Back to the Beach Beach, Split, Croatia!

We have been looking forward to getting back to the beach and the great weather that usually comes a long with it for quite some time now and it just so happens that since we don't have visas for the EU and can only stay 90 days out of every 180 we HAD to plan another trip.  Since Croatia has always been my favorite country in Europe I thought that there wasn't abetter place to show Drew for 30 days then this beautiful seaside country.  Croatia happened to join the EU while we were there but we looked into it and they did not join the Schengen states so we were good to go and will not be getting banned from further travel in the future.  After an 11 hour overnight ferry from Italy we finally arrived in Split, Croatia and could not have been happier.

This picture is from the hill called Marjan (the letter J is pronounced like our letter Y) overlooking the city of Split.  This is only half way up but we did make it to the top and the views are quite incredible.  

our friend from California happened to be in Germany (really not that close) and had a few days to burn and we had a two bedroom apartment so he found a cheap flight and met up with us.

The two of us from same view point.

All of the streets in Split look like this and its very easy to get lost.  The old town is all made out of the same white rock and is really pretty (and slippery).

This is what the Adriatic Sea look like.  It is clear as can be but as much as I love it I still prefer white sand beaches.  See the rocks make the water prettier because there isn't sand to churn and make it muddy but it makes it tough to walk on.

This is a view with all of Split old town in the background and all of the seaside towns in Croatia have mountains behind them.

This is Diocletian's Palace and at night there are restaurants and live music and people gather in this square to enjoy food and drinks.

We walked through these church grounds one day on our way to the rock beach in Croatia and took this picture and then saw some Croatian kids cliff jumping and so we decided to join in.

The jump is between 10 and 11 meters but the water is very deep so there is no chance of hitting the bottom.  The most dangerous part is the climb up the cliffs to get out of the water.  Or you can choose Drew's option of swimming a few hundred meters out of the water.

The water is as clear as can be.

Drew takes better pictures than I do.  This is where you jump from but you cannot tell how high it is.

This is the main promenade in Split along the water.  

This is Diocletian's Palace but underneath it.  The walkways in Split also go under and above the city.  

The same palace and you can see the outside of the city walls in the background.

Is enjoying some live music.  The white rock when lit up at night is really pretty.

I do not know why we found this map so cool.  It is a metal replica of the entire old town.

Drew is getting quite good at imitating statues.

The night that Croatia joined the EU they threw a party on the promenade.  The band was incredible, I was shocked at how good her voice was and she sang everything from Emilíe Sande to the Gypsy Kings.  Also of note, a group of elder Indian (from the country of India) were partying like rock stars.  It was very amusing to say the least.

This photo is hard to tell but its actually the walkways above the city.  Certain streets are closed at night and so sometimes you have to go above the city to go home.

This is over one of our favorite beaches and is the top place to have a wedding in all of Split........

This was our favorite hang out in Split.  It is called Ghetto but it was everything but that.  

Our friend Ivan we met him and all of his friends and they showed us around Split and Dubrovnik and they showed us all of the local joints that most people would not know about unless they were from the city.  

Also of note but not pictured was one of my favorite foods while in Croatia and basically it is a sandwich wrap but instead of a tortilla the bread is made from pizza crust!!  I ate my fair share of them and loved every minute of it!  Our next few stops we are going island hopping and then meeting my parents back in Split so we will post more photos of their trip when they arrive!!  

Roman around Rome

After a great couple days in Cinque Terre, we took the train to Rome and arrived in the evening.  Our apartment was very nice which is always a plus when getting to a new city.  The first full day in Rome, our friends Lindsey and Eric were in Rome as well, so we met up with them for dinner, some sightseeing and some wine.  It's always great meeting up with friends from home when you're abroad.  We had such a great time with them that night.

Rome is such a cool city, everything is so old and exquisite.  It blows my mind to think how great these places are and then to place the period of time they were built in.  There are certain places/sites you grow up learning about and Rome is one of those places.  Walking into the Colosseum was a pretty wow moment for me.  It's moments like this that I have to reflect and realize how lucky we are to experience what we're experiencing this year.  

These two photos are from the inside of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.  Unfortunately the Pope didn't come and greet us when we arrived.

