Croatia Day 2: Brela to Dubrovnik

We slept in and managed to miss the breakfast at the hotel, so decided we would just get pastries somewhere along the boardwalk. When we walked through the breakfast room, some stuff was still out and it looked very good. Next time, if there is one, I will not miss it.

                We walked for quite a while before finding a small spot with coffee and croissants. The coffee was small but strong, with steamed milk. The croissant was chocolate filled with a slight hazelnut flavor almost like Nutella. Yum. And again, the view was ridiculous. So beautiful it almost felt fake. One of the funny things we began to notice is that many of the cafes and restaurants play American and British pop music that was popular in the 80s and 90s. This was both weird and kind of enjoyable since I liked some of the music.

                After eating and relaxing a bit, we continued our stroll down the boardwalk, overwhelmed by the beauty of the place and unable to stop ourselves from taking numerous pictures. None of which really do it justice, but we felt compelled to try. We had read before we left, and it was widely advertised in Brela, that one of their beaches was a top ten beach in the world as ranked by Forbes magazine. And it was spectacular, though personally I prefer soft sand over pebbles. While smooth and ok to lay on, they dug into my feet in an uncomfortable way.

After a couple of hours of walking and taking pictures, we returned to the hotel for checkout (though not before stopping for gelato at the dessert place that we’d abandoned the night before) and got on the road for Dubrovnik. 

The first of many stops for gelato on this trip

 Check out was a super easy and pleasant procedure. Unlike many places on Croatia, this hotel accepted credit card. They also gave us a sweet gift of a lavender sachet. It had gotten a bit later than we had anticipated, but it was worth it for that amazing walk.

                We decided to take the coastal highway, rather than cutting over to the much bigger, faster highway in order to soak in the scenery. It was the right call. Over what was at least a three hour drive, we saw some of the most amazing scenery and beautiful coastline that I have ever seen. It is comparable to the Pacific Coast highway south of San Francisco, though more dramatic and stark with the granite mountains rising up so closely on the inland side.

Shots from the road

Mountains like this are everywhere, rising up right next to the road

The free pomegranate

                The first stop along the way was at a fruit stand. It was located directly across the street from an orchard, and we bought little mandarin oranges that had been picked right there that day. We also purchased some dried figs, as well as jars of marmalade and fig jam made by the owner of the stand. They even gave us a fresh pomegranate as a small extra. The oranges were on the sour side, but the figs were divine. We made a light lunch of those, along with some of the pistachios and snacks that we had brought with us from the States.

Orchard where the oranges were grown

Old building at the Arboretum

                We decided to stop at Trsteno Arboretum, as it was unlikely that it would work on any of our other days. This was located right off the coastal road about half an hour from our final destination. It was a good opportunity to get out and stretch our legs. We missed the initial turn off, so pulled into a church parking lot to turn around, but then saw signs directing us to a path for the arboretum, so we just stayed there and walked. The path was a little confusing, but we made it with only one wrong turn. The arboretum did have an admission price, which felt steep – I think it was 70 Kuna per person, which is over $10. They gave us a map and short description of the spots to see and we were off. The map was fairly easy to follow, but we did get off track once and walked into a neighborhood.

                

Ancient church at Trsteno

The grotto

               

Random circular garden with tree

The arboretum was interesting on a few levels. The actual trees and botanical specimens were interesting and diverse. It also had a walking path overlooking the sea that was a spectacular. In addition, there were several buildings that were ancient and had interesting back stories. Most appealing to me was the fact that it was a setting for the filming of Game of Thrones! We felt a bit rushed only because I wanted to get to D

ubrovnik before it got too late. I was worried about not being able to find our hotel at night, as well as keeping the host waiting for us. It’s a spot that I would consider visiting again, but given the price, I would not consider it a “must-repeat.” If I did go back, I would like to have about two hours to wander around and really soak it in. It would be a lovely place to bring a picnic lunch.

                Getting back on the road, we finally made it to Dubrovnik at dusk. Now, Dubrovnik is definitely a tricky spot to have a car to deal with. You cannot park inside the Old City at all. There are some pay lots and spots on the street, but I decided that the parking garage, while expensive, would be the easier and more secure option. It was a little confusing but the best deal was to purchase a three day pass, then go back and get another one day pass. For whatever reason, they would not let you buy them all at once. The garage had plenty of open spots, was well lit, relatively clean, and was not difficult to find. That said, I did go by it the first time, largely because I wondered if I would find something closer. It is not close. I basically circled around, and then just gave up.

