Shock and Awe

Split, Hvar and Plitvice Lakes Croatia
October 27- November 3

Lovely Split Harbor

Here is what I knew about Croatia when I was growing up. There was a war. That sums it up. I saw the news broadcasts and knew that something was happening between the Serbs and the Croats and it was horrible. All the footage showed the people of the local villages and towns dodging bullets between bombed out buildings. I knew that both sides had been merciless and like all wars, it took a toll on the country. The war mainly took place between 1991 to 1995, which were my college years, so there is really no excuse for not knowing more, but I was very busy "at the library" during those years so I somehow managed to miss most of the current events that happened outside our little world.

I will not tell you now that I understand the whole conflict. As a matter of fact, I will tell you that you should do your own homework if you ever go to visit so you can understand what these people went through. I wish we had done more. What I will tell you for certain is that you should forget the images you have in your mind when you think of Croatia. It is a country of unimaginable beauty and lovely people and fabulous food. And it is almost all coastline, something that luckily we knew before we left, because we otherwise might not have budgeted as much time as we did.

Our trip started off rather hilariously on the ferry from Italy to Croatia. There are two major ferry lines that go from Ancona, Italy to Split, Croatia. One is Jadrolina and the other is the Blue Line. Blue Line has a giant yellow sticker on it's web site, it's boats and it's tickets proclaiming it the "Low Cost" ferry line. Guess which one we chose? Actually it was kind of a no brainer. It was a 10 hour ferry trip and your choice was a cabin, a seat (like on a plane) or nothing. I can't sleep in airline seats and I'm far too old to be sleeping on the ground so the cabin was the only way to go. Jadrolina was selling interior cabins for $85 euro a person, Blue Line was selling exterior cabins for $65 euro. Done deal. More expensive than a hotel room, but less than a hotel and a flight, which is what we would have had to buy if we didn't take the overnight ferry.

So, of course, since this was the "budget" line things got pretty silly from there. It started when we got to the Ancona train station in the late morning. Let me just warn you that if you get to Ancona and check in for you ferry is at 4PM, don't take the bus to the ferry terminal until 4PM. Otherwise you will be trapped at the Ancona ferry terminal for hours. (I suppose we could have sprung for a cab, but we are still being very conservative about things like that). So there we were, stuck for hours at the Ferry Terminal. Luckily for me they had Internet Access so I at least spent a good chunk of time blogging while we waited. After a while though, we were both starving and decided to get food. All I will say is to take a look at Shaun's face in this picture if you want to know how that turned out.

The awesome cold spaghetti and cold lasagna that were our only meal options

Once we got on the boat, we were much happier. The design was total disco fever, but with the proper 1970's aging. I was waiting for Isaac, Gopher, Julie McCoy and Doc Bricker to come out of the woodwork. I'm sure these ships are total party boats in the summer, but on October 28th it was more like the Love Boat as written by Charles Dickens. We both got a laugh when we checked out our Deluxe Exterior Cabin with the tiny bunk-beds! So what we we to do? We headed to the bar! We were having loads of fun and I was kicking Shaun's butt at Rummy 500. A beer or two later however, we decided that maybe it wasn't a great idea. And even though the ship's purser had told us that we would not need anything for motion sickness, we opted to get some anyway. From there it was off to la la land in our Deluxe Exterior Bunk Beds.

Now this is luxury!!

When we awoke in the morning we were just off the coast of Split, Croatia. Split itself is a large commercial city and you don't want to spend a whole week in Split if you are visiting Croatia for the first time. For a few days however, it is just perfect. We both loved it from the second we stepped off the boat, even if we almost made ourselves fugitives from justice in the first 10 minutes. You see, here's the thing about the Ferry to Split. When you get off the boat there are no signs, so we just started walking. It was raining so we wanted to get to the apartment ASAP. We were just about to walk past the line of cars and people when I looked in a window and realized that it was border control/immigration!! We backtracked to the end of the line and took our place alongside all the other law abiding citizens who had the good sense to realize they were leaving an EU country and heading into Croatia.

Once we made it through the rigorous border patrol in Split (kidding) we walked into an absolutely beautiful coastal town. Even the rain that morning didn't dampen the beauty.
Split's old town is built around a Palace dating back to the 4th Century AD. The walls of the Diocletian palace surround the old town and so when you are walking through the cobblestone streets or going to the shops and restaurants you are actually inside the old palace. It is a very cool place!

The railing you can see is at the top of the old palace. It totally surrounds the old town and all the shops and cafes and restaurants are inside the palace walls

Beautiful Split Harbor

This statue is of Gregory of Nin, a tenth century bishop, but I called him Gandalf the whole time. You rub his big toe for luck











The apartment was great. After Venice, we had no reservations so the plan was to try to score some deals by making last minute bookings. In the case of Split, we were able to get a nice studio apartment with a kitchen for 50 Euro a night. The apartment was right outside the old palace walls, so the location could not have been better! The first day we really took advantage of the apartment as neither of us was feeling great. Just a little motion sickness I think, as it quickly passed. Either way, it was great to have a nice big place to rest up and relax.

