Croatia - August 2012

Dubrovnik

While we had traveled with Kim and Tom many times over the years, we had not been overseas with them since 2008 when we went to Italy.  So, it was time to hit Croatia for no particular reason other than it was on "the list".

Accomodation:
Sheraton - Zagreb - This hotel is a bit dated with mostly 70s decor.  However, it was cheap, clean and centrally located.

Hotel Adriana - Zadar - A great hotel outside of town (about 5 miles from the old town) located on the water with a pool and modern decor. 

Hotel Luxe - Split - Another great hotel within three minutes walk from the palace and old town.  Very hip decor with bright colors.

Hotel Amfora - Hvar - This hotel was located within 15 minutes walking distance from town.  It had its own alcove with a pebbly beach and a really nice multi-level pool.  The rooms were small but nice.  This hotel is part of the Suncani chain which includes multiple locations in Hvar town.  You can use your room key to charge food and drinks at all of them to your master account. 

Hotel Amfora

Hotel Bellevue - Dubrovnik - This hotel was also located within 15 minutes walking distance from the old town; however, the return trip back to the hotel was uphill all the way.  The hotel is very nice and modern with its own beach area.  It is perched on a cliff, with all the rooms facing the water and an elevator that goes all the way down to the beach.

Beach at Hotel Bellevue

Activities:
Our flight departed at 6:00pm to Frankfurt, so we carpooled to work in the morning, with Keith picking up Shawna right before 3pm so she could take a 30 minute conference call on the way to the airport.  Keith had not changed yet, so he used the Wally Park lot to change from his work clothes to shorts/tshirt for traveling.  The check in with Lufthansa was quick and we were at at the gate 2 hours early.  Instead of waiting for plane food, we grabbed a couple of Originals at Schlotzskys in the terminal area.  The flight was pretty good - we got a bit of sleep after watching the movie The Lucky One and drinking three complimentary glasses of wine to help us get to sleep.  One interesting thing on the flight was that the toilets were all at the back of the plane "downstairs" - we had never seen this before as far as we can remember.  We had two more legs of the flight after arriving in Frankfurt - to Munich and then to Zagreb.  In Munich, the airline decided that Shawna's luggage was too big to carry on, so we had some nervous moments at baggage claim hoping that the bag would make it and alas it did!

We arrived in Zagreb where Kim and Tom picked us up in the rental car - this time a bit bigger than the car in Italy - so a lot more room for luggage.  They had arrived earlier in the day and had already toured a bit of the city.  We checked in to our hotel, took a shower and then met in the lobby for a couple of beers.  We then walked around old town, had dinner and had a few more drinks.  We found one street where there were a ton of bars so we plopped down at the Oliver Twist Pub, had one too many beers and people watched for a few hours.

Breakfast at the Market in Zagreb

The following morning, we went to the market to grab some breakfast.  The pastries certainly looked better than they tasted - Tom had particular disgust for the leek one he bought!  We bought some fruit to take with us which was very juicy and flavorful.  We then drove to Plitvice National Park (UNESCO World Heritage site) where we walked for about 4 hours around the park seeing both the upper and lower lakes - it was quite beautiful but also very hot and crowded.  Apparently we were not the only ones with vacation plans in August!  The colors of the lakes were amazing -- a bright aqua color and crystal clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.  The path was a well-done wooden platform with enough room to pass one person, and most of the traffic goes in one direction.  We picked the "H" hike, which included a bus to the start, a boat ride in the middle, and a bus at the end.  After a day here, we drove to Zadar and had dinner and drinks at the hotel that evening.  At dinner, we chatted with the restaurant manager who was quite funny - he had quite a disdain for Slovenia for some reason.

Plitvice National Park

Drinks in Zadar

After a great breakfast at the hotel, we went to Paklenica National Park which is about an hour drive from Zadar.  The park is famous for rock climbing so we saw many climbers there.  We hiked in the park for about 6 hours.  While the hiking was not challenging, it was crazy hot so it slowed us down quite a bit.  We hiked up to a cool (cool as in interesting and cool as in temperature) cave that we toured for about 30 minutes - Tom beat us all to the top and reminded us of it throughout the trip!  After the tour, we hiked further to a village that had been converted to a lodge.  Kim wanted to take a different route back but we were warned about viper snakes (assumed that these are bad) on that path so we chose to hike back the same way that we came.  That evening, we had drinks at the hotel and in old town followed by dinner at a pizzeria in old town.  We then took a quick stop to see the Sea Organ (holes drilled into the steps by the sea that makes a sound when the waves come in) and Sun Salutation (lights in the floor of the promenade that are fueled by the sun and waves) before we returned to our hotel.

Paklenica National Park

The following day, we walked around the old town of Zadar, climbing the belfry to see the views of the town and visiting the Church of St Donat (we could not go in b/c we were wearing shorts) and the Roman Forum (which is where they used to pillar and stone people).  We had our first gelato which was quite refreshing in the heat.

