Last Croatian Holiday Post

Today was cake day. Our last day in Croatia was pretty uneventful. We spent it at a beach sun-bathing all day and enjoyed a swim in the Adriatic for the last time.

I've wanted to go to Croatia for a long time since seeing all my friend's photos on Facebook. The country looked so beautiful in their pictures and the real thing did not disappoint! I am so thankful to my boyfriend for organising this trip and we are making a list of places that we want to visit again and new places that we'd like to see in Croatia.

Day 7- Split

It is very loud here.

There are many more cars and we can hear every single one as they drive past our window. The buses make a rumbling sound as they go past- all this noise is quite a shock to the system after a quiet few days.

The Diocletian Palace ruins

The modern Riva along the coast.

The weather was better than yesterday. It rained heavily in the morning but was quite hot and sunny again by early afternoon. We went to Split town centre because of the bad weather. I really wanted to go to a nearby Island but was worried about the unpredictable weather.

Split town centre is also quite small but the largest one we've seen yet. It is also the easiest one to get lost in and navigate around. We spent ages looking for a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. It took us a while to find it tucked away into a tiny alley. When did finally find it, it was already very busy. It was a tiny place but the menus looked promising and the prices were very reasonable. Shame that we couldn't eat there.

I'm not sure if I like Split. I don't feel like it's somewhere I want to go on holiday. I understand using Split mainly as a harbour point to travel to the other islands and maybe have a look at the ruins in the centre, but other than that, Split doesn't really appeal to me. The ruins were pretty spectacular, I must say. The shopping areas around here is also the best so far. However, from growing up in a big city China and studying in London, I have a sense of what cities should be like, and Split is neither here nor there. It is developing, therefore trying to be a big city. Once you are out of the centre it is very unglamorous. The rivar is a rather lively place to hang around. It is nice to look out onto the coast line whilst having a cool drink. The rivar is very modern and new and there was a band playing music in the evening. While the view is nice, it is not much more different to the scenery in the previous places. If anything, I would say it is less interesting to look at. Maybe Split left a bad first impression on me, or maybe I was biased in not expecting very much because my best friend told me Split is a hole before I came here, but I don't think I will come to Split again for sight-seeing.

Day 6- Korcula II/ Arrival into Split

(Super long post with SO MANY pictures)

Today was probably the most troublesome day during the entire holiday.

Southern Croatia had a thunderstorm. At the beginning, I was quite glad of the rain. It bought a cool breeze to the town and for once I wasn't constantly sweating. However in the afternoon the storm grew. The episodes of rain was more frequent and it was pouring down. The cool breeze turned into a chill and I had to borrow Philip's jumper! I did not think that I would at any point wear a jumper and not feel boiling hot during this holiday.

Oh hey Mr Wind

Our favourite Pizzaria at Korcula, super large pizzas. We were such piggies. Can you see the rain?! Mad weather.

Luck seemed to be against us yesterday. When we were looking for a cafe to take a cover, they were all pretty full. When we did enter a cafe, the rain stopped 10 minutes later. We left the restaurant to catch the ferry in the pouring rain as we had no choice. We went back to the apartment to get our bags then we stepped out and the rain stopped! It was like the weather Gods were playing a game on us.

However, the weather didn't stop our activities completely. We did our first bit of souvenir shopping today. Philip got some lavender honey for his family. I got some too for my mum. I also got two different olive oil, one infused with rosemary, garlic and pepper, one infuse with mint. The mint olive oil had such a refreshing taste, I've never tasted anything like it. I also got some Bazga- an elderflower flavoured spirit. I've been searching for this drink in all the menus but never seen it. It was recommended by the Lonely Planet. Therefore I was very happy that I managed to spot it in a wine shop and immediately got a bottle. Another thing I got was some lavender oil. All of these produce are typically Croatian and I can't wait to use them when I get home. I can just imagine drizzling the olive oil over a nice big bowel of salad now. Nom.

Winding alleys, lost in them forever without my boyfriend...

We also went into the bell tower of the Cathedral when the rain stopped. The views were again stunning, and looked very similar to Dubrovnik.

The day was overall pretty uneventful. We got a ferry at around 7pm to go to Split. We arrived around 9pm. It was dark and wet, so Split didn't give us the warmest welcome. Strangely, Split gave me a Chinese vibe. The roads are wide like China; there are so many illuminated signs, which gave it a Chinese nightlife vibe; there are trees planted at regular intervals on the pavement. All of those things reminded me of China.

We didn't have any problems finding our hostel once we got off the bus from the ferry terminal, but we weren't sure which level the hostel was based on a 4 storey building. We tried calling the owner's phone number without much success. I think we must have spent a good 20 minutes waiting around. Then someone came out of a car and walked towards the building, we asked them if they knew where Wumi's B&B was and he pointed at the first floor. We rang the bell but there was still no answer! After 5 minutes or so, lights came on inside and finally we were let in into our rooms. It turns that the owner had already fell asleep (this was around 11) and as he got up to the toilet, he saw shadows outside his door which caused him to open the door. For a while, I was worried we weren't going to have a place to sleep!

