The Spring Break of a Lifetime: Part 3 (Croatia, 2023)

Our spring break adventure continues in the classic spring break destination of Europeans: Croatia! We arrived in Zagreb from Budapest at the Glavni Kolodvor train station. First, we walked to the hostel through some pretty parks and arrived. Hostels can be annoying if you have to share a room with 5 or 7 other people, but since we had a group of 5, we had a 6-person room to ourselves! All that rail travel had made us hungry, so, as normal, we set off to find the closest McDonald’s. I had to try some local items, so I got a chicken sandwich called a “chikker” (it was not good at all), a chicken snack wrap (yum as usual), and a Biscoff McFlurry (SUPER yum, probably my favorite McFlurry I’ve ever had). We got back, finalized some bookings for the next couple of days, and fell fast asleep.

Weirdly enough, the electricity and the lights were controlled by the same switch, so we all awoke to phones with critically low battery levels. Nevertheless, it was time to head to the airport, and the design of the airport was mesmerizing: the roof was shaped like an infinitely repeating fractal of support beams. I had an omelet at the airport, and while I thought it was a little overpriced, it came with toast, cream cheese, and cherry tomatoes.

We boarded a pretty small plane (much smaller than a commercial airliner) and took a short trip to Dubrovnik aboard Croatia Airlines. They gave us free water, and me being used to EasyJet where nothing is free, I was pretty excited. It was a little annoying to fly within the same country, but Dubrovnik does not have a nearby train station, so we had no other option. Fun fact, Uber seemed to have a boat service along the Croatian coastline, but it’s longer and much more expensive (but much more scenic!)

Once we landed, the weather was immediately much warmer. Our Uber to our Airbnb featured a really cool dude who drives tourists around the area for day trips, and also an unreal gorgeous view of Dubrovnik and the Adriatic coast. Our accommodation was in the middle of Old Town, which was amazing and had some great views, but also very difficult to navigate since Google Maps had no clue what was going on. Our check-in dude was super energetic and allowed us to store our bags in the room before checking in. We got our daypacks and our cross-body fanny packs and hit the town. But first, a quick lunch at Holy Burek to grab a pizza tube thing that I learned was an unrolled burek (a local pastry).

After some confusion regarding tickets (thank god it was the tourist offseason because we were able to buy same-day tickets), we scaled the famous Walls of Dubrovnik. The views can’t be described in words, but I’ll do my best. The brilliant blue waters contrasted with the stone-colored walls and the red-tiled roofs of the city created a magnificent contrast. Combined with a bright sunny day, it really couldn’t get any better. I had lots of fun pretending we were standing atop the walls in Attack on Titan, and took plenty of pictures (I had my Attack on Titan shirt on too!). After seeing the city and the shoreline from quite literally every angle, we completed our loop around the city. I could have stayed up there forever, but it was getting a little warm. So, the natural solution was to get gelato at Aroma Gelato. It was pretty good, but quite overpriced and we got better gelato later that day.

Sufficiently cooled down, we walked out of the city gates and walked to Lovrijenac, or Lawrence Fortress. This was a major filming site of Game of Thrones, but I’d never seen it. This is true of the whole city: much of the tourism draw comes from fans of the show, but I was just happy to enjoy the views just for their beauty. The fort also had some gorgeous cliffside views of the shore and the Adriatic. The architecture itself felt very regal and the lookouts provided a great view of the walls (since you can’t see the walls while atop the walls!)

We returned to the Airbnb and changed to head to the beach for dinner. We’d had such a long day that Josh phoned it in and immediately fell asleep. And then there were 4. We strolled to the beach and tried to find food on the way, but couldn’t find anything except a candy store. So, naturally, we each got some candy. Eventually, we decided to hit the beachside restaurant at Banje Beach. The beach was also really serene, especially given it was sunset. However, the dusk brought the cold with it, and I regretted wearing a singular button-down. The food at Banje Beach Restaurant and Night Club was pretty good but a bit expensive as it was a beachside restaurant. Luckily, the food came with complimentary blankets to help us keep warm.

