Week 53: Croatia

Well, this is it! Tonight we will touch down once again on Canadian soil. But, before we do that, let’s revisit this last week of travel! 

This was a HOT week, but we always managed to find places to swim and eat ice cream before the situation ever became too desperate. 

We started this week in Stari Grad on Hvar Island. This sleepy town was just what we were looking for! We wandered the quiet old streets and explored the beautiful harbour and waterfront. We stayed in this funky triangular building that had a rooftop terrace, which was a perfect place for watching the sunset. We found a few swimming areas where we could cool off, and a couple quiet coves to enjoy along a forested path. Although the rocky, concrete beach theme continued this week, we did find a couple pebble beaches here. 

The following day, we took a bus to Jelsa, which is a popular camping area on the island. However, if you have ever camped in Canada, you will likely be as shocked as we were to see how close they pack the tents and trailers! After a little walk through the old town, we set off for the beaches. We found a rocky beach with grassy terraces surrounding it, which made for a great spot to set up for a few hours. Later in the day, we returned to Stari Grad for more time by the water and up on the rooftop. 

We left Stari Grad on Thursday and headed over to Hvar Town by bus. As soon as we arrived, we stored our bags and headed out on a sea kayaking adventure in amongst the Pakleni islands. Our Croatian guide gave us a lot of information about the country as he led us around a couple of the smaller of the Pakleni islands. We stopped at Zdrilca beach on one of the largest islands for a snorkel break, followed by lunch. It was nice to get away from the crowds and enjoy this rocky beach. By the time we headed back to the mainland in the afternoon, there were a lot of boats on the water, so we had to be careful crossing the main channel. We then had a bit of time to explore the town before heading out on a ferry to Vela Luka on Korcula island. 

In Vela Luka, our room overlooked the harbour, so we just took some time to soak up the view for a while. We then set off on foot around the harbour, stopping when we reached the Kissing Stone. That evening, Vela Luka hosted a Fisherman’s Night, where a small crowd enjoyed local music and fresh seafood on the water’s edge. 

In the morning, we took a bus to the town of Korcula, which was a lot bigger and busier than Vela Luka. We stored our bags again, and set off to explore this beautiful old town. Although the old towns we have visited here have many similarities, we can always find something a little different about each one. We especially enjoyed the little alleyways with tables and flowers in this town! We found a shady swimming spot to hang out for a few hours, and then went hunting for ice cream. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay out of the sun. In the evening, we sat in a square where locals were setting up telescopes to look at a few planets. This was also the night we watched the amazing lunar eclipse! After a delay due to a faulty engine, we boarded a late night ferry over to Dubrovnik. 

Saturday was Will’s birthday, so it was time to celebrate! We had spent his last birthday bewildered by the hectic streets of Kampala, after having just arrived in Uganda the day before. A few hours spent looking for a restaurant with his emotional wife who hadn’t slept for a few days, while trying not to get hit by cars that seemed to be flying every which way and kicking up a whole lot of dust, wasn’t exactly the birthday of his dreams. This birthday was bound to be better! We started the day off with a Game of Thrones tour, which took us to many of the locations used for filming. Our guide’s knowledge about the show was beyond extensive, and he also told us a lot about his three experiences working as an extra for the show! In addition to showing us filming sites, our guide also showed us around the old town and told us about a lot of the buildings here. And then he brought out the swords! Will did suffer a little birthday jab, but he survived. After the tour, we followed the advice of everyone we had talked to about Dubrovnik, and retreated to our apartment for a few hours. Following the theme for this week, our room had an incredible view here, quite possibly our best view yet. So, we spent a lot of time at the windows. Later that afternoon, we headed down the street to the Dubrovnik Beer Company for a brewery tour and tasting. Will was in his element sampling new beers and talking about home brewing with a couple other guys. We followed the beers up with ice cream, cake, and a movie Will knew I would never, ever, ever, ever watch on any other day of the year (Ready Player One). BUT, we were able to interrupt this movie a few times to take in the most spectacular sunset we have seen all year! So, it turned out to be another pretty awesome day!

We spent a good chunk of the next day at a little shaded rocky spot near the water. We had a great view of the city from here too. We walked, we swam, we read. These will be the days we will be SO glad we had when mid-September rolls around!

We got an early start on our final day in Dubrovnik, heading down to the city walls as they opened to visitors. Arriving early allowed us to escape crowds and extreme heat. We took our time walking the walls, soaking up the amazing views. There were a number of stairs to climb, and a few restaurants selling drinks and food along the way. Aside from that, we were just staring out at a sea of stonewalls and terracotta rooftops. Of course, we stopped at the best ice cream shop in town before heading back to cool off. 

This is how they get pineapples and watermelons to the shops on the wall!

Ten Crazy Facts About Dubrovnik: 

• The city has about 40 000 residents, but less than 500 of those live inside the city walls. 
• Nearly 2 million people will visit this city in 2018. 
• It is the only place in the world where cruise companies are paid NOT to visit. An agreement has been made not to allow more than 8000 passengers to disembark on any given day, but even this is disregarded during peak season.
• There is no room for Dubrovnik to grow- water on one side, mountain on the other. 
• Many people relocate to work here May-October, making enough money not to work the rest of the year. 
• Prices for steep (easily double the prices anywhere else in Croatia), but you can find some better deals if you’re willing to move away from the city walls. 
• It is impossible to visit this city without climbing many stairs.  
• It’s thicker-than-thick city walls have never been breached. 
• It’s cut off from the rest of Croatia.
• The residents of Dubrovnik love Malta, after their decision to raise fees forced HBO to find another filming location for Game of Thrones. Dubrovnik has been reaping the benefits of this decision for nearly seven seasons! 

At 3:30 am on Tuesday morning, we headed to the airport for an early flight into Zagreb. As our final city to explore on this trip, we wanted to take advantage of our time here. After leaving our bags at our place, we set off to see the city. Our favourite buildings were Zagreb Cathedral and St. Mark’s Church. We also loved the streets lined with cafes and the funky items set up to decorate different areas of the city. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in Bundek Park, followed by a few hours hanging out on the grass. We both finished the books we had been reading, which always feels great! We enjoyed a final drink and round of cards at a café in the park before heading back into town to prepare for another early morning flight.

Accounting for time changes, we will be travelling for about 24 hours today. We will arrive in Toronto tonight, and really look forward to visiting friends and family in Ontario! This week felt like a pretty great finish to our year of travel! A final wrap up post is brewing, so stay tuned J

Act of kindness: I accidentally left my neck pillow on the bus to the plane this morning, and another girl brought it to me. I remain so surprised by how few items we have lost this year, and this girl just helped us keep that number down.