Exploring Croatia

Sailing into Dubrovnik on a warm windless morning on the ferry from Bari in Southern Italy, our first view was a truly wonderful sight. Hidden behind some hills the old city had us guessing its whereabouts until we had disembarked and driven off the ferry. Cruise boats filled the harbour and the old city was full of tourists. Tourist-related industry is everywhere. The Croatians are certainly excellent business people, always on the look-out for opportunities. Dubrovnik is unique, withstanding the Ottomans to remain as an independent city-state and at one time rivalling Venice as a trading port and existing on a tiny finger of land with mountains to the east and the Adriatic to the west. 

The Old City, Dubrovnik viewed from the Cable Car

Old city Dubrovnik, the marble city with just a few of the many tourists!

Well worth walking around the old city walls to get an understanding of this place and how much was damaged in the 1990's war.

A popular swimming spot at Zaton near our BnB

So many inlets, islands and small settlements all along the coast. View from the BnB up that dreaded driveway!

It is such a photogenic city with its old fort and perfect little harbour with the fortress overlooking it which Napoleon had built on Mt Srd. While we were there the weather varied from humid & sticky one day to wild, wet & thundery the next. Our Airbnb was north of Dubrovnik on the coast up a precarious and very steep concrete driveway that when I drove up it reminded me of a kid’s toy our son Sam had, that toppled backwards when you wound it up. It didn’t quite happen although after the rain there was very little grip in the tyres!

We’re heading into the old Eastern block, for those with a 20^th century history bent, from Yugoslavia into Hungary and Czechoslovakia so after Dubrovnik it was up the coast to Split before going inland to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The hills immediately east of the coastal road are steep and rocky but give a real contrast to the light aqua blue of the Adriatic. It’s easy to see why so many holiday-makers come here, car number-plates from all over the EU almost out-number the Croats and the auto-route is very busy around the Slovenian exit as the Austrians, French & Italians make their way home. Split was a bit disappointing because it was inundated by music festival attendees thereby making parking and getting anywhere very difficult and after the magic of Dubrovnik it was a bigger impersonal city whose history and great location was almost submerged by the tourist trade.

Split from Podstrana

View from a high speed car! Split to Zagreb! Los of tunnels

How about this for a green wall? we stumbled over this magnificent building which walls the old cemetery in Zagreb - amazing

However another great Airbnb saved us from total disappointment, in a little seaside town east of Split called Podstrana, where a lovely family welcomed us into their home and shared their garden produce with us. Croatians don’t go overboard with greetings and ceremony but they are friendly and always willing to assist and are never rude to visitors.  Most young people speak excellent English.

Tonight we are in Zagreb, a city neither of us knew much of and which we only decided to visit in order to break the journey.  Arriving on a Sunday is a relief as traffic is minimal and sedate and the trams that seem to be on every main street are at least not too obtrusive. It seems a very liveable city with hills all around and plenty of green spaces. Lots of cafe life and a relaxed atmosphere.  That said, the workman rang the bell at 8am this morning to advise us to move our car as they were digging up this quiet little dead end road we are staying on and wouldn't be able to leave!  Now we are heading to some of the great European capitals – Budapest, Vienna, Prague & Berlin and also leaving the somewhat unknown quantity of Airbnb’s for hotel rooms.