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Hungarian and Croatian adventures in summer 2006

Hungarian and Croatian adventures in summer 2006

Old Aug 1st, 2006, 12:30 PM
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Hungarian and Croatian adventures in summer 2006

I have begun this report over on the Hungary board, so if you're interested in that portion of this report, you'll need to go to that board.

Hopefully this portion will be of some help to those traveling to Croatia, but in no way will it be as entertaining as tripgirl's!!


Our SkyEurope flight landed 10 minutes early in Dubrovnik. The approach was quite interesting, passing so closely over the hillside and homes in the Cavtat area. Not much room for error here. Passing through passport control was fast and easy. No scrutinizing of your passport here. The luggage arrived quickly and after getting Kunas at the ATM we boarded the Atlas transfer bus, which usually meets flights, for the trip to the Pile Gate in Dubrovnik. The bus tickets were $6 each and we bought the tickets on the bus. They collect the money after you board. The driver was very helpful, and answered any questions the passengers had. He also dropped a couple of people off along the road into Dubrovnik. At this time of night the public buses are no longer making the trip from the airport.

Wow, we were in Croatia! The sun had set, but it wasn’t dark yet, the sky was pink and the view spectacular. As we drove the coastal road my husband said it’s a good thing we went to Budapest first, this is so gorgeous!
We had reserved a sobe ahead of time, which was near the Hilton. Up the steps we climbed with our luggage, along the small alley right in front of the main door into the Hilton Hotel. At the top of the steps we turned left and climbed more steps. These aren’t steep steps, and very wide, so it’s not difficult. Jadranka and Milan Benussi sobe http://www.dubrovnik-online.com/apartments_benussi/ [email protected] was our home in Dubrovnik. We reserved a double room here for 50.40€ per night. Jadranka met us half way up the steps, (her son had passed us on his way up) and kindly took my suitcase and cheerfully welcomed us to her sobe.
We were so happy with our choice. There was a beautiful terrace with huge pots of hydrangeas and a small view of the sea. We enjoyed wine here several nights of our stay. The Benussi’s have a couple of double rooms, with a small kitchen area built into the rooms with refrigerator, and also rent out a couple of apartments, for families. These are just steps down from the terrace, and all are behind a private, green locked door. The home is built of stone. One even has it’s own private terrace. We had excellent air conditioning, thank goodness. It was in the high 90’s while we were here. The bathroom was spacious and spotless, and beds very comfortable. Satellite TV had several channels and we could enjoy the World Cup games when we turned in. Croatia was still playing in the World Cup while we were there. What fun!

Jadranka kindly invited us to sit with her and enjoy drinks on the terrace, but it was late, and we wanted to see this beautiful city we had just arrived in. We thanked her and asked to wait until another evening. It’s only a 5 minute walk from our sobe to the Pile Gate. We loved the location since we would take the public bus a few times and they all stopped just outside the gate. There was also an excellent market here, a bakery and restaurant with outdoor tables looking at the city walls and the sea. Atlas travel office is located here, along with an internet café with an excellent information booth inside.

Wandering up the Stradun Placa, through the tiny alley ways full of shops, and to the old port, we explored briefly. The light sparkled across the smooth, slick stones of the streets. Another World Cup game was playing on TV’s all over town. We chose a café, and enjoyed drinks as we joined with others in cheering for a team. England vs. Sweden 2-2 tie was the outcome. I over hood a conversation between some English women who were so disappointed in the beach they went to earlier in the day. They saw it as filthy and uninviting. I was a bit worried about what we’d find in our coming days at the local beaches. Looking back at it now, it must have been the beach around the East/West Beach area. We found this area crowded, dirty, and not a beach we would enjoy, but the outlying areas were clean and clear.

We couldn’t end our day without some gelato and found the ice cream shop by the big fountain , just inside the Pile Gate entrance to be our favorite. I loved their chocolate with cherries and enjoyed this flavor each day!

Just inside the Pile gate there is a plaque which shows where each Serbian bomb dropped on the Old Town. It’s amazing how many bombs were dropped on this city, and for what purpose. We would later hear Jadranka’s story on those frightening weeks.

June 21 The first day of summer!!

The sun rose very early here in Dubrovnik. The sunshine woke us around 4:30 a.m. so we quickly learned to close the shutters the next evening to help block out the bright, early sunshine. No breakfast was included in our room rate and I wasn’t about to cook it myself, so we’d enjoy it overlooking the sea just outside the Pile Gate.

It was HOT, and it was humid, but that wasn’t going to stop us from walking the walls. We climbed up, up, up the steps, at 9 a.m. We bought the audio so we could appreciate what we were seeing. Looking back, I don’t think it added to much. It was wordy and boring overall, although parts were interesting. That was just my opinion. Others may enjoy it more. We stopped in the little bits of shade we could find, listening to the tape. The views are magnificent. The rooftops are mostly new, and the old tiles are so much more interesting and picture some. We took many, many photos, including some black and white which turned out beautifully. One woman who’s apartment patio opened onto the walls was selling cold drinks, lace and handmade items to those who strolled by.

The Buza Bar sign was easily seen from the walls, as well as the bar. This helped us place it, as we wanted to enjoy drinks there after our walk along these walls.

We spent 2 hours walking the whole way around, and came down in the same spot we climbed up. I think there are 3 entrances where you could begin this walk, we began at the Pile gate area. A few cruise ships had arrived this morning, and the passengers were just beginning their climb. We were happy to complete it before the hoards of people arrived. Actually I think an evening walk may be a better idea, to avoid the hot morning sun.

We needed, really needed a cold drink after this, so of course went on the hunt to find Buza Bar. Even knowing where it is, it’s hard to find the first time. It’s hard to judge at which spot this bar is, as you walk the inner wall. The sign is obvious, once you are there, but the inner wall is long, and you have to walk the right direction to find it.

Once there though it’s fabulous. The views are incredible, and it was very peaceful around noon. Not many drinks to choose from, but that’s ok. Some people had bathing suits and towels, and walked through the bar area, down the stones, and swam off the rocks to the left. We were content to just sit, drink and soak up the atmosphere, watching boats sail by.

After looking down on Dubrovnik, I wanted to get a closer look. We started at the Franciscan Monastery and went inside the medieval pharmacy. There is a real, working pharmacy here also, so if you have a need of one, it’ll be easy to find! There are many tour groups which stop here, but we luckily arrived between them and were able to enjoy looking around in peace. Don’t miss the spot which shows where a Serbian missile hit. There is a cloister here also with pillars and portals which were also damaged during the war.

After visiting the Cathedral and what else, I can’t really remember, we stopped at Mea Culpa for pizza. It’s located at Za Rokom 3, and has excellent pizza. We ordered only one, they are large, shared it, along with a half liter of wine. This area was all in the shade, which was greatly appreciated! Lunch was only $12.

Needing some R&R we changed and took the boat to Lokrum. Boats leave from the Old Port and the return trip is $6. The boat ride is only about 15 minutes, and arriving we followed the pine tree lined path to the rock beaches to the left of the boat dock. We passed an outdoor terrace with several people enjoying a late lunch and drinks. What a lovely area! A map of the island is on the back of your ticket I seem to remember. You could spend hours here hiking, and exploring, but we just wanted to sun and swim. We found a big, flat rock with a metal staircase for sea access and enjoyed a couple of hours in the sun with a gentle breeze blowing. The views were beautiful. We could have spent so much more time on this island, but after walking across it, to the other side, looking around for a bit, we returned for the short ride back to Dubrovnik.

We had dinner this evening at Sesame, www.sesame.hr which is outside the Pile Gate, across the road from the Hilton, but a bit further up the street. Their website says you should reserve, but there is no need. We were only one of 3 tables dining here this evening. The atmosphere was excellent, even though it is situated right along the main road, I didn’t find the traffic to be a problem. It is set back a bit, and I wasn’t distracted at all. We sat upstairs on their lovely terrace full of flowers, and they had someone playing soft music. Dinner and wine was $60 and I know we enjoyed it, ordering fish, but it wasn’t the best meal we have had! As in many of the restaurants we ate at on this trip, the starters usually seemed tastier than the mains. Rarely would we order dessert, since the portions were always to large. Service was excellent and they were very friendly. We talked quite a bit with the staff which is always enjoyable. We love hearing about the lives of the people in the countries we are visiting.

