For those who just started following along, I recently re-discovered my old travel blog from my first trip to Europe in the summer of 2014. I wanted to share these entries with you, because it is amazing to look back and reminisce on that trip. [Side note - this was all before I was vegan, so if there is any confusion about that food I was eating, that's why.] Here was my tenth blog post from that trip.
August 8, 2014;
"Our boat arrived in Split, Croatia at 11:00am. We ate breakfast and got off the ship as soon as it docked. We didn’t really have plans, but we heard that there were waterfalls where you could swim, which was about an hour away from port. We found another couple who split a cab with us, and we all went to the waterfalls.
We arrived around 12:15, and decided to stay until 1:30, so we’d have a little over an hour. We bought our tickets, and then we found out we had to take a bus down to the falls. The bus was packed, and a lot of people were standing. It was driving down a tiny road on the side of a cliff, and we were going very fast. When another bus passed us going the opposite way, there were only about 2 inches in between the two buses. The bus ride took about 15 minutes, so we got to the bottom around 12:30. Then we had to take a trail through the woods to the waterfalls, and it was extremely crowded and everyone kept stopping to take pictures. By the time we arrived to the falls, it was 1:10. We were mad because it took so long for us to get there on the trail, so we were only in the water for 10 minutes and my parents never even got in. The view was incredible and it was a great experience, but I wish we could’ve stayed longer. It was really hard to swim because there were slimy rocks all along the bottom and the water was pretty shallow, and the current was pushing us away from the falls.
When we got out of the water, we saw people going on a different trail than we came on. We decided to go back that way, and it only took about 5 minutes. We realized how much time we had wasted taking the wrong trail to get there, and it was pretty disappointing. We got some amazing pictures, though, so that made up for it a little bit. We took the bus back and met our cab driver. Then he took us to an outdoor produce market where we walked around for half an hour. We bought huge peaches, grapes, and cherries. They were all delicious, but it was probably because I was very hungry. After that, he took us back near the cruise port where we walked around the old city. We went inside the city walls, where it looked a lot like Dubrovnik.
We got back on our cruise around 5:30, and we had dinner reservations at 6:00. We went to the Teppenyaki restaurant, and the chef put on the best show I’ve ever seen. The food was delicious and I ate so much that I thought I was going to pop.
After dinner, Rachel and I went back to the room and packed since we get off the ship tomorrow. Then all four of us went to the lounge for “The Perfect Couple” game show. Couples were chosen from the audience to complete challenges, and the team who could get the challenges done in the least amount of time won. It was very entertaining. Then, the four of us, plus Connor, went to the theater for a show. It was another mixture of magic, dancing, and aerial. It was really good.
When the show was over, we went to the lounge and hung out with our friends for the rest of the night. I was extremely sad that tonight was the last night that we will see all of these people. We met the most amazing friends from all over the world - Holland, Germany, Spain, England, Florida, New York, Australia - you name it. I did meet one guy who lives in Pasadena, California, so I’m happy about that. I’m so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to go on this cruise and meet so many people. I don’t want to get off the ship tomorrow!"
