We left London Gatwick at the leisurely hour of 4.35pm and headed straight for Split, Croatia. For those old enough to remember Croatia used to be part of Yugoslavia, a kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Croatia declared independence in June 1991 and has a population of 4.28 million people of which 350 thousand reside in Split.
After landing fairly late, we jumped straight into a taxi and drove to our accommodation – Dalmatian Villas. We then headed down to the main promenade in the port to get our bearings and grabbed a quick bite to eat before bed to get a good night sleep before our trip.
Highlight: Being on holiday and away from work for a whole week, yay!
Lowlight: Our wee hotel room was a little weird and tucked down this dark alley. Interesting Fact: There is a statue of bishop Gregory of Nin just by the Old Town and they say if you rub his toe you get good luck.
Saturday
We awoke to a beautiful sunny day and given we didn’t need to report to our ship until midday we decided to explore Split. We had a nice breakfast in the square and then made our way to Diocletian's Palace, which is a former Roman Emperors residence. Along we way we passed a cool local market selling the mornings catch from the Adriatic and another much larger market selling everything from tourist tat to fresh fruit.
Finding the ship is not easy as there was like 300 ships and only 30 berths so they simply tie onto one another and you have to cross from boat to boat to reach your one. After 10 mins or so we spotted the world famous Leonardo – our home of for the next 6 nights. We then had a welcome speech from our tour leader (a local Croatian girl) and an amazing 3-course lunch. Our fellow crewmembers were an American family from Boston, a NZ family from Auckland, an older kiwi couple who now live in Perth, an English couple from London and 2 girlfriends from Manchester and a solo Austrian.
By this time it was about 30 degrees and we set sail for our first port of call – Makarska. Makarska is a small town of just over 13 thousand about 60 km southeast of Split. Along the way we had out first swim stop with Louise proving she’s the most adventurous chick with a textbook jump from the top of the boat. This was also the first time we used our new underwater camera which turned out was waterproof and did take some great pictures. The water was so warm, which made Lou very happy.
We docked in town just before sunset so quickly disembarked walked around the various squares and churches before walking up to the nearby cliffs to watch the sunset, and see a statue of St.Peter built in the 13th century.
We then headed back for dinner up on the hill before visiting Club Deep – a nightclub that’s in a cave on the beach. We had to be back on the boat every morning by 5am or else the boat may depart without us! Luckily we made it back just in time with just 7 hours to spare!
We quickly realized that it was impossible to have a meal without some sort of alcohol, in most restaurants they give you an aperitif of locally made spirit, usually pretty strong and cough syrup tasting.
Highlight: Meeting all our tour members and realizing that they weren’t all drop kicks. Lowlight: Bit disappointed that Club Deep wasn’t actually down inside a cave and also that there weren’t more people there, but then again we did go at about 8pm.
Interesting fact: Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands and its Mediterranean climate is slightly better than Nelson. Hard to believe I know.
Sunday
We awoke to the sound of the diesel engines as we departed Makarska at 7am. We then left our cabin below deck and headed up for our first breakfast. The breakfast, not surprisingly, was continental style, which was good but did become a bit boring after 6 straight days.
It had clouded over a bit that night but quickly cleared and was another mint day. We stopped around midday for another swim stop, this time a bit closer to shore. The water in Croatia was so amazingly clear and we spotted plenty of small fish and even a few naturists.
We arrived late afternoon at our next stop - Mljet. Upon arrival we noticed a chick being stretched away in with a next brace to an ambulance. Detective L. Bennie soon found out it was an Aussie chick that slipped in between two of the boats when going ashore. Perils of being a drunken youngster in Croatia!
Mljet is a national park and is famous because of 2 salt lakes that are connected. In need of some exercise, we grabbed our togs, towel and some water bottles and headed out for a big walk in the National Park. We walked around for a few hours in the heat and found a cool cave before heading back. Hamish then floated between the two lakes before we walked back to the boat.
Given it’s a national park there was no bars and restaurants so the crew put on a Captains Dinner. We learned at the dinner that our Captain had some bad news regarding his father and would be leaving the boat in the morning. The food always followed a pattern of a soup or pasta to start, followed by a green salad and either meat or fish, then a sweet pudding. The cook was hard case, we only saw glimpses throughout our whole trip but when we did see him he always had a pint glass of warm white wine in his hand. Didn’t seem to affect his cooking, as it was always yummy.
We latter found out that the Captains Dad had died and the crew flew the flag at half-mast in respect.
Highlight: Getting a decent bit of exercise and the Captains meal was really delicious. Lowlight: An argument about swimming the fast moving current that swept through this little channel. Lou was right but Hamish just wanted to be difficult (an adventure – girls ay)
Interesting Fact: This little island is dead 9 months of the year as tourists only visit when it’s warm. I have no idea how the couple of bars and restaurants survive.
