Croatia

Last night was my last night in Croatia — I awoke early this morning to catch a bus and several trains to reach my next destination. I loved it there, and felt way more comfortable than I expected. I was also probably the most nervous about this leg of the trip. I’m woefully ignorant of Croatian culture, history, and of course, the language that it just seemed like a lot. Thankfully, everyone speaks English, and speaks it well, and the city I am visiting is used to welcoming many tourists in the summer time.

I spent my time here mainly with the Arch of the Sergii, this beauty here. I walked around the old city getting to know its ins and outs while appreciating its ancient, medieval and the kind of modern. I ate a lot of good, cheap food (though I’m not sure I would call it ‘traditional Croatian’– okay, I wouldn’t) and generally had a very fine time. I drank a lot of macchiatos  (I’ve decided that’s my beverage — une noisette en France) and did a lot of cafe sitting and looking at old shit.

As I was leaving this morning at the crack o’ dawn (literally) I finally got the Arch of the Sergii all to myself. I am not going to lie…it was SUPER hard to walk away from this arch and to the bus station.

The trip back into Italy was uneventful…except for the fact that this time my bus driver did NOT speak English very well (NOT judging him for that…he was clearly multilingual and fluent in at least two other languages that I heard), and he insisted on speaking to me in Italian…which I fortunately at least understood, even if I couldn’t reply.

One bus ride, three countries, and three train rides later, I find myself in Ravenna, Italy in the Emilia-Romagna region for one of my “for fun” visits. Ravenna is the home of several churches/buildings from the late-Antique/Byzantine era that preserve incredible mosaics. Tomorrow I will be doing tons of churches, eating lots of noms, and walking around Italy when it is a sunny 63 degrees outside. I know. I’m jealous of myself. 😉

Tonight, I treated myself to PRIMI and SECUNDI PIATTI (first and second courses…I almost always only get the first course, typically pasta) and if I had even a tiny bit of space in my tummy, I was going to get dolce too, but alas. I didn’t. I’ll get gelato three or four times tomorrow ;). The first course was tagliatelle al ragu; the second was beef with aromatic herbs (don’t remember the Italian) and omg…IT MELTED IN MY MOUTH. And as always, I had to end dinner with a caffè.