The fun didn’t end after our KJS performances in Sibenik! I went off on my own to join a group trip for the next 11 days.
Friday, July 29 – Split, Croatia
I spent my last morning in Sibenik taking in the beauty of the Hostel Scala pool before walking to the bus station. I took an hour long bus ride to Split where I would be joining my group tour the following day. My bus dropped me off near the Riva (waterfront), and I walked to my hostel. It was about a 20 minute walk, but what Google Maps didn’t show what that it was an entirely uphill walk. By the time I reached my hostel, I was dripping with sweat. I checked into the hostel and spent some time relaxing and drying off.
I made the walk back into the city center to explore the Old City. Similar to Sibenik, the Old City is the heart of Split. It is made up of tons of narrow cobblestone streets, which make it very easy to get lost. I got myself some kiwi gelato and sat along the waterfront enjoying the beautiful weather. I got dinner at a vegetarian restaurant that had delicious tofu tacos before heading back to my hostel.
Saturday, July 30 – Split, Croatia
Today was Day 1 of my Contiki group trip! We weren’t meeting at our hotel until 6:00 that evening, so I had the day to myself before we kicked off our trip.
I walked back to the Old City and through the street markets to a breakfast spot where I ordered an açaí bowl. I showed up at just the right time because it started pouring shortly after I sat down.
I joined a walking tour to officially familiarize myself with Split and to learn about the city’s history. My tour guide was a Split local, and he was very knowledgable! He was great at including historical information, but also telling us about what daily life is like in Split for locals.
After my walking tour, I made my way to a nearby laundromat. My clothes were in dire need of a refresh after our sweaty week in Sibenik. While my clothes were in the wash, I explored the nearby area for a bit, sat and got a drink, and read my book. Then I headed back to my hotel to pack up my things.
I took a taxi to the hotel where my Contiki tour was starting. When my taxi driver picked me up, he asked me “Oh, are you going to meet up with the rest of the group too?” And I was kind of thinking “Um.. How does he know that?” Turns out, he had just driven another girl from my Contiki trip (who ended up being one of my good friends of the group) to our hotel and she had told him about how there were going to be nearly 30 of us meeting up and traveling the Balkans together. Our hotel was in a remote, industrial area of Split. My Uber driver said not many people stay out that way, so he figured we must be part of the same group. He was right!
I checked into my room and was told my roommate Emily had already checked in. She actually wasn’t in the room when I got there, which was fine with me because I was super nervous to meet her! I later learned where she was. The trip I was on started in Split, and I was ending my trip in Budapest. However, the trip is on a constant loop around the Balkans. My trip’s itinerary was Split – Dubrovnik – Budva – Sarajevo – Belgrade – Budapest. People can then join in Budapest to go Budapest – Ljubljana – Split and then go home. They could also start in Budapest, travel through Ljubljana and Split, and then go through the entire itinerary that I did. So some people (like myself) join the trip in Split and end in Budapest. Others join in Budapest and circle all the way back to Budapest. Some joined in Split and circled all the way to Split. My roommate Emily had joined the tour in Budapest and was traveling all the way through to Budapest again. So she was not in our hotel room because she was already “checked in” to our trip, and she was out exploring Split!
The 22 of us that were joining the tour in Split had a meeting in the hotel lobby going through some basic information. We then had to get our passports and travel insurance checked. We were having an included group dinner in the hotel restaurant that evening, so in the meantime I just hung in the lobby with my fellow travelers and started getting to know everyone.
There were 27 of us in total. I didn’t realize when I booked my trip that Contiki is an Australian company, so the majority of people on the trip were from Australia. We were an eclectic group! We had people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, England, and Ireland. We had fun talking about all of our different cultures and home countries at dinner. It was interesting to share our perspectives on each other’s countries.
After dinner, we boarded the bus around 9:00 for our driver Patryk to take us into the city center to check out Split’s nightlife. Our trip manager, Muz, had organized a night out for us. We went to an outdoor bar and hung out there for a while. My friends Linda (Canada), Mel (Australia), Emily (USA), and I left to head into the Old City in search of a backpacker’s bar called Charlie’s that Muz had told us about. Once we found it, I realized that I had almost gone in this place earlier in the day because it was right next to the laundromat! It was much more poppin’ now though! We went inside to get a drink, laughed at the fact that they were playing Zootopia on the TVs, and then took our drinks out into the alleyway to hang out there. We eventually made our way back to the outdoor bar where everyone else was, hung out for a bit, and then got an Uber back to the hotel to call it a night.
