Day 0
As usual K was working till the last minute, bless him, I had taken the Friday off to pack and clean the house, R waited till the morning to finish packing. There was a row between R and I as usual and as has been happening of recent, I did not speak to R on the way to the airport. As always , she bounced back to normal and started conversing and compelling me to converse.
Day 1
Reached Amsterdam in the nick of time to the connecting flight. Landed at midnight at Split only to find that R and my luggage had not arrived, customs and airport officials were notvery pleasant, rental car guy had closed his cabin and gone , despite us having a booking for the slot. Fortunately, there was another rental agency guy, Djan, who had smartly made it his business model to capture such disgruntled customers. So, drove back with djan to hotel split, podstrana and made a pact to move our booking to his rental for the rest of our stay.
Day 2
Had a so,so morning breakfast, ( R and I in K’s shirt and me in his horrible manly shorts, looking like a lesbian but with horrible taste in clothes! I took an executive call that we will enjoy irrespective first, so went down to the beach, had a lovely swim, did a cringe Dame un Grr reel/video, collected Djan’s car , went to city centre mall and mall of split shopping and that took our entire day. The cost of clothes were at least double that of England, to our utter astonishment! Clothes cost double the UK, only sanitary items cost less. Had a tortilla in the food court and Dubai chocolate ice cream and wrapped our day wondering when we would get our luggage. K had raised a pair with the airlines so we can track our luggage , if they found it.
Day 3 travelled to izletiste luka rafting in ku ice at 8.25. Boarded Christian’s raft with Paul, Lena, Toya and Marie from Denmark. Verona river and canyon. Stopped next to a dark small cave. Swam into the ice cold water of the cave, climbed the rocks for 6 minutes and boarded the raft again. Though weather was around 28degrees there was a gentle breeze and the shrubs and trees on both sides made it a pleasure to navigate the crystal clear cetina river , even the few rapids!
Went to restaurant epitium for a lovely meal of sphagetti Sophia loren and sea bass. Also had the traditional Rozata dessert. By then the status had updated that the luggage had arrived in Split. But, it being a Sunday, it would not be delivered that day and the receptionist warned us that just the week before some other client of his did not get it delivered till the end of their holiday! So, IKand R went to the airport (49 minutes one way!) to collect the luggage. R was too knackered and wanted to have a lie in, so left her and K and I visited the Diocletian palace and the lovely promenade. Surprisingly parking ewas easy and weather, though 35 plus, with breeze from the waterbody along the promenade, very pleasant.Bakeery items, fruit salad and smoothie for the night packed, we went back to the hotel
Day 3
Had a morning swim at hotel split, breakfast, packed, checked out, drove to Zadar( with delightful views of ravines, kric national park). Stunning oromenadecwalk alongside emerald sea. Sea waves playing the sea organ by Nicola Basic via pipes and chambers underneath the sea. It was magical. Had lunch at the Restaurant Groppo ( iced tea and Greek salad for me, spinach tagliatelle for R and sea bass for K), grabbed Dubai chocolate and Peruvian chocolate ice creams and made our way to Plitvice. Reached Patar , checked in, two 3 bed capacity rooms, two spacious bathrooms, living cum dining room and kitchen, lugged the luggage upstairs and all 3 of us promptly settled in to the hot tub!
Day 4
Blueberries,Avocado, coco pops , orange juice and banana breakfast and out of the door for Plitvice lakes by 7.30 am. Entered entrance 1 for programme C that included a scenic ferry and a panaromic train (ish, a van of types) ride.
The landscape was Green, no flowers, lush green trees of all kinds, lower lakes crystal clear water see through, absolutely still. Upper lakes , hues of green, gentle lapping water in the wind
Lush waterfalls gushing through, moss covered stomes eeminiscent of tge welsh vallues, sun light dappled fresh green leaves on the trees that are a throw back to the english country side, emerald hued still lakes a copy of the swiss alpine lakes, gentle lapping lakes of ble to topaz and all hues inbetween that reminded me of rhodes and mykonos with a unique croatian brush of ethereal green on top of everthing. It was a 5 hour walk. R walked ahead by herself, making American and Japanese friends along the way.K and I took our time really relishing the bounty on sight.
Pljukanci with black truffles ( a pasta), sea bass for the boss and cold coffee for the young one. We also backed a mortadella and pistachio pizza from Degenija restaurant
Came home after noodles and fruits purchase from the maxi market nearby, flopped into the sofa with pajamas and watched ‘thug life’ by logging into our Netflix. Packed later, had some food and went off to sleep, knackered. R of course inveigled a noodles from her dad for dinner.
Day 5
once again after an avocado, orange juice, pizza and walnuts and cashew nuts, packed, cleaned and checked out. Landed for our second day, in a drizzle, in rain coats for programme E in entrance 2. This time the view was from the other side but absolutely no clouds due to the weather. So had the park almost to ourselves. This time it was a 3 hour walk.
