Croatia Trip Overview

We (Peggy/JC Sha and Fei/Tony Tarn) booked a Croatia trip with Friendly Planet from September 20 to September 29, 2013.  We decided to stay over at Zurich for 3 more days and get back from Zurich to Houston on October 3, 2013.

The itinerary is as the following:

09/20/13 - Fly to Frankfurt, Germany

09/21/13 - Arrive Frankfurt and then fly to Zagreb, Coratia
09/22/13 - Zagreb City Tour and then to Opatija
09/23/13 - Tour Pula and Rovinj in Istrian Peninsula
09/24/13 - Tour Plitvice Lakes National Park
09/25/13 - Tour Zadar, Sibenik, Wine Tasting at Bibich Winery and drive to Split
09/26/13 - Tour Split and Trogir
09/27/13 - Wine Tasting at Milos Winery, tour Ston and drive to Dubrovnik
09/28/13 - Tour Dubrovnik
09/29/13 - End of Croatia Tour and travel to Zurich, Switzerland
09/30/13 - Zurich City Tour Day 1
10/01/13 - Zurich City Tour Day 2
10/02/13 - Tour Mount Tatlis and Junfraujoch
10/03/13 - Fly back to Houston

September 20 to 21, 2013 - Travel from Houston to Zagreb, Croatia

We left Houston to Zagreb, Croatia via Frankfurt. After a long oversea flight, we had to rush from Z terminal to A terminal to catch the connecting flight to Zagreb. The delay of Lufthansa flight due to the weather condition in Houston put us in a no win situation to catch the connecting flight. Friendly Planet provided a 50 minutes layover for the connecting flight and we came to find out we needed at least 2 hours in the huge Frankfurt airport. We were lucky to see the local driver at Zagreb airport who was supposed to pick up other groups of Friendly Planet’s travelers. However, he was nice enough to pick us up and drove us to the hotel. We stayed at Palace Hotel which is located in the Zagreb Lower Town area.

We met our guide Zvonko who speaks fluent English at the hotel. There was a welcome dinner at the hotel where we met our traveling companions. We had 11 American, 6 Austrians and 2 Dutch in the group. The dinner was nice and we had a chance to chat with Zvonko and got a lot of good info regarding Croatia's history and culture.

September 22, 2013 - Zagreb City Walking Tour and Traveling to Opatija, Croatia

For the first day of our Croatia tour, we started our Zagreb City Walking Tour in the Lower Town area just next to the Palace Hotel. 

The Lower Town is an U shape called “Lenuci’s Horseshoe” greenish area with a lot of architecture buildings and 6 squares. They are 

• King Tomislav Square
• Nikola Aubic Zrinski Square 
• Ban Jelacic Square (Republic Square or Main Square)
• Petar Preradović Square 
• Marshal Tito Square
• Marulic Square

 "Lenuci’s Horseshoe" is about 1 mile east to west and 400 meters north to south. Along the way, our local guide shown us the wonderful greenish of Nikola Subic Zrinski Square which is also refered as Zrinjevac. It has an elegant promenade with plane trees imported from Trieste, a wrought-iron bandstand, fountains and sculptures of notable figures. 

 

The local tour guide also showed us the Meteorological Post which is a meteorological pole that you can check the temperature and air pressure which coordinated with a 24-hour dial. 

Then we walked to the Main Square to witness the old, new and different architecture buildings on the same square. 

Next we visited the Cathedral along with its Renaissance Walls. 

We also wondered to the Dolac Market area to see the fresh fruit, vegetable, meat, fish and craft stands along with lots of shoppers. 

Next, we were at the Stone Gate and the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary which holds a painting of the Virgin that was miraculously saved from a devastating fire in the year 1731. 



 Then, we walked by the St Mark’s Church in the St Mark’s Square. It has roof tiles decorated with the coats of arms of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia.

We walked by the City Hall where people can get married and the divorce museum which is only 2 minutes walking distance from the City Hall. Our tour guide joked about the closeness of these two facilities.  If one is fast enough, you can get married and then get divorce within two minutes. 