We then split up to grab some dessert and drinks and to get food for Josh (who had awoken from his slumber). On the way home, we passed by at least 10 different cats, who were roaming the streets of Dubrovnik like they owned the place. The gelato we had for dessert was much better than Aroma (I wasn’t the one who got the gelato, so the name of the gelateria is lost to history) and paired nicely with some local wine we got. It had been a LOOONG day, so one by one, we slowly fell asleep.

We awoke in paradise the next morning. We quickly packed up and walked outside the walls to the pickup point for ziplining. The drivers and the zipline guide were all super helpful and quite funny as well (for reference, we went with Panorama Zipline Dubrovnik and it was just 46€/person). The views from the top were breathtaking, and after gearing up, I was super excited to start ziplining. There were 2 separate ropes, and we got to do each one twice for a total of 4 zipline experiences. Seeing the mountains, coastline, and the walled Old City was a completely unrivaled experience and I’ll never forget it. The zipline also required you to slow yourself down by pulling downwards, and that had a slight learning curve and resulted in a couple of us slamming into the emergency braking mechanism. In between the runs, the ziplining guide gave us a brief history of the city and its people, which dated back over 1300 years to the 7th century. From some conversation with him, I found out he was a retired basketball player who played for Purdue and then in the French and Croatian leagues. We chatted about the current state of the NBA and which famous players he played with, most notably JR Smith (whom he remembered holding to 11 points and proceeded to call a f***in p***y). We took tons of pictures and videos, especially when we had trouble slowing down and hitting the spring at the end.

All things that go up must come down, and we were no different. We eventually were driven back to the drop-off/pick-up site and walked back into the city. For lunch, we had to try the world-famous oysters that are harvested on the Adriatic coast. I’d never tried oysters before, but at Bota Šare, I decided to go for it. I tried one fresh and one fried oyster (along with some salmon-based sushi), and it was an interesting experience. It tasted super fresh, especially with the freshly squeezed lemon, but I liked the texture of the fried oyster a bit more. Side note: I remember the plates of this restaurant were a beautiful cerulean that matched the color of the sea exactly. There were also a bunch of cats napping on chairs and patrolling around the restaurant, presumably for its seafood.

It was time to bid this majestic city adieu, so we grabbed our bags and got some last-minute gelato at the famous Peppino. We also bid the girls adieu as we were splitting up to continue our journey North while they headed for Italy. We thoroughly enjoyed our gelato (since 2 oysters aren’t that filling) as we strolled to the side gate and towards the Uber pick-up area.

A short flight back (but this time on a slightly bigger plane) and we were back in the nation’s capital, Zagreb. I messed up the directions by missing a “1” in the address, so it took a bit of a walk to reach our accommodation, but we finally arrived. We checked in with a sweet old Croatian lady who tried her hardest to communicate via Google Translate. All that walking had burned off our gelato, so we grabbed another burek at the nearby Pekarna Zagreb before Uberring to the Museum of Broken Relationships.

I usually don’t do museums with such limited time in each city, but with such a unique exhibit, I had to make an exception. And I’m very glad I did. The museum featured items from exes donated by people all over the world, each with a story about the item and their broken relationship. The items and stories were a mix of funny, heart-wrenchingly sad, wholesome, shocking, and everything in between. It was a great overview of the human experience, and it was reassuring to know that we’re all figuring out life together. In a comforting way, I liked seeing how I hadn’t a single unique experience because there have been millions before me who have been in similar situations. The museum was truly a life-changing experience (just like many parts of this spring break trip).

We grabbed dinner at a nearby traditional Croatian place, Konoba Didov San, and passed by a cool church on the way. While the portions were huge, the food was alright, and the staff also misunderstood that vegetarian meant no squid, so I ended up accidentally eating a good amount of squid in my risotto. We were also both getting a little sick, so the experience wasn’t the greatest, and we were happy to Uber home and fall fast asleep.