Sunday, July 31 – to Dubrovnik, Croatia
We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel before hopping on the coach bus to head into Split for the morning. We had the morning to explore Split before we driving to Dubrovnik around noon. Linda, Mel, and I went to a museum of the underground portions of Diocletian’s palace. We could walk through the tunnels and read about how it was once used. All four of us had already spent a day in Split, so we spent most of our morning wandering around and just exploring. We picked up lunch and sat to eat along the Riva.
We made our way back to our meeting spot to get on the bus and head to Dubrovnik. Our trip manager, Muz, was so knowledgable. Every time we were arriving at a new location, she would pull up a presentation on the coach TV screens to give us a brief history of where we would be stopping with a list of recommended activities, sightseeing locations, and restaurants. On our drive to Dubrovnik, we took a pit stop in a city called Ston. We stretched our legs and admired the stone wall that protected the city. If I’m remembering correctly, Muz told us the Ston Wall is the second largest protective wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. Pretty cool!
When we arrived in Dubrovnik, we had a little bit of time to settle in and change before we walked over to the waterfront for our sunset dinner cruise. We got to enjoy the beautiful views of coastal Dubrovnik while our two local guides prepared dinner for us. Those of the group who ordered fish were able to enjoy freshly caught fish for dinner! Muz had confirmed our dinner orders that morning because our guides were going out that morning to catch all the fish needed for dinner. My friends who ordered that said it was delicious. The vegetarian option was a risotto with salad and veggies. We also got to have our first shot of rakija, which is a fruit brandy native to the Balkans. Muz had told us that it was a traditional drink and that we would all have a shot together to toast to our trip! The way she spoke about it was as if warning us that it was not going to be delightful, but that we would suck it up and do it together! So I went into it expecting the worst, but I actually loved it! It became my signature shot over the rest of the trip. When we were done eating, we went up to the top deck of the boat to hang out as the sun set. We also took our first group picture!
After our boat docked back in the port, Patryk drove the coach into the Old City for a night out organized by Muz. We started out at a small bar that had been rented out for us that Muz coined “the bucket bar”. They only served drinks in mini buckets, so you really got the most bang for your buck! We hung out and danced there for a while before going to Buza Bar, which is a nightclub built into the Old City walls. Nightclubs are not really my scene so I didn’t stay long, but it was cool to be “inside” the Old City walls. It was definitely a cool atmosphere!
Monday, August 1 – Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our full day in Dubrovnik started off with a walking tour through the Old City. We got to learn a lot about the city’s history and, of course, see all of the notable Game of Thrones filming spots.
After our walking tour, we went kayaking! Linda and I shared a kayak together, and we were pulling up the rear the entire time. Our arms were hurting so bad! To be fair, we kayaked really far. We started by the Old City walls and kayaked all the way out and around the Old City into a small cove along the coast. We got out of our kayaks there and hung out for a while. We swam, had some snacks, and some of our friends even climbed up the rocks and jumped off. It was absolutely gorgeous there, and the water was so nice.
After we kayaked back, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Linda, Grace (Australia), Mackenzie (Canada), and I went to get lunch together at a restaurant we had passed eariler on our walking tour. I got pasta, but as soon as I took a bite I knew there were nuts in it. There hadn’t been any nuts listed on the ingredients on the menu, but I asked the waiter and there were ground up cashews in the pasta’s topping. Luckily, my friend Grace swapped meals with me, but I was not feeling great. We all went back to the hotel anyway to freshen up after our kayaking adventure so I was able to take a Benadryl and relax for a bit.
Once I was feeling better, Linda, Mel, Emily, and I took an Uber up to a plateau overlooking Dubrovnik. There was a museum there where we learned more about the Homeland War. We admired the panoramic views of Dubrovnik and then took the cable car back down the mountain. We found a local restaurant where we enjoyed pizza for dinner. We got gelato to end the night and headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday, August 2 – to Budva, Montenegro via Kotor, Montenegro
Today we were leaving Dubrovnik and heading to Budva, Montenegro. On our drive there, we stopped in a Montenegrin town called Kotor. We didn’t have much time here. Our driver, Patryk, had specific rules about how long he was able to drive each day, so we had to be at our location by a certain time. Due to some traffic, we arrived in Kotor later than expected so our time there was short. Muz had recommended to us that we hike up to the city wall, but by the time we got there, we would need to run up and down if we wanted to have time. Linda, Mel, Nathan (Australia), and I ended up going halfway up, realizing the view would be the same even if we kept going, and then turned around to go back down. We wanted to have time to get something to eat before going back on the bus. I got a spinach and cheese pastry called burek to eat on our walk back to the bus.