Roman Forum in Zadar

Peristyle in Split

On our way to Split, we stopped in Sibenik, a very cute medieval town on the water.  We visited the Cathedral of St James and St Michael's Fortress where Tom stubbed his toe, later claiming it was a shark bite from his adventures at sea!  When we got to Split, the GPS did not have the street for our hotel so we ended up lost on narrow streets in a not so good part of town.  When the GPS said we had arrived at our hotel, we were looking at a dilapidated home no where near anything touristy.  Thankfully, we figured out where we needed to go and found our hotel.  After a quick shower, we walked along the waterfront which is packed with cafes and had drinks at one of the places that overlooked the water.  We then walked around the old town and had dinner at one of the touristy restaurants on the main square -- the food was not that great but what a great location.  After dinner, we sat in the Peristyle of the old palace and had drinks while we listened to two people playing great live music outside the Luxor Restaurant, watched kids and adults dancing and watched street performers.  It was great people watching - including 2 scantily clad Russian girls strutting their stuff on the dance floor.

We were moving quite slowly the following morning as we had stayed up past midnight for 4 nights straight.  We opted to meet for a later breakfast and then caught the 10:30 am walking tour of Diocletian's Palace.  It is amazing how much of the Palace is still preserved.  Inside the Palace and old town, there are tons of shops, cafes and restaurants -- it reminded us of the old part of Venice.  After the tour, we went inside the Cathedral of St Domnius and the Temple of Jupiter and also walked up the bell tower to see the views of the city.  For lunch, we opted for a pizza slice (known locally as pizza cut) and gelato and then we went back to the hotel for a nap - the past 4 nights had finally caught up with us!  Later that evening, we had drinks on the promenade, had dinner in the palace at a great restaurant and returned to the main square to listen to more live music, drink more and do some more people watching.  We met a German couple who were traveling with their very cute son so we got a few hours of entertainment watching the son dance and chase other little girls.  We were amazed at how late these parents allowed the kids to stay up!

Hvar

We had to get up very early to catch the 2 hour Jadrolinija car ferry to Hvar (actually the ferry goes to Stari Grad and then we drove the 14 kilometers to Hvar) - luckily, we were able to make the first one that we tried to catch since they do not allow reservations.  When we got to our hotel in Hvar, the rooms were not yet ready so we stored our luggage and walked along the ocean into town.  We grabbed lunch in the main square - had an awesome greek salad and pizza.  After touring around, we returned to our hotel and swam at the beach and in the pool.  Keith and Tom enjoyed gawking at the few women who went topless at the beach and we had lots of laughs while each of us tried to walk out of the water on the pebbly beach - we couldn't believe how much it hurt walking on those rocks!  That evening, we went for drinks at a roof top bar at a sister hotel.  We wanted to go to a restaurant that we had picked out earlier in the day but they were full so we made a reservation there for the following night and ended up at another restaurant which was not great.

Harbor in Hvar

Green Cave on Vis Island

We spent our last day in Hvar on a full-day sailing trip.  There were only 9 tourists on the boat, including us and the tour took us to Vis island where we swam in the green cave and around one of the beaches.  The cave was quite cool as there was one hole at the top where the sun rays would come down and light up the water - the light was quite green, but looking back to the ocean it was a brilliant blue color.  It was here that Keith decided to prove his manhood by climbing the rock to the top of the cave and jumping 25 feet (Keith seems to think it was 30+ feet) into the water.  There were several other men who also followed suit but decided to show off even more by doing flips with their jumps and then landing in what seemed to be very uncomfortable positions.  We had lunch on the boat - salad, chicken and potatoes and then sailed back, passing the Pakleni Islands.  After we cleaned up at the hotel, Kim and Tom climbed to the top of the fort to watch the sunset while we relaxed a little and then had a drink again at the rooftop bar.  We later met up with them for dinner and had one of the best meals of the trip.  Hvar is a stunning city - for us it rivaled Portofino with all the beauty and less of the pretense.

Keith Jumping From the Top of the Green Cave

The next day was another early morning as we had to drive about 2 hours to Sucuraj on the eastern end of the island to catch a different ferry back to Drvenik on the mainland.  While we arrived in time, this ferry was much smaller and we just missed the one that we wanted to take by one car.  Luckily, another one came about 45 minutes later and then we were on our way to the last part of the trip, Dubrovnik.  The drive from Drvnik to Dubrovnik along the Dalmatian Coast took two hours and was stunning.  We all agreed it rivaled or beat the views of the Pacific Coast Highway and the Italian/French Riviera.  As part of this drive we actually passed through Bosnia for all of about 10 minutes.  The final drive in to town is stunning - over the bridge to see towering cruise ships and the gorgeous orange roofs perched along the cliffs.

