The most vacation like part of our trip. We met up with Emma’s family and stayed with them for the week exploring Kaštel Gomilica, Croatia and more.
DAY 23: JULY 23- TRAVEL TO CROATIA
Morning In Budapest
The morning started with packing up and getting ready to leave Budapest. Haley and I went back to the stands again to see if they had the ring again. The only one I wanted to be there wasn’t there but there was a similar one in gold. I was going to get it but the woman only took cash. She wouldn’t take my old money and I didn’t have enough euros so we tried an ATM. It declined multiple times so I figured that was a sign to not get it so I didn’t even though thinking about it now I wish I got the one I originally saw on the first day.
*Note: If you see something you want while traveling, don’t overthink it and just get it. I always regret the things I didn’t do over the things I do.
Traveling To Croata
When we got back, we got our stuff from our Airbnb and left for the tram to the bus station. Once we got there, we went to the mall across the street to eat breakfast a À table. I had an almond croissant and spinach benedict. The croissant was amazing but the benedict wasn’t nearly as good as the one the day before, not sure why I was in such a benedict mood. After we finished, we walked over to the bus station and prepared for a ten hour bus ride to Zagreb, Croatia.
At the border, the lady gave me a hard time because they didn’t stamp my passport when we arrived in Europe. I thought it was weird when we landed in Brussels for our connecting flight to Lisbon that everyone else got theirs stamped except for me, naturally. She kept talking to me in a different language and I couldn’t understand. Luckily, someone in the back of the bus translated for me and I told her where we arrived in Europe. We had to wait over an hour at the border. I’m not sure if that was my fault or not but we had a connecting bus at 6 and our ETA was exactly 6 at that point. We were stressed but then our connecting bus was late because there were problems with the bus so we waited at the sketchy bus station in Zagreb for two hours in the heat.
*Note: Make sure you get your passport stamped at customs in the airport
The bus finally came and we sat on it for another 20 min before we were actually on our way. I watched Stranger Things with Haley to pass time. We finally made it to Split at 1am. Emma and Jim came to pick us up and we went to the Airbnb. Emma’s cousin helped us carry our bags and we settled in and went to bed after an exhausting travel day.
*Note: Traveling by bus is a very easy and popular way to travel through Europe, you just risk running into longer travel times and delays.
DAY 24: JULY 24- FIRST FULL DAY IN CROATIA
A Highlight
Instead of resting after our long travel day, we woke up the earliest we have this whole trip for a 10 hour boat tour with 10 members of Emma’s family. We struggled to find the boat at first and they ended up picking us up at a random ledge because we were at the wrong location, off to a chaotic start. Once on the boat, there was breakfast, water and alcohol. Wine and croissants for breakfast, yum.
Our guides were cool. Their names were hard to pronounce so they said to call them B and Yellow. They looked a few years older than us. We stopped an island called Hvar to walk around and explore for an hour. It was so cute. Once back on the boat, they took us to a tunnel to cliff jump. Emma’s cousins were doing flips and jumps off the super high edge. B and Yellow were stoked.
Then, we drove to another island, Vis, (the set of Mama Mia 2) and had lunch. We had an amazing view. I had spinach spaghetti while everyone else had fish and meat. I wish I got the fish just for the experience but that’s ok, the spaghetti was good. We spent a few hours here swimming, snorkeling and jumping off the boat. The people on the boat next to us were also from America. They were from California and taught them how to do flips and tricks off their boat. They loved it, we loved it, the captains loved it.
We took the boat to one more spot to swim and took a video of everyone doing flips off the boat. B wanted to learn how to do a flip so we taught him. He was so excited. It was so fun and a perfect day.
When we got back at 6pm, we were exhausted. We hung out by the pool and played pool. I learned for the first time and was not very good. Our plan for dinner was to pick it up from a restaurant down the street but then we realized that wasn’t an option. Instead, we sat at that restaurant with the rest of Emma’s family because they were already there and ate with them. I got a caesar salad with shrimp. It was only alright because it wasn’t normal caesar dressing. It was kinda mustardy and I don’t like mustard. We walked back and headed to bed at 11:30pm.
*Note: I believe the McDonald family booked this in advance but didn’t pay for until the end of the day. The food and drink was included.
DAY 25: JULY 25- SECOND FULL DAY IN CROATIA
Finally Relaxing
I slept for 12 hours. It felt so good to rest. Jim and Adrien bought us pastries for breakfast. We ate and got ready for a beach day by gathering floats and chairs and carried them over. We hung out there for a while. I tried paddle boarding, we threw around a football, drank a piña colada, and tanned. It was a nice afternoon.
After the beach, Jim took us to the grocery store for ingredients to cook dinner. There were plans to make octopus so I got lots of vegetables. We got back from the store and drank wine and swam in the pool until dinner. There ended up being chicken, steak and octopus cooked on the wood fire oven. We also had grilled me zucchini and salad. I stuck to that. According to everyone, the meat wasn’t great. I think they were a little too drunk to be cooking it. I was content with my meal and Quinn, Emma’s cousin, jumped off the roof of the Airbnb into the pool.
*Note: Don’t leave drunk people in charge of the meal
At sunset, we ran to the beach. As it set, we swam in the ocean and went back to go in the hot tub. Everyone piled in and overflowed it so we got out and went into the sauna. Once we got too hot, we jumped back in the pool. Our airbnb had everything we needed. Haley and I went back to the sauna so Emma and Maggie could shower and then we did the same, ate some snacks and went to bed.
