As I failed to blog during the end of the trip (having my laptop back is fantastic), here's a rundown of Croatia and Italy. After we left Plitvice Lakes and took a million pictures to remember how gorgeous it is (here's a sample), it was off to the Croatian coast!
Rovinj
We spent two days enjoying the Adriatic and sun, jumping straight into the water from rocks on the coast, and swimming in the clearest water of my life! We even spent both of our nights near the ocean, like we were afraid to let it out of our sight, just sitting on the rocks with a picnic and wine to watch the sunset over the water. It was also here that we realized just how hot the southern countries of Europe get during early July. Fortunately, we had the ocean to cool us off during the day, and one rainstorm to make nighttime more bearable! Ultimately, Rovinj became my 3rd favorite destination of the trip, because it is the perfect place to enjoy the ocean, and the town itself is so quaint that you can't help but fall in love with it! I described it as the Carlsbad of the Croatia/Italy border, and those of you who know how I feel about Carlsbad know that was quite the endorsement!
Venice
As soon as our ferry arrived in Venice, the idea that Croatia was hot seemed laughable. Venice was boiling at around 95 degrees and 98% humidity. To make matters worse, our hostel was actually a converted top floor of a convent, and apparently my religion doesn't believe in A/C. The two nights we slept there were a true test of patience, as Elyse and I battled over the only fan in our room. Venice was definitely crowded, and we had to spend the afternoon inside museums, just to avoid heat exhaustion. But there's no denying that this city just has something special, and as we cruised along on the vaporetto, I think we all realized just how wonderful it is.
Rome
If our last stop had been any city other than Rome, I think I would have felt absolutely depleted and almost relieved to be heading back to the states. Fortunately, Rome lived up to my expectations and memories, and proved to be even more beautiful than the first time I was there! On the very first night in the city, I led the group out on a "Jilliandrews walking tour" and it felt like coming home. All of the sights rejuvenated me, and just being back in that city that I love so much was the perfect ending to the perfect trip. We crammed a lot of sightseeing into 4 days, and I think we made the last city count!
Coming home to Arizona was a weird mixture of sadness and relief, but stepping into the air conditioning of Sky Harbor made me realize I was truly glad to be home! I still am, but many ice cold Diet Cokes later, I am nostalgic for Europe and I would go back in a heartbeat.
The month we spent traveling was stressful, but in a very elemental way, as in: Where the hell is our hostel? or How are we going to survive on less than 30 euro today? And now that I'm back in the US, faced with the imminent move to DC, I find myself missing that kind of stress. But I also know that a trip like the one we had is a rare experience, and chances are I will never do anything like that again in my life. And that's probably the way it should be, or else the sights that I saw and the things that I experienced would be much less precious to me. And above all, I will remember the one repeating thought I had at every great monument, national park, masterpiece, and twilight piazza: I am so lucky to be here.
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