Luhimari:


Very happy that you have recovered from that terrible scare! (I had one 20 years ago and it was pulverized with a lipotripsy radio-wave device)...went home next day and it hasn't reoccured. You weren't so lucky...nice to know that the Jadrolina crossing was a good one. Would like to hear about the rest of your adventure.

Stu T.

We arrived in Dubrovnik before seven in the morning and, thanks to our GPS made it to Villa Adriatica, our home for the next four nights, without getting lost. We had room number 1 and the view from the terrace is stunning. The location of the house is perfect, right next to Ploce Gate and, this being the off season, we had no problem finding parking near the house. Thanks to all Fodorites who highly recommended Villa Adriatica.

What can I say about Dubrovnik that has not been said before? Our plans were to visit the city for a day then get out of the city and visit different towns, islands, etc. It never happened. Dubrovnik so captivated us that we spent all of our time experiencing it. We walked the walls, did all the walking tours from the excellent book “Visible Cities Dubrovnik”, visited the monuments and just enjoyed the city in a leisurely manner. On the first day we went to the Post Office to buy sim cards for our old Italian cell phones. They worked perfectly. On the last day we did get into our car and went to have lunch at Konoba Konavoski Komin up in the mountains. Jadranka, our landlady, recommended the place and we had a mouth-watering lamb baked under an iron bell. The place is very nice, the view is beautiful and the food is delicious. We highly recommend it,

Maitaitom: We were under the impression that your trip would not include Dubrovnik and husband kept saying, you must write to Maitaitom and tell him that under no circumstances should Dubrovnik be missed. I see that you did go and am waiting for your trip report. We are really sorry about the loss of your cat.

We left Dubrovnik at midday for our next stop for the next four nights: Trogir. We were somewhat worried about the 5 mile Bosnia crossing. Remember, the car insurance did not cover Bosnia and we did not know if this was going to be a problem. Nothing to worry about, at the crossing they just signaled us to drive through. The views that we got to see on the road from Dubrovnik to Split were outstanding. It was a pity that the road was closed halfway through and we had to take a detour to Metkovic. The detour, nevertheless, was quite interesting because we got to see a lot of things we would not have seen otherwise. It took us longer to get to Trogir, but we were in no hurry.

We arrived in Trogir late in the afternoon and I really liked the location of the Hotel Concordia. It was right on the waterfront promenade and we had free parking right next to the hotel. Our first floor front room had two windows from were we could see the boats coming and going and docking right next to the esplanade. During our stay, various cruise sailboats docked and stayed overnight and the crews went ashore to dine in the town’s restaurants. Amazing, going from a modern boat to a town from the Middle Ages in a couple of steps! What a way to cruise!

Early on our first day in Trogir it was raining with a lot of thunder and we took it easy at breakfast, waiting for the storm to go away. We then spent the rest of the morning just wandering around the beautiful town of Trogir and visiting its monuments. In the early afternoon we drove to Primosten which has a cemetery around the cathedral which reminded husband of the clos parroquials in Brittany. From there we went on to Sibenic and its beautiful Cathedral.

Next morning we drove to Split and visited Diocletian’s Palace, which should not be missed. We found Split extremely interesting but where glad we had decided on staying in Trogir which was smaller and quieter. After spending almost the whole day in Split, we drove to Klis Castle. By the time we arrived, the place was closed for the day, so we only saw the outside of the castle. It was nice, but nothing to write home about.

On our final day in Trogir, we drove to Zadar, a very interesting city well worth the visit. Do not miss the water organ in the waterfront and the big, round solar panel near it.

"...and husband kept saying, you must write to Maitaitom and tell him that under no circumstances should Dubrovnik be missed."

Did you guys hit the Buza Bar? We loved Dubrovnik. We are also glad we stayed in Trogir and not Split. Looking forward to more of your trip.

We are returning to Dubrovonik on a cruise ship this fall and decided to book a private tour to Montenegro for the day. The fact that you said you are not covered by insurance while there bothers me. Is this not a safe area to go to? Should we anticipate any problems while there? Since we have already visited Dubrovonik and Cavtat, I was just looking for something different for my group of 12.

Luhimari, glad to hear you are better! We always buy insurance, AIG-Travel Guard. In our minds it is worth it. We have the tendency to be over-insured at home so this is an extension of that I suppose. Peace of mind is peace of mind. We feel it is money well spent. Hopefully we will never have to use it. Thanks for the trip report. We leave for Croatia on September 3! Shirley, Waukesha, WI

Bookmarking - thanks for the interesting report - and glad to hear you're doing well after your health scare.