After walking through the old town again, emptied of the hordes of cruise ship passengers we returned to the Benussi home. Jadranka again invited us to share some time together on the terrace, and we accepted. She’s such a friendly woman and truly loves what she does. She once worked in the hotel business, but needed a change and after the war changed jobs. She has put all that knowledge to good use, offering wonderfully clean and comfortable rooms for those of us that want to spend some time in her town.

I was so curious how her life was, living here during the war. She graciously told us her families story of their time in this home, even enduring a bomb which fell on the church which is right next door to their home. It was very, very frightening, she and her husband had 2 small children at the time, and she had to protect them. For what reason did they bomb this city, she would ask? We all lost someone in this needless war. No one came to help us defend ourselves. After enduring some weeks of the bombings, she also left taking her children to safety. They returned when it was again possible and has turned her home into a haven.

Don’t be afraid to ask some of the local people of their stories during that time. We did, and they wanted to tell of their experiences. They want people to understand what they have been through. It is still so fresh in their minds. They are also bitter still. Before the war tourism was huge, in a different way than it is today. People came to Dubrovnik and spent time here, spending a lot of money. Staying for weeks, not for hours as they do now. Now the big tourist dollars are gone. The tourists they see today are mostly those from the cruise ships, which wander the shops, spend little, stay on their ships, eat on their ships. They don’t help the people who live there make an acceptable income. They are still suffering a lot. There is no industry. There are few jobs, and those are almost all in tourism. They have high hopes that things will improve, but now, it’s still very, very hard for them to make a decent living. So much hurt still pours out of them when you spend time, really listening to how things are today. This is why, on the surface, they brush you off. They don’t easily open up. They still hurt and have a wall around them. But underneath, if you care, and can really listen, you will find how wonderful they are. They want their lives back to what they had “before”.

More to come later....




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Old Aug 1st, 2006, 01:57 PM
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I know this is long, but here's part 2:


June 22

Today was Antifascism Day in Croatia which marks the outbreak of resistance in 1941. This is an official National Holiday. This doesn’t mean much to a tourist, but it just so happened that it did put a bugaboo into our plans for the day.

We planned on going to Lopud today which is part of the Elaphite Islands. You can go there on the Jadrolinija ferry. We had read enough reports on the day excursions to these 3 islands to know that only Lopud would really interest us. This ferry leaves from Port Gruz which isn’t as convenient as the Old Port in Dubrovnik. We took bus A1 I believe, which leaves from the Pile Gate area to Port Gruz. When you see the big ferries, and small boats, this is where you get off. Later on this route is the “Marina”, but this isn’t where you want to go. (We learned this the hard way, silly us). On the way we asked the bus driver to tell us where to get off for the main bus station. This wasn’t as clear to pick out. We wanted to pre-buy our bus tickets for the trip between Dubrovnik and Split. I thought the buses would be crowded and didn’t want to miss out on getting seats for the following Sunday morning. We were going to connect to the Split-Hvar catamaran and I wanted to be sure to arrive in Split in time.

Well, as it turns out, the Jadrolinija ferry does daily trips to Lopud but on Sundays or holidays the schedule is changed. We had missed the 9:30 ferry and the next one was at 8:30 p.m. The trip to Lopud on the Jadrolinija ferry costs 32 kuna round trip which is about $6. We asked around, to see if there was another way to Lopud and found that NOVA also goes to Lopud. We found their office and were told the cost was $20 each round trip from Gruz port. Ouch, $40 to go to the beach. We declined. They do this trip several times a day though, so it’s much more convenient than taking the Jadrolinija ferry, which leaves the Gruz port at 10 a.m. Monday-Saturday.

We took the bus back to Dubrovnik, with new plans to go Lopud on Saturday. When we arrived at the Old Port we noticed that NOVA had boats here also that went to Lopud. If you want to go with NOVA you can leave from this port and it’s about $23 round trip, with several trips there and back a day. If you would rather see all 3 Elaphite Islands, NOVA has a day pass for around $25 which allows you to move between the islands and do 2 or 3 on your own. Just realize you need to keep close attention to their schedules so you can plan the times accordingly. We decided on a trip to Cavtat would be more to our liking. This town is only 12 miles away, but it’s 1 hour by boat, a very slow boat. The cost is $12 round trip. We bought round trip tickets, but maybe I would have enjoyed the bus ride back instead. If you buy a round trip ticket you must use the same boat to return to Dubrovnik. If you buy a one way ticket, then you can chose any boat to return, buying a new ticket for your return. The advantage to this, is that each boat sails on a different schedule, and you can return at a time of your choosing, instead of having to wait for “your” ticketed boat. Hope that’s clear!

We really enjoyed Cavtat. It’s very laid back. The town doesn’t have a lot to see, but we came planning on some beach time, not needing to “see” the sights. We walked to the left, down the gorgeous pine tree lined pathway. Lots of other people enjoy this area, along the rocks. Yep, it’s rocks again, some large and flat, some pebbly. We walked to a spot just past the wooden beach bar, hanging from the side of the hill overlooking the ocean. Great views of course! Walking down the stairs to this beach we found very easy water access. Families were here enjoying the clear, cool water. The bay was pebbly and we easily walked into the water, wearing water shoes. I needed those shoes, but the locals do just fine without them. There was no climbing down a ladder to get into the water here. It gradually got deep, so it’s a great place for kids and adults. A water mattress would be wonderful here and some of the kids had great fun diving into the water off the rocks. So refreshing, but not so cold that you couldn’t enjoy it. We spent a couple of hours here, then moved down the path a bit further. This area was full of pine trees with lots of shade and you could lay on pine needles, not rocks. Jets fly over since Cavtat is where the airport is, but it didn’t bother us. This might just be the best place for families to vacation in this area. We loved it.

Returning to the port area, we found a bar/restaurant, showing another World Cup game! What fun this was following the games as the days went by. We did have our favorites. Of course Croatia was our first choice, since we were here, but then, my husband wanted England and I wanted France… Well, I got lucky almost to the end. Who would have thought France would go so far! We enjoyed a bite to eat and drinks, then returned to Dubrovnik by boat.

This evening was the BIG game. Croatia vs. Australia. We had to be in town for it. We walked all over looking for the best TV and the square with the most atmosphere for the game. We didn’t care what the food was like! We got what we were looking for. Great atmosphere, poor food! Knoba Mediterranean had bad risotto but a lively crowd. 1/3 of the crowd were Australians. They came prepared with the Australian flag and lots of enthusiasm! A TV crew was on hand and they decided this was a great place to record some footage also! Croatia scored early, on a penalty kick, what excitement, and of course the red flares were lit. Then Australia scored… Cheering from their corner. The game went to 2-2, then the final, 3-2 Australia. Poor Croatia. They were out of the World Cup. Everyone had so much fun that evening, and way to much to drink, but fortunately the crowd handled it well, and there was no violence with the loss.

Returning to the Benussi home, we said goodnight, but knew better than to talk much about the game. Milan and his son are great fans, so their disappointment was obvious.



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Old Aug 1st, 2006, 05:23 PM
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June 23

Today we had a trip planned to Montenegro with Atlas travel. This was the Montenegro Blue trip. Many of you already know what happened to us that day, so I’m going to cut and paste the experience we had with Atlas here:

We had a very disturbing morning with Atlas today. I had booked the Montenegro Blue tour on THEIR web site on May 12, and got their voucher with our reference number, date of tour, and number of people,plus where to meet. They charged my credit card. Today when we met the bus they denied us seats because they had no reference of our reservation. This was so disturbing. The driver called the main office, giving them our voucher number and they still denied us seats on the bus. He gave us the phone and my husband and I argued for 15 minutes with them. Finally after we refused to get off the bus,( we had walked on holding their phone) the lady at the main office told me, ok, you can go. She had said there were no seats for us. The tour itself was excellent. Our guide spoke to use in English and Swedish since she was actually a guide for the Swedish tour company, many of the passengers had traveled with. Montenegro is poor, but really worth seeing.

