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tcreath's trip report to spectacular Croatia and Slovenia (plus Bosnia and Montenegro)

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tcreath's trip report to spectacular Croatia and Slovenia (plus Bosnia and Montenegro)

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Old Dec 10th, 2006, 06:33 PM
  #61  
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moolyn, I'm glad you are enjoying my report! I never considered Croatia as a vacation destination until I stumbled across Fodors several years ago. We absolutely loved it. Of the 20 or so countries I've been to in Europe, I would have to say that Croatia is my favorite (although followed closely by Austria). I was just telling my husband how I would love to go back next year!

Thank you so much for your thoughts on Japan! I would love to go. Hubby is a little hesitant though, so we decided on Germany/Switzerland for next year. Quite different from Japan, I know! But we are saving some of our miles and definitely want to visit Asia after that trip, and both Japan and Thailand sound amazing. As much as I love Europe, I am aching to go to Asia. And I would love to read your travelogues, so I will send you an e-mail. Thanks so much for the offer!

Lynn, Charlotte is going well. We really like it here so far. We are closing on our new home next month, and I can't wait. The corporate apartment we are living in certainly isn't home, although its free so I guess I can't complain. It's completely furnished, but I so miss my own things! Once I get into a house and get my own stuff back Charlotte will start feeling like home. And we are going home for the holidays, something I am very much looking forward to. Thanks so much for asking!

Tracy
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Old Dec 19th, 2006, 12:08 PM
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Tracy, what a terrific trip report. Is it possible, for a one month stay to drive the coast from Istria to Dubrovnik? We are 2 adult's 50ish, don't tell anyone, and think we want 3 different base cities. What about a car and any suggestions for cities to do day trips. I loved your report.
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Old Dec 20th, 2006, 05:16 AM
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Reecee, thanks for your comments!
You can absolutely drive the coast in one month! We did it in, oh, about 2 days! Granted that was very rushed, but the road system is very good. I would definitely pick 3 places to base yourself. One of them must be Dubrovnik. It truly is a jewel of a town. Another base could be somewhere around Split, either Split, Trogir or perhaps one of the islands such as Hvar. And for the third, I would consider somewhere on or near the Istrian penninsula. We didn't make it that far but did extensive research and it sounds/looks wonderful.

For daytrips from Dubrovnik, I can't suggest Montenegro enough. Kotor was a wonderful town, and the Bay of Kotor was simply incredibly beautiful. We hired a private guide with another couple and were so happy we did so because he took us to places we wouldn't have visited otherwise, like the fort above Dubrovnik that has an interesting history and amazing views of Dubrovnik below. Most taxi drivers do private tours, and your hotel will also have a list of tour guides because its a popular daytrip.

If you are in the Split vicinity, definitely check out Trogir. Its a beautiful, small town with a stone wall surrounding the old town. While small, it certainly doesn't lack in charm.

I would also suggest trying to fit in Plitvice National Park. We so wanted to do this, but as you read above it rained on the day we were to visit and we were so dissapointed. The park looks amazing and very unique, and it would be a shame to visit Croatia for a month and skip over this natural beauty.

While lacking some of the charm of the coastal cities and towns, Zagreb, the capital, is a nice city and worth at least a partial day if you have the time.

Let me know if you need any more advice. Good luck and happy planning!

Tracy
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Old Dec 20th, 2006, 07:41 AM
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Reecee...

I agree wholeheartedly with Tracy about visiting Plitvice...it is beatiful. In fact, I found all the places I visited in Croatia to be jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I was there last September and visited Plitvice, the Island of Rab, the Island of Hvar and Dubrovnik. If you click on my screen name you will be able to find my rather lengthy trip report about my month in Central Europe which included 2 weeks in Croatia.

Happy travelin!
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Old Jan 12th, 2007, 06:12 AM
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Yikes...I really need to finish this! I didn't realize that its been so long!

Day 9 - Our last day in Dubrovnik

We woke up this morning ready to head back into Dubrovnik for our final few hours before catching our cab to the airport. We heard about the "excellent breakfast" from our new friends Shawn and Mike (mentioned several times above), who live in London, travel all the time, and proclaim that this is the best European breakfast they've ever had. Well, obviously this peaked our interest and considering that breakfast was included in the price of the room we had to check it out. I must say that they were pretty right on. The breakfast buffet is huge; definitely the largest I have seen in Europe. There were so many different kinds of fruits, yogurts, cheeses, meats, and then various "American-type breakfast foods like sausage and eggs. There were also several kinds of juices (I preferred pineapple) and the waitresses came around with fresh-squeezed orange juice that was out of this world. So we sat inside the atrium area of the restaurant, eating our breakfast and noticing the not-so-great weather. We were in a hurry to get back into Dubrovnik so we ate quickly and were on our way.

