I have no idea what to say about Croatia’s coast that would do it justice. Before coming here, I pictured it would be stunning; rocky cliffs, open ocean, winding roads, that whole thing. I was right for the most part. It is all of those things, but it is also so much more that I never could’ve imagined:

Hundreds of grape vines, lavender fields, olive groves that go on for miles, mountains that seem to grow straight out from the sea, lime trees, ancient castles that appear from nowhere off the side of a cliff, beautiful towns filled with old stone buildings topped with a blanket of red roofs. On top of all that, visible from nearly every road we’ve taken;

The clearest water I have ever seen in my entire life.

We have spent weeks exploring different towns along the coast of Croatia, and I knew I would have a difficult time figuring out how to write about each one of them in a meaningful way.

After leaving Molat, we headed down the coast, stopping in the following five coastal towns:

Tribunj, Split, Hvar, Korčula, Dubrovnik

(we also took a two day detour through Bosnia, but I’m saving that for a separate post). Instead of attempting to write about each city individually, I decided to do something much lazier, and rank the five cities in ascending order, starting with my least favorite. I should also point out that I did love all of the cities, so it is like comparing different shades of gold, but who doesn’t like a good list?

5. SPLIT

Split and I did not get along as well as I had hoped. The reason that it comes in 5th place is mostly because it was crawling with what felt like an entire cruise ship full of kids on spring break. The Old Town itself was absolutely beautiful; centered around a huge palace with the classic winding, narrow European streets.

On top of exploring the history and beauty of the city, we loved being able to go on a quest to find locations used in Game of Thrones, one of our favorite shows.

look at me! Casually strolling down a GoT filming location in Split and being totally normal about it.

Favorite thing we did:

Because of the crowds, we were craving some solitude where we could really enjoy Split the way we wanted to. Luckily, Split has a park area that basically grows out of the city center, called Marjan Hill.

Marjan hill is about 2 miles long, and packed with nature, trails for biking, running, or hiking, and 360 degree views of Split:

It was the perfect day excursion for us, and gave us the introvert fix we were needing.

ahh silence.

4. TRIBUNJ

Tribunj is a quiet fishing village, and claims to have the cleanest, clearest water in the Adriatic. In my opinion, the water was about as clean and clear as any of the other cities we went to, but I guess it’s a good enough excuse as any to check out this small town. We stayed in the the Old Town (which is really tiny) which is connected to the rest of the mainland by a single stone bridge.

This town isn’t particularly a ‘hot spot’ but its location along the tourist waterway in Croatia means it is frequented more often. It seems like popular things to do here are scuba dive, eat, drink, relax, and boat. We were only here for two nights, but it was the ideal place to rest after Split.

Favorite thing we did:

The perfect location of our Airbnb is what made this stop so memorable. Our tiny studio opened right up to the sea, with our very own patio. We could swim, read, and when we were hungry, just throw our stuff back into our apartment and walk two steps to a restaurant. It was perfect.

Swimming here was amazing.

3. DUBROVNIK

Before we went to Dubrovnik, I had read horror stories about the insanely expensive costs and masses of tourists that clog the streets from June through September. One blog I read even described their experience walking through Dubrovnik’s walls during tourist season as ‘entering the gates of hell.’

Therefore, I set my expectations accordingly, and braced myself for the crowds, and the potential reality of entering a giant tourist trap that had passed its glory days as ‘the jewel of the Adriatic.’

I don’t know if it is because I expected things to be much worse, but I ended up loving Dubrovnik. Yes, there were crowds, and yes, things were a bit more expensive than what we had been used to, but overall I completely understood why Dubrovnik is as popular as it is.

There is something grander, more imposing about Dubrovnik compared to all the other old cities we saw. Perhaps it is because my mind associates it with Game of Thrones, but even more so, it is just such an impressive looking place. The stone walls wrapping around for what looks like miles, hundreds of copper red roofs and cathedral-like buildings, the huge circular watch tower placed in the forefront, the giant castle to the right of the city, all built on TOP of huge cliffs. It’s so old, and so well preserved.

The fortress.

Walking the city walls surrounding the Old Town

We loved spending all morning walking these walls.