After the tour, we went to the Atlas office to question them on their practices. We were not pleased. They admitted that the web site has a known problem and frequently loses the reservations, even though the customer is charged. Even knowing this, they denied us seats. This so unacceptable. They know the web site doesn’t work properly but they still take the reservations and your money. They say not to book on their site. They want you to email them directly. I explained that they do not often answer their emails. Yes, this is true, they said, they are to busy with customers walking in. So the solution is to wait until you are here to book the tours, but often they are full, so you must book several days ahead. No good solution to this problem, But they really do not care about this problem. The sad truth is Dubrovnik is beautiful and wonderful at night, but the tour companies are rude, and can’t handle the amount of people they are dealing with.
Okay, so I was very frustrated when I wrote this. Regardless, I stand by all I wrote. Enjoy Atlas tours, their guides are excellent, just don’t book them ahead of time unless you can reach them by e-mail and do it on a personal basis.
A bit about our tour…
After being “collected” at various points in the city, we all met at a central spot and transferred to a large, comfortable, air-conditioned bus. There was more than 1 tour bus since I saw an overflow van. There were more than 2 people in it, ha. Our Swedish guide joined us, along with a guide who spoke English, but the Swedish guide was a much better guide, and just delightful. There are also other tour companies that do this tour, including Kompass and Elite. We saw them in the same areas we toured.
We approached the border crossing, leaving Croatia and entered no man’s land. Our passports were checked as we left Croatia.
Our first stop was Perast, which is a town of stone buildings coming down to the sea. We only got a quick peek of the town from the road. Our real purpose of this stop is to take a boat to Lady of the Rock which is an artificial island created by locals placing rocks in the sea every July 22. Later they sunk 87 ships full of rocks here which helped the process along! St.Nicholas church is on this island and it’s an interesting stop. The church is full of icons, silver panels given to the church by thankful sailors and art. There is a small museum here with a beautiful embroidered picture which a woman worked on for years, waiting for her husband who was at sea, to return. He never returned. A nun sells postcards and small items in the small museum. If you are not on a tour, you can still take a small boat to this island. I think it’s worth the time. There is also an hourly minibus from Kotor to this location.
Our next stop was Kotor. To reach Kotor we are driving all around the long Bay of Kotor which is the largest fjord in southern Europe. Kotor is at the head of this fjord. The fjords in Norway are much more impressive IMO. This is a walled town, and if on your own, you could climb the wall. Being on a tour we have no time for this. Poor children greet us, begging for any handouts we can give them. I give one boy coins worth about 1€. He is thrilled, and politely thanks me. Oh, that reminds me, Montenegro takes Euros. It’s their official currency. You will need them for any purchases you make.
Our guide tells us to visit St.Tryphon Cathedral. We find it easily and find it worth the small entry fee. It truly is amazing inside. Don’t miss it, but bring some information with you describing what you are seeing, because no guide will explain the interior to you. Walk upstairs to the chapel, more to see here!
We enjoyed exploring the rest of the town, peeking into other churches and just enjoying this lovely small town. I felt we had just enough time here since I had no interest in walking those walls!
Our lunch stop on St. Stefaan, the fishing island and resort town was a beautiful area to stop. We enjoyed sharing travel stories with others at our table while being served a quick and filling lunch. It really wasn’t to good, but adequate. You must buy your drink. If you have a swim suit you could dip into the water here, but we chose to walk around the high end hotel here. Entry is free if you are with the Atlas tour. The grounds are lovely, but I have no idea what you would do here! The gardens are well kept, there is a pool and it’s beautiful and very hot.
Our last stop, Budva was just strange. I know, this is debated but we didn’t care for Budva at all. We walked up to the fortress, looked around a bit, went inside a church that was being restored by an artist (this was pretty interesting), and went into another church were some local people were praying. Ok, this church was really interesting but still, this town was strange. The music blaring over a loud speaker didn’t help the atmosphere. We spent most of our time having a really interesting conversation with another traveler in our group.
The drive back to Dubrovnik isn’t to bad, because on the return you take a car/bus ferry to cross the fjord. This cuts a lot of time off the return trip, and you can exit the bus and stay outside on the ferry while it crosses. A rain storm decided to open up on us just before this ferry ride so it was a bit slick. We also ran into a car accident just after this rain storm and had a terrible time passing by. The car was horizontal across the road. Even though there really wasn’t enough space to pass by, our bus did it anyhow, and actually tilted when the tires of the bus drove on a drop off of the road. Scary to say the least.
We returned to Dubrovink at 7:30 p.m. Pick up was at 7:25 a.m. so it was a long day, but enjoyable once we got on our way. Of course our passports were checked again on our way back across the border, but it was not “threatening” as one couple thought.
After our visit to the Atlas Travel office to see what their explanation was about our morning problems, we cleaned up and went to find some dinner. Lokanda Peskarija, right at the old port was our choice tonight. I had the grilled shrimp my husband had the muscles and we shared a salad and ½ liter of wine and water. We thought it was delicious. The Lokanda was so crowded, it has an excellent reputation. When we sat at our table for 4, I signaled for another couple who was waiting for a table to join us. They were happy with this arrangement, but spoke only Italian so we couldn’t share much but hand signals and smiles! The strange thing was the way the waiter handled this situation. I explained to him that we were actually 2 tables and would need to order separately. He was amazed, and didn’t know how to handle this. After a bit of thought he told us he would take the Italian couples order first, then later come back and take ours. What a shock. He took their complete order, brought them the bread and their drinks. They felt so bad. He pretended we weren’t even there. 15 minutes later he returned and took our order. This solved his problem, but made the Italian couple really uncomfortable since we had invited them to share our table. We let them know the best we could, all was fine, not to worry and enjoy their meal! They ordered much more food than we did and it looked excellent! I see why this restaurant is so popular. Service is very rushed though and if you want a nice, relaxing meal, go elsewhere. The views are great though and our bill came to $26.
Back at our sobe, Jadranka asked if we wanted to share drinks again on their terrace. We did and shared stories of our day and had an interesting conversation with her and her grown son, who is attending school so he can also work in the tourism field. His dream is to work in the U.S. though. He described their Christmas celebrations and the fun traditions they still follow today. Being a child, growing up in the peaceful Dubrovnik sounded like lots of fun! I’m sure he has many memories he won’t soon forget.

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Old Aug 1st, 2006, 06:31 PM
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Images2,
Great trip report, looking forward for more.

Please tell us more about breakfast in Dubrovnik – we’ll be staying at a villa (no breakfast provided) so I would like to know some details. What options do you have, good breakfast places (if you found any), how is the coffee, what do Croatians generally have for breakfast?
If this matters, our villa is outside the old town, close to the Ploce gate.
Thanks.
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Old Aug 1st, 2006, 08:14 PM
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Images2 Wonderful report and in NO WAY too long!! I am getting all sorts of little details from you that are so helpful. I knew I would be hearing all sorts of cool new stuff from you.

I always take vacations that require we be on the MOVE and go go go. I am going to try to relax a bit this time around. I am telling you, however, my blood would have been boiling and I would have been hopping mad at those expletive Atlas people. I really want to drive ourselves to MOntenegro, but am not sure how to find interesting historical tidbits about the area's we will see.

Looking forward to the rest!!!!

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Old Aug 1st, 2006, 10:11 PM
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thank you so much for the great report ! We just got back from Croatia and it was thanks to you from your earlier post that we went to Atlas to reconfirm our trip to Montenegro. When we stopped in they said they had to have our passport information ahead of time (which we didnt have with us). I had thought we just needed to bring the passports on the day of the trip, maybe this has something to do with your problem ? They really should make this clear on the confirmation.

I wish I had known about the Buza Bar before our trip, I have read about it a couple times since getting back and it sounds great. I also found your comments from Jadranka about the war so interesting. We didnt have a chance to have any conversations like that, I can't even begin to imagine living through that.

Happycheesehead : I will post more details about our Atlas tour on my trip report, but if we had a do-over we would drive ourselves!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 05:17 AM
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Thanks for the encouraging comments. I never really know how much detail people want.

Breakfast for us was picked up at the grocery store. It had excellent pastries, cheese, deli, fruit (cherry season!!!) and drinks. We would buy what we needed here, because the pastries were much fresher than those at the bakeries we tried. Croatian pastries are nothing like French ones, sadly.

We then walked to the terasse area outside the Pile Gate and had breakfast! There is a cafe there with outdoor tables and chairs under the trees. I'm sure you could order coffee, but I can't help you on that since I never drink it.

