From Dubrovnik, we took a 5 hour bus at 8 am (I know, it sounds just as exhilarating as it truly was) to Split, a city in North Croatia. The bus was only 10 euro, and although the time spent on the bus was relatively brutal because I couldn’t sleep, there is always something beautiful about traveling through a country by train or bus. It’s so incredible to see the countryside and little villages in a country.
Mainly, on this bus ride, I learned that Croatia is a giant rock that plants and shrubs somehow grow out of and people somehow live on top of. A beautiful, stunning rock, but nevertheless, a rock.
After 5 hours and 4 border control stops (S/O Bosnia and Herzegovina for needing to cut into a TINY piece of Croatia and also delaying our arrival to Spit), we finally made it, but there’s no rest for the wicked. Reference the image to your left for a visual. Yes, that is a legitimate just sliver of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruining our day, but at least I got those stamps in my passport?
From the bus stop, we walked with all our bags to Toto Tours. The night before, my friends and I spontaneously booked and personalized a private boat tour that took us from Split, to Šolta, to the Blue Lagoon, to Trogir, and back to Split. We embarked at 2:30 pm and got back around 7:30 pm.
Toto Tours was so gracious and incredibly nice to us. They let us store our luggage there, use their bathrooms, and allowed us to delay our tour as we went next door to get some food and beers to-go at Toto’s Burgers.
So, all in all, anything named after Dorothy’s spunky dog, Toto, is a winner to me.
Burgers, Coffees and Coronas to go, please!
Toto’s Burgers had big coffees, a great beer selection, and had an entire menu that could be taken to go, which allowed all of us to get whatever we wanted. From risotto, to salads, to coffee, to my chicken burger, we happily boarded our boat and ate until our two skippers looked back at us and smiled and said, “Ok, we go very fast now!”
And like that, we chucked our food into the bag, zipped up our complimentary neon green coats (which were lifesavers considering it’s still a little bit chilly in Croatia in early April), and held on as our teeny boat went from a leisurely pace to whipping its passengers back and forth.
The waves were choppy and we held onto our seats as we bounced up and down. The 6 of us started laughing hysterically, it was the most fun we had had in awhile in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
There’s something to say about being on a boat in the bluest water imaginable, feeling the wind tangle your hair and the salt water splash your face. We were on a boat in Croatia… How the hell did we get here?
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at an island named Šolta in a little town called Maslinica, meaning “Olive” in Croatian due to the excessive amount of olive trees on the island. It was only a 30 minute pit stop, but it was a really quaint town. We went to the grocery store and got some Croatian beer, cheese, and bread that we would save to nibble on later.
From there, we went to the Blue Lagoon. Although too cold to swim in entirely, I made sure everyone got their toes a little wet. After all, how many people have the opportunity to say they went to Croatia, let alone that they had been inside the Blue Lagoon, too! Here, we sat for awhile on the rocks, admiring the scenery and taking in truly how blue the Blue Lagoon really was.
Finally, we arrived in Trogir. Trogir is a city completely protected by UNESCO, meaning that this city was not and could never be changed. It was basically in its original form. Here, we sat by the port, admiring the incredible boats, yachts and sailboats, and we chatted as we dug into our bread, cheese, and Croatian Beer called Ožujsko, which was so delicious and reminded me of Tergenseer Bier from Bavaria. AKA, I loved it.
Felt quite Game of Thrones-esque as the quote “That’s what I do, I drink and I know things” rang through my head all weekend…
Finally, our day was coming to a close, and we boarded the boat one last time, and we departed from Trogir during the most beautiful time – Sunset. Straddling our odd seats, all of had our heads turned back watching the sun finally fall and kiss the mountains on its way down.
A sunset on a beautiful day. A sunset on one of the best days abroad.
