Ah, Croatia and its magnificent beaches, waterfalls, lakes and splendid parks, who wouldn't dream of setting foot there one day?
My cousin Carine, my favorite travel sidekick, and I didn't want to stop travelling after all the adventures we had together: Seoul and Jeju-do Island with its popular erotic park (especially for the elderly) in South Korea, Budapest with its beautiful Parliament (a wonder once the night fell), its famous outdoor baths and night cruises on the Danube and finally Egypt discovered through a cruise on the Nile.
We have of course a multitude of trips planned together, but shhh, it's a well-kept secret! I'm not going to reveal our next adventures anyway!
Anyway, the cruise on the Nile in February 2019 seems a long way off and we didn't want to limit ourselves to just one trip this year. So we decided to take advantage of the last long weekend in May (my favorite month as I have already told you in previous articles) to escape again for a week from May 28 to June 4, 2019 (this will not be the last trip of 2019, of course). We hesitated between several destinations: Austria, Latvia and Lithuania. We finally opted for Croatia after discovering the wonder of this country thanks to our friend: Mr. Google.
So it was on Tuesday May 28th that we took off from Orly airport for Croatia!
Day 1
As on our previous trips, our flight took off late (about 45 minutes); we are used to it now!Once we arrived in Split, we picked up our luggage and joined our "companion", a beautiful dark brown man, who accompanied us to our reserved shuttle beforehand to drop us off directly at our accommodation.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the handsome brown-haired man who got behind the wheel, but a middle-aged man and much less interesting to look at if you know what I mean. The ride to our guest house took about 40 minutes.
Once we arrived at our accommodation, we were greeted by an 80-year-old lady, who didn't speak a word of English, very cute, who accompanied us to our room to show us around and also collected the rest of the payment for the stay.
What about this accommodation? It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen with several fridges. A foreign couple was already in one of the rooms.
We didn't expect this at all because we thought we had a kind of hotel apartment with room, kitchenette and bathroom for ourselves. Either we misread the ad or we got ripped off; I prefer the second option.
The bathroom near our room was not particularly clean. It was supposed to be ours and the couple was supposed to use the other bathroom. We quickly understood why they were using ours because it was much larger.
I must say that this couple was not really clean: forget to flush the toilet (just urine, fortunately), electric razor full of hair left on the toilet bowl, etc. . Anyway, lucky for us, they only stayed for two days.
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| Papas restaurant |
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| Bačvice beach |
Day 2
We spent this day visiting the city of Split.In the morning, we went back to the Bačvice beach to take some pictures and have a brunch in the restaurant Bili.
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| Bačvice beach |
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| Bili restaurant |
We then headed for the old town where we discovered, among other things, the Ivan Meštrović Statue, the Diocletian's Palace, the Riva, the Marjan Hill from where we enjoy a magnificent view of the port, or the Prokurative.
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| The Riva |
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| Palace's peristyle |
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| Prokurative |
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| Diocletian's Palace |
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| Marjan Hill |
We also took pictures in a shop dedicated to Game of Thrones series, a series that I am a fan of and that my cousin just recently started watching; I am very proud of her. To be able to take a picture on the throne, you had to buy a souvenir in the shop. My cousin and I obviously did it in order to take some pictures on the famous Iron Throne.
We then had a cocktail at Plac's and sat at the water's edge on the harbour.
In the late evening, we had dinner at Fife's, a restaurant recommended by the Guide du Routard.
Also that day, a man wanted to take a picture of us. It makes you wonder if people don't live in their homes without the TV. It is true that we met very few Black people during our stay (no matter the city), but still! It's a very embarrassing situation.
Day 3
This day, we went for a walk on the Riva and had lunch on the run before taking our bus to the Plitvice Lakes.After about 2 hours of driving, our bus dropped off passengers going to the Lakes on the side of the road after a toll to take another bus to the Lakes. In the first bus, the driver told us that we would miss our next bus because it was supposed to arrive in 4 minutes and we were about 10 minutes from the tollbooth. He told us that he had arranged with another driver to pick us up. There were about 10 of us changing buses. We waited about 15 minutes for the other driver to arrive. Luckily for us, it wasn't raining because there was no shelter.
We arrived at the Lakes about 2 hours later. There are different bus stops and we didn't really know where to get off depending on the accommodation we had booked. According to the indications of the site on which we had made the reservation, we had to get closer to the stop allowing access to entrance 2 of the Lakes. We got off the bus but got back immediately when we saw that Google Maps indicated that it was about a 40-minute walk to our accommodation. We then got off at the stop allowing access to entrance 1 but Maps indicated this time more than 1h20 of walking! We then took a taxi (about 5€ each) to our cottage, the Rustic Lodge.
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| Rustic Lodge |
In the evening, we went to eat in a pizzeria (Bistro Vulnica) recommended by our hosts and located 15 minutes walk from our cottage. We had to walk along the roadside to get there. The houses by the road were so beautiful! For the return trip, we walked by the light of our phones because the road was only lit near the houses. I have to admit, it was pretty scary with the cars running past us.
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| Vulnica restaurant |
We were then able to enjoy our very spacious room and the superb adjoining bathroom; nothing to do with our accommodation in Split!
Day 4
In the morning, we went downstairs for breakfast; our hosts spoiled us well by serving us, in addition to the food available, an omelette and a piece of typical Croatian cake. We went back up to our room to get our things, which we had to leave reluctantly (it was so cute). Our hosts kindly dropped us off at the entrance to the Lakes; they were really sweet these two.
What about Plitvice Lakes? They are of dazzling beauty, it's breathtaking! The landscapes and water are really beautiful, I strongly recommend you to go if you spend holidays in Croatia. It's a must, don't miss it.
