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| The largest baroque building in Istria, Church of St Euphemia and the Tower of St Euphemia, Rovinj |
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| The 2-km long ancient city walls of Dubrovnik encircle the entire old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site |
With 2 drivers
taking turn to drive on the superb highway and part of the scenic coastal road 8,
we arrived in Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, before dark with time to spare for a stroll by
the beach watching the sun set over the horizon.
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| About the only sign that indicates that one is inside Bosnia-Herzegovina |
Enroute we
traversed on 15 km of coastal road that belongs to Bosnia-Herzaegovina but made
no effort to stop as we wanted to reach our hotel before the sun sets. Fortunately it only gets dark at around
8pm. We covered the 2nd
longest drive of our driving holiday (475km) in about 4.5 hours and stayed in
one of only 2 hotels that we put up in while in Croatia. I always prefer staying in apartment to hotel
as everyone can congregate in the living room for chit chat, over a cuppa or
simply to watch tv or spend time on the internet.
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| Valamar Argosy Hotel, Dubrovnik |
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| We were lucky to get a table with unblocked view of the vista |
As Dubrovnik is a
coastal city, most of the resorts and accommodations are either on the beach or
within short walking distance from it.
We walked some 5-6 minutes to the beach and lingered there watching the
sun disappeared behind the low clouds in the horizon and casting its golden
rays on the reflective sea.
We checked out
various restaurants along the coast and settled on Zoe which partially juts out
above the sea. The ambience was lovely
with a commanding view of the Adriatic Sea.
If only the food was good it would have been a perfect dining experience.
Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable and
relaxing meal while admiring the changing colours of night fall from the warm
twilight glow to the deepening blue of the magic hour and the eventual indigo…
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| Zoe Restaurant, Dubrovnik |
The breakfast
spread was very good and we were lucky to find a table that accords a sweeping
view of the channels of waters dotted with all kinds of sea-faring
vessels. After a heavy breakfast we were
all too eager to check out one of the most grandiose fortification monuments in
Europe which encircles the entire old town. The old city of Dubrovnik was
admitted into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.
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| Photo credit : Internet |
A good thing that
we enquired at the concierge before
setting off as we were warned about the vehicular woes if we were to drive to
town. We were told about the infamous
traffic congestion along the narrow roads, the difficulty in finding parking
lots and the exorbitantly high parking cost even if we could successfully find
a place to park our rental car. It was a
no brainer therefore to take the spacious and comfortable public bus #6 which
leaves at 15-minute interval and takes just 15 minutes to reach downtown. And the best part is that the bus stop is
only a minute’s walk from our hotel (Valamar Argosy President Hotel) and it is
both the starting and ending point for bus #6.
It was getting hot
when we stood high on the nearly 2-km long and 25-metre high city walls. The
bulk of the existing walls and fortification were constructed during the 14th
and 15th centuries but were continually extended and strengthened up
until the 17th century. Some sections of the walls, especially the
sea-facing side, are 1.5m to 5m thick as these were to help defend the city
from sea-based attacks particularly from Venice.
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| Atop the ancient city walls of Dubrovnik |
Everyone walked
unhurriedly and nonchalantly on the city walls stopping ever so often for the postcard perfect
picture. Citizens living in the old city
were akin to live exhibits as they go about their daily chores hanging out
their wet laundry, having a meal or a
cuppa, amongst others. It took us almost 2 hours to complete the whole circuit.
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| View of the Old City from the city walls |
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| View of the old town and the island of Lockrum from Minceta Tower |
Next stop was the
cable car (108 kuna round trip) ride to
the summit of Mount Srd (pronounced as Surge although most refer to it as the
hill which can’t be pronounced) which offers unobstructed panoramic view of the
old city of Dubrovnik and the City Walls.
A visit to the ancient walls and a trip to Mt Srd are like the holy
grail of any visitor to Dubrovnik! The cable car was restored only in 2010 at a
cost of 5 million Euros and can carry a maximum of 30 passengers in 2 cabins
taking just 3 minutes each way. http://www.croatiatraveller.com/southern_dalmatia/Dubrovnik/Srd-CableCar.html
(refer to the link for operation hours and the fares of the cable car ride).
