Hello, lovelies! I’m back with another travel diary. In this one, I talk about my experience in Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary. I hope you enjoy!
Previous Travel Diaries:
//The Running Joke
I did the Europe Inspired trip by Topdeck, which was split up into two parts: Eastern Inspired and Western Inspired. Some people were only doing one part, so at this point, people were leaving and new people were joining the trip.
After Italy, we had completed the western half of the trip. Backpacking is amazing, but it can get exhausting. Especially since we were taking a camping trip to save money. As you know from my last post, we were upgraded to cabins while we were in Italy, so we didn’t have to camp the entire time. Prior to that, it was planned that our first hostel stay after Paris was going to be in Croatia.
“We’ll Relax In Pula” became the running joke for the first half of the trip. In between the western and eastern Europe part of the trip was a short stay in Pula, Croatia to recharge our batteries. Whenever we were exhausted or waking up early to make the most of our time in each country, we’d just joke that we’d sleep in Croatia. And that we did.
//Pula, Croatia
I personally think our stay in Croatia was too long. Two nights would have been enough. Even so, it was great sleeping in and taking naps. The hostel we stayed at there was by far the worst one. We stayed in significantly better hostels later on in the trip. It’s saving grace was that it was right by the beach. I’m pretty sure that’s why Topdeck picked it. (The hostel also did our laundry for us and gave it back to us already folded).
We all walked to the grocery store and bought a bunch of snacks and would sit by the beach to eat it. It was a rock beach, not a sand beach, so we’d sit on our jackets and watch the water. I’m kind of glad it wasn’t a sand beach because sand would’ve gotten everywhere and it was too cold to swim in the ocean anyway.
The biggest thing we did in Croatia was eat fancy-ass food for inexpensive prices. I ate swordfish, truffle pasta, and so much other really good food. It was all delicious. The city itself was also very pretty, but what I remember most about Pula is eating food and catching up on some much-needed rest.
//We Were Joined By Another American
Up until this point, I was the only American person on the tour, which was fine. I was one of the only people of color on the tour, too, but it was so nice to have another American with us. We weren’t even really friends. We were just acquaintances who would talk about how confused they were when it came to Aussie/Kiwi slang. Later on in the tour. Us two Americans, two Mexicans, and two Brazilians got into a debate about how Aluminum is pronounced with some of the Australian tourists, and it was SO funny. (They pronounce and spell it Aluminium).
//Postjona Caves, Slovenia
Slovenia was technically one of the countries officially on the list of countries we visited, but it was more of a day trip than anything on our way to Croatia. We also drove through Slovakia on the way, so I’m counting that as a country I’ve been to like I do with states on U.S road trips.
We visited Postjona Caves while we were in Slovenia and I will say that it was worth the extra money (it was an optional activity). If you are ever in Europe, I recommend it. I’ve been in caves before, but this one was something else. The tour guide was really informative and the walking paths they made were easy to go through. Overall, it was a fun excursion.
//This Was When Everyone Started Getting Sick
Literally everyone. It was a good thing that it mostly happened in Croatia when we had time to rest. That’s honestly one of the reasons why we didn’t do much there. I thankfully didn’t get too sick, but my worst bout was definitely in Krakow (more on that in the next post).
When we were in Berlin, there was a Third Reich walking tour and the tour guide asked us all, “what day are you on with this trip?” When we said, “Day 20,” he said, “Yeah, you guys have the signature Topdeck cough,” which is apparently a thing. It makes sense when you are traveling on a tour bus with 30+ people. We all caught a cold at some point from the weather earlier on during the trip.
//Budapest, Hungary
This was the beginning of me falling in love with Eastern Europe. When booking this trip, places like Krakow and Budapest didn’t excite me as much as Paris and Rome, but I had a phenomenal time in all four places. We spent the first night in Budapest doing a bus tour and taking in the views of the city and ate dinner at a street food market. On our full day, we visited the House of Terror museum, Parliament house, Hero’s square, and spent a few hours at the thermal baths. I’m glad I went to the baths since it’s the one thing people tell you to do in Budapest, but I don’t think I’ll go to them again. There are so many things to see in Budapest, but I’m glad I could spend two hours in a giant hot tub. I just don’t think I’ll do it again unless I go with a travel buddy.
This was also the beginnings of us having really good weather. This made the eastern portion of the trip much more appealing.
(I’ll do a full detailed recap for Budapest, so stay tuned)
//Food
- Swordfish – I had a lot of really good seafood while I was in Croatia, but the swordfish was by far the most delicious.
- Truffle Pasta – Another quintessential Croatian dish. I also had the best beef soup I’ve ever tasted as an appetizer.
- Beef Goulash – I ate this as street food in Budapest, but I continued eating it in other places because it was one of the traditional foods that didn’t have pork.
- Chicken Paprikash With Dumpling – I was really excited about this because it’s one of the traditional dishes I read about, and I heard about it in Captain America: Civil War, when Vision made it for Wanda. It was really good and we ate it in the cutest cafe ever.
This was a shorter travel diary, but don’t worry, the last two will be about me falling in love with Eastern Europe and truly traveling solo in Amsterdam and London. I still hope you enjoyed. You won’t get another travel diary for another few weeks as I get back to writing college-related content, but the wait isn’t too long. Until next time!
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