I woke up in the morning feeling a bit better, so I carried out my plan of exploring the city myself while Josh slept. I Uber’d to the city center and listened to Croatian pop hits while exploring the main historical parts of the city to really immerse myself in the lifestyle. I started at Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, which is the main square of Zagreb. I then walked toward and on Ul. Ivana Tkalčića, a famous shopping street, and then checked out Zagreb Cathedral from the outside (temporarily closed due to construction). It was starting to rain, so I rounded out my explorations by chilling in Park Opatovina and checking out Dolan Market, a famous street market. The nation just switched to using the Euro, so I tried to get some local Croatian kunas, but without success. Instead, I grabbed a quick hot breakfast at Snogu Wok Bar, snagged a quick pastry snack at a local bakery, and Uber’d to the bus station to reunite with Josh.

The station was rundown and suspicious, complete with a shady-looking casino attached to it. I was worried we’d have to print out our tickets, but luckily, the ticket checker just wrote down our confirmation number and let us stay on the bus. A couple of hours later, we arrived at Plitvice Lakes National Park!

Before we started our hike, Josh and I grabbed lunch at Lička kuća. It was pretty good, and we ate fast to make sure we had enough time to hike. With full stomachs, we set off on Route B. The second we scanned our tickets and entered the park, a colossal waterfall emerged right in front of us. We walked around it, soaking in (pun intended!) the view. We continued our walk along Route B, which was very clearly marked and took us around the lower lakes. We passed some gorgeous blue-green lakes that were clearer than spring water. There was a cave that had “DO NOT ENTER” signs all over, but we saw some people climbing out of the cave. They were braver than us, as we were content with our surreal lakes and continued on the path. Before long, we made it to the point where we had to take a boat across one of the lakes and turn back. The views were incredible, but if I’m being honest, it reminded me a lot of Switzerland’s lakes. We took 2 boats as it started to rain, but the weather created a really nice aesthetic with the clouds creating a beautiful pattern on the water.

I remember the park offered an app to track our progress along the route, but because of the clear markings, we were able to navigate quite well. Route B involved taking a bus part of the way back, so that’s exactly what we did. Once we reached the entrance, we had some extra time, so we decided to check out the huge waterfall up close. From the base, it looked like an absolute paradise and we snapped lots of pictures. Eventually, our time in heaven ran out and it was time to go. Our bus was super late and we were worried it would never show up since it was the last bus back to Zagreb. Luckily, it arrived and we made it on, but one of the people waiting with us had an issue with his tickets and we were unsure if he made it on the bus with us. Hope he made it back safe and sound!

We arrived back in Zagreb and grabbed dinner in the pouring rain at Pizzeria Butler. The pizzas were stellar and the service was incredibly friendly. We had a long chat with the server about life in Texas and how his sister was investing in properties in the Carolinas. After officially finishing our 7th day of spring break, we were exhausted and Uber’d back to the Airbnb where we promptly fell asleep to rest up before our next adventure.

That adventure came sooner than you might think. The next morning, we packed up, woke up super early, and caught the 7 AM train to Ljubljana. Before we left, we grabbed some apple strudels and spinach-and-feta pastries as our last Croatian snack before bidding the nation goodbye (for now!).

Takeaways

• Croatia is a beautiful country and has some of the best nature in the world
• The Adriatic coastline creates some of the best beaches in the world, but it may be better to visit in the summer when the weather is better (but also much more crowded!)
• Ziplining in Dubrovnik is an absolute must. Extra points if you do it with a 6’6 Croatian basketball player
• Zagreb is a really cool city (especially the Museum of Broken Relationships!), but in a city with such beautiful nature and beaches, your time is likely better spent elsewhere in the country

Rose-Bud-Thorn

Rose (what went well): Croatia had some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. From the crystal-clear turquoise lakes of Plitvice to the Adriatic shoreline, to the walled city of Dubrovnik, everywhere I looked was absolutely insane
Bud (what was good but could be improved on): The weather wasn’t too bad, but warmer weather would have meant a better beach experience. If it was warmer, I’d also have explored more of the Croatian beach cities, like Split and Hvar
Thorn (what did not go well): While most of our food experiences were amazing (Bota Šare, Pizzeria Butler), some of them weren’t that great. Specifically, Konoba Didov San and the burek places were subpar, and on a trip with constant travel and tiredness where food was needed to restore energy levels, this really threw a wrench in the experience