Croatia: part 1

We are venturing to Eastern Europe for this trip which is an area that was so off my radar before I came to Saudi. Our first stop is Croatia with Jay and family and then we are heading on to Budapest alone. Planning this trip was more difficult because the information wasn't as stream lined as other places throughout Europe we've been in the past. Plus, I knew nothing about the country so it took a bunch of back research too. From a trip to the US we didn't take we had a United voucher that was due to expire so we used it to go Croatia. Our flight wasn't great but for United it was okay, 4 stops which is as many as we've ever had. 

Newsflash: Four stops = too many, never again! It started out with a larger possibility of failure because we were all suffering through some sinus trouble thanks to the Saudi sand. Our flight was Thursday (Saudi start of the weekend) evening from Bahrain so to avoid unnecessary trouble on the causeway we went over early and had dinner. My lack of USDA meat in 9 months may have skewed my opinion but that was quite possibly the BEST burger I've ever had. From there it's pretty much a blur of too many airports and not enough sleep until we finally reach Dubrovnik. 

Another new adventure we are experiencing this trip is renting a car, we've always relied on public transport when traveling abroad but Croatia has no trains and the bus stops/stations were few and far between. With our lofty goal of traveling up the entire coast the only way it was possible was by car. Picking up the rental was painless and I spared myself the shame of having to ask how to turn it on thanks to a couple brain cells I reserved from travels, silly foreign cars. Driving in Croatia is not for the weak hearted! Although, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of directional signs and the condition of the road in/around Dubrovnik. Once we got settled into the gorgeous Villa Voga we crashed after too long of travel days. 

On our first full day in Dubrovnik we were joined by my Aunt and Uncle with their two daughters. Recovered from our exhaustive travels we could really appreciate the beauty of the area, we were greeted with breathtaking views and the sound of the Sea crashing on the rocks below. After we all got settled we decided to explore some of the smaller towns surrounding Dubrovnik. We drove to the closest town, Mlini and went on a lengthy search for parking, which may or may not have included driving on some pedestrian walkways. After multiple dirty looks from passersby, a couple tight uturns, and one complete restart from the highway we found the parking lot. A walkway of stairs led down into the city and we were finally off adventuring. Mlini is a cute little town with a pier, some restaurants and a couple pebble beaches. 

We stumbled upon a tour guy who offered to take us on to a private island in a speed boat for lunch. Why not? So ten minutes later we are swept away to an island for a fish lunch with a breathtaking view of the city and surrounding area. We hung out a while and explored the island a bit before returning to walk around some more. We wondered the pedestrian strand for a couple hours, sitting seaside for a glass of wine and letting the kids play in the rocks on the beach.

 

 For dinner we decided to head to another surrounding town named Cavtot. It was a little larger and was nice to wander in the evening lights.  

Day two we headed into Dubrovnik, the day started with a similar parking dilemma. Although all the frustrating driving around did lead us to another first: a ride in a car elevator in a fancy hotel parking garage. We took in the picturesque city and got our bearings before heading into the gate. 

I had gotten recommendations from a couple people to eat at Lady Pi Pi (pronounced pee-pee not pie-pie, thanks to a statue of a women peeing in front of the restaurant, designed by a man I'm sure) of course it was at the top of the city. 300 stairs later we arrived, really hopefully it was worthy of the climb. Verdict: Meh, interesting place, decent food but nothing to write home about.

 

 After lunch we walked back to ground level and went searching for the traditional jewelry of Dubrovnik. We found some gorgeous necklaces and a bracelet Maddy somehow conned out of a street vendor. After a quick gellato break it was time to meet our guide and start our tour of the city walls. Stefi was a wonderful tour guide, so informative about all things Croatia! She made Dubrovnik and the history of Croatia really come alive for us. Maddy was wonderful as we climbed countless stairs and the 2 miles of the city walls.  After the wall walk our guide walked us through the old town showing us some buildings and explaining the history. I was completely naive to how tied to Vince Croatia's past is or how recent their freedom from Yugoslavia. They only joined the European Union last year. She dropped us off at a delicious local restaurant that was the best we've had so far, Capon. 

The highlight of her afternoon was see her first "water train" aka a submarine and finding 'jails' to play in on the wall.

 

The following day we headed to the cable car station to take a ride up the Mount Srd. It has an aerial view of Dubrovnik along with a museum to the 1990 war. Although the Rick Steve's warning made it seem a little dangerous (stay on the paths because they don't know if they've found all the landmines) we decided to risk the journey. We found a cozy and close pizza place for lunch that served surprisingly good pizza with relatively lousy service, Tabasscos. After lunch we continued our journey along the city walls to find a beach for the kids to play. We found one and after trekking some more stairs arrived, it was short lived when I realized the error of my ways of thinking my 3 yr old would follow any rules without me in the water. And an important lesson about the pain of standing on pebbles for a long time. After a long, hot trek uphill back to the car we had hit our max for the day. We returned to Villa Voga, lounged in the bathtub and enjoyed the view. We finished the evening with wine, beer and some snacks on the patio. It was the perfect final day in a beautiful city.