After two weeks in Finland it was time to leave for Croatia. Honestly, I was pretty reluctant about going for this trip as it felt like we had just managed to get back to Finland and leaving again sounded stressfull. Anyways, kinda last minute I got the plane tickets and Kaksu promised to babysit Pynpyn during my mom's work days, so I had no excuses but to go. And I'm glad that I went!
First of all, I took a daytime train from Rovaniemi to Helsinki. As the train arrived to Helsinki around 6pm I had 12 hours in Helsinki before taking a flight the next morning. I got to sleep a bit at my sister's beautiful apartment and also got a chance to meet up with my dear friend Ansku. We had a lovely salad dinner at this pretty location called Taideterassi.
There was no direct flights from Finland to Croatia, so I had a layover in Frankfurt on the way. Everything went good and I arrived to Split all safely. Rolf came from Berlin with his Greek friend Kostas and Kostas' girlfriend Maria a few hours later than me so I waited (took a nap) for them at the hotel. This hotel called Villa Split Heritage Hotel was absolutely gorgeous! And located in the old town Split, which was supposed to be all empty due the Covid-19 according to all Croatians... But for me at least the old town was busy af hahah - but pretty!!
It was great to see Rolf after more than two weeks separation, and it was also nice to meet Kostas and Maria for the very first time.The first night we spent eating at nice vegan restaurant called Pandora Greenbox. Fully vegan and innovative dishes, me likey dat. The next morning I got my eyelashes done - first things first, you know. The place was called Diamond Salon, and I got nice English service there. Pic for proof :) Afterwards, we participated on a free walking tour which provided us some history scoop about Roman palace the old town is built on. And also visited the Game of Thrones museum!!
The next days, we also did some trips out of Split. One day trip was to a little town called Trogir. Super cute and only like 45 minute drive from Split with a taxi. It was way calmer than Split old town. It was super pretty and we spent nice few hours walking around and eating.
We also did like a full day boat trip visiting five islands a day. The water is so freaking clear in Croatia - it is insane!! We also saw the famous blue cave. A bit of a queue to get there, but it's beautiful. Apparently the water reflects the sky's color and the shade of blue changes during the day. We also took a dip in the water and I did not get any sunburn - success! :)
One day of the holiday I actually spent writing an essay for school.. But it was okay! Cozy room and some peace is also lovely. Actually I am pretty slow paced in general these days so for me chilling and eating or drinking is often enough action already haha. BTW the weather in Split was so nice! It stayed between 20-30 degrees, although usually this time of the year it might be more than forty! craaazy. Here is some wandering snaps around Split :)
For the last full day we went to Hvar island. Rolf had been there for my essay writing day so he was an expert already and really loved it there. And I can see why - the main town is way calmer than Split and maybe even a bit prettier! Got also more beaches and even lil islands nearby to explore. The ferry from Split to Hvar took about 50 minutes and the other boat ride to reach the fancy hipster paradise and Carpe Diem beach was like 10 minutes. We had some nice mocktails and checked out some cool spots on the main island before heading to that Carpe Diem beach on the other lil island. That island was super cool! They even played techno ❤︎ Unfortunately I felt the first symptoms of UTI while on Carpe Diem and had to focus on drinking seven bottles of cranberry juice while Rolf went on swimming alone...
As the past three times in my life when I have had the UTI it has gotten real bad real fast I tried to seek medical help as soon as possible. Naturally, not doctor's office was open the time we got back to Split... For additional stress factor, my flight was leaving early the next day and with the layovers and train ride the actual travelling time to home was over 24 hours, and having UTI pain is not the ideal way to spend that time. And it is not even safe... So we ended up going to the emergency room. It took about an hour of waiting to get the prescription needed. Not bad at all - so blessed to have the EU health insurance card! We even made it to the dinner with Maria and Kostas so no harm done with this incident haha.
I left with 8 am flight. Having a longer layover in Munich, I arrived to Helsinki around 7pm and traveled straight to the train station. Had a chance to pic up some Hesburger snakkos for the 12 hour train ride, and got home for Pyni the next morning :)
All in all Croatia was great! Glad I went :) and super grateful to Rolf and Kostas for arranging everything so me and Maria could focus on enjoying life ❤︎ Looking forward for our next trip!