The apartment in Split

Our next few days in Split were great fun. Split, like every other large European city, has a big farmers market. Theirs is right outside the Palace walls. We bought fruit and nuts, eggs and vegetables and some bread. We decided to stick to our habit of having breakfast at home. It saves money and allows us to fill up in the morning so we aren't hungry in an hour. Our first night we also thought we would make dinners at home. Lets just say that our attempt to make calamari in our somewhat limited kitchen was a disaster. Once we realized how inexpensive the restaurants were, we decided we were better off letting the Croatians do the cooking. And oh, what cooking!

Let me just say, if you like fish this is the place to go, but don't go expecting cleaned up, nondescript, skinned, deboned, white fish filets. The fish here is served simply, a whole fish seasoned with a little salt and pepper and a liberal dose of olive oil, then grilled and served on a plate with grilled vegetables and maybe a wedge of lemon. I was in absolute heaven. I think I ate grilled fish almost every night and a few lunches as well. It was a little work getting around the small bones but that just made dinner a slow, lingering experience. A small pitcher of Croatian wine and some gorgeous Croatian bread was all that we needed to complement these lovely dinners.

Fish Before...

And after...

When we did venture from the grilled fish, it wasn't far. We found a really cute place that served what they called "fried shrimp". It was shrimp still in the shells that had been barely battered in some sort if salty goodness and then quick fried in olive oil. They were so tender and delicious you could even eat the little legs. Another night we went to a Croatian wine bar where they had a mixed appetizer of Octopus salad, some sort of fish mousse, marinated shark and two different types of fresh sardines. The octopus salad was my favorite. So fresh and delicious with tomatoes and capers and onions. Mmmmm. Shaun also tried some of the local meat dishes, like pasticada, a kind of beef stew that is traditionally served with gnocchi. Croatia is just across the Adriatic from Italy so you could also find pastas and risottos galore, but we were hooked on the Croatian specialties.

The smorgasbord of fishy things

And the salty delicious shrimp. Yes, I know this is just gratuitous food pictures now, but it was SOOOOOOO good!

For sightseeing we toured the Diocletian palace one morning and did lots of walking around Split. One day we took a local bus out to see some Roman ruins in a town called Salona. The ruins dated back to the 2nd century BC and were very well preserved. As with most things we were doing lately we were almost the only ones there! There was one young woman with her boyfriend and her mom, walking their dog, but that was it. I love off season travel! Once we finished at the ruins we needed to find a different local bus to take us to our next sightseeing stop, the island of Trigor just off the coast. We asked the young woman if she knew where the bus was and she said we could just walk with them since they were heading that way. So we basically walked with this little family for about 20 minutes through the rest of the ruins and through a vineyard and an olive grove until we got to the place where we could catch the bus. Did I mention how nice the people are here?

The ruins at Salona

Trigor was just gorgeous. It has a little bridge leading from the mainland over to the harbor area which is full of shops and restaurants. There is a fortress at the end of the harbor and behind the fortress was a soccer field, where a game was in progress. Shaun watched a bit of the game while I explored the harbor, watching the fish and crabs that were all congregating near the edges. We walked around the area, had a pizza for lunch and just relaxed in the sun. The weather was once again unseasonably warm, which made our day in Trigor even lovelier. After a few hours we took the bus back to Split.

Trigor Harbor

After 3 nights in Split, we took the Catamaran over to the Island of Hvar. The trip on the catamaran only took about an hour and it cost about $6 each, a real bargain. The night before we had done our new "last minute accommodation" search and found a highly recommended apartment at a place called Apartments Irena. Because it was off season, we got a two bedroom apartment with a balcony for only $36 Euro per night!

The view from the balcony

Apartments Irena is run by a woman named Irena Bibic. She is in her early fifties and has two college aged kids with her husband Frano who is a fisherman. Irena was very stylish and very sweet! She picked us up at the Ferry and dropped us off when we left so we didn't have to walk the big hill to the apartment. She gave us a bottle of their homemade Croatian white wine, which was very nice. But the best memory we will have of Irena and her husband involves food! (I know, shocking...)

On our second day in Hvar, we ran into Irena in town. We went to check out the Hvar fish market and there she was, selling her husbands catch alongside all the other fishermen and their wives. We chatted for a few minutes and then parted, only to run into each other again at the butcher shop a little while later. When we explained that we were craving some kind of meat for dinner, she helped us order from the butcher and then told us that they were cooking that night in the Pekar and would be happy to cook ours as well. I asked what else we should get and she said nothing. She said they had plenty of vegetables to go along with the meat so to just meet them at around 6PM if we wanted to see the cooking.

The Pekar is really cool. There are a few kinds, but the premise is always the same. It is basically a heavy metal lid that has rungs around it. You burn a big wood fire until the wood turns to coals. Then you move away the coals, put a pan with the meat on the spot where the coals were and then cover the pan with this big lid. Then you take all the hot coals and put them on top of the Pekar. Frano started with the meat, and then removed the lid 40 minutes later to add the potatoes and then removed the lid again 20 minutes later to add the carrots and onions. Each time he put the lid back on, he made sure the lid was well covered with the hot wood coals. The end result was a delicious tender pork roast with delicious vegetables on the side. It was one of the most memorable meals of the trip.

