It had been a dream of mine for many years to visit Dubrovnik. That being said, I had heard that because it had become so popular in recent years that it was going to be very crowded; and it was! Just coming from Hvar which was very low key and quiet, I felt like I was thrown back into a large bustling city.
My apartment was amazing. It was, by far, my most favorite place I stayed on the entire trip. I mean, what wasn’t to love about this place? It was steps outside of the west entrance of the Old Town known as the Pile (pronounced Pee-lay) Gate, it was large, modern, clean and I woke up to the view of Fort Lovrijenac out my window. For those of you that don’t know, Fort Lovrijenac has gained a lot of popularity these days because it is featured in Game of Thrones.
When I first ventured out of my apartment for the first time, I didn’t exactly know which direction to head to get to the Old Town so I headed in the direction of Fort Lovrijenac – it seemed to make logical sense to me.
Anyway, I guessed wrong, but it was the best navigational error I could have ever made. As I started wandering through the tiny streets I stumbled onto what turned out to be my favorite place in Dubrovnik. I found this little cove between two high cliffs; one which had Fort Lovrijenac resting on top of it.
This cove was away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and outside of the Old Town so it was away from all the tourists. I found a little restaurant perched on the other cliff that could maybe seat 20 people. Since it was already mid-afternoon, and I hadn’t had lunch yet, I decided to eat there and watch the people swimming in the beautiful blue waters. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I wished I had my swimsuit to join in on the fun.
Knowing that I was going to do the Ancient City Wall walk the next day, I decided to brave the crowds of the Old Town and just window shopped and wandered up and down all the historic streets for the rest of the afternoon.
With only a few days left in my trip, I was getting pretty tired of eating out and didn’t have much of an appetite that evening. I remembered reading about a wine bar which featured art works from a local artist, so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be a great find. It was off the beaten path, had good wine, and a nice charcuterie plate to go with it. It was just what I was looking for. It started to rain while I was there, so I decided to make it an early night and headed back to the apartment because I knew I would need to get up early the next day for the wall walk.
The next morning, I grabbed a pastry at the bakery near the wall entrance and got up to the city wall right as it opened. I took the advice of a fellow photographer friend that told me to walk the walk in reverse direction of the recommended route. You see, with all the crowds, the “wall cops” try to make everyone walk in the same direction around the wall to keep the flow moving. I was a rebel and swam upstream the whole way and it was worth all the dirty looks!
Much like Split, Dubrovnik is another town I wish I would have signed up for a guided tour. The sites from the city wall were breathtaking but I didn’t really know the historical significance of much of what I was looking at. I did gather a few facts along the way though…
It took me about 3 ½ hours to walk the entire wall at a very leisurely pace. I noticed that I started walking a little bit quicker as I rounded the last quarter of the wall because it was starting to get very hot and there is no escaping the sun from on top of the walls.
Near the very end of my walk there was an artist displaying all of his paintings and working on some new ones. He was a very nice man with an infectious smile. He gave me some tips on where to get some good photos. I was grateful for his recommendations and I loved all of his paintings, so I decided to buy one. I love when I get to meet the artist and was so glad I decided to snap a few photos of him as well; so I can remember him.
Feeling like I had seen all there was to see in the Old Town, I decided to head back to the apartment to escape the heat for a while and do some research on day trips to some other nearby countries.
I decided to book a tour to Montenegro which included a stop to a place called Sveti Stefan. I knew it had some significance in my family, but I didn’t know what. When I asked my mom about this years ago, she said that she thought it was where my grandfather maybe once lived. When I asked my cousin, Dushanka, about it she said it was the name of the ship that my grandfather took to “far away America”. I also know this is not true because I have the Ellis Island documents that show that my grandfather arrived to America on a ship named Argentina. My grandfather was one of 8 children. I know 3 others came to America on the same ship as him so perhaps the other 4 came to America on the “Sveti Stefan”. I’ll have to do more research on this…
Anyway, having booked my trip to Montenegro, I headed out that evening to watch the sunset at the top of a hill and then do some night photography. There is a cable car that took me to the top of the hill. It was a quick four-minute trip that gave me 360 degree views of the entire city.
I was very lucky to have such a beautiful sunset to photograph that night as it was the only true sunset I was able to see my entire trip due to either weather or location.
As I was packing up my gear, a guy walked up to me admiring my camera and asked me how I liked it. He too was a photography buff, so we shared an interesting discussion about our cameras. He asked me if I was going to take the cable car down and I told him I was going to wait until it got dark so I could do some night photography. He had planned on doing the same, so we continued to chat and find our vantage points for the night photography.