As we walked through the lobby, we asked the hotel to arrange for a cab to pick us up at noon and take us to the airport. I wanted to mention that we considered taking the Atlas bus back to the airport, but this was more difficult than it sounds. Unlike where the Atlas bus dropped us off the night before, you had to catch the bus at the main bus station located several miles outside of town and the buses pick up at about 90 minutes before each flight. We didn't want to risk missing our flight so we decided it was easier and less risky to just spend the money on the cab.

As we walked into town we ran into Mike and Shawn, who were still staying at the Hilton. We discussed how our vacations went after we departed several days ago and then agreed to share the cab to the airport.

We noticed something instantly when we walked into Dubrovnik...the crowds. Crowds were about nonexistent during the first portion of our trip, but today a cruise ship was docked nearby and hordes of people were day tripping into the town. They were everywhere, and to be honest it took away some of the ambiance we found just days before. Dubrovnik is so lovely but its very small so the extra people were quite noticeable. Not that I really minded, but I rather enjoyed having it mostly to ourselves and the locals!

So today we made our way towards the walls and away from the rest of the tourists and just kind of walked the back streets of Dubrovnik and marveled, once again, at its beauty. I found a couple of cats that decided to follow me for a little while before they found a trash can that must have been more appealing. The sky was quite overcast, and to be honest this almost made it easier to leave...its always hard leaving a place when the sun is shining and its a beautiful day.

We walked outside of the walls to the cement slab at the end of Dubrovnik's peninsula once again, only this time we were the only ones out there. We sat on the benches in silence and let the breeze blow through our hair, soaking in as much as we could because we were both feeling sad that we were leaving.

Alas, it was time to head back to the hotel to do any last minute packing and check out. We met Shawn and Mike in the lobby promptly at noon and hopping in our cab for our ride to the airport. Dubrovnik's airport is tiny, as I mentioned before. We all decided that we were hungry, but there literally was nothing to eat. The one restaurant was sold out of sandwiches so all we had to snack on was some chips and stale croissants left over from probably the day before. So a word of advice; if you are hungry eat before you get to the airport! Our flight was to leave at 2:00, so we just sat around and talked. Mike and Shawn spent the whole week in Dubrovnik, so we heard a lot about the rest of their trip. They went to Mostar, with Atlas (this time they showed up!) and absolutely loved it. They also spent a day on Mjet and mostly just hung around Dubrovnik. They were very interested in hearing about Slovenia and how northern Croatia compared to southern Croatia, and we just filled the time chatting about our respective vacations until it was time to board.

The flight was noneventful and we arrived in Gatwick on time. Unfortunately this is where our trip took at turn for the worst, starting with our luggage. Yes, it arrived safe and sound so we can't complain too much, but our entire flight waited for almost an hour for our luggage to finally come around the luggage carousel. Gatwick was a zoo and getting to the trains wasn't much fun either. We said our goodbyes to Shawn and Mike (they took a different train home) and we hopped on the Gatwick Express.

I booked the Hotel Paddington on Venere for two reasons. 1) It was cheap. Because we were only going to be in London basically long enough to sleep, we didn't want to spend a lot of money. This was 50 pounds. 2) It was close Paddington Train Station, and we were planning on taking the Heathrow Express the next morning. Unfortunately I can't tell you how the hotel was because...we couldn't find it.

I'm usually very organized but as I said above, I was busy with the move and all and forgot to print exact directions, although we did have the printout of the hotel info from Venere.com. Now, I love my husband dearly but one thing he hates to spend money on is cabs and I could have killed him. We couldn't find the hotel and I swear we walked around London, at night with our bags, for over an hour and a half trying to find this hotel. I was exhausted and starving from lack of lunch and I was nearly in tears. We found a pay phone and tried to call but Venere.com doesn't give the hotels phone numbers and nobody from Venere was picking up. We finally decided to forget it and found a Days Inn that had rooms available. The Days Inn Hyde Park was on Sussex Gardens, very near Paddington Station. The rooms were 85 pounds per night but at this point I was just thoroughly exhausted and annoyed and would have gladly paid double. Our room is hot and tiny and the walls were very thin so it was noisy, but it had a bed and a shower and I was happy. We opened up the windows, each took a shower, and then headed out to dinner.

We found a pub just up the street called Sawyers Arms and our food was excellent. I had a lasagna (I know, but they were out of the chicken dish I wanted), hubby had a burger, and we split an appetizer of tempura chicken sticks because we really were starving. We each had a Kronenbourg (a beer that was recommended to us by our waiter) and felt ourselves calm down a bit. Our meal was very good and finally at 10:00 pm we head back to our hotel thoroughly exhausted.

