Travel Adventures: Hvar, Croatia

Oh my gosh, I just absolutely and completely loved Hvar and of everywhere I went over the whole trip, this is the first place I would go back to. Hvar is just stunning, it's got the clearest waters I have ever seen in my life and was sunny and cheerful and just a lot of fun! I will say that my good experience here was definitely created by being with great people, having lovely weather and a lot of factors like that that made me just really have such a great time there, but even so, you can't deny the absolute beauty of this little city. It is apparently the country's greatest "party place" and we did have a really great night out there, but in general, its just a place with a lot of young students, travellers and not to mention the very rich and illite. Along the main promenade, if you walk for about 15 minutes along it out of the central town, you become immersed in extravagant hotels and pool side bars and 5-star everything, so it definitely has that aspect to it, which was exciting to fantasise about maybe for one day, but even as students on a budget, we had so much fun there!

One thing you really must do is walk up through the town and then up the hill (not too strenuous of a walk) to the palace. You can then go in and have a look out at the whole town below and the beautiful little islands close by, that kind of look like scattered rain drops. We didn't go into the castle, but still the view was amazing! We ate absolutely delicious pizza there and really enjoyed just wandering around the streets and then as I said, the night life is a lot of fun as well. 

So yeah, overall I just loved Hvar, I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something really appealing and special to it, and I would absolutely love to go back!

Travel Adventures: Split, Croatia

So after Greece, we moved off to Croatia, which I have absolutely and completely fallen in love with! While there, we did a student 'party-boat' type thing, called Sail Croatia, which was an absolute blast and such an amazing week. It was so fun to see so many amazing cities all the while living on a little boat and meeting lots of new people. I highly recommend  Sail Croatia to anyone even vaguely keen, it is just so much fun and Croatia is stunning- I did the Split to Debrovnik navigator cruise. We were in Croatia for a total of 8 nights, and saw quite a few different cities, the first of which was Split. 

Split is one of the biggest cities on this coast and is very touristy and commercial, but really stunning. It has a massive, beautiful promenade along the whole length for a couple of kilometres and has pretty little benches and flower beds and trees all around. The promenade also is lined with loads of restaurants serving delicious seafood and cocktails to sip on by the water's front. Another must-see in Split is the Diocletian's Palace. Split is composed of the old town, which revolves around the ruins of this palace, and then the surrounding newer town, which is quite built up and residential. Old town is build almost entirely of white stone and is filled with local markets, authentic shops and delicious gelato stands on every corner. The actual palace ruins are definitely worth seeing, and you go underground into what was the basement level and can wander around and read up on the history. My favourite part of split was just wandering around through all the narrow alleyways in the old town, going up to the ball tower and learning all about the history. 

Split was really so so lovely and I would love to go back someday!

Travel Adventures: Milos, Greece

Okay, so after Santorini, we caught a ferry to Milos, a less touristy, but just as beautiful island relatively close by. Myself and all the friends I was travelling just instantly fell in love with Milos. It's actually hard to explain, because literally from the second we stepped off the ferry, I immediately felt calmed and relaxed and just really happy to be there. The island is relatively big, but not quite like Santorini, and even though it's large, a lot of it is uninhabited, so where we were staying, near the port, seemed to be where most people hang out and live. By the port there is an absolutely beautiful long promenade all along the water front with lots of boats moored all along it. And then there are just loads of restaurants, ice cream shops and quirky little stores along there as well that stay open really late and are always cheerful and festive. 

This was the view of the main road and promenade- how pretty?!

On our first day there, we decided to do an excursion out to some of the other parts of the island. We had so much fun doing this, and I recommend if you do do it, to find out the prices of a bunch of different companies, because they all offer very similar places to go, but some seriously over price, so yeah, just suss out the scene and get a couple of prices before choosing one. Basically, a small ish boat takes you out to sea and then around the islands to a whole bunch of cool beaches that you can't really access by land. It also took us to a stunning place called Kleftiko, which is by far the clearest water I have ever seen, and surrounded by loads of little caves, which you can go through in a separate little speed boat they tow along. We had so much fun on this day out, and it was a really cool way to see a lot of places and sights quickly, as we were only there for two days. 

At the end of the boat excursion, we ended up at a private little restaurant completely isolated and so stunning, right on the water's edge, a pretty cool way to end the day. Not to mention that Grecian food is really delicious, whether you're having seafood or breads and dips, it's all so good!

The place we stayed at was called Lagada Beach Hotel, and it was really a very calm, pretty place to be. It had its own private little beach and so on our last day we spent most of the time just laying in the sun and swimming in the warm waters. 

We all absolutely loved Milos, and at the end of our trip all of us said it was probably the first place we'd go back to again. I can't really explain what it is about it except that it has a charm that makes it such a lovely place to be. I had so much delicious gelato there and the best baklava literally ever, sooo good. Yeah, really a stunning little town to visit!