This room is not as luxurious as the previous two. It is also quite odd- it is a Halloween themed room. I think it might have belonged to the owners son, who has now moved out. Therefore he simply uses the spare rooms for tourists. The walls have a wash of purple painted on, but the colour is uneven and rather patchy. The carpet is a dark brown colour an has cartoon pictures of dragons, nights and magic books on. There are a couple of small bookshelves with fantasy books on them, such as Northern Lights, Twilight (*wretch*), Stephen King... There are also fluorescent stars stuck to the ceiling. You know the ones that glow in the dark? I find this room slightly creepy and unsettling.

Time for a shower and bed. I hope the weather will be better tomorrow.

Day 5- Korcula

Posing next a canon is normal right?

We were greeted with a very warm welcome by the owner at the appartment Nina in Korcula. Also, the lovely Josephine (one of the staff members) gave us a brief introduction to the town and around. She recommended restaurants, activities, cafes and shops. Her voice was so soft that I felt like I could listen to her speak all day and fall asleep soundly. We also got complimentary breakfast. She said it is a gift from them for all the guests that stay with them. We are going to have omelette with ham and cheese, crepe and a nice cup of coffee. She's going to knock on our door at 8.15, to wake us for breakfast. How amazing is that?!

Korcula town is like mini Dubrovnik. The old town in Dubrovnik is not huge so you can imagine how small Korcula town is! I think we've walked around it 3 times today. It is small but that doesn't take away its beauty. There was still beautiful coastal views, classic stone buildings and small alleys. In some ways, it was nicer than Dubrovnik- less busy, less expensive, more intimate.

We went the local beach and I was lying down by the water just about to fall asleep and have a nap when a massive wave came out of nowhere and got my legs and towel wet. I immediately jumped up in surprise and took my book away, thank goodness that didn't get wet. The waves were the aftershocks of a boat, and not a very big boat either! We were both quite impressed and surprised by the waves.

Some of the restaurants were quite pricey and the restaurants recommended by Josephine was a little bit out of our price range too. So this meant pizza! You can never go wrong with a pizza. We had huge pizzas that were bigger than the size of my face, and believe me when I say I have a massive face. It was so cheap too- only £6 pounds for a hand stretched large pizza. Due to Italian influence, the pizzas in Croatia are pretty tasty!

We walked around the town and nursed our food babies. By the time we reached our hotel room, we were both exhausted. This was partly due to the swimming and partly due to the carb-coma induced by our large pizzas. Oh well, I regret nothing! Holidays are fantastic, I don't feel guilty for not really thinking about what I'm eating and there are no strict schedules- just free time to explore and enjoy. Ahhhhhhhh. Holidays.

Day 4- Miljet

The owner of the hostel gave us a free lift to the ferry terminal this morning. We were leaving Dubrovnik today to go to Miljet Island via ferry. Fortunately for us, she was getting up early to drive to the airport and offered us a ride. We were very appreciative of this as it meant we got to the terminal in good time (7.30 for 9.15 boat) and it saved us a taxi fare. 

The view from our balcony- stunning!

I stayed up late last night and finished my book (No Safe House by Linwood Barclay, just in case you are interested), it was too engrossing and I just had to find out the end. This meant I went to sleep at 1am and woke up at 6.30am. Not very much sleep. When I'm tired I turn into a blabbering mess. I will giggle and speak in terrible foreign accents, Australian is a favourite, (although I think I'm improving...?), which slightly annoys my boyfriend. Lucky for him, I had a long snooze on the ferry for Miljet from Dubrovnik. I probably looked like an idiot sleeping with my mouth open. I got the trait from my mother, not one of the good genes.

Our hostel this time round was more like an apartment. We had our own balcony that overlooked Polace (a village in Miljet), we could see the harbour, the green mountains, the dancing waters and the white sailboats. It was a terrific view. We also had our private bathroom and kitchen. Therefore, this accommodation was much more expensive than our last, and it is the most expensive out of the whole trip- but it is so worth it! 

After having a long discussion of what to do, we decided to walk to the Miljet National park. The place is quite confusing as there was not specific gate or fence marking the beginning and end of the park. It seemed like the west half of the island was basically all national park territory. Also, you had to buy a ticket to enter it even though no one ever checked your ticket at any point.

After waking for 45 mins or so, we reached one of the big lakes in the park. The walk was again challenging in the scorching heat. I ended up just walking in my bikini because I was so hot! When we did finally swim in the lake, it was blissful. The view was fantastic. The lake was huge and surrounded by greenery. The water was clear and warm. Philip and I had a long swim and really enjoyed ourselves. Miljet was so much better than Lokrum! This place was just so beautiful.