Looking over my kingdom.

Favorite Thing We Did:

This one is almost impossible to pick a favorite memory for. Al and I were lucky enough to be able to explore Dubrovnik with two of our best friends Nina and Zach, which made our time here so much sweeter. We went on hikes, explored the Old town together, and even spent an hour playing around on a floating water playground. Not to mention, we also found great entertainment in recreating some Game of Thrones scenes:

Personally, I think we did it better.

One of my favorite memories would have to be the moment that we walked into our shared Airbnb, blasted the Game of Thrones theme song, and drank wine out of goblets together overlooking the Old Town (also known as King’s Landing). It was one of those surreal life moments I’ll never forget.

Life is so much better with friends like these.

2. KORČULA

Al and I went from Hvar to the island of Korcula, which meant that we had to drive about 5 hours and take two separate car ferries. We seriously considered cancelling our time in Korčula because of how much we were loving Hvar, and the effort it was going to take to get all the way to the island of Korčula. We decided to just bite the bullet and make the trip, considering we had already booked the accommodation.

As soon as the car ferry docked on the island, I was so glad we decided not to bail on Korčula. We stayed in the small fishing village of Lumbarda, only about 3 miles from Korčula’s Old Town (where they claim Marco Polo was born).

Apparently Venice also claims he was from there too, so who knows?

Bonus: The island of Korčula is also covered with wineries, and famous for it’s delicious GRK wine. It’s also just stunningly beautiful:

Happy as can be.

Wineries and old churches. So cool

Favorite thing we did:

My favorite memory of Korčula is also one of my top favorite memories of our entire trip so far. After a day of swimming and hiking, we decided to hop in our car, roll the windows down and drive around to the west side of the island. We expected to go for a quick 30 minute drive, but the scenery was so mind blowing, that the drive ended up being over two hours.

At one point, we were driving through the middle of a mountain; the sea on our left and the road winding up the edges of the mountain. We were so close to the sun, which was floating in the sky, radiating the surrounding landscape with a fiery red-orange hue. The colors of the sea, mountains, and sky all started to blend together to the point that I was no longer sure if we were driving on the road or if the car had actually lifted into the air and was driving us into the sun.

Al and I were both too awe-struck in the moment to take a single picture of the drive, but it is one that I will remember forever.

1. HVAR

Finishing off this list in my number one spot is the island of Hvar.

Hvar was my favorite island, because of how beautiful and diverse the landscape was. Hvar had some of the most magnificent sea views we had seen yet, but also had lavender fields, olive groves, so many different types of fruit orchards, vineyards (obviously) and even pine forests.

Hvar also has the original Stari Grad (meaning Old Town) and is the oldest town in all of Croatia, dating back to 384 BC.

Beautiful streets of the OG Stari Grad

There are only so many ways for me to keep describing how unbelievably beautiful these islands are, so I am just going to say that Hvar was (in my opinion) the best of them all.

You can get fresh glasses of wine off the street straight from the winery. What can be better?!

Favorite Thing We Did:

Hands down, renting a little motorboat to chug ourselves around the Paklinski Islands for a day was one of my favorite days on our trip thus far. The Paklinski Islands are right off the southwest coast of Hvar. We packed a delicious lunch, some water, and beer, and set off exploring.

Hvar in our rear view mirror.

We felt like we had the whole world at our fingertips with our little boat. We would stop and anchor to explore coves, swim in the sea, or just to simply look around and fully take in what we were doing. We spent six hours adventuring and pretending we were explorers out on the open sea, and headed back to the mainland completely satisfied with our day.

If that isn’t satisfaction in a picture, I don’t know what is.

Now that I’ve experienced a huge chunk of Croatia’s coast, I can finally consider my own question to myself: Is it the most beautiful coastline in the world?

I have no idea. It is such a subjective question, and is impossible to answer as I have not yet seen all the coastlines in the world (but I will continue to work on it for as long as I live).

However, I can say that I would be really, really shocked to find one out there that offers more than what we experienced during our time here.

Al and I already miss our long, sunny sea-filled days spent along Croatia’s coast.  It is something that I know I will always look back on as some of the most fun, beautiful and carefree days of our entire trip.

