Hrvatska how I love thee.

I would have to rate Hrvatska aka Croatia and its locals, as one of my two favourite in the world. It will grab you by the ears and shake you hard out of your ignorance that she ever even existed. I have visited and been so very lucky to have sailed her from top to toe, four times.Nothing quite prepares you for this Middle Ages vista, seemingly floating amongst a thousand islands with a sheer mountain range of grey granite at its back. I am not sure what it is like to travel solely by land, but by sea it is a jaw dropping slap to the senses.

Sailing out of Venice and into the Croatian water of the Adriatic Stopping in the ports of  Rovinj, Rab, Split, Hvar, Sibenik, Kočula, Cavtat and the jewel in the crown the city of Dubrovnik, to name but a few. Magnificent walled towns and cities rising from the waters edge, all dwarfed by the Goliath walls that is the walls of Dubrovnik. The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 1,940 metres (6,360 ft) in length, encircling most of the old city, and reach a maximum height of about 25 metres (82 ft). Oh and the people, strong, proud, open and no nonsense and boy can they hold their vodka!! My first trip to Croatia she was not long out of war with her neighbor the then Serbia-Montenegro, now split into two separate countries. There was still talk of the war when I was there and still a bitterness. Bullet holes decorated Dubrovnik, as reminders of the cities ability to stand fast and hold. A testament to the days when things were built to last, a characteristic reflected in her people.

The food is simple and clean with a lot of seafood as part of the cuisine. Influences from Italy obviously but many cured meats, goats and sheep's milk cheese both soft and hard are very much their own. 

These photo's do her no justice, nothing feels how it feels to bare witness to Croatia.... She will move you.

Dubrovnik

View from aloft.

Bar on the outer walls.

Cavtat

 

Rab