In all honestly when I made travel plans to Zadar, Croatia I had absolutely no clue where I was going. Of course I looked at pictures on google but other than those pictures I really didn’t know anything about Zadar or even the country of Croatia. Funny right? If you know me at all, you know how I must know every single detail about something I’m not familiar with but in this case I guess it was the thought of seeing a new place and having the freedom to travel to another country really persuaded me into going. I never even heard of Croatia until this trip (I know...I’m really horrible at geography, but come on...did you know?? lol). However, I think knowing nothing about where I was going or what it had to offer was what made it even more enjoyable and my favorite trip so far.
Okay. So lets start with how I got to Zadar and back… You’re definitely going to call me crazy buuuuuut all I can say is for the love of traveling…
It wasn’t by plane. It wasn’t by train. What’s left? The bus!
I spent a total of 9 hours on the bus to get from Milan to Zadar. It was an overnight bus and I was with a group of people so it was...bearable. HOWEVER, the bus ride back was a total of 13 hours. I’m not gonna lie, that was a long, sleepless ride. Crazy right? But when you’re a student studying abroad with no job, you tend to pick a more affordable way of traveling over comfort.
Other than the extremely long bus ride (I felt horrible for the drivers of the bus too…) Zadar was absolutely breathtaking. I don’t even think my pictures do it justice. I was also way too distracted by what was around me that I forgot to snap some pictures here and there. Zadar reminded me a lot of home which is probably why I fell so in love with it and it remained my favorite trip so far. Everyone there was so friendly and spoke English (I didn’t even attempt to learn Croatian, Italian is hard enough!).
Zadar is located on the coast of the Adriatic sea. Let me clear something up. Someone told me the Adriatic sea was warm… they were extremely WRONG. Hawaii water is warm, the Adriatic sea was just plain cold and extremely salty! How do I know this? Well, if you put a Big Island girl near a beach what do you think is gonna happen? She’s gonna go swimming of course! That’s exactly what I did.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in salty water like that before. I thought the ocean in Hawaii was salty but the Adriatic sea is so salty that I couldn’t swim under water, I just floated back to the surface. It was strange but also interesting to experience.
The atmosphere also reminded me of home. It was very relaxed and laid back. I watched the sunset while I was there and it was stunningly beautiful (but Hawaii still has it beat!). However, my favorite part of the trip was our little excursion to Krka National Park and yes that is how it’s spelled...look it up!
Krka National Park… I still daydream about it. I don’t know how to explain just how gorgeous and jaw dropping this place was. Pictures do it justice but trust me when I say it’s 100x more beautiful! Swimming in the huge pond right by the waterfall was an experience I’ll never experience. I wish I could go back right now! If I could suggest anywhere in the world for a peaceful, laid back vacation it’d be Zadar, Croatia with no hesitation. With what I’ve seen so far it’s like the Hawaii of Europe even though I haven’t seen everything amazing city in Europe yet lol. Just trust me when I say this is a must go!
I hope you enjoy the pictures I took of Zadar! I’ll be writing about my trip to Barcelona very soon!
Until then,
xoxo
Jossy