One of the lakes...

Salt-water hair= Best Hair Ever.

We stayed at Polace rather than Pomona, which is the main tourist hub. This was good in that we had the quietness. On the other hand, It wasn't so good because it was further from the lakes and our next ferry departs from Pomena, something we only found out this evening. However I do think the quietness is worth the inconvenience. All I can hear from our room is crickets, and even that's a very faint background noise. I think I get used to the ambulance, the trains, the music and the drunks when I live in London. Then I come to a place like this and everything is just so peaceful. It is just absolutely wonderful. I am beginning to dread the return to London and university already! 

Tomorrow we hop onto another ferry to Korcula. It is another small island, and it's been called mini Dubrovnik by the travel books. 

I can't believe we are already half way through this dream Mediterranean holiday. 

Day 3- Lokrum

(Pictures coming very soon!)

The last day in Dubrovnik was a relaxing one, although it was technically mostly spent at Lokrum, an island near Dubrovnik.

It took only 10 minutes by boat and once we got off, we decided to just wonder without looking at any maps. That might not have been such a good idea. We were climbing up a walking trail for quite a while, but it was so hot that it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. We decided to try and go downwards and find a beach to finally feel the Adriatic Sea. We did find a nice area to swim in the end, and when we left that spot to walk back to the harbour, we realised that our 'exclusive' spot was actually much much closer to the harbour than we thought- all that walking in the heat for nothing!

Spot the peahen!

The beach wasn't really a beach per se. Croatia has rocks and pebbles, in this case, there were big rocks you had to carefully manoeuvre yourself around to get to the water. The water was such a beautiful clear turquoise. It was also pleasantly warm. Not like the freezing sea water at UK. I had my swimming goggles on and enjoyed inspecting the fish swimming merrily around. For lunch, we had a lovely and tasty picnic on the rocks by the sparkling sea.

After a good lie down, we headed back to Dubrovnik. We went to a Bosnian restaurant called Taj Mahal. The name still confuses me, it is a Bosnian restaurant in Croatia that has an Indian building as its name... The food was very very good. The best meal we've had so far, albeit also the most expensive. The menu was meat heavy and everything came with a small jacket potato with cottage cheese. I felt like I couldn't move afterwards. It is a very popular restaurant as we tried to go yesterday but they didn't have any space for us. The wait was worthwhile though. Both of us left feeling very satisfied. The waiter was also the nicest one we've met so far, so it was a very pleasant meal in the end.

Lonely Planet (the Bible) says that Croatian people talk bluntly and say it as it is, so when that's translated into English, it might come across as quite rude. However, it is nothing personal and just the way it is. My boyfriend and I have both experienced the unique Croatian mannerism and was quite taken aback by it sometimes. The waitress at the restaurant that we went to yesterday was very grumpy. I asked her for the cheque and she rolled her eyes! She had an attitude about her and asked me what type of card it was. I replied with courtesy, but she still turned back and shook her head as she walked away. What was that about?! Most others just say things quite bluntly but never mean to insult, but I did feel slightly snubbed by this particular waitress.

We had an early night in and played a couple of games before bed. Tomorrow we are going to Miljet!

Day 2- Dubrovnik

We had planned on getting up at 7am, so we can go out in the cool and beat the tours to the City Wall of the Old Town. However, we ended up getting up just before 8am. We got to the city wall at 9am, so it wasn't too bad and the weather wasn't too hot at that point.

We started walking around the City Wall at Ploce gate. This part of the wall had the steepest climb and was deemed to be less busy by the Lonely Planet, so a good starting place. The views of the old town was beautiful. The terracotta roof tiles that covered over each building was a classic sight of Dubrovnik. The coast line and mountainous views were also amazing. My boyfriend and I enjoyed watching the kayakers at sea struggling to steer and move forward.

Trying to look cool in the boiling heat

The climb got very hot quite quickly. My back and chest turned red quite spectacularly at the end the day. It was the only day we forgot to apply sunscreen! 

We then went on the cable car and got to the top of Mountain Srd. We overlooked the city from 405m, admired the views of the Old City, Lokrum Island (which we planned to visit the next day) and the Elafiti Islands. It made me fully appreciate how small old town actually was. 

After an eventful morning, it was time for food again. We went to the restaurant I wanted to go to yesterday evening- Konoba Ribar. We ordered a Greek salad and stuffed squid. The stuffed squid was filled with ham and cheese and it was delicious. One cannot come to the Croatian coast and not have seafood!

We had a lazy sit down at the harbour after our lunch. It was so hot that we just didn't feel like doing very much. We gathered our strengths after a nap and a read, and went back inside old town to look at a couple of churches. But I was still too sleepy to really appreciate them or learn any history. 

