Zagreb, Split & Bol, Croatia

Zagreb

Within the past two years if you asked us: "If you could leave tomorrow for vacation, anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Our answer was Croatia. Travelzoo.com had been running killer deals to come here and kayak. Because the deal was not centered around eating bread and required physical activity I declined them, but got familiar with Croatia's beauty. We arrived to Zagreb from the mountains of Slovenia. Not really wanting to be back in a city, Zagreb was a gentle transition back to city life. Most all of the important stuff is within minutes of the train station, including a grocery store. We stayed in a large apartment about three minutes walking from the train station. This place was huge, with a dining room that could sit 8 adults comfortably, a large living room with an L-shaped sofa, kitchen, bathroom with washer and king-size bed in the bedroom. From here it took us about five minutes to be in the city center. We toured the city on a Saturday, which the google says is the best day to mingle with locals, donning their Saturday best, sipping cappuccino and lingering on the patio of their favorite cafes and restaurants. Zagreb has a fantastic outdoor market, with piles of local fruits and vegetables, olive oils and wine. Below ground are cheeses, breads, seafood and meat. As we meandered the streets we hit up the highlights of must sees on the city map. The twin-spired Cathedral and St. Mark's Church, with a colorful tiled roof;

the oldest pub serving their tasty creation paired with local poets and writers;

The Museum of Broken Relationships was a must see, a little odd but highly entertaining, if you don't get to Zagreb you can go to their museum in Los Angeles. If you have momentos from a broken relationship (a wedding gown, a child you no longer have use for) you can send them to the curators for display, just attach a note.

Split

The train from Zagreb to Split runs only a few times per day. We were on the first train, at 7:35a.m., without reservations. This is a two car train and is definitely not sufficient for the amount of people wanting to get to the coast. We were extremely lucky to find a seat that had not been reserved and were able to purchase reservations from the on board ticket guy. If you are here in the summer months, and into September, we highly recommend that you purchase reservations. With a Eurail pass this was less than $3.00 for both of us. The air conditioning is cranking on this thing, which makes up for it's speed. Upon arriving in Split we kind of had an idea that this was a city for a starting point for island hopping, but it was much more. The train just kind of ends in a questionable location. Once out onto the main street you are part of the tourist cluster of people getting on busses, cruise ships, island ferries and kiosk shoppers. In other words, it's an overwhelming clusterfuck, but just keep walking and it quickly thins out as people divert to the left to get to the fortress. You can visit the important parts of Split in a day, which we did. Diocletian's Palace (a beautiful Roman ruin) is where all of us tourists go.

Diocletian's Palace

Built as a military fortress, imperial residence, and a fortified town which today is filled with shops, bars, and restaurants (and a UNESCO approved grocery store, Billa, which took us about half a day to find). Music, stall vendors and farmers markets enlivens the ally ways in and outside the fortress walls. There are about eight beaches close to the city center. There is a bus readily available to take you to the further away beaches, or you can walk.

We chose a beach about halfway between and spent the entire day lounging and swimming. Beaches in Croatia are either rocks you can lay on and jump off or small pebbles. The water is absolutely gorgeous, so blue and so clear with a refreshing and cleansing temperature and super buoyant. We laughed often as we'd pop up after struggling to dive down two feet. Split is quite large and as we bussed out to the airport I was reminded of Oakland, Ca, complete with smog, large mundane apartment complexes, dirty city streets surrounded by mountains containing nicer homes.

Bol

This is the Croatia we've been dreaming of. Clear, clean blue water. Bol is a small town on the island of Brac and is home to the number one beach in Croatia and number three in all of Europe, Zlatni Rat. Translation: Golden Cape, not "a beach filled with rats".

Zlatni Rat

To get here, take a ferry from Split and then a bus across the island, which takes about one hour. Once daily, very early in the morning, a ferry arrives directly here, from Split. We had super friendly hosts named Ivan and Ivana. She'd sit and talk with us about Croatian traditions, politics, the recent war and health care. She pays $10 per month and pays nothing when going to her doctors or hospital. If she were to have a baby it would cost her exactly $0 in medical costs. FYI, she does want kids, just not yet. She went to culinary school and for an additional cost you can request breakfast and/or dinner. We had the mixed grilled dinner one night and were painfully spoiled with meat from nearly every animal on the planet, wine from their vineyard, and chocolate cake, leftover from a family celebration the night before. I hugged Ivana when we left and was a bit sad to depart from her and her home. Needless to say the home was filled with love, pride and history.

From Bol we took a day long boat adventure to two other islands, Hvar and another small, uninhabited one. Stopping to swim, jump and slide off the boat, while being served fresh, hot homemade crepes, wine, watermelon and freshly caught fish.

Hvar is much more popular than Bol, littered with tourists and thus more expensive. We hiked up the hill, to another fortress, didn't pay the entrance fee, got a great view of the port and quickly headed down to find shade.

This excursion excited us to come back to Croatia and see her beautiful island on board a catamaran. We already have our captain, and junior pirates. Croatia did not let us down and it continues to be on the top of our list as a place to return to.