Budva was going to be our last coastal stop before we headed further inland. We were also going to be staying at a resort. Budva is known for having a very relaxed, slow paced lifestyle, so Muz really encouraged us to embrace that, relax, and take it easy. We arrived in Budva mid-afternoon, and we quickly dropped our stuff in our rooms and headed to the resort pools. We all got to relax in the pool for a few hours before we freshened up for dinner.
We met up for a buffet dinner at the resort. Muz had organized a night out for us again. We had some time to kill in between dinner and our night out, so a group of us found a nearby bar and sat outside drinking and playing games. I introduced the group to a favorite drinking game of mine called Cheers to the Governor, which we had so much fun playing that night and throughout the rest of the trip. We eventually met up with the rest of our group and walked along the waterfront down to the bar where Muz had reserved tables for us.
We got drinks, had some rakija, and hung out. We later made our way to a different outdoor nightclub. Again, I only stayed here for a little while. A group of us left and hung out on the rocky beach for a while before walking back to the resort.
Wednesday, August 3 – Budva, Montenegro
This was our full day in Budva, and it might have been my favorite day of the entire trip! After breakfast at the hotel, we all met along the water to get tickets for a boat ride to Hawaii. Yes, you read that right. There is a beachy island off the coast of Budva that has earned itself the nickname “Hawaii” because of its beauty. You have to take a water taxi to get there. Muz had told us there were two options, a 4 euro ride that would take you straight to the island or a 5 euro ride that included a “tour” to sightsee on your way to Hawaii. We all figured we could spare the extra euro to see more of the beauty Budva had to offer. We bought our tickets and waited for the next boat.
We did not anticipate how crowded the boat would be. They didn’t even check tickets as we got on the boat. A mass of people just started piling into and onto the boat. People climbed on the roof and sat on the edge of the boat with their feet hanging off the edges. At first, we were all a bit taken aback by this, but later ended up sitting on the edge with our feet hanging off the edge on our boat ride back. The “tour” did not end up being a tour at all. We were expecting someone to be on a microphone narrating what we were seeing. The “tour” ended up just being a really, really long boat ride with no narration that we all wished we had skipped. By the time we finally got to Hawaii, we were joking that we would have paid an extra euro just to get there faster.
We spent a few hours hanging out on the beach in Hawaii, talking, and enjoying the sunshine. On the boat ride back, Linda, Emily, Nathan, Tim (New Zealand), Ed (England), and I sat on the edge and hung our feet over. It was so fun! A group of us went to get lunch by the beach. We enjoyed watching people swimming and doing all kinds of water sports as we ate. Muz had told us that if we were interested in doing any water sports that we should go back to the same bar we had been at last night. The guy who owns the place runs the bar by night, but by day, he runs a water sport business! He is living the dream.
After lunch, Tim, Ed, Al (Australia), and I walked along the water back to last night’s bar to do some water sports! We decided to go tubing. Al and I went together. We were on a tube where you are sitting upright, and we were being pulled by a jet ski. While Al and I had a lot of fun on the tube, we were also being sprayed so much by the jet ski that we had to keep our eyes closed and our heads turned almost the entire time. I ended up with so much salt water in my nose by the end! We definitely got a bumpy ride though, and we both managed to stay on the tube the entire time. We then all walked back to the hotel to shower and freshen up for the evening.
A large group of us met up around 6:00 to walk into the Old City to explore a bit. Once we got there, we split into smaller groups. The group that I was with first went up to walk along the Old City walls. It was cool being on top of the walls and getting to look down into the city and across the water towards our resort. We could even see Hawaii from there! It was also golden hour, so the sun was casting a beautiful glow over the whole city.
The 10 of us then got a big table for dinner and enjoyed some aperol spritzes, rakija shots, risotto, clams, and more. By the time we were done eating, the sun had set. Our friend Haydn (Australia), who had been at dinner with us and was the most productive explorer of the group, encouraged us to go back into the old city to see the Citadel. It was worth the trip because the views at night were gorgeous!
We started walking back along the water to the resort when we ran into our friends who were at the same bar from the night before. Three of us stopped to join them. We hung out there for a while before deciding to go back to the resort.