Julie

Luhimari,
Enjoyed your report of your travels. We also went to Sulmona and Scanno last year and enjoyed the local atmosphere. Driving through Abruzzo on our way from Umbria to the Amalfi coast, those two towns had seemed interesting and this was the one part of the trip that we decided to wing it. Also stayed at the Armando at the suggestion of one of the locals filling up her tank as we stopped. Looking out of my balcony at the Armando, I could see the high rise apartments around me and many people going about their daily lives on their balconies.

The passeggiare in Sulmona was amazing and the "flower shops" of candy a feast for the eyes. Also had a good meal at Hosteria dell'Arco. The antipasto was served buffet style and it was nice to sample a variety although I'm not exactly sure of what we had.

On our way to Scanno we stopped at the small village Anversa degli Abruzzi to find the organic sheep farm, Porta dei Parchi, www.laportadeiparchi.it. We had read about the farm and the cheeses were to die for. The farm is up a road just before the town. We had to ask the mailman for directions. We actually bought several cheeses and had a picnic at the lake below Scanno with some tomatoes and bread that we bought in a local grocery. We always keep picnic supplies in the car. It broke my heart to throw out some of the cheeses because we had no way to keep them. The funny thing about the sheep farm is that they have a program where you can adopt a sheep. We didn't.
I also bought a silver filigree beaded necklace in Scanno in a jewelry store. They are supposed to be noted for the filigree necklaces, but we only found one jewelry shop that had them. Several other stores were closed, so maybe they also had some. The only thing that we were disappointed about is that we saw no one in the native colorful costumes that I had read about.

I have added this detail to your post because there is not much written about this area.

We can't seem to tear ourselves away from Italy, but your description of Croatia is very enticing and it may be on one of our future itineraries.

Luhimari, I am loving your report and it brings back lots of memories. I was leaning towards Turkey for next year but I'm seriously contemplating going back to Dubrovnik instead and sitting on the balcony at Villa Adriatica again!

Looking forward to more!

Tracy

Luhimari - Your question re: medical insurance while traveling is timely. I did investigate and had the information that we needed while in Italy last April. Fortunately nothing happened to require using it! You mention using a GPS to locate lodgings in Dubrovnik. We have a Garmin GPS that we used very succesfully in Italy but I did not know there were maps available for it for Croatia...we are headed there in May 2009. Please share a little more information. Glad you are on the road to recovery!

Luhimari - I am enjoying your report and am so glad to hear you enjoyed Croatia - it is a truly amazing country. What a way to return though, luckily you are doing ok now, what a scare. I always buy travel insurance, but I hope I never need it. I've written down the name of the restaurant you went to in the mountains from Dubrovnik. How far from Dub. was it? Pricey?

Stu T and Julia1: Thank you both for your comments.

Maitaitom: Unfortunately Buza Bar was closed, that’s one of the downsides of traveling in the off-season. What a great excuse to visit Dubrovnik again!

CarolandBob: I’m sure you will not have any problems, Montenegro is quite safe. It’s just that the insurance offered with our leased car covered only certain countries and not others, one of them being Montenegro.

LuvToRoam: We’ll look into AIG-Travel Guard. Thank you for the suggestion.

Packed: We also carry picnic supplies and have picnics while touring the countryside. While driving in the area of Abruzzo and very near Scanno on our first visit eight years ago, we came upon a sign that said cheese for sale and pointed at a farm across the road. We stopped and bought some delicious goat cheese from the owners of the farm. This year, even thought the landscape was so much different because of the snow, we were able to find the farm again. To our surprise, they no longer sold cheese at the farm, they had a store in Scanno. When we got to Scanno, which is very pretty and worth the visit, we found the store and it was closed. It only opened on weekends during the off-season! To make a long story short, husband talked to the girl at the Tourist Office, the girl called the guy at the farm and the guy at the farm called his mother in town and she opened the store for us so we could buy cheese. Amazing! The farm’s name is Azienda San Liborio and their cheese is excellent. I did buy a pair of gold filigree earrings at a local jewelry store.

tcwreath: We have never been to Turkey but Croatia has captivated us and we will surely return.

macinpv: Our Garmin is a Nuvi 370 which we bought early this year and in its European maps it only includes certain cities in Croatia and Slovenia. We don’t rely exclusively on the GPS; we also always have maps with us. The GPS is handy in places like Dubrovnik for which we didn’t have a city map yet, having just arrived.

