CROATIA
How this page will work
The further you scroll down, the further you will dive into my documented trip to croatia. Through pictures, journal entries, sights and sounds. *Disregard my grammar, these entries were taken right from my notebook*
Sights
White marble side streets, so clean you could eat off of them. Cool breeze, not so humid heat for a 90 degree day. White washed houses with burnt orange roof tiles. Tall, Beautiful, and Historical Roman catholic Churches. Mountainous landscapes off in the distance. Olive fields and wine vineyards encapsulating the densely populated towns.
Day 1 and 2 (07/2/21 -07/3/21)
Friday July 2nd at 4:00pm I arrived at Sissa and mike's house (my aunt and uncle) where we got ready for Nana and Grandpa to drive us to Logan airport. Pat (mike's brother) is staying at their house to watch the dogs. We arrived at the airport at around 6:30. Took a little while to get checked in but once we were in it wasn't long before we departed. Before we left we had some food in AirFrance, a private lounge in Logan airport. The flight was kind of brutal because I was moving around the entire time due to my ridiculously painful chaffing. I watched 3 episodes of last chance U (basketball), I slept for a couple of hours and listened to music as well.
We arrived in Amsterdam around 4am (US time), 10am (Amsterdam time).
We walked around this beautiful airport for a while and ate at one of the restaurants in the airport where I had a ham and cheese Omelette (at this restaurant they cooked right in front of you kinda like one of David Chang's noodle bars- cool concept).
We are all now in another lounge where I am drinking Merlot and Mike and Sissa are sleeping.
Once we got back on the plane it was a quick 2 hours to the airport in Split, Croatia. We had to go through customs which took forever and we then picked up M & M's two checked bags. Marco, the driver, picked us up and dropped us off in the center of split where out hotel is located. Palace Judita Heritage hotel is where Andreas (hotel owner) picked us up and carried our bags to. He is very flamboyant and outgoing. We threw our bags in the room and from there we went on a short tour with the lady who met us in the lobby. We went to dinner at ZOI straight after that where I had Bluefish, a peach cosmo and a glass of wine. We sat from 9pm - 11:30pm, it was absolutely delicious. We went to bed after that, got some gelato as well
Day 3 (07/4/21)
Woke up a little later than I had wanted. But it turned out to be a very fulfilling day. Marco, our driver, picked us up at 9am and we went to a tour in a palace in Klis, where they filmed some Game of Thrones scenes. From There we went to Šibenik where Tina (our tour guide) showed us around. The Roman Catholic church was the most influential part, especially when she showed us where the baptism takes place. I felt something I hadn't in a while when we arrived. We then went on a tour in the national park, KRKA, where there is a beautiful waterfall. Went to Bokeria for dinner.
Day 4 (07/5/21)
We got on a boat where Tomo (boat captain) drove us around for the day. It was a 100,000 speed boat that he was driving. We went in the adriatic and swam for a while. Then he took us to ZORI where I had one of the best meals I had in a while. Saw many yachts as well. Arrived in HVAR around 6:00pm. Hvar is a very beautiful town with a rich history and great night life. The hotel, Adrianna, is spectacular. Every room has a view worth a million words. Super comfortable beds and a great pool. Great places were La Bocca for pizza which I had earlier today. For dinner we went to Gariful, which was nothing special, the bluefish was pretty good though. The gelato was really good that we had after as well.
Day 5 (07/6/21)
Today was solid. I woke up around 9am and went to breakfast in the lobby, I had scrambled eggs and bacon like I have almost everyday. After that we had a tour around the city with our tour guide, Carmen. There was a very cool small blackbox theater in the common as well. After the tour I went on a walk to the Coral Shop, behind the bakery and bought Macey and Mom a bracelet and necklace. I also bought myself a watch and cigars.
Went back to the hotel and wrote in my journal for a while. Now I am sitting on the rooftop in Hvar in the hotel, writing. Went to dinner at Giaxa, they were kind of slow with service but when the food came out it was good. They started with a complementary arancini ball with a champagne reduction. Then the waiter brought out complementary fresh pitted olives which were very delicious. For dinner I had stew (tomatoe "soup) with octopus, polenta, fish, and onions as well. The dessert was sort of like a molten chocolate cake with raspberry in the center.
Day 6 (07/7/21)
I woke up at 11am regretfully, So I did not eat breakfast. We went to the fort in Hvar and walked around. Went back and went to lunch at hello with Aunty Sissa, the Cuban I had was average. I hung out at the hotel for a while after that and wrote by the pool.
