Croatia=gorgeous. Who would have guessed??

Croatia was incredible.
I didn’t even know what to expect and was sooo pleasantly surprised. We took a train to Zagreb, the capital, and then on down to Split. It is a common practice at the train and bus stations for little old women and men to be standing there with signs saying “Accomodation” or “Rooms for Rent,” and it’s a lot less sketchy than it sounds! We ended up staying with a Croatian woman in Split. There were also 3 guys from USC in a room. We hung out on the lady’s terrace and then went to a bar in the old city. Very beautiful, narrow, and old cobblestone streets.
The next morning we toured the old city then caught a bus down to Dubrovnik to meet our friend Eren!!
The busride was crazy. About halfway, there was a loud crunching noise and the bus skidded to a stop. From the bus window Jayda and I saw there had been a terrible accident. A couple had been riding a moto and turned the corner too quick on a slippery road (it had just rained) and had slid on their side into our lane. The bus driver tried to avoid them by almost running us off the mountain. Thank goodness there was a guardrail that barely stopped us. The bus and moto were completely wrecked and gasoline was spilling all over the street. We got off the bus and watched from the side the ambulance come and take the lady (seemed her legs was barely attached and completely raw). The man driving was dead though—his helmet was smashed and his brains were sprayed across it. I have never in my life been that close to something like that. Jayda and I held hands and talked about how precious and fragile life is. Amazing how quickly everything can change.
Our bus passed through Bosnia, so I got to watch the sunrise there. Absolutely beautiful. I had no idea!! We bought beer and fried peanuts in Bosnia just to contribute to their economy and say we had.
In Dubrovnik we stayed with another family in their extra room. It is an ancient city surrounded by walls that we walked on and took pictures. The walls go right up to the sea and it is a beautiful view. That night we had a traditional Croatian dinner at a seafood restaurant inside the old city walls.
Tuesday the ninth, we caught the early bus back to Split and then took a ferry out to the island of Hvar. The weather was gorgeous so we spent the rest of the day on the beach. I can't believe how beautiful the water is and how far down I could see!! Bright blue and clear. That night we tried Croatia's famous octopus salad! It was actually pretty good! We then danced to techno music at the beach club, Carpe Diem. For the night we rented out a bedroom over an old man's apartment. We even had our own little terrace. Eren left us the next morning to go back to Madrid, but I was so happy we got to spend a little time with him:)
Jayda and I rented a kayak the next day and took it out in the Adriatic with the big cruise ships. Such a pretty day. That evening, we hiked up to a castle that overlooks the cityy and watched the sunset from there. The harbor was so pretty to see lit up at night and from our little room's window that night we could see the castle lit up.
The next morning it started raining while we were still asleep and the cute little man we were renting from ran out and took down our laundry we had hung up to dry so it didn't get wet. How cute! He didn't speak any English but was sooo sweet to us. We left Croatia that day and headed back through Slovenia. Ljubljana, the capital is this quaint town that still has Baroque architecture with a metropolitan feel to it. We had some sort of stuffed meat with meat and walked through the open air market. We walked across the Dragon Bridge (has green dragon statues on it), past the Robba and Hercules fountains, and into the Franciscan Church (this beautiful pink and white Baroque style church in the center of the city.) We had a great day, but then had to go our separate ways from there as Jayda went back to Geneva and I headed to Paris. I got a little choked up honestly. It has been so much fun and we had so many great times together this past month.