Barb: The restaurant is about 30-45 minutes from Dubrovnik and you can go there in a taxi (I don’t know how much they would charge). We spent 204 kunas ($57 more or less) for a very satisfying meal.

The weather since we had arrived in Croatia had been what we like to think is typical late winter, early spring weather: sometimes sunny and cool, frequently cold, and always with some rain thrown in. Our next stop was the Hotel Jezero at the Plitvice Lakes and by the time we got there it was late in the afternoon, thanks to an oops! by the navigator (we missed an exit). It rained all night and next morning it was cold and rainy and I told husband to go ahead for his walk around the lakes, I would wait for him in the hotel were it was dry and warm. Fifteen minutes later he was back saying that it had stopped raining. So off we went on our hike. Half an hour latter flurries started to fall. By the time we finished our hike around the lower lakes everything was white and misty. Amazing!! There are not enough words to describe the beauty of the place! The walk around the lakes is a must in any kind of weather. Because of the snow, the upper lakes were closed so we did not get to see them.

That night it snowed all night but by the time we were ready to leave, after watching the Formula 1 Malasia Grand Prix at the hotel’s bar, it had stopped snowing. We were driving to Rovinj and there was a lot of fog on the first part of our trip, so it was slow going. One of the guys watching the car race was from Pula and suggested we stop at Slunj, which has a lot of small waterfalls from a river that twists through town. It is worth the stopover and be sure you have enough film or room in your SD cards for all the photographs you’ll want to take.

We finally arrived in Rovinj and immediately got lost and could not find our way to Hotel Park (no Rovinj in the GPS). Husband had to call the front desk and they told us how to get there; as a matter of fact, he had to call two more times until, finally, we made it. It wasn’t easy, even after four nights there it was still confusing (reminds us of Padova). I was apprehensive about the hotel because it was a big hotel, not the kind we usually go for, but they did offer parking and a room with a view. Yes, it was a lot bigger than usual, but the people at the hotel were really nice and we did get a room with a view, and what a view!! Rovinj is outstandingly beautiful and the view from our room of the town and the marina took our breath away.

We spent the next morning exploring Rovinj, even though the town was walking distance from the hotel, we drove our car to the parking closest to town, thereby giving my legs a much needed break. Husband says this is the cheapest parking in the world. At this time of year, it came to about twenty two cents an hour. We really liked Rovinj and at this time of year there were few tourists around so we really enjoyed the place. That same afternoon we drove to Pula and, thanks once more to the GPS, made it right to the parking in front of the spectacular Roman Amphitheater. We walked through town and saw all the Roman ruins which make this town worth visiting. On the way back to Rovinj, we visited Vodnjan, which we could have skipped. Maybe we were tired, but it did not say anything to us.

Barb: Correcting my mistake: We spent 261.50 kunas ($57 +/-) for two meals consisting of aperitif, main dish, wine, water and dessert.

Thanks for the resto information!

Luhimari -
Thanks for the info on Hotel Concordia. I am in process of booking a reservation there for May 2009. Sounds like we might have the same room that you stayed in. I have asked the Hotel twice if the room is nonsmking and have not received a reply. What was your experience? Was the room fresh smelling or did you notice the odor of smoke?
Thanks for any information you can supply!

macinpv: We stayed at room #2 on the first floor. I really did not notice any smoke odor in the room. I hope this helps. The people at the hotel were very nice and for breakfast you could order eggs any way you wanted.

Thank you Luhimari - I am confirming the reservation!

Great report Luhimari. I'm glad you're on the road to recovery. It is quite unfortunate about travel insurance, but we learned the hard way to always purchase primary coverage travel insurance, no matter how near or far you are from home. It does provide a sense of security should something happen.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Luhimari, thanks for the great report. We have booked and had to cancel three different trips to Croatia and Slovenia, and your report has inspired me to try, try again.

FYI, this is the medical evacuation insurance we buy:

http://www.medjetassist.com/

ttt

Sorry about the delay in posting, we were visiting our granddaughter and son in Lexington, Kentucky, which, by the way, is a very nice place to visit.

