I toured Rome for just over a day and had to meet for a group excursion at the Termini station for our trip over to Croatia. A few of my friends and I coordinated this trip and about six of us in total were headed to Split via bus, a 15 hour bus ride. We stopped in Slovenia to get our passports stamped, and arrived in the Goli and Bosi hostel at 8:00am after the dreaded overnight ride where I got no sleep! This hostel was a pretty cool spot and decorated in all yellow, where the beds were punched into the walls. The day was a free day on the trip and we took a ferry from Split over to Brac, rented a car, and drove to Golden Horn beach which is one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We made a necessary grocery and beach glass stop along the way to the town of Bol where the beach was. It was pretty chilly weather and eventually started to rain, but despite it being overcast the Croatian water was still crystal clear. I couldn’t image it on a clear sunny day!
We hung out and swam for a while, but the rain forced us to drive back and we returned the rental car catching the ferry back to Split. We got back late just before dinner and grabbed some showers, then went on a discounted bar crawl through the town arranged by our tour. The crawl made for a late night but our arranged activity for the next day was a boat cruise to some more islands. The weather was pretty crappy and heavy waves/sea sicknesses made the cruise come home early, we did however get in our fair share of Titanic pictures and ate a lovely fish lunch on the boat. The previous eventful days and long bus ride made for an early night, preparing for KrKa National Park early in the morning.
Krka National Park was easily one of the coolest parks I have ever been to, and all the pedestrian walkways are literally over water. The main part that it is know for is called Skradinski buk along the Krka river. In an area of 400 meters in length there are a total of 17 waterfalls flowing, and due to the wealth and variety of forms, vegetation, and effects of whirlpools, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful calcium carbonate waterfalls in Europe. The amount of natural waterways and rich green vegetation is what really made this visit the highlight of our Croatia trip. The only thing that could have made it better is if I ran into Toni Kukoc! After swimming at the main waterfall area, we had an even longer bus ride back to Rome of 20 hours because of a minor accident. I decided that I am never going on a bus for over 8 hours ever again since I am terrible at sleeping on public transport, driving to Ohio from Wisconsin for school for 8 hours is the cutoff!
We got back into Rome at 5:00am and checked in to The Yellow hostel. After sleeping a bit we headed to Vatican City, the Spanish Steps, and Trevee Fountain…round two of Rome for me. My friends toured the Vatican Meusem while I went to the river and then climbed up to the top of the cupola overlooking Vatican City! This was a very moving experience for me. Once I got down we went to the Old Bridge gelato spot and back near our hostel for dinner. We stopped at a recommended place and I ate some eggplant pizza and delicious pasta for dinner.
We were able to fit in the Coliseum the Roman Forum the next day before heading over to Amsterdam for my birthday!
My two friends Andrew, Brett, and I went on a morning flight then hopped on a train through the country to arrive in downtown Amsterdam. We checked in at the Flying Pig hostel and met up with my friend Sean who took us to a bar to watch the Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He gave us a great tour of the city since he had been there for the whole semester, and he took us out for my 21st birthday as well! Lets just say turning 21 abroad is very anticlimactic compared to turning 21 in the states, but we still had a blast. We stopped by the red light district that night as well before heading back to the Flying Pig. We were able to go to the Anne Frank house as well, but my favorite part of the trip was the Heineken experience…I could have spent days in there! In just the 2 days alone I think it is safe to say ten bikers almost hit me as well, they are everywhere.
The very last stop on our spring break trip was over to Interlaken, Switzerland. Andrew,
Brett, and I flew into the Geneva airport where we took a train through the backcountry
and Swiss Alps, winding around lakes and lush hills, finally arriving to our town
nestled between two lakes. We stayed at the Funny Farm hostel, which seemed like a huge
hotel and we enjoyed a room all to ourselves with a view of some snowcaps. Along with
the previous week of travelling, the rain seemed to be following us so our first day of
planned activities was hindered. The next day however Brett was able to go mountain
biking, Andrew skydiving, and I enjoyed paragliding down over the town of Interlaken.
All of these things we did were
heightened because we were doing them right in the Swiss Alps, with spectacular 360
degree views! On the last day we were able to take a tram up to a viewing point off one
of the mountains, and again saw breathtaking views and other paragliders floating down.
We also stepped foot in some snow for the first time on the trip!
Interlaken was a very good time, and our journey back to Geneva was going to involve an
overnight in the airport because of the way we scheduled our flights. Needless to say it
was the worst sleep I have ever gotten, although it was quite comical when we saw one of
our friends studying abroad with us roll into the airport around 11pm without any of us
knowing she was going to be there! The entire trip was capped off by seeing a man in the
airport dressed as your typical traveler: Laos tee shirt, two fanny packs, high socks
with sandals, all at five in the morning! For now, we were back off to Alicante to start
some sailing classes on Monday.