He was an interesting guy that traveled to Croatia for a friend’s wedding. He was from South Africa but had an Afrikaans accent – which is sort of German sounding – but after researching it, it actually has a Dutch heritage. He now lives in San Francisco.
Since it took me a little longer to get all the shots I wanted, I knew the rest of the night was sort of a wash for me to photograph the rest of the Old Town. So, we decided to grab a few glasses of wine, instead. It was nice to have company again and not look like the creepy girl in the corner. I knew I had to get up early for my trip to Montenegro the next day, so we called it a night with plans to meet up again the next time I’m in San Francisco.
When I got back to the apartment, I received an email from the tour company telling me that my tour had been cancelled. I really think that I kept on getting bumped off of tours because I was a solo traveler. It was pretty frustrating. So, I decided the next morning I was going to research going to the town of Ston; which I had heard was really nice.
The next day I found a tour group that was going to Ston but it had already left for the day. So, I found myself, on my last day of the trip, with no plans at all. At first I was pretty sad about it but then realized that there was still plenty for me to see and do.
I spent the day doing a little shopping, revisiting some of the places I skimmed by in previous days, and then took a dip in the Adriatic – which was something that I promised myself I would do! The water was delightfully warmer than I expected and the feeling of floating in crystal clear waters was a perfect way for me to remember my visit to this amazing country.
As I reflect back on my trip I can definitively say that Croatia is one of my favorite places I have ever been and definitely my favorite place on mainland Europe. For those that are curious, South Africa and Iceland still beat it out due to the diversity in both culture and nature.
Very rarely do I like to visit the same country more than once; but Croatia is definitely on the short list of places I will be visiting again, sooner rather than later …like in January, 2019!
When I first got off the ferry I noticed a little boy with a fishing net catching things in the water. As I got closer I realized he was catching sea urchins – and anything else that would fall into his net. He explained to me that there was only one female in the group he collected – it’s the one at the top that looks different than all the others.
There is a very well-maintained pathway that runs along the coastline. From my hotel to the old town was about a 15-20 minute walk at a leisurely pace. As I made my way to the old town for dinner I walked past GIANT cactus plants. A number of them were about to bloom and if I had to take a guess I missed them blooming by about 2 days. The other type were blue agave cactus and they were also HUGE. You cannot tell the scale from these photos but I stood next to one and they were much taller than me. If I had to take a guess, I’d say they were somewhere between 8-10 feet tall!
It was grilled to perfection and, without asking, another glass of wine showed up to my table. Since it was my birthday, I definitely planned on having dessert. But before I could even ask for the menu, a dessert and a glass of Champaign showed up – my favorite Champaign – Veuve Clicquot Rose! At the end of the meal I was looking out at the boats and people and yet another glass of Champaign showed up. My waiter said to me “What’s the rush? Enjoy your day!” I am certain that the concierge at the hotel told the restaurant that it was my birthday but the amount of service that I received went above and beyond. For that I would recommend this restaurant to anyone that goes to Hvar.
You know, sleeping in, lounging by the pool, etc. So, the next day I did exactly that. I woke up a little later, wandered to the restaurant for breakfast, changed into my swimsuit and spent the rest of the day just hanging out by the pool. That evening I headed back to the old town for a light dinner at a nice little place, Black Pepper, that I’d recommend to anyone. It took a unique spin on traditional flavors.
Suffice it to say, the boat tour could have been pulled from an episode of Gilligan’s Island. I will most likely write a blog post just about this tour. I did see the beautiful Blue Cave and met four really great women along the way, so it made it all worth it.
Heading from Krka National Park into Split I knew I could take a scenic route which would take me through the town of Kastel Novi, where my grandfather was from.
I remember she always used to keep the poppy gift she received from making donations to the veterans that stood on the street corners around Memorial Day.
As I walked towards the pier there were a bunch of adults sitting on benches playing music and singing. As I approached the pier, I noticed that the entire sea wall was covered with young adults – probably in the 18 to 25 year old range – sitting and chatting with one another all while having some beers and smoking pot. 
I’m pretty sure I got a contact high just walking past them but they just kept to themselves and I was able to get some nice photos. I started thinking about these kids and those adults that I had seen earlier and figured that at some time I am sure that those adults were once those kids sitting on that pier; making memories and lifetime friendships.
The next day was the day I had been looking forward to for a very long time. This was the day I was going to meet my cousin, Dusanka, and two of her granddaughters. I hadn’t planned on meeting them until later in the morning so I slept in a little. 
