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Published: July 18th 2011
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This blog is dedicated to my mom and her yearning for photos of me and neighbours at Shane Cooney's wedding.
I finally arrived to Croatia by ferry (Dubrovnik) this past Thursday. It is currently Monday night and I think my head has finally settled down from the whirlwind the past days have been. Despite the great time I experienced playing soccer with locals in Bari, back to back to back ferries followed by a long and sweaty (no AC) bus ride had me at sorts when I arrived in Sibenik for the Cooney wedding. Sweat dripping, I barged into the resort Cooney and Friends were staying in and happily ran into the Koniers shortly after.
What a change of pace. In Bari, I stayed at a "luxurious bed and breakfast," which was extremely ironic because I could feel the wooden supports below my mattress and the breakfast was nothing more than corn flakes and stale bread. The resort on the other hand had a DELICIOUS breakfast and dinner buffet included, a water park and friendly staff. On top of being with familiar faces from home and having my own room, I had an authentic Croatian wedding to look forward
to.
On the wedding day, everyone from the resort was picked up by bus and driven to the city centre. We were all met by Gordo, a man part of the wedding on the Croatian side. He carried two large flags, Canada's and Croatia's. The group from the bus, about 25 strong, followed Gordo throughout the old town for about 5 minutes, leading right up to the cathedral. Apparently this is a Croatian tradition, one which I quite enjoyed as it felt like you were part of a parade...who doesn't want to be part of a parade!?
The ceremony was quite nice, only lasting a half hour. Majority of it was in Croatian, but English was definitely represented as well. Morana looked beautiful. Without AC again, the groomsman all worked up a sweat at the front of the church in their matching grey suits.
Party time.
The reception was help a beautiful hall, a ten minute bus ride away from the cathedral. Booze flowed, food was PLENTIFUL and dancing was a must. The speeches were delivered in both English and Croatian, usually assisted by a translator. Todd's best man speech was very Todd-esque for those who
know him and Morana's had most girls in the room teary eyed.
Fun fact: for Croatian weddings, a course is served, followed by dancing, followed by another course. This pattern continued literally until the sun was coming up. We had a good "way to go Canadians" cheer on the bus home around 5:30am.
Hungover as can be, I trained it to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia Sunday afternoon. Back to hostel life. No AC, bunkbeds, 5 other people in the same room...God I missed traveling! The resort was nice for sure, but this is what I have known and this is a good hostel (other than the lack of AC).
I hiked Plitvice today. It is one of Croatia's national parks. Beautiful, but very touristy. I also booked my ticket to go to Venice tomorrow.
Back to the road.
Until next.
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Aunt Janet
non-member comment
OMG
What would we do without your blog. It's fantastic (I'm so glad we live in this day & age). You have been so generous with your experiences and pictures (looking forward to the juice when you get home)......your new home.....which is awesome. Keep safe the rest of your journey....much love....AJ