It’s tough to move on sometimes.
We had high hopes for Dalmatia after speaking with our fellow travelers. I was looking forward to the crystal clear water, good food, beautiful mountains, and relaxing beaches. It was going to be hard for Croatia to top itself after the beauty of the Plitvice Lakes, but I was willing to give it a shot. After spending almost a month in Croatia, I can safely say that the entire country is worthy of a massive thumbs up.
We planned on 10 relaxing days or so on the Dalmatian coast, and they were…at first. Our tentative route included working our way south from Zadar to Dubrovnik, island hoping along the way.
Clark found us a great hostel only 30 minutes outside of Split that I absolutely fell in love with. Hostel Adria is an amazing place run by Sanja and her wonderful family. They definitely know what travelers like.
The hostel’s common room leads onto a cute porch with grape and fig branches hanging down. When you emerge from the shaded archway, you find yourself right in front of the Adriatic Sea. The hostel’s sea-side patio is equipped with beach chairs, a diving board, ladder, snorkel supplies, and lots of cute kittens roaming about. Get yourself a few beers, snacks from the market, fresh figs, and a good (electronic) book. What more could you want?
We often snacked from the fig tree outside our window. We were only familiar with the Newton variety, so we had no idea what to expect. When fresh, I can only describe them as a slightly milder and sweeter pomegranate, but they taste much different after drying.
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The room we stayed in made me love Hostel Adria even more. The place wasn’t fully booked when we arrived, so Sanja upgraded us to a private room with a balcony overlooking the sea with no extra charge. The view was great, the weather was great, and the place was beautiful. Plus, it had a kitchen! Needless to say, we extended our reservation as did nearly every other guest.
The inhabitants of this little coastal town are mostly friendly fishermen who cook outside on the weekends with their family and friends. There was always the sound of people laughing, water splashing, children playing, and boats motoring by. Just a short walk up or down the road were little rocky beaches with boats strung up near the piers or decaying on the land. Every home had figs drying on their patios and clothes blowing on the balconies. It was a charming place.
The hostel was close to a tiny little market manned by an older lady who spoke little to no English. It was a well-stocked little room with pretty much everything a person could want. It was also fun to try to communicate how many slices of salami we wanted. There was a pizza delivery place to call if we didn’t feel like cooking– very respectable and delivered right to our beach chairs.
We cooked several meals in our private kitchen. We spent most of our five days in our bathing suits or pajamas, lounging on the balcony. I would venture downstairs once in a while to make a cup of tea, or jump in the water to cool off. It was always our plan to head into Split and see the city for the day, but we just couldn’t pull ourselves away from our little seaside home.
The very best part was that we got all this for under $50 per day. I would never have guessed you could find a private room right on the Mediterranean (plus free breakfast) for this cheap.
We even had plenty of socializing. We met many people during our stay such as Adam and Michael and several people we continued to bump into in Dubrovnik and throughout Bosnia. There was also a very nice Turkish guy named Efe who offered to let us stay with him when head to Istanbul on October 4. We relaxed in the evenings chatting with Canadians, Aussies, Ukranians, Germans, and Americans about traveling, politics, and culture.
It’s amazing how fast you can become attached to a place. It almost felt like our home. We were sad to say goodbye to the beautiful hostel when our five nights were up, but we knew we needed to move on.
We stayed in Split for a night and then headed to the islands. Split and the island of Hvar are both beautiful, but all the tourists and higher prices in Hvar detracted a bit from the charm. In Split it was great to wander through Diocletian’s Palace and think of the centuries of history that have passed across the same cobblestones that are under your feet. It was a very laid back and livable city. There are a few historic sights to see, but it is mostly a place to relax, get some Surf ‘n’ Fries, watch the ships come and go, shop, and meet people.
We didn’t realize it at the time, but our lazy days at Hostel Adria were the calm before the storm…
On our first morning in Hvar, our MacBook suddenly crashed. We were stuck on an island with only two ferries per day back to the mainland. Unfortunately, we had to skip the rest of our island hopping to deal with the computer issue. That is a long story, so look for Clark’s dedicated post to this issue.
After deciding on a chaotic game plan for the computer, we realized that nothing could be done over the weekend, so why not kick back? Back to Hostel Adria, of course!
We spent two more nights and played a very unsuccessful game of Sheepshead with a Canadian, French Canadian, and German. After that failed miserably, we ended up playing a word game that ended up being pretty fun despite limited English skills amongst our group.
The next day, Clark headed north on the repair mission, and I made my way down to Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik is the place for boating tourists in Dalmatia. A different massive cruise ship or two were in the harbor every single night. We stayed in another family run hostel, Dubrovnik Backpackers Club. Guests here arrive to the wonderful smell of food cooking in the kitchen, a welcome drink, and friendly owner giving lots of great information about the buses, the sites, and Dubrovnik’s history with the Ottoman Empire. (He admitted to me the next morning that he talked so much the night before because he was a little drunk.) His wife cooks, chats with the guests, and remembers their names! Their sons help run the hostel and take people out on excursions. You can’t find a more charming and friendly family!
Dubrovnik is especially impressive at night. With the towering city walls, you can see why the city was never taken by invaders. But, it was not our favorite stop on the coast. There are a few too many cruise ships filling old town with tour groups during the day. They do, however, have some great rocky beaches with the same crystal clear water that we’ve grown to love in Croatia and good snorkeling, kayaking, diving, rafting, etc. We spent our last days in Croatia soaking up the sun and kayaking Dubrovnik’s coast with some fun-loving British blokes “on holiday.”
Our time in Croatia was exactly what we wanted it to be (minus the computer trouble). I highly recommend a visit here. You’ll also learn a lot about the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990′s (which is also for a later post). The people are very willing to share their stories. The Balkans is an extremely underrated region, and it was a great month. I hope we can make it over again someday.
Posted from: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kim & Clark Kays quit their jobs for an uncertain trip around the world. Originally from St. Louis, they relocated to Chicago after getting married in 2005. After working for five years in middle school and the Fortune 500, they realized there was more to life than the 9-to-5, so made the crazy decision to exchange money for time rather than the other way around.
Their hobbies include fighting over writing styles and searching for gelato. They think food, beer, architecture, and photography are some of the best things about travel—especially when combined. Their travel blog, To Uncertainty and Beyond, includes long-term travel tips as well as humorous anecdotes from their journey through Europe and Asia. They invite you to experience their journey and learn from their adventures and mistakes.
