June 2016

My friend, Renee & I traveled together before and after our study abroad trip. This was both of our first times in Europe and traveling together. It is a memory that I’ll never forget and I’m glad to have shared it with her. I want to also thank her for capturing photos on her GoPro!

Day/Night 1:

It was a long journey to get to Croatia! We had six flights, but it was cheap (for us college students on a budget). We flew from home to Chicago, Illinois to Frankfurt, Germany, to Stockholm, Sweden, back to Frankfurt, to Zagreb, Croatia, then finally, Split, Croatia! Our airbnb host was kind enough to pick us up (it was really late in the night) and we settled in and knocked out. We woke up with NO jet lag! Thank goodness.

My first culture shock in Europe was that there are designation smoking stations indoors at the airport. That was my first time seeing that.

Full Day 1:

We explored Diocletian palace, walked around town, and got some water and fruits for our Airbnb.

I touched the gold foot for good luck! Haha

It was cloudy and windy but it wasn’t cold.

Another culture shock was that we had to pay for the public restrooms.

Day 2:

We booked a bus tour to Krka National Park on Day 1. It was about an hour ride away from Split. From there, we walk over to the boat that took us to the actual park. The bus tour gave us about 5 hours to hang out, hike, swim, eat, and enjoy before we end back to the bus. Renee & I decided to hike and explore first to sweat everything out and then swim. The water was so fresh, cool, and there were little fishies in there. I do recommend to get water shoes, because the rocks were slippery, due to the algae. There are no lockers to leave your items, so we left it next to a tree and luckily none of our stuff were stolen.

After the swim, there were grass area where people hung out and we laid down, dried up in the sun, and went home.

That night, we went out to check out the night life of Split. It was super spirited and it seemed like that night, everyone had a wrist band, like a pub-crawl type of thing. Renee & I just observed.

What a fun way to party, Split. Bars everywhere near the water. Fun!

Day 3:

We went to Bacvice Beach and it was crowded. We learned that the Croatians play Picigin. They were literally diving into the water to keep the ball from touching the water. It was cool.

Then, we walked a little bit more down and there was another beach. It had clearer water, but they had more pebbles and rocks which weren’t super comfy.

Then we freshened up and walked around town, bought souvenirs, and ate ice-cream / gelato. Glad that last day in Croatia was sunny and bright!

Random, but “Tommy” is one of their famous grocery store in Split. One of my good friends is name Tommy, so ofcourse I took a picture with the sign to sent it to him 🙂

It was a good first destination in Europe. Maybe I’ll be back for Yacht week one day? 😉 Thank you, Split. #viviansventures

P.S. What made me want to come to Split was Krka National Park – I discover it on google/social media!

As always, thank you for visiting Vivian’s Ventures. Have you been to Split? If so, tell me in the comments/reply section of your experience. What should I do there if I go back? If you haven’t been, tell me what you are planning to do there. Any questions or comments, let me know.