Monday
Day 4 of our holiday rolled around and we decided to sleep in a bit longer in bed due to a swell and also we had drunk a few beers the night before (not a good combo!). It was a very short cruise to our next stop Dubrovnik. We docked in the new town as old town in very small and the harbor couldn’t accommodate all the boats and cruise ships.
Once safely moored, we caught a bus to the old town in the sweltering heat. We arrived with hordes of other tourists and decided to head up and walk around the 1940m long city walls. Dubrovnik is an amazingly preserved medieval town.
Highlight: Walking around the city walls was very cool, and seeing into peoples houses that had lived inside this old city for so long and made it their home.
Lowlight: It was really really hot, and not sunny hot but humid hot. That was Lou’s excuse for an ice cream anyway.
Interesting Fact: Dubrovnik faced extensive shelling damage in 1991 war by Serb-Montenegro forces, but due to the amount of money that tourists brought in, everything was rebuilt and open for business within a year.
Tuesday
Tuesday we awoke to the first bad weather of the trip with a heavy rain and lightening. Our crew decided to wait out the storm at port so we spent the morning alternating between our room and the mess. The storm quickly passed and we set off to Trstenik, a tiny village based on the Peljesac Peninsula, which only has 100 permanent residents. The town is known for its good quality local wines. Being the poor ones we opted out of the wine tour and spend the afternoon sunbathing and swimming. On the way back to the boat we stopped at Toni’s bar that did an amazing iced coffee.
We had another captain’s dinner, mingled with our fellow passengers and crew before heading off to bed.
Highlight: Being on a boat in a pretty heavy lightning storm
Lowlight: Being on a boat in a pretty heavy lightning storm.
Interesting Fact: It only rains for 30 days a year in Dubrovnik; we were one of the unlucky ones.
Wednesday
Today we were headed for Korcula, which the locals swear is the birthplace of Marco Polo. It is a smaller version of Dubrovnik and is a maze of windy little streets in the old town with a church on every corner.
But before we got a chance to explore the town we were whisked off in a little jet boat to another part of the island to take part in some buggy driving (at Hamish’s request of course). We joined up with some other tourists from other boats and hopped in our little dune buggy to go on a tour of the island, particularly through the vineyards and forests. We stopped at a beach known for it’s snorkeling and borrowed some snorkeling gear and went for a paddle. We seemed to see the same type of fish everywhere we went in Croatia…. almost like they were following us…. our return journey showed us more of the island and we managed to beat the rain back to our boat to dock in Korcula.
We stopped by the world famous Cukarian bakery to try the pastries of the same name. Both were delicious. We then had a few drinks on the boat before we went out to try and find some dinner, we were a bit disillusioned about what was on offer and settled on pizzas.
One of the more interesting bars in Korcula is at the top of a watchtower, called Massimo. It is all outside and it is so small that the bar itself is actually downstairs inside the tower and all the drinks have to be carried up using a pulley system. We went for a nightcap after dinner and sat under the stars, a really nice end to the evening.
Highlight: The buggy trip was cool, and it was nice to be spending a bit more time on land, also the old town, small enough to cover in an hour or so.
Lowlight: Contrary to popular belief, the beaches are not all white sandy affairs, the one we went to was pebbly and sore for the old feet.
Interesting Fact: Although the locals believe it, it was probably unlikely that Marco Polo spent much time in Croatia – as all his travels and writings were based in Venice, where the Venetians say he was born.
Thursday
Today we were en route to Hvar with a break and swim stop and some lunch docked up at the Pakleni island, which are meant to have the clearest waters in Croatia.
We then docked up in Hvar, which is apparently the longest island in the Adriatic. It is also the playground for the rich and famous and there were a few super yachts docked up for the night.
We hopped off ready to explore. The first thing we noticed was the price difference in all the bars and restaurants, everything was a lot dearer. Regardless, we headed up the winding little cobbled streets to Tvrdalji Castle, which was summer residence of Petar Hektorović, the Croatian poet (1487-1572). During the 16th century, the island of Hvar came under attack from the Ottoman Turks. Hektorović, one of the local nobles, undertook to fortify his house so that it could act as shelter for the local citizens.
It wasn’t the best castle we had seen but it did offer pretty awesome views. Feeling like we had deserved it after a big walk in the heat, we decided it was drink o’clock. The problem was the bars were a little pricier than we wanted so we did what we have done in most countries we have visited in summer, went to the local shop and bought a litre of wine, bread, ham and cheese and had a picnic on the seafront. We did get a few odd looks drinking out of the bottle but we had a good time. A little tipsy at this stage we found an outdoor restaurant where we gorged ourselves on calamari and beers.
