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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 view 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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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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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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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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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. Once 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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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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July 2

Plitvice Lakes National Park - Rovinj


Rain and cool tempertures greeted us this morning. Maybe not the best circumstances to tour the park. Skipping the 9:00 breakfast at the sobe, we arrived at entrance 1 at Plitvice. Perhaps, not surprisenly, we were the only people entering the park. A day ticket is 100 kuna in July. We needed jackets and umbrellas, but the weather wasn’t to bad yet.


We were going to hike uphill, from the lower lakes to the upper lakes. It’s a very gradual path, so wasn’t steep at all. I was very happy we had decided on this route because we were walking towards the waterfalls, so the view of them was much better than if we had walked the other direction. Following the G2 trail we walked down a path with several switchbacks to the water level. Boardwalks wind through the park, and for the most part you stay on them. There are places you’ll want to take the dirt paths though. It was getting muddy, with all the rain, so it can be hard on your shoes.


The water is crystal clear. There are so many fish, so easily seen. No fishing allowed here! It took us maybe 1 ½ hours to see this portion. It is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! We passed no other people in this time. Such peace.


We arrived at Lake Kozjak where you’ll take a boat ride which connects the Lower and Upper lakes. Again, we were the only ones here, but they still ran the boat just for us. This is a large rest area, with a restaurant, picnic tables, outdoor food booths (if they are open) bathrooms etc. It would be a good place for lunch if the weather was nice and it was later in the day! I think other people started their visit later than this early morning hour, and started at entrance 2 and walked downhill.


Again, we followed the C and G2 trails up to Gradinsko Lake. We did start meeting other people along the way, coming from the other direction. This was even more beautiful, if that’s possible. We continued up to the top of the Upper Lakes and finished at shuttle bus stop ST4. We took the shuttle from this spot, back down. We spent 4 hours here in total.


The beauty here is unimaginable. Hundred of waterfalls, all sizes and shapes made me feel as if I was in the Garden of Eden. I think it’s the most beautiful area Croatia has to offer.


We needed to drive to Rovinj where we were to spend the night. This is a long drive. I had consulted viamichelin.com about the best route to take. I had two possibilities. I also had the Rough Guide map of Croatia. I didn’t really understand where the toll road was open and where it wasn’t completed yet. We wanted to see some of the countryside so we exited the park to the right, and drove down Highway 1 to 52, took it south and connected to 50. This was very scenic and we passed by several women selling honey, lace, cheese and more in small booths along the way. We stopped at one booth and bought some smoked cheese for lunch. She was a great saleswoman and we ended up buying honey also! We also saw a fair amount of war damage along the way, in the villages. My heart really went out to these people.


Although there is great beauty here, this route was taking a very long time to travel. I knew we’d better pick up the pace. We came to the toll road, and one sign said it went to Rijeka. Great, we needed to go through Rijeka, so we got on the toll road. What we didn’t realize was that this road actually went North towards Zagreb. We drove on this toll road, north, for quite awhile before realizing what we were doing! In the end it probably worked out ok, since we were going so quickly, and eventually it did veer towards Rijeka, but only after going north for many miles. We saw more of Croatia than we planned on!


Opatija was one town I wanted to see on the way. We drove through, couldn’t find any parking. It is a large, resort town and has beautiful architecture, but was so large and croweded. We were happy we had not decided to stay here.


Continuing on into Istria where the scenery is very different than in Dalmatia and inland Croatia we continued. Some here love it, but we were disappointed in our approach to Rovinj. The signs were so hard to follow. There are signs everywhere, littering the views. You can’t really spot the place you are looking for. We passed the turn off to Rovinj the first time we drove by. Turning around we followed a road into town, wondering if we had chosen the best place to spend our last few days.


Parking is very difficult in Rovinj. Luckily we found a spot by some large pink building right on the harbor. It was the only available parking space, but we needed only one! There is an information/ travel office close to this lot, so we walked in and asked where our hotel was. We were staying at the Adriatic Hotel right in the town square.


Contact: [email protected] Phone: 385 52815088 Fax 0038552813573
€44 per person, per night. Includes breakfast buffet, local tax is additional €1 per person/ night
Must arrive by 6 p.m. or call +385 52 815088 before 6 p.m..


The rooms here were sadly decorated. They looked so old and dreary. The location is fabulous, the beds so comfortable and the a/c excellent. There is no elevator, and many stairs. We had to carry our own luggage up these stairs. Oh well, you can’t have it all!


