Croatia

Official Language: Croatian Currency: Euro

Split Krka Falls The Yacht Week

Croatia has become quite the ‘hot spot’ for tourists in recent years for many different reasons. Croatia has a very diverse mainland, extensive island chains, and crystal clear deep blue seas. The country borders with many others - Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Italy is just across the Adriatic Sea. The Croatian Adriatic coast has over 1200 islands and islets and main National Parks - Krka, Plitvicka Jezera (Plitvice), Vesebit, Kornati, Mljet, Brijuni, Risnjak, and Paklenica.

After WWI, in 1918, the Croats, Slovenes and Serbs formed a kingdom that would later become known as Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was invaded during WWII and Croatia then became an Independent State. Yet, following WWII, Yugoslavia became a federal socialist state, including the Independent State of Croatia once again. The more modern time in Croatian history begins in 1990 when the country had significant changes to its economic and political systems. In 1991, independence from Yugoslavia was achieved, but it took 4 years of fighting before the Serbian armies finally left the now Croatian lands.

The unique culture of Croatia can be traced back to its vast history and can be seen in the different ethnicities that call Croatia home. It is mainly made up of Croatians, with minorities including Italians, Serbians, Slovenians, Hungarians, and more.

Split

The majority of the time that you will likely spend in the city centre of Split is around the ‘Diocletian’ Palace. This palace was built for Emperor Diocletian after he voluntarily gave up the Roman throne in the start of the 4th century. It was built for a luxury villa/summer house, as well as a Roman military camp. After his retirement, he decided to settle here, the Illyrian province of Rome at the time - today, this is now part of the country of Croatia. The entire palace covers nearly 30,000 m², and is built using local limestone and white marble. This ancient fortress is now known as the ‘old town’ of Split, with many cafes, restaurants, shops and flats located within the old buildings and narrow streets within the walls of the palace.

Getting lost in the narrow cobblestone streets within the old palace walls felt as if I was walking through the streets of an old Roman city, most notably, Venice, just without the canals. As you would in Venice, I would highly recommend a stroll through here, getting lost, and finding a cafe to sit and people watch. Equally as beautiful at night, the Palace is highlighted by the glow of many lights surrounding the towers and walls. Grab a glass of vino and some Croatian dinner and enjoy the views!

Krka National Park

The less famous, though even more popular ‘sibling’ of Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, is Krka National Park. Krka is the only national park with waterfalls in Croatia that allow swimming, and as a result is the most popular national park here - so expect crowds (especially in the summer months) but don’t let that deter you from going - its well worth dealing with the people for these views!

Getting There: The park is located between Split & Zadar, and is an easy day trip from the city of Split (~1-1.5 hours drive each way). There are many ways to do the trip, whether by booking a tour, or taking the bus on your own, and it all depends on when you want to arrive, how long you want to be there, and how much you want to pay. After booking a tour myself, I would recommend going a different route - doing the bus on your own. The main reason for this, being that you can arrive when the park first opens and be one of the first groups of people in, secondly, its a self guided ‘tour’ anyways, so you won’t be missing much at all. To arrive from Split, you will take a bus/tour to the city of Skradin, where you then catch a water ferry into the park entrance. Alternatively you can go go the main entrance at the town of Lozovac and enter the park from here. Though not as scenic, this has less ‘scheduled’ times for the ferry, so better chances of being the first people in the gates.

Once Inside: Once you’re inside the park entrance, get ready for some incredible sights. The ‘main’ falls aka. Skradinski Buk waterfall will be your first views depending on where you enter the park, and by far the busiest area. Around the falls you can go for a swim in the warm turquiose waters, eat lunch or get gelato at one of the nearby cafes, or hike around the falls themselves. Definitely plan on spending a few hours within the park (we spent 4 or so), as there is so much to see! There are multiple levels to the waterfalls, and the ‘hike’ (more like a walk) around them gives you some pretty amazing views of the waterfalls and its multiple levels from different vantage points. The walk around takes about 2 hours (with many photo ops), so you’ll want to ensure you set aside enough time to do so. On a side note - if you aren’t a good swimmer, I wouldn’t recommend going into the falls. The currents within them are very strong and can take you (or your shoes) a long way if you aren’t a strong enough swimmer to battle against them.

The Yacht Week - Croatia 2019

Hvar

Bol

Everywhere In Between