It was very nice there, peaceful when we were there, because the busy tour times hadn't begun yet. An hour or 2 later there are alot of people here. There is also a good view of the sea, and city walls here.

This same grocery store has a store at both the Pile Gate and the Ploce Gate.

The Hilton also served breakfast outdoors on their terrace. I thought this looked very nice also, and I'm sure we could have had breakfast here if we had wanted to.

While looking for Buza Bar, the sign outside the bar says Cold Drinks. You can't miss it while walking by, or looking down at it from the city walls.

Here's my next days report. I'll be out for awhile so more will have to wait until later today...


June 24 Lopud

Lopud was our destination today. While reading through the information booklet you can pick up at the TI in Dubrovnik I noticed that another boat makes this trip. I think the name of it is NORA, regardless, it’s the hydrofoil that goes daily to Mljet. On Saturday’s only this very fast hydrofoil also stops at Lopud. It leaves only from Gruz Port at 9 a.m. Tickets are 11 kuna, or $2 US. What a bargain, and it takes 30 minutes. It returns at 8 p.m. though, so instead of buying a round trip ticket, we bought a one way ticket. We decided to take the Jadralinija ferry at 6:50 to return to the Gruz Port. These tickets were 16 kuna one way and took 50 minutes. We bought this ticket in the town area once we were on Lopud. You don’t need to buy them at the Jadralinija office in Gruz port. You could always take the NOVA boat back also, so there are several choices, depending what time you want to return.
The NORA hydrofoil has 230 seats and it was crowded but not full. You buy your tickets in the building, right at the parking lot, (set back a bit) that says Marina on it.
Arriving on Lopud we headed for Sunj beach. The walk in about 1 km across the island, and the path begins at the far end of the town. This takes 15-20 minutes to walk. There is a sign marking it, but it faces the opposite direction that you’ll be walking, so unless you turn around and look for it, you’ll miss it. Towards the end of the path, it splits. Take the split to the right. At this point you can almost see the beach.
What a long, sandy, clean beach this is. It’s a great area for everyone. Most of the beach is textile, but at the far left end there is a large Naturist Beach. Still all sand. There is also a great restaurant on the right side of the beach. The water is very shallow very far out. In fact, we never got into deep water. There are boats anchored out farther, so it gets deep at some point. Many local kids play a game with a small ball, I forget the name of the game, in the shallow water. The point is not to have the ball ever hit the water. They fail in this, but have great fun regardless!
We rented a thatched umbrella and 2 lounge chairs for the day. It was perfect. We had picked up fruit, bread and cheese plus drinks at the small market by the Pile Gate, so snacked on this during the day. I was afraid that being Saturday, this beach would get really crowded, but it never did. The man we rented the chairs from also cleans the beach. He takes real pride in keeping it spotless. He had a great personality and had fun talking with everyone. The sand here was really hot, so we had to walk quickly to the water, our feet would burn…
Hours and hours later, we returned to town, found a good bar to watch World Cup!! We had so much fun keeping up with the matches. Drinks and ice cream here while waiting for the ferry and our return to Gruz Port. From here we took bus A1 back to the Pile Gate. Bus tickets are 8 kuna each and are good for one hour. See why I liked staying in this area. We’d return dirty and tired from a long day, and wouldn’t have to walk through town to the Ploce Gate area. We were close to our sobe, and we appreciated this a lot.
Dinner tonight was back at Lokanda Peskarija. We enjoyed their food here, even though it was so busy. On this evening we had their risotto. I had the seafood risotto, but had to peel the shrimp in it. My husband had the black ink risotto. Both were excellent, but there was so much risotto in one pot, we could have, and should have shared one. No, we didn’t share our table this evening, ha, we learned our lesson.



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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 10:15 AM
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June 25 Dubrovnik – Split – Hvar

Up early this morning, we had a bus to catch. We had pre-bought our bus tickets from Dubrovnik to Split and were on an Autotrans bus. Many bus companies make this trip each day, some better than others. I don’t know how someone would know which company not to use. We rode the local 1A bus to the main bus station and spoke to a young Norwegian couple on the way. They had taken this same trip, but the bus was really bad. They mentioned the company to us, but I can’t recall it. When you buy your tickets you’ll get a seat assignment. We requested seats on the right side of the bus, behind the driver. This side has the wonderful views as you travel to Split. Once you board the bus though, no one was checking their seats numbers. You were free to sit in any seats. I doubt it is necessary to pre-buy these tickets. There are so many buses doing the trip, you could just buy tickets for the next available bus. We wanted to be sure to get to Split around 12 or 12:30 so I was overly cautious. There were only 10 people on our bus, which left at 8 a.m. Another bus left at 7:45 a.m. and it was almost full. We just got lucky, since most of the people traveling at this time, went on the 7:45 bus.
Another public bus was leaving at 8 a.m. for Mostar. This bus was full, so if you want to take this trip, I’d suggest pre-buying your tickets.
Our bus stopped frequently for breaks. It also dropped people off along the way, and picked others up. We stopped for 15 minutes in Bosnia at a little shop, where I bought a souvenir from Bosnia! At tiny bus stations which we stopped at, in other towns we would have about 5 minutes to run to the toilets. A women was usually there, wanting small change to use the toilets, but I had none so I just didn’t pay.
At the borders our passports were always checked. This bus also had excellent air conditioning. The views were beautiful and I was able to take some pictures along the way. The road was excellent and I don’t think it’d be to hard to drive at all, although others aren’t to fond of the twists and turns.
We arrived in Split around 12:30. Sobe owners were all over us asking if we needed a room. We declined. After checking our luggage at the bus stations checked luggage area, (very inexpensive) we went looking for the Jadrolinija ticket office so we could buy the catamaran tickets to Hvar. The first office across the street, sold different tickets, but told us to go down to the next Jadrolinija office. This one sold the catamaran tickets. You need to ask for the fast boat, so you don’t get the slow ferry. The catamaran was leaving at 3 p.m. so we had 2 hours to explore the area.
Since we brought fresh fruit and bread, etc. on the bus with us, we didn’t take time to sit down for lunch although there are places to eat all along the Riva. Actually there are places to drink here, but not much to eat. There is a pizzaera though.
Diocletian’s Palace sits right on the harbor and the ruins are part of the city. These are free to walk through, but you’ll need a ticket for the cellars and to get into a few small sites. All are interesting and worthwhile to see. We bypassed the produce and fish markets for now, and walked through the Brass gate, into the Palace. Art exhibits are set up here, some to just look at, and other shops where you can buy some very nice pieces. There are several booths selling items inside. We followed the guide in Rick Steves book and saw most everything in the 2 hours we had. I really enjoyed this whole area and think it shouldn’t be missed. When we returned through Split, days later, we spent time at the markets. This was fun, and a great photo opportunity.
We looked for the Ethnographic Museum, which has art and dresses of Dalmatian villages, but it moved. Once we found the new location, it was closed. We had no time to go to the Mestrovic Gallery and it is located quite a ways from Diocletian’s Palace. It was so hot, the walk would be hard. There is a public bus which goes that direction so that would be a good way to go there.
Time to catch the catamaran to Hvar!!!! So many families and children were on this catamaran. I was surprised since I had the impression Hvar was very “chic” and full of beautiful people!! I loved it, this was a place everyone vacationed at! There are many “package” hotels here and all kinds of people spend their holidays on the island. Many of these hotels are to the right when you exit the ferry and quite a walk around the bay. The large group which books hotels on Hvar is www.suncanihvar.hr.
We decided we wanted to stay in an apartment and pre-booked it. I wasn’t to thrilled with the directions I was given though to find this apartment. If I had known what was about to happen, I sure would have taken a taxi, they do meet the catamaran’s and ferries, to the apartment. This would have cost about $23. Looking at our map, and yes, I e-mailed them in advance for better directions, but didn’t realize how poor they were, we set out walking along the beautiful pathway along the water. The walkway alternates between cobbles, asphalt and large potholes. We were pulling our luggage behind us. It was hot, so hot. We walked on and on, and didn’t know how to get up higher to where the apartment was located. We stopped somewhere past Hotel Amphora, past Hotel Croatia, at an ice cream stand along the way. The young man working there actually knew the family where we were staying. He told us we had to climb 2 long, steep, narrow sets of steps to go up to the road we needed. Oh gosh, this family never told us we’d have to climb these steps. Not to happy, exhausted and sweaty, we climbed the steps hauling our luggage behind us. Now, we are in very good shape, despite our 51 years, but this was ridiculous. We still couldn’t find their sobe/home. There was no sign out front. They did tell us there were two large palm trees out front. Well, it was a small help. I actually recognized the awnings over the terraces from the pictures on their web site. After wandering around their small street, we asked a man, sitting on a terrace if this was the Milicic home. He said yes, are you the …….’s. Yes I replied (he had been watching us tromp around and never asked if his home was the one we were looking for) I was not to happy with him. He said his mom was in the shower, and would be out in a bit, we were to wait for her. This wasn’t to nice of a welcome.
www.apartmentsmilicic.com 2km southwest of the town center on Podstine cove. Apt.2 70€ per night with AC 15 minute walk to Hvar town. Balcony. Close to Hotel Podstein. There are 2 markets within walking distance.

