Hvratska

Whoever said Croatia is Europe's hidden treasure was so right. I guess I am a little biased because I got the insiders tour of the north part from a Croatian but hey, it just means I got a taste of the real place. If you haven't guessed by now I went with Andrej and we stayed at his house in Rijeka. It was so cool to get a glimpse of where he grew up and to meet his family and friends, literally all of them (except Dino, if I spelled his name right).


Anyway, I took the train to Trieste where I met Andrej and his dad and we drove through Slovenia (where my passport was stamped! YEAH!) and into Croatia. If the borders were as easy to cross into America... I don't even know what chaos would ensue... but now that I have gotten a little of topic (at least in my brain) lets continue. So Andrej's dad dropped us off where Andrej grew up and we met up with his mom and her husband. I also met his mom's parents who live in the downstairs of the house. Andrej's grandfather (who speaks Croatian, German, English, and Italian) started talking to me in Italian... I failed miserably but it's ok. Oh and his wife speaks Russian and Croatian. Impressive right? After a brief time together Andrej's parents headed to their house and Andrej and I passed out (ok we talked and stuff until like 3 but that's ok).

yeah you know that looks great

The next day we got up fairly early and went around Kvarner (the area where Rijeka is), got lunch at this great restaurant with a view in Kastav, took a ferry and ended up on Cres (one of the large islands in the sea by Rijeka). Okay, I can't just graze over that lunch because it was amazingggg! Basically we ordered the mixed meats platter for two and it was perfect. But don't take my word for it, here's a visual :) 
The original plan involved swimming and hiking but due to the time, freezing temperature of the water, and purely wanting to soak in the atmosphere, we ended but just hanging out in the actual city of Cres. Basically we laid around on the beach, did some gymnastics (rather I did some handstands and cartwheels), and got some yummy ice cream bars (and mine definitely won the best ice cream of the two award) before taking the ferry back to Rijeka. I think this was the night we decided to watch a movie... and choose the Hangover because neither of us had seen it. No offense to anyone who likes that movie but it is horrible...


Now this next day was unreal, but before I get to the main place we went I want to throw in that we headed inland from the sea and bam! Mountains! Beautiful, tall, mountains. On the way to our main objective of the day, we stopped at this cute little cabin to have lunch with Andrej's dad's parents. They speak no English, no Italian, only Croatian... let's just say poor Andrej became the translator. However, we were still able to communicate fairly well. His grandmother even remembered me from when she came the America to take care of Andrej while his parents were away. Weird right? They were so sweet though.

NOW for the main attraction of the day: Nacionalni park Plitvička jezera (or in english Plitvice Lakes National Park). This place is so incredibly beautiful. Take the rainforest feel of Costa Rica and mix that with the Mediterranean and perfectly clear water, waterfalls everywhere, and rainbows and that's sort of like what this place is like. I originally found out about it from this list of 40 places you have to see before you die (Number 16  http://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-places-to-see-before-you-die/) And for some more visuals...

I would recommend that anyone who can get here, GO. It is so cool. You walk around, under, and along the waterfalls (that are literally everywhere) on these flattened wood log walkways, some of which are covered in water. Oh! And the water is completely clear. It almost looks like there isn't any. For more pictures go on Facebook. I have so many.
Here is the website http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/hrv/ to the park. Check it out!

When we got back to Rijeka from the epic day in the National Park, we stopped and got some food (some stew thingy which was really good). Then we called it a night.

The next day we got lunch with Andrej's mom and her husband which was grilled meat. YUM. That stuff was great. Although the honey flavored liquor at the end was rough... After that we took a drive around the bay (i think that's what you call the area, regardless it was Kvarner) and went to this cool look out on the top of the hill. We walked around, took some pictures, and got coffee while watching and narrating a sailboat race. Then we went to a beach close by and just enjoyed the day. It was nice because right when we were about to leave we got to hear this really cool Croatian band. The style of music is like a mixture of Hawaiian and barber shop quartet (yeah figure that one out :P). Then that night Andrej and I headed over to Matija's (Andrej's friend) house to watch the Chelsea-Munich game. After Chelsea won, (WOO) there was an epic jam session since they are all musicans. Oh, it was most of Andrej's closest friends. I won't even try to spell their names... but there were three of them, Andrej, and me. It was a lot of fun.

The next day, we got up and I got a tour of Rijeka's city center, where Andrej went to high school, etc. Then we picked up Matija and drove to a lake where we took some photos, I caught a frog and then freaked out because I thought it was poisonous for a second, climbed a hill with weird wood structures, and hung out. Then we headed back because Andrej and I had a lunch scheduled with his dad and family. We had grilled fish and it was so tasty! Oh and it was Dodo's birthday :) (their doggy) I actually really liked the fish too. Complicated to clean since I hadn't done so before but luckily Andrej took pitty on me and did it for me after I struggled for a while. Before heading back to pack so I could catch a night train back to Bologna, we went up to this fort on the hill which gave a nice overview of the city. Totally worth it.


I seriously loved Croatia and by the end I understand why people don't want to work their. It's just too beautiful to do work! I was also learning a lot of the language pretty quickly although I am always so afraid of pronouncing things wrong... but hey it's ok. I'll get there. Now I need to convince my family to go visit :)