 After that, we had one hour free time for wondering along the main square area.

In the afternoon, we boarded the bus and rode to Opatija. On the way we passed by Rijeka where is birth place of both leading male and female characters of the "Sound of the Music". The Julian Andrews’ character’s grandfather is the one who invented and built the 1st torpedo. In earlier stage, Rijeka was well known for building torpedoes  After Italy occupied Rijeka, they sold the pattern to others and it lost the prestige of the place building torpedoes. It was a two and half hours drive from Zagreb to Opatija.

Opatija is a well known vacation place with fresh air quality which is best for people with asthma. It is a little resort town by the Adriatic Sea. The beach here is rocky and cement built. The water is cleare and beautiful. 

We stayed at Hotel Admiral which is by the water with wonderful ocean view and nice seaside walkway. 

Prior to our dinner at hotel, we were able to walk along the seaside walkway to enjoy this wonderful resort town and the Adriatic Sea.

September 23, 2013 - Istrian Peninsula, Pula & Rovinj, Croatia

We rode the bus along the western coast of Istrian Peninsula to visit Pula. Pula is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature.  

On the way to Pula, we passed Labin. Our guide told us the history about Labin which is a Croatian-speaking town and was a long time the center of Croatia’s largest coal mining district. In March and April 1921, the town was the scene of a miners' strike which quickly grew into an anti-fascist rebellion, considered to be the first of its kind, and the declaration of the short-lived Albona Republic.  

We also passed by Raša which was built as a "new town" during 1936-1937 as part of Mussolini's urban colonization of Istria and other Italian territories. 

Pula was a strategic port in ancient Roman times. It has a 2000-year old amphitheater which is the sixth largest of its kind still preserved.

We Also saw the 1st-century AD triumphal arch which is well-preserved ancient Roman structures called “Arch of the Serqii”. We took a group photo here. 

The natural beauty of Pula's surrounding countryside and turquoise water of the Adriatic sea have made the city an internationally popular summer vacation destination.

Then we went to Rovinj, one of the most beautiful towns in Istria. We had some free time to explore the old town seeing its narrow lanes and shops. 

Then we departed for Livade to visit the famous Zigante Restaurant for tasting the famous truffle. We learned a lot about the treasonous truffle in this area. We were told that this is the only area in Croatia having truffles and there are not too many places in the world having truffles. This was the first time we tried truffle. Honestly it does require some "getting used to" to enjoy the truffles.

We returned Opatija for overnight stay.

September 24, 2013 - Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

We left Opatija after breakfast and headed to Plitvice Lakes National Park.  On the way to there, we passed by Otočac which was badly damaged during the war.  A lot of houses still have the canon and bullet holes on it.  Croatia government is responsible to rebuild the war destroyed houses,  However, they rebuild them based on the timing of the refugee’s intend of moving back.  Some of the owners of the houses had done some bad things to their Croatian neighbors during the war and they are the ones who may not want to move back to the neighborhood anytime soon in afraid of retaliation by their neighbors.  Therefore, there are still lots of houses in ruined status. 

We did stop by a honey stands which has honey with different fruits soaked in it and they have different brandy with honey in it too.

We stopped by Macola to have lunch.  There is a private mini zoo in their backyard.  During lunch, we saw a deer coming into the dinning room and eat food from guests’ table.  Interesting scene!

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register among the first natural sites worldwide.

We started hiking up all the way to very close to the Big Waterfall (Veliki Slap) at the end of Lower Lakes. The height of this waterfall is 78 meters.  

Then we hiked up a beautiful waterfall (Galovacki buk) at the Upper Lakes. The height of this waterfall is only 25 meters, however, it is very wide and it is perfect for photo taking at this waterfalls.

Then we hiked up further to the boating point to take a boat ride across the Kozjak Lake.  With further hiking on left side of the Gradinsko Lake, we reached the train station to take the train ride back to the base.



A short bus ride took us to our hotel "Hotel Degenija" which is a beautiful small hotel in a small town of Seliste Dreznicko.  We had a very enjoyable stay at this hotel.