This was my description of the apartment. Actually Apt 2 was really great despite it is up even more stairs indoors. It is furnished simply, kind of 70’s style, but that was just fine. There were 2 bedrooms, one of which has a door which opened to the terrace, a sitting area with excellent a/c, satellite TV, and a sliding glass door looking out to the sea. A full kitchen with bar, bathroom and small washing machine (which we couldn’t figure out how to use until the last day). The best part was the large, private terrace with table, chairs, umbrella and another chair, plus drying rack for wet clothes. We really enjoyed this full terrace the 5 days we were here, and it has a great view of the sunset. The walk into town is actually at least 20 minutes. This apartment is just a few houses down from Hotel Podstine, in the direction of town. We didn’t know this until later though. 2 markets within walking distance??? Well, we found one up on the road we were on, but closer to town, but it wasn’t to great. Another is the one down on the Riva not far from the Fetish Jewelry shop. The really good grocery shop though is far away, past the town square around towards the bus station. We bought some good food and wine here, but it was a long ways to carry it back to the apartment.

Would we stay here again, YES! Even though it’s a long walk, we did find a better way to do this walk, by walking up the hill along the side of Hotel Croatia, and then along the road towards Hotel Podstine, we had so much fun here, and loved the space, we would return. You just can’t beat the view, and we even cooked 2 nights in the kitchen and had delicious, long meals, enjoyed our wine, while watching the sunset, and into the night.

We left the apartment and walked back into town. Hvar town is so lovely, with several cafes around the square. These were great for drinks and watching more World Cup!! When the games were on, a large crowd always gathered. We walked and walked, explored, found the internet, shopped a bit, checked out when and where the small boats would go the next day, then decided to buy dinner supplies and eat at our apartment. It was so wonderful on the terrace we were thrilled with the dinner there.


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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 10:23 AM
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So, I just noticed the Fodor’s board isn’t putting in my paragraph breaks. Sorry about the run on paragraphs, that’s not how I’m writing this. I’ll double space more if I can remember….
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 11:09 AM
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June 26 Hvar

After breakfast on the terrace, we took the long, but beautiful walk into town. St. Klement island was our destination for today. We took the 50 kuna round trip boat here, which left at 10 a.m., 11, and 12. We took the 10:00 boat. Walking across the island to the “sandy” beach, which wasn’t to great in our opinion, we decided to veer off to the left, yes, across more flat rocks, to a nice shady area, where the rocks were pretty smooth. This was actually a nice area to spend time at because the pine trees provided a lot of shade. What we didn’t expect were the Sea Urchins, Oh No…. Well, we stayed, enjoyed ourselves, reading, sunning, eating, drinking… but we didn’t get into the water. We saw no good way to avoid those nasty creatures.

Returning across the island, we stopped and had drinks in the bar along the water. What a pleasant spot! The boat taking us back to Hvar was to leave at 4 p.m. Well, it came, it went, at 3:45 – Hey, we didn’t rush to it, because we weren’t finished with our drinks. It just left….We decided to take a shower in the shower house at the other end of this harbor, walked around a bit more, then got on the 5:00 boat, which left at 4:45. Be warned!!

Dinner was on our terrace again tonight. Don’t miss the outdoor market on Hvar right next to the big grocery store. We were having such a good time here, why change things! The island of Hvar and the islands around it are fantastic for relaxing, sunning, eating fish, enjoying a good bottle of wine. There are no cares here. It’s so easy to carve out some really special days.



June 27 A drive around Hvar

We posted this information before, so I’ll just copy it to this report.

We rented our car from Hertz which was located at Pelegrini Travel Agency, which is right by Hotel Riva at the harbor. We went in a day before we wanted the car and told them we would need the car the next day at 9 a.m. This is actually the Hertz rental office. They were ready for us when we arrived, and walked us to the rental car, about 5 minutes away. We didn't need to pay for the rental ahead of time, but we wanted to so it was clear we were using the insurance from our CC. We paid 465 kuna for the car for 1 day. It had no a/c. Hertz gave us no map of Hvar, so we were very happy to have one from the TI. We needed it.


We drove to Stari Grad first on the new road. It's an excellent road. We spent about an hour looking around, and visiting Tvrdalj, the summer house and walled garden of Petar Hektorovic. We also enjoyed the narrow stone streets and walked to the Dominican monastery. We preferred the atmosphere of Hvar Town but noticed that Stari Grad would be more peaceful. Next we stopped in Jelsa, a town with a maze of alleys, another peaceful town. There is a gas station here if you need one, and none in Stari Grad. From here we drove towards Vrboska. We didn't take the turn off to Vrboska but parked down the road a bit across from the sign to Uvala Rapa. This is a rocky trail down to a beach. The sign says it's 300 meters but we think it's probably a 600 meter walk. The path gets steep and is rocky, red soil. It doesn't look to nice, but when we arrived we walked to the right, over some large, flat rocks and found a small cove, with excellent water access, and a large area perfect to lay in the sun on our towels on the rocks. No sand here. We really enjoyed about 1 1/2 hours here. The water was so refreshing. There was no shade, but a wonderful view of Brac across the water. We were here alone. The hike back up the trail was easier than coming down. This area is not far from the FKK camping area.

Next we drove to Pitve which is a quaint stone village, with not many people around. There is a small parking area. Park here and walk through the small village. Here you will find Konoba Dvor Dubokovic, a restaurant and winery. What a neat place! Ivica Dubokovic, the owner, met us and invited us to stay for drinks. He doesn't serve lunch, only dinner from 18:00 to 1 or 2:00 depending on which sign is correct! He makes his own red and white wines and showed us the facilities. He had jars of cherries fermenting on the stone walls. He's been working on this property for 3 years. We stayed, sitting on the small terrace at the top, overlooking the grapes growing on a pergaloa and the island of Brac. It was silent, so, so peaceful. Ivica was getting a delivery of langoustines when we left. Oh, did I want to stay for dinner.


Next we headed through more vineyards to the tunnel that leads for Zavala. The signal works, so you can drive through this very dark, rough, one way tunnel safely. Just wait for the green light! You will drive down the switchbacks to Zavala.


Parking at the end of the road in Zavala is tight. We found one tiny spot at the bottom and parked. Walking past the tiny outdoor Konoba we walked down the path finding nice beach areas, under a wonderful forest of pine trees. Easy water access also. There is plenty of room here. We had a nice time relaxing here, but the day was getting late, so we couldn't continue onto Sveta Nedjelja.


It was tempting to stop again in Pitve for dinner at Konaba Dvor Dubokovje, but we didn't want to keep our car overnight.


On the return trip we stopped in Vrboska and walked around this tiny town, enjoying the small bridges over the inlet. It looked like a canal. We had some ice cream and then returned to Hvar Town, again, on the new road.


We needed to fill the car with gas, and thankfully, when you reenter town there is a sign of a gas pump. Follow this sign to the one gas station. There was a line of cars waiting and you need to make a U turn to exit the station. The gas was about $1.40 US per liter for gas. We put 6 liters in the car then returned it with no problems.

