Over the bank holiday we decided that we needed a break and proceeded to take a day off from work to extend it so that we can get a good trip out of it, somewhere that is warm and interesting. So the natural choice was Croatia. As usual we didn’t plan it until a few weeks ahead of the trip but we figured we would go to Dubrovnik and then rent a car and see some of the sights, overall the itinerary we thought we followed was not really followed at all but overall we managed to see the main things we wanted to.

Our trip started at 5am in London when we woke up ahead of our 9am flight where we had to get to Gatwick. Fortunately there was not much traffic on the roads so we managed to get there in roughly 45/50 minutes (good for London standards). This was also the first time that we were able to use the airport lounge as we have recently have achieved Silver status on our British Airways frequent flyer programme, so we were able to escape the hustle and bustle of airport. the lounge had a good selection of food, drinks and of course booze. It was a bit early for booze for us so we settled for coffee and some nibbles.

Eventually we boarded and we were flying over Europe to get our destination. We arrived in the early afternoon and proceeded to collect our rental car, drive through to the hotel and check-in.

We weren’t too tired so we decided to have a quick swim in the pool and enjoy the heat, which was over 30 degrees at that time. It would be a bit too hot for us to go to the town quite yet so we needed to wait another hour or two. In the end we left around 3pm which was still hot and we somewhat felt the heat while sweating up the hill to Dubrovnik old town (or Grad).

We did get there fairly quickly and managed to take in the sights, upon entering you cannot help but be impressed by the city walls that surround it or the maze of houses within its walls.

We roamed around aimlessly for a few hours and even ventured to the city walls which were buzzing with tourists, it seems like tourist feeding frenzy. Even the locals were photographed as a rare species that needed extensive capturing and study. It was true that were more tourists than locals there.

After a long day sightseeing and surviving the heat, we decided to have an early dinner at a local restaurant. Apparently the local speciality is a fish stew, so that is what I ordered. Izaskun ordered Scampi which turned out just to be langoustines. We had some wine and managed to sit there for about an hour and a half. The timing was good as we finished the tourists started to come in by the droves, so we decided to leave and walk home in the now fresher evening back home. We were staying about 30 minutes brisk walk from the centre in an area called Lapad. It was a nice and quieter place so we appreciated.

Once we arrived home we went to bed pretty quickly, as we had been awake for quite a while now we quickly fell asleep.

 

The next day we woke up, showered, ate our complimentary breakfast and proceeded to plan our outing. We needed to stay over in Split which was up the, around 3 hours up from us. However we wanted to drive along the coast to see the beautiful water at a place named Trsteno. Not really much to do there except for a large nature reserve and a hidden beach, however it was really hot so we ended up walking up and down a steep road taking a few photos and then returning to the comfortable of the air conditioned car.

We continued along a somewhat peninsula ‘piece’ along the coast, which fortunately allowed us to avoid driving through Bosnia. It is strange that there is piece of another country within another, and in order to get from one part of the country you need to cross another country. It is apparently an old ‘hiccup’ from the days when the piece of land was owned by the Ottomans.

So, we travelled along this piece of land to a place named Ston. Ston is a very small town but it has a very impressive set of walls that surround the city, and continues up along the nearby mountain. It has apparently the second longest walls in the world (after the Great Wall of China – of course).

 

We decided to hike up the one side but in the 37 degree heat we didn’t last too long, at least it was not busy as it was difficult to fit more than 1 person length-wise on the wall. We managed to walk up the one side in about an hour before turning back, at the end we were just wanting to get some water as it seems nearly impossible to find any shade along the walk.

After our somewhat difficult walk, we continue to a cute ton named Tripanj which has a ferry that crosses back to the mainland from the tip of the peninsula where we were.

We were a bit confused as to the process and how to buy tickets but in the end we managed. While waiting for the ferry we even managed to try a glass of red wine, known as Dingač, which is a protected wine within Croatia. Overall very yummy wine, worth a try.

The ferry arrived a bit late but eventually the ferry arrived, we were surprised by the different types of cars and their nationalities there were – ranging from Italians, Polish, Croatians, Germans and Slovakians. We drove onto the boat, parked the car and enjoyed the trip.

The trip across the water across the water was uneventful and we arrived in Ploce in about an hour from when we left. The sun was shining but it was starting to cool down a bit, which was good for the last leg of our trip to Split.

 

After a bit of a drive we arrived to the outskirts of Split, we were surprised how big Split was. It is the second largest city in Croatia but we didn’t expect it to be a full blown city, we figured that as there are only about 4 million people living in Croatia, no town will be too big. However, Split is big and it took us over 30 minutes just to get into it. We arrived into the city and proceeded to look for the hotel which we had booked, it was situated up a steep and very narrow road, which at first I thought was a driveway into some-one’s house or something but it was an official road. We arrived around 8pm, so it was dark and we needed to navigate into one of the tightest parking spots ever – I eventually let Izaskun park the car as the constant directions from the hotel staff, bikes passing and people watching me got on my nervers, especially after a long drive.

 

We arrived to the room, I was pretty grumpy mainly due to the parking but also how busy Split was. I was also whiny about the hotel, it was a bit small and cramped but to be fair it was actually quite nice and the staff were very helpful and friendly. So it was finally time to go out and explore Split a bit. The main attraction of Split is the town centre, which consists of a Roman town centre with its tiny alleys and temples that are very well preserved. We were a short walk away but again were horrible to see by the waterfront it was a touristy clubbing area, with lots of bars and restaurants with lots of DJs, cheap booze, people and drunks.