Made our way to punta rata, post a lunch at the Poljana restaurant. It was a 3 hour drive but what a breath taking view it was- both the Dalmatian coast and the absolutely stunning Punta arata beach! The mountains, the beautiful promenade with its leaning canopied trees, the Brela rock and the picturesque sea were mind blowing. Spent a bit of a walk there and made our way to Park makarska . No onsite parking but a young lad helped us download the luggage and went with K to help organise a parking spot some distance away.
The room was awesome with a view to the stunning sea from the bed. K and R went for a walk around the old town and came back with Pad Thai noodles from Pana Thai street food restaurant. I had a nice long soak in the tub and washed my hair.
K and I had dinner in the room balcony with a view of the night sea and the twinkling blue stars., chatted a while and went to bed. It was two king sized beds put together , so quite spacious.
Day 6
Got up early and went for a nice long walk along the pebbled beach with ilayaraja Melodies in my headphones. Sat in the bench at the beach she of the pier and watched the small white boats bobbing in the azure sea. The pebbles were smooth and big unlike the small, sharp ones in England.
Breakfast was a good spread. It was a relief as one of the reviews said it was mainly pork. As it turned out, there was barely any.
Rested awhile and went down to the crowded beach. R went the length first, bought a doughnut for her and joined K in the ice cold water. It became alright after some time. Had a good swim for half an hour and went in to the hotel pool which was deliciously warm. Spent another half hour there and then in the jacuzzi. Showered, changed and went up to our room.
Rested and went down for lunch at Po and Po right below the hotel. Vegan poke bowl, pumpkin soup for me and some fish thingie for K was good. Tagliatelle and veggies for R not so much.
R went up to relax. K and I took a promenade walk and returned with ice creams and snacks for the 3 island tour the next day. R went out on her own a bit and came back and packed for the early boat tour.
Day 7
Got up early, relished a quick breakfast and rushed to the 15 minute walk along the promenade to Palladian rent a boat tour that covered the Pokrivenic ( Hvar), little blue cave ( Hvar), blue lagoon (Zecevoisland)and Jelsa island (Hvar).It all started well with the speed boat but only when the choppy waters did a number on our backs I recalled we did a speed boat and parasailing in Paphos and decided speed boats were not for us! There are no toilets or changing areas, so I stayed in my swim suit and coverall. R and K enjoyed swimming up to the blue cave (only R as the entrance was way too narrow and the waters way too choppy) , the blue lagoon ( K, R and I) and the Pokrivenic ( K and R).
We did have Frank Sinatra crooning and Bob moreley jiving gently, stunning visuals and just 2 other couples, so those as pecks were indeed nice! Lukaz, the sailor was a nice guy.
The Jelsa island stop was cute. As always in Croatia, the public toilet was sparkly clean and I changed in to comfy clothes after and before the boat. We had Dubai chocolate ice cream yet again, hazel nut ice cream and the island’s famous lavender ice cream!
R as usual made friends with a danish couple ( a dentist lady and a gent who was a bio medical professor) and a Cornish couple.
R and K enjoyed a lot but no more speed boats or swimming from the boats for me!
The views were stunning as usual though. We walked back from the boats and I went straight to the 1.6 m deep hotel swimming pool and did some confident laps!
R finished off the tagliatelle and veggies from the room fridge, K and I went to a promenade restaurant and I had a veg enchilada and K a sea bream. Had some vegan dark chocolate and walked back. K fell fast asleep, so R and I went down to the beach, spread our mat and read our kindles , watching the beautiful sun set. K joined us after 2 hours. R went up, K and I walked the opposite length of the promenade, bough lt some watermelon and kefir, spent some time pool side and then came up to pack for check out the next day
Day 8
Had a relaxed good breakfast enjoying the spread at Park Makrasja, packed and left for Dubrovnik. Found the baggage’s weighed slightly more, so stopped at Toni Supermarket and bought an extra suitcase and repacked at the parking! Enjoyed the drive through the bridge to Dubrovnik. The entire two and a half hour ride was scenic. Went up to the observation point at Dubrovnik and enjoyed the absolutely stunning views of the old town and the bay( GoT was inspired by this view I believe).
Rushed to the Dubrovnik airport ( huge but pathetic food choices!), returned the car, checked in and boarded the flight back to Schipol Amsterdam and from there on to home!
In all, a wonderful trip. Croatians could come across as brusque but in the end they are really helpful and honest. They do stare a lot if you are non white but they don’t mean to be intimidating I think! Like Portugal, this country too is impeccably clean, even the public toilets in the remotest of islands. Not a single beggar or homeless to be seen and infrastructure is flawless! In all, a delightful country, but you need to be secure and confident to enjoy the place, especially if you are non white!