It wasn't too long until we had another rest and a cool drink. We went to a little cafe directly looking out to the sea. The view was beautiful but the drinks were ridiculously over-priced! We could see a lot of people swimming down below and quite a lot of people jumping off the rocks. I was impressed but also slightly disapproving of such actions. In my head, so many things could go wrong. One could do a belly flop, which would be painful; landing head first is also a possibly, although rare, which could render one unconscious; landing butt first means spinal damage is also possible... Yeah, you can call me paranoid and over-cautious...

After drinking some iced coffee and taking in the fantastic view of the sparkling waters. We started wondering around old town a little bit more. 

We went around the small alleys rather than the main streets to avoid the crowd. The small alley ways were much more enchanting and we got glimpses of the locals living there. We could often see freshly washed sheets hanging on washing lines, basket ball courts and even a music school. It's comforting to know that there are still locals that live in old town and it is not just a tourist destination.

I still remember a little town I went to near Suzhou, China called Wuzhen. It was packed full of tourists. There were no residents, just shops and restaurants all aimed at tourists. It seemed like that was the only reason why the government preserved it. Such a shame because it was absolutely beautiful, but it's beauty were slightly tarnished by the artificial tourist industry with one aim- to make money. 

We had dinner at a Croatian tapas restaurant. This restaurant was nicely decorated and felt very homely- the kitchen was open and it was just a kitchen you'd get at a normal person's home! The food was good. We had a stuffed tomato, black risotto, veal salad and bruchetta with a twist- the twist being a sardine on top. The black risotto was a bit too fishy for me, same with the bruchetta, although it was nice. The veal salad was delicious and the stuffed tomato was very good too. The stuffed tomato was stuffed with mushrooms and ham, if I remember correctly.

We stocked up on some snacks, fruit and breakfast for the next day after dinner. We are planning to go to Lokrum Island tomorrow. It will be the first time we will get to swim in Croatia! I'm very excited! 

Day 1- Arriving at Dubrovnik



Figs! Fig trees were everywhere, found this juicy one on the road on the way to Old Town

Arriving at the quiet tiny Dubrovnik airport was quite a stark contrast to departing from crowd-filled Gatwick, even though we got to the airport at 5am. Also in contrast was the weather. We arrived in glorious sunshine and a whopping 32 degrees.

The hostel we were staying at is family run, they have a couple of houses next to each other and rent out the rooms. It was quite strange to find that when I opened the wardrobe, it was already filled clothes. We were literally staying in her spare bedroom. The bed in our room was huge, which was great for staying away from my boyfriend during the night because it was just so hot! Also, I dreamt that he was doing something really annoying which caused me to want to hit him in my sleep. Apparently I slapped the bed really hard- another good reason to have a big bed.

After we got settled in a bit, we walked to the Old Town, which is they key attraction in Dubrovnik. Sheltered by the city wall, we forgot that we were just by the coast. Navigating around in the narrow alley ways and getting lost in the stone walls was so relaxing, even though I felt like my face was melting!



Trying something artistic here...

 After wondering for a bit, we went to the War Photo Limited museum. It featured photos from Dubrovnik under siege in the 1990's on the first floor and Central Africa's current sectarian conflict on the ground floor. The photos of Dubrovnik was moving as it showed the people's ability to survive and them finding salvation and hope during testing times. The photos of Central Africa was just pure tragedy. It made me shed a few silent tears. Reading the information behind each photo was even more despairing. A part of me wished there was something I could do to make a difference, but another part of me wished I had never seen the photos- ignorance is bliss. I was feeling quite emotional and thoughtful after the War Photo Limited museum.



I loved just wandering through these alleyways, so many restaurants and shops were hidden between the walls

The skies sent a thunderstorm when we were in the war photo gallery, so when we stepped out, it was nice and cool. The ground was slightly wet from the rain but the whole air was just so much more pleasant. The change in weather also bought to my attention my rumbling stomach. I did eat a piece of cake that I made at home after arriving in Dubrovnik. The cake was so good though. But that and a bit of ice cream earlier meant I was really craving a proper meal. So we went a pizzeria recommended by the Lonely Planet after finding out our first choice restaurant didn't open until another hour. 

The pizzas were massive. I was so hungry that I started eating without taking pictures. We ordered pizza Olivia (which was the name of the pizzeria) and Delize. Oliva had shrimps, olives, red peppers, tomatoes and mozerella. Delize had prosciutto and spinach. Both were absolutely delicious. By the end, we had two empty plates and two very full stomachs. 

We strolled slowly back to our hostel in the evening, which was a uphill climb. That was good for us after the massive pizzas. We took it easy for rest of the evening and got an early night in to ready our ourselves for the next day.