We made it home to the kids. Hugging them has never felt better. Each of them were having the time of their lives but it feels so good to be together again. Let’s finish up with the second half of the trip and I’m sure on IG I’ll be posting more about day in the life stuff today if you are over the trip recaps (sorry)!
Part 2: The next day, we had to be out of the hotel by 4 a.m. We didn’t sleep much during this trip because we wanted to fit in as much as we could in the time we had.
We had a drive a bit less than 3 hours to get to split in the morning for a 7:15 am boat tour.
We booked through Providence Charter and they were great. It looked like there were a ton of companies to go through, but we enjoyed the boat and our guides a lot.
Our first stop was about an 80-minute boat ride away to see some blue caves. I LOVED these. We needed to get on a smaller boat to get into the cave (and you must even duck your head to enter), but it was incredible.
The coloring did not seem real and like it had to be an optical illusion. We kind of felt like we were on Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, never not sweating.
We then took a short trip over to Vis island!
This island was where Mama Mia 2 was filmed. It is a fisherman’s village (more registered boats than people that live there) and the streets were stunning. We ate at Pizzeria Charlie and I had the 2nd best lasagna (my mom’s is 1st) of my life at 10 am. I was in heaven with this and the Greek salad with the creamiest feta ever.
We only had about 1.5 hours here but could have spent much more time exploring.
Next, was Steniva Bay. This was voted the best beach in Europe in 2016, but I didn’t make it to the beach. Just as we were jumping in, we heard a kid scream very loudly about a jellyfish getting him. I jumped in with my mask and snorkel to head to the beach with Andrew, but after seeing a bunch of jellyfish near me, I got right back in the boat. Andrew swam to the beach and back and said that people were getting stung left and right. I guess there had been a storm that caused all of the jellyfish to blow over to that area, and it isn’t normally like that, but I have an irrational fear of jellyfish.
We then took about a 30-minute ride over to the Blue Lagoon which was incredible. We had two hours here and we snorkeled (saw a fully naked man way out there snorkeling, ha) for a very long time and then fell asleep on bean bags that were in the shade. We were both big fans of this stop.
My favorite stop ended up being at Hvar Island. It is known as the sunniest island in Europe. We had the best Gelato of our lives at Roma (the dark chocolate + peanut butter), we swam (Andrew did get stung there by a jellyfish!), we explored, and we climbed up to the Fortress. This fortress was built starting in 1285 and included the most gorgeous view of the entire city.
We took an hour ride back to Split and spent a few hours exploring the city.
We saw the palace and palace cellars, the Cathedral, the docks, and grabbed some dinner at Fish Mama.
I went with the truffle steak again because steak in Europe is SO much better than at home or maybe I’m just going to the wrong places at home. Eating in a gorgeous Piazza was amazing.
We could have spent so much more time in Split (SO MUCH TO SEE) but didn’t want to stay the night there because the hotels were much more expensive, so we made an 80 minute drive up north to Hotel Belvedere in Sukosan.
It was a much smaller town and the hotel staff said they rarely have American guests. It was the sweetest small hotel on the water, with a path along the coast. It felt more like a bed and breakfast than a hotel.
We loved it here.
We went for a run in the morning, jumped into the water the second we finished (well, shoes off first), and sat on the pier for a while. The hotel offered a free breakfast that was so good (crepes!), and then we explored the town for a bit.
Before starting our drive to Venice (about 5 hours), we stopped for Burek, and this one stuffed with apples won my heart.
Now for some final thoughts on Croatia!
*I know I exaggerate often. I’ve tried to change, and I can’t, BUT I am not exaggerating when I say that Croatia is my favorite place I have ever been. Andrew said the same and he has been to way more places than I have. It’s that good.
*The Croatians are the most friendly and kind people. The cities are SO clean (no trash, no graffiti etc), and we felt so safe the entire time. We never had to worry about pickpocketing… We even left our bags on the shores while we would go out and swim and never had a problem (we did keep our passports in our hotel safe).
*Another reason we loved driving to Croatia was that we could stop wherever we wanted, whether it was at a fruit stand, a small town to grab a snack, or a quick jump into the water. PS Andrew got his International Driver’s license, while I didn’t, so that is why he drove the entire way.
*If we were to go back and do this trip again, we would want to spend an additional ten days there ha:) and definitely stay a a few nights in Vis. There is truly so much to see and do! We would also try and make a trip to Montenegro if we were to go again.
*You know how some areas you feel like CHECK, been there, done that? And you are on to thinking about the next place you want to visit… I don’t feel that way with Croatia, we would LOVE to bring the kids back. We would need to bring them back during some cooler months (they melt in the heat), but they would absolutely love it.
*We never felt like we had people on top of us in Croatia. There were the perfect amount of people everywhere we went, in my opinion.
*When we travel, we usually see many American restaurants, but in Croatia, I saw 3 McDonalds–that is it! No Taco Bell or Subway or Pizza Huts or Starbucks.. I thought that was interesting because I am used to seeing them everywhere.
*Seeing mountains along the coast basically everywhere you go is breathtaking. The sunsets were actual magic. The entire country is so green and the trees are never-ending. There are also so many tunnels! Some of them were miles long through the mountains.
*I had my first experience paying to use restrooms in Croatia:)
*I wore a swimsuit almost the entire time we were there. It is so easy to jump in the water, and it is so refreshing. I love seeing how people socialize in different areas of the world, and swimming seemed like a big part of people’s social life there. Everyone congregates on the beach and in the water.
*Hearing the Croatian language is so great… I couldn’t understand one word but luckily, most people knew English and made it easy to get around.
* Add Croatia to your bucket list, and send me your pictures from the trip so I can be jealous;)
I had some requests for clothing links from our trip, and I’ll have more on Thursday, too: Sandals, red skirt (not in red anymore) with white tank/black detail, blue dress, red floral dress, black dress, swimsuits, swimsuit coverups here and here, blue adidas sneakers, jean jumper, and white shorts/blue stripe button up.
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Afraid of the water at all? Would you get in with jellyfish?
Where would you say is the best place you have ever visited?
How and where do people socialize most in your area?