We decided to stay in Hvar town for dinner tonight. After exploring the back alleys some more, and talking with a little girl selling sea shells, where I did a bit more shopping, we walked up the stone steps to Macondo. It was still early, maybe 7 p.m. so there were many empty tables. We were seated at one, and within 30 minutes they were quite filled up. We had an excellent fish platter, scampi buzara in white wine, oil, garlic, and parsley sauce, yummmm, boiled potatoes, bread, good wine and good conversation with the men working here. In the middle of dinner a local fisherman approached, got the waiters attention, then slipped into the little alley right across from the door to the inside. He pulled out his canvas bag full of fish. The waiter brought a silver platter where they placed the freshly caught fish. See, they really do serve very fresh fish here! Dinner was only $50.

Returning “home” we enjoyed the France vs Spain World Cup game. My team, France won!!!


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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 11:30 AM
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Great!! Thank you so much for this wonderful report. It is so informative and just the kind of information I am looking for. I am printing this out and taking it with me. Can't wait to hear the rest.
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 12:27 PM
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Boy oh boy, Images2, you and tripgirl are setting a really high standard for the rest of us when we get back from Croatia! What a great report you've written -- I really look forward to each installment. And I'm looking forward even more, if that's possible, to our trip in October after reading them.
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 12:43 PM
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Thanks Barb, you're going to love Croatia! Here's the next installment...


June 28 Still on Hvar

Our plan was to go both to Jerolim and to Stipanska today. I really didn’t know what to expect on these islands. I had read that they may be reserved for naturists, and since we’re not, I didn’t know if we should show up. What the heck, we went anyhow.

Close to Hotel Amphora there is a small boat dock, which also has boats that goes to these islands. It was perfect for us to leave from here, since the morning walk was much shorter. The round trip cost is 30 kuna and you can take any boat for the return trip. This fare includes the boat ride between the two islands if you want to go to both. Boats leave about every 30 minutes between 9-1 or 2 then take a break and do return trips between 4-6. I thought we’d first go to Jerolim, then later go over to Stipanska, then return to Hvar Town. The man running boats said this was fine. What I didn’t realize was that you had to transfer to Stipanska by 1:00 or 2:00. Once the lunch gap was reached, you could only return to Hvar. We waited until the 4:00 to try and transfer between islands, so we were unable to go to Stipanska. Oh well, Jerolim turned out to be just wonderful.

Not many of us got off the boat at Jerolim, most went to Stipanska the second stop. It was early in the day, but there were several people already sunning on the rocks, not far from the dock area. There is a large restaurant here also, with great looking food, so it was a popular area to stay. Choosing not to stay here where everyone was enjoying the naturist island environment, we moved onto the left. This island is really gorgeous. It ended up being our favorite spot on our trip for a relaxing day at the “beach”. It is covered in a pine tree forest. There are lounge chairs everywhere, spaced far apart. You can stay in the forest of trees, or go down to the flat rocks. There is room for everyone. Water access is a bit hard, you just don’t walk in, but there are areas that are easier than others for getting into the water. Also, we saw no sea urchins. Someone comes by eventually and collects the small fee for the use of the lounge chairs. They are $2 or $3 each. We enjoyed hours here, and eventually walked to the other side of the island. There is a pebbly beach area here, and everyone, mostly families all wore bathing suits. I think anyone could be comfortable here, no matter how little, or much they choose to wear.

Later we sat at the bar area, had a drink and great french fries, while waiting for the return boat. The food others were enjoying here looked pretty good, and someone was playing a guitar and singing a variety of songs. There were several families here, lots of kids. I guess they stayed around the dock area, because we saw no children off to the left. The view was incredible, we certainly would love returning to this island someday.

Returning to Hvar Town, we went to Pelegrini Travel Agency (remember, it’s right at the dock), and signed up for their trip to Bol, on the island of Brac. Several agencies do this trip but all in a bit different way. Look at your possibilities and then decide. One has a lunch onboard the boat once you arrive, I think this is the Atlas tour. They sail the whole way, from Hvar Town. It’s also much more expensive. Our tour bused us to Jelsa, on a private bus, not the public bus, then we got on a boat and sailed to Bol. We were to meet at the bus station. More on this in the next installment.
We decided it was time to hike to the top of the fortress. It really isn’t to hard, and there is a lot of shade along the way at this time of day. You first go up the stairs through the alleys, by the shops. This staircase is right across from where the TI is, on the other side of the large plaza. The long walkway isn’t steps, but an asphalt path, winding back and forth. The views are unbelievable. You’ll be taking many pictures once you’re up on top. Yes, it was still really hot. I think it was between 95 and 100 degrees every day. We were told this was really unusual for this time of year. I don’t know, we were Italy at the same time last year and it was just as hot. Just 2 weeks earlier it was very chilly in Croatia. We were hoping not to get that weather either. The best thing about the fortress are the views, but it’s interesting seeing the small exhibits here also. There is a restaurant and small shop here also. We probably only spent about 45 minutes here.

Back down we came, used the internet, I had to keep in touch with all of you, plus my family! I had the bright idea to call Pelegrini Travel and ask them if they did pick ups for the tour tomorrow. They did, so I happily arranged for them to pick us up at the Podstine Hotel, since we were just down the road from that hotel. This way I could sleep in a bit longer and avoid the hike back to town.

Dinner was once again on our terrace, ahhhh….
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 12:49 PM
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Images2:

WOWEE!!!
Great report, you ARE entertaining!!!!!!

You are doing a fantastic job on presenting Croatia, I'll bet you are going to get alot of people psyched for Croatia.

BRAVO!!!

I'm going to print this out,so I can read it better, but please continue, continue... share more!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 02:15 PM
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Thanks tripgirl, but as in travel, we approach our reports in very different ways. That's good though, we all present our travels individually, but each way has a lot of value! I learn so very much from the reports I read here. Thank you to everyone who writes them!

Now for another installment...


June 29 Trip to Brac from Hvar

When planning this trip I knew I wanted to add one other island. I didn’t want to move around anymore than we did though so the only other option was a day trip. I always try to use public transportation for this. If the locals can go by public transportation, usually we can also. Well, this just wasn’t going to work. I checked the public schedules and they were terrible. I wanted to go to Korcula, Vis or Brac. We checked into all these choices while on Hvar. All are possible as day trips. Atlas goes to Korcula and Mljet, all in one day. It’s really pricy, and how much time could you have?? I asked them about only going to Korcula, and you can with them for almost the same price, but I can’t really remember how this worked. Another company goes to Vis, but I think they call this the Blue Lagoon tour or something similar. Our best option was the trip to Bol, on the island of Brac. As I wrote earlier, there are about 3 different ways to do this. After we did the tour I learned of another, but I think our way was perfect. We signed up with the tour Pelegrini Travel Agency offered. Can you tell, I really like this travel agency. They had the best tours, great prices and very friendly staff, and I walked around Hvar the first day and talked to all of the agencies I could find.

After breakfast on our terrace, we walked to the Podstine Hotel where we were picked up by Pelegrini’s van and dropped off at the bus station. While waiting for our pickup, we walked around this hotel. It has the same view out of it as we do off our terrace. From the outside and lobby area, it looks like it could use a good rehab, but I have no idea what it’s like to stay here. Some rooms had small balconies.

The Elite Travel Agency bus picked all of us up at the bus station, for the ride to Jelsa. We had a French guide and an English guide. It was fun listening to the French since we can understand some. I guess that meant we were on a tour from Elite Travel! This is a good way to see some of the island if you don’t have a car. It would have been possible to take the public bus to Jelsa and meet the same boat we were going to take over to Bol. Our group had space booked on this boat, but it wasn’t an Elite Travel Agency boat. Anyone could have bought tickets on it, individuals staying in Jelsa, did. I didn’t know this earlier. 2 different boats left Jelsa at 9 a.m. for the ride to Brac Island. If you just bought your tickets in Jelsa for this boat, the cost was 60 kuna. I don’t know the cost of the public bus between Hvar Town and Jelsa. These buses don’t run to frequently so it’s important to check the schedule.

