Our first night in Croatia produced a huge
thunderstorm. We got into Zagreb early in the evening and discovered the hostel
we had booked was a bit further out in the suburbs than we had thought. We
really couldn’t be bothered going back into town to find dinner (especially in
a storm) so we got the hostel owner to order in Croatian takeaways for us –our
first experience of Chavpi (small fried meat rolls) which we have had many
times since.
Zagreb is nice enough, but apart from the
usual Cathedral and churches there is not a lot to see sightseeing wise. When
we were checking out the market another thunderstorm hit which sent everyone
scurrying for cover and the stall owners trying to protect their stock. It was
over fairly quickly but afterwards I discovered that my slick bottomed jandals
performed particularly poorly on the wet cobblestones. We decided that the most
interesting thing about Zagreb was the people and parked ourselves in a
pavement cafe for the afternoon to do some people watching. In fact for a
Monday there were a lot of people just milling about or sitting in cafes – we
theorised that people don’t bother working too hard here which was later
confirmed by Croatians themselves.
The next day the plan was to travel to
Zadar by catching the morning bus to Plitvice Lakes national park, storing our
bags and looking around for the day then catching the evening bus on to Zadar.
The only problem being that we had heard the evening bus sometimes; doesn’t
come, doesn’t stop or is too full to take you. With the only accommodation
being the overpriced park hotel we really didn’t want to get stranded but took
the gamble and after a nervous wait on the roadside it all worked out. Plitvice
was great (see the photos) except for the numerous tour groups and we even saw
a snake eating a fish!
Zadar was probably one of our favourite
spots in Croatia. Nice old town, nowhere near as touristy as Split or Dubrovnik
and our two favourites the Garden Bar and Sea Organ. The Garden Bar felt like
the kind of place millionaires and celebrities hang out. We relaxed on bean
bags, sipping mojitos with a view overlooking the yacht harbour – unfortunately
we weren’t millionaires or celebrities and none of the multimillion dollar
yachts below belonged to us. The mojitos tasted good though. The Sea Organ as
far as I know is unique in the world. The waves push water in and out of its
pipes to create sounds. It is a nice place to chill out in the evenings.
Our first night in Split was quite nice as
our hostel turned out to be a 3 bedroom apartment which we had all to ourselves.
The next night wasn’t so good when a couple of 18 year old Kiwis from Nelson
turned up, made a mess, were loud and stole our food. We took a free (but you pay a tip) tour of old
split which turned out to be really good and we learnt a lot about the
Diocletians palace (the former palace of a Roman emperor which now forms the
heart of the old town) most of which you would not even notice just wandering
around. Split was also where we decided
to take a Mediterranean attitude to the rest of our sightseeing and head back
to the hostel to nap in the heat of the afternoon.
It was time to board our boat for a week of
cruising the Dalmatian coast and islands to Dubrovnik. We had checked out the
boats (there were quite a few) the night before and hoping we were on the one
flying the big NZ flag but we were on the Plomin which was fine as it was a
little bigger. Our route took us from Split – Omis – Pucisca – Makarska –Hvar –
Vis – Korcula – Mijet – Dubrovnik.
Our first stop was a quick call at Omis
with just enough time to race up to the fortress overlooking the town and back
down for a cooling off swim. That night was the European Cup final and having a
couple of die hard Manchester United fans and Barcelona fans on board we all
headed off to find a pub and watch the game. On the offer of free food and a
10% discount on drinks the 25 of us squeezed into a tiny bar. Surprisingly the
locals there having a quiet night didn’t seem to mind at all and were soon the
life of the party. Especially one local guy who loved having an audience for
his crazy and a bit erratic dancing.
At the first swimming spot someone pulled
out a lilo and it soon became apparent that this was a must have item for the
trip. At the next dock the local market sold out. From then on there was a lot
of lazing on lilios happening.
One of the funniest moments on the boat
came during one lunchtime. Thomas (A Danish guy who had developed a reputation
for his drinking and time spent on a lilo) was absent due to the effects of the
previous night and not feeling up to lunch. He had gone up to the roof to lie
in the sun. We were all sitting our lunch down below when we heard a yell and
then a splash – Thomas jumping/falling (no one was sure which) off the boat. Someone had to run out to make sure he wasn’t
drowning.
The island of Vis was a definite highlight
of the trip. It is the furthest island from the mainland and the entire island
was a military base closed to outsiders till 1990. Subsequently it isn’t as
built up or busy as the other Islands and still has a lot of military
installations. We swam from the boat to an old submarine base, felt like we
were in an old James Bond movie.
The biggest party night of the trip was
probably in Korcula. Everyone went to dinner at a Pizza restaurant where a lot
more red wine was drunk than pizza eaten. It was then off to a bar and our by
now expected ‘welcome shot’. The bar was
a bit small so we spilled out all over the street partying till the wee hours.
On the way home some of us decided to go swimming in the local swimming pool
which Alexis was convinced had sharks in it. It was a slightly uncomfortable
walk back to the boat in wet underwear. Another girl wanted to go to sleep in
the middle of the road so our guide carried her to the wharf, across 5 boats
and to her cabin. Meanwhile all the lilos mysteriously ended up jammed into
Glen and Thomas’ room which they weren’t too pleased about when it came time
for sleep.
Next stop was Mijet. A large part of the
island is a nature reserve with two salt lakes. It was a really nice setting
and a good spot for swimming and canoeing. There is a short channel linking the
two lakes. We canoed down the channel which was kind of fun but coming back
against the flow was a bit more difficult taking several goes.
The last night of the trip also happened to
be my birthday. We had arrived in Dubrovnik that afternoon and went out into
town. I was a bit concerned about it being my birthday as I wasn’t sure what
the others would force me to do but apart from being made to drink a shot in a
glass of whipped cream with no hands and getting a bit messy it was all fine
and ended up being a really good night.
We stayed on another night in Dubrovnik to
have a good look around the town and walk the city walls but we found it a bit
touristy and full of tour groups and cruise ship passengers. Then it was
goodbye to Croatia and onward to Bosnia.