You can also opt
to walk up to the summit via a serpentine footpath although this is not recommended on a
sizzling Summer day on the exposed trail.
On the morning that we were visiting, the temperature was around 23
degrees Celcius but it felt more like 33 degrees Celcius with the intense,
scorching heat and the ultra strong UV ray!
I can’t fathom the rationale of those who prefer to visit the country
during the blistering hot and busiest months of July and August!
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| Panoramic view of the old city and city walls from Mount Srd |
There was a
perpetual queue for the popular cable car ride but it was quite fast moving. Actually the best time to be on the 405m high
summit is around sunset time when the old city, ancient walls and the port on
the opposite side of the summit are bathed in the glorious glow of the setting
sun. Too bad that we had to visit it in the morning as we will
be heading Northwards from hence on and it will be a couple more days of long
distance driving. For those who don’t
drive, you can fly to this far South port or rely on the superb network of
public bus (coach) services to traverse
the whole country. We chose to drive to
see more of the country and also because it’s cheaper to return the car to the
same point where we picked it up (otherwise heavy surcharges are levied).
Knowing that the
food in downtown Dubrovnik is good we decided to have our lunch here before
returning to our hotel to pick up the car for our onward journey to Split. We thoroughly enjoyed the delicious food at
Mimoza which we chanced upon, located directly opposite the Hilton @Imperial
Hotel.
Instead of relying
on the navigation system which often directs the driver onto the highway for
the fastest route to the next destination, we intentionally headed towards road
8 for the scenic coastal drive to Split.
This I had to plan the night before using Google Map to identify
specific landmarks on road 8 to guide our vehicle onto the famous road. But I made a mistake of not plotting it all
the way to Split thinking that once we managed to get onto the coastal road,
it’s unlikely that we would deviate inland onto the expressway. Sad to say that
we only managed to enjoy a short drive on the scenic road and followed the
wrong road sign that led us to a brand new expressway inland! The only consolation was that the landscape was
different from what we had seen todate although nothing spectacular to rave
about. Nevertheless, I was glad that we did enjoy part of the enchanting
coastal drive both on the way to Dubrovnik and the short drive after leaving
Dubrovnik. It would have taken at least
double the time on the expressway if one were to drive entirely on the coastal
road. We took about 3.5 hours to
complete the 275-km journey arriving into Split at around 6pm.
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| Mimoza Restaurant, Dubrovnik city centre |
On 4 consecutive
days, we had problem finding our accommodation.
On the previous 3 occasions it was a merry-go-round experience trying to
hunt down the exact location as somehow both the car navigation system and my
Garmin could not bring us to the exact point.
In this latest case, it’s possibly because the apartment is located in
an off-car limit zone. What further
aggravated the problem is the issue with the lack of clear and prominent
signage in terms of the unit number and the name of the apartment. They are so tiny and not arranged in running
sequence! While the girls waited in the
car, the 2 gentlemen covered by foot the city square in search of the elusive
accommodation. It was truly a miracle
that they found it! And to further complicate
the matter, the reception area is housed in a separate building some 1-2
minutes’ walk away from our allotted dwelling!
Anyway, for once I decided to stay in the city centre purely for
convenience sake. Barring the difficulty
of finding the apartment, all else worked out well. It is very centrally located and within 2-3
minutes’ walk to the thoroughfares, ruins of the palaces and the seaside
promenade. The rooms are also decent, clean and comfortable.
We didn’t want to
pay (although just 35 kuna/S$7) to enter and explore the inside of the palace
ruins and cathedral as we were not quite interested in the forlorn state of the
ruins that we could see from the outside.
It is hard to imagine how grand this palace could have been looking at
its current sorry state. Together with the old city (officially known as Trg
Brace Radic but more commonly known amongst the locals as Vocni Trg), they are also listed in the UNESCO World
Heritage Site since 1979.