               

Our first view of the city walls. In awe!

From the garage, we had quite a walk – downhill and downstairs, luckily – to get to the Old City. Once inside, we had to find our sobe (Croatian word for apartment). It was about as far within the city walls as possible from the gate that we came in, so there we were, hot, confused, tired, pushing our suitcases through the City. We kind of felt like a spectacle, but realized that folks like us are a common site in Dubrovnik. We took one wrong turn on the way to the sobe, but a kind person directed us to where we needed to go. We finally arrived and checked out the new digs – the longest stay of our trip, so we were relieved to find that it was nice.

View from our room at house Renata - the old harbor as evening falls

                We stayed at a spot called House Renata. It is an old home converted into three apartments. The owner, Renata, lives on the first floor, and she rents out the other two floors. We were on the third floor, in what appeared to have been a finished attic. Luckily, it was very well-finished. It had an eclectic mix of old world charm with very modern flairs. Everything was in good condition, and it included a full kitchen, as well as a bathroom, bedroom, and separate living area with a large table, couch, and desk. All of that was fine, but the real kicker was the view. All three windows on the north side faced the Old Port and a view back over the city, with the enormous and imposing Mount Srd in the background. It was spectacular at all times of day. We gushed and gushed about it, took tons of pictures out our window, and generally tried to soak it in as much as possible.

                After arriving, we got the dust of the road off and went out to explore and find dinner. We did not, at that point, check any reviews, so we just picked a spot in an attractive location and hoped for the best. It was called Restaurant Arka. It had free wi-fi, attractive outdoor tables, free table wine, and 10% discount. The view was of the Dubrovnik version of the Spanish steps, leading up the Cathedral of St. Ignatius. We enjoyed our meal, but it was certainly not memorable. I started with another antipasti style app, which was fine, and had beef kebob again. I don’t even remember what Ben ordered. 

Antipasti plate, really my favorite way of eating

View from the restaurant with stairs in the background

While we were eating, people began streaming by us, all dressed in white. At first, I thought that they were a chorus heading to the church to perform. Then we realized that they all had badges on that had the McDonalds symbol. They were streaming in droves up the steps and disappearing. After dinner, we followed them up, to discover that the plaza at the top of the steps had been converted into an outdoor dining/party venue for those folks. My guess is that they were all high-level management. I don’t think that McDonalds is in the habit of treating its frontline workers to super fancy parties in ancient Dubrovnik plazas, clearly catered with wine flowing, a band, and security.

                We moved on and almost accidentally stumbled upon one of the Buza bars. We had read all about this, and had been hoping to find it. Essentially, it’s a cut out through the city walls, and you emerge onto what amounts a ledge over the ocean with the walls looming behind you and nothing but sea ahead of you. It’s much less impressive at night, we learned. We grabbed a beer and relaxed for a bit, but wanted to find somewhere a bit more lively. 

Buza Bar at night, the blackness to the left side was the sea. Not as spectacular at night.

We asked the bar tender for a recommendation and he encouraged us to try a spot near the main square called Bodega– fourth floor, specifically. So, we found it without too much hassle, get up to the fourth floor, and it’s completely empty. The music is loud, the service was awful, and the drinks were priced very high (and this is from someone who thinks that Disney prices are pretty much normal). The décor inside was very artsy and cool, and the lighting was interesting. We would have been much better off to just sit at one of their busy outside tables, but live and learn. We both had a cocktail and just relaxed because, after all, we were on vacation and couldn’t really complain about anything.

                After leaving the bar, we headed back out into the main square to just wander and soak it all in. We ended up stopping in a market again to grab some beer and some small local liquor samples. We brought that back to apartment and just enjoyed the view before falling out. The jet lag kept me up a bit later than I would have liked, but I still slept at a fairly reasonable time.

Croatia Day One: Travel Day and Arrival

                This is actually day zero and day one because we left our house on Friday afternoon to travel to Boston, but did not arrive in Croatia until Saturday afternoon, partly due to the time change. We left Connecticut with plenty of time to get to Boston, park, and get to our gate. We had not flown internationally since we got married more than ten years ago, and we rarely fly out of Boston. For parking, we used a service that I had tried on my only other Logan experience – it’s called pre-flight parking, located in Chelsea. You pay a bit less if you reserve in advance, so that is what we did. I think it saved us $15.