Within the old alleys was a bit better but it was still a bit sad to see how commercialised they had made the beautiful ruins into parts of restaurants and bars. It seemed that was little respect they had for preserving what they have, however it was a good debate on how to keep these funded for their maintenance and how much tourism is the right amount to keep it up and running and at what point does it become just another touristy destination. There were a lot of people who did not really seem to be interested in what was around them, rather interested in getting drunk or dressing up. Oh well… After a very interesting walk we returned home and slept well well.

The following day, we decided to get out and about a bit sooner than normal. So we had the complimentary breakfast, which wasn’t as good as the previous place but pretty decent still. We proceeded to a nature reserve named Krka which consisted in some rivers and waterfalls, and of course general nature stuff. We drove to a small town in Krka National Park, named Skradin which is a very cute riverside town just a little down river from the Skradinski buk, which are probably the most impressive waterfalls in the park.

This is of course, where we were going. So we parked our car and proceeded to hike the 4km walk to the waterfalls, we were told that our entry ticket included a ferry back and froth from the waterfalls but we figured we were going to hike and take the ferry back, this would obviously be rewarded with a refreshing dip in the waterfalls after the hike. So we started to walk, where quickly realised that it was hot… very hot. It must of been easily 35 or so. So we managed to do the walk, which took about 30minutes or so, as it was windy road and we were walking somewhat slowly.

We arrived sweaty and eager to swim in the refreshing waters, but we were welcomed by crowds of sun bathers and people frockling in the waters. There is a single small bridge that cross the waters and along the waterfalls there is some space for bathing but it was full of people. It seemed like the typical thing to do to take the boat, swim and sit around as if it was the beach. We managed to take a swim but didn’t hang around too long as it was simply too busy but at least we managed to refresh ourselves and proceeded to walk around the complex which was an old water station and hydro-electric facility.

After a walk around and a bit of a queue and wait for the ferry back, we were back in the small town of Skradin where we walked down the main road, bought something to drink and walked back to the car. The next stop was to another place called Roski Slab which was another waterfall that is 20minutes drive north into the nature park. We drove around the park as Google Maps suggested it, not sure why, but we did manage drive through a small town which looked pretty small and poor.  The entrance to Roski Slab is through a very small one-way road over a bridge which is pretty scary and got Izaskun nervous as she was driving at this point but she managed with any problems.

 

The waterfalls were smaller than the previous set that we saw and hence less people, so we actually managed to swim and sit on the shore a bit. The waterfall goes into a large lake which was very beautiful and tranquil so we decided to relax for a bit before proceeding to drive home, which we decided to drive through Sibernik. Another small town along the coast, which is somewhat on the way back home to Split. We didn’t really manage to see it as we were pretty exhausted but we got a good idea of the town by driving through it.

 

Eventually we arrived to Split, exhausted. We were tired and decided that we weren’t in the mood to go out so we settled for some sandwiches and early night.

The next morning we woke up and decided that we should take it easy as we were planning to go climbing in the evening so we decided to go to the town just opposite the bay to Split, a small town named Trogir. Trogir was a major port founded by the Greeks (the name originates from “Trogos” meaning male goat), but became a major Roman port city later. It boasts a very cute and scenic town with narrow streets and beautiful buildings. It was very hot that day so we needed to sit in the shade a few times, it was even so hot that Izaskun had to buy a coke (which never happens) as she needed some sugar.

After a pleasant day out in Trogir, we went back to Split. We needed to find a parking space near the place we were climbing, well the meeting place. We managed but it was pretty packed, it was again surprising to see the amount of people out and about in the town centre yet.

We met our guide by the St Francis church, in the centre, who then proceeded to drive us up the coast to a natural park that was also a mountain or hill. It had cliffs overlooking the azule coloured waters below which was stunning, definitely a great place to go for a climb.

After a short drive and  brief chat with the guide, we set off for the little hike up the hill to get to the rocks. The rocks were pretty high and we were all a bit intimidated at first by them. However after a brief chat about the procedure there and trying out the rock, we were ready to go and try the rock. We were obviously nervous on the first ascent but quickly got into it. We were even pleasantly surprised how nice the rock was to climb.

After a few climbs we were sweaty and pretty pleased with our results, the weather was luckily cooling down but that also meant it was getting dark so we needed to start going back.

We packed our stuff and made our way to the car. We arrived back at the car at the time about everyone else was, maybe people were starting to go out for the evening as it was less hot now.

We needed to start our long drive from Split all the way to a small town named Cavtat, which is a few minutes away from Dubrovnik airport. So we headed off trying to use the remaining light rays of the day, however we were concerned a bit as we needed to cross over a piece of land that was actually another country, Bosnia. However the drive was relatively painless and we cross over Bosnia without any issues, although we ensured didn’t exceed the speed limit in the slightest as we didn’t want any trouble with the authorities there

 

Eventually we arrived late at the hotel in Cavtat, it appeared to be a typical English mass tourism hotel but it did the job as the next day we needed to fly out back to London. In the morning we pretty much woke, ate and left. We dropped off the car which was far quicker than we thought so we ended up with a lot of free time on our hands. We were, of course, dreading going back to London as we had a great trip.

 

However, our trip back proved to provide a last surprise, it turned out the co-pilot of the plane was our friend James Weller, he has obviously practised his pilots voice as he did all the announcements over the intercom and about where were going, the weather, etc… in the airport we managed to meet up with James and Aneta at the airport for a coffee. We also managed to see their latest family member, Patrick who proved to quite entertaining for us all. So, with that we eventually travelled home to an official end to a great trip. Definitely a place we want to go back to!