May 18 – 25, 2018

Our fourth trip abroad during the United Arab Emirate adventure was Croatia, and the third consecutive trip that wasn’t exactly on the short list when we came here.  I have a co-worker that told me about Dubrovnik, and I started doing more research and found out there were several beautiful parks in the country. Some of the fun facts I found as I started researching the country:

• Croatia is an independent country of 4.3 million people in Southeast Europe.
• Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, resulting in the Croatian War of Independence that lasted until 1995. This was one of a broader series of ethnic conflicts and wars of independence from 1991-2001 that ultimately resulted in six countries replacing the former Yugoslavia. Over 130,000 people were killed during these wars that included ethnic cleansing and genocide.
• The ancient walled city of Dubrovnik was shelled over 2000 times in 1991/1992 during this conflict, with 68% of the old town buildings being struck. Traditional building materials and techniques were used to completely restore the city, which was originally walled in the 9^th century AD.  The threat from Turks in the 15^th century eventually lead to a 2-kilometer stone wall enclosing the city with a wall up to 25 meters high and 6 meters thick. It has been a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO World) Heritage site since 1979.
• Croatia joined the European Union in 2013.
• Zagreb in the north central section of the country is the capital and largest city at 810,000.
• Catholicism is the dominant religion at 86%.
• Early Croats arrived in the area of present day Croatia in the 7^th century AD.
• The currency is the kuna, in use since 1994. Originally pegged to the German mark, it is effectively pegged to the euro now. There are 7.43 kuna in a euro (6.11 to the US dollar at current exchange rates).
• Dalmatia is a historical region along the Adriatic coast of Croatia including Dubrovnik. The Dalmatian dog breed originated here, and much of the HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed here.
• 9% of the land in Croatia is made up of 8 national parks, 11 nature parks and two nature reserves.
• Croatia invented the modern necktie. Croatian mercenaries who wore them as part of their uniform introduced them to Europe when they were summoned by King Louis XIV of France to fight in the Thirty Years War.  International Necktie Day is celebrated on October 18 in Croatia.
• A ‘konoba’ is a traditional tavern or restaurant along the Adriatic coast, with tables and chairs typically made of wood and featuring Dalmatian specialties such fish, shellfish, ham, and homemade cheese, brandy, and wine.
• Legendary Napa Valley winemaker Mike Grgich has a vineyard named Grgic Vina on the Peljesac peninsula. He is a native of Croatia and noted for being the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that bested several French wines in the 1976 ‘Judgement of Paris’ wine tasting competition, thrusting the California wine industry into international prominence. He was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
• Pag Island cheese (Paski Sir) is a Croatian variety of hard, distinctively flavored sheep milk cheese originating from the Adriatic island of Pag. Island producers are pursuing Protected Designation of Origin status.
• “Hrvatska” is Croatia in Croatian. I found this out when I Googled “Hrvatska” when I noticed it was on all the money.
• Dubrovnik abolished slave trading in 1418.
• Sales tax in Croatia is 25%.
• Croatia has ten UNESCO sites, eight cultural and two natural.
• In 1895, Sibenik became the world’s first city with AC powered street lights.

Since we have been in the UAE, we have always taken the bus to the Abu Dhabi airport. No hassle with airport parking and fees (the cheap lot is about $30/day), one less thing to worry about. This trip, however, started on the first day of Ramadan and the bus schedules had changed in ways we weren’t certain about.  Not wanting to risk not getting there on time, we paid a driver 400 dirham ($108) for the 2.5-hour trip to the airport from Ruwais.  This worked fine and is an option for the future.

Our flight left just after 2 AM and arrived in Belgrade, Serbia just after sunrise.  This is not a great time to start vacation.  Our flight didn’t leave Belgrade until 1335, so we had a lot of time on our hands.  Fortunately, we had access to the lounge through our credit card and spent the next several hours snoozing and snacking for free. Nice benefit on the credit card, we’ll use that again.

We arrived on schedule in Split, Croatia.  Lack of sleep and a medical emergency with the woman next to me on the plane contributed to helping me forget one of the bags on board when we got off.  This complicated arrival some, as Lynn waited at the lost and found while I went with the rental car company rep to pick up the car down the road. Everything was sorted out and we were on our way to Trogir soon after with a Garmin GPS stuck to the windshield.  I had never used one before.  I like them.