                Getting to the airport definitely entailed some serious traffic, so I was glad that we got there when we did, but even with the traffic, we were still at our gate by 7pm for a 9:45pm flight. Security was a breeze. We somehow were ushered into the TSA Pre-Check line and it took maybe ten minutes while the regular line moved much more slowly. International flights at Logan are located in Terminal E. Unfortunately, Terminal E is too old and too small. I was not a fan. (But given that there were strikes happening that very day at LaGuardia, I was glad to have chosen Logan.) I had done my homework in advance and learned that a well-reviewed sandwich shop had an outlet in Terminal E. I also went to their website – Earl of Sandwich – and joined their “Sandwich Club” as it included a free sandwich for joining.

                The first thing we did after getting to the terminal was go order sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. Well, it turned out that they had never seen this coupon before. Initially, I was patient with them while they debated back and forth as to whether and how to accept this coupon. But my patience did start to wear thin when they began implying that maybe this was fake. Um, yeah, I wish I was that good with Photoshop. I told them that it was quicker and easier to get through security than to order my sandwich, which was actually 100% true. I mean, honestly, I am pretty sure that if I am in Terminal E, it means that I have the financial wherewithal to purchase international airline tickets and probably do not need to commit fraud in order to obtain a free $7 sandwich. They claimed to be concerned that accepting the coupon would get them “in trouble” to which I said that I thought treating a customer like a criminal would probably be more of an issue. They did eventually honor the coupon. Long story short, upon return to the States, I emailed Earl of Sandwich, and they informed me that the Logan location is a franchise and therefore has the option of accepting the coupon or not (the coupon did not specify locations). They also sent me another coupon to use at a “real” location. The sandwich was just ok.

                After the sandwich debacle, the rest of the night was really boring. There is a duty free shop and one very, very crowded restaurant bar in Terminal E – and that was pretty much it. I did do some pacing to try and keep active before the long flight, but this was impeded by the crowd which was both dense and slow moving. 

Hanging out in Terminal E

                The flight we ended up on was Swiss Airways to Zurich. I went online way ahead of time to pick seats and ended up finding great seats with ridiculous amounts of legroom. The most I have ever had on a flight. That was a great, but the seats are very narrow. And I had a 400 pound man sitting next to me. He was very funny, and joked about it, which made me feel bad for being annoyed, but really, six plus hours is too long to have one’s body pressed firmly against a stranger in a hot airplane cabin while trying to sleep. He and his significant other were traveling to Madrid for an optometry convention and it was their first time out of the country. Very nice people, but dang that was close quarters.

                Two things that I later learned would have made this a much more pleasant flight. First, booze is free – yep, free! – on Swiss Airways’ international flights. Not sure if this is true on other airlines, but I did not know this and so did not take full advantage of the sleep-inducing properties of alcohol that might have helped me cope with my seating arrangement. The second is that the row we were in did not have TVs because there was no seat in front of us – see comment above about crazy amounts of legroom. Turns out, the TVs fold out from under the seats! I should have just asked.

                It has been a very long time since I have flown internationally, and I was pleasantly surprised by the little meals that we were given. They were really not too bad. I had the chicken on the way over, which was fine. The pasta on the way back was excellent – another lesson learned. The Swiss Airways vegetarian option is prepared in conjunction with a very fancy vegetarian restaurant in Zurich. So even if you’re a meat eater, just go with the veggie option! All in all, I would definitely fly Swiss again, though I would choose my seats earlier to have more options.

                Now, I mentioned that we would have a very short layover. In fact, it was scheduled to be about 45 minutes. That made me quite nervous because 45 minutes is a short layover anywhere, but in a foreign airport where we did not know whether we’d have to pass through security (we did) or customs (we didn’t), it seemed possible that we would miss our connection. Luckily, our plane landed on time and maybe even a few minutes early. They helpfully posted the connecting gates for us, and we learned that our gate was as far from where landed as possible. We would need to take a tram to get there.

                Zurich airport, as it turns out, is great. It’s well-designed, bright, clean, and super easy to navigate. We got to the terminal we needed to be at right when the plane was supposed to be boarding. We did have to pass through security again at that point, which was a hassle as they told us we did not need to take out our handheld electronic devices, but it turns out we did, so all of our bags were opened and re-screened with the electronic devices removed. We got to our gate in plenty of time, and then of course learned that the flight was delayed! It was only about a 20 minute delay, so not a big deal. We were hoping that made it more likely that our luggage would also make it onto this flight, and it did. We also mentioned our tight layover to the agent when we checked our bags and he put a special note on the luggage tack noting the short connection. That must have also helped, and I’d recommend noting that whenever you check bags on trips with short layovers.

