Split, Croatia

You may have heard about Croatia because of its soccer team and its stunning coastline. The Croatian team was the dark-horse team that reached the finals of the 2018 World Cup, surprising everyone. While they eventually lost to France in the final 4-2, it was still an inspiring run. Well, right after the World Cup ended, I traveled to Croatia. Here is my story about my wonderful trip to Split, Croatia.

When I traveled to Split, it was extra special for me. We got there on my 13th birthday. While I must admit, I was not very excited at first to celebrate my birthday in a foreign country, away from all my friends. However, that birthday I spent in Split, Croatia, is one I will remember for the rest of my life. 

The best part of my 13th birthday was swimming with a view of the sunset. The sky was completely orange. The sound of waves crashing on the beach filled my ears. It was so relaxing just being in the moment with my family, enjoying the view as we all swam around the infinity pool. I remember having races with my family to see if I was faster. My moment of glory was when I beat my Dad 😆. My Dad is a good swimmer. My mom is the sneaky one. While she can swim, she is much slower than us. She literally walked in the water and pretended she was swimming😝. I remember laughing with my little sister. The memories of all of us fooling around in the pool during that golden hour in Split is something I will never forget.

The rest of our days there were spent walking around the town of Split. Walking around Split reminded me of Italy, one of my favorite travel spots. The laid-back, casual, and slow-paced lifestyle in Split was similar to the Italian lifestyle. However, one thing that surprised me about Croatia and Split, in particular, was how well they spoke English. Even though Croatia was isolated from the rest of the world for so long, they spoke excellent English. Even better English than in some other Western European countries like Italy and France. It certainly was an eye-opener!

The people in Split were extremely friendly to us. One of the most welcoming people we met was our Uber driver. He was so nice that we made sure that we specifically got him as our Uber driver multiple times! While we were driving with him, he told us about his parents. You see, he said that his father was Croatian while his mother was Serbian. That surprised me at first because Serbs and Croats have had an iffy relationship, to put it lightly, since the breakup of Yugoslavia. However, it was nice to hear that despite their differences, there was more than just animosity between the two nations. This Uber driver also told us that he wanted to become a dentist. He told us that there were not many good dentistry schools in Croatia. To achieve his dreams, he decided to work as an Uber driver to go to a college in America. Overall, he was very friendly. It was fun and enlightening to have a conversation with him. I will never forget our chats and how comfortable he made us feel. Getting to know the locals is the best part about visiting a foreign country.

My time in Split was one of the highlights of my trip to Croatia. To commemorate my experience in Split and my love for sports, I now have two Luka Modrić jerseys which I wear very often. I do not think I will ever forget my time in Croatia. Catch you next time on Pranay’s Seattle Departures. I will be going into more detail about my Croatia trip and talk about my time in Dubrovnik. See you all soon.