Trogir is a small historic, traditional town.  We checked into our accommodations at the Hotel Bellevue.  At $141, this was our most expensive lodging of the trip, but it was also right in the middle of town with a full kitchen, Wi-Fi, and free parking.  Lynn does a great job finding these places.  They gave us a complimentary beverage with a plate of prsut (prosciutto), cheese, and tomatoes that was a very hearty appetizer.  We walked around town, picking up some Pag Island cheese (more on that later), some local cherries, and some apricots for the next day.  We toured the waterfront, looking in vain for Konoba Trs.  We settled for Konoba Best.  The word KONOBA in Dalmatia traditionally means the room in the house where food was prepared and stored.  Today it is associated with restaurants that serve traditional meals in comfortable casual settings, often of rustic wood furniture and stone buildings.  I had sea bass and Lynn had calamari which were fine, but the ambiance was not as nice as we hoped for, especially the smokers next to us.  I noticed smoking is still common in Croatia, without restrictions now common in the USA.

We got up early the next morning to a beautiful clear blue sky with cool temperatures.  We had breakfast at the hotel before heading up the coast. Our hosts saw us off with a nice tray of fresh baked pasties, a nice touch.  We left in our manual transmission Suzuki Swift, a fun little car that was great on the small winding roads of this country.  We left on highway D8 towards Sibenik, a beautiful coastal drive.  We stopped at a vista overlooking the town of Primosten.  A local was setting up his stand of their own olive oil and wine.  We bought a two small bottles of wine for about $6. Shortly after we stopped for gas and picked up a loaf of fresh bread for about 50 cents at a bakery on the premises.  We were starting to like this country.

We arrived at Krka National Park around noon.  We paid our entry fee, about $35 for both of us, plus another $41 dollars for a 4 hour round trip boat ride to up the river.  We spent about an hour walking around and admiring the Skradinski Buk waterfall before heading off on our boat ride.  We enjoyed some of our wine, bread loaf, and pastries the hotel gave us on our ride.  We stopped at the Franciscan Mother of Mercy Monastery on a small island in the middle of Lake Visovac on the way. A picturesque monastery over 100 years old, it features many historic relics including the worlds smallest printed book, a mere 3.5 mm by 3.5 mm (about 1/10 inch).  We headed on to Roski Slap, another fantastic waterfall section.  This 23-meter-high broad swath of a waterfall is at the end of a long stretch of shallow step falls. We had about an hour and a half to ourselves to walk around and explore.

From Krka we left for a leisurely coastal drive to the town of Zadar, once described by Alfred Hitchcock as having the prettiest sunsets in the world.  Our hotel room at “Bastian Moro Rooms” ($55) was a simple but comfortable room. Parking was provided, the bed was comfortable, the Wi-Fi was strong, a refrigerator and water kettle was provided, and the location was a short walk to everything we were interested in seeing during our stay.  Besides the typical coastal town boardwalk attractions of shops and restaurants, Zadar has two special attractions.  One is called the “Sea Organ”, designed by a local architect.  This is a system of pipes and whistles set into perforated stone steps at ocean edge that creates soulful tunes as the motion of the sea moves in and out.  We stayed and watched the sunset.  The second special feature was the “Sun Salutation”.  This is a 22-meter diameter circle of photovoltaic plates set into the sidewalk. These plates provide enough energy for the harbor front lighting system as well as providing a kaleidoscopic light show from sunset to sunrise.

For dinner we used a coupon from the hotel for the Konoba Martinac.  This was a relaxing dinner of shrimp stuffed squid for myself and bacon wrapped pork tenderloin for Lynn, with a couple of pints of a local brew.  We experienced the only downside to our hotel room on our return at about 10 PM.  A raucous party was going on in the next room that went well into the morning hours.  At least we were treated to some genuine Croatian folk singing.

We started off the next morning with a tasty omelet at a sidewalk café on one of the narrow, marble paved streets of the old business district, followed by a stroll along the old city wall and a stop at the farmer’s market for some fresh strawberries before leaving town.  Weather wound up being accommodating for most of the week, but threat of rain was constant, and we adapted our schedule several times to make the best of it. We had planned to leave Zadar and head to Paklenica National Park for a hike.  A bit of research showed Pag Island was just a short way up the coast and we decided to go there based on the forecast at Paklenica. The Pag cheese we purchased for a driving snack in Trogir had impressed us.  A bit about Pag island and the cheese: Pag Island is barren and rocky with vast empty spaces, with an eastern landscape dominated by the Velebit mountain range. Strong winds come down the mountain range across the sea, picking up the salt air which is then distributed across the island. The hearty indigenous plant species, including the fragrant Pag’s sage, pick up the salt.  The native sheep graze on these plants, giving their milk the distinctive quality that contribute to the cheese known as Paski Sir.  I had never heard of it, but I won’t forget it.