The town is well preserved and delightful. The stone streets are very steep and very, very slick. We saw more than one person take a tumble. It’s also great for photos. We hiked up to St. Euphemia’s church at the very top of the town.


Up here, just down from the church is the excellent and beautiful Monte restaurant. This is the finest restaurant in town, but we weren’t aware of this at the time. The menu is large, has many fish plates, of course, but also meat plus they have a wonderful wine list. After the long day we just had, we decided to have dinner here. What a fantastic choice this was. It’s open to the outside, has a large grapevine growing up from the floor, through the roof, and flowers snaking up the walls. It’s very artfully decorated, the food just excellent. The white house wine is supurb! We ended up returning here for a second dinner.

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July 3 Pula, Motovun, Grozjan, and Piran, Slovenia



The Adriatic Hotel includes a very large, excellent breakfast buffet. We enjoyed breakfast outside, overlooking the harbor. All types of boats are docked here. There are several small grocery stores, and bakeries in town. There are also several different travel companies, if you want to book day trips. No rental car agencies are located here, but there is a bus station with many destinations. They just don’t run to any one place to often.

Leaving Rovinj for the day, we drove to Pula. The traffic into Pula is on a one lane road. It backs up terribly. We were so fortunate to arrive early. There still was a traffic back up, but it was so much worse when we left town. GO EARLY, otherwise you’ll wait for more than an hour to get into the center.

We easily found a parking spot on the street, right across from the amphitheater. You’ll need coins for the parking meter. Buy a card in the machine, and put it inside your windshield. This amphitheater is very large, and quite intact. It’s wonderful to wander around, and there is an excellent, small museum in the underground area.

Pula has more to offer. We visited the Archaeological museum, and the sculpture garden around it. We also saw the Triumphal Arch of Sergius and the Roman theater and walls.

We probably spent 2 or 2 ½ hours in Pula.

Driving onto the hilltown of Motovun in the interior of the Istrian Peninsula, we passed a few sunflower fields. There are several artist shops here, but many were closed. A man was carving wood into nice plaques. We passed by a very small store front, which was actually a factory full of women sewing. How dreary. The views from the top of town were vast. There is a hotel and pretty square at the top where we enjoyed lunch under the plane trees.

Grozjan was our next destination. This is another hilltop town. We drove up the gravel road, but should have bypassed it, to the paved road further up the road. This is even a tinier town, with artist shops, most closed. We walked around a bit, enjoyed the pretty square, overlooking the valley and snacked on geleto!

This area was nice enough, but disappointing to us after the incredible beauty we had enjoyed in the rest of Croatia. Istria just seemed, sleepy, and boring, after the other experiences we had in this country. If we had bypassed it, we would not have cared.

Piran, Slovenia was our last stop for the day. It seemed so bright and modern compared to Istria. We loved it. Unless you are spending the night here, don’t take a ticket and drive into the town. There is nowhere to park. You will regret it. Stop at the large parking lot just before the barred entrance and leave your car here. You can take the small bus to town or walk. We walked. The harbor is so pretty, sailboats, and more sailboats are docked here.

Stopping at the TI we picked up a bit of information and told them how much we liked this area. The woman here was almost apologetic, saying they try their best, but they are just a small town.
We were able to use Euros here even though they have their own currency.

The joy here is just walking through the village, notice the Venitian house here, then walking the promenade around the sea. The waters on the western side of the point were calm. Many people were climbing into the sea here, down chrome ladders. Others just had their towels laid out on the cement walkway and were enjoying the bright sunshine. There are café’s strung all along the coastline.


As we walked around the point it became incredibly windy. The waves were high and they were crashing over the rocks. You couldn’t swim here. Italy was visable across the sea. We cut back through the center of town, where the wind wasn’t a factor. We did a bit of shopping on the return back to our car.

Crossing the border into and out of Slovenia is effertless. A quick check of your passport is all it takes. We were hoping to visit the Skocjan caves or the Lipica stud farm nearby, but we had no more time.


Dinner this evening was at Stella de Mar, right on the sea in Rovinj. The food was fine, but not great. They had a great attitude here though and the view was marvelous. Along this lane there are several nice places you can have drinks, all along the sea. Often the seating is on little couches, or pillows. Walk up to the light house in Rovinj and you’ll see the local children swimming off the rocks. It’s a nice area.

