travelnoire – She Went Wear

Croatiaaa

Landing in Split, all I could think of was ” YACHT YACHT YACHT”. You know, Yacht Week? If you haven’t heard of yacht week, google it. I’m still waiting to embark on that adventure, but after you google it, you will find that you need a whole squad to actually enjoy it and my friend list is slim… so if you have any room for a plus one, invite me.

Anyways….

My time being limited ( 2 days) we hit the ground running to explore the city. Split had a very unique and old charm to it. Every time I step foot outside of the Americas, I am reminded how young our country actually is, or when it was colonized.

All the buildings had so much soul and character, even the cracks in the pavement seemed to have a story to tell.

After exploring the city, we found all these tours being offered along the shore. Naturally, we grabbed a bunch of brochures and took them home to decide which one would be the most beneficial for our short time here.

The next morning we were at the pier bright and early ( a little too early if you ask me) ready to set sail. We chose a 5 island tour that included a stop to their blue cave & Hvar. We met with our captain and hostess and then set full speed ahead to our adventure!

First stop, Bisevo. From here we would take a smaller speed boat to the blue caves. While we waited for our turn, we explored the island a little bit. It was so cute and quaint. You could tell the island didn’t have many inhabitants but we did spot a cute little house up the hill.

Our turn came, and we were so excited to visit the blue caves.

Amazing! I love all things water related so our next stop had my name written all over it. This was my first time swimming in a cave ( I grew up in Chicago, geographically its pretty flat) and after that experience, it will not be my last.

Next, swimming to the coast of Vis. In order to walk on the beach you had to swim to it, haha. It was a small beach with no pier so to see this beauty you had to put in a little work.

Luckily, The tour guides had extra googles for us to use and I was so glad they did. The water was so clear that you could see the many variations of fish that called Vis home.

Now onto a popular stop on Yacht Week, Marinkovac, which was a nice stop for us since we were starving and needed an island with food. Swimming in the sea tends to make me tired. Who knew?!

Last but certainly not least, Hvar. The first stop with ACTUAL locals. This city felt a lot more “posh” than Split, but still had loads of character. We walked the streets, visited a few of the shops, and enjoyed some delicious gelato. After two hours passed, we were beat and ready to go home to Split.

It really sucks that I had to rush all of this in a day, but as you can see, Croatia should be on EVERYONE’S LIST. I had a fantastic time. I’m even planning to go back next summer and spend a week (or two) there.

Until next time my beautiful Croatia

Who has been to Croatia? What else is there to see/do for my next time I’m there?

Hello Budapest,

As you may not know, I make it a mission to blend in wherever I go, even though standing at 5’10” its pretty hard to do. But in places like London, Milan, even Cologne, I blended in pretty well. You didn’t realize I wasn’t a local until I opened my mouth and you heard my “American Midwestern Accent”.

Well, in Budapest, as soon as I stepped onto the plane at LHR to BUD, I received stares, glares, and anything else you could think of. The stewardess even asked me “so what brings you to Budapest?”. I stumbled a bit with my answer, other than the famous baths, I knew nothing of the city. All I knew was that I was meeting one of my best friends there and we were prepared to see what Budapest was about.

Night 1 was definitely interesting. We stayed in Buda, which to my knowledge is the older part of the city, its separated by a river and once you make it to this side its a pretty steep hike to the top. Buda is home to many museums, castles, and cathedrals, as well as the occasional gothic-style architecture that makes you think you left the 2000s and stepped into Dracula’s lair.

Aah, don’t fret, Dracula is Romanian, so technically not his lair but definitely a cousin whom was twice removed.

It was also the night Hungarians celebrated St. Stephens day. There I was thinking it’s completely normal to greet every American with fireworks… This party was not for me, I was the girl who showed up uninvited… but I had my dancing shoes on and I was going to dance!

Walking around Buda felt a lot like being transported into a portable time capsule. While everything was somewhat modern, there were so many remnants of the past. Like these vintage Houdini posters for a magic show that was held at the shop we refused to go into. (Sorry not sorry, those flyers did not look very welcoming)

Actually, now that I think about it. The statues didn’t look very friendly either but I assume that’s the point. Cool to look at, but don’t touch! Fear invoked, good job.

One thing we thoroughly enjoyed was visiting the Gellért Baths. A must if you plan on visiting!

Welcome to the vibrant and hip side, Pest. I feel like once we moved to our Airbnb in Pest our attitudes changed immediately. Moving to Pest reminded me of spending the summer at your Gran’s house, then a week later your cousins show up. Pest = Cousins. It was so refreshing and felt less vampy. Even the people hosted more smiles on their face.