The drive to the island was marked by a sharp transition in landscape as we entered the island.  The imposing Velebit Mountains dominated the east, and the deep blue water was a stark contrast to the rocky landscape of the island. We worked our way in the direction of the cheese producers, stopping for another outstanding traditional meal at Konoba Giardin.  I had lamb shanks in a sauce with handmade pasta while Lynn had a ham and cheese stuffed turkey breast.  Total cost including two pints of local brew, an espresso and tip was about $45.  I thought this was a good price for the amount of food we got.  We often skipped a meal because of this. We had planned to take a tour at the cheese shop based on our internet research, but when we arrived we found the tour guide had left for the day since there were no reservations (we hadn’t made one).  We still had a good time going through the cheese and wine shops and learned some history from the talkative cashier.

Plitvice National Park (one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites) was next on the agenda.  We headed into the mountains, checking into our hotel “Plitvice Etno House” about 5 PM.  This was a charming pine paneled chalet type room.  We nosed about the area for a bit.  It had rained some, and the cool air and forest landscape was reminiscent of the Smokies.  After scouting out the landscape for the next morning, we came back to our room and enjoyed some Paski Sir cheese and crackers while making preps for the next day.

As was the case all week, our room had no coffee provided, and in this case had no hot water kettle either. That was the only downside to an otherwise great room, especially since I was not able to get any from the breakfast room before it opened for breakfast.  This was a bit of a disappointment for two dedicated coffee drinkers, but we made it through.  The breakfast itself was wonderful, with plenty to set us up for our 6-hour hike.  We bought our tickets ($35 total) and took the shuttle bus up to the trailhead.  We had a leisurely day enjoying some spectacular waterfalls and natural scenery, following a boardwalk for long sections over the water.  The waterfalls had the distinctive feature of almost being a broad collection of individual streams rather than a central channel.  The boardwalk was also distinctive, composed of small logs cut in half rather than smooth cut boards.  Interesting and attractive but they required you to pay attention to your step.  The crowds weren’t too bad, but it was also a weekday in the “shoulder” season.  The crowds at peak season must be terrible.

We bid adieu to Plitvice and headed out to our next overnight spot at Sibenik.  This town of about 34,000 is the oldest Croation town on the coast, over 1000 years old.  After about a 2-hour drive, we checked in at “Shabby Chic” in downtown Sibenik.  This place was a steal at $53 – free parking, Wi-Fi, full kitchen, nice rooftop patio, and walking distance to everything.  We have not stayed in chain lodging anywhere, and I’ve been thrilled with where we’ve stayed.  The town center bell tower – something we enjoyed at every town we stayed at – was just across the street. We got settled, then headed out to explore. We bought a few groceries, including some items for breakfast since this was one of the few places we stayed that didn’t include breakfast.  I noted that everywhere we bought groceries asked if you wanted a bag – since you pay for them.  I like this.  One more step towards getting rid of all those plastic bags.  Dinner was at the Nostalgija Konoba – this place was wonderful.  It was on the old marble paved square in the town center with outdoor seating on a pleasant evening.  I had mussels with tomato sauce and squid ink polenta, Lynn had a sausage pasta with truffle sauce, and we shared a bottle of local wine.  Perfect.

We rearranged our plans – again – based on weather forecast. Plans for an early ferry to the Pelijesac Peninsula were scuttled to allow us to move on to Dubrovnik sooner based on rain being predicted there later when we had planned on going.   This resulted in us having a couple of free morning hours in Sibenik.  We thoroughly enjoyed spending a couple of leisurely hours walking on the seafront, having a cappuccino and some pastries, and strolling through some of the old business district shops and markets.  This town looks worthy of another trip.

We said our goodbyes to Sibenik, promising to return, and headed south towards Dubrovnik.  This was the first time for taking the toll road to speed up the transit a little since we weren’t going down the coast.  There must have been 20 tunnels we drove through, ranging from just a couple of hundred meters to some over a mile long. We filled up with gas – the equivalent of about $6.17/gallon.  We arrived in Dubrovnik, sorted things out and checked into our room at the Dubrovnik Victoria Guesthouse.  Lynn scored big again. A small simple room with a bathroom/shower in the hall, but with free parking, Wi-Fi, fridge in the room, a lovely porch overlooking town, hot water kettle in the room, and close access to the bus stop.  Dubrovnik is a busy tourist town, so at $50/night this was great.  This is the only place I believe I have ever paid to stay where the bath towels have been hung out to dry in the sun.