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July 4 Independence day in the U.S. Returning our rental car, not so easy, and the islands off Rovinj



We had to get up so early this morning. Our challenge was in returning the car to Alamo/National, in Porec. I had the address of the location and had tried to Goggle it before we left. All I could find was an apartment on the same street. The Split rental office had no map or guidance to where the office in Porec was. They did give me the phone number and mobil number of the office. I asked them about a pick up service of our car in Rovinj. (There is no rental car office of any agency in Rovinj.) They said it would be 35€ to do this. We decided to return it ourselves.



It takes about 1 hour to drive from Rovinj to Porec because you have to drive around the fjord between the two towns. The public bus schedule between these towns is terrible. There is a 9 a.m. bus, maybe a 9:15 bus, then nothing until 3p.m., another around 6 p.m. The office was to be open from 8-5, but it is actually open from 8-12 and 6-9.


I stopped into an information office in Rovinj to ask for advise on finding the office. They had a combination Rovinj/Porec map for $6. We bought it and found the street. Without this map, we never would have found the street. There is a large Konzum grocery store on the corner of the street you are to turn at. The major road seems to be nameless We saw that Pulska, the road the office is on, is a one way road. We couldn't find the way onto it in the right direction, so we drove up it the wrong way. The office is actually a rented garage of an apartment where people live. Those people have nothing to do with the rental office, but were nice enough to tell us that the woman working there doesn't usually show up at 8 a.m. and we would have to call her. It took two calls, (phone number on the door) but she arrived at 8:20. She was in horror looking at our car, and not happy at all with the broken fuel gage or the dents and bruises on the car. Only the major ones were recorded since the Split office said the minor ones didn't matter and didn't need to be marked on the paperwork. I knew this didn't sound good at the time. We convinced her that this was the way we received the car, and yes, it was full of gas. When she heard we picked it up in downtown Split, she understood. She has a low opinion of this office and said she would not be keeping this car on her lot! Her cars actually looked very good. It took her at least 30 minutes to check us in, and thankfully drove us to the bus station in Porec for the 9 a.m. bus back to Rovinj. We arrived at 10 a.m. where Hotel Adriatic kindly cooked us some hot eggs, since the breakfast was over at 10 and most of the food was gone! Quite a morning...
We were happy to not have a car any longer, but we couldn't have seen the wonderful National Parks, and drive through Istria and up into Slovenia without it.


It was a good day to relax at the beach so we took the Sol Istra boat over to Crveni otok or Red Island. Maskin Island is connected to Red Island by causeway. This boat was packed. People jammed onto it. I know you’re to buy tickets, but noone ever came around collecting money. This area was really much to crowded for us. The huge Sol Istra hotel is on Red Island, and there are people everywhere. We walked over the causeway to Maskin Island which is part FKK and part whatever. There is a restaurant here but it also looked uninviting. We found a quiet place alone and spent a few hours here. There was no shade, so it wasn’t the best place. Later we walked to the closer side of the island where there was a bit of shade, and spent an hour under the scrubby trees, but still along the water.


This wasn’t the best way to end our time in Croatia, so we had another excellent dinner this evening at Monte, the incredible restaurant up by the cathedral in Rovinj.

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July 5 Journey to Venice


We took the SAF (Italian Bus) from Rovinj to Venice this morning. It departed at 5:40 a.m. and arrived in Venice at 10:15. We bought the tickets for this bus 2 days earlier, but there were empty seats on it. The tickets cost $20 one way. We had considered the catamaran between Rovinj and Venice, but it didn’t make the trip on this day. Those tickets are about $50 one way, leaves later, and gets in just a bit later.

The bus jouney was very comfortable, on an a/c bus. Our luggage was stored under the bus for a small fee. We made plenty of stops on the way. Most of the women on the bus got off in Trieste.

The other way you can make this connection is to take a later bus to Trieste, then transfer to the train and take it to Venice. The bus station is right next to the train station in Trieste.


Arriving in Venice so early was fantastic. It gave us almost the entire day in Venice. It was our third trip here, and we spent several days here last year, but no matter, Venice is amazing.

We bought the one day travel card at the bus station for 12€. It is valid for 24 hours from the time of stamping. A big change here were the ticket checkers at almost every vaporetto stop. Last year they did random checks, this year everyone was checked as the boarded the vaporetto.

Our room at Pensione Guerrato wasn’t ready yet, but we left our luggage here and went for lunch at our very favorite bar, very close to our pensione. The seats are canal side, on the Grand Canal, but set around the corner from the Rialto Bridge area, and not many people seem to know it’s here. Naranzaria at San Polo 130 www.naranzaria.it is the bar/restaurant.