Boarding in Zurich

                We arrived in Split, Croatia only a few minutes behind schedule – just after 2pm local time (six hours ahead of Connecticut). The first view of the country was from the plane and we were already in awe when we hit the ground. We flew in low over spectacularly blue water, and landed right next to a huge, imposing rocky mountain. It was very dramatic landscape.

                As I mentioned, we decided to go with the rental car over public transportation. We were so grateful for that over the course of the trip, but we hit the only real snafu right at the airport. The rental was from Sixt rental car, which is Europe’s largest car rental company but not as popular here in the US. Having done extensive research on my credit card’s policies, I declined their additional coverage for collision and theft (note that our regular insurance would have covered us in the US, but not in Europe). I was not told in advance that declining the theft meant that they would put what amounted to a $2500 deposit on my credit card – basically rendering it useless for the trip. Be prepared for this eventuality! Luckily we had plenty of cash and other cards so that it was not at all an issue.

                The rental car continued to be a hassle at first. Once we checked in, we were given a key and told to go wait for someone to help us. But the directions were not at all specific and we ended up waiting in the wrong place. A family that had been in line behind us in the office ended up getting ahead of us and getting their car before we figured out what to do, despite having asked a Sixt employee for help. We stared at this family in consternation and resentment, thereby remembering them very specifically – which proved hilarious when we ran into them not just once, but on three separate occasions during our trip.

                Finally, we got our car – an Opel Corsa, described as a “super mini” car. Luckily, our suitcases fit without too much issue! It was four door hatchback, and perfectly adequate for the two of us. As with most European cars, it was a manual transmission, which though it took me a minute to get back in the swing of it, was fun and easy. If you do not know how to drive a manual, it might be possible to get an automatic, but you can’t count on it as they are very rare there.

                We decided that we would head straight to our hotel to get checked in and enjoy the town we chose for our first night, Brela. We had originally thought that we would do some touring in Split first, but decided at that point that it was too late and we were too tired. Getting to our destination, washing up, etc, all was very appealing. We were able to get on the highway without too much trouble, and I was pleasantly surprised that the road was not crowded, it was in good condition, and signs were very easy to follow. We made it to Brela in about an hour using the coastal highway, which is slow, but beautiful. At this point, we were a bit dazed but soaking in all of the spectacular scenery. Outside of the cities, Croatia is surprisingly undeveloped – lots of open space, with dramatic rock mountains rising up on one side and the spectacular Adriatic on the other, all interspersed with little villages and beach communities. 

                 Once in Brela, it was a bit confusing to find our hotel. We followed signs to the “centar” and ended up at the small port, where I had to do some fun maneuvering to turn around at the dead end. We ended up deciding to ask for directions, and by happy coincidence, the people we asked found someone who knew the manager of our hotel. They called and she arrived at our car in about five minutes to guide us to the hotel. She was a lovely, warm person, I believe named Adriana or something very close to that. When we got to the hotel (I had just taken one wrong turn), she insisted on carrying one of our bags and welcomed us with a toast. We tried some cherry brandy and some harder stuff, both specialties of the region.

                At this point, we felt very sure that this hotel was a great choice. It was even nicer than in the pictures. We had a seaview apartment reserved, and Adriana brought us to it. The view really was great, and the apartment itself was incredibly modern and clean, well designed and decorated very simply. I was large and would have been perfect to stay in with our kids. The hotel also had two pools, a sauna, and a small gym, and offered guests breakfast. Ben and I were in a little bit of shock at how nice the place was, and were gushing to each other profusely. Eventually, after cleaning up and organizing ourselves, we walked out to try and find dinner and explore a bit.

Small dining area, nice for an extended stay with a family

Full kitchen

Comfortable, modern bedroom

Spacious living area

Nice (unheated) pool and the view. The view slays.

                Brela and the surrounding beach towns have a very long boardwalk running all along the waterfront. It is a pedestrian walkway leading to the beaches, and going past restaurants and bars and the port area. Right near out hotel were cement steps leading down to the water, with a small pebbly beach. Eager to test the clean, turquoise water, we walked down there and dipped our toes in. Freezing! 

Directly below our hotel

Beautiful, cold water

Walking along the promenade

After playing around in the pebbles for a bit, we headed down the promenade and back to the place that we had asked for directions, where there were several restaurant options. We sat down at one, but discovered that they only served dessert. Luckily, the waiter recommended another nearby place, and we decided to take his advice at try Konoba Feral. “Konoba” is Croatian for restaurant, and usually designates a small place with home-style cooking.

