Out of office on……

After a LOT of deliberation, we changed our summer holiday plans from heading up the West coast of Scotland in a car and tent to a sunny sightseeing trip to Croatia. Mainly this was due to the weather not looking that great in Scotland and the fact that we didn't have a tent! However shortly after booking Croatia Mum kindly alerted us to the major flooding that was happening in the country and the forecast of heavy showers while we were there! Luckily our plans were mainly sticking to the west coast that would avoid the flood areas. Originally we planned to get as far as Zagreb and the Istria region but after a bit of research we realised that was just a bit too adventurous for a 12 day trip so we ended up flying into Dubrovnik, spending a couple nights there and then an overnight in Mostar, Bosnia before heading back into Croatia and up the coast to Split. After a couple of nights there we headed down to the island of Hvar and then on to Korcula before spending our last night back in Dubrovnik before flying home. Overall we loved Croatia - we had lovely sunny weather for the majority of the time (just a couple of days of heavy showers) and as it was just heading into the busy holiday season prices were not at the top of the scale for the region. We stayed in en-suite rooms or little apartments which cost between £20-30 a night, and beers were about £2 a pint and meals started at £5 but went up to £10-30 depending on the restaurant and area. We found Dubrovnik the most expensive and most touristy place...lovely Old Town to walk around but we didn't really get a glimpse of real Croatian life as the place was full of tourists and souvenir and ice cream shops. Dubrovnik, like many of the old towns in Croatia is made mainly from limestone from the local islands (as is the White House!)- it makes the towns look really nice and clean (more like marble) however it's also slippy in the wet! We spent our time in Dubrovnik exploring the Old Town, drinking coffee and eating ice cream (avoiding the midday sun which was too hot for us!)....which seemed to be what all the tourists did! We walked the city walls on the first day which gave us some nice viewpoints of the town, and ate at a lovely pizza place the first night and healthy vegetarian restaurant the second (Glenn wasn't that impressed!). There was a cable car operating up to a viewpoint on a hill behind the town however we didn't get round to doing that (we originally planned to walk up the hill but everyday was too hot!). Our day in Mostar (Bosnia) was great as it was a complete contrast to Dubrovnik...the town was pretty shabby and some of the buildings had damage as a result of the war but we really got a feel for what life was like for the locals. We stayed in a great guesthouse above the town (Guesthouse Panorama), and took a walk down to the famous Old Bridge area which was a pretty, old town section with souvenir shops and cafes lining the way to a restored bridge that was destroyed during the war to mark the separation of the Croats and Bosnians. We ate dinner at a restaurant just over the bridge and had a local dish of stuffed pepper, bosnian 'cookies' of meat and stew...it was lovely! After a 4 hour bus drive we arrived in the popular town of Split...the larger town itself is nothing to write about but once you get down to the promenade and the Old Town there's a really nice relaxing feel even though the area is full of tourists! We really liked it here, especially learning about the old town on a walking tour - some of the buildings date back to 305 BC and there are great examples of Roman and medieval architecture. We had a great little apartment just 5 mins walk away from the Old Town - really comfy bed, fridge, microwave, kettle etc. We also took a bus out to the town of Trogir while we were based in Split - many of the towns seem fairly similar in layout (as did Trogir) with a limestone old town area with little cobbled streets leading to a main square with a church and bell tower, and a large smattering of cafes and souvenir shops. It was a showery day and we didn't really see anything that exciting or different so we only stayed for a few hours before getting the bus back. After leaving Split we headed to Hvar - a lovely island just a couple of hours boat ride away. Hvar town was our favourite location of the whole holiday -built round a harbour area, the town is really pretty with cafes lined up along the harbour and in a square looking out on the beautifully clear sea. The area bustled with tourists and there was a nice breeze that made the heat bearable! We stayed in an apartment (Villa Sandra) just 5 minutes walk from the town - our host was really nice and met us in town to take us to the house and then also brought our luggage back down to us on the last day. We spent our time walking round the harbour, sitting on rocks sunbathing and reading and drinking coffee in the square. We also took a trek up to the castle that looked over the town which was interesting (but hot as we went in the middle of the day!) If we had more time we would have taken a boat taxi out to some of the islands closeby...they're known for being great sunbathing spots (including a nudist beach!) We did venture to Stari Grad while in Hvar - a town on the north coast that is the official old town..it was really quiet when we were there, not many tourists of locals and not really a lot to see or do so we ended up staying an hour and getting the next bus back! I would definitely go back to Hvar Town if I was looking for a nice sunny place to chill and enjoy the views. After Hvar we got the evening ferry to Korcula - an island further south. Even though it was pretty dark when we arrived Korcula town itself seemed nice...it's a walled town with little cobbled streets leading from the main square down towards the coast on all sides (http://www.korculainfo.com/places/korcula/). A mishap with our accommodation booking meant we had a weird night stay in a hostel about 5 mins drive from the town however the next morning we booked ourselves into a lovely little apartment right in the heart of Korcula town. We spent the day exploring (the town itself isn't very big so it didn't take us long) and then had a lovely evening at a restaurant sat looking out towards the mainland (pizza and wine for dinner!). The next day we got a 15min boat and then 3.5 hour bus ride back to Dubrovnik. We stayed out near the main bus station as we had an early bus to catch in the morning and didn't feel the need to head back into the old town. After getting some food and drink at the local supermarket we headed back to the apartment to listen to the Senior TT race online and then chilled out for the evening. The next day we caught the 9am bus to the airport before flying back to Edinburgh (where it was raining of course!). Overall we had a great trip - we'd like to go back and explore some of the inland towns and the northern area of Istria and would recommend Croatia to anyone looking to combine a nice, sunny relaxing holiday somewhere with a bit of culture and history 🙂