We did an eight day driving road trip through Croatia and Bosnia!
We left early Saturday morning as we had dropped off the dogs the night before. Our first intended stop was the Wurzenpass Bunker Museum, about six hours away, on the border of Austria and Slovenia.
Unfortunately, European summer traffic was not on our side. It poured rain, causing several accidents along the way. What should have been a six hour drive to the Museum, turned into ten. Since it was raining, we decided to try and stop on the way home instead.
Four hourse after we passed the Museum, we made it to Rovinj, Croatia, on the Istrian peninsula. Rovinj would be our base for the next two days. It was still raining when we arrived and calling for thunderstorms the entire following day. We ate ramen in our apartment and the rain let up enough for Matt and I to walk down to the waterfront for some drinks. There, they had the best cover band we think we’ve ever heard. They sung everything from Bruce Springsteen to Adele to Beyoncé.
When we got up Sunday, it was still raining. Despite the rain, it was still so bright out. I guess I have gotten really used to sleeping with the metal German shades that black everything out. When I woke up, I asked Matt why he turned the lights on, when really it was just the light from outside, lol. Matt and I went to the supermarket to pick up some food and when we came out of the store, the sun was shining. We rushed back to the hotel and down to the beach, where we spent the whole day. There were a couple a times some dark clouds looked like they were moving in, but it never actually rained. It was a beach miracle! Our one true beach day was saved and it was just what we needed.
For dinner, we drove into Rovinj’s old town and attempted to do a walk around the medieval city but we started getting blasted by strong winds and whipped-up sand. As we started walking back towards the town square, it started hailing and pouring rain. We took shelter in the first open building we found while the hail continued pounding down.
It ended up being an Italian restaurant so we decided to eat while there. The pizza was good, but the service was sooooo slow. The worst part was our mozzarella caprese salad that was served with sliced deli cheese! What!? They must have run out of the fresh and thought American tourists wouldn’t know the difference. We managed to finish them but definitely regretted ordering two. When we finally got the bill and paid, we decided to run for the car instead of waiting for a break in the rain. It was an eerie yellow outside because the sun was attempting to come out through the rain, but there were also lots of rainbows.
Monday morning, we had planned to do some sightseeing in Pula, but the weather was beautiful so we decided to make it another beach day instead. We spent most of the day back at the beach before leaving around 3pm time to make the four hour drive to Plitvices Lakes in central Croatia.
On our way to Plitvices, we stopped at a Lidl for groceries. There, the kids found the best treasure: Lidl sneakers! Apparently these things are hard to find and are resold on eBay for hundreds of dollars even though they only cost €15. They were so excited to have found these out in the middle of nowhere!
Tuesday, we spent the entire day in Plitvices National Park. I, being myself, did not purchase tickets in advance. I like to keep plans relatively loose. But this meant the park was sold out the day we planned to go. Our only option was to arrive at the park by 6:30am and hope for some extra tickets they hand out each day. Early that morning, the park advertised they would have 60 extra tickets. When we showed up, we were 12th in line and luckily, were able to grab four!
We entered the park right away, but this meant the famous waterfall and gorge were hidden in shadow. We had a coffee and hung out at the start for awhile, and then re-entered an hour later. The gorge was still in shade, but the sun was starting to come through. Plitvices Lakes is a series of sixteen lakes at different elevations, all connected by waterfalls. It is famous for its super green-blue water.
All of the lakes were so pretty, and it seemed like each of them were their own shade of blue-green. It definitely made us think of the Garden of Eden or Fern Gully.
All of the lakes are connected by a series of trails, wooden boardwalks, and steps. It took us about five hours to hike through the entire park, including a boat ride across the middle lake, which is the longest of the sixteen. Once we reached the top of the lakes, we stopped for ice cream and drinks before riding the tram back to the bottom, where we started.
Since we still had time in our day, we went back to the Lower Lakes and ‘re-hiked’ the portion that was in shade when we arrived earlier. The lower lakes were definitely prettier as the sun came out and shone on the turquoise water. It was midday so the water was SO green! It was also so crowded with tourists as the tour busses from the coast arrive midday, I’m still glad we were able to enjoy it earlier with less people on the trails.
It was a great day out and we loved hiking the park. If I had it to do over though (and was a better planner, with tickets in hand), I would have started the morning at the Upper Lakes, and hiked down to the bottom, instead of starting at the bottom and hiking up. There was also almost no food available within the park, even though what I had read in advance said there were plenty of food options. We only saw drinks, ice cream, and a couple of sandwiches the whole time. Thank goodness we brought some crackers and granola bars with us to hold us over until we could eat after we departed.
