After numerous shots of Rakija with my family, alas I have returned safe and sound, from Central Europe.
From where exactly? Well, deep in the middle of Europe, you'll find an undiscovered diamond. The once deemed next Cote d'azure, is where you'll find up-and-coming holiday hotspot, Croatia. Queen of the Adriatic. Known to locals as Hrvatska. Okay so that might be a self-confessed title (by me) but I think it's very apt!
Beautiful, untouched, unspoilt and cultural. Croatia really does have it all. With an interesting history to boast, it has everything you might look for in a perfect getaway. Beautiful architecture, beaches, old ruins, cities, festivals and clear bluey-green seas that seem to blend perfectly into the horizon far off into the distance. I could go on but no one wants to read a blog post ALL day, do they?
So here's what I got up to whilst away:
Tuesday
We arrived shortly before midday after a pleasant flight with British Airways. Outside the airport, it was 21 degrees in Zagreb. #YES
Some pictures from the beautiful old part of Zagreb on my first day. These are the streets where you'll find the Croatian government.
Some family picked us up from the airport and we headed towards the city centre to grab a bite to eat, before we ventured east towards the Hungarian border. A gorgeous spot of lunch of traditional Croatian food, in the radiating sunshine, set the rest of the day up to be a good one.
What follows lunch in Croatia? Cake, of course! I had a gorgeously rich, indulgent, creamy raspberry and hazelnut cake. Btw, you'll spot a pattern forming here. After most meals, my entries feature cake. As they should do!
The view from our cake stop
After a few photos taken, my mum and I headed for the coach station. Where next? A four hour journey east to Osijek, the city where my family are from.
It was stiflingly hot on board. It felt as if we were in the midst of high summer in Croatia. Not exactly a great time, but it certainly was an experience. I got some sleep and also got to see some of the countryside at sunset. Beautiful.
Within ten minutes of pulling into Osijek, I was sat in my family home surrounded by my loved ones. My grandfather built the bungalow over 50 years ago. Back then it was the first house on that street.
Naturally weeks before we arrived, my mum had been on the phone to my aunty planning my favourite meals. Dinner was served. A starter of a traditional clear soup with spaghetti like pasta in it. For main, roast piglet and mlinci (pasta cooked in meat juices). It was perfect, I couldn't be happier. That's when they pulled out the big guns...Kolače (Cake to you and I)
The first night I couldn't sleep from excitement, a few things had changed, like a new extension for example, but it was still the same one story house I had spent my childhood summers growing up in.
Wednesday
I slept in a bit late, waking up at 11am but that didn't matter, my mum had my favourite breakfast waiting for me!!
Prstiče, freshly baked bread rolls, shaped in fingers with a special salty topping.
It doesn't look it but it's so heavenly.
Unfortunately I had woken up with my jaw still aching badly as it had been doing for the last two weeks, so my uncle came home from work early to take me to an emergency dentist appointment. Anyway to cut a long story short, a suspected wisdom tooth turned out to be a mystery. After the cheapest X-ray ever (just £15) I was still in pain so mum treated me to have my hair done.
There I had the best blow dry I've ever had in my life. It was 50 Kunas. JUST FIVE POUNDS!
If all you girls don't flock to Croatia for that reason alone, yo crazy! It took no time at all and the best part, it lasted 3 whole days. The shampoo they washed my hair with was even better than the John Freida products I use at home. My hair normally lasts two days without a wash but starts getting greasy on the second day. This time it didn't and Tijana, my hairdresser used a hair spray spritz that wasn't heavy and rigid like most hair sprays. It held my curls perfectly, with bounce, volume and left them feeling ever softer. Best value for money. I felt like amazing.
Excuse the no make up selfies of my hair
Croatia is a lot cheaper than the UK for most things. Things that seem average to us, is a lot of money to them as their wage is not comparable. I gave Tijana a 15 Kuna tip (£1.50 to us) not that generous at all considering we start tipping our hairdressers over here two to three pounds minimum. She was so grateful it was so cute. I had made her day.