The Pekar

Frano with the finished product

And Shaun all ready to eat!

The rest of the time on Hvar was spent exploring and relaxing. The apartment is up on a big hill, which gives it gorgeous views. On one side is the road into town, which takes abut 10 minutes. The other side has a steep, but well maintained path that leads down to a gorgeous harbor with a beautiful white rocky beach. It was way too cold for swimming in my opinion, but that didn't stop Shaun. He knew it was probably his last swim for the year so he went in for a swim both days.

On the way down to the harbor

We also explored the Spanish Fortress that sits above Hvar harbor. It dates back to 1551, so its a "newbie" but it offered spectacular views of the harbor. The walk up starts in the Hvar town and winds it's way up through the city streets, into a garden with huge cactus and aloe plants, onto a walkway that was lined with a pine forest. It would have been worth it just for the journey up there!

The view of Hvar harbor from the Spanish Fortress

We were very sad to leave Hvar, but we had one more big spot we wanted to see before moving on to Slovenia. I had heard about a park in Croatia with amazing water features that was a few hours inland from Split. We knew that doing this part of the trip by bus or train would be virtually impossible, so we decided to rent a car for a week. That would allow us to drive from Split to Plitvice Lakes, up to Slovenia and back to Zagreb Croatia for our flight to London. It also allowed us to continue our "last minute bookings" strategy! So after taking a quick ferry back from Split, we walked over to the Avis station and picked up the car. We double checked to make sure it was OK to cross the border into Slovenia and the agent pointed out the border crossing card that gave us permission to go to certain other countries, Slovenia included. As long as we didn't accidentally cross into Bosnia, we would be fine.

Getting into a car again was weird and wonderful! When you travel via public transportation with a backpack you gain lots of efficiency, like the ability to run for a train or easily get up a flight of stairs at a subway stop. It also comes with a few downsides though. Like for example, the fact that you have to run for trains or drag yourself up and down flights of stairs at subway stops. With a car we would have the freedom to come and go whenever we wanted. It was all very exciting.

The drive from Split to Plitvice Lakes was beautiful. We went from the beautiful coastline of Croatia, up through the mountains and out into countryside that looked very much like New England. We were somewhat unprepared for how cold it became once we got inland though. We had spent so many months in mainly unseasonably warm weather that we were both a little shocked by temps in the 40s. Luckily our lodging in Plitvice Lakes was toasty warm when we arrived. House Tina reminded us of a fancy ski chalet. Our room had a king sized bed and a set of bunkbeds and it was huge. At 54 Euros per night, it fit the budget. It was late afternoon when we arrived, so we asked for a kettle to make tea and settled in at House Tina for a quiet afternoon.

The next day was devoted entirely to Plitvice Lakes. We had a nice breakfast at the B&B, bundled up in a few layers of clothes and then drove down to the parking lot. After a quick trip to the info center we were on our way! The guy in the info center suggested we take route C which would be about 4-5 hours in the park. The route involved easy hiking, a boat ride across a lake, more easy hiking, a tram ride back most of the way and another easy hike to finish up. Sounded perfect so we got started on the first part of the hike.

Just steps inside the park and already we were amazed by the gorgeous green waters

We were stunned from the moment we walked into the park. Plitvice Lakes is an area of 16 lakes at different altitudes, connected by a series of waterfalls. The science behind it all involves something called travertine that builds up along the banks of the rivers. I'll let you all explore the science behind it as an independent study if you like, I just want to tell you about the beauty of this place!

One of the amazing waterfalls

Shaun on one of the wooden walkways that wound around through miles of park

And another waterfall...


The park is unbelievably beautiful and so well organized. Every route that you can take is well marked and you either walk along miles of wooden boardwalks and bridges or on paths along the sides of the hills. The wooden walkways and bridges were constructed in such a way that they seemed very much a park of the natural landscape. And even though it was very cold, we were so glad to have come in November because we had the place practically to ourselves. Sometimes we would walk for a half hour without seeing another person. Having seen the pictures from the summertime, when the tourists are in full force, this would seem to be pretty rare.

We spent the full day at Plitvice wandering along in shock at how gorgeous it all was. And even though it was very cold, we took our time and just enjoyed the natural wonders of the park. By the time we got back to our car it was late in the afternoon and the sun was getting low. We rewarded ourselves that evening with nice hot showers and then some beers and hearty Croatian fare from one of the local restaurants.

After our visit to Plitvice, we were even more stunned that we knew so few people who had been to Croatia. We each knew a couple of people who had been and they raved about it, but I think you just have to experience this place for yourself. Some of the local people may have seemed a little quiet and sad, but that is not surprising considering what they went through less than 20 years ago. Regardless, hey were all lovely and so proud of their homeland, as they should be. I'm quite sure that when Shaun and I think back on the days we spent in Split, Hvar and Plitvice, they will be some of our fondest memories of the trip. Croatia was one of the most surprising, beautiful places I have ever been.

Cold but happy in Plitvice Lakes