Lynn had arranged for two Dubrovnik cards for a total of $55.  These get you access to most of the public offerings and the transit system to get around for 24 hours from time of first use.  It didn’t take too long to figure it all out.

We walked into town partly because it was only supposed to be about 20 minutes and that would delay activating our cards and partly because, well, I’m that guy that walks around.  Lynn tolerates me fairly well.  We had some great pizza at a restaurant just outside the old town walls, sitting outside with a great vantage point of Bokar Tower and nearby Fort Lovrijenac.  We went into the old town and shopped around for an hour or two before having an ice cream and taking the bus back.  Croatians love their ice cream, we saw dozens of ice cream stores over the course of the week.  Dubrovnik is a very nice town, but it does have more of a tourist feel than most places we saw.

We got up the next morning and had coffee on the porch before heading into town for our guided tour of the 2-kilometer wall around the old city.  We paid an additional $43 for this tour.  There were only 5 of us for this very informative 2-hour tour.  Dubrovnik is an ancient city from the days of the old city-states.  It was considered a free state from 1358 until 1808, although it paid tributes to the Ottoman Sultan for centuries during that time.  Our guide explained that Dubrovnik has a long history of negotiating peace with skilled diplomats to avoid conflict.  He also told us that Dubrovnik is the last Christian city heading east until Goa, India.  An interesting fact that I didn’t try to confirm. The town is a tight maze of narrow marble streets polished shiny from centuries of foot traffic.  The streets are filled with shops, restaurants, and historical spots, including the third oldest continually operating pharmacy, in business since 1317.  All the buildings have red tile roofs, making a dramatic view overlooking the city from the towers.  I observed how roofs damaged during the 1991 shelling had been repaired (in some cases) using undamaged tiles in combination with new tiles to minimize the impact on the appearance.  We were hot after the tour and relaxed with an ice cream and iced tea.

After a bit of research, we decided on Bistro Glorijet for dinner. This small restaurant on the waterfront was originally built in 1527 as an arsenal for Dubrovnik aristocracy. The atmosphere was amazing, as was the catch of the day (Lynn) and the mixed shellfish (me). I topped off the meal with a grappa, an Italian liquor made discarded grape seeds, stalks and stems that are a by-product of the winemaking process.

Our last full day in country was to be spent on the Peljesac Peninsula.  Rain the night before had moved out, leaving a glorious morning of clear blue sky and cool temperatures. We had coffee and yogurt on the patio and hit the road.  Ston is the first small community you drive through as you enter the peninsula and is known for its mussels and large flat oysters that have been farmed there since Roman times.  We had noted many black floats in the ocean as we drove to Dubrovnik a couple of days before and had confirmed these were part of the shellfish farming.  We stopped for a couple of photo opportunities of the harvesting activities, as well as a brief stop at a lovely family beach with stunning water clarity.

Peljesac Peninsula is famous for its many vineyards, six in a mile at one stretch. We stopped at several, sampling the wines, olive oil, and touring the grounds. The most famous was Grgic Vina, a winery owned by Mike Grgich of California fame but a native Croation.  We purchased a bottle of Posip, a white wine made from an indigenous grape that populates the peninsula. We spent a few minutes walking around the small town and beach in the cove where his vineyard is located.  It suffered a fire a 2015 that killed most of the trees on the slopes in the cove but is still beautiful with crystal clear water.

Our time was up, and we headed up the coast to Split.  We chose to stick to the coast, which surely made for a slower trip. We passed many small towns, tucked away in coves with their own little parks and beaches.  The water was so blue and the mountains rise abruptly for several thousand feet – the impact is dramatic. We stopped at one small beach, turned out it was topless in a very nonchalant relaxed manner.  The water – again – was beautiful, but we didn’t have time for a swim.  We checked in to the Hotel Manufactura ($64) in Split, a dated but perfectly adequate hotel with a good restaurant just a few hundred yards from the rental car return and a 20-minute walk from the airport the next morning.  We spent the night and got up early and made our way to the airport, picking up a good size chunk of Paski Sir and a bottle of Posip wine in the duty-free store.

Total cost for the trip, including all transportation (airfare, rental car, buses, trip from/to Ruwais in Abu Dhabi), lodging including hotel in Abu Dhabi on our return, meals, tourist attraction fees, and souvenirs was $3828.  Croatia is a vacation value in our minds.