And then because we were in Hvar and it is known to be the party destination of Croatia we felt like we had to go to a few bars. Our Sail Croatia passes offered us a “welcome drink” in a few bars so we decided to use those, then we found out that the welcome drink was a jaeger bomb so we took that as our cue to leave.
Highlight: The view from the top of the castle was pretty magic.
Lowlight: The big gap between the super rich with their super yachts and everyone else.
Interesting Fact: One of the main economic activities on the island is the production and sale of lavender oil.
Friday
Feeling slightly worse for wear this morning but felt refreshed after another swim stop in Brac, which is interesting due to its shifting beaches dependent on tides and winds.
Then by the afternoon we were back in Split where it all began.
It was another roasting hot day but we wanted to get the view from the other part of the harbor that we hadn’t been before. The nature reserve called Marjan, which has a peak (Telegrin) of 174 metres, which meant a lot of steps. The view from the top was worth it through. Walking back down the other side we got slightly lost and without meaning to, and saw a lot of Split’s suburbia.
We had another meal in the Old Town at a forgettable place but we were still enjoying the luxury of eating all our meals outside in the summer heat.
Highlight: Making it to the top of Telegrin and seeing the views and Lou feeding half her meal to stray kittens at dinner.
Lowlight: Getting lost, Hamish’s sense of direction isn’t always spot on in foreign countries but did pretty well considering we had no map.
Saturday
Today was one of the highlights of the trip, we were up and about early to finally get off the boat and put our bags into storage before our day trip to Bosnia.
Along with a group of other Kiwis and Aussies from other Sail Croatia boats, we hopped on a bus with our guide who was a Kiwi but lived in Croatia a long time. It was nice to see the scenery by bus rather than by boat although it was a long journey before we reached our first stop of Kravice falls.
This was totally random. A massive car park and then a big walk down to the waterfalls which had a few bars and restaurants dotted around the shoreline. The falls themselves were awesome and it seems they were also a religious attraction as there were a lot of Christians swimming round in their clothes.
The only disappointing thing was how cold it was, after getting used to the warm seas of Croatia, this was a massive shock to Lou who only made it into her waist before retreating to the shore to sunbathe. Hamish swam to the waterfalls and looked around the rocks before we had some lunch at one of the shoreline restaurants, delicious meat kofta type things with flatbread.
Next on our tour was the city of Mostar, which is called Mostar after the famous old bridge that joins the two sides which was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century.
This was a big shock to us, as the war here hadn’t been for over for 10 years and many buildings were still in the same state after being bombed and shot at. The bridge was famously destroyed in 1993, and was slowly rebuilt until it was re opened in 2004. It is also famous for people jumping off the top, it became so popular that the Mostar diving club was established and started charging people to jump off the top, 20 meters up. Hamish was very tempted but the charge of 40 euros put him off (they don’t charge at Pelorus in Nelson!).
The rest of the town was slowly coming back to life and enticing the tourist trade with lots of shops and restaurants. We were astounded at cheap things were, almost embarrassingly so. Apparently a few Croats come over the border to buy things here because it is so cheap.
We got back quite late on Saturday night and as we were staying in a different part of Split we thought a taxi would be the best way to get to our new hotel. However it seemed that there were about 15 weddings on, on that night and the roads were gridlocked. The first couple of taxi drivers we approached told us that walking would be quicker which was nice of them!
We finally found this random hotel at the bottom of an estate and dumped our bags. We cleaned up and then went back into town to find some dinner, which was fine and back to our room. What a relief to sleep in a proper bed! Lou had also developed a stinking cold throughout the day and was feeling pretty miserable.
Highlight: All the different types of religious monuments - Muslims, Croats, Serbs, and Yugoslavs all live in Mostar in relative peace now.
Lowlight: The time taken to get there.
Interesting Fact: Mostar has extreme weather variation with the average temperature in summer being around 40 degrees and about 4 degrees in winter.
Sunday
Our last day of holidays, we slept in and partook in the hotel’s breakfast; yes you guessed it, bread and cheese. It was a beautiful day again and although Lou was sick we headed to the beach so Hamish could have one last swim.
We came across hundreds of locals playing this type of handball game in the shallows of the beach. Mostly old men whacking a ball round jumping and diving everywhere. Hamish swam most of the day and Lou sat in the shade trying to get over her cold. We had a lunch in a beachside café before heading out to the airport to make the long journey back to London, with some good memories and pretty amazing tans.
Highlight: Sleeping in a proper bed that wasn’t swaying.
Lowlight: Not finding this bloody hotel for ages.
Interesting Fact: Only Lou would manage to get a cold in one of the hottest countries in the world.
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