Hvala

Good Morning!

At 5:20am on Friday, April 20th, I awoke with a start as Kate, my roommate, yelled my name. She told me that Sarah was on the phone wondering where I was...I was supposed to be at the bus station catching the bus to the airport. I leapt out of bed and threw on the clothes that I had luckily laid out for myself the night before. Also very fortunately, I had already packed my suitcase so all I had to do was zip it up and run out the door thanking my roommate a hundred times for waking me up. I was out of bed at 5:20, left my apartment at 5:30, and was at the bus station at 5:37; now keep in mind the walk from my front door to the bus station typically takes 15 minutes...I have NO idea how I made it there that quickly. 

I got on the bus to the airport and met up with my friends saying "I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry! I have no idea what happened - I set THREE alarms!!!"

Either way, I was at the airport - on my long-awaited way to Zadar, Croatia.

Our landing in Croatia was a little iffy - we landed in what seemed like the middle of a field (pretty sure I could see cows from the runway), and in our loopy sleep-deprived state, the 7 of us could not stop laughing. 

The 3 who were staying in the same hostel hailed a cab and made it into the beautiful city of Zadar (emphasis on the first syllable, if you want to pronounce it correctly). While on the way in, we made sure to get the low-down on some terminology:

- hi: Bok

- thank you: Hvala (the cab driver said it so fast the first time we asked  that we were pronouncing it "koala" the first day)

Luckily, almost everyone in Croatia speaks at least some English, so we didn't have too much to worry about.

After bumming around the city, taking a nap, and bumming around the city some more, all 7 of us sat down at the well-recommended restaurant Bruschetta and I enjoyed one of the best plates of pasta Ive ever had while watching the sun set over the Adriatic Sea.

Plitvice National Park

If you ever Google "Croatia," you're bound to stumble upon at least a dozen pictures of the legendary Plitvice National Park - known for it's hundreds of waterfalls cascading over trees and rocks an forming little pools that are so clear, you can actually see all the way to the bottom.

Not even my "poetic" description can suffice to describe how breathtaking this park is. 

After taking an electric ferry across one of the lakes, you get your very first taste of the waterfalls - little streams of water spilling over the rocks and shrubs that line the lake. After dismounting the boat, we were led up an old wooden staircase that stood about two inches above the water. Amazed at the fact that we were within reaching distance of some of the most beautiful cascades of water imaginable, it took me a second to actually look up and see what was in front of me.

The wooden staircase became a path that almost gave us the illusion that we were walking on top of a pool of crystal blue water. Alright, enough writing - I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

Because it's a National Park, humans aren't allowed to tweak it or do anything to it...meaning that when a tree falls, they have to leave it where it is. Cool thing about the water being so clear was that we were able to see a lot of the fallen and moss-covered trees!

I wondered what happened when they got big rain storms...our tour guide said - very simply - they shut down parts of the trails because they get submerged in water

Water bubbling up through the cracks in the pathway

After a brief rainstorm (blue ponchos provided by the tour guide), the sky finally cleared up. If I hadn't already thought the park was beautiful when it was overcast, the sun added this indescribable magical element as the rays of sunlight bounced off the beads of water. 

At every turn, I found myself using the words "unbelievable," "incredible," "unreal," and "amazing." To think that this entire park was completely natural proves that there is no way man could ever compete with nature.

Cheesin' in the Park

Can you believe I walked on that?

Tallest waterfall in the park - 78 meters tall (256 feet)

A more aerial view of "Veliki Slap" ("Big Waterfall")

For those of you interested in the more science-y facts about the park (cough you know who I'm talking to cough), you can read a little bit about it here. 

The next days

Due to the uncooperative weather, we weren't able to spend as much time outside. However, we did our best; we saw the Sea Organs (the waves provide so much pressure that air is forced through these holes in the sides of the wall surrounding the city and it creates a melody of sorts. Frankly, I thought it sounded similar to Dori speaking whale, but to each his own...), and the Salutation to the Sun (during the day, panels on the path alongside the sea absorb the Sun's energy, and at night there's a light show after sunset).

Sea Organ (the holes that the sound comes out of)

Because it was so cloudy, the light show wasn't as bright as it normally is. But it was still super sweet!!! Reminded me a little bit of Michael Jackson's Beat It video...

Took a trip to the top of the bell tower

Tuesday


Sarah and I (the only two left in Zadar) decided to attempt to make the most of our stay in Croatia and see as much of the Adriatic Sea as we could - meaning we took a boat tour. Apparently there are 365 small (mostly uninhabited) islands in the surrounding area, and in 6 hours, we were going to see the majority of them. Little did we know, the tour was going to be in German (considering the woman guiding the tour didn't know much English, and German was her next-well-known-language to Croatian). Also, the tour was primarily inhabited by middle-agers, so S and I were more or less the youngest kids aboard. So after taking our mandatory shot of Schnapps (at 9 o'clock in the morning, mind you), we listened to more German than I had ever heard while checking out the beautiful Adriatic scenery.

We took a brief pitstop at one of the islands - where we had the Croatian delicacy of fish, potatoes and steak (I'm being facetious about the delicacy part) and got in some rays of sun before the all-too-predictable Croatian rain storm.

I wanted to take it with me

View from the top of the hill of one of the islands

Fish, Steak, Potatoes, and Coleslaw (we're just gonna call it coleslaw...)

Overall, a hilarious and incredibly memorable way to spend the day.

Wednesday

Finally on our last day in Zadar, the sun decided to finally show itself. So Sarah and I searched out a beach and got a little too much sun as we had our own salute to the beautiful hidden-gem of a city. 

Our little spot at the beach :)

The sunset over Zadar

À Bientôt!