This last section of our holiday had us moving up the Dalmatian coast. Our first stop was the city of Split. We arrived in the early evening a started doing all of the things we typically do: get settled into our flat, go out for dinner, and find a grocery store to get supplies for the coming days. As we were walking I told RobO we were going to do a slight detour, which was to have a look at Diocletian’s Palace during the perfect golden hour light. It was so fun to see RobO’s surprise and excitement to explore another Game of Thrones filming location.
We wandered the Roman ruins and old town a little more as the cruise crowds were back on their ships.
The next day I led us on a walking tour in the city and up to the views from Marjan hill.
We walked the coastline for miles, people watching at the local swimming spots before we landed at our next destination: a cafe/bar called ‘Tennis’ that a friend had been to a couple of years ago. It is located in the centre of a group of clay tennis courts, so we enjoyed iced coffees while watching what looked like a junior tournament. It definitely reinforced our desire to try playing on clay one day (but not against any of those kids, who would totally kick our a$$es!).
We moved further north via bus to a city called Zadar. It has a very interesting history as it (like all of Croatia) went through different occupations (Romans, Ottomans, Venetians, Austria/Hungarians) but this city specifically was rewarded to Italy after the 1st World War. Because it was Italian territory it had the snot bombed out of it during World War II, then like the rest of Croatia it continued its journey to independence (Yugoslavia, Austria/Hungarian, etc). It definitely has a more Italian feel than other places in Croatia.
I was so excited to visit the Sea Organ, which is an installation on the sea wall that uses the movement of waves and transforms them into music. The waves push air into pipes that create organ harmonies. The instrument gets louder and plays higher tones when the waves are more forceful. It absolutely met our expectations and we found ourselves sitting on the stairs listening to the music numerous times throughout our stay. The best was at sunrise when we had it all to ourselves.
Sunset was really nice as well because, despite the crowds of people, this is the site that Alfred Hitchcock labeled as ‘the best sunset in the world’.
After dark the same architect (Nikola Bašić) created another installation called ‘Monument to the Sun’, which is a solar powered light show. Along the promenade are solar powered planets that are represented to scale (both size and distance from the sun).
RobO was craving Croatian seafood so one night we shared a plate of mussels and black ink risotto with calamari. We were so hungry and it was so good that all you get is a pic of RobO with the pile of empty shells!
We had an incredible day tour to Plitvice National Park about 2 hours from Zadar. The road went under the Mala Kapela mountain range through a 5km long tunnel. Our tour guide said that they call this tunnel Narnia because the weather can be so different on each side of the range. At 8:00am the digital sign said it was 14 degrees when we entered the tunnel and 5kms later we exited to a brisk 3 degrees with sections of pea soup fog. The sun had come out by the time we reached the park but I definitely could have used another layer!
Plitvice is a UNESCO world heritage site and boasts 16 terraced lakes joined by waterfalls. We walked a 9km hiking trail that had a boat trip in the middle of it.
The autumn leaves were in full display. At home we only see the yellows and oranges so it was a treat to see so much red foliage.
Croatia lived up to the hype and was a top 10 destination for us. It has great history, food, nature, and variety, plus it is an easy place to travel.
As always, while we’ve been travelling real life has been continuing on back home. We have had heavy hearts when hearing about our teachers striking, the impending healthcare strike, and especially the tragic passing of our friend Tyler Johnson. These things give us reminders to keep living our best lives and to hug our people. Hope that you will do the same. ❤️