Croatia #2 - The Oh-So-Picturesque Coast

After beautiful Plitvice Lakes, we were excited to head to the coast of Croatia. Along the way, the countryside changed from lush green rolling hills with lots of trees, to more dry scrub and it got hot! It seems we are entering the HOT phase of our trip. 

Bill purchased goat cheese from a roadside vendor on our drive to the Croatian coast.

Our first stop along the coast was a city called Zadar.  Zadar has a nice old town with much of the old wall still intact, some Roman ruins, and a church bell tower with great views of the city and the water. My (Kenzi here) favorite thing though, was an organ with underground pipes that was played by the sea and wind. It was so cool to listen to, but difficult to get a picture of, since all you could really see were holes in the pavement. Our AirBnB was in an apartment building that looked very Communist-y, but we had a great view out over the city and enjoyed some nice sunsets. Zadar did not have a beach really. We Americans associate sand with beaches, but here the beach is basically anywhere that land meets water that is somewhat flat. So you'll see people laying out on the cement, the pebbles, the rocks, etc.  We have a new definition for beach now.

Sunset from our AirBnB balcony in Zadar

The "beach" in Zadar. You can see some holes in the ground for the wind and sea organ. 

The view from the bell tower in Zadar. Just gorgeous!

A quick and dirty history lesson: Following WWII, many of the Slavic nations banded together to become the second Yugoslavia (the first Yugoslavia formed after WWI, but that's another story...). Their fearless leader was Josip Tito (everyone today just calls him Tito), a benevolent dictator, who miraculously was able to keep all these diverse groups together in one Communist country for about 45 years. Unfortunately, after Tito died in 1980, things slowly fell apart and led to the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. Yugoslavia officially dissolved in 1992. These wars split Yogoslavia up into a bunch of independent non-Communist nations: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia/Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, and Montenegro. These wars are generally considered the worst European conflict since WWII. They involved some particularly nasty ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and war rape. Approximately 135,000 people died in these wars, which may seem minor compared to WWII's ~60 million dead, but the effects are certainly still felt here. Among other things, the wars had profound economic impacts on the whole region. Inland, we saw the remnants of some bombed out buildings in the countryside. In Zadar, we saw some of the remnants of the war after Yugoslavia's breakup, which included buildings and streets with pock marks from bullets. In Dubrovnik, nearly all of the old town roofs had to be replaced following bomb and mortar attacks. 

Anyway, back to our travels. We also visited a little town up the coast called Nin. Nin is a little island town just off the coast and it has a long history, going back 3000 years. It was settled by the Liburnians, then the Romans, then the Venetians, etc.  Most of the old towns along the Croatian coast were at one point ruled by Venice. Most of the old towns along the coast were also destroyed multiple times due to sieges, or the big earthquake of 1667. Nin has an itty bitty church called the Church of the Holy Cross, which is supposed to be the "smallest cathedral in the world". Nin also has an actual sandy beach and is known for the healing powers of its mud, so we saw lots of people smeared with black mud. I only had the nerve to do it up to my knees.

The "world's smallest cathedral" in Nin, Croatia. 

A replica of the boats that the Nin folks were famous for using centuries ago. 

People slathered in the "healing" black mud in Nin, Croatia. 

The beach in Nin. There was actual sand here. 

Our next stop south along the Croatian coast was a real treat: Trogir. Our AirBnB was in the middle of the medieval old town, complete with narrow windy streets, in which we happily got lost many times. Old town Trogir is also an island. NOTE: Croatia has more than 1,200 islands, 60 of which are inhabited, and all of which are beautiful. We spent two fabulous days on the beaches (pebbly this time) near Trogir and enjoyed LOTS of people watching on the promenade. As you might imagine, the Croatian coast gets lots of European tourists, so you hear many different languages, including lots of German, and some American English here and there.

Narrow, medieval streets of Trogir

One of the beaches near Trogir.

Enjoying the beach near Trogir on my birthday. We even splurged for a beach chair and umbrella!

Trogir has about 2500 years of history. It was populated by the Greeks, then the Romans, and then of course, the Venetians. Many of Trogir's old town buildings are from the 13th-17th century. We really loved getting to stay in the old town section. Our flat was pretty modern but you could tell it was a really old building because none of the floors were level, and the rooms were all oddly shaped. One of the sights on Trogir was the Kamerlengo fortress (15th century), which has nice views of the city from the top.

Kamerlengo Fortress in Trogir, Croatia. 