The resort had an outdoor area with maybe 10 or more ping pong tables where people could rent paddles and play ping pong. Tim and I had talked earlier about wanting to play, but we hadn’t gotten around to it. We were able to convince a bunch of our friends to play if it was still open when we got back. Luckily, even though it was midnight, it was open! Seven of us decided to stay and play. We played ping pong for an hour and a half, and it was so much fun. We played 2 vs. 2, around the world, and we even had a mini tournament before heading to bed. This was one of my favorite nights!
Thursday, August 4 – to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina via Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina
We boarded the coach this morning for a long day of driving as we traveled to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. We had a mid-day stop in Mostar. As we approached Mostar, Muz pulled up her presentation and told us all about the tradition of jumping off the Mostar Old Bridge. The beautiful bridge is part of an old tradition for the Mostar men. Jumping off the bridge is seen as a man’s rite of passage and coming of age. Jumping off the bridge is also a way for a man to romance a woman he loves. The bridge is 67 feet tall, and the local men train for years in order to safely jump off the bridge. Muz told us to keep our eyes peeled in case we were lucky enough to see a bridge jumper. Men also stand on the bridge in their swimwear advertising that they will jump off the bridge for a small fee.
We got lucky, and right as we walked down to the bottom of the river, a man was getting ready to jump. The whole town paused to watch. It was so high up! He received a round of applause as he landed in the water.
During the rest of our break, the group I was with wanted to grab lunch and also check out the local mosque, which we had heard was beautiful! I had made sure to wear a maxi skirt and bring a long sleeve cover up so that my knees and shoulders would be covered when we went to the mosque. We walked over the bridge and towards a restaurant that Muz had recommended for lunch. We sat down and hoped to have a quick meal. Again, we had a relatively short stop in Mostar due to Patryk’s driving restrictions so we had to be back on the road at a specific time.
We had been seated at the restaurant for 20 minutes before we could even make eye contact with a waiter to take our order. We were anxiously looking at the clock while waiting for our food. Even though the mosque was literally next door, we knew already that we would not have time to visit. I was pretty bummed about that because 1) I wanted to see the mosque! And 2) I wouldn’t have worn a maxi skirt on a 5-hour drive day if I hadn’t needed to. We had accepted the fact that we wouldn’t be able to see the mosque, but we were still waiting for our food as the time we needed to be at the bus got closer and closer. Four of the five of us got our food literally 5 minutes before we needed to leave the restaurant and run to the bus. We scarfed down our food and ran downstairs to pay. My friend Dan (Ireland) still hadn’t gotten his food yet, but they were able to pack it in a to-go box for him as we ran out of the restaurant and towards our meeting spot. The worst part is we were not allowed to have hot food on the bus (to keep the bus from getting smelly), so Dan had to shovel his food into his mouth as we ran towards the bus. We barely made it in time.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the bus headed to Sarajevo. That night, we had an organized evening of small group dinners with local families. We were split into groups of 6-7 and paired with a local Bosnian family who would be hosting us for a home cooked meal. We freshened up and got back on the bus for Patryk to drive us to our families’ apartment complexes.
On our drive to Sarajevo, Muz had told us a lot about the Bosnian War that took place in the 1990s. We had been able to see how the city was still recovering from the war as we drove through the city. Muz encouraged us to use this intimate experience with our families to ask them about the war (these families do these dinners regularly with Contiki tours, so they are open to talking about it) and what it was like for them living through it.
It was a really special experience. Not only did we get to enjoy delicious home cooked meals accompanied by the traditional Bosnian elderflower juice, but we also got to hear firsthand what it was like to live in a war-torn city and how it affected their lives then and now. The family I was with was a mother and her 16 year old daughter. The husband and older daughter were not able to join us. It was so interesting to hear stories from the mother about living in that very same apartment during the war with her parents. In contrast, it was interesting to hear that her youngest daughter was not taught much about it in school and that most of her knowledge about the war was because of her family. It was a very unique experience.
After we said our goodbyes to our families, we boarded the coach and headed back to the hotel. Our hotel in Sarajevo was very interesting. We are pretty sure it was still in the process of being built. Nearly everybody’s room had something wrong with it. The toilet in Emily and I’s room didn’t flush. We had to launch our full body weight into the door to get it to open. Linda and Mel’s room had a hole in the wooden base of their couch. My friends Victoria and Lindsey’s door literally did not fit in their doorjamb. The room numbers were attached to the walls with masking tape. We woke up to the sounds of construction. It was actually quite comical, so at least we all got a good laugh out of it. And everyone’s room issues were either fixed or they were relocated.
