8/2/10, Monday - Split, Croatia

Today was my first full day in Split. I arrived late last night, checked my email, talked to some nice guys from London and from New York, and went to bed. My loud Spanish roommates (4 guys) came in as I was falling asleep and were so loud. I think it was a combination of them being rude and me being hostelled out because after about 5 minutes I said "shhhh!" Luckily, that's another universal thing. I woke up this morning, bought a Croatia towel, and made my way to the beaches that the girl who works at the hostel suggested. I started out at their touristy beach. When she told me about it she said "it's nothing special. You will walk and walk out in the water and it will still only be up to your waist and you will just get annoyed." She was right. It was like a giant pool. It had no waves, but it was the first sandy beach I have been to in Europe. It was really nice for families and children and there were a lot of people playing handball (sort of a mix between catch and volleyball with a small rubber ball). Though there were a lot of Speedos and a few naked children, which I still find traumatic, but I did not see any uncovered boobs, so I was very thankful for that. I spent about 30 minutes at that beach before I got bored and decided to make my way to the less touristy beach on the other side of Split. I liked that beach a lot, though it was a pebble beach. The water here is as clear as everyone promised it would be, but I think its equally clear in France and Greece. After about an hour and a half at the second beach, I made my way back to the hostel for a shower and to clean up. Then I went back out for dinner and to tour the old city. The old city is quite cool and I had a really nice time looking around. Then I ate at a real restaurant by myself for the first time this whole trip. I have mainly been hitting up grocery stores for bread, ham, and cheese, but I decided to splurge ($8!) for some seafood risotto. It was quite tasty. I then climbed to the top of this nearby hill for what I heard from some guys at my hostel was a very nice view of the city. I was hoping to see the sunset from there, but it turns out the hillside you climb faces east. Regardless, I did get some nice views of the city and some really good exercise! I stayed at the top of the hill until the sunset, took some pictures of the city at dusk, then made my way back through the old city, took some more pictures, and came back to the hostel to catch up on my very outdated blog!

8/1/10, Sunday - Croatia

I left Hamburg early this morning to catch my flight to Dubrovnik. I took a city bus tour which provided some excellent views of the city. Then I checked my bags in while I took a look around the old city. It was pretty impressive. I then got on a bus to Split. It took 5 hours. I spent the first hour or so taking pictures, the view from the bus was amazing! Then, out of fear that I might run out of pictures, I made myself go to sleep. (By made myself go to sleep, I mean I closed my eyes- As you know if you have read my blog, I have trouble staying awake on public transportation.) At the stop where I woke up, a guy got on the bus and asked if he could sit by me. Though I didn't mind at first, he then fell asleep and then fell on me! I tried elbowing him a bunch of times, but it was no use. He didn't wake up easily and I was destined to be smushed until he got off the bus about an hour later. As he got off, a group of guys got on. One asked if he could sit by me and I bitchingly said fine. It turned out he and his two friends were Croatian and were very nice. His friend asked where I was from and we started talking. They were very helpful, finding out when we'd get to Split (it took longer than I thought it would) and telling me which stop to get off on. If they hadn't been there to help, I might have gotten off about 30 minutes too early. I thanked them for their help (hoala) and took a taxi to my hostel because it was so late that I didn't want to try to navigate a new city with my bags so late. Good thing too! I never would have found my hostel, but the taxi driver knew just where to go.