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| Split |
 |
| Cathedral of St Domnius |
A little
background history might interest some travellers though…..The original
Diocletian’s Palace was built in 295AD by Emperor Diocletian in preparation for
his retirement in 305 AD. He was the 1st
emperor to abdicate his throne willingly but was most infamous for his cruel
prosecution of the Christians and Rome’s most brutal and bloody purges.
The Emperor had a
wish to enter his palace on a ship without leaving the deck. The current lower tier of the palace was once
covered with water and his ship slowly passing between the columns and stopping
amongst the vaulted rooms. Over time the
water receded and a city emerged around the palace. Today, it is hard to tell one from the other
with markets running in its basement, restaurants serving out of its walls and
shops selling goods in its shadows. There are about 220 buildings remaining
which house some 3,000 residents. The
ruins of the Roman palace became the stones that built the Venetian homes
later. The present Cathedral of Saint
Domnius was previously the mausoleum of the emperor whose remains were removed
and replaced by that of the saint, hence the name.
We had the best
meal todate in Split, credit given to the Tourist Information office which is
just 1 minute’s walk from the restaurant.
I found from experience that usually the tourist info centre is one of
the most reliable and unbiased places that offers good suggestions and tips on
where to eat beside the usual insights on what to see, do and buy, amongst
others. In view of the
longest drive of our trip the next day,
we retired early to bed after dinner.
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| Excellent Restaurant Konoba Materjuska, Split |
Early the next
morning, the main thoroughfares and promenades were void of human traffic, a stark difference from the bustling and vibrating night life the
night before. Fortunately it was not
difficult to find a handful of eateries opened before 8am. We settled down for a very simple breakfast
after which we quickly checked out and in no time was already on our way to the
largest peninsula of Croatia and the Adriatic Sea, Istria, some 546 km away from Split or 6 hours of
continuous driving with a break or two in between.
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| In the early morning before 8am the main thoroughfare was very quiet and deserted. Split |
Most Istrian
towns, big or small, share some similar characteristics like narrow streets
lined with stone houses and built on a hill top. We visited a total of 7 different towns during our 3-day
stay in the charming peninsula, a treasure trove of diversity that is
harmoniously intertwined with rich lush fields, fertile interior filled with
the precious truffles and a long picturesque coast dotted with islands and
bays.
The peninsula of Istria is
located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf
of Trieste and
the Bay of Kvarner. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy and
is a mecca for visitors throughout the year, particularly those from the
extremely accessible European routes via the roads, airways and the ship
lines. It is no wonder that Lonely
Planet listed it as #2 on its famed list of 10 must see world regions in its
publication, Best in Travel 2011 based
on the most attractive and exciting countries, regions and cities from around
the world.
Not only is there much diversity in its offerings
including gourmet food, best quality white truffles in the world,
archaeological gems/ruins, cultural hotpot and abundant nature, it is also a haven for cyclists with its myriad of routes suitable for the competent and
professionals (the world elite race, the Giro d’Italia) as well as the
amateurish. The route from The Parenzana
to Porec is particularly popular amongst avid cyclists as it passes through the
rural hinterland, Mediterranean forests and along the ruins of castles,
prehistoric hill forts, churches and rustic villas.
Our 1st
stop was at the capital city of Istria, Pula, which is also the largest
city. Its most famous site is The Arena
or amphitheatre which could accommodate 23,000 spectactors in the olden
days. Today, it is still being used for
various performances, concerts, operas, etc and we were lucky to chance upon a
rehearsal or actual filming of some roman performance.
We drove to a very
tiny village called Bale/Valle, as recommended by our land lady. Bale is an interesting commune where the
tourism dollar is shared by each and everyone in the commune. It sits on
the intersection of roads leading to Rovinj, Pula and Trieste and it was an
important salt-pan road from Pula to Porec.
Today, the small 19th century settlement is mainly patronised
for the Bell Tower of the Parish Church of St Julian and the quaint old streets
and stone houses.