I was over the moon too, the pampering continued. Mum and I then went and had our feet down for 80 Kunas each. £8, eight blooming pounds. Such a bargain. Now feeling like new woman we headed back for lunch at home with the family. With everyone home from work we had a lovely traditional lunch, followed by, yes you've guessed it! More cake
Evening plans involved going out for coffee at Hotel Waldinger, a pretty swish joint by Osijek standards. Coffee is big Europe, at any time of the day or night. It's european culture, a way of life to them and its one tradition I really wish we had over here but we don't have the weather for it. It's normally warm enough in Croatia, Spain, France etc to sit out and have coffee at 10pm at night. Croatia, like the rest of Europe is lined with great coffee shops.
Even the loos were swish. The wallpaper in there was pretty cool, all textured and sass-ified.
Thursday
Up bright and early for coffee with my mums childhood best friend and her daughter Anamarija. Anamarija taught me Croatian when I was younger.
We had our drinks in the beautiful old part of Osijek, Tvrđa. It was still lovely weather. Sadly cooler than before, but still warm enough to sit outside.
A stroll down river Drava's bank, meant I got to see some of the still worn-torn buildings that I never appreciated when I was younger. They had fallen victim to the war back in the 90s. A lot of Croatian families lost husbands, brothers, fathers etc in the great war. My uncle fought for his country and we were incredibly lucky we didn't lose him. That part hit home but only made me appreciate how close I came to not having an uncle who's treated me as his daughter. I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful human being as the head of our family.
On a lighter note, not far from the riverside we came across the church my mum fulfilled all her passings in the Catholic religion. My mum was christened and had her holy communion and confirmation in the beautiful church pictured below.
Lunch was another large dose of mlinci and roast piglet. It was safe to say that I was turning half pig myself. Insert lots of pig emojis here.
After cake, I visited my grandparents grave. They're buried together in a graveyard just behind their house. I love going as it keeps me grounded and humble. I wasn't fortunate enough to ever meet my grandparents but I'll always love them and spending time with them. It means a lot and like most people named after a loved one; it's a privilege to be named after my Grandmother.
That evening we had a date with family friends and it was so good to be out, all of us, as a family. Seeing people we've known and cherished for many years. Just like many times I was home with my aunty and cousin earlier on in the week, Rakija, a Croatian liquor was involved. From the outside we sound like an alcoholic family but it's just a treat to celebrate that we are all together again. My aunty made chocolate flavour Rakija and it was exquisite. Strong, rich, dark and smooth, how some people like their men. Heavenly, a bit like drinking alcoholic Nutella. As you can imagine, equally amazing. After a beautiful spread of lots of cured meat and cheese for dinner and gifts exchanged, my cousin and I ducked out early for a night in drinking with her friends. It was a lot of fun. My cousin is only a couple of years older than me and I've always looked up to her like a big sister. It took me right back to my summers on the coast drinking and hanging out with my cousins and our friends we met on holiday at the seaside. I sadly called it a night at 1.30am and feeling slightly 'happy' shall we say?
Friday
Good Friday.
With easter nearly upon us and being catholic, in a catholic country, we didn't eat meat that day. Instead my aunty fried some lovely fresh water fish in flour, another fabulous Croatian delicacy. We spent our final day chilling around the house, spending the day as a family. Easter is very important to us and it was nice to spend it together for once. It's hard them being so far away. We only really see each other once a year, if we're lucky. Our time was limited sadly as Ryanair changed our flight time to three hours earlier. We were now leaving at 4pm instead. I must admit, whilst my first experience of Ryanair wasn't as great as flying with British Airways, it is fantastic to have such a cheap way to travel to Croatia. It's even better because no one has ever flown direct to where my family are from before. I normally have to fly to Budapest or Zagreb. Either way it means a further four hours of travel after my flight and someone having to come pick my sorry arse up. Osijek Airport is a twenty minute drive from my family home and because it's so tiny (consisting of one large room as the terminal lol) it meant everything was so quick and easy. It was stress free and including the one bag we checked in weighing 15kg our flight only cost us £25 each. Seriously 210% worth it. I would really recommend anyone wanting to travel to Croatia this summer to use Ryanair. I know I will. So cheap and coaches to whatever destination you require once you're in Croatia are really cheap too. Although you can get other cheap airlines like easyjet that fly to Croatia, in peak times like summer, prices rocket. So be sure to book early guys!
The ice tea is some much better in Croatia!
As for me, my plans are to return to the coast somehow this summer. I hope to improve on my Croatian again, keep my heritage alive and stay close to my family. Now University is out the way, I really have no excuse.
