How I learned to always make sure you have a place to sleep!

Last weekend I did my first trip to the coast of Croatia. I visited a small coast city called Pula. You can see it on the map to the right. It was a interesting trip to say the least. Me and my friend Joao decided to take the bus and arrived at around 6-7 pm. By the time we arrived our other friends were already there and have been partying on the beach the whole day. We were really surprised at the location of the hostel! It was right one the water of the Adriatic Sea. We also were not in a small hotel but we had our own camp ground that we all stayed it. It was a really nice hostel and it was super cheap. I wish we had hostels in the USA! I would travel everywhere! 

Some water from the Sea that I put in a
whiskey bottle

The beach was a white stone beach with many small cliffs and crags that jutted out into the water. As the sun slowly fell into the Adriatic Sea we moved to one of the small cliffs and brought down some wood from the surroundings. As the 15 or so of us sat around I proceeded to build a small fire. here is where I noticed a small cultural difference. I having been raised around tons of bonfires and have been making them since I can remember I watched as my European friends worried that we wouldn't be able to get the fire started without any paper or fuel.

 After asking if I could take the lead I borrowed an empty pack of cigarettes from a one of the French and used only half of the box to get a small fire started. After a few minutes we had a nice sized fire located next to the water. Honestly I felt like I was in a Levi Jean commercial, here we were from all around the world, laughing and drinking around a fire sitting on the edge of a magnificent sea. It was a surreal moment and I will always cherish this of my friends here. 

As a reminder to myself as I get older I want to just remind myself that after we put the fire out we explored the surrounding hotels. As we explored the surrounding hotels remember that we swam in the hotel pool, that we took a cushion, that Joao fell asleep and we put bottles all over him until he woke up. But most importantly that it took over 5 of the French guys on my back and legs to tackle me to the ground! We were just walking around and they all tried to tackle me and it wasn't until 5 of them had wrapped themselves onto me did I falter, and it was after a fight! It was  a great night!

The next day we woke up and went into the city of Pula. Pula is a small city on the coast. It felt like I was in Italy rather than Croatia, they had small streets that lead off into a hundred different ways from the main street. The roads were made of cobble stone and were shiny from years of wear from the all the tourist that come to visit this city. We explored the city and soon came to the first landmark that we visited, the colosseum. It was built by the Romans and it was very impressive. To see the walls and arches of the massive stone that was somehow hoisted into the air and stacked in such a way that they have proven the test of time and still are as strong today as they were years ago. We could see the entire colosseum from the outside and and to think of what type of events were held here that drew such a large crowd was very impressive. 

A small fountain that depicts
 the city of Pula. 

In front of a super old church in Pula

We continued through the city and saw a few more things such as churches and the old fort that looked over  the city. But after walking in the hot sun and the stones we walked over cooking us from underneath we thought it time to hit the beach again! This time we went to a national park on one large peninsula. We found a small area that did not have to many people and spent the next five hours enjoying the sun. The water was still freezing and we could only swim for a short time before giving up and coming back to the beach to lay in the sun. The water was crystal clear, I know many people say that but I have never sen water so clear in all my days. I could see fish from the shore swimming lazily through the chilly sea. It was really a paradise and i was sad to watch the sun go down and end the day.

That night we then went to a small city called Ravine. We arrived around 8pm and thought we could find a hotel to stay in for the night. So we took in a dinner because the stores were closing then set out to find a hotel. I don't know if there was a convention or if there was just a flux in tourist but there wasn't a place that could take us. We were like Mary and Joseph walking from inn to inn looking for a place to sleep. Sadly after walking through the city and even trying a place that the cheapest room was over 100 Euro a night, no place had a spare room. So we set out to find a place to sleep. We collected a slew of pictures of different places we tried to sleep. But we settled on sleeping near the church on top of a hill, hindsight being on top of a hill near the sea means cold breezes all night. So we all cuddled up and slept for a few hours. At 4 in the morning we all woke up and I was frozen to the bone, we all were not prepared for sleeping outside and I already had a cold that started. Me and Joao decided that going to the bus station and getting the first one home was the best plan. So we got to the station and crawled into the back of the bus and spread ourselves on the back seats. We both slept for eight hours, waking only when the bus stopped. At the end of our trip when we were back in Zagreb the entire front of the bus was full but no one wanted to anywhere near the back and the men sleeping spread across the back seats like dead bodies.

I spent the next day wrapped in blankets sitting in the sun until I was warm. It was an awesome experience and I would not take it back for the world! It was an amazing weekend with amazing people. I love every day here and I am always learning new thinks about the world and myself.