We arrived to Zagreb, capital of Croatia, on the 30th of September from Stockholm, after another long flight delay, 4+ hours again! Definitely learning that travel days are just that, travel days and not to expect to do anything else.
We picked up a car in Zagreb as we would be spending the next few weeks traveling south along the coast of Croatia and into Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro. In general we’ve enjoyed the flexibility of having our own transportation in most countries thus far (S. Africa, Norway, Croatia) but also looking forward to the public transportation and trains in Spain (up next).
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Zagreb - 4 nights / 3 days
We stayed at a fancier hotel than we typically do, Hotel Esplanade, which had a very expensive breakfast that didn’t really serve our needs. Instead, my research brought us to Melt which we immediately fell in love with and ate at not once, but TWICE! Dedicated gluten free with pancakes, bread rolls, açaí bowls and more.
From there, as in most new cities we arrive to, we started with a free walking tour (as I’ve mentioned before, these are tip based tours that we’ve found to be a great intro to a city - GuruWalk is a good resource for these. For Zagreb we were the only people on the tour.
Zagreb is a city of museums, from art and history to broken relationships and a hangover museum- I’m not kidding. But the old cities (there are two sections) are small and enjoyable to explore. After our tour ended, with a bang, we explored a bit on our own and went back to the hotel for a nap.
Dinner was at Zrno bio bistro, 100% vegan and gluten free friendly. Along the way we came upon the National Theater which is a beautiful building, especially at twilight!
For the next day we engaged the help of the concierge at the hotel for a day trip out to the nearby wine region of Plešivica. On our way we made a quick stop in the rain to Mirogoj cemetery, named the most beautiful cemetery by National Geographic - even in the rain, we’d agree it was beautiful.
From there we drove about 45 minutes to Samobor, a small medieval town and had an amazing lunch at Cantilly Garden Restaurant. Don’t ask me how I find these places….who would have known such a beautiful, elevated restaurant like this existed 45 minutes outside of Zagreb, let alone one with a “mirror” menu for vegan dining. It was truly a special meal.
Then we took a very winding, narrow road over the mountain pass and through some small villages to visit a family winery - Jagunić and the award winning family winery of Korak. Both have orange wines which we found we didn’t care for, however the sparkling wine at Jagunić and a Chardonnay and Syrah caught our attention at Korak (yes Kevin & Mark a chard!) Needless to say we ended the day with more than a couple of bottles.
Zadar - 5 nights / 4 days
On our drive from Zagreb to Zadar on the Dalmatian Coast we had hoped to stop at Plitvice Lakes National Park but the weather was not cooperating, so we drove straight through, did some grocery shopping and settled into our homeexchange.
The next day, a walking tour of Zadar took us through the history of this city, followed by lunch (nothing notable), we visited a couple sights on our own we enjoyed some vegan gelato, of course! The weather was just perfect for the gelato, promise.
Day trip to Split - this city hit us like a ton of bricks, or tourists as the case was. Compared to Zadar, Split felt like New York City. Between all the cruise ships and tourists who use Split as a transfer spot to the many islands, Split was hectic and crowded. We enjoyed a walking tour through the old city, aka Diocletian’s Palace, including a stop under a restaurant umbrella for a thunderstorm and downpour! Unlike Dubrovnik, Split was a maze of buildings and alleyways - when we finally arrived to Dubrovnik it felt like the most organized of medieval cities!
Lunch at Konoba Korta with a precious cat as company, then onto Klis Fortress which was pretty wow. Another GOT filming location as well. The views were awesome and much less crowded . We had hoped to stop at Šibenik on our way back to Zadar but the day had gotten away from us.
It felt like there was so much to do in and around Zadar, so I’ll keep the wrap up here short - we spent a day exploring Ugljan island by bike (don’t ask David how his butt bones felt after that… his bike seat broke half way through our ride). Had an amazing dinner at The Botanist (vegan restaurant), followed by a walk along the promenade to hear the Sea Organ and see Greeting to the Sun installation. And our last day with the weather finally cooperating was a trip out to Plitvice Lakes National Park, which I’m so glad we did not miss (Video here)!
Dubrovnik - 5 nights/ 4 days
The drive from Zadar to Dubrovnik was about 220 miles or four hours. We drove about 3 hours and stopped in Ston, and so glad we did. Last minute we decided to take a tour of an oyster farm and have lunch in nearby Mali Ston. Oysters direct from the sea, and overall delicious seafood in this town just north of Dubrovnik, it was a great pit stop on our day of driving. Ston is known for it's walls which protected the salt pans (salt being more valuable than gold back in the day), the city is pretty unique with 4 miles of still standing walls! And the roads, well they had their own charm as well… lets just say, Apple/Google maps don’t always know if a road is really a road.
We stayed in the old city at an Airbnb with the most fantastic Airbnb hosts ever! This brother / sister duo let us park at their house, helped us get to the apartment carrying our heavy bags, served us a local welcome drink, explained the city layout, and left us a bottle of wine and snacks… amazing! The apartment was their childhood home and they were so proud of their city and wanted us to see everything. We spent the next two days in and around the old town of Dubrovnik (video) with a walking tour visiting the various sites, walking the walls and just exploring a bit. Outside the typical things everyone does we found D’vino wine bar where we did some tasting flights, visited the Jewish synagogue and wished a few people Shana Tova while there (special moment). I’ll mention lunch at Nishta as it was the only vegan restaurant we came across and was quite good. The name Nishta literally translates to “nothing” and locals joke that eating vegan is like eating Nishta,
On October 11 we celebrated our 26 year wedding anniversary at a special spot David picked, Nautika. Location alone was worth it but the company is what made it special (and the fresh gluten free bread!!!) For the GOT fans out there, we were eating overlooking the filming location of the Battle of Blackwater Bay and looking up at the Red Keep (btw, this is David’s commentary).
Before departing Dubrovnik we spent a day and drove to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Another crazy road but easy passing through the boarder from Croatia and a walking tour with a nice overview of this city, and its recent history - two wars back to back. And now part of a country with three presidents that represent the different cultures/regions/religions. Fortunately we found a great restaurant for us vegan and gluten free peeps, Food House Mostar.
If you’re tired of reading this, can you imagine how we felt after 14 days! It was time for a break. Off to Montenegro we went for a week of down time, journey planning (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan are not going to plan themselves!) and book reading. We’ll throw a kayak tour to the blue caves, a tour of Kotor and a drive into the mountains in while there as well!
P.S. send us texts, emails, photos - we’ll be sharing our life on the road, please share your life with us as well - miss you!
That's way cool you celebrated your anniversary looking at the redeep. Thank God your are not sinners .🙏🐉🐲🐲🐲