That night, we walked to a street of pubs and hookah bars near our hotel. We found a handful of tables at a placed called Caffe The Pub. It was nothing special, but we loved it there! We could find enough tables for all of us to sit near each other. We spent the night hanging out, drinking, taking rakija shots, and playing games. It was so much fun.
Friday, August 5 – Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Our day in Sarajevo started off with a guided tour of the underground war tunnels that were used during the Bosnian War. Our tour guide was able to tell us even more about life for Bosnian people during the war and how these tunnels were used to safely transport people and supplies. There were short sections of the tunnels that we could walk through. They weren’t very tall; one of the tunnels I could fit in with just a couple inches to spare, and the other I had to crouch down to fit in. Our guide said that sometimes the tunnels were flooded with as much as a foot of water. Imagining walking through the tunnels in a foot of water, hunched over like that, and carrying supplies would have been extremely uncomfortable. It was a very sobering experience.
Our guide then joined our bus as Patryk drove us back into the city center where our guide took us on a walking tour of the city. We actually got in a small car accident on our drive and had to pull over for a bit while Patryk exchanged information with the other driver. The front corner of our bus had been scraped.
On our walking tour, we got to see so much beautiful architecture and explore the shops in the market. Bosnia is known for its copper imports, and there were so many beautiful copper tea sets and dishes for sale in the market. The magnet I got in Sarajevo is made of copper! Our tour guide pointed out the many ways that the city chooses to remember the hardships they endured during the war. For example, there are spots on the streets that are marked with red paint in places where the city had once been hit with mortar shells as a memorial. We learned so much on this tour.
After our walking tour was over, the rest of the day was ours to enjoy! A group of 8 of us went to lunch together. We ended up at a small family owned restaurant. We were the only customers there! The food was incredible and the owner was so friendly.
After lunch, we walked through the city to the cable car station. We took a cable car ride up the mountain to visit the 1984 Olympic bobsled track. This was my favorite part of the day! The bobsled tracks are no longer used for the sport and are instead covered in graffiti art. We got to walk down the entire track. As instructed by Muz, we posed for some pictures pretending to be zooming down the track in an imaginary bobsled. The only downside of this trek down the bobsled track was that we also had to walk all the way back up. We were definitely sweating by the end.
We took the cable car back down and headed back into the market. A few of us girls walked around and shopped for a little bit before meeting up with the rest of the Contiki group at a nearby pub. We had an included dinner that night, but people were getting together for a drink beforehand. We sat outside under the mist machines with some ciders before walking over to dinner. We had one long table for all 27 of us! Dinner was delicious, and it was just so fun all hanging out. Patryk drove us all back to the hotel and we spent one more night at Caffe The Pub drinking, playing games, and hanging out.
Saturday, August 6 – to Belgrade, Serbia
This was a long drive day for us. We had an early departure time and most of the day was spent on the bus. We had a couple short pit stops along the way to stretch our legs and grab some snacks. My friend Linda and I had planned matching outfits to add a little excitement to our boring drive day. Our friend Callyn (New Zealand) unintentionally joined in on the excitement.
We got to Belgrade, Serbia around 3:00 in the afternoon. Muz led us on a short walking tour accompanied by a little history. I bought my magnet, got some ice cream, and then we went to check into the hotel.
A group of us walked to an outdoor pub nearby, got a drink, and hung out. Muz had helped us organize dinner reservations at a nearby restaurant. She recommended this restaurant to us all because according to a traveler from an earlier trip of hers, this restaurant was where they had had the best meal of their lives! We all knew we had to take her word for it. Dinner was very good! We even got to enjoy a live band that wandered around the restaurant serenading each table.
There was a rakija tasting bar down the street from our dinner restaurant that we all had to try afterwards. They had lots of different flavors: raspberry, honeydew, grape, melon. All of them were delicious! We ended up moving to a different bar where we could all hang out together. We stayed out pretty late at the bar hanging out and enjoying each other’s company before walking back to the hotel.
Sunday, August 7 – to Budapest, Hungary
Now I know I said our drive to Belgrade was a long drive day, but this one blows all other drive days out of the water!!! We were headed to Budapest today, and we had been well warned that it would be a long day. As we went into Hungary, we would have to cross the border on the Serbian side and the Hungarian side. For whatever reason, these borders are both notoriously known for being very slow. Last time Muz had crossed these borders, it had taken 6 hours. So we had known to come prepared with snacks, games, and entertainment.
