SPLIT, CROATIA

Hello! It's been a bit since I last wrote, but I just got home from the city of Split, Croatia last night. The city was amazing and weekend was excellent, except for the fact that all my traveling and on-the-go lifestyle has caught up to me and given me quite the cold. I am SO excited to be staying in florence for the next three weeks. Out of everywhere my travels have taken me, Florence is still by far my favorite. I think I just may have fallen in love with it. But more about the weekend...

We took an 11 hour bus ride (ouch) to Split, Croatia and arrived there Friday morning at 9:00 am. I traveled with a student travel group and close to 20 other Gonzaga students, none of which I am super close with, but that was part of the fun! The rest of my friends visited Paris, France with the school, but since I took a trip to Paris in the beginning of September I chose to venture to Croatia instead. Upon arriving in Split, we immediately checked in to our hostel and got ready for a day of white-water rafting down the Cetina river in a nearby town. Our hostel was SO cool. It was super modern and brand new, definitely very European and chic. The walls were neon green which I definitely got sick of but the rooms  were super nice and in the bottom of the hostel was a bar and restaurant. 

Anyway, Friday's white-water rafting trip was a blast. The rapids were only class 1 or 2, so it wasn't dangerous or anything, but it was still fun floating along. Some parts of the river were a little tricky and we definitely got soaked! The area of the mountains that we were in was beautiful. Since fall has just begun, the leaves had started to turn and it was really beautiful scenery. I was the only girl in our boat, with 5 other guys and the male guide, and it was pretty funny because the guide assumed that I was not going to contribute any force in paddling our boat along the river and he kept making comments about it!    We made it to the end of the river around 4pm and rode in a bus back to our hostel and grabbed some dinner before getting ready and going on a pub crawl with the rest of our travel group. 

The pub crawl, like our hostel, was located inside the palace walls of Diocletian's Palace, built in 4th century AD. The palace was built for Diocletian's retirement and was totally beautiful and enormous, and still is today. It was eventually constructed into a fortress and a sort of mini-town, and today stands with modern clubs, hotels, bars, and shops in the midst of the walls that once made up Diocletian's vacation home. The palace is now known as the best kept Roman ruins in the world. It was totally amazing - and our hostel was located in the center of it! All the bars in our pub crawl were located inside the palace walls as well. The stones of all the narrow streets are made of marble and are still shiny and white today. I absolutely loved the palace, so amazing! I guess Split is also known as the most underrated vacation spot in Europe, so it was definitely not desolate but not overcrowded at all. I really loved the city. I think it may be one of my favorites. 

Overall, I LOVED my visit to Croatia. The only downside was waking up on Saturday feeling feverish and achey and having to opt out of the planned boat cruise to some islands close to the harbor of Split. I had to stay in bed most of the day in order to rest and regain energy for school this week.. midterms are coming up, and so is a visit from my parents! I absolutely can't wait to see my mom and dad, which will be next Wednesday. They will be arriving in Florence and having dinner with me and my roommates at our pensione! I am so excited. Right now I'm off to meet Tim and Louise Westfall for dinner down the street on their last night in town, but I'll write again soon about my adventures in Firenze. Buonanotte!