During our stay in Plitvices, we stayed in a guesthouse in a town about 30 minutes away, called Korenica. There were lots of guesthouses and restaurants and we had two really good dinners in town.
Wednesday, we were back on the road again. We drove about two hours before reaching Krka National Park. We were excited to see another national park filled with waterfalls, but this one, you could swim in! When we arrived, we boarded a boat that would take us through the marsh to the base of the waterfalls.
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the base of the waterfall, there was a big sign that said no swimming. After a google search, we learned that they had outlawed swimming in the waterfalls two years ago to preserve the flora and fauna. We were not the only ones who did not get the memo. Almost everyone we saw was wearing bathing suits and was carrying a towel. It’s great that they are preserving the environment but it was really hot and the water looked so nice!
We still enjoyed our time in the park. We hiked to the top of the waterfalls and walked through green ponds, filled with fish. There is plenty of food available within Krka National Park and we had a good lunch before heading back to the boat that would take us back to our car.
After Krka, we drove the rest of the way to Split. The drive itself only took two hours but since we arrived around dinner time, it took us another hour to find parking. Our Airbnb was literally in the middle of Diocletian’s palace and car parking was not a priority in Roman times. We did finally get parked and checked into our apartment before going for a walk around the Roman city and having dinner in a restaurant nearby. We were ready to try mozzarella caprese again after our deli cheese experience in Rovinj and were rewarded with one of the best caprese salads we’ve ever had.
Thursday, we went on a day-long boat tour. This was everyone’s favorite day of the week and the main reason for me planning a trip to Croatia as a friend of mine had raved about doing a similar boat cruise. We met the boat right on the Split waterfront, which they call the “Riva.” I surprised the family by booking the boat cruise on a pirate ship. This probably wasn’t really a surprise for them though. Just about every beach destination in Europe has some kind of pirate cruise ship that is always playing loud music and I’ve always said I wanted to go on one. I had really talked them up the whole trip so when Matt, Brooklyn, and Ryan saw the boat, they could do nothing but laugh.
The boat took us out into the islands and the “Blue Lagoon” that surrounds Split and made three stops. The first stop was about an hour cruise from Split and was close to a beach with really clear water. The boat put its anchor down and everyone jumped in. The water was actually pretty warm and a lot of us swam all the way to the beach. The boat gave us snorkel masks and after we had already walking around by the beach, we looked in the water and discovered the sea floor was covered in sea urchins. There was almost nowhere to put your feet and we were amazed that no one had stepped on one already. It only took about another two minutes before Brooklyn did step on an urchin and we needed to swim back to the boat where we worked to pull the needles out. Luckily, she made a speedy recovery, once they were removed but we were cautious about putting out feet down after that.
While we swam at this spot, the boat crew cooked lunch for everyone on a giant grill that was built onto the side of the ship. We did a little more swimming and jumping into the water from the upper level of the boat, and then lunch was served as we cruised to our next destination.
The second stop was not at a beach, but more of a deep clear area of water for more swimming. There were a ton of boats here and the kids had a ton of fun swimming and jumping into the deep water.
The last stop on the boat was at a hidden beach with another inflatable obstacle course and an underwater museum. The boat docked and we all walked down to the beach where we could wade in. Ryan swam wayyyy out to the obstacle course and completed them all and then did the underwater museum on his own before swimming back. He is really becoming a strong swimmer! I’m not sure the distance that he covered but he was gone about twenty minutes and all of it in water that was too deep to stand in. When he came back, he insisted someone come back and do it again with him. This time, I swam out and even though I consider myself a strong swimmer, I still had to take a couple of breaks to float.
The boat returned us back to the Split Riva and we had dinner and did some shopping downtown.
Friday, we packed up again and departed our apartment in Split. Before leaving the area, we stopped at a beach just outside of the city center. The water was so blue here! The kids and I floated for a few hours while Matt sat on the beach. We stopped at a food court in a mall for lunch before continuing our drive to Bosnia.
Our next destination was Mostar, in the Herzogovina region of southern Bosnia. We had to do a border crossing that required two stops and two passport stamps since Bosnia is not part of the EU. For Matt and I, it was a little strange to be visiting a place that we heard so much about on the news as children as being in an active war. The Bosnian War occurred after the breakdown of Yugoslavia in 1992. The three main populations: Bosniak Muslims, Catholic Croats, and Orthodox Serbs could not agree on several issues related to the country’s secession from former Yugoslavia, leading to three years of war. The country is no longer at war, but the same tensions that led to the Bosnian War of the 1990s are re-surfacing, so we proceeded with caution. As an example, as we drove from Croatia to Bosnia, we passed a procession of wedding cars. The lead car with the bridal couple, was decorated in Croatian colors and was flying a huge Croatian flag. The people are certainly passionate enough to make their political affiliations part of their wedding day.