My apartment in Split was the most complete of all the places I had stayed thus far. It was a real apartment with a living room, full kitchen, and a washing machine. Since I was about half way through my trip I had accumulated enough dirty clothes to warrant doing a few loads of laundry. I did not plan this in my itinerary, but it worked out great since it made it so that I didn’t have to do laundry for the rest of the trip.
I feel like Dusanka and I are definitely kindred spirits. She is a firecracker and a practical joker. She speaks EVERYTHING that is on her mind and does not mince her words at all. When walking past a bunch of police officers she was telling them to take a good look at her granddaughters and friend because they were single, beautiful, and good girls and would make good wives. Then, at one point she asked me if I knew any Croatian. When I told her that I only knew the bad words she started blurting all of them out one after another to test my skills. It made me laugh and really reminded me of my Aunt Elaine; who would also blurt out those words on more than one occasion. I really enjoyed my time meeting them and wished I had more time with them, but Nella had to leave for work and without a translator, the conversation would have been difficult.
After we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways I ventured into the heart of Split which is Diocletian’s Palace. It is a Roman emperor’s palace built in the 4th century AD. When Rome fell, it was abandoned and then over time it turned into a medieval town. What was once the hallways of the palace are now the streets of today. About 3000 people live within the walls of Diocletian’s palace today.
It was 180 steps up, which sounds like a lot but because the views were so amazing with good places to stop and take photos, I didn’t even notice I had made it to the top – until the next morning when my legs reminded me I had climbed 180 steps the day before. :o)
I arrived in a cute port town named Sibenik. Krka is deep inside a lush mountainous area so you need to take a 30 minute ferry ride to the entrance of the park.
The ferry was very nice and the views were great along the way so I had my hopes up that I was going to be in for a special treat. 
Anyway, since I had made the trek up the river, I figured I may as well move away from the entry gate and see if it got better as I moved along. As far as I can tell, the only worthwhile part of the park could be seen in about a 45 minute boardwalk loop around one giant waterfall; which admittedly was beautiful. 
One of the last things I noticed along the boardwalk; which everyone else walked past was what seemed like just some overturned dirt. Having just learned about how wild boars root for truffles at the base of oak trees, I realized I was looking at a recent foraging from the boar. It took all the control in the world to not leave the boardwalk and start searching for more truffles! On that note, I decided to leave the park and continue my trip down to Split.
It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The water was so clear and blue. It was hard to believe that it was real.
Plitvice has 16 cascading lakes and basically you attack the park in two waves; the upper lakes and the lower lakes.
I arrived at the park at about 4pm and I felt like I was the only one there. All the tour buses had left and moved on to their next destination and it was all left just for me. 
My hotel was located just outside of Entrance 2 so it was less than a 5 minute car ride back to the hotel. The room was simple but did the job for the two nights I was there. The best part of the hotel was that they had an on-site home-cooked restaurant. You could order one of about 10 different meal plans in the morning and then in the evening when you arrived back from hiking the park all day, your meal would be ready at the time you specified. 
This was the best option; way better than having to get back in the car and forage around for food at nearby towns after hiking all day. (My phone clocked me in at about 17 miles of hiking while I was there for the two days.)
The color of the water was breathtaking. Depending on the depth of the water, it went from clear to sort of any icy clear blue to this sort of blue-green bold color.
I read that there were lobsters in the water and it wasn’t until at the end of the day while I was waiting for the ferry back to the parking lot that I finally saw one. They aren’t big and I don’t think the eating type, but it was definitely a lobster.
Tuesday was the day I had looked forward to for several months. This was the day that I scheduled to go on a truffle hunt in the hill town of Motovun. When I arrived at the truffle tour place (named Miro-Tartufi) I was welcomed by the friendliest women, Marijana. I instantly felt like I was part of her family. Her husband, Miro arrived shortly thereafter. He is originally from Italy. As it turned out, I was the only person on the tour at that time so I had a very unique one-on-one experience. Marijana explained to me that her children travel a lot and they begged her as a business woman to not cancel reservations when only one person arrives because it is very difficult for solo travelers to get to experience things because most places require two or more people to book a reservation. For this, I was grateful.
Within 10 minutes of her hunting around she found the first truffle which was quite large and smelled so delicious. We traveled on for another 15 minutes or so and Bella found the second truffle which was about 1/3 of the size of the first one and wasn’t nearly as aromatic as the first one.
included fresh cheeses, salami, and bruschetta with three different types of truffle spreads. She served the first course with homemade brandy made with 14 herbs as well as some fruit infused water which included elderberry since she found some on a stroll the day prior. 
I visited two wineries which could not have been more different. One was very modern and trendy (Koslovich) and the other was the oldest one in the region (Kabola); dating back to 1891.
