Croatia Weekend: May 19, 2012
Well, here I am, sitting on a bus in Zadar, Croatia, about
to head to Plitvice. A huge group of people planned to come to Croatia this
weekend, but then everyone started bailing the night before the trip. Thursday
morning I met with Stina at 5:10 am, to bike to the train station for a 5:57
train to Zagreb. We had no idea who would show up, or what the plan was, where
we would end up or where we would stay. But off we went. I was pretty excited
when I saw the group of people who decided to show up Thursday morning. The
group was me, Stina, Madison, Mindy, Allison, Courtney, Tom, Wilson, Michael,
and Chris. Off we went, ready to change trains four times to make it to Zagreb.
We picked up Ashton in Slovenia, to make it 11 of us traveling together. After
four and a half hours and four different trains, we got off in Zagreb to get
some lunch. We went to an authentic Croatian restaurant, where most people ate
sausage and home made bread, with a side of onions. The thing I love about
Eastern Europe is that it’s much cheaper! My meal was 22 Kuna, which is about 3
Euros. Not too shabby! After lunch, we headed back to the bus station, and took
a bus to Zadar. When we got there, we got hounded by all these people wanting
to rent their homes or apartments to us. There were two women telling us that
we could stay at their houses, and they both talked bad about the other woman.
“She lies, she says her home is 1 kilometer from the beach, but really it is
about 5. You have to get there by taxi. Mine has internet access, and 11 beds
already made and ready to go….” Tom and Michael decided to ride with her to her
house to check it out. So off they go, in a car with some random Croatian woman
at the bus station. They call us a few minutes later, and tell us that they
like the house, but we decided not to stay there anyway. It was too sketchy,
and we wanted a hostel closer to the city center. So the lady comes back, with only Michael. Tom
had stayed at the house, thinking we were all coming. We called him and told
him to leave. So Tom starts walking to the bus station to meet us. When the
lady hears this, she gets mad, because she had been friendly with us and given
them rides, and we told him we didn’t want to stay there. But anyway, we ended
up stumbling upon a hostel that we really liked, called “Old Town Hostel.” The
location was perfect, about a five minute walk to the beach. The streets inside
the town were made of the smoothest stones. There were cute little shops, and a
lot of touristy stuff. Our first night, we went to the beach and watched the
sunset. Zadar is famous for their “sea organ,” which uses the movement of the
waves to play the notes. It was so beautiful to hear! There’s also a bunch of
glowing discs in the ground, that are made of solar panels. During the day,
they charge through the sun, and then use the energy to glow at night. Pretty
cool. We went to dinner at a pizzeria. Stina and I shared a veggie pizza for 44
Kuna. Good stuff. We got gelato after dinner that was absolutely delicious. I
got one scoop of “cookies” and one scoop of “Kinder Chocolate.” YUM.
The next day, I woke up and went for a run along the beach.
So beautiful! It was the high school seniors’ last day of school, so they were
everywhere. They were wearing matching t-shirts, parading through the streets,
blowing whistles and blow horns, and throwing eggs and flour. Some of them were
racing free style through the Adriatic Sea. When I crossed a bridge while
running, I saw a group of them swimming under the bridge and a lot of people
cheering for them in Croatian. Crazy kids.
Once everyone got ready for the day, we went to the
supermarket and got foods to eat throughout the day, then headed for the beach.
It was about a 45 minute walk to where we landed: a beautiful stone beach. It
was a little chilly, but we laid out anyway. I was much colder than everyone
else, of course, so I was wearing a t-shirt and jacket when they were all
laying out in swim suits. Then they decided to go for a swim. I wasn’t so sure.
The water was absolutely freezing, and I didn’t have a swimsuit on. But how
many chances do you have to swim in the Adriatic Sea? So after a little bit of
convincing, I decided to go in. I took off my clothes and headed into the water
in my sports bra and underwear! I’m gonna be honest, it was pretty dang cold. My
teeth were chattering and my lips may have been some shade of blue, but it was
so worth it! We took some fun pictures, and swam for a while.
When we got out, we realized that we’d all been stepping on
rocks rather than sand, and everyone had cuts all over their feet! I had 4-5
cuts on my feet, and one cut on my hand. Some were worse cuts than others, but
we all had them. There happened to be a group of lifeguards near us who were in
training, doing tests to be certified. So we called one of them over, to ask
for a band-aid. We told them that actually all of us were covered in cuts, and
their reaction was hilarious. What the heck have you guys been doing? Stupid
Americans! But the people with the worst cuts got bandaged up, and then we
flirted with the cute life guards for a little while. After the day at the beach, we went back to
our hostel to shower and change. That night, Stina, Michael, and I went to walk
around near the hostel, and stumbled upon this Roman gladiator reenactment. So
we stopped and watched, and there were at least a hundred other people
watching. Pretty decent crowd. The guys were supposed to be “acting” but one of
them was really into it. We were all
a little bit afraid of him. He was “fighting” with another gladiator dude, but
he gave him a real bloody nose! They dragged the guy away from the stage by his
arms, with blood pouring out of his nose! It was cool to watch them yell and
growl and shout in Croatian. Pretty fun.
Then we went back to the beach, and watched the sunset again
with the sound of the sea organ setting the mood. If I would have had a
boyfriend, it would have been so romantic! Sitting at the beach at sunset is
proof that there is a God! It is too amazing to have created itself. I believe
with all my heart that there has to be
Someone who created the beauties of this world! We went to a nice dinner at a
seafood restaurant. I wasn’t too hungry, so I just split a pasta with Stina. But
a few people got fancy seafood platters, filled with fish with heads still on
them, and sea creatures with antennas and arms and claws and eyes. I couldn’t
eat something with eyes, but it was fun to watch them try to figure out how to
eat it!
This morning, I woke up and ran again, and then went back to
the hostel to take a shower. So in our hostel, there were maybe three floors of
rooms, and each floor had a bathroom with showers. I go in the bathroom, and
think that no one else is in there. I lock the door, and don’t think a thing of
it. There’s another door on the other side of the bathroom, but I didn’t pay
much attention to it. So I take off my clothes, and am standing right outside
the shower, waiting for the water to get warm. I’m still wearing my socks, when
all of a sudden I see the handle of the other door start to turn! Someone had
been in there the whole time! I’m standing there butt naked, so I have to make
a split second decision. I jump into the shower, which is freezing cold, still
wearing my socks. You can see through the shower doors, but it’s better than
standing outside. I turn around as the person walks by, and throw my socks onto
the floor. Shizaa. Oh well!
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