We stopped at the Serbian side of the border around 11:00am. Luckily, the bus lanes were all the way to the righthand side of the road and there was a small field next to the lanes where we could stretch our legs. Patryk kept the doors open so we were free to get off and on the bus as we pleased. There were also public bathrooms. We were at the Serbian side of the border for about 2 hours.
We then crossed over and had to wait in an even longer line on the Hungarian side of the border. We waited on this side of the border for 6.5 hours. Yes. 6 AND A HALF HOURS. It was insane. At first, morale was high. We were playing card games. Someone had found a soccer ball on the bus, and people were playing soccer outside in the field. We were going on walks to and from the bathrooms. We were dancing, sharing snacks, and hanging out. Muz had even organized a game for us in anticipation of our long wait at the border where we all had to anonymously submit a song that described us. She then made a playlist of all the songs. We listened to them on the bus together and had to guess who had submitted each song. It was so fun!
But after we hit hour 4 at the Hungarian border, morale started to dip. The bus got a lot quieter, and it seemed that we had all made an unspoken agreement that it was time for a nap. Muz gently woke us up over the microphone about an hour later with some bad news… We were scheduled to go on a sunset dinner cruise on the Danube River that night once we reached Budapest. However, with the way things were looking, it was highly unlikely that we would make it in time. She was trying to see if there was any way for us to still make the cruise or if they could reschedule us. If not, we would have to cancel.
We FINALLY made it to the front of the bus line. We all took our passports and got off the bus. Funny enough, when it was our turn, it only took maybe five minutes for all of our passports to get checked. It really made us question what the hold up had been all day… We had finally made it across the border after a total of 8.5 hours!! (It turns out that our 8.5 hour Hungarian border stop is now an infamous story among Contiki tour guides! My friend Haydn was on another Contiki in Iceland, and his trip manager said something along the lines of, “Yeah, I heard a trip recently was stuck at the Hungarian border for 8.5 hours!” And Haydn was like, “Hey! That was me!!!” He made sure to message our group chat and let everyone know that our trip has gone down in infamy.)
We got back on the bus with good news from Muz. Although we definitely were not making our original cruise time (we were just leaving the Hungarian border with a 2 hour drive to Budapest at the time we were originally supposed to depart on the river cruise), they were able to reschedule us for a 10:00pm cruise that same night. However, even with it being that much later, we still had to leave ASAP. Patryk would quickly stop at the hotel for us to drop our bags in our room. We would have to be back on the bus literally within 5 minutes for him to turn around and drive us to the river cruise. Patryk was leaving our trip that night, and again had to abide by strict driver regulations and rest periods. Luckily, Muz had warned us of this earlier, and Patryk had been kind enough to open the coach’s luggage compartments in case anyone needed to get a change of clothes for the dinner cruise (The theme for tonight’s dinner was “shit shirt” so nobody was wearing anything fancy). We made it to the river cruise just in time. We ran off the bus and onto the boat as we said our goodbyes to Patryk.
We ate a buffet dinner in the downstairs portion of the ship. A tour guide lectured sporadically about the buildings we passed on the river. The people at my table and I were joking that the bummer of touring at night was that with the dark exterior and the interior lights turned on, we could really only see ourselves in the windows’ reflection. Once we finished our food though, we could head up to the top deck with our drinks and enjoy the scenery. The buildings were all lit up so beautifully! We took lots of pictures and enjoyed all the free wine!
When our boat docked, we departed and divvied ourselves up into groups of 4-5 to take taxis to a nearby club that Muz had recommended to us. This place was a huge nightclub with tons of different rooms. We hung out here for a bit, but I was quick to dip out and catch a ride home with anyone else who wanted to leave. A group of 4 of us ended us walking to a nearby supermarket when we got back to grab some snacks. We hung out in the hotel stairway snacking and talking until the rest of our friends made it back before heading to bed.
Monday, August 8 – Budapest, Hungary
We woke up this morning a little hungover and a little sad because this was our last full day together. We started the day with a walking tour through Budapest. Since Patryk had left the night before, Contiki provided us with bus tickets and we got to take the public bus into the town center. It reminded us of how spoiled we had been before on the coach bus.
