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Far and Wide

(originally published by EdinburghExchanges -go here for bigger versions of pictures!)
(also vlogged about at length at Etudiante X -go here for less static versions of pictures!)

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     Yes, we're in France. Yes, we're studying. Yes, we're really trying very hard to speak our foreign language. But we've been doing that for A WHOLE MONTH now. It's time for a break.
     Zadar is nothing short of breathtaking. A coastline pocked with tiny beaches and bathed in warm water lead from our hostel (the Drunken Monkey- HIGHLY recommended) to the Old Town, which seems to have been built around its plentiful Roman ruins rather than making a tourist attraction of them. Monasteries and wells galore, a walled garden and the remains of the forum are all surrounded by normal high-street shops and low-price restaurants, as well as bountiful amounts of icecream vendors.
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On our second day it became apparent that for all sixteen of us to get to Krka national park (again, highly recommended) it would be cheaper to rent a couple of cars than to get on buses, so for the low low price of 115 kuna per person, about 15€, we got our first roadtrip. Then a 9€ ticket bought us access to the park and a return journey on a beautiful half-hour boat ride out to the secluded spot. We walked, we ate, we swam in the waterfall. Not bad for a saturday afternoon. On the way home, driving myself and six friends down the mostly-deserted motorway with Eye of the Tiger on the radio and the sun sinking below the mountains was one of the happiest moments I've had since leaving home. 
     Then we went and sampled the nightlife. Then, the early-morning life. At 5am, when the scantily-clad women had stopped dancing on podiums, the cheap shots had stopped being served, and the impeccably mixed dance-house-rock-blues-everything DJ had packed up for the night, we walked home along the beach. Incidentally, skinny-dipping, in French, is un bain de minuit.
     In nearby Nin, there are pits of black sand which apparently have a combination of vitamins and minerals that make your skin super-soft. It also makes you look like someone could take your life, but they could never take your freedom. I'm sceptical about the skincare properties of the stuff, but it sure was fun to play in the mud for a while, and it helped get rid of the last of our collective gueule du bois.
     I knew nothing about Croatia before going there apart from that it was sunny and everything was relatively cheap- no one mentioned the clean streets and lovely architecture, the friendly locals and the stupid amounts of things to do. I still have a few kuna left, in reserve for next time.
     Also, we found a kiwi tree.
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