As much as I love Hvar, what made the experience for me were the wonderful people I met in town and the stellar hostels I stayed at. The first hostel, called Helvetia Hostel, I would highly recommend in a heartbeat to any backpacker making their way through Hvar. The building is located right in the middle of the old town, family owned and operated, and has one of the greatest patios I've ever seen in my life! If I ever won the lottery, I would happily spend the entirety of my winnings on an old house like this here in Hvar without hesitation.
Since arriving in Croatia, I've actively pushed myself to not hold expectations for any upcoming cities. So far it hasn't been an issue, but I never want to arrive in a beautiful place and be disappointed that it isn't as gorgeous as the city I just came from. When I boarded my ferry from Bol to Hvar, I went through the motions of trying to remove my expectations and prepared myself mentally for Hvar. I figured by now I was well overdue for a disappointment since every single city I've visited so far is nothing short of extraordinary. Surely every city I visit in Croatia can’t be incredible, there must be a "dud" somewhere. Fortunately, this is not the case for Hvar. It is an absolutely beautiful gem of a city that completely blew me away - Croatia is still bowling a perfect game in my book.
I'm happy to report last night was my first completely issue-free camping experience - no rain, no wind, and no lightening! Unlike my last night outdoors, it was a perfectly quiet evening. The only thing I didn't account for was the lower temperatures thanks to the higher elevation, but I just layered up and everything was fine. I woke up naturally at 6:00 am the following morning and took the long way around to Bol by hiking up the nearby Mount St. Vid. Standing at 778 meters (~2,500 feet), the peak, Vidova Gora, is not only the highest peak on Brač, but also highest island point in the entire Adriatic. The trek was exhausting especially considering I spent over five hours hiking uphill the day before, but it was completely worth it.
By now it should come as no surprise when I say that I absolutely love Croatia. It is actually quite remarkable just how much it leaves all other countries I've visited so far in the dust. I’ve honestly never been this surprised by a country before in my life. From Split, I left the mainland for my first island, Brač, located approximately 17 km (~10 miles) off the coast. Since my plans to visit Greece fell through, I’m no longer in any rush to get through Croatia so I figured why not try and spend the last few days of summer exploring the islands. Given my incredible experiences in Zadar and Split, I can’t imagine a better way to spend my time!
In a word: unpleasant. I arrived in Supetar without any plans or reservations (my typical M.O.) and hoped to find a place to camp for the night somewhere outside of town. From Split, the island of Brač appeared to be covered in trees, so I figured I'd set up my little tent along the beach far away from people and just spend the night along the wonderful coastline. As long as the campsite is secluded and I followed the standard procedures of leave no trace people hardly care, so I figured this was my chance to put my camping stills to use.
Ladies and gentlemen, I must announce today that I have a new all-time favorite country and city in the world. For months Marseille held the crown as my favorite city of this trip so far, but Split now takes the #1 spot while Germany now ranks behind Croatia as my favorite country. I absolutely love everything about Split and I could easily spend weeks of my life in this great city without even a second thought. Unfortunately, since there are only so many days left of “summer” (even though it’s technically October) I have to leave this wonderful city so I can visit the much-hyped Croatian islands before winter sets in. I've seen only a fraction of this great country, but I can already tell you I will be back in my lifetime. It might not be next year, or the one after, but as long as I'm still alive, I'm coming back to Croatia
My god how I've missed the southern coast of Europe and the fantastic Mediterranean weather! While I'm technically on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, I feel I've returned home to the beautiful havens of Lagos, Ibiza and Marseille from the first part of my trip. Over the last few months I've traveled through many northern European countries and I'd forgotten how much I longed for this kind of weather until I arrived in Zadar. This city is a remarkable breath of sensational, salty-sweet fresh air and if my first few hours in Zadar are any indication, my time in Croatia is going to be absolutely spectacular!
After my stellar day of hiking through the Plitvice Lakes National Park my goal was to survive an evening camping in the outdoors. Even though I travel with a 40-liter backpack (for reference a school backpack is ~20 liters), I still carry small camping hammock and a compact sleeping that I bought in Budapest. My family, friends, and even other travelers think it's absurd I waste so much precious space for these two items, but it makes for a good insurance policy. Since I don't pan ahead much, it's only inevitable that I get stranded outside at some point on this trip. The tent already paid off during my hitchhiking trip when I was stranded overnight at a truck stop, but I want to see if my gear works for its intended purpose. Now that my plans to visit Greece with Angela have fallen through, I am free to spend as much time as I want in Croatia. My plan is to go island hopping off the coast by hitchhiking and camping, but before I can start I first need to make sure everything is in working order.
Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally arrived. Exactly one year ago today, I left my entire life behind - my job, my home, my family, and my friends - to embarked on a trip across the world with nothing more than a backpack. Over the last 365 days I've traveled through 62 different cities in 20 different countries from Portugal to India - and I’ve done it all with a single 40-liter backpack! For the last 12 months, I’ve worn the same pair of pants, four shirts, eight socks, five pairs of underwear, and one pair of shoes (which have been resoled four times now) and I’ve never been happier to have so little in my life. It’s astonishing even to me that I’ve been on the road for this long. When I was planning this trip back in New York the idea of traveling for over a year seemed absurd – yet here I am
When the news of my trip across the world became public, I received a torrent of emails and messages with links to articles listing the most beautiful places on Earth that I had to visit. Funnily enough many of the links were to the exact same Buzzfeed article (very similar to this one) that I read countless times before whenever I felt depressed at work. To date, the only location I've marked off the list is Ponte de Piedade in Lagos, Portugal, but I vowed to visit as many of these unbelievable places as possible during my trip. Today I can happily say I've visited yet another one of these locations - Plitvice Lakes National Park!