We met up with our tour guide, who was so funny and knowledgable. We got little headsets so we could hear her from farther away, which was very convenient. If the massive group of 27 didn’t give away our tourist status, then the earpieces definitely did. She took us into the beautiful St. Stephen’s Basilica. The interior was beautiful, and there was a stunning organ inside (which made me smile and think of my Grandpa Johnson). Our tour guide walked us through the city and along the Danube River. She pointed out notable architecture and monuments along the way. We took a tram and ended our tour at an indoor market.
A group of 7 of us got lunch at the market before making our way to Buda Castle & Castle Hill. We rented Lime scooters as a fun (and faster) way to get ourselves there. The museums were all closed since it was a Monday, but we enjoyed the architecture from the outside.
We then walked over to the Fisherman’s Bastion. Earlier in the day, I had recognized the pattern on the spires as the same pattern in the background of my favorite picture of my parents from when they were in Budapest in 2017. I had hoped to see the same building they were at, but what I wasn’t expecting was to walk through an archway to get a better view, turn around, and realize I was standing in the exact same spot where they had taken the photo! I had Emily take a photo of me standing there too. It’s pretty cute comparing the two photos.
There were 8 of us together by now, and we grabbed a table nearby to hang out for a while and rest our feet. The girls got gelato, and the boys got beers. We then made plans to head to the thermal baths to relax for the rest of the afternoon before our final dinner of the trip.
When we got to the thermal baths, we saw a bunch of our other friends there and were all able to hang out together. The water was so warm and relaxing. We made sure to try out a bunch of the different pools, both indoor and outdoor. We all left feeling very relaxed and rejuvenated. A bunch of us even dozed off in the Uber ride back to the hotel.
We quickly freshened up, and left straight away for our last dinner. Muz had again organized a reservation for us all. We had pretty much an entire section of the restaurant to ourselves, and the food was delicious. After dinner, Muz led the way as we walked to a bar that she highly recommended. On our walk there, however, it started raining very hard. We had to start running through the rain, and the group kept getting separated. We did eventually meet up again at the bar, but it was such a crowded place and it wasn’t really what we wanted for the last night. We wanted to all be able to enjoy each other’s company and actually hear each other and be able to have a conversation with one another. A group of us left to go find another spot.
We ended up a few blocks away at a bar that was also a club, an arcade, and a hostel. They really had it all. We were able to find a space on the top floor where we could all gather around and hang out. Some of us went to play games too. As the night went on, people started to break off and head back to the hotel. My friend Anthony (Australia) and I ended up getting Lime scooters again and riding back to the hotel through the empty streets of Budapest.
Tuesday, August 9 – to Zagreb, Croatia
Most of our group was “ending” the trip here in Budapest. Only 7 people from our group were continuing on to Slovenia and then back to Split. So most people were saying their goodbyes here, although our departures had been so sporadic the night before. I, along with many others, chose to get up early for 7:00am breakfast to have one last meal and say goodbye to everyone before we parted ways.
It was so sad saying bye to everyone because you just had such a special shared experience and made so many memories together! But then when you’re saying goodbye, you have no idea when/if you’ll ever see them again.
I was taking a bus to Zagreb by myself this day, but not until the afternoon. After I had said my goodbyes at breakfast, I went back up to my hotel room and got my life together. I repacked all of my things, organized my magnets, and made sure I had all of my tickets printed for the rest of my trip. It had been so nice being on a group trip where I didn’t have to worry about organizing anything. I had taken it for granted! Now I had to be in charge of myself again.
I was able to squeeze in a few more goodbyes with my friends that were still at the hotel before taking a taxi to the bus station. The bus ride to Zagreb was about five hours total, including a one hour stop at the Hungarian-Croatian border (although I didn’t have any friends to play cards with so it was not nearly as entertaining).
When I got to Zagreb, I was so tired that I ended up just laying in my hostel bed for a while. Around 8:30pm, I knew I needed to get myself something to eat so I wandered to a nearby street and stumbled into a mall hoping to find some food there. Instead, I found a movie theater that was showing the new Elvis movie in 15 minutes. I double checked that the movie was playing in English, bought a ticket, and got myself popcorn for dinner.
I didn’t end up staying for the entire movie though. Not only was it getting late, but as the movie was playing, I was also second guessing whether or not I was correctly remembering my hostel’s front door code that was needed to get inside after 11:00pm. My fear of getting locked out of my hostel combined with the fact that the movie wasn’t thrilling me made me decide to dip out early and walk back to the hostel to call it a night.
