Travellers' Tales...

Zadar, Croatia (Part 2)

On Tuesday we went to the beach at about 2pm and stayed there all day, stopping for an incredible chicken burger for tea! We didn't go home until about 9pm - watching the sunset was gorgeous. We got changed and wandered to the old town, we just had a pizza slice for tea (quarter of a pizza for £1!) and then went for a couple of drinks in the narrow streets near the university which were full of character, and a mojito was only £3. As everything kicks off so late in Croatia even after a couple of drinks it was 2am before we got to bed!

The following day we got up quite early as we were going on a trip to Krka National Park. We walked to the bus terminus and caught a coach there for £11 each return. The journey took about forty minutes and then we had to queue to get a boat along the river to the entrance of the park. It was boiling hot and we had to wait for nearly an hour, so it was nice to have a breeze on us once we were aboard!

A ticket into the park was £10 and included the ferry crossing, so good value. It was very busy, we had to push through the crowds to the waterside, but it was definitely worth it - the lake and waterfall were beautiful! It felt like we were in Thailand or somewhere exotic, not two hours from home! We swam in the lake, getting in through the rocks was rather precarious, but we made it in the end with help from each other.

We had an ice cream and then started queuing again at 4pm to head back. As it took so long we missed our last coach home, but luckily we weren't the only ones as a group of four Irish guys had too, so we all shared a minibus. We had to go to a place called Sibenik and get a coach back to Zadar, but the lads were a laugh so the journey was relatively painless. We didn't get home until 9pm so once we'd showered and had a quick drink we headed out to The Garden where we had arranged to meet the boys again for a night out.

We stuck on Caipirinhas there as they were lovely, and then when The Garden was closing at 1.30am we went to a club in the central square of the Old Town called Lebara, which we had been eyeing up all week as it always had good music on and lots of bright lights, as well as being in a really cool sort of outdoor Roman ruin!

It was here that we met our downfall - the dreaded rakija. Croatia's local liqueur, it is fruit flavoured (usually cherry or plum) and bloody awful! We had more than a few shots courtesy of the boys (cheers lads) and somehow ended up moving on to Maraschino again once Lebara shut at 3.30am! We eventually got back at about 5.30am and sat up drinking coffee and eating chips (naturally) eventually sleeping at around 7am. Awesome night! 

As can be expected, we weren't the most spritely the next day, eventually dragging ourselves to the beach and literally sleeping all day until about 7pm. It was a bit overcast which was a good thing as we would have burnt otherwise! We stayed chatting until 9pm before heading back; as it was our last night we wanted a nice meal out. We went to a place just as you get into the square, where we both had lobster and crayfish ravioli that was amazing and a perfect sized portion for two hungover girls! I finished it off with pistachio cheesecake, but I found it a bit rich to eat it all.

The next morning we packed the last of our stuff up and went out for a drink for breakfast (we couldn't find anywhere that did food, Croatians obviously just run off coffee!). We caught a bus to the airport and flew home, and I got a great Chinese to cheer myself up upon arrival at my flat - after such an incredible week, I needed it!