The boat trip took 1 hour. It was so beautiful sailing between the islands. We were so fortunate to run across a large school of dolphins, jumping high out of the water. Our boat didn’t just sail by this. It actually stopped and lingered, even following them a bit so we could all enjoy the show! We probably spent 15 minutes watching the dolphins. We arrived in Bol at 10:00 and had to meet the return boat at 4:30. Bol town was tiny, but so picture some. There was a great produce market, and a small fish market. We all just wanted to go to Zlatni Rat (Golden Horn) beach. This is the famous beach you’ll see on the Croatia signs. Wow, what a beach. The beach is quite a walk from the harbor. We loved walking it. There is a very wide, concrete walkway, most under pine trees, with some venders selling their wares along the way. There are also some outdoor bars, with couches and pillows for seating, along the way. This kind of bar is all over Croatia, in every town we visited. Very nice. Off the coast along this walkway you will see several wind surfers. You can also take great photos of Zlatni Rat beach on this walk. If you don’t want to walk the distance, no worry. There is a little shuttle train that will take you from the harbor to the beach, or take a shuttle boat.

This is a very long, very sandy beach. It’s also very wide. The center of this pointed area is covered in pine trees, but they don’t come even close to the water. You could spend time lounging under the pine trees, but then it would be a long, hot walk over the sand to get to the water. Many people do stay under the trees though. You can rent lounge chairs and an umbrella here. They go fast, but this is what we did, for 90 kunas for the day. If you walk all the way around the point, or just cut through the middle, under the pine trees, to the very western side of the beach, there is a naturist area. If you have kids, this is a perfect beach. The sand is wonderful, the water clear, but it does get deep quickly. There is a changing area here, and food is available.

What we saw of Brac was just great. Others will know much more about the island as a whole, it may be a great island to spend a few days on.

Walking back to the harbor, we decided to stop for a drink while waiting for our boat. We had little time, but I ordered the red house wine. Oh YUCK. I’ve never had such horrible wine. I had to return it. I was told it was made by them, and they gave me a different glass, from a new bottle. It comes with ice cubes also! They asked how many I would like in the wine. Well, this glass was no better, so I can’t recommend the red wine from Brac!

Our return trip to Jelsa went quickly as we talked with a family from England, and saw no more dolphins.

We stopped by Pelegrini Travel again when we returned, to buy our catamaran tickets from Hvar Town to Split for the next morning. It sadly was time to move on. The person in front of us bought the last tickets on the main catamaran, the KILO. This catamaran leaves at 9 a.m. Thankfully, we were leaving on a Friday, and another company ran a catamaran at 9 a.m. also. This was owned by Split Tours and is the Blue Line. They have a web site http://www.splittours.hr/voyages/voyages.asp?jezik=EN with their schedules. I had no idea this company was available for boat trips. It’s another great option to use while in Croatia.

Before we arrived in Hvar I thought our only option was to take the Jadrolinija line between the mainland and Hvar. Now I know there are other options. It’s important to buy your tickets earlier than the evening before you sail though. We almost learned the hard way. These are not for those with cars though. I think the only way to transfer between Hvar and the mainland, if you have a car, is to use the car ferry Jadrolinija operates.

While in town we visited the Franciscan Monastery, and tried to see the municipal theatre which is above the TI. It’s currently closed though so you can’t see it at this time. If you ask the TI about it they’ll give you a very nice pamphlet about Hvar with pictures of the theatre inside. On our walk back to our apartment, we passed the same little girl selling seashells. I packed a few “gifts” for children when we left home, so I gave her the card game “Fish” and a set of colored pens. She was thrilled!

I think we had dinner on our terrace again. Four out of five nights. Guess I’m not much help when it comes to the restaurants on Hvar, but we did enjoy the ice cream here! It’s not as good as that in Italy though. We were so sad to leave Hvar. I didn’t feel it was an island only for the yachts, and their owners. Yes, they were here, but so were families of every type, and everyone in between. It’s a fabulous place, and we will return.
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 04:44 PM
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you did MUCH more than we did on Hvar; we just hung out basically.

i would have loved to go to that beach; next time.

We just go sooooo lazy and did notmove aournd alot, but there is always another time...

Really fab report!!!
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 05:57 PM
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Images,
Thanks for the breakfast info. In Dubrovnik, our villa has a terrace, but it is shared, so not sure if we can have breakfast there or not. But it seems there are other options, I¡¦m sure we¡¦ll be fine.
In Hvar, we¡¦ll have our own terrace, so I think I know where we¡¦re going to have breakfast ƒº

Funny, apt Milicic is one of the apartments we looked at when booking Hvar; but we ended up renting another one.

You mentioned 2 markets in Hvar, walkin distance from Hotel Podstine. Have you noticed any on the other side of Hvar town?
Thanks
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Old Aug 2nd, 2006, 06:17 PM
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xyz99,

Actually the best market on Hvar is Konzum, which is on the other side. You'll need to walk through the large square,(walk past the large church) and then a bit futher, on the left side you'll see it. It was the market we shopped at daily, but unfortunatly had to carry everything back across town, up the hill, to our apartment. There is the daily produce market right outside of this market also. I think this outdoor market is only in the mornings though. If you mean around the harbor by the Monestary, that is much further. I have no idea if there are markets in that area, because we only walked over there once.

tripgirl,

You know that the great thing about Hvar is that there will always be another time! How can you only go once. I think it won't be to hard to return, since it's so easy to get there from Split. I'm going to depend on SkyEurope to help us return. Their service is expanding all the time, and it shouldn't be to hard connecting Split with another city in Europe from which they fly.

Besides, just relaxing in one spot for several days isn't a bad thing!
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Old Aug 3rd, 2006, 04:16 AM
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June 30 Hvar – Trogir

Waking early today, since we were taking the 9 a.m. Split Tours catamaran to Split. The KILO catamaran which boarded before ours was full. We waited for those passengers to board, then the Split Tours/Blue Line catamaran boarded. It was only about half full. These tickets are 26 kuna each. We decided to stay outside for the crossing. We closed our luggage up in the hold on the deck then enjoyed the stiff breeze as we sailed across the ocean to Split, a 1 hour journey.

In Split we checked our luggage at the bus station again and walked to the outdoor markets. The produce market was wonderful. So many older women, wearing black, were selling their goods. We bought some things we’d never seen before and had a taste. I also took several great photos here. The fish market was equally entertaining. It was so very hot. We found a take away pizza place on a street jetting off the main road, Riva, bought a couple of pieces and sat on the benches by the sea, in the green park area, and enjoyed the view.

Time to collect our luggage and try to find the Alamo rental car office. We had a car reserved for a 3:00 pick up, but I thought at the time I reserved it, the only time we could return to Split would be on the 1:00 Jacrolinija catamaran. It was 12:00 when we arrived at Alamo, which is located on the main road obala Kneza Branimira. This is about a 20 minute walk west of the town center. All the rental car locations are along this road, except Hertz, which is in a separate small office, same road, but not as far down.

No cars were available for us to rent, since we were early. We had to wait for an hour and a half for a rental car. No other agency along this road had a car available for approximately the same price. It’s important to pre-reserve a car in Split. There just aren’t enough rentals available. We were told they are constantly adding to the inventory, but they all are rented and driven out of the area.

Finally a car was available, it was in rough shape. There were dents and bruises all over it, and the fuel gage was broken. Well, as long as it drove fine we didn’t really care. We wanted them to mark each and every scratch on the paperwork, but they said only the big ones were important. Well, what could we say?? We made sure they noted the broken fuel gage. After about 45 minutes of paperwork, I have no idea why it was so hard for them to do this, we were off.

We exited Split with no problem, drove by the soccer stadium, and onto Solin. These ruins are only 5km northeast of Split, are said to be the most interesting archaeological site in Croatia. Arriving, I noticed my rough guide Croatia book and notes for today were left behind at the Alamo office. Deciding these were important enough to return to Split for, we drove back into the city. This isn’t to easy. There are no good signs pointing the way, and if you miss the tunnel into the city, you will drive into part of the city, but will be blocked from the Riva area. This happened to us, so it took quite a while to finally find our way back to Alamo. Retrieving our book and papers, we drove back to Solin.

The ruins here are ok, but it was so very hot, we really couldn’t appreciate them. We did walk all the way to the end where the best ruins are. This is about a 1 hour stop.

We drove to Trogir easily finding the parking along the street. When arriving in Trogir, turn right which leads down a narrow road, which is paid parking. The hotel will stamp your ticket, so you won’t have pay for the parking. There is also a decent sized lot at the end of this road which you can park in if there is space. It’s located right at the fortress.