Al and I have been away from home now for a few days short of three weeks. Our first week in Slovenia was a glorious montage of exciting new places, endless adventures, delicious food, and stunningly beautiful surroundings. On our last night in Slovenia, we swam in the sea; our heads bobbing up and down as we took in the panoramic view of Piran’s 600 year old skyline.

It was the perfect way to end our last night in our first country, filled with happiness, just like every day in Slovenia had been so far.

You’d be surprised at how difficult it was to take this.

It wasn’t long before I started to wonder how long this feeling could last. Up until then, we were still spending each day walking around in a euphoric haze. In the back of my mind I knew the haze was bound to clear soon. Even though I was enjoying every moment, I was still catching myself looking over my shoulder after each perfect day, glancing up at the clouds waiting for the inevitable shit storm to roll in. It had to come eventually. Things couldn’t go on this way much longer.

I told my dad over FaceTime that I felt like everything was too good to be true. I had never experienced such a positive transition into long-term travel before, or into anything before, for that matter. This particular transition was going so well, that it made me nervous.

Over dinner that night, Al and I talked about this idea and realized that everything still had that vacation feeling to it, but since we weren’t on vacation, it was confusing. The longest vacation either of us have ever taken while working at home was two consecutive weeks (which, sadly, is actually considerably longer than many people in the US are able to take at any given time). We were still under the two-week mark at this point, so our brains were still filing our current experience accordingly, putting our default emotional setting squarely on ‘vacation mode.’

Anyone who enjoys a good vacation might understand the shift that happens when you are on one. Your mind slowly detaches itself from whatever it is you typically spend your non-vacation time thinking about. Time goes from revolving around a strict schedule, to an infinite stretch of freedom. You might spend your entire day rotating between reading and sleeping, or choose to fill it with endless activities and adventures.

The point is, on vacation, your day belongs to you. It’s your time. Your choice. Eventually the time runs out, and you pack it up and return back to “normal” life hopefully refreshed, and refocus on whatever daily obligations fill up the calendar.

So, that is the frame I was putting my mind in to understand how I was feeling every single day. Exactly as though I was on a vacation.

I worried about when the other shoe was going to drop, thinking that it was just unavoidable that once you get used to something, even something as exciting as travelling the world, the shine will eventually start to dull.

It was like there was part of me that still thought I might wake up after the two-week period ended, and find myself sitting back behind my old desk, as though this whole thing never happened.

Then, the next day, we left Slovenia and crossed over the border to Croatia, on the way to our first city, Pula.

We were sad to leave Slovenia, but made a pact almost immediately that we were going to do everything in our power to not compare everything we did in Croatia to our time in Slovenia. This would prove to be slightly more difficult at first than I realized.

Once we crossed the border into Croatia, it was like everything shifted slightly, but just enough that it was instantly noticeable. The landscape became flatter and drier, and the sky became just a little bit darker. Every five minutes, it seemed like we were stopped in the middle of the road to pay some outrageous toll fee, or to be handed a piece of paper advertising 40% of admission into a huge obnoxious Croatian water park.

I tried really hard not to think about turning the car around to the green rolling hills and stunning mountain ranges we had just left behind in the magical land of Slovenia.

We made several stops along the way in Pula, none of which seemed to work out for us. The caves we tried to visit were too crowded, so we didn’t go in. We stopped over in the town of Rovinj, a touristic city on the western side of the Istrian peninsula, and it was completely packed with people, to the point that we could hardly walk around.

Rovinj

At one point, we were walking down a long set of marble stairs in the middle of the city. There was a huge family of tourists taking up the entire stairway. I turned to Al to vocalize my irritation with them, and the second the first word moved from my brain to my mouth, I felt my feet fly out from under me. I tumbled down the stairs with my camera held high in the air, like a bouncing clumsy cartoon character. I fell down the stairs in front of the entire family I was getting ready to complain about. They understandably couldn’t hold in their laughter at me (and neither could Al, for that matter). A lesson in instant Karma, learned the hard way

I think it was then, lying on my ass at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of a crowded city, that I realized the vacation was over.

