Europe 2014: Zadar & Split (Croatia)

Notes - click on the links to the right in 'blog archive' for our other 20+ blogs. We are writing this for our family & friends and to have a record of our trip. We have also put in a few details that might help plan a trip or bring back memories.

Saturday 5th July 2014 Zadar (2 nights)

No big cars welcome in this car park

Today we set forth from Plitvice Lakes to Zadar. Arriving in Zadar, a tight turn through a narrow gap and voila we have reached the "free parking area" advertised with our apartment and nosed in to the last available spot on the vacant block. The apartment was (again) all that we needed; great location, clean, air-con worked a treat and fast wifi. It appears that as a backpacker you could simply turn up in one of these towns and have no trouble getting accommodation (its like every third resident has an apartment to rent) but it has been so stress free having made bookings ahead, turning up and being happy that the booking has everything as advertised and having good internet for our horses etc. The situation was so different before the internet. Travel agents apparently still make good money but that seems curious as the internet makes the globe more connected.

Zadar - Greeting of the sun

At dusk we walked the seaside promenade to the Greeting of the Sun and the Sea Organ which are two very popular attractions in the wharf area. It seems like every tourist (and there are plenty) plus many locals head down to watch the solar panels that have gathered energy during the day put on a light show. People can walk on top of it.

The Sea Organ nearby makes sounds like whalesong for want of a better description as the swell/waves roll under the wharf. It must have something like a floating pipe with a cap on it that slides on an internal pipe forcing air through the different pitched organ pipes. The sound is really quite nice and we sat and listened both nights for at least half hour. It was almost meditative with the lapping of the water and the groans of the organ pipe.

This baby dancing was the star of the show

There was also some buskers including a guy drumming and a group of five young guys who did an energetic break-dance type of show. When they were trying to get a crowd gathering to start their show they had on some loud music on and a baby got in the middle of the circle and danced his socks off which was super funny.

With the World Cup soccer on everyone is excited and most of the restaurants and bars are showing all the matches which means people are out from 6pm for the first match until midnight when the 10pm match finishes.

In summary, neither us would rate Zadar as a must see place, but one night to experience the Sea Organ and the hustle and bustle of the ocean promenade would be ideal as it was an experience (although we hate one night stays anywhere, too stressful). The sea organ would go well at any seaside town and pretty cheap probably.

Note: Visiting Krka National Park was not in our plans but in retrospect wish it had been. From what we have learned the waterfalls and waterholes appear stunning and you can swim in them, something that can't be done at Plitvice (and if you happen to be travelling with children that would be sure to be such a bonus as simply 'walking' and 'enjoying the surroundings' is surely more of an adult thing). We aren't going to backtrack for the driving day trip so simply hope that the future will allow us another visit to this beautiful country and we will enjoy it then.

Monday 7th July 2014 Split (3 nights)

Support the young entrepreneurs - everything tasted magnificent

We drove the coast road the entire way from Zadar to Split (not the GPS toll route) and that was a great idea as it was very scenic and took us through lots of little towns. The traffic was easy to manage (unless you wanted to park near a beach) and the drive was only 45 minutes or so longer than the toll road. The houses that lined the road between beach hot spots all had big gardens where various fruit and veg were grown. Roadside stalls were manned by the owners or their teenage children selling the fruits of their gardens. Keen to support them, we ended up with heaps of tasty, juicy fruit, especially nectarines, grapes and cherries, a rockmelon and a massive watermelon.

The last destination town we stopped in before Split was Trogir, a well preserved walled town full of cafes, restaurants and trinket shops. Despite the tourism overload, it was still a charming little town with narrow cobblestone streets and plenty of character.

At our lunch stop on the drive to Split we noticed the old roofed house with 5A on the door is attached to the new townhouse overlooking the beach. It looked pretty funny with the old and modern joined.

Following our hosts directions for Split, we drove to one street above the 'pedestrian only' street to our accommodation and lucked upon a space big enough to park our car in fairly close to the stone stairs that descended to the narrow lane below where we found our little apartment and home for the next three nights in the 'Old Town' of Split.

A bustling metropolis, the 'Old Town' seems the only area you would want to stay in. The waterside promenade and busy port make for an impressive looking area and the Diocletians Palace (that encompasses most of the old town) is....impressive, has great markets and a wonderful open square that puts on night time entertainment..... is too filled with souvenir shops, too busy, too noisy and smelly? The name Split (Spialato in Italian) is derived from the Latin palatium (palace), it was founded way back in 295AD by the Roman emperor Diocletian who built the palace. We are both still 'split' on whether we truly like the town.

