10 Days in Croatia

Have you ever gone on holiday somewhere and just thought to yourself "WOW". Well when I went to Croatia in 2019 I thought exactly that!

My intended route was the cheapest I could find flying from Manchester to Zadar, then to Split then to Dubrovnik returning back to Manchester.

This was definitely an action packed holiday to say the least.

Zadar - 2 days

I arrived pretty late into Zadar due to my flight being a late afternoon flight and it taking just over 4 hours to fly there from Manchester but I arrived at the Hi Hostel and it was very strange. The whole layout was you go through one set of doors to one room as if you were going through a set of dorms to get to the dorm that I would be staying in but there were windows with curtains drawn where other people were sleeping. When I got to my bunk and starting getting settled, there was someone behind a curtain being nosy and peeping at me behind the curtain which was funny but a bit invasive and awkward.

I spent the day in Zadar just wandering around not really knowing what there was to see or do, but after a quick google, I came across the Sea Organ which is a set of steps with a number of holes carved into them so when the waves of the sea meets them, it sounds like they're playing music - as given in the name, it sounds like an organ. I also found an area of bars near a man made swimming pool which formed part of a sports and leisure centre with diving boards created around part of the sea. They had music playing and just generally it was nice to sit and relax and enjoy the lovely weather.

You can walk around the various squares, the old town and take in the nature and vibes of the town.

Plitvice Lakes - National Park

I spent my second day in Croatia on my first 'Get Your Guide Tour' which was a 10 hour tour including pickup, transfers, food and water and transportation in a tour bus. To date this is one of my favourite tours I have done and the overall experience was absolutely breathtaking. The day stared meeting in the centre of town, where you get a ini bus to the coach / car park meeting point to be transferred onto the tour bus. You receive a lunch pack for the day and then the tour began with a 2 hour drive to the National Park which drove through gorgeous Crottian scenery and landscapes. Our tour guide was very informative about the park, explaining the different kinds of wildlife we may see and giving us an in depth knowledge about the park itself.

I don't think I have ever seen such clear blue water anywhere in the world as I did here, the waterfalls are stunning, we saw some colourful fish and overall the scenery was just gorgeous.

Split - 4 days - (1 Day of travel from Split to Dubrovnik)

I had my first experience on a Flix bus taking 2 hours and 15 minutes. I arrived into Split bus station around late afternoon / early evening and I felt pretty exhasuted so I grabbed some bits of food for dinner and checked into the Hostel located down an alley near the Game of thrones museum in Split old town. I met Abby, from new Zealand and spent the evening just talking about our travels but unfortunately she was leaving the day after I arrived which was gutting as she seemed really friendly.

going round the Game of Thrones museum, I had a photo in the area of the palace with some dressed up romans who were acting out fights and there was some celebrations going on so I stood watching.

I also had another Get Your Guide tour which was a hop on hop off speed boat tour hat took you around 5 of the surrounding islands. It was a full 10 hour day starting at 7:30 at the Split old town pier and whilst riding on the speed boat, it felt like being in a James Bons movie. I really enjoyed this tour as we stopped off at a blue cave on Bisevo Island, where the water glowed with an illuminous blue, we then stopped off at the island where they filmed part of the Mama Mia films, we then stopped off near a beach where you can go snorkelling with the fish, here I failed at an attempt to backflip off the boat which was pretty comical for some of the other tour attendees and we had a laugh about it when I got back onto the boat.

We also stopped off at Hvar, also known as the party island and I had a walk around and had a late lunch. I opted for some Fish and Chips as it was the only thing on the menu that I could understand as it was all croatian.

Another thing I was told to go see if I ran out of things to see and do was by Abby, and it was called the frog museum, essentially, they had a bunch of frog statues doing weird things which was very unusual and something I hadn't seen anywhere else in Europe.

Dubrovnik - 3 days

The bus from Split to Dubrovnik took around 4.5 hours as the route takes you through the border of Montenegro through the mountains so we had to stop off to show passports. I had a nap on the bus and was awoken by an angry montenegran shouting "passport passport" but when we had a toilet break, you could go take pictures of the lake and mountains.

I think Dubrovnik was probably my favourite city on this trip, likely down to the people I met. I met 3 americans and 1 lovely guy named Mobeen who was from Liverpool. As soon as I arrived, Julio, Jewliana and Eddy (I couldn't remember his actual name) were very lovely and we all went out to the beach and grabbed some burgers and chips as we watched the sun set and just talked about our travel adventures in Croatia.

The first morning was very eventful as it turned out the hostel we were staying in was infested with bed bugs. Obviously, there was a lot of panic, I didn't seem to have any problems but Eddy was very agitated by this so the owners setup new accomodation provisions for us. Myself and Mubeen got upgraded to the penthouse for free which to date is one of the greatest stays I have ever had. The other 3 had to be moved to other hostels and Eddy moved in with an elderley woman who baked him croatian pastries.

Myself and Mubeen spent the next day walking around the walls and castle of Dubrovnik in the 28 degree sun. We also spent the evening up the mountain, going up in a cable cart to the top of the mountain which overlooked the whole city and you can see the islands that surrounded Dubrovnik too, getting a gorgeous pictureesque view of Dubroknik and the sea. We then decided we would walk down the moutnain at sunset however, we soon realised we had agreed to meet Julio and Jewliana for dinner so we had to run down the mountain in the space of 30 minutes. Note to self, not worth doing if you don't want to mess your ankles up. We met up in Dubrovnik old town for food and decided we would go for a night out in the castle in old town. It was such a great experience although I may have got a little drunk, but they had pyro dancers, the DJ belted remixes of Pop chart songs and overall the place was very interesting.