Croatia with the Gentiles

Last week, my family (well, everyone except for Chris) came out to visit. This trip was a belated graduation present for my sister, who requested that we go somewhere where she could “sit on the beach.” I had heard fabulous things about Croatia from my British friends and co-workers, so, after a few days in London, we headed over to Dubrovnik.

Let me start off by saying that Croatia is definitely in the top 3 (if not number 1) on my list of favourite places visited since moving to Europe. We had perfect weather the entire time (85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), the water was the clearest of any I have ever seen (I dare you to go there and not automatically jump into the ocean- it beacons you) and I think that Croatia is still under the radar for most Americans (which appeals to my off-the-beaten-path spirit).

We rented an apartment very near Old Town Dubrovnik. I loved Old Town. Even though it was heavily bombed during the Croatian War for Independence against Yugoslavia in the early 90s, it has been completely restored and definitely retained its old-world feel.

Our apartment was just above Banje beach, which had a beautiful view of the Old Town and which is where we spent most of our time.

We took a day trip out to the island of Mljet- about an hour and a half up the coast form Dubrovnik. Mljet is famous for its two inland lakes and because a majority of the island is preserved as a national park. We hiked over to the lakes and took a ferry out to the centre of the larger one. Located in the centre of this lake was a small island which held an old monastery and little else. We spent the day lounging on the shores of the small island and swimming in the lakes crystal-clear and wonderfully warm waters.



We also took a day trip to Montenegro. I selfishly wanted to do this so that I could add another location to my “countries I have visited” list, but it turned out to be a really great experience. Picturing war-torn-former-Yugoslavia in my head, I packed a roll of toilet paper for the trip in preparation for squat toilets. The cities we visited, Kotor and Budva, were quite the opposite.

Settled between the towering mountains of the Montenegrin countryside and the tranquil bay of Kotor, the town of Kotor itself proved to be perhaps the most dramatic of our trip. It took us only 15 minutes to tour this small city (which consisted mostly of Serbian Orthodox churches and great homes of former wealthy families), but you were left with the impression that it was much grander. This is caused, perhaps, by the fact that the city walls contain not only the town itself, but a large section of the adjacent mountain. Our guide told us that it would take only 2 hours to climb the city walls, but, as your eyes strained to see the top-most tower and followed the 250 meters of zigzagged vertical climb, it seemed that it would take much longer. We could have spent the whole day in Kotor, and indeed I would have enjoyed atleast attempting to climb its intimidating city walls, but our tour guide hurried us on so that we could visit the city of Budva.

I have little to say on Budva other than the fact that it was unimpressive. The old town was nothing compared to Kotor or Dubrovnik and the beaches were horribly overcrowded. We did have some delicious lunch there (my octopus salad was perhaps the best food I had on our trip), but our culinary experience did not make up for the other downfalls of the city.

After Budva, we got back on the bus and headed back to Dubrovnik, enjoying the beautiful Croatian countryside on the way.

I would definitely go back to Croatia (I hear that its northern regions are beautiful as well) and would highly recommend it to any of you who might have the opportunity to go.