Next: Home
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Old Jan 12th, 2007, 06:22 AM
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Day 10 - Home

We wake up the next morning, shower and leave. Our flight was leaving out of Heathrow at 11:00 and we wanted to leave plenty of time, so we left our hotel around 8:00 and was at Heathrow well before 9:00. While hubby bought the tickets for the Heathrow Express I decided that my little niece had to have an "original Paddington Bear" from the Paddington Bear cart in the station, so I quickly bought her one. We headed down to the tracks and waited for our train.

We got to Heathrow, checked in (lines were long and slow), found a place to grab some sandwhiches and croissants for breakfast/lunch, shopped (okay, I shopped and hubby tagged along) at the Harrods shops in the airport (I bought my mom a chocolate big ben and some earl grey tea for myself) and then sat at our gate until our flight was called.

Our flight was uneventful. We arrived in Chicago and had about an hour to kill before our flight to Charlotte, which ended up being delayed about 20 minutes. Croatia is fairly popular on this board, but I don't think its popularity has reached a broad audience yet. As we waited for our flight, I had a Croatia bag with some stuff in it that I bought from airport, and people were whispering and making gestures, and one woman asked me what in the world possessed me to want to go to Croatia. After I gave her quite an earful about how great it was she looked interested but doubtful. Oh well...their loss.

All in all we had a fabulous time. Of the 20 or so countries I have been to in Europe Croatia is my favorite, knocking our my previous favorite of Austria (although its still up there!). Croatia, and Montenegro for that matter, completely surpassed our expectations. The people were friendly, the food was great (this coming from a picky eater), the roads were easier to navigate than we thought, and everything was just terrific.

Thank you to everyone who has read my report, and a huge thank you to everyone that has ever contributed to a Croatia thread because I'm sure at some point I've read it when I was planning our trip. I can only hope that my report can be of use to someone, and I would be more than happy to answer any questions.

Tracy
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Old Jan 15th, 2007, 10:22 AM
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Tracy, thanks so much for sharing your experiences in Croatia and Slovenia! You really whetted my interest in visiting a place I'd never heard much about before joining Fodors, except for handsome Dr. Kovach on ER.

Croatia isn't only a popular place for Fodorites to visit I've discovered. Travel + Leisure magazine chose Istria, Croatia as one of its four up and coming destinations for 2007!
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Old Feb 15th, 2007, 07:32 AM
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Tracy

I'm only getting around to reading your Croatia report now, and I'm really excited about my holidays! we are going to Croatia in August, cant wait, thanks for a great report.

Lucie
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Old Feb 18th, 2007, 07:51 AM
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Dear Tracy,

I am tickled that you are so descriptive in your writing! I am headed for my first Croatia trip in June, I've waited 3 years to go!!! And, alas, I never knew Montenegro existed except after seeing that movie...luckily, the tour I am taking is planning to spend the day where you've raved about: Kotor! And, if the company doesn't take us there...I know Nikko will!!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to write! I am only at Day 4, and look forward to spending more time cutting and pasting your happy delights onto my ever expanding itinerary plans...I loved the term, Overprepared Traveler...for me, I've always been obsessively overprepared and planned!

Happy travels,
Sarah...from the great Northwest!
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Old Feb 18th, 2007, 11:26 AM
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tracy.. totally enjoyed your trip report. and to hear that it is your favorite is really exciting to me... i thought Croatia was absolutely the BEST (but that from someone who hasn't had the opportunity to travel much). thankyou again for taking the time to detail your trip. brings back great memories.
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Old Oct 17th, 2008, 05:01 AM
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topping for nannibray....

Tracy
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Old Oct 17th, 2008, 08:19 PM
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Thanks Tracy. Now I realize what "topping" means. Read your post this morning and didn't know what it meant. Finally dawned on me!
Mary Ann
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Old Dec 10th, 2008, 08:53 AM
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topping for kja..I know there is information on Varazdin somewhere in here!

Tracy
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Old Dec 31st, 2008, 07:32 AM
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bokmarking
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Old Aug 5th, 2010, 01:22 PM
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Hi Tracy, Thanks for taking the time and effort to write such a descriptive helpful report. I'm planning to go to Croatia next year and some of the info you provided solidified my plans about where to go, etc. If those are your two twins in your "PHOTO GALLERY" pics...they are so adorable! Again, many thanks...Allison
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Old Aug 10th, 2010, 09:28 AM
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Hey Allison,

Thanks for reading my trip report! Croatia was amazing and I envy you for your upcoming trip. You won't be dissapointed!

And yes, those two are my little reason's why I can't travel as much these days! Thank you very much!!

Tracy
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