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| Quaint commune of Bale/Valle, Istria |
Our accommodation for the night was in a big villa with a large sun deck. We occupied
the entire top floor comprising 2 bedrooms, a living room, a dining hall, a
kitchenette and an open deck. There are
4 other rooms on the 2nd level while the ground level is for guests
to chill out with free flow coffee from a professional coffee machine. The
owners offered us a nice glass of local wine each as a welcome drink.
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| Villa Feniks, Pula |
We had a leisurely
and short stroll at dusk from the villa to the highly recommended seafood
restaurant on the opposite shore. The
food did not disappoint and it was the second time we ordered the fish porridge
on this trip, a dish very similar to our local version of Teochew fish porridge
with slices of fish and swimming grains of cooked rice.
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| Pula |
The last of our
food supplies from home was utilised the next morning for breakfast, albeit a
heavy and rich breakfast of laksa. As we
could not find prawns in the supermarket, we substituted it with scampi and
together with shredded chicken meat, had our last Singaporean meal
in Croatia. This turned out to be a day
of excessive food indulgence……Before we left the villa, we had a brief chat
with the lady owner over a cuppa and learnt that English is the 2nd
language in Croatia and thus it is not surprising that we had no problem
conversing with the locals in English.
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| Laksa for breakfast, our last Singaporean meal in Croatia |
Although we
visited many towns in Istria, they are all within short driving distances of
less than 40km apart, which is a breeze away compared to the hundreds of
kilometres we had traversed from the Southern most city of Dubrovnik. It was to be the most relaxing part of our
9-day holiday in Croatia.
Our next
destination after Pula was Rovinj,
Istria’s star attraction. Tourism is the lifeline here and because of
its proximity to Venice, it is common for the people to make regular daily
trips to Venice across the Adriatic Sea.
First we headed to
our next accommodation to check it out and offload our bags since our next
activity was supposed to be the incessant feasting of seafood. The Amarin
Holiday Village is a huge tourist complex comprising 461 self-catering
apartments, rooms and campsite. We were
lucky to have secured the newest 2-bedroom premium apartments with a patio and small
garden. There are 650 pitches in the
campsite section and the property is located next to the sea but we never had
time to explore the sprawling grounds except the inevitable reception
area.
 |
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| The ground floor of the apartment in Rovinj |
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| 1 of 2 bedrooms in Amarin Holiday Village, Rovinj |
We were all too
eager to go in search of the highly raved about seafood restaurant called Restaurant
Viking which is located by a fjord with a most unusual name, Limski Fjord or the Lim
Fjord which sounds so Chinese to us.
It’s actually a Latin word Limes,
which means border. The movie The
Viking starring Kirk Douglas was filmed here more than 40 years ago.
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| 2-kg live lobster |
Lim Fjord has a
protected landscape status and thus the driving of motor crafts, fishing or
diving is strictly prohibited. It is
part of the 35-km long Lim Valley (Draga) that stretches along from the centre
of Istria to the town of Pazin. The
Fjord itself is just slightly >10km long and 30 metres deep. The water is brackish because of the
underwater sources of sweet water suitable for plant and animal life. It was
very difficult to find the very secluded restaurant despite asking around for
help several times as we missed the partially blocked sharp V-shaped bend which
we were supposed to turn into in order to reach the dead end of the trail where
the restaurant is located.
The place is well
known for oyster and fish farm in addition to mussels, giltheads and
seabasses. The food at the
restaurant is not cheap but very
fresh. It was the 1st time in
my life to devour a 2-kg live lobster even though it’s shared by 4 of us. After the heavy but very satisfying lunch, we
proceeded to the town of Rovinj which is a short drive away.