Nothing super special about Ozujsko, but it's refreshing and crisp

Croatia does apps really well

SO happy!!

                We started with cold Croatian beer called Ozujsko. I also wanted to try some of the antipasti style cold starters, including local ham and tomatoes with fresh cheese. Both were excellent. We then shared a shrimp risotto and beef kebob, both of which were good. We did not feel hungry enough for dessert, but they nicely gave us another little shot of locally made liqueur to cap off the meal. I had the cherry again and Ben tried walnut. Perhaps the best part about this spot was the unbeatable view. We sat out of the patio and just soaked it in. While not super private because people were walking by just a few feet away on the promenade, we loved it all as part of the fun.

                After dinner, we walked a bit more, stopping to explore a grocery store / market. I grabbed a bag of pistachios to snack on that was reasonably priced, but not overly cheap. We made our way back to our hotel, where we decided to rest “just for a bit”, and completely crashed without really meaning to! Due to the vagaries of jet lag, I woke up around 10pm and was up until about 2am, but Ben managed to sleep the whole night from about 8:30 until the next morning when we got up probably around 9am. 

So, why Croatia? The story of our trip planning

When my husband and I decided that we should celebrate our tenth anniversary by going Europe, we initially were looking at places like London, Paris, Tuscany, Prague, and Berlin. We also discussed Scandinavia. In the initial shopping around phase, we tried to find good deals and packages that would make the whole trip easy. We found a lot of great stuff, but nothing that made us ready to jump and buy tickets. In the midst of googling around and day dreaming about our trip, I can across a blog somewhere (I have not a clue where) that mentioned Croatia as a “top ten place to visit before you die” or some such dramatic headline. It looked beautiful and sounded intriguing, so I immediately started collecting information on it. 

To be frank, I was not even sure where Croatia was located. I learned as much as I could, and decided to try and convince my husband that it was a good plan. I showed him pictures of beautiful beaches and read descriptions of the landscape and cities. While he was skeptical at first, he eventually agreed that Croatia sounded like it might be fun.

Next came booking the trip. I had dates in mind, so I used a great website called Hipmunk to track flight prices. As it turned out, most flights to Croatia from the United States are kind of shitty, meaning that they take a very long time due to layovers of ten plus hours. That got me a little nervous. Persistence did pay off, though. I was able to book a great flight (very short layover, which I will discuss more later) in Zurich, then on to Split, Croatia. While it would be easier to return from a different Croatian city, the best deal was to fly back out of Split. It was cheaper and easier for us to fly out of Boston, but anyone from this area should look at both Boston and New York when booking Europe as prices do vary.

We were initially very unsure on where to stay, what places to visit, and how to approach Croatia. We had no clue about things like whether to rent a car, what type of accommodations to look for, and how long to plan for each destination. We thought that it might be easier to use a travel agent for that, so we did attempt that. I will not mention any names here, but the agency was a mixed bag. They did offer services which sounded appealing, such as having someone available in Croatia to handle any problems that come up. But it was just not a love connection. The prices were higher than what I was seeing online, and the agent was not supportive of our plan to rent a car. He was a bit critical of the time we planned to go, as well as of our plan to fly into and out of the same city. 

After extensive hemming and hawing, we decided to book everything ourselves and to stick with the rental car. I felt bad because he had priced out the vacation twice for us based on our changed plans, and I ended up telling him that we had to postpone our trip, rather than confess that I did not want to book with him. Hopefully the internets will not bring him here to this tiny blog, but if it does, I am sorry!

Some of the most helpful resources for planning were the Rick Steves book on the region, another travel guide called _, and Trip Advisor. Once I became familiar with these, I felt much more like I could plan this myself and be fine. While we were committed to the rental car, I was still very nervous about it – luckily, ,y worries proved baseless, and I will give more details on that below. Unless you are really short on time before your trip, I would encourage you to book yourself because there is a ton of good information out there to guide you.

Our itinerary was as follows:

Day One: Arrive at 2pm, rent car, drive to first hotel in Brela.

Day Two: Drive to Dubrovnik

Days Three to Five: Stay in Dubrovnik with some day trips

Day Six: Bosnia

Day Seven: Drive to Krka National Park; sleep in Trogir near airport

Day Eight: Return home

Each day will be discussed in a separate post.