Part III Hungary + Croatia || Croatia

…and then we were off to the beach! Our ancestry is Croatian. My father is from a village near the border of Croatia. He went to a Croatian boarding school in Hungary and learned Croatian early on.  While visiting I got the sense that being Croatian is a point of pride.  In Hungary there were Croatian schools and clubs (similar to the elks lodges here).  Because of this it was really important to visit Croatia during this trip.

We brought my aunt who lives in Hungary. She had never been even though she lives a few hours from the border. She was completely blown away with the sea, boats, and unusual seafood.  We drove 8 hours to the southern city of Split. From there we were off to the island of Hvar- go there! The views were breathtaking, the water was crystal clear, and the food was sooo good.  One of the highlights was our boat tour to swim in the green lagoon, visit the blue cave, and beach hop to remote islands.

After some time on the island we went back inland to visit Plitvice national park, a beautiful area filled with turquoise water and waterfalls.  We stayed nearby in the country side. It's an area that was severely impacted by the fairly recent Croatian war of independence. Nextdoor to our brand new airbnb was a burnt down building from the war (see image towards the end). Apparently landmines from the 90’s are still in the fields so were advised to stay near the main property.  The countryside was beautiful and relaxing. We had a traditional Croatian meal, pet some horses and headed back to Hungary the next day.


...Budapest post coming tomorrow <3 j="" p="">