I showered after going to the pool and then bought some cigars. After that I sat on the deck outside and wrote for a while. Mike then came and sat with me and we talked about everything from jewelry to business. We then met up with Aunty Sissa and went to Central Park Club. Might have been my favorite dinner so far. We had a very American dinner with meat and cheeses as appetizers along with fried food. For dinner we had wraps. Mike had a couple aperol spritz's, Sissa had Gin martinis, I had a vodka apple cocktail and a mojito. There was live music the whole night which was also super fun. We ran out at 11:55pm to get gelato and made it just in time.
Day 7 (07/8/21)
Woke up at 7am and packed a little, then went to breakfast. We had to leave on the Ferry at 8am, ended up being a couple minutes late, the guy working the ferry was sort of rude about it. Once we got on the Ferry to Korčula it was a quick ride, around 1 hour. However, none of us realized we were supposed to get off when we arrived. So as the ferry began departing we were all worried. It ended up being alright because we got off at the next stop, Pomena OTOK 'MLJET' (which is actually know to have a pretty good national park.) From MLJET a private speedboat picked us up and brought us to Korčula.
When we arrived, the hotel owner picked us up and brought us to the residence, Zuviteo. Probably my favorite hotel so far just based on feel. An hour after we got settled our tour guide, Toni, picked us up and we went walking. Toni picked us up out front and we went walking. Toni was very interesting, we talked about everything from cooking, to paintings, to Marco Polo, to the Roman Catholic church. After the tour we went to this chinese restaurant (Silk), on the water for dinner. One thing I did wish is that we had more time in between when we arrived and when we went on the tour. During that time we went to Tedeschi's for lunch, pizza and salads. Mike and I talked about a lot of topics including how Dustin (Mike's friend) bought his old school land rover. Ended the night with cake in M & M's room.
Day 8 (07/9/21)
Today was a really good day besides the fact that I woke up a little too late. we went to breakfast across the water at the other ZR (Zuviteo Residence has two locations in the town, one of them has breakfast), it was very good, had the normal eggs and bacon with a meat and fruit plate for the table. Our tour guide met us with bicycles and we made out voyage to Lumbarda where we had a wine tasting at BIRE. It was my first wine tasting and I really enjoyed it. Especially these sugar coated dehydrated orange peels for some reason. We tasted 1 rosé, 1 sparkling rosé, 2 White wines, and 1 red. they were all very good and went down a bit too easily.
After that we went to the ocean right down the road to swim which was also beautiful. Overlooking the mountains ahead of us. Then a benz van picked us up and we went to ZR. After that we went to the art store and got a painting. Then we went to dinner at Lešić Dimitri. We had the chef's tasting menu, it was all delicious.
Day 9 (07/10/21)
We had breakfast at ZR and our driver for the day picked us up and our driver for the day picked us up there. Our first stop was in Ston where we went to Milos Winery. The rosé was probably the best. After the wine tour we stayed in Ston and went 5 minutes down the street where we went out on a boat to a floating bar on the water to taste test oysters and mussels. It was unlike anything I had ever done. We arrived in Dubrovnik around 5:30 to our hotel, Bellevue, I would say it is my favorite hotel just based off of how nice looking it is. We walked around Old Town for a while until we found a place to eat at Pupica or whatever it was, it was not great. After dinner we had gelato at the Boca Piena. Solid Day.
Day 10 (07/11/21)
Yesterday around 9am after we had breakfast we went on a tour with the best tour guide yet, Bo. We first went to High Garden in Dubrovnik. then we got a tour of the city walls, it was extremely hot at this point in the day, early afternoon. Then we went to Ciara Stones which was a jewelry store with a very nice owners. After that we went and ate lunch at the hotel. Relaxed by the pool after we ate. Went to dinner at 9pm at restaurant 360 (michelin star). I smoked a Romeo Y Julieta on the way back to the hotel.
Day 11 (07/12/21)
Yesterday was an eye opening day. I managed to get up at 7am and go to breakfast before our driver left at 7:30am. We left for Mostar (Bosnia) around 7:30am and it took us about 2 and a half hours. once we arrived we walked around for a hour or so. Mostar is pretty war torn and it is hard to look at. there were homeless people and gypsys on the street. For lunch we went and sat by a waterfall in Hercegovacko-Neretvanski. It was very nice. We got back to the hotel at around 5pm and just rested until 8:30. At 8:30 we got a cab to the cable car which took us up to Panorama Restaurant for dinner. probably the best view I have ever had while eating. Went to bed after that.
Day 12 (07/13/21)
Woke up around 8am today and went downstairs to get breakfast with M & M. Then, right after, Sissa and I went into the old city in Dubrovnik, in hopes that the candy store was going to be open. It wasn't, so I resorted to buying the orange peels (dehydrated and covered in sugar). Then we walked back to the hotel and got ready for our driver to pick us up at 11am. The driver picked us up and brought us to the airport. We are now on our first flight from Dubrovnik to Amsterdam