DAY 26: JULY 26- THIRD FULL DAY IN CROATIA
Exploring Croatia
To beat the heat, we woke up early to go to a town twenty minutes away called, Trogir. The McDonald’s had a rental car so we drove there. Once we got there, we found somewhere to eat breakfast called 2 Point. It was alright. I ordered scrambled eggs and got an omelet instead and shared the french toast with Haley, which was not actually french toast. It was literally just toast with jam and honey. It was so hot so I was really sweating sitting there. We were a big party so I understand the challenge to accommodate everyone but I would probably not recommend that place to anyone.
Although it was hot, we walked around the island some more. The Fortress Kamerlengo was near by so we paid to go in and walk around. The view and climbing it was cool. The rest of the day was mostly walking around. I bought a pin and then we tried a traditional pastry, trogirski rofiol, which were like sweet empanadas. They reminded me of pop tarts. They were really good.
We got back to the house with a good amount of the day left so we went to the beach. Haley and I went in the canoe for a little, we threw the football around and tanned again. It was so hot that we went back to the house and hung out by the pool for a little and then went up stairs to lay down. The family made spaghetti, salad and garlic bread for dinner and everyone just hung out and relaxed.
DAY 27: JULY 27- FOURTH DAY IN CROATIA
More Exploring
Similar to the day before, we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast and drove to Split. This was a closer drive than Trogir. We found parking and explored. stopped to get pastries at a place called Bobis. I had what seemed like tiny apple strudel. It was so good. There was a fish market that smelled horrible but we walked around to see it anyway.
It started raining so Emma, Haley and I stopped at a bar to sit inside and have a drink. We had pear and apple spiked ciders. There was a man there who started talking to us about how his career as a guitar player. It was kinda weird and creepy. Thankfully, we didn’t stay long. The place looked like it would be fun at night, I don’t remember what it was called.
Trying Something New
Earlier, we made a reservation for sixteen people at Bokeria. We all sat at one huge table. There was a popular Croatian dish Emma wanted to try but she doesn’t like fish so I ordered it. It was called black risotto, which was basically risotto with squid ink. There was also pieces of squid within it. It was really good, just a lot. Plus, I started thinking about what it was and kinda freaked me out. I was glad I tried it though.
After lunch, the sun came back out. Haley, Emma, two of her cousins, Tanner and Zac, and I went cliff jumping. It was fun. People started following after us. It started getting crowded so we decided to drive home. We got ready and went to the beach but it started getting stormy again so i only stayed for a little and went back to read my book.
Everyone came back shortly after and showered. There was a stand at the beach that had hamburgers and fries that we planned to have for dinner. Before the storm hit, we went and grabbed and made it back just in time. It started pouring. I made myself an avocado cheese sandwich and cereal. We finished our food and watched stranger things for the rest of the night. We paused when it stopped raining and the sun was setting because it looked amazing.
DAY 28: JULY 28- FIFTH DAY IN CROATIA
More Relaxing
A chill day. In the morning, I sat on the balcony and finished the book Ryan gave me, Happy People Are Annoying by Josh Peck. For breakfast, I had a peanut butter, nutella and banana sandwich. Everyone slowly woke up, got ready for the beach and walked over.
The majority of the family went to see the waterfalls for the day so we just hung out at the beach for most of the day. I got a banana coconut pineapple smoothie from the beach bar, tanned for a while and then went back to the house to lay on a float in the pool. Everyone came back from the waterfalls and hung out in the pool. We drank a margarita mixed drink and had snacks. We had tacos for dinner and did the tortilla challenge. We weren’t very good at it. Then, we watched the final episode of Season 4 of Stranger Things and I sobbed again.
DAY 29: JULY 29- FINAL DAY IN CROATIA
Our Last Activity
Our final day in Croatia! We woke up, ate breakfast, got dressed and went to the beach. At noon, we came back to eat lunch and prepare for jet skiing.
To get to jet skiing, we had to walk about a mile to the rental place. There was six of us, two jet skies and one hour to ride. For a half hour, I rode with Emma’s cousin Tanner and Emma rode with Zac.
I haven’t been on one in a long time so I forgot how fast they go. Tanner asked if I wanted to drive. At first, I said no even though it looked fun. Then, he flung me off so I said never mind, i’ll drive. He wanted me to try to get him to fall off but I knew there was no way I could without me going with him. However, I tried anyway. Of course, I went off with him. It was so fun though I definitely didn’t need more than the time we had on it. Haley went with Juan and Tanner stayed on and rode with his mom for the the second half hour.
*Note: We did not have this activity planned. It was something we decided on the day before or the day of.
While we waited for them, we walked with Adrien to a bar/restaurant to cool off and drink some water. Adrien got a pizza and we shared. Then, we walked back to our beach and hung out for a little bit longer and got a fun juice at the bar.
Although it was a fun day, we were all pretty exhausted from the heat. To get ready for dinner, we showered and changed. We walked to the place we went to the first night, Angolo’s, just the Mcdonald family. I got gnocchi with Adriatic shrimp. It was good.
After, we walked back to the beach to watch the sunset. We heard about a seafood fest they were having at the marina so we decided to walk over and check it out. There was a live band and tons of food. it seemed so fun if we were hungrier and liked seafood that much. We didn’t stay long and left to hang by the pool, finishing the alcohol we had left before we had to leave for the bus station. We reminisced on our trip, finished packing our things and headed to the bus back to Budapest.