Coastline

After checking in to our hotel, we walked down to the old walled town and had pizza for lunch at one of the cafes.  We were amazed at how many people were touring - many of the cruise ships dock in Dubrovnik so you do have to manage the hoards of people milling around.  We had a little time to kill before the walking tour that we wanted to do so we visited the Dominican Monastery, the War Photo Museum and the Franciscan Monastery.  The War Photo Museum in particular was powerful - showing the tragedy of the Balkans ~20 years ago.  We opted to buy two walking tours with Dubrovnik Walks - one of which we were going to take that evening of the Walls of the old town.  The tour took 2 hours (it was about 1.5 hours too long) and none of us could understand a word that the guide told us, except for the fact that he kept repeating that there was a great earthquake of 1667.  We enjoyed walking the Walls but did not like the guide.

View from the Walls in Dubrovnik

The plan was to return to the hotel to clean up for the evening but we all got too lazy to hike the 1.3 km back up the hill so we stayed out for the evening in our sweaty clothes.  We had dinner at a really good restaurant and b/c three bottles of wine was not enough, we went to a wine bar and had two more bottles.  We met up with two American girls who had also done the walking tour with us but they were smart and left the tour early so they had been drinking for quite some time.  Still being lazy after all the drinking, we took a cab back to the hotel.

Drinks at Wine Bar in Dubrovnik

For our last day, we were supposed to do the 10am walking tour of the old town but when we showed up, we realized that we would have the same guide as the day before.  So, we opted to purchase the audio tour instead.  The tour took us around the old town, pointing out about 36 sights along the way.  After the tour, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon eating and drinking our way through town - we grabbed lunch, then had a few beers at a popular spot along the rocks of the Walls overlooking the water, and then used our last bit of money to buy gelatos.  This time, we did walk back to the hotel as we thought we probably could use some exercise!

Old Town Dubrovnik

We checked email at the hotel and found out that Romney had picked Paul Ryan as his running mate - still getting the news from home.  We headed down to the ocean for a swim, but Keith decided the water was too cold (or the air was not warm enough) so we bagged that idea and headed to the spa - which unfortunately was booked.  So, instead we relaxed before heading to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel - we decided we were too lazy to walk back into town.

Dinner at Vapor (Hotel Bellevue) in Dubrovnik

On the Sunday, we had to get up at the ungodly hour of 3am in order to get to the airport and catch our Croatian Airlines flight to Frankfurt, then to Toronto and then back to Denver by 4pm.

Observations:

1. Hardly any place takes credit card so plan on taking out cash.  Lots of cash. 
2. In most places, the wine is not yet chilled so you need to order the next bottle when the first one is opened (assuming like us you keep consuming multiple bottles of wine).
3. The women who sell the walking tour tickets speak English very well but the actual tour guides do not.
4. It's crazy hot in August!
5. Croatia is stunningly first world.  Since most of what we Americans have heard about the Balkans involves the war in the '90s, it was just a disconnect to see a country that is as western and beautiful as anywhere else in Europe. 

Posing with the Guards in Split

Restaurants/Bars:

Boban - Zagreb - An Italian restaurant in old town.  Food was not that great - our veal parm was little more than some pasta with veal bits in it. 

Oliver Twist Pub - Zagreb - Great pub on a busy street with tons of bars and people watching. 

Hotel Adriana - Zadar - We ate at the hotel restaurant one night as dinner was included.  Although it was a buffet, the meal was quite good.  We especially liked the beef goulash that we had as an appetizer.  We also had 4 bottles of wine - we really enjoyed the second 2 bottles which was a white wine from the Istria region called CO; although we are not quite sure if we truly enjoyed them since we already had 2 bottles to drink!

The Garden - Zadar - Great location on the walls of old town with a nice view of the water.  Drinks were OK and pricey.

Konoba Trattoria Bajamont - Split - This is a small restaurant down one of the small streets in the palace serving local food.  We had the Dalmatian goulash which was very tasty.  We had to make a reservation as it's a popular place.

The Top - Hvar - A rooftop bar at Hotel Adriana along the water.  While the music was a bit cluby for us, they had fairly decent mojitos and a great view of the harbour.

Passarola - Hvar - An awesome restaurant down one of the small side streets in town.  It had a great terrace and the food was amazing.  It was also the first time that we actually got wine that was already chilled!  We split a lamb dish that was very tasty!

Defne - Dubrovnik - Another great restaurant with a beautiful terrace.  The food is Mediterranean with dishes featured from Italy, Greece and Turkey.  We shared a few mezzes for the table and then Keith and I shared the beef tenderloin and baklava.  The wine was also very good here.

Taj Mahal - Dubrovnik - We attempted to go to this place three times but only got a table the third time as it's quite popular.  They serve Bosnian food which is a lot like Turkish food.  We grabbed lunch here where Keith and I shared their specialty which was lamb and mushrooms cooked in a phyllo pastry.

D'Vino - Dubrovnik - A popular wine bar just off the main street in old town.

Buza - Dubrovnik - A bar perched along the rocks right outside the Wall overlooking the sea.  A friend of ours, who had proposed to his wife here a few years earlier, had recommended it.  A great spot to grab a few beers and chill!

Vapor at Hotel Bellevue - Dubrovnik - We sat outside on the terrace overlooking the cliffs and water.  Food was very good.

For more photos of this trip: