TOP 5 FOR CROATIA

1. Take a sailing trip through the islands! (or at least visit one island)
2. Experience a good party at one of the many many island bars.
3. Eat some fresh grilled seafood, straight from the sea beside you.
4. Dive into the ocean, also right beside you 🙂
5. Just enjoy the pure relaxation of sun, sand, and water.

Oh, Croatia. How beautiful you are. I’ve been twice, once as part of a one-week sailing trip and once on the mainland, near Rijeka. It’s a land of pristine turquoise seas, baby blue skies, olive trees, and sunshine. The sailing trip was a Topdeck Tour – not recommended for stodgy people who expect to be clean, dry, and comfortable for a week. Our home for the week was an adorable little wooden sailing boat – with double cabins below deck housing 16 guests, along with the captain and his crew. There are two bathrooms, with showers above the toilet – hence my comment about being clean and dry. But what do you care – you’re sitting on a sailboat in Croatia for goodness sakes! We departed in extremely turbulent waters from Split – forcing me into a seasickness haze. Thank goodness one of our shipmates was a nurse, and had some good prescription-strength nausea pills which made me feel like a million dollars within minutes. Thankfully, the seas calmed down within a day and the clouds were chased away. Our tour took us a different island each night – starting from Split you proceed to Milna, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik, Mljet, and finally return to Split for the last evening.

Tour, map courtesy of TopDeck.

With each anchoring everyone tumbles off the boat to site see, wander, and eventually find some dinner and a good party. If you’re looking for meeting new people, plenty of laughs, plenty of drinks, little sleep, and a good sunburn, this is a great trip. The waters are pristine, the skies outlandishly bright, and the islands unspoilt and beautiful. Some days we docked for lunch at even more secluded tiny islands, where we scrambled up rocky cliffs to wander through olive groves and wildflower fields.

Most evenings we were in the harbor of yet another adorable seaside town with friendly locals and beach clubs to dance the night away.

Shots on fire!

The food on the ship was surprisingly good – fresh fruit, toast, and coffee in the mornings, and substantial lunches including soup, salads, pastas, and several times fresh grilled fish caught right off the boat. Most mornings everyone stumbled up to the deck in various states of haziness from the evening before, slowly brought back to life by caffeine and sunshine.

Roofs of Dubrovnik.

My second visit to the country was to the small sleepy seaside town of Selce. Much less raucous then my first Croatian experience but equally as beautiful. Selce is a great town if you want to relax and just soak up some rays. We stayed at Hotel Marina (http://www.hotel-marina.net/) where we had a half-board package and a nice big room. The décor is definitely outdated but the staff are great and the view from the balcony is fantastic. We spent our days sleeping in, walking along the beach, eating fresh seafood and discovering the local Croatian wine is not half bad.

Croatia has many facets, but it will easily please any sun and surf-lover.