We parked our car
in the open car park by the ship dock and meandered through the cobbled streets
to the summit where the largest baroque building in Istria, the Church of St
Euphemia and its accompanying Tower, are perched on the highest point in
Rovinj. The Tower is an exact replica of
the Church Tower of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice and descending from there, we
ambled our way through the old town full of galleries and small shops. We were happy to chance upon restaurant Monte
where we were to have our fine dining later on (we had made our dinner
reservation via email) as it would mean that we need not drive around looking
for it. On the other hand, because of
its close proximity and ease of accessibility, we had a lot of time to kill
before dinner. Not that we were complaining for we were still struggling to
walk off our 2 previous heavy meals, in particular the huge seafood lunch that
we ingested just 3 hours earlier.
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| Church of St Euphemia |
The weather was
much cooler up North compared to Dubrovnik and Split in the South. We explored the whole harbour and continued
onto the streets behind and strolled back to the harbour to catch the setting
sun. By the time we made our way back to
Monte, it was already 7.15pm but we were the only guests to have arrived for
the evening. In fact, being the shoulder
season, this #12 ranking restaurant in Croatia was not well patronized on a
weekday night. There was only one other
couple present throughout the whole evening.
The restaurant is
very tastefully decorated and designed, right down to the painstakingly
acquired unique cutlery and crockery. The cuisine presentation was like
artwork, course by course with suitably paired utensils. It was a slow dining affair that ended at
almost 11pm. A big thank you to my
friends who surprised me with the exquisite indulgence in appreciation of my
effort for organising this trip! But the
biggest surprise to all of us was the zen like box that was presented to us at
the end of the meal. We thought it was
some kind of gift, only to discover the bill cleverly hidden in the box
illuminated by 2 different coloured blinking globes of Philips light! How clever and creative! But the lady boss did give the ladies a gift
each, a delicious fruit-like cake which we had for breakfast the following
morning.
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| Surprise fireworks display during dinner |
The next morning
we were on the road again heading towards Little Tuscany, the medieval town of
Motovun most renown for its truffles. Located in Central Istria, the municipality
has just 983 residents with Italian as their mother tongue. It is perched on a
hill top like the other Istrian towns but is blessed with the much sought after truffles found only in the heart of the
Motovun woods.. Specially trained dogs instead
of pigs are used to sniff out the priceless truffles as the latter could end up
eating the treasured food. If it were
the truffles season we could have gone on some truffle hunting trip but
unfortunately the truffles harvesting season is in late Summer and early Autumn
for the black truffles and late Autumn and winter for the more delicious,
highly valued and most expensive white
truffles which are supposedly the best quality in the world. Nevertheless, we had no lack of truffles sampling
as most cuisines would contain the truffles in one form or another, be it
truffle oil, truffle spread, minced truffles or shaved truffles, to name a
few. The place is also well-known for
wine but only one amongst us was lucky to enjoy the pairing of wine with the
gourmet food. We were all very happy to
lug back bottles of the famous truffles. Motovun also hosts the International
Film Festival where independent and avant-garde films are showcased annually.
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| The medieval town of Motovun most famous for its highly valued white truffles |
On our last night
in Istria, we were to savour the best restaurant (ranked #1 in Croatia) at the highly acclaimed boutique hotel, San
Rocco Heritage Hotel (awarded the best boutique hotel in Croatia 4 times
consecutively from 2007 to 2010 and a special prize in 2011) in the tiny town
of Brtonigla in Umag. The hotel is very
resort like and apart from its famous restaurant, is also a popular spa and
wellness centre. We made our dinner
reservation with the staff and off we went to explore the nearby seaside town
of Navigrad as we still had some time to kill before dinner.
It was a really
short ride to Navigrad, some 6-8 km away.
We strolled around the small town centre and was most pleased to be able to touch the
Adriatic Sea water. The water was very
clear and clean and there were some sun worshippers basking by the beach.
 |
| We could finally touch the water of the Adriatic Sea |
We were attracted
by yet another small village, Groznjan because of its status as an Artist
Village and breezed into town within 15 minutes or so from Navigrad. It is a 14th century Venetian town
which attracted many painters, sculptors and musicians to live and work there
since 1916. However, on the day that we
visited, it appeared more like a deserted town with no sign of human activities
and only a handful of art and craft shops opened. Perhaps like some of the other towns which
rely heavily on tourism, we could only experience the vibrancy of the place
in the height of its tourist season in the 2-month window period of July and
August. We were told by the villa owner
in Pula that during the peak season, everywhere is thronged with tourists, a
stark difference from the low season although it was much to our delight to
escape from the throbbing crowd
We returned to San
Rocco with barely time for a rest before dinner was served. The food was good and up to expectations but
our dinner was interrupted by a brief power failure that lasted approximately
10 minutes. While candlelights were
quickly used to help illuminate the afresco dining, we were wondering if we
would get to complete our 6-course dinner since there was a total shut down of
the power supply and we had no idea when the power could be restored.
Fortunately the
night ended well with another memorable and symptuous meal. And the good food continued the next morning
at breakfast…..The spread was not huge but the quality of the food more than
satisfied the group of discerning diners.
Upon reflection, I
personally enjoyed Plitvice best partly because I love nature, parks, lakes,
waterfalls and hiking. It was the main highlight of my trip to
Croatia while the rest were pleasant surprises of diversity. There’s contrast in each region, from the
awesome national parks in the north to
the historic walls and ancient cities in the south along the Dalmatian coast,
to the idyllic, rustic and gourmet
regions in the north on the Istrian peninsula.
It was one of the most relaxing holidays I had ever had soaking in the mesmerising
sights and enjoying the tantalising food and wine. Viola! Recipe for the
next escapade!
Read my other blogs on the other regions of Croatia:
Read my other blogs on the other regions of Croatia:
http://youwanu1.blogspot.sg/2015/05/a-pictorial-journey-through-stunning.html (Plitvice Lakes)
http://youwanu1.blogspot.sg/2015/05/twin-cities-of-zagreb-croatia-and.html (Zagreb & Ljubljana)
View & Like the full album (Twin Cities) on Facebook (click here) (Zagreb & Ljubljana) 1st, 8th & 9th May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Motovun, Groznjan, Novigrad & Brtonigla) 7 May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Rovinj) 6 May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Pula & Bale) 5 May 2015
View & Like the full album (Plitvice album 1) on Facebook (click here) 2 May 2015
http://youwanu1.blogspot.sg/2015/05/twin-cities-of-zagreb-croatia-and.html (Zagreb & Ljubljana)
View & Like the full album (Twin Cities) on Facebook (click here) (Zagreb & Ljubljana) 1st, 8th & 9th May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Motovun, Groznjan, Novigrad & Brtonigla) 7 May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Rovinj) 6 May 2015
View & Like the full album on Facebook (Pula & Bale) 5 May 2015
View & Like the full album (Plitvice album 1) on Facebook (click here) 2 May 2015
Note:
1) Croatia can be enjoyed without a rental car with its affordable and excellent network of public transport system. To traverse from North to the Southern most city of Dubrovnik, most visitors can consider flying or taking the coach there.
2) It is best to climb and walk the city walls of Dubrovnik early in the morning while it is still cool
3) Many missed out the Mediterranean like weather and idyllic lifestyle on the peninsula of Istria which has good food, especially seafood and wine. It is well worth a visit to Rovinj and Motovun
4) If you drive from Dubrovnik to Split, remember to take the scenic coastal road 8 but be mindful of the driving time as it will take at least double the time on the highway ie 6-7 hours, depending on your driving speed
1) Croatia can be enjoyed without a rental car with its affordable and excellent network of public transport system. To traverse from North to the Southern most city of Dubrovnik, most visitors can consider flying or taking the coach there.
2) It is best to climb and walk the city walls of Dubrovnik early in the morning while it is still cool
3) Many missed out the Mediterranean like weather and idyllic lifestyle on the peninsula of Istria which has good food, especially seafood and wine. It is well worth a visit to Rovinj and Motovun
4) If you drive from Dubrovnik to Split, remember to take the scenic coastal road 8 but be mindful of the driving time as it will take at least double the time on the highway ie 6-7 hours, depending on your driving speed
