Filling our Bucket List in Croatia
Croatia had been on our radar for a few years for a couple of reasons. First, we had heard it was beautiful, and second, because Croatian wine is getting a lot of buzz these days.
My husband and I like to take trips to winegrowing regions, and we’ve done several wine-themed trips over the past few years. You might remember that we visited Bordeaux on an AmaWaterways river cruise last summer. But we’ve also visited several other winegrowing regions, both in Europe and the U.S.
And, of course, England! For the past couple of years I’ve taken Walkabout groups to a vineyard in the Cotswolds that is making delicious wine.
Anyway, one day last winter we got a brochure in the mail from Backroads, which is an adventure tour company, specializing in biking and hiking trips throughout the world. My husband took one look and said, “Hey! They have bike tours to Croatia. We should do that.”
Well, any time someone, especially my husband, says, “We should do that,” you can bet I’m going to be up for the adventure.
Now, I’m not a biker by any stretch of the imagination. I do know how to ride a bike, and I own a bike (although it doesn’t get much use), but I would never consider myself a bicyclist. But the tour my husband wanted to do wasn’t just biking–it also included two days of hiking and one day of kayaking.
“Why not?” I replied. And the plan was set.
[Note: Because the tour schedule was so full and I have so much to say about it, I’ll have to save my thoughts about that part of the trip for another post. Suffice it to say, we had a blast. I truly think this was one of the best ways to see Croatia. But more on that later.]
View of Split from the rooftop of the Cornaro Hotel
Split
We flew to Croatia on Father’s Day, arriving in Split on a Monday morning. Our tour began on Wednesday, but we wanted a couple of days to get over jet lag and to explore the city of Split. Good thing we did, because once the tour began, we did not spend any time in Split.
Diocletian’s Palace
Situated on the Adriatic Sea, Split is an ancient city, dating back to the 2nd century B.C. Its claim to fame is that the Roman emperor Diocletian grew up here and when he retired from his reign of terror (he persecuted thousands of Christians during his time), he chose Split as his royal retirement home.
Today, the entire old city of Split is located within Diocletian’s palace walls. It’s a beautiful place to wander, with shops and restaurants tucked down tiny alleyways and hidden passages.
Because our tour would be leaving from here, we stayed two nights at the Cornaro Hotel, which was lovely and in a fantastic location. Our room was great, but the best part was that the hotel has a rooftop bar and restaurant where we ate both nights. The rooftop is open to the public, and you will find the very best views of the city from there.
Korcula
The island of Korcula was next on our itinerary. We spent one night at the Heritage Hotel, the oldest hotel on the island.
Our original plan, after our tour ended, was to go back to Korcula for two nights, then back to Dubrovnik for two nights before flying home. But sometimes you make plans before you understand the lay of the land, and when that happens, you punt.
What we didn’t realize was that we would see most of Korcula on our bikes. By the time we had finished, I realized that there was no need to come back–we had seen it all–so we altered our plans and spent longer in Dubrovnik.
Turned out to be the best plan because we were tired by the end of our biking/hiking/kayaking excursion and we just wanted to stay in one place for more than two nights.
[Pro tip: It’s OK to change your plans mid-trip. BUT be sure to always check your cancellation policies wherever you’re staying. We did lose some money when we decided not to go back to Korcula, but after we talked it over, we decided it was worth it in this case.]
Dubrovnik
I don’t think I can fully describe the beauty of Dubrovnik. This city is not quite as ancient as Split, but still dates back to the 7th century. You might remember it from Game of Thrones (I never watched it, so it didn’t mean much to me), but I remember it from an episode of The Bachelorette (ha!) that was filmed way back in 2012 (Emily Maynard’s season). When it aired, I remember thinking, where IS this place? It’s beautiful!
On our first day after our biking trip ended, we met up with two women from our Backroads group–a mother and daughter traveling together, . They had arranged a private walking tour and asked if we’d want to join them. I’m so glad we did because our guide turned out to be Ivan Vucovic, one of the most famous guides in Dubrovnik. He’s also done work for CNN, BBC, and National Geographic. Ivan grew up in the Old Town (he even showed us his elementary school!) so he knew everything and everyone.
Our guide, Ivan, standing in front of his elementary school.
[Pro tip: You can arrange a walking tour with Ivan by sending him an Instagram message and crossing your fingers that he’s free that day.]
After the tour, we wandered back through the streets to have lunch at Pizzeria Mirakul, which was really excellent. In fact, we saw our guide, Ivan, having lunch with a friend there after our tour!
The day was hot, so we decided to take an Uber back to our hotel, Hotel More, on the Lapad peninsula just outside of the city, to rest for a while. Good move as the city is quite crowded with cruise ship passengers during the day.
[Note: The Hotel More website claims it’s a 5-star hotel, but as we learned, Croatian 5-star isn’t the same as the rest of Europe or the US. I’d say it was about a 3.5-4 star hotel. Not bad. But not the best. By comparison, on our Backroads trip we stayed just down the street at the Royal Blue hotel, which was much nicer.]
We had heard that it’s best to come back into the Old Town around 5, when the cruise ship folks have mostly left the city, so that’s what we did. We wanted to walk the famous city walls, but also wanted to wait until it was a little cooler.
