Croatia for two weeks..

After a very calm overnight ferry across the Adriatic Sea from Italy – we arrived in Dubrovnik at around 7am. Our accommodation was located close to the port which was ideal as we only had a 5 minute walk to get there with our packs on. Our airbnb host Alen was very friendly and let us leave our bags and hang out on the balcony while we waited to get into our room. We could see straight away that Dubrovnik was a beautiful looking city. The terracotta roofs of the old style brick buildings have a nice contrast against the clear blue water here.

It is crazy to think that this place was the centre of a nasty civil war less than 20 years ago. The war was sparked by Croatia (and Slovenia) declaring independence in 1991. Because of this Croatia didn’t really have a proper army right from the get go. Amazingly they managed to rustle together a makeshift army, got a few weapons on the black-market and were able to defend themselves. Dubrovnik was one of the areas hardest hit by the war & was heavily bombed by the Serbs during this time. The massive walls of the city withstood the bombings – and it was quite surreal learning about this when we were there as you can hardly tell this all went on. There are still a few reminders floating about Dubrovnik today. We passed a large run-down old tank on our way to explore the city, and found out a bit more when we arrived to the old town – with a graphic map showing all of the bomb sites in the city. This was quite an eye opener!

Stunning city of Dubrovnik - unreal to think there was a bad war here 20 years ago..

Dubrovniks wall from the water

It was very hot and crowded while we explored the town so we were happy to find a hole in the city wall leading to the sea where we were able to swim and chill out. It was a great experience walking around the city walls where we got a much better view than down in the streets. On our second full day we went out on a boat cruise to explore 3 islands close to the city, these were Kolocep, Sipan & Lopud. We stumbled across a nude beach while on one of the islands and I still have haunting images in my head of old fat men posing with their kits out. But looking at the positives we saw some really nice beaches with some clear, clear blue water!

Haylee having a swim on Kolocep Island

On a side note I had been looking for somewhere to get a haircut for a while so decided to go to a cheap barber close to our place in Dubrovnik while we were here. I was a bit worried when the guy didn’t speak any English but managed to tell him what I wanted with hand signals. 5 minutes later (and to Haylees amusement) I had the Djokovic haircut, which seems pretty standard around here.

We headed north to Split after 3 days and I remember thinking (during the bus ride) that Croatia has a really barren landscape along the coast. I think the rocky shoreline & fact that there aren’t any tides here helps to keep the water so clear. We had one night in Split before we headed out to the island of Vis the following day. Favourite part was sitting down in the main square after dinner and listening to some live music (which apparently happens every night here).

Out for a walk on our first day in Vis

Vis is the furthrest island from the mainland and was only opened to tourism in 1989 (due to it being used for military purposes before this). On our ferry over we got to know another kiwi couple (Trent & Amanda) from Whangarei of all places. We soon figured out we had similar interests so organised to catch up while we were there. We explored the town of Vis & surrounding area by foot when we got there and found a nice spot for a swim – which had the clearest water yet! It was nice to chill on our balcony for a couple of beers with our new kiwi mates afterwards.

We hired a scooter the following day and decided to circumnavigate the island. We headed for the small fishing town of Komiza first where we decided to catch a boat out to see the famous Blue Grotto. This cave has light (which reflects off the seabed) coming up into it and lighting up the inside. It was quite spectacular – with fluorescent blue/purple colours lighting up the water. The only let-down was that we could only stay in there for barely 5 minutes.

The fluorescent Blue Grotto

After lunch in Komiza we carried on around the south-western coast where there quite a few vineyards up on the hills. We decided to stop in at one to try the local produce and after following some handwritten signs down a driveway we came to a dead end of houses. Just as we were about to leave we were greeted by a nice old Croatian lady (with no teeth) who didn’t speak English. She ushered us into her garage/wine making room and sat us down at the table, putting some red wine, white wine, and another bottle in front of us to try. We all agreed that the red wine was one of the best we had tried! The other bottle was a bit of a mystery (especially because the woman couldn’t explain what it was to us). It ended up being the famous Croatian Grappa. Grappa is a grape based brandy made from the leftovers of winemaking (seeds, pulp, stalks, skins etc) and is quite a potent spirit – reminded me of single malt whiskey. You are meant to have it after dinner to cleanse the pallet after a typically heavy Croatian meal. The lady was so nice and didn’t want any money for our tasting session but we left some with her anyway.

Beach riders!

Winery we stopped in at for a few brews

From here we were keen to hit the beach, so headed for Strebna which had been recommended to us. It was very picturesque here with white pebbles on the beach and turquoise blue water which was so clear! I went snorkelling for the first time here and reckon you could see a good 30m down! We carried on after this to the famous Stiniva Bay before heading back. This bay is quite spectacular as it is surrounded by cliffs on each side which are about 10m apart before opening up to an awesome little bay. Pictures tell the best story for these places..

Strebna

The postcard bay of Stiniva

That night we headed out for some traditional Croatian Peka for dinner. The dish is either lamb or octopus & potatoes and is slow cooked in an iron dish under coals for 3 hours. This was a great experience and the food was real tasty! We enjoyed this along with another bottle of tasty red and was the perfect way to say ‘see you later’ to Trent & Amanda who were leaving the next day.

Traditional Croatian dish of Peka being prepared

The finished product

A pretty good dinner!

The following day was a bit of a rough one. After getting back to our accommodation after a day of exploring on the scooter we found we had bed bugs in our bed. Haylee had been getting bites for a couple of days that we assumed were from mosquitos. When we found blood smears on our sheets and saw a couple of dead bugs, a quick Google search confirmed our suspicions – one of the traveller’s worst nightmares! Needless to say we didn’t get much sleep that night! Apart from the bed bug issue, the island of Vis has been our favourite spot so far (sorry Italy) and we could have stayed for a lot longer.

Beach that we found down a goat track

Typical clear blue water found at Vis

We caught up on some sleep during the ferry back to Split the next day and then made a last minute decision to head up the coast to Zadar for our last few nights in Croatia – where we met back up with Matt & Hannah. Zadar is a charming seaside city which is not as big (and not as touristy) as most other cities in the country. After having a nice dinner of takeaway pizza by the sea we checked out the unique Sea Organ (designed so that the incoming waves make music) and watched a pretty cool Adriatic sunset. The following day we had a day trip to Croatias favourite gem – the Plitvice Lakes. This is the largest National Park in the country & is renowned for its clear blue terraced waterfalls. During our walk I couldn’t get over how clear the water was! The place is very well looked after with the tracks up on boardwalks and people not allowed to swim in the lakes. We easily completed the suggested 4-6 hour route in just over 3 hours so had time for a couple of beers before our bus back to Zadar. We spent our last day in Zadar down by the beach and went to a water-park (complete with beach volleyball, salt water pool & a dodgy 10m diving board) which was free to visit. I decided to go for a dive off the 10m platform which is the highest I have dived off I reckon. It was a bit dodgy getting up the slippery ladder but was worth it.

The famous Adriatic sunset in Zadar

It was sad to say goodbye to Croatia the next day, this place has been awesome! It has been our cheapest destination so far, with a 2L of beer costing around NZ$4 & a large pizza bread NZ$3. We have seen some pretty spectacular places like Dubrovnik, Vis & the Plitvice lakes. Probably one of the things that helped us enjoy our stay here the most was the kindness of the Croatian people themselves.

Next we are catching a train to Slovenia (north of Croatia)..