After I recovered, Al and I left Rovinj, and headed towards Pula. Once we arrived to Pula, we realized really quickly that the two days we had booked to spend there were more than enough. It was another crowded city, but unlike the other cities we had driven through, it didn’t have the occasional charm or cleanliness to balance it out. We were constantly stuck in traffic, or behind masses of people.

The main point of interest was the old Roman amphitheater, which is the 6th largest remaining Roman amphitheater in the world, something we genuinely enjoyed seeing:

Amphitheaters aside, we felt like we couldn’t wait to move on from Pula. The next day, we decided to drive about 25 minutes out of the city in search of something good to find, or at the very least some solitude. We stumbled across a beautiful national park. We spent the day reading, exploring, and swimming. I was finally starting to feel a little bit more fondly towards Croatia.

Soaking up the lack of other people.

A couple days later, as we drove out of Pula, we both agreed that we had actually enjoyed our time there, despite all of the things that went wrong. Every moment wasn’t perfect (far from it), but we were able to find parts that we enjoyed and laugh about all of the things that we didn’t. We had made Pula fun, in spite of Pula itself.

I realized then that I no longer cared if things were perfect anymore. When I went on vacations at home, they carried so much expectation because I was so unhappy with my daily life. I always wanted to make sure I was optimizing every minute of freedom I had, because I could literally feel the clock running out each second. The last thing I wanted was to return home from a vacation feeling less rested than when I left.

The two-week mark had officially passed, and although I was right to think things would feel a bit differently, I was wrong to associate it with the negative feelings connected with the end of a vacation.

This trip is not a vacation. This trip is my life now. I am constantly learning and growing, and often that means I am uncomfortable. Some days will be amazing beyond belief, and some days will be irritable, frustrating, filled with homesickness, and sometimes, even boring.

Even when we were lost in the middle of a busy intersection, weak with hunger, and struggling to read the street signs for clues, I was frustrated, but I wasn’t truly miserable. Not even comparable to the kind of miserable I had felt so often before. And even sitting in my lowest feelings of the trip so far, I still didn’t wish I was back in Chicago, or anywhere else, or doing anything differently.

This may seem pretty obvious to most people, but it was a refreshing realization for me. What I didn’t realize before, but do now, is that bad times aren’t really that bad when you are feeling genuinely happy internally.

Sometimes you don’t realize how unhappy you were before, until you realize how happy you are now.

Anyway, it turns out all I really needed to do was just have a little bit of patience because Croatia started to turn around for us; dramatically and almost instantly after leaving Pula. We headed to Plitvicka for a night to visit the famous Plitvicka National Park (a park of glorious lakes and waterfalls).

It rained the entire day, but Al and I still considered ourselves lucky, because it meant we got the entire park to ourselves for hours. When we were leaving around noon, the rain had cleared and the line to get into the parks was over a mile long. We’d never been so thankful for the rain.

Unfortunately, my pictures are limited because of the weather, but just trust me that it was amazing.

After Plitvice, we drove to Zadar and the dry red landscapes from our first day in Croatia were completely forgotten:

So pretty.

I finally understood why everyone gushes over Croatia. It seemed like we were greeted with a new landscape every half hour:

Country hills, complete with flocks of sheep.

Zadar was another busy city, but in a much better way than Pula (no offense to Pula, I’m sure there are plenty of people who love it there). Zadar was recently named Europe’s best destination of 2016. At first, we weren’t completely blown away, but the more time we spent in Zadar, the more we ‘got it’:

Zadar’s main square

Apparently Alfred Hitchcock visited Zadar in 1964, and said they had the most beautiful sunset he’d ever seen. A quote you cannot avoid hearing from the minute you step in Zadar.

Everyone spending all evening listening to live music, enjoying their drinks.

It was in Zadar that I found myself really falling in love with Croatia. It wasn’t in the instantaneous, head over heels way that we reacted with Slovenia, but it didn’t make it any less meaningful.

Now, we’re settled into a tiny, beautiful island town a few hours off the coast of Zadar (which I’ll save for my next post) and I can officially say, now that we’re in Croatia, the vacation is over.

And for the first time in as long as I can remember, I’m actually glad the vacation is over, because even when it is nowhere near perfect, ‘real life’ is so much better.