These two are from the Forum which is right outside of the Colosseum.  It's amazing to see so much left over after so many years.  

I figured I'd post this photo because this is one of our biggest complaints of traveling abroad...not having a dryer.  T-shirts, undies, socks, EVERYTHING has went from medium to large and baggy.  This photo was from our terrace in our apartment in Rome.  

Us in front of the Pantheon.  I'm pretty sure that it is the largest unsupported dome in the world.  I'm going with 85% certainty on that fact.

Most major sites in the world are better at night.  This goes for the Colosseum as well.  We went here the first day with Lindsey and Eric and walking up to it was breathtaking.  We enjoyed a couple bottles of wine out front while taking photos.

Us in front of the Trevi Fountain.  What this photo doesn't capture is the million other people there.  Great job Vuk!

Panoramic of Jesus town aka St. Peter's Square.

I woke up early one of the mornings so I didn't have to wait in massive lines at the Colosseum.  Aaron stayed in bed since he had already been there before.  Getting there early was definitely a good decision because by the time I left it was packed and had a huge line to enter.  This was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life.  A lot of times you're let down by main tourists attractions, but this definitely did not.

ATG on the Spanish steps.  

Another photo of the Trevi fountain during the day.

This is the Il Vittoriano.  Out front there is an eternal flame with the tomb to the unknown soldier from WW1.

Rome was amazing.  I recommend everyone to go here at some point in their lives.  But after 4 days of being a tourist, it was definitely time to get to Croatia and enjoy beaches.

Pisa & Cinque Terre

So after our great time in Florence we headed over to Cinque Terre and since Pisa was on the way we decided to get off the train and check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I had been told in the past not to spend time in Pisa and I will be honest I'm glad we listened to that advice because there was nothing else to see other than the tower. The tower was pretty cool to see especially since it is one of those monuments you grow up hearing about along with the Eiffel Tower.  We refused to take the typical pictures in which you look like you are holding up the tower or pushing it over so we took the following instead:

Drew doing his best Ninja Turtle imitation and kicking down the tower!  Turtle Power!

A panoramic view of the tower.

Us together, it looks less "leany" from this side.

The trend of the handstands continues.

So after our two hours in Pisa (one hour too much) we headed to Cinque Terre which I had never been to before and I am glad I finally checked it out.  When I studied abroad it seemed like all of my friends headed to Cinque Terre and I just never got around to it.  Before I continue further though I must say that Drew cannot pronounce the word Cinque Terre but he was adamant we go there and I am so glad we did!  So Cinque Terre consists of five towns and we stayed in Riomaggiore which is the first of the five towns and in my opinion the best one.  Normally you hike between the towns and layout on the beaches but due to some heavy flooding the previous year most of the hikes are closed between the towns but you can access them via train and we were able to get in a two hour hike between towns three and four!  We stayed at Hotel Argentina which broke from our trend of staying at apartments.

This is at the start of our hike from town three Corniglia to Vernazza and although you cannot see it, Drew is standing in front of a small waterfall.

The hike was beautiful and views like this are common.  This is Corniglia from above!

The entire hike is along the coastline.

If you look closely you can see our town (Riomaggiore way in the background, then Manarola and the closest is Corniglia).

This is after two hours of hiking and the arrival into Vernazza.  You can hike in both directions and some people were just starting when we finished and needless to say I think I scared people with how sweaty I was so they were probably thinking it was pretty tough.  They hike however was not too bad and what they don't know is that I sweat just breathing.

We took the train back to town two (Manarola) which I think was the most picturesque.

Us in front of the buildings.

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So beaches in Europe are beautiful but this was the beach in Riomaggiore and I must say, I prefer a nice white sand beach to falling over rocks while getting in and out of the water.

Another close of up Cornigia (this is the only town not on the water and to get there you have to hike up 368 steps)

The other side of Vernazza where our hike ended.

The last city, Monterosso, is the most touristy and though this appears to be a white sand beach it is not!  This was the most touristy and busiest of all of the towns and our least favorite.  It just didn't have the charm of the other four.

On our last day before catching our train we went to Manarola where they had a harbor with docs and we swam and did back flips and jumped off cliffs.

Our next stop is Rome but for those of you that are in Italy, definitely make sure Cinque Terre is on your list of cities to check out!