Croatia Part 3 - Back to the mainland

After spectacular and relaxing Island life, it was time to head back to the mainland: First destination Split. Facing the harbour is the old part of Slit known as Diocletian's Palace. Mostly made of roman ruins, it is a warren of narrow walking streets, but even though the name implies it, there is no palace. There are lovely tall roman columns and of course, a Catholic cathedral with 13th centry wooden carved doors.

Split

Old Fishing Dude 

Santa on Vacation in Trogir

We then headed north to Trogir - Croatia's Venice. It is a beautiful little city, occupying an island, and is completely surrounded by midieval walls. Trogir is also home to "Coatia's most beautiful Cathedral". It is in a square with the town hall. We stopped for a beer at one of the cafes in the square to enjoy the beautiful church and watch the swallows fly at sunset. Harbour side is lined with cafes and bars - our friendly waiter spoke french and wanted to practice with us. Being Friday night, everyone was out for some fun.

The next day it was Promesten for a swim and a fabulous view from a church on top of a hill, and then off to Krka National Park. The Krka waterfalls are like those at the more famous Plitvice Lakes. The river is in a deep limestone canyon, binging calcium carbonate with it. The moss and algae in the river retain the calcium carbonate and become encrusted with it. This creates the barriers that become the beautiful waterfalls at Krka. Krka is also the site of the second hydro electric damn built by Tesla (the first was Niagara Falls).

Krka National Park

For our last day, we explored the small villages of Vodice and Murter. Murter is tiny, and not in the guide books, but we found the most amazing white sand beach. Lastly we went to Zadar, another old Roman/midieval town. The transport of people in small wooden boats in the harbour is an 850-year old tradition. There is now a pedestrian bridge, but we saw one old guy still rowing away.

Then it was back to Zagreb for our flight back to Paris. Next time we visit Croatia, I think we will rent a sailboat!

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Croatia II - Island Hopping

Mussel Fisherman - Ston

After Dubrovnik, we had decided to island hop our way up the coast. Next stop, Pelješac Peninsula and the towns of Ston and Trstenik. Ston and Mali Ston (pop 740) were important salt producing towns, which lead to the production of the 5.5km wall, the longest in Europe. Clam and oyster beds are abundant, turning out some of the best seafood in Croatia. 

Trstenik marked our first not-in-the-guidebook charming little town stop for a picnic lunch and a swim. Then it was off to catch a ferry to the island of Korčula, with its rich vineyards and olive groves. We stayed just outside Korčula town, the birth place of Marco Polo, in a room with a beautiful view of the sea. Korčula town is a grid of marble streets in the shape of a fish bone, designed to allow for the refreshing breeze from the west in the hot summer, and protect form the cold winter wind from the east. We explored Korčula island for a day. We  lost trying to find the Neolithic cave in Vela Luka, and found the narrowest road going through an olive forest. We stopped for lunch in the sleepy town of Brna and spent the afternoon on the sandy beach in Lombarda.

View from our room Korčula town

After some windy mountain road driving and another ferry, we arrived on Hvar Island: Coratia’s most luxurious place and sunniest spot in the country. First stop was Jelsa, surrounded by pine forests and fields of lavender.  Jelsa old town is small (no one bothers with street names!), picturesque and calm, with cafes along the harbour and lovely swimming just a short walk from the inner harbour. 

Fisherman 

Streets of Jelsa

Then it was off for two days in the hustle and bustle of  Hvar town. Hvar town is all about trendy restaurants and swanky bars. If you remember from one of our earlier posts,  all the Austrains who dance on the tables during après ski, apparently the bars along the harbour in Hvar town are equally as rambunctious, only all the girls are in bikinis. Although it was ripe with people who care about seeing and being seen, it remains charming, with its  labyrinth of streets with artisanal shops (full of original shoes, jewellery and clothes). 

Hvar Town

Hvar Town

A must do from Hvar town, is to grab one of the many boats leaving in the morning that go out to the Pakleni Islands. We headed out to Palmizana Island for the day, being ferried by our fearless Croatian boat captain and his wife. Palmizana has sand beaches with perfect aquamarine water. The restaurants and bar along the bay were amazing: we sipped beer in an olive tree house, and had langoustine for lunch.   

Lunch on Palmizana Island

Maybe next Year we can rent one of these sail boats and tour around the Islands more!

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Croatia - Part One - Zagreb and Dubrovnik

There was only one rule that we made when we decided to move to Europe: With all the countries available at our door step for travelling, we were only going to visit a country once. After our trip to Croatia, we may break this rule. We have fallen in love with this beautiful country. With gorgeous landscapes of mountains, oceans, beaches, vineyards, gelato, and seafood, what is there not to love! Croatians are very proud, very friendly and outgoing. They are always helpful and smiling: if Canada was a Mediterranean country, it would be Croatia. Most speak excellent English, and many speak several languages very well. We encountered one restaurant host whom we heard effortlessly speak English, French, German, Italian, and Croatian (obviously). 

We started our trip to in the capital, Zagreb, catching up with an old Vancouver neighbours from Burley Drive the Mikulics. Starting at the main square, Trg Josipa Jelačića we did a short walking tour to the large outdoor Dolac fruit and vegetable market where they weigh items with old fashioned weights. Then  a beautiful gothic cathedral beside the remnants of a medieval town, followed by Stone Gate, an outdoor church with a road that runs through it. Then off to Markov Trg with the parliament buildings and a church with the wildest tiles on the roof. After all that walking it was time for lunch on a pedestrian street.  After a hearty dinner of fire roasted lamb and a good sleep, we picked up our car and began the journey south to Dubrovnik. 

A new highway is under construction which made the trip pretty fast (which was met with the occasional but inevitable, “Dave slow down” once in a while). It is quite the project, and will eventually go all the way to Greece. The scenery was beautiful.

We arrived in Dubrovnik late afternoon and immediately set out to find a place to stay. A room (or sobe) in Croatia in June (the off season) is easy to come by, relatively inexpensive (30-50 euro per night for a double), and can be booked from any local tourist office.  Because it was the off season, we didn’t book rooms in advance and enjoyed the freedom of not worrying about making it to the next destination.

Drubrovnik old town is situated on a peninsula and is surrounded by a old fort wall. Although in tha past, the shelling of beautiful Dubrovnik old town is still fresh in the mind of many Croatian people: two out of three roofs were damaged by shells, 314 direct hits onto the marble streets, 111 hits onto the fort wall itself, and nine historic buildings were gutted by fires. Restoration work is still ongoing, and is being done in the traditional way using local materials and craftsman as much as possible.  The results are nothing short of miraculous. 

A walk around the city walls, built in the 13 and 14th century to guard against invasion by the Turks, is a must. The views over the town and sea are spectacular. It was also from the wall that we noticed a little restaurant, far off the tourist main streets, with a nice garden terrace under the shade of vines. The restaurant was aptly named Madam PiPi, in honour of its unforgettable (and delightfully scandalous) fountain in front.  Evenings in old town are magical. There are beautiful sunsets and an abundance of night life. We enjoyed cocktails at Buža, a must-have-drink place just outside the wall, and dined at Luongo’s at the harbour.  The tripod Kim got for her birthday was out in full force, capturing the cityscape and night life. And no night in a Croatian town is complete without the mandatory gelato.

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