dessert. After another very long bus ride, we arrived back in Florence and to our semi-real life (because even after a weekend in paradise, I still live in the amazingly beautiful city of Florence!). More adventures to come: this Saturday I have a field trip to Bologna with my High Renaissance art history class, and on Sunday a day trip to Mantua!

Port of Split, Croatia

Fish Market in Split

Brac Island

Yes, I ate the whole thing, and it was delicious!

Krka National Park