Last Hurrah: Mooning in Croatia

Ok, so we weren't really mooning anyone in Croatia, but we like to joke that this was our joint babymoon/honeymoon with Skee & Michelle. We didn't realize until after we booked this trip that it would be our last trip before baby and their first trip since getting married in February. No matter what you call it, it was a fantastic 9 days of sun and relaxation in beautiful Croatia with great friends.

Our route started in Dubrovnik, then on to the island of Korcula for a few days before heading to Split. This was one of the most relaxed trips Nick and I have ever done, as there really weren't any "must-dos" for us in any of these locations. We were happy to sleep in, wander the old cities, and just enjoy the views. Croatians' laid-back natures seemed to rub off on us; no one was in a rush to do anything, yet everyone was happy!

Dubrovnik

A super cute, hilly {tons of stairs everywhere!} town. Despite the fact that its over-run by tourists, especially in the middle of the day by cruise ships, and it doesn't feel like a city you could actually live it, it's still a fun place to spend a day or two.

The highlights for us included the two little bars we found just outside the walls, perched on the rocks. A perfect way to spend an afternoon soaking up some sun, drinks in hand. Walking the town walls was also a definite favorite. The views over the rooftops were stunning, especially as the sun was setting, and it gave you a new perspective of the city!

At the "buzas" on the rocks two days in a row!

Skee was embarrassed by our selfie stick, and yet it came in handy!

And of course, what's a visit to Dubrovnik without some Game of Thrones fun?? We debated taking a GoT guided tour, but ultimately decided against it since the price was fairly high, and we weren't sure how much we would get out of it. I found a blog of someone who had found scenes from the show, and we used this to recreate some of our own scenes from the show. If you don't get some of these, you probably need to watch the show. Or we probably can't be friends anymore. :) Oh, and that throne? Stumbled upon it one evening in a shop under construction...the owners invited us in for photos. We are still in debate as to whether this may be the real throne from filming, as news articles report the city bought the throne and will have it on display starting June 1st.

King's Landing & Khaleesi entering the Temple of the Undead

Tips: Walk the walls early in the morning or in evening to avoid the tons of people walking it during the day. I can only imagine how packed this city is during July and August, given what we saw in May; try to visit in the shoulder season! Restaurants were a dime a dozen, rather overpriced, and full of hawkers. Avoid hawkers at all costs. Some that we enjoyed were Taj Mahal {Bosnian food} and Lucin Kantun {tapas style home cooking}.

Korcula Island

For me, probably the highlight of the trip. I would definitely come back here, and could see spending 5-7 days exploring and relaxing. We were immediately struck by the fact that this island seemed to be filled with locals, rather than tourists. We heard very little English being spoken out and about {although everyone still speaks English perfectly!}, and it was if we stepped foot on an island a world away from Dubrovnik, rather than just a few hours away!

Highlights were the water {so clear and beautiful}, cheaper prices, and less crowds. The boys will also say Pizzeria Tedeschi was a highlight. The best pizza they've had outside of Italy {I have to agree}; so good we went twice!  Sunset drinks on top of the old town tower at Massimo was also something not to be missed. We had the entire place to ourselves, which made it that much more special!

Check out that huge fish calzone!

Although we stayed in Korcula Old Town, the island is small enough that it is easy to explore a decent portion on if with a short amount of time. One day we visited Lumbarda for the acclaimed Vela Przine, a sandy beach that you read about in every guide book. Well, let's just say, go to the Bilin Zal beach, not Vela Przina. The water, beach, and views were far superior at Bilin Zal. And the two are only about a 5 minute walk apart!

Some of us were more excited than others, I guess!

Our last adventure in Korcula was a good one. We decided to rent scooters on our last day on the island and check out the Pupnatska Luka beach, which we happened to see a photo of in a brochure we picked up in town. Things started out well, a little photo shoot above Old Town, wind in our hair, and very little traffic. When we arrived about 50 minutes later, we couldn't believe how beautiful this cove was! And to think no guide book ever mentioned this! Stunning water, smooth white pebbles to sit on, and almost no one there!

Kim & Kanye even made an appearance! ;)

Knowing that the first mile of the road back was extremely steep and that our scooters were a bit lacking in the power department, especially with 2 people, we purposely left the beach with plenty of extra time to make our ferry to Split that evening. Or so we thought! 2 minutes from the beach, our scooter made a loud popping noise, and we couldn't get it started afterward. Thankfully, the owner of the place we rented them was very nice and arrived in his car 30 minutes later. Turns out the spark plug had come out, so we restarted again. We quickly realized it would be easier if the boys took the scooters up the steep part of the road and Michelle and I rode in the car with the owner. At the top, we thanked the owner and breathed a sigh of relief that the hard part was over. Needless to say, the spark plug came off again for Nick and I {we end up driving the owner's car back to town, he the scooter}; Skee and Michelle had issues getting theirs started multiple times due to overheating. A bit stressful, but we made it back in time for the ferry, and even had time for an ice cream treat as a reward! Nick may never live down his choice of rental agencies for scooters..."I just have a good feeling about this one, guys..."

Fun on the beach before waiting for help to arrive!

Split

A pretty chill few days spent here; Skee and Michelle have friends who are currently living here, so we spent a lot of time hanging out with them and just relaxing. Highlights for me were walking the old town and the cafe at the Marjan Park. The views over the city were so beautiful that we spent two afternoons reading and relaxing here.

There was a festival going on one of the days we were there, but we quickly learned our North American definition of a festival is not the same as Croatians' definitions. We were all eager to wake up early for the parade until we realized it was just a procession of schools and clergy into basically a huge outdoor mass in scorching heat. We ended up leaving and watched the end in our apartment {2.5 hours later, mind you}. There were a few fireworks at night, and we went to a traditional Croatian klappa concert, which was pretty interesting. Klappa is basically acapella, folk style, which at first was entertaining, but soon became pretty repetitive since there are apparently strict rules about altering the traditional style too much. There were a few groups who made it fun in the middle though!

We also made time for a little beach time {the water so pretty once again}, and ate one of my favorite meals the entire trip at Konoba Marjan. Fresh fish grilled with vegetables served fresh, yum yum! Not high on the highlight list for Split? The nasty sulfur smell that emanated from the harbor!

Plitvice National Park

We took a long day trip from Split to visit this world-famous natural park. It was a pretty decent drive for just a day: 2.5-3 hours each way, but we are so glad we took the time to do it. It was every bit and more spectacular as the pictures I had seen. Again, we were greeted with more tourists than we had seen since Dubrovnik, but it was still enough of the off-season that we didn't feel like sheep being herded. We were still able to meander and go at our own pace, which included stopping for pictures quite often!

The water was really and truly that color {and I'm not sure pictures even do it justice}, as the pure water flows from lake to lake, it calcifies the limestone rock, turning it to travertine, which helps create the jewel-like colors of the different lakes. This is also what creates the waterfalls, and thus new lakes, as the travertine builds up enough to create a waterfall. The entire park is stunning; vegetation every where, and it's very apparent that the park works hard to prevent the degradation of the environment, despite the million plus visitors they receive each year. Even the boats and buses within the park are electric powered!

We highly recommend a visit to anyone--it's cheap outside of Dubrovnik, which is still relatively cheap on Paris standards; the people are extremely friendly and speak great English; and it's downright beautiful! There's so much more to this beautiful country that we didn't get to explore. We will be back, next time focusing primarily on island-hopping and the Markasa region. Check out all of our photos here and here.