Croatia

Croatia definitely comes in at one of our favorite countries we've visited on this trip.

We took the train from Ljubliana in Slovenia to Rijeka in Croatia, about 90 minutes. We picked up a rental car in Rijeka and explored the city for a few hours. Rijeka is not really a tourist destination, so we walked around a bit and had lunch prior to getting back in the car and hitting the road.

William decided to rent a car with a manual transmission as it was quite cheaper than an automatic. Although he's never owned a manual, he assured me that he knows how to drive a stick. I was a bit nervous, but he did a great job, only cursing slightly at roundabouts when we occasionally stalled out. We drove three hours southeast from Rijeka to Plitvice Lakes National Park and stayed the night just outside the park.

The next morning, we headed to the national park at opening time, tickets in hand. Plitvice Lakes has become increasingly popular with the rise of social media, and I wanted to be there before the hordes of tour buses arrived on day trips from Split or Zagreb. Plitvice Lakes National Park the oldest and largest national park in Croatia. It is known for a series of 16 crystalline lakes, linked together by over 90 waterfalls. Wooden boardwalks have been installed that allow people to walk across that lakes and experience the natural beauty up close. It did not disappoint!

There are several different routes you can take through the park, allowing you to walk anywhere from a mile up to 10 miles. We ended up walking about 8 miles through the trails and along the lakes.

By the time we finished around 10:30am, there were mobs of people with traffic jams along the boardwalks. If you know me at all, you know patience is not one of my virtues, so we were glad to leave the park to the crowds!

From there, we drove three hours to Split, a city on the coast of central Croatia. Split was an important city in the Roman empire. The only Roman emperor to ever retire from being emperor, Diocletian, was from (modern day) Croatia. He retired after several decades and returned to Split, where he built an incredible palace around 300AD.

It is arguably one of the best-preserved Roman palaces in the entire world. There were even Egyptian statues that Diocletian had decorated his palace with. The picture of the sphinx below is from a conquest of Egypt by the Roman empire, and certainly from BC times.

I started to wonder the actual extent of the Roman empire- and I have this map (courtesy of wikipedia) if you are also interested. Amazing, right? Everywhere we have visited in Europe so far was once under Roman rule.

We also thoroughly enjoyed Split for the food. Similar to Italian, but with the added benefit of fresh seafood. And the gelato! I know it may be sacrilege, but our favorite gelato on the trip was from a small store in Split called aMare. We went twice!

After exploring Split, we took a ferry to the island of Brac (pronounced 'brach'), about 45 minutes away. The dalmatian coast has hundreds of islands. I decided on Brac as it was supposed to be less touristy than the neighboring island of Hvar. I am so glad we went! We stayed in the small town of Bol, which was beautiful. We walked down to the beach and around the town. We even went scuba diving in the Mediterranean! While there wasn't as much to see as our last dive in Australia, the water was gorgeous.

After spending the night on Brac, we took the ferry back to the mainland, which was another beautiful ride.

We then drove to Dubrovnik, where we stayed slightly outside of the city. The next morning, we took a tour of the walls and the old city. It was fascinating.

This is the view from one of the walls looking out on the city.

A view of the old harbor within the city.

This picture is from the wall facing the sea and looking back toward the entrance to the city.

It's hard to describe just how impressive the walls are. Although it is touristy (multiple cruise ships a day since it is on the coast), the city is definitely worth a trip.

Here is a map of our Croatian road trip, starting in Rijeka, driving to Plitvice Lakes National Park and Split. Next, the ferry to the island of Brac and Bol for the night. We took another ferry from Brach back to the mainland and drove the rest of the way to Dubrovnik.

Croatia reminded us of Italy, likely because the countries mirror each other across the Adriatic Sea (alright, Croatia is a lot skinnier). The climate, architecture, and food were similar, and they share quite a bit of history. We started what I like to call the 'southern Europe' part of our trip in Italy, and we finished it in Croatia. We got to experience so much culture and history along the way with stops in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. Croatia was the cherry on top of a fantastic tour of southern Europe. Next up: the northern Europe tour!