Croatia. We had planned to go here with Brooke, back in March right before everything went south. We had booked flights, accommodation, looked at day trips, bookmarked sights... but then everything went skew-whiff.
There was mix up with some flights so we had to pay a change fee to correct them. Brooke not being able to come meant we had to cancel her tickets. Our return flight got cancelled so we had to rebook and shorten the trip by 3 days. We had to have a Covid test prior to departing, which thankfully the results came back negative (and then on arrival in the country, we were never asked to show those results).
BUT. Our time - when we got there - was fantastic. The weather was as hot as we expected - possibly even hotter. The people were lovely. The coffee was great (much better than what we've had in Scotland so far). The history was incredible. Our accommodation was lovely and well located. The food was good and the ice cream better.
We started the trip in Split, where we stayed for 3 nights and I think this was actually our favourite part of the holiday. Our accommodation was a five minute walk to the Old Town and Diocletian's Palace, a three minute walk from the Riva Promenade, and just one minute from restuarants and a small market.
History was everywhere. Diocletian's Palace was built in 300AD and has been lived in ever since. People *still* live in the city's walls, in apartments that have been modified over the years. Buildings from every era fill the space, multiple architectural styles can be find in a single street, and so many languages can be heard in just one coffee shop.
The palace only got listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979, so up until then people built, remodelled, and removed what they wanted without issue. Maybe that's why the city felt so alive and interesting.
One of the highlights of the trip was a day tour to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It took 3 hours to drive there along a bridge that can have up to 300km/hr winds. Luckily they weren't blowing that day - the road we travelled gets closed when they are, and a less direct route would have been taken.
The lakes were stunning. They reminded us of New Zealand and Iceland, so blue and clear and vibrant. There were incredible irridescent dragonflies, ducks, freshwater snakes, fishes.....
Every few steps were more incredible views and our tour guide had the patience of a saint - she's been to the park more than 300 times but still loves it. She took photos for us all, walked slowly so we had a chance to get the shots, and was happy to chat as well as spout off information.
The next day we hopped on the ferry to sail to Dubrovnik, which was a lovely 4 and a half hour trip, stopping in at a few other islands along the way. Finding our accommodation was easy - right in the heart of the Old Town, which meant getting lunch and heading to our walking tour at 3pm was a piece of pie.
Notes about the city: in 1434, Dubrovnik opened an orphanage, one of the first institutions in the world. It didn't close until 1920, which was a pretty incredible run.
They created a Jewish ghetto in the 1500's by putting gates at the top and bottom of one of the city's streets, which were locked at dusk and unlocked at dawn each day. Jewish people were, at the time, not meant to fraternise with other townspeople after dark *but* because they brought so much to the city of Dubrovnik (in terms of skills, craftsmanship etc), one of the doors within this street was actually a tunnel* that went straight out to another street that ran parallel. Which was always unlocked.
There weren't really any signs or informational plaques in Dubrovnik, and only a few in Split. Tourism is done slightly differently there.
There are no Roman ruins in Dubrovnik.
Saint Blaise is the chosen saint of Dubrovnik - not because he did something related to the city, or because there was a flux of sore throats, but because he was revered in both Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches, so it was the best way to appease both while chosing neither specifically, and enabled the city to continue maritime trade.
*this was according to our guide and I have not been able to fact check this ... but it was a lovely idea at least.
We took a day tour to Montenegro which involved border crossings, a little cruise out to Our Lady of the Rocks off the town of Perast, a short tour of Kotor and some free time wandering about the third walled city of our trip. Kotor's wall snaked and jagged up the mountain and put me in mind of the Great Wall of China. It was something to see, that's for sure.
We decided though that Montenegro was more the place you go for a few days to relax and sit by the water, go for a swim, and just unwind. It wasn't as much a day trip, cultural destination. Or at least not the way we did it. And given we later realised we had to quarantine for 2 weeks because of our one day visit here....it was just not worth the hassle.
Live and learn though!
Got back to Dubrovnik and found ourselves a nearby beach to cool down at - we were sweltering. Most days were 31C but I don't remember the last time I spent most of a day out in that heat. And so many buildings and vehicles didn't have the airconditioning that we're used to so I don't think we ever properly cooled down unless we went back to our airbnb.
Beaches were pebbly but the water was so ridiculously clear as a result.. It was honestly such a great way to cool down and relax...and I do love a spot of people-watching. There were so many body types and no one was inhibited if they didn't have a bikini-perfect figure.
Our last day, we were some of the first people climbing the walls of Dubrovnik. It was the must do, non-negotiable activity of our time there and one we loved. Even if we did drip. Well. I did. Cameron's fitter and doesn't seem to have a tap fitted to his skin ducts like I do.
The views and scale were incredible. Just trying to imagine how the walls were constructed in the 13th century...far out, humans are clever beasties.
We were lazy travellers this trip - I think we had half expected it to be cancelled before it happened so we did no research when it came to basic greetings, got no gist of the history or the people. We relied too heavily on our privelege as English speakers, that others would speak our language - we got lucky.
Some fun observations:
Cats were everywhere! They were so unphased by people, they would lie in shaded spots on the street, under chairs and tables, on steps, in gutters, near restaurants....wait staff paid them no heed but they also didn't try to get rid of them. The cats were just a part of the city, as much as any of the structures.
We had ice cream every day and iced coffees most days - it just felt like the right thing to do.
This was the first trip we were able to go back to our accommodation during the day because it was so central. And because we were so tired and hot. Novelty :D
On our English tour of Montenegro, Cameron and I were the only native English speakers. It was otherwise comprised of French, Belgium and possibly Italian folk. I felt so very under-languaged.
I finally nailed packing for a trip - I wore everything I took and there was nothing I regretted taking. Huzzah!