On day two of our stay in Rovinj we drove to Porec. First stop in our agenda was the Renault dealer in Rovinj to ask how to open the hood of our car. Husband had not been able to open it and the instructions in the car manual were in French and not too clear (My French is two year high school French of which I remember very little). The gentleman at the dealer’s office did not know any English or Spanish and, of course, we do not know Croatian. Husband had to persuade the gentleman to come outside to our car and with gestures explain what we wanted. It was so simple that we just laughed at our idiocy.

We went on to see the Limkis Kanal which is gorgeous. We tried to take a boat tour but found that it would take more than an hour and our day was full. We then stopped at Vrsar’s marina to look at the big, luxurious yachts anchored side by side to working fishing boats. The contrast was amazing and the waterfront was delightful.

We finally reached Porec and walked through the old town to the Basilica to see the Byzantine mosaics. The whole complex of the Basilica with its atrium, baptistery and bell tower is worth the visit. The mosaics are magnificent and reminded us of the ones in Ravenna. The representation of the Virgin is supposed to be the oldest depiction of the Virgin in existence.

When planning our trip I had considered Porec as a base but after visiting the town I’m glad we chose Rovinj instead. On our way back home we drove to Groznjan, a beautiful town high on a hill. We went up an unpaved road, only to find, after we reached the town, that there was another paved road on the other side. It had started raining on the way over and by the time we arrived it was blowing and snowing. The wind and snow stopped as suddenly as it started and the sun came out. We walked through the small, medieval town and stopped at an enoteca where we bought some truffles in oil for our son’s father in law who is a great cook. We went back home by the same unpaved road because it was the shortest way and the car was dirty already.

First thing in the morning of the next day, we took the car to a car wash then went to Pazin to see the medieval castle there. We also saw the chasm that is said inspired Jules Verne to write the book Mathias Sandorf. From there we drove on to Hum, the smallest town on earth, Roc and Motovun. All are picturesque towns well worth the drive. We returned early to Rovinj because, this being our last night there, we wanted to take some photos of the sun setting on the Adriatic. We walked from the hotel to the walkway in front of the cathedral and sat to wait for the sunset and talk about the wonderful experiences we had had in Croatia and what a wonderful country it was. As luck would have it, it was somewhat cloudy but we did take some photos.

Very happy you are on the road to recovery. Great trip report!

Our last day in Rovinj started cold and rainy. Before beginning our drive to Bled in Slovenia, we stopped at a Konsum where husband finally found the zip lock bags he had been looking for since Dubrovnik. The zip lock on one of the bags he had brought from home had broken and he had been looking all over for a replacement.

We finally started on our way to Slovenia and as we went past the Croatian-Slovenian border, it was tough saying goodbye to Croatia and all its beauty and pleasant people. We truly enjoyed our stay in the country and really wish we can make it back soon.

On our way to Bled, we detoured to the stud farm of Lipica to see the famous Lipizzan horses. As luck would have it, we arrived just after the beginning of a tour and the next tour would start at four PM and they told us it would last around 45 minutes. Since we had a long way to go we decided we could not stay for the tour but did walk around a bit and saw some of the horses in the paddocks. The place is beautiful.

After a very long drive, we finally arrived in Bled and easily found our hotel, Garni Hotel Berc, following Luka’s instructions. The hotel is delightful and Luka and his family are charming. When planning our trip I had originally considered on staying in Ljubljana but after much deliberation and trying to find a reasonably priced hotel with a reasonably priced parking, we opted to stay in Bled and visit Ljubljana as a daytrip. It was the best decision we could have made. I read in one of Maitaitom’s posts that they were planning on staying at this hotel. When we met Luka, the first thing that came to our minds was: “If Maitaitom does stay here, wait ‘til he meets Luka! It’s going to be a riot!

Next morning, after a very nice breakfast, we drove to Ljubljana and parked near the center at parking Tivoli which Luka had recommended. We spent a pleasant day walking around the old town, enjoying its buildings and bridges, going up the funicular to visit the castle, and people watching. We returned to Bled late in the afternoon to dine at Gostilna Pri Planincu, a local restaurant recommended by Luka and Ludvick, his father. We had dessert and coffee at Slascicarna Smon, a very good pastry shop very near the restaurant.

I have really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for posting it! Do you remember how long it took you to get from Rovinj to Bled and from Bled to Ljubljana?

Digbydog:

The drive from Rovinj to Bled should take something like three and a half to four hours. We stopped a couple of times along the way, so it took us longer. From Bled to Ljublana is a little less than an hour. Both drives are easy drives on very good roads.