Pensione Guerrato 95€ or 90€ if you pay in cash. Phone: 041.5285927 RIALTO BRIDGE AREA
In order to reach hotel from Venice Train Station: vaporetto #82 direction Rialto –San Marco, and get off at the Rialto stop. Cross over the Rialto bridge and continue walking straight through the market area where you will see on your right. At the “BANCA di ROMA” bank turn to your right and at the end of this street “calle” you will see the sign and the entrance of our Hotel.


We shopped for a swirled glass vase that I wanted, found one in lovely colors, then returned to our room.

Dinner at La Zucca, our favorite place to eat in Venice was wonderful. We reserved the canal side table, outdoors ahead of time, and it was waiting for us. There is a tiny canal bridge right next to this table and it’s enjoyable watching the gondolas glide by, under this bridge. Last year the water was higher and the gondolas had quite a time fitting under the bridge. This year the water was lower so it wasn’t a challenge.


France was having a World Cup Game tonight, but we had to turn in so couldn’t enjoy the game. We had a very early morning wake up call, because of our early flight from Venice to Rome in the morning and had no TV in our room. There was a/c though!



July 6 Home Venice to Rome to Newark to Cincinnati

Taking the “night” vaporetto, in the early morning. Vaporetto Line 1 from Rialto to Plazzale Roma, so we could catch the bus at Piazzale Roma to the airport. Yawn, it was so early.

I asked the bus driver who won the match last night. He had no idea, but another passenger did. France is moving on, to play Italy in the final!! (We now know this ended ugly for me).

We arrived and they were checking in for an even earlier flight between Venice and Rome.
We were flying on FF tickets but asked anyhow if we could take this earlier flight. No problem, no fee, they switched our tickets and we were off to Rome. This was so helpful, because it would have been very tight making our connection otherwise.

We were on a wonderful 777 I think, Alitalia flight from Rome to Newark. Each seat had it’s own individual screen with movies on demand. It’s the first time we had on demand programming. The control was complicated and it took a bit of figuring out, but what a luxury
in coach on an international flight.

I loved seeing downtown New York from the airport train in Newark. We had an uneventful Continental Airline flight from Newark back to Cincinnati, where Rachel picked us up at the airport and drove us home.

This was a fantastic trip, one we’ll not soon forget.

julia_t

Thank you so much!

What a wonderful holiday you had. I am already looking forward to Budapest in April, and also getting really excited about spending a week in Dalmatia in October.

The Benussi home in Dubrovnik sounds wonderful, I have put the details into my 'Dubrovnik accomodation' folder, and have copied and pasted lots of your other info such as restaurants and the Montenegro trip.

Thanks again for adding this part of your report.

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Your welcome Julia. Both areas are wonderful! I wonder what happened to the Croatia part of my report though. Oh well, thanks for requesting it!

We're arriving in Prague on May 1 so it's going to be interesting comparing Prague to Budapest. We felt so relaxed in Budapest, it wasn't swarming with people as I hear Prague is. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip!

Debs

Images2 - Wonderfully written - felt as if I was traveling along with you on this adventure! Too bad you weren't able to visit Opatija (our destination in May) as I would have enjoyed your reporting on it, but your comments about Pula will be helpful as we're planning a visit there as well.

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We tried to go to Opatija and actually got off the highway and drove by, but couldn't find a parking spot. We didn't have time to put alot of effort into it, so were satisfied with our "drive by". It looked very attractive!

Hershey

Thanks for your lovely report.

We are intrigued by your description of Knezevic Guest House in Plitvice Lakes area. If we arrive by bus, is there any way to get to the Guest House besides walking the 2 km?

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I don't think there is any way but to walk it. What a beautiful walk that would be though. The trees hug the road. Several people were gathered around the small market in the park, just off the main road, offering rides to their B&B's. You may be able to get a ride with one of them or even find an alternate place to stay. I was so happy with the Knezevic Guest House though, I really wouldn't want to take a chance on another.

Hershey

Thanks, images2. I'm not going to worry about it. Walking will be good.

FauxSteMarie

I just discovered this trip report which I am printing out for my own side trip to Budapest from my Vienna home exchange next summer.

I especially appreciated the links to the sites for tickets to entertainment.

pjsparlor

thank you I contacted the sobe in the plitvice lakes!

travel2live2

We stayed at Knezevic Guest House last time and did not have a good experience. However, we were in a room located next to the doors/stairs and it was very busy and loud. There was also construction going on near our window.

It is not a bad place with a nice location but I just caution you to ask for a quiet room. Perhaps we were there during a bad time with groups or something... Just a suggestion, that's all.