After the walk, we went to lunch and then took the bus back. It made 2 or 3 stops before arriving in Split. At each stop, passengers got on and got off. At the penultimate stop, there were no more seats available and some passengers travelled seated on the floor. I still don't understand why the bus driver let it happen, it's normally forbidden.
When we arrived in Split, we went to eat on the Riva in the Fabrique Pub. Really very nice pub, good atmosphere, good music, good food and cute waiters.
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| Jack Sparrow is among us! |
Day 5
On that day, a guided tour of the city of Trogir and Krka National Park was organised. We all had an appointment at the taxi station in Split where a minibus with leather seats, USB and Wifi plugs came to pick us up. There were about ten of us in all.The first stop was Trogir, about 30 minutes from Split. We first visited the city, enjoyed traditional songs and then our guide gave us some free time in the city.
We then took the minibus back to Krka (about 1h10 of travel time).
Our guide showed us a traditional Croatian house with old cooking utensils and a room dedicated to weaving looms. He explained that at the time of his grandparents (and ours because he seemed to be about the same age as my cousin and I), the kitchen was also used as a smoking room for ham and that it was necessary to wait 2 years before being able to obtain good cold meats. Nowadays, dry ham is prepared in the same way by the elders.
He then let us walk around the park. This park is really beautiful, I preferred it to Plitvice Lakes because I really enjoyed the way to visit the park; visitors walk on wooden pontoons all along the park, it's really nice.
Our guide told us to join him at 3:05 p.m. to end the visit with a 20-minute boat trip on the lake before taking the bus back to Split.
When we arrived in Split, we bought tickets to go to the island of Hvar the following Monday.
We had a cocktail at the Fabrique Pub and then dinner at the Skalinada restaurant.
Day 6
We woke up very early that day to take the bus to Dubrovnik. This one left at 5:15 a.m., I can tell you it was hard! We arrived a little before 10 a.m. in the city. And what a city! Very cute with its charming houses and its water with a thousand shades.Arriving at the station, we headed for the city centre where we enjoyed delicious cocktails in the Pjaca restaurant on the terrace where we could have a good sunbath.
We then walked around the city where some places were used as locations for the Game of Thrones series.
We then returned to Pjaca's for another cocktail and lunch.
Stroll then taste some good ice cream before returning to the station to take our bus.
The bus stopped 2 or 3 times at customs where our identity documents were checked as well as those of the passengers. A little anecdote, at the very first customs crossing, one of the passengers hid a small bag of drugs between seats and when he saw that my cousin had followed his little game, he asked her not to say anything, laughing. These Croats are crazy!
Our bus driver took a short break in Neum before leaving for Split where we were able to marvel at a magnificent sunset; it was so beautiful!
When we got home, we discovered that another couple had just taken the place of the previous one and this one was even dirtier than the other because we were surprised to find stain (poo) in the bathroom toilets. My cousin took her time and cleaned up. Much too kind my beloved cousin!
Day 7
For this last full day in Croatia, we took the boat to the island of Hvar. What a wonderful island! It is considered to be the St. Tropez of Croatia. Clear water, dreamy scenery, good weather and beautiful guys to watch.
Here too we walked around the city and had a cocktail and a meal on the terrace.
Here too we walked around the city and had a cocktail and a meal on the terrace.
In the afternoon, we went to gild ourselves the pill by the water, cold certainly, but so beautiful!
We had a hard time leaving the island with its dream setting. Ah, if only I could have stayed longer!
After taking the boat back to Split, we had dinner and sipped cocktails in the Terminal F restaurant and were able to watch a beautiful sunset.
Believe it or not, we have still discovered stain (poo) when we arrived at home. Neither one nor two, my cousin went to knock on the door of the couple who turned out to be French. The boy told my cousin that he thought he was alone with his girlfriend. My cousin then asked him if they used to do the same thing at home. He did not answer and apologized. As for his girlfriend, she told my cousin that "usually it doesn't stick". Where is the world going to? Even dirtier than her boyfriend! Her boyfriend did not understand what she had said to my cousin and asked her to repeat it, but she was careful not to do so. She knew very well that her answer was completely stupid! It seems that this accommodation only welcomes couples who have no idea of hygiene and good manners.
Day 8
We took advantage of this last half-day to sleep in.Our driver picked us up at our accommodation at 11 a.m. to drop us off at the airport. He was very friendly and very talkative.
For the return trip, we had a stopover in Hamburg. The first flight was delayed, so as not to change, but we were able to have our second flight after a few moments of stress, especially for me. Some turbulence on the second flight but nothing very bad even if I panicked a little bit.
Additional information and feelings
Croatia is a very beautiful country, the people are warm, the boys rather cute and the food cheap at all. We went to the restaurant every day and we managed for a maximum of 15€ for a dish and a cocktail.As explained above, Croats do not seem to be used to seeing people with black skin because we have been approached twice by people who wanted to take pictures of us. It was like being in South Korea where my cousin had her hair touched by an old lady.
I also noticed that cats seem to be treated like kings there. They're everywhere, I've never seen this before. Croats also love dogs very much, we have seen "bands" of dogs kept on a leash by their owners. It was like a Dog Anonymous meeting!
Of all the cities I visited, here is my top 3: Hvar, Dubrovnik, Krka.
Hvar and Dubrovnik are really cute and ideal for swimming.
Krka National Park also offers swimming but in a different environment with its beautiful waterfalls.
Anyway, don't hesitate for a second and hurry to discover this land of a thousand and one wonders.
See you in a few months for our next adventures, folks!
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