We recently took our annual fall trip to Europe, but this time we focused on Croatia. While the central and eastern parts of Croatia can appeal to travelers who want to explore the countryside, wineries, and national parks, most travelers head to the coast. Early fall is a good time to visit, as the weather is still good, and the European vacationers have all returned home.

 

Croatia lies a short distance across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, so there is a good bit of Italian history and similarities, but the pace is a lot slower, much like what Italy might have been 40-50 years ago. With more than 1,000 miles of coastline, and over 1,000 islands, there is a lot to see and do in Croatia!

 

We started our trip by flying into Dubrovnik, where we had reserved a small apartment inside the old town walls. We got lucky, as the people before us extended their stay, so the owner put us into a larger and nicer place for the same price! Dubrovnik is a beautiful and historic town, with a lot to do and see. One highlight is to walk around the top of the fortress walls to get some great views and an idea of its size. Be advised, Dubrovnik is a great place to get in shape for ski season. Many of the small streets and passageways in Dubrovnik wander up the face of the mountainside, and you will get a good leg workout!

 

We rented a car for the rest of our stay, and since we were at the south end of Croatia, we drove another hour south to see Kotor, Montenegro. Kotor is on the shores of a huge fjord, surrounded by steep, jagged mountains, with an amazing fortress climbing hundreds of meters up the rugged face of the mountain right behind the old town. We climbed all the way up the steep stone steps and through the ruins until we reached the top. It felt like being on the top of the world, with an amazing view of the old town and fjord. A bonus was the herd of goats we discovered, grazing on the very steep slopes.

 

After visiting Kotor, we drove back up the coast towards Split. At Omis, about 10 miles south of Split, we headed into the mountains a few miles, following the river Cetina, where we found a great outdoor restaurant. It was sort of like a Croatia beer garden, and we enjoyed a delicious, relaxing meal. All along the river are several rafting and water sports outfitters, as well as biplane operators, which looked like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we couldn’t work that in on this trip.

 

Split was an ancient Greek colony and Roman palace. While there is the old town area, Split also has a sizable metropolitan area, with a population of around 300,000 people. We spent a night there near the old town, and toured Diocletian’s Palace. You can’t leave without rubbing the toe of the statue of Gregory of Nin!

 

From Spilt, we took a ferry to the island of Hvar for a day and a night. After touring the town, it was the perfect place to pick up some picnic treats and settle in on a rocky beach for a magnificent sunset. After returning to Split, we headed north to the neat town of Trogir for a day. With its tower and promenade along the waterfront, it is a fun place to visit, do some exploring, and grab a meal or two.

 

After Trogir, we headed off to a couple of beautiful national parks, Krka, and Plitvice. Krka has a number of waterfalls and a swimming area under them. After exploring the park and falls, we had a nice picnic lunch next to a historic mill and some local vendors. Just as we were finishing our lunch on a beautiful sunny day a huge rain storm came out of nowhere and the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees!

 

At Plitvice national park, there is a series of waterfalls and cascading lakes, beautifully-colored from the various minerals in the waters. The park was easy to tour, with a boat that took us through parts of the waterways. There were “boardwalks” winding all through the falls and lakes.

 

Since we were now fairly far north in Croatia, it only made sense to visit Slovenia, to see the capital Ljubljana, and to visit Lake Bled. However, that could be another Travel Tales story!

 

A note about traveling in Croatia. We sometimes travel sort of “free form” in Europe without a strict itinerary or lodging reservations. This works very well when we are traveling in the off-season. Tourist offices generally have listings of rooms, B&Bs, apartments, hotels, etc. AirBnB can also be a good source.. In Croatia, people hang little signs outside of places that say “Sobe,” which I suppose means “rooms for rent.” When we were traveling through the rural areas and thought it would be worth staying a day or two, we checked a couple of the sobes and found them quite acceptable and very friendly and economical. Overall, a wonderful trip. Highly recommended!