We had reservations at Hotel Concordia which is right on the waterfront. They offered a 10% discount for cash at check-out. We could only reserve the room on the top floor, with 2 single beds, on separate sides of the room. The room was pretty cute though. The ceiling slanted so you had to watch your head. The first room was a sitting area, with chairs and a table, and a window which opened and looked down on the harbor and it’s boats. Then the 2nd room was the bedroom with TV and so, so a/c, plus satellite TV. The bathroom, while very small was fine, and off the sitting room. We were fine here for l night, but I don’t know if it would be okay for any longer. The women told us this was the only room offered to us because we were staying just one night.


Trogir is a small, pleasant town and nice area to spend 1 night in. The approach to Trogir from Solin isn’t to pretty. The promenade is lined with large palm trees and weekly excursion boats which sail through the islands off Croatia, stopping in different places each afternoon. Laundry was hanging from the outside of cabins. We spoke to some people who were on one of the boats for a week. They were having a great time, but said the cabins are extremely small, with tiny bunks. They were Germans, and Germany was playing their World Cup game against Argentina. It was so close, Germany had to kick a penalty kick, they made it and won!! The boat personnel came and told them it was time for dinner, now, not at the end of the World Cup game. The dinner bell would ring, so everyone could go back to their boat for their meal. Arughh, that’s what I hate about cruise ships.

Exploring town a bit more, there are nice shops here, we looked into the huge cathedral at the town center. It’s quite beautiful.

The Top Balloon looked nice, they have a large outdoor area set between two rows of buildings. It was in the shade and a nice breeze was blowing. It’s very casual. The pizzas looked fantastic, but we ordered seafood riosotta and lasagna. Both were excellent. They have a large menu and everyone’s food looked excellent. We complimented them on their dinners, they know they have great food here!

Walking across the bridge to Ciovo Island there are wonderful views back to Trogir. Along the promenade here, which isn’t half as beautiful as Trogir’s, there are more boats, but many are daily excursion boats. We struck up a conversation with a husband and wife team that’s runs one of the boats. We spent an hour listening to stories from their life. She’s Serb and he’s Croatian, and they even sleep together!! I loved that line. They encouraged us to go to Primosten tomorrow on our drive to Krka National Park. We had a long day planned for Saturday, so we called it a day.


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Old Aug 3rd, 2006, 06:42 AM
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July 1 Primosten, Krka National Park and the New toll road to Plitvice Lakes National Park

Hotel Concordia serves an excellent hot breakfast outside in the morning. This is included in your room rate. We were able to move our car from the street parking, into the lot by the fortress to load our luggage. We didn’t even realize this lot was here the previous day.

The drive along the coast to Primosten was quick. You can spot this island, which is now connected to the mainland by a causeway long before you arrive. We pulled over for photos. It was once a fishing village and has wonderful stone houses and narrow lanes. It was also market day so I replenished our cherries! Parking was a bit difficult. Most of it was barred with a metal barrier at each spot. We drove down the road quite a ways past the entry into the town center, before we could find a spot.

Krka National Park was a short distance away. There are two entrances into this park and we decided to enter at the Lozovac entrance. Using this entrance you can arrive by car. The Skradin entrance means you arrive by boat. We didn’t have time for that. Being July 1 we didn’t think we could drive directly to the parking area where you begin your walk into the park. We stopped at the large parking area and took the free bus to the park area. You need to buy park entry tickets before boarding the bus. The basic entry fee was 70 kuna. The views from the bus on your way to the park are georgeous. It doesn’t matter which side of the bus you are on, since the road is switchbacks.

Once you arrive it’s confusing, because you’ll be approached about buying another, longer tour, on boats going into the upriver sections of the park. We didn’t have a lot of time to invest here, so we declined. If you come to this park, do your homework so you can decide how much of the park you want to see.

We just walked with most of the other people into the park area. There are wooden walkways thorugh the area, as at Plitvice. It starts out with just pretty scenery, no waterfalls to speak of. Continue along, the further you go the more beautiful it is. We loved this area and were so happy we stopped here. At the end, the waterfalls are very large and wide. There is a swimming area at the base of the falls, and many, many people were spending the day here picnicking and swimming. It would be easy to spend your whole day in this park. Our pictures from these falls almost look better than those in Plitvice, although this park isn’t as nice as Plitvice is. We spent 2 hours here. Get off the wooden walkways. Some of the best waterfalls were off on the dirt paths that branched off the boardwalk. Local women have tables set up near the largest falls, selling different products.

Leaving the park, we found a small pizzeria along the road and stopped for lunch. They were setting up for a wedding reception for Sunday. He told us each weekend they have wedding dinners at this small, outdoor restaurant.

It was time to get on the new toll road and drive to Plitvice Lakes. This road is excellent. The scenery is wonderful. It’s stark as you begin. This was a Saturday though, and it was July 1. Although traffic was flowing freely, so many cars from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, whizzed by, we hit a traffic jam. The problem is that not all the tunnels through the mountain sides are complete. Some are, and it’s fine if both sides are open. When there is only one tunnel open, traffic in both directions has to merge into one lane each and share the one tunnel. We had very, very slow stop and go traffic for 1 ½ hours because of this situation. The traffic from the north, going south, didn’t have a back up.

While driving in Croatia we were supplied with the following tips:

ALWAYS have your HEADLIGHTS turned on, fines are big 500kn (around 90$),
same fine for not wearing seatbelt,
also watch for speed limits, for example if it says 60 (km/h) police tolerate if you go 70km/h,
but 72km/h is NO-NO, over 100km/h speed limit they tolerate 10% over limit!

and DON'T drive if you had any kind of alcohol drink (here is 0.0‰ alcohol law when driving), fines are up to 500$


We also found that gas stations aren’t to plentiful. In July and August they are required to stay open 24 hours a day. So many people are vacationing here, and so few gas stations. There was always a line. There is no prepay, so you fill up, then go inside to pay. There were women at the pumps who would wash your car windows for a small fee. We had to stop more often for fuel since our fuel gage was broken and we didn’t want to chance running out of fuel. At one stop a family from France filled their large camper. They had quite a despute about the cost of their fuel. The argument was getting quite heated so we were happy to leave!


Finally arriving in Plitvice we easily found the sobe we reserved for this evening. Knezevic Guest House for 35€ per night, per room + 5€ each for breakfast. Driving south from the park, take first right turn into Mukinje and you’ll see #57. tel. 053.774-081, mobile 098/168-7576. Web site is www.knezevic.hr and email is [email protected] or [email protected]


This is actually a small hotel in the Knezevic home. I think there are 11 rooms. It looks brand new, is spotless and very modern and comfortable. There is no a/c. They have a large yard area. We were personally greeted when we arrived. Mrs. Knezevic left her guests on the terrace and welcomed us. I really didn’t know what to expect before we arrived. What kind of room would 35€ buy. We were thrilled! There is a large breakfast room on the lowest level with a satellite TV.


Trying to get a room at the park hotels was very difficult. They wouldn’t answer e-mails or faxes. Finally I did reserve a room at Hotel Jezero which would of cost 58€ per person, breakfast included. We cancelled this once I contacted Knezevic Guest House. We did stop by Hotel Jezero, which looked fine. They have an ATM machine here, thankgoodness, and internet which was very cheap.


Driving to Plitvice’s park entrances 1 and 2, we wanted to get to know the area, since we’d be visiting it in the morning. They have a grocery store at each entrance. Entrance 2 also has a large outdoor grill area, where they cook hamburgers, chicken and sausages. They were almost out of food while we were here, so we just bought food in the market, and had dinner on the picnic tables that are located here. It’s a thick, wooded forest and was beautiful. The weather had cooled, it felt wonderful! There were also several people here trying to rent sobe rooms for close to the price we paid for ours. Many had shared bathrooms, which wouldn’t be a room I’d like.



Back to Hotel Jezero to finish watching the England vs. Portugal World Cup game. England lost in penalty kicks at the end of the game. Poor English fans, including my husband. We returned to our sobe to watch the BIG game, France vs. Brazil. The only TV was in the basement breakfast room, but the room was nice, and we were able to bring a bottle of wine down and enjoy the match. There were some people from Germany watching some of the game also. I assured them France would beat Brazil. They thought I was crazy!! Boy were they shocked the next morning when I was correct!!!



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