Atop the Kamerlengo Fortress in Trogir

View of Trogir from the top of Kamerlengo Fortress

After a few days in Trogir, we then drove just a little farther south along the coast to Croatia's 2nd largest city, Split. In the 4th century, Roman Emperor Diocletian was ill, so he became the first Roman emperor to abdicate the throne. He had grown up along the Dalmatian coast, so he had a giant palace built for him there. Diocletian's palace, some of which is still intact today, eventually became medieval Split. Once again, we wandered the narrow streets getting lost. People still live in these old towns, but mostly they are shops and restaurants and museums and cater to tourists.

A very small section of Diocletian's palace. 

Split has a really nice waterfront, which reminded me a lot of San Diego. It gets giant cruise ships, and offers cruises out to the nearby islands. So on our second day in Split, we took a boat out to the nearby islands for some snorkeling. In a stroke of luck, the rest of our group canceled, so we had the boat to ourselves, along with the captain and first mate. Bill finds the water nice and refreshing. I find it cold, but on a couple of the hotter days, I have happily waded in too. The water is extremely clear, but there's not too much to see aside from sea urchins, sea slugs, and the very occasional starfish.

Our captain and first mate in the Split harbor.

Views from our boat ride

We hiked up Marjan hill in Split and found a very neat old 15th century Jewish cemetery, a fun playground (yes, we rode the swings and the teeter totter), and many places for great views. It's a nice way to be away from the crowds, but it's an easy walk from town. For those of you taking notes for your future trips, we highly recommend walking 1/2 way up Marjan hill to a place called Cafe Bar Vidilica where you can order drinks and enjoy an excellent view of the city.

The view of Split from Marjan Hill's Cafe Bar Vidilica

Finally, we left Split by large catamaran ferry headed to our final destination along the Croatian coast, Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a really neat coastal town, with... You guessed it, a walled old town. The cool thing about this one is that the entire wall around Dubrovnik is walkable. It takes 1-2 hours to walk around (partly because you have to stop and take in the views all the time). It is truly spectacular. The city within the wall is almost bowl shaped, so there are some steep staircases as you get closer to the wall on the inside.

Walking Dubrovnik's famous city wall

Bill peeking out from the Dubrovnik wall

Dubrovnik, with the island of Lokrum in the background

Lots of steep stairs within Dubrovnik!

People still live (and do laundry) within Dubrovnik. 

Dubrovnik from outside the walls.

In Dubrovnik, we experienced some of the dichotomy that is Croatia. All things tourist are expensive. For example, it costs more to rent a kayak here than in ritzy La Jolla (San Diego), CA. However, we understand that the average Croatian makes less than 33 kuna/hour ($5/hour). Where is all that money going? The Croatians have just emerged from a 6-year recession. However, their economy is expected to be one of the 10 slowest growing economies in the world this year. Also, we witnessed some inefficiencies, and there's nothing that makes Bill frustrated like inefficiency. For example, we had the fortune of taking many relatively expensive bus rides ($8 round trip) because we were staying a few miles out of the city. Twice it happened that we were trying to leave town to get back out to our house, and our first bus dropped us off at the transfer station about 10 seconds after our second bus left, so we ended up having to wait an hour for the next bus. Bizarre.

Anyway, we had a nice day kayaking around the island that is just off the coast of Dubrovnik called Lokrum. There were some caves and for the second time in Croatia, Bill did some cliff jumping. It was great to be out on the water on a hot day and see Dubrovnik from the water.

Our kayaking group

We're on a boat! Don't worry, I did a "little" paddling too. 

One of the caves on Lokrum island. 

As our AirBnB hostess drove us to the airport on the morning we left, we found out about her experience during the Yugoslav wars. She was a very friendly, middle aged woman who spoke pretty good English. She looked just like a mom you might see in California. She was married to a Bosnian at the time of the war so she fled with her husband to Serajevo. (Her sister fled to Germany and has been there ever since.) Unfortunately, the fighting there eventually got much worse than it had been in Dubrovnik. She said they didn't have running water, so each day when she would go out to get water, she lived in fear of bombs and mortars. Clearly, it was a stressful time. She now works at one of the shops in the heart of Dubrovnik and rents out parts of her house to tourists like us. 

Our time in Croatia was really splendid. We loved the water inland at Plitvice Lakes and we loved the water at the coast. There is amazing history, and we found the people to be very hospitable. 

Next up: Greece!