It’s finally the end of my Croatia vacation spam! If you’ve been tuning in all along, thanks for indulging me! It was great to get back out in the world, with DH and a camera in my hands. Three, if you count his camera + my phone. That’s a lot of snapping away.

After our day island hopping around the Adriatic, we had originally planned on heading to Dubrovnik – but were warned in multiple towns and the entire Internet that it would be crowded and may not be the most fun ever time to visit.

Loving the relaxed time we were having, we decided to scrap that leg of the trip – come back and cover it during shoulder season – and opt for a leisurely stroll back up the coast to Zagreb and home.

Lucky us, I had a backup plan – Zadar.

Zadar isn’t large by any means, and we felt like we did it justice in the day and a half we spent. You’d think that all the little seaside towns would look generally the same – and you’d be a quarter right; they have similar architecture – but the sea is really what got me as looking different. The color here was deeper, the boats were bigger, and the vistas were wider.

Super cool stuff.

The drive wasn’t shabby, either (an understatement).

Bye, Croatia!

Somewhere between Zadar and Zagreb

Roast pig at one of the roadside grill houses that dot the countryside

One last pass of Zagreb

Stumbled upon this

And some sort of tunnels connecting old town and the central business district

Ummm … Lenin?

Layers and layers

Awww .. matryoshka

… and that was our trip to Croatia. We absolutely loved it here – the food was fantastic, the sights were breathtaking, the people were friendly, and we can’t wait to go back (next trip: Pula, Omis & Dubrovnik).

Zagreb

Plitvice

Split

Island Hopping

Did we miss your favorite spot? Let me know in the comments below!

This day was one of the highlights of the trip. If you are planning on island hopping while in Croatia, and I highly suggest you do – you are missing out otherwise, I suggest going with one of the package tours.

The one we chose (Mayer Tours) was an 11-hour 5-island tour and came recommended on Pinterest somewhere. These guys were good – we did not get to visit the main attraction of the area – the Blue Cave – due to large swells closing the cave off for a few days, but that was okay. From what we’ve heard, all the boats that want to visit wait in line for up to 2 hours for a time slot, then offload passengers into an even smaller boat 10 at a time for a 15-minute tour of the cave.

I’m cool with not having waited for 2 hours to get in.

Our original plan scrapped, the days’ plans shifted continually, and I’m not 100% sure where all we went. I know we saw Korcula, Brac, Vis, a couple sandy beaches, Hvar, submarine tunnels, and military lookout points. Not sure what all else – but, as with any tour you pick or way you choose to see the islands, it was all freaking stunning. The water is crystal clear, oddly less salty than the Atlantic (at least to an East Coast of the US girl), and all the little towns and beaches are beautiful for some reason or another.

Super cool day, despite being on the back of a fast rib boat in the wind and noise and sea spray for most of it. (I hate wind and being wet and cold – so that’s saying something if I was still happy for an 11-hour day).

Pics!

Pulling away from the pier in Split

Stop 1 – a small fishing village for coffee

Sea green ❤

Have I mentioned ad nauseam how much I like seawater blue in all its hues?

Back on the water

Bye, village

And here is where the images get hazy – not sure which stop this was

Alleyways like this – and the 999 other alleyway shots you’ll see/have seen were pretty much everywhere this vacation

So many interesting varieties of boats

Definitely back on the water

Traffic

Lines

Yeah, more alleyways

Unfolding drama

Believe me when I say I even narrowed the pic selection down

Definitely another village – I think this was the one we opted to go ashore and pee (and grab a beer) instead of swim a second time for

And more – because restraint is not my middle name.

A little France v Croatia while stopped to swim

Caves

Lookouts

Submarine tunnels

This. Water.

Our ride for the day

One of the beaches we hit

Docking point

Sea urchins in the wild

Boat conference

How studly is this guy?

Lunch in Hvar – which was our least favorite stop

Hvar was beautiful, but felt like stage dressing

Unsurprising, given the banners proudly advertising 150 years of organized tourism

Different boats

A popular swimming spot

And that’s it for our island hopping day.

Can’t recommend highly enough.

Zagreb

Plitvice

Split

Onwards to the last destination!

Our next main destination on this vacation was Split – a large coastal town known for its Roman ruins, beautiful waterfront, and proximity to a bunch of smaller islands. Split did not disappoint. The town itself is sprawling – encompassing not only the waterfront, but a large inland area as well – complete with multiple suburbs.

We stayed outside the city center, in an area that I’m sure was gut renovated post-war (there was an old gun turret at the end of our block that for some reason I completely forgot to take a picture of).

The place we stayed was good – on a nice quiet stretch of waterfront walkway (quiet enough that we didn’t hear the revelers when Croatia won the semi-finals of the World Cup).

Our main destination in Split was Diocletian’s Palace – right at the City Center waterfront. For my history nerds, this palace was built around the beginning of the 4th century BC as a Roman emperor retirement home. For my Game of Thrones nerds, the basement was used as the underground passages in Mereen.

The palace itself is interesting – not much remains of it but some outer walls and continuing excavation into its basement – which was laid out to mirror the upper floors. Some interesting rooms to explore down there, and good signage on history (thankfully history signage instead of television signage).

Diocletian’s Palace basement

Diocletian’s Palace basement

Diocletian’s Palace basement

Nowadays, the upper street is a twisting warren of alleyways packed to the brim with shops, restaurants, religious houses, guest houses and apartments – good luck finding an address quickly.

Shops and restaurants in a square

❤

Found the mosque – kinda

Can’t help but imagine what it would be like to live here throughout the ages

Alleyways ❤

Doors!

This is someone’s washing – right there above the basement of the palace

Old graffiti

After climbing out of the basement

Layers

Same street, different eye

DH was as interested in the washing as I was

Another – arguably more interesting – view of that dome

Same tower too

Note: this is the first place we ran into where you have to pay to use the public restrooms – at a cost of 5 kuna.

After spending half the day wandering the alleyways of the palace, we hadn’t gotten our full Roman ruin fix, so we jetted out 5km or so to the suburbs and the ruins of Salona. This was a couple-hour jaunt in the direct sun, with of course not enough sunblock or water or hats or anything that would make the trip more comfortable. That would be silly – and waaaay too responsible. So we explored. And me in flip flops. Also had a mini version of one of our infamous death hikes through an olive grove looking for a more direct route back through the neighborhood we passed through (how weird would that be?!).

This was a sprawling site and we didn’t cover it all – zero shade

Old bridge

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

It’s as hot and sunny as it looks

Ruins of the Roman city of Salona

After our trek, we burger & beered and passed out early to prep for a day of island hopping.

Part 1 – Zagreb

Part 2 – Plitvice