Once we were on our way we realized that gas is much cheaper here, like .50/liter cheaper than Germany. The roads were also not quite at nice as they were just across the border in Croatia. After an hour of winding roads over mountains, we arrived in Mostar and checked into our AirBnb. The sweetest old lady, Radmila, let us in. Her son, who owns the apartment, must be an artist as it was completely covered in interesting paintings and sculptures. We took a short rest and then headed out for a walk around town.
We started on the Lucki Bridge where we took picture’s of Mostar’s famous Old Bridge and the river below. Then, we continued our walk around the old town, where we heard the Islamic call to prayer. Bosnia was previously part of the Ottoman Empire so there is a large Muslim population in the southern region. The town did look a lot like Turkey, which was a little unexpected. The market even had shops selling Turkish rugs and lamps, but at cheaper prices than in Turkey. I have wanted a Turkish lamp for some time but could not get over the prices. In Bosnia, they were selling for less than $50 so we were finally able to make the purchase.
We climbed up the Mostar Old Bridge in time to see some jumpers. The bridge was bombed during the Bosnian War in 1993 but has been completely re-built in the same style. So, technically, its not really that old.
The bridge is famous for its jumpers that ask and ask and ask for donations in order to jump, sometimes making people wait for up to an hour before they actually do it. We got there just in time to see it, without them asking us for money. We continued our walk around town, which is paved in super-smooth, slippery rocks and tried not to break our necks or Matt’s new knee.
We had dinner in a restruant overlooking the Old Bridge and river and heard the call to prayer again. After dinner, we stopped in a supermarket for 2 liters of water, a half liter of milk, and a liter of Coke zero. The total came to less than a $1. What is this place?! How can they afford to do this when its so much more expensive just across the border? It makes you think a lot about corporate up-selling.
Saturday, we checked out of the apartment and got back on the road. On the way out of town, we passed a huge Marriott that was under construction. At the moment, there are no big or chain hotels in the town so this will be its first. It is definitely going to blow up the tourism in the tiny town, which was already so crowded.
Before leaving Bosnia, we stopped at the Kravica Waterfall, which is a big waterfall that you can actually swim in. It was so nice, but sooo cold since the water is running down directly off the mountain peaks. I think if it was any colder, there would have been ice chips in it, because you got numb very quickly when you got in. Matt and Brooklyn opted to watch from the edge but Ryan and I both got in. Ryan also decided to do a seven minute submersion challenge, where he submerged everything but his head for 7 minutes. He actually went a little over the time because I forgot to tell him the time was up- oops! After the waterfall, we made the four hour drive north to Croatia’s capital, Zagreb.
Bosnia was definitely an interesting country, even for our short time there. Some things that stuck out were the cheap prices for everything, the limited highway system, and that smoking is allowed indoors everywhere; even the ticket building for the waterfalls and inside gas stations. The people were also so, so kind and welcoming.
After we got to Zagreb, we checked into our hotel, we did a short walk around the city. There were hardly any people anywhere until we approached the Main Square, which was packed. We ate dinner at the “American Grill & Steakhouse.” Matt and I split the “American Combo” which consisted of three filet mignons, a tomahawk steak, a full rack of ribs, chicken wings, french fries, and onion rings and it was cheap! The entire family could have shared it so we regretted having the kids order their own meals. The ended up having to help us finish it.
Sunday was our last day on the road. We left Zagreb after breakfast to make the nine hour drive home. The first stop was on the Austrian-Slovenia border at the Wuzenpass Bunker Museum. Ohhhh the Bunker Museum. We stopped here during our first summer on the way home from Lake Bled and Ryan has been asking to return ever since. We tried to take him back last year but of course it was closed the day we went. This time, we were more successful. We toured the outdoor museum and bunker again and were all able to take a ride in the working tank that they have. This time, they were even serving food “from the camp stove” and we all had Goulash soup for lunch. Ryan said he loved it even more this time then last time.
We finally made it home in time for sunset and to get the washing machine started. Croatia was awesome, we all loved it so much and its hard to choose which part was our favorite. We really liked the hotel in Rovinj and are thinking of going back again. We also don’t feel like we were able to see enough of Split and would like to visit there again, as well as take the ferry to some of the outer islands. One thing to note though is that Croatia switched from the Hvar to the Euro in January of this year and it is no longer a “cheap” travel destination place; their prices have caught right up to Germany’s. The people were also so kind and helpful and its become one of our favorite places we traveled to so far, and definitely want to come back to again.
Next week is the last week before school starts!
Gilcrests Abroad 