Wednesday, August 10 – Zagreb, Croatia
I had one full day in Zagreb, so I got up and headed out to explore. I wandered around looking for some breakfast before my walking tour. I passed a place called Pingu Gelato, or Penguin Gelato, so obviously I had to go inside. I ordered waffles, but what came was a tiny waffle covered in massive piles of gelato and whipped cream. It wasn’t really the breakfast I had in mind, so I tried to eat around the gelato and eat the waffle itself. My dad would have loved it!
I joined a walking tour where we got to see and learn about many of the famous buildings in Zagreb. My favorite building that we saw was St. Mark’s Church because of the roof tiling. Despite the church dating back to the 13th century, the tiles remind me of old-school video game graphics. It was also cool to see the Lotrscak Tower, which shoots off a cannon every day at noon. Our tour guide made sure we were there in time to see it go off.
After my walking tour, I grabbed some lunch before heading to the Museum of Broken Relationships. This museum ended up being my favorite part of Zagreb. I spent several hours here. The museum is a global crowd-sourced museum that houses artifacts from anonymous donors’ past relationships and the stories that accompany them. There were so many kinds of things that had been donated. Some stories were funny and lighthearted (like the toothbrush someone’s partner had left at their place and never come to retrieve), while others were tragic and heartbreaking (like the wedding dress that never got worn because the groom tragically died a week before the wedding).
There was also a guestbook that I spent so much time reading through. Visitors had contributed their own stories of broken relationship. Some had even shared their own sentiments about love in general. By the time I had read through a bit of the guestbook, I was trying to hold back tears.
I left the museum and walked back towards the cannon tower to take the world’s shortest funicular (literally). The railcar only travels 66 meters, and according to my walking tour guide, most Zagreb locals detest it. She said you will still see elderly women carrying bags of groceries in both hands walking up the stairs right next to the funicular to boycott it. I figured I should ride it while I was there, but it really was nothing to write home about (yet here I am writing about it).
I spent most of the afternoon wandering around Zagreb, including a walk through the Botanical Garden. I found myself at another museum with a similar premise to the Museum of Broken Relationships. This one was called the Museum of Hangovers. It is another global crowd-sourced museum, but this museum collects funny stories from people’s wild nights out drinking. This museum was a lot more lighthearted. When I bought my ticket, the girl at the front table told me there was a promotion going on to win free admission if I’d like to try. All you had to do was make a bullseye on a dart board while wearing a pair of “drunk goggles” that manipulate your vision to simulate what it is like to be highly intoxicated. I’m not good at darts on a normal day, but I couldn’t say no. To no one’s surprise, I did not get a bullseye. In fact, my dart didn’t even stick to the board. But, when it hit the board before it bounced off, I would say it was pretty close to the center! I can’t complain.
I walked around for so long trying to find somewhere to eat for dinner. I ended up settling for a fast food pizza joint before heading back to the hostel and going to bed.
Thursday, August 11 – Trogir, Croatia
I took one final bus ride of the trip from Zagreb to Trogir, a small, historic town about 10 minutes away from the Split airport. I got there around 2:00 in the afternoon and was only staying the night, so I didn’t have much time to explore. The Old City, where I stayed, is on a very small island. Even with only one night there, I felt very familiar with the town by the time I left.
I checked into my hostel, which was actually the lower level of a local family’s home, and rested for a little while. I went out to explore for a bit before meeting a small group for a walking tour. The tour was just me, my tour guide, and two couples. The tour guide was a Trogir local, and she had so much to share about her hometown. She had asked each of us what we do for work, and when I told her I was a teacher, she made sure to point out the town’s middle school at the end of our trip (the last picture below). I later sent the picture to my fellow 4th grade coworkers joking about how I thought our classrooms were going to be so fancy after the renovations we had done this summer, but it turns out that’s nothing compared to this!
I went back to the hostel to organize all of my stuff one final time. The hostel hosts insisted that I try some of their freshly grown fruits and olives and that I check out the rooftop terrace. They were so kind! I went to sleep pretty early to prepare myself for the long journey home the next morning.
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Towards the end of my trip, I had started putting together all the video clips I had been capturing into a montage. I had so much fun making this little video. I think it perfectly captures the essence of my trip, and I’m glad that I have this video – in addition to all my pictures – to look back on. Seeing all of the little moments put together, especially when accompanied by the lyrics “these are days you’ll remember… you’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky”, makes me emotional! I had such an amazing time exploring this little corner of Europe. I don’t know if or when I would have made my way to the Balkans without the opportunity to perform in Croatia this summer, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it because I had the time of my life!
Eva Around the World 