Croatia!

So I was supposed to write about this a while ago but things have been going by so quickly here that I haven't really gotten a chance. I leave in one week for France and then two weeks to go home to America... it seems so strange, time really does fly.

I hope I remember enough about Croatia... Croatia we realized was going to be a very different experience than any of the other trips we had been on and were going to go. It is a little of the beaten track and since we were going to Zagreb rather than the coast it was even more so. First of all, I had looked at the weather the day before we left and we knew it was going to be cold. We just did not realize how cold... freezing, literally. None of us had winter coats because we did not even bring them with us to Swansea. There was frost on the ground and the three almost four days we were there, there was sun for approximately for four hours in the national park. Alison and I went off and explored a bit when we got to the hostel, which at first did not let us in so we were a bit worried that it had been closed or something and we would have to sleep in the hall. Luckily a guy staying there let one of us in and we just waited until the employee showed up to let us check in.

Dolac Market with the Cathedral in the background

The architecture was really fantastic and a lot of the building were painted a light yellow color which I am sure would have been even better with sun. There was not a whole lot to actually do, more just see. There were a few museums we went to and art galleries, I found a really cool one called the Naive Art Gallery and I got two posters, one for me and one for Ellen but of course I left them on the train into Paddington and I have not heard back from them! Zagreb also had a huge market everyday with more fruits and vegetables than I had ever seen. Fresh bread and fresh pasta as well. One night we just got a lot of veggies and pasta and made a nice homemade meal in our kitchen which was a fun evening.

Alex, Pam, Me, Alison, and Nick at the lakes

The best part of Croatia was Plitvice National Parks. This was a park about two hours away from us and our hostel organized a bus/van to take us there on Saturday. As soon as we entered the park the sun came out which made for a really nice and warmer day. It was a huge park and we had a little more than five hours to explore so we set out on a trail that was supposed to take 4-6 hours using buses and ferries as well as hiking.  It was beautiful and the water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. This is definitely a place to visit!

Alison and me at the lakes again

I want to go back to Croatia but think that during the spring or the summer would be best, and it would be a lot of fun to go to the coastal cities to experience a different side!

Hopefully this was short enough and I still have to update on the amazingness of Paris... will do that soon!!

Home in 14 days... so strange! What a wonderful adventure this has been.

~Julia