(We read about some private sulphur baths - could this be the smell that is offensive from time to time?..)

Split waterfront

We decided to only bring one laptop on the trip which was a mistake as AR is busy doing horses, blog, business things etc. and SR is planning/booking the rest of the trip and doing a cut down version of her horses too so we spent a few hours trying to find a shop in Split and then deciding between the 4 choices of small laptop or hybrid that suited us. It was amazing as a Harvey Norman type shop in a shopping centre had 30 laptops to choose from but all 15inch and then a smaller shop had another 20 also 15inch plus the 4 we chose from. There were 3 WIN8 tablets with detachable keyboards plus the one we settled on an HP 11.5inch notebook where the screen doesn't detach but can be folded right around and be used as a tablet. The guy helping us decide didn't like tablets at all. The tablet choices didn't have much space with one only 32gig so after WIN8 not much room for anything. SR is very happy with our choice and it is red as well.

Wednesday 9th July... Day trip to Hvar

We caught the huge fast cat at 9:15am which takes 1 hour to Hvar for 70 kuna ($A14) one way. AR took ginger tablets and we sat 5 rows from the back where there is usually less rolling but not right in the back where it is too noisy (and can become sick bay if it is rough). It wasn't long before the sick bags were out and 20 or so people were becoming increasingly ill.

Once we passed out of the calmest water and through the island passage there were white caps and a big swell and the cat was leaping over the waves and then dropping 30 feet and as one Aussie guy said to his mate "they are selling Army Rations everywhere up the front I had to get out of there". The crew were spraying air freshener down the aisles. AR tried to help the sickest girl with some ginger tablets and telling her to look at the horizon and move her focus rather than blankly staring at it but she was too far gone and by the end was just a foetal position mess.

Everyone was pleased to arrive in beautiful Hvar either for dry land or fresh air. The staff were very good with the sick people getting them off first so they could worship the wharf. The really sick girl just stayed there right by the gangplank and then later we saw the staff putting her into a golf cart and taking her & boyfriend all the way down the wharf. They were supposed to be doing a day trip too but we suggested they would be better on the more stable car ferry and they decided to stay the night and return the next day.

We went to the Cathedral of St Stephen first, as it closes at noon, where a very friendly man thanked us for visiting his country and the cathedral and gave us a printed leaflet to the church for the entrance of 10 kuna ($A2). It was a nice church for a small town.

Then we went to the monastery museum which was 25 kuna ($A5) which usually shuts at noon (but had a 1pm sticker maybe for July/Aug) and had a look at their art and a very small museum plus an interesting small chapel. There was a sun clock in the courtyard which was telling the time accurately.

Hvar monastery

Time arrived to climb for 20 minutes up to the fort which would have been better earlier but the two siesta deadlines on the cathedral & monastery meant it was pretty hot. The views were great and it was very interesting. It had actually saved the townspeople in 1571 when they took shelter behind the walls after the Turks plundered the town and set fire to it. Just eight years later (1579) lightning struck the gunpowder store (how unlucky for it to strike that specific spot!) causing considerable damage to the fort and town below.

Hvar

There was a basement prison with six or so small cells, each with a hole to let in light and give the prisoners a view of beautiful Hvar below and ponder their crimes.

We had lunch and then walked around past all the yachts on tour to the huge resort. There were about twenty or so yachts all tied together and it is popular in Croatia to either hire a yacht or go on a tour like yacht week sailing from island to island. Big party time by the looks of things.

The resort area had heaps of people soaking up the UV rays and was a very beautiful walk. Time to head back to queue for our 3:50pm return ferry so we could sit together and preferably up the back.

Again people were sick but not as bad as in the morning. We head off on a car ferry tomorrow for the island of Korcula for our next adventure armed with ginger tablets.

A small corner of the F&V market in Split

This is a Split alley and just before this is a big notice painted on the ground 'WC this way' with an arrow. Would have been funny to get the sign in the photo too but a bit slow.

Not sure what these guys were up to but the looked the part standing at the gate to Split town

Fountain in Split

World Cup big screen - this was getting ready for the night Germany beat Brazil 7-1 and there are heaps of German tourists with lots of young people wearing German flags for the day. All the waiters speak English and German plus some Italian.