Dubrovnik
Walking the city walls was one of the highlights of our trip. It costs €35 per person, and is totally worth it. The views from the top of the city are just breathtaking. Along the way we saw people cliff jumping and sunbathing on the rocks. There are even a couple of bars up on the wall, just in case you get thirsty.
I’m not sure we escaped the heat, and the steps (there are about 1,080 of them) are pretty tough, but, like I said, I’m so glad we did it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that special experience.
Peljesac Peninsula
The next two days we had set aside for winery visits. We had rented a car, so we headed up to the Peljesac Peninsula, about an hour or two north of Dubrovnik. They drive on the right side of the road in Croatia, and most signs are in English, so it wasn’t hard to get around at all.
Our first stop was the Grgich winery. Michael Grgich, the founder, who passed away last year at the age of 100, has a long history of winemaking, both in Croatia and the United States (there are vineyards in both countries). I had emailed just a couple of days ahead of our visit, and was told that it would be fine to stop by in the morning, but when we arrived the woman who was working there didn’t know we were coming!
What could have been a disaster turned out just fine as she was kind and accommodating to us. The Grgich tasting room had been completely rebuilt after a fire in 2015–a gorgeous building with even more gorgeous views! We had our late-morning wine tasting (delicious wines!) and went on our way to our next appointment.
Korta Katerina
The drive further north to Villa Korta Katerina was spectacular as we drove along the coast and through vineyards. It felt like we were in California or Oregon. We drove to the town of Orebić, where the Villa is located.
What a place! The Villa itself is a very small hotel–only 8 rooms (at $2,000 per night!). The tasting room and cellars are next door. We walked in for our 1 p.m. tour and quickly realized we were early. Nobody else was around! In Croatia, lunch isn’t eaten until 1-2 p.m., and dinner is much later than ours.
But we were quickly greeted and shown around the cellars, then led to a table overlooking the water where we had ordered a charcuterie plate with our tasting. Again, we enjoyed the wine very much and later noticed Korta Katerina wines on the menu of several restaurants we went to.
Both of our tastings that day were fantastic, and the drive and the views were incredible. All-in-all, a great day.
That night, thanks to the recommendation of a couple on our bike tour, we had one of the most memorable meals of the trip at Gverović Orsan. This place is one of the best restaurants in Dubrovnik (although its a ways outside of the city—take an Uber), made famous by an episode of Somebody Feed Phil.
My husband tasted a special Croatian dish called Black Risotto, and it’s exactly that—black. It’s filled with all types of shellfish—shrimp, mussels, scallops—and made black by squid ink. I didn’t taste it (I’m allergic to shrimp), but he said it was really good. And we were so caught up in the beauty of our surroundings that I completely forgot to take pictures of our food.
That’s ok. It was a special evening at a beautiful place. No pictures necessary.
Ston and Mali Ston
The next day, our last day in Croatia, we visited the towns of Ston and Mali Ston (“Little Ston”). Ston is best known for its fortress wall, built in the Middle Ages, which extends up a mountain and was meant to fortify both towns.
Because the day we visited was very hot, we opted not to climb that wall–one wall was enough for us!--but we did see a lot of people doing it.
Other than the wall, there’s not a lot to see in Ston. The town still shows signs of destruction from the Bosnian war in the 1990s–several bombed out buildings still stand next to occupied homes. There’s also a salt flat there that you can tour, and a small church, but otherwise, not much.
After walking around a while, we drove just a stone’s throw away (get it?!) to Mali Ston, the oyster capital of Croatia. Now, I’m not an oyster girl, but my husband loves them, so this was for him. He had read about a place in Mali Ston that has fresh oysters every morning that are supposed to be the best in the world. You can see the oyster beds all along the waterfront in the town, so you know your oysters are fresh.
Whether they are the best oysters in the world is probably debatable, but this was quite an experience! We walked in (the place is just across the street from the parking lot) and weren’t sure we were in the right spot. This is a true hole in the wall. But we noticed a case full of oysters, and the woman behind the case acknowledged us, so we figured this was it.
She didn’t speak English, but was able to tell us that the oysters are priced by size from €2 to €6, depending on how big they were. The €6 oysters were HUGE!! She also had homemade wine for €3 a glass–and it was actually pretty good! My husband said he’d take a half dozen of the smaller ones, but somehow he got a dozen, which he polished off with gusto. I didn’t eat any, deciding to wait until I found some real food.
[Pro tip: There are some nicer restaurants in Mali Ston further up the waterfront, which, I’m sure, also have oysters harvested that morning. They also have other food for your non-oyster-eaters in your group.]
After Mali Ston, we drove about 20 minutes away to the Milos winery, a brand new facility that was just built two years ago. The winery is owned by two brothers who were on site, running the tastings and giving tours of their cellars. This was by far our favorite experience. Not only was the wine delicious, the brothers, Ivan and Josep were so fun and enthusiastic about their business. They told lots of stories about their family, which has been in the same area for 500 years.
Plus, they gave us an incredible cheese plate with the most delicious, locally made sourdough bread to dip in their olive oil. We loved the oil so much we ended up buying a bottle and bringing it home with us.
The next day, we flew home via London (there are no nonstop flights to Croatia), basking in the memories of a beautiful country filled with warm and wonderful people. If Croatia is on your bucket list, I highly recommend you take the plunge and go visit.
