CROATIA

November 10th, 2013

Croatia Autumn/Fall 2013

by Seer Oon Hor

Co-editor Shu Li Tan

It has been a 18 months since we last been to another country for holiday. Croatia is one of the places we love to explore and is also a country we have not been together. The weather had been excellent, warmer than we thought. Beautiful crystal clear waters, superb food. We love food. Seafood was so fresh, cooking was simple and shows off the quality of the fish and shellfish. Dalmatian and inland food were equally gorgeous. Our first leg was Dubrovnik, the Pearl of Adriatic. The architecture of the Old City is so beautiful. However, this city is full of steps. We had to go through more than 200 steps to go back to our hotel. One can now imagine how do you do it with a large suitcase. The answer is you just do it!

After spending a few days enjoying the Old City and the food, we drove to Split. Driving in Croatia is certainