What do you do when you need to escape London, are craving (decent) seafood and need something to look forward too on your second birthday away from home?
Go to Croatia!! (duh!)
So I got the suitcase out, grabbed the lonely planet and Phil (Irish travelling companion) and hit the road.
After managing to actually sleep at the airport (damn the cheap 6am flights!) and on the flight, I was (semi) fresh faced and ready to go when we arrived on Croatian soil. The first thing I noticed was the delicious smell of the sea, Glorious nostril food...
Unfortunately the weather was less than pleasurable (it seems London may have had better weather the week I was away, Go Figure!), but it made a cheek portside coffee all the more enjoyable. Apart from the beaches and being a central bus and boat connection hub for Croatia, Split is not that exciting. The main attraction is Diocletians Palace, one of the oldest Roman Ruins in Eastern Europe and a great snippet into the ancient Croatian times. I was amazed by the amount of homeless people and stray cats. I think because of all the fisherman boats the cats were better fed...
Phil and I took a few photos together, I felt a bit weird about him, awkward almost.. But by the end of the trip we had bonded! (Original Phil jumped ship and left me in Santorini..)
After I had finished with Split hopped on a bus down to Dubrovnik, fortunately for Phil and I the bus took the coastal route down which was incredibly beautiful. Sunset over the islands and a bird’s eye view as the seaside towns were covered in the blanket that is night time. 2 passport checks (the coast is partly Bosnian territory) later we arrived in Dubrovnik. It was hard to miss with the impressive bridge and the majestic cruise lines parked in the harbour.
I stayed at Dubrovnik Backpackers Club, a family run hostel with an amazing view of the bridge and harbour. The owner and his brother came to pick me up and I don’t know what I was expecting but they turned up in suits, in a posh Mercedes with ‘Angele Mills’ on a sign... Too cute!! After a few shots of the ‘welcome drink’, a homemade cherry brandy, I met a large group of Canadians who introduced me to the world of Burek. A pastry filled either with meat or cheese (CHEESE!!!!) that is a Croatian/Bosnian specialty. The unofficial rule is that when ordering Burek one must shriek the end just for funsies. BurrrEEEKKK! Got us a few funny looks thats for sure!
The next day the weather had gone from overcast to wet, windy and miserable. We decided to hit the old town regardless and got absolutely soaked in the process. The old city walls are quite impressive, but due to the rain and the fact that everyone was trying to rip us off I lost interest very quickly. My original plan for Croatia had been to spend 2 days between Split and Dubrovnik and then island hop back to split was foiled by the weather. So I decided instead to take a trip to Mostar in Bosnia, it was one of the best travelling decisions I’ve ever made!
Although the weather had been horrendous (torrential rain, hurricane and force winds) the bus ride was beautiful. Our passports were checked 5 times over the 4 hour trip!! We stayed at hostel Majdas, the first hostel to open in Mostar. The owner, Majda, gave us a great run down of the history of the town and the 1991-4 Yugoslav wars. Such an incredible and heart wrenching town. There are countess reminders of post-war destruction. From the primary school with bullet holes running up the side, to the ruined town bank and the plethora of homeless people, I found that walking around the city I really got a feel for the people and what went, and is still going, on. The famous bridge of Mostar was a beautiful and haunting reminder of the wars (and pretty darn slippppery in the rain!). After 4 hours of walking around I had gotten horribly lost, completely soaked and had had two allergic reactions, and yet it was definitely my favourite city of the trip. On interesting thing to note was the use of three different currencies. Pretty much all shops and restaurants accepted Croatian Kuna, Konvertible Marks and Euro(or pound) at a ratio of 8:2:1!! At one point I had four currencies in my wallet, made it hard to keep track of what I was spending!!
That night I went out to dinner with some people from my hostel for some Bosnian specialties. I have Shark steak which was absolutely delicious! I also had a side order of Bosnian cheese (go figure) called Travjniki, it was basically like feta but very creamy.... MMMmmmm Cheese!! All this for only £7!!
The next day the sun was back in force so as we headed back to Dubrovnik we had some chances to take some last minute photos of Mostar in the sunshine!
Back in Dubrovnik I decided to give the old city another chance seeing as the rain had stopped. We stopped off at an ice-cream shop and I got three (huge) scoops and a waffle cone for only 17 kuna (2 quid), pretty much the cheapest food available in Croatia apart from BurrRREEECCK!!
I got myself lost faffing around the city walls and managed to come across a traditional Croatian wedding party heading to the church. The men were dancing and singing around the bridal party and all the local were throwing rice and flowers from their balconies. Magical!
I went for a walk around the outside of the walls and managed to find a sweet little jetty that comes out to the east of the old city walls, providing a perfect location to sip a coffee and watch the sunset! (I did get soaked though, high tide coming in and all!!)
On my last day the weather was amazing (5 wet days and countless allergic reactions later...) so I decided to take the 9hr Dubrovnik to Spit ship, going through all the islands. It turned out perfect, for the first 7 hrs there were only 20 people on the whole ship and the sun was shining.. Two guys from the Hostel joined me for the ride which was fun J
Over sunset we listened to a mix of the Cat Empire and Fat Freddies Drop (not even at my request, believe me or not!) as we passed through Hvar. It was quite literally one of the most blissful evenings I have experienced...
Once we arrived in Split we discovered (after 6 flights of stairs) that our hostel had been closed so we were sent to a sister hostel across town. The boys somehow managed to get us horrifically lost, twice, so by the time we got to the hostel we were ravenous (and I was remembering why I don’t let others direct me when travelling...). We went to a restaurant on the sea front and asked for their specialty. I had Croatian squid ink with risotto with cuttlefish and the boys had (insert name here, I’ve forgotten it!!) which is a steak served in delicious gravy sauce with handmade Gnocchi. Teamed with a pint of local (insert name here, again) beer and finished off with chocolate crepes it came to a total of 62 Kuna (£9ish)!! Amazing and deeeeelicious!
I must say the last 24hrs of the trip really helped bring Croatia back into my good books because up until that point I had been pretty unimpressed by allll the tourists (not travellers, tourists), the people trying to squeeze every last kuna out of you and horrible weather. But I left with new travelling companions, a desire to see more of Bosnia (south Eastern Europe in general), gotten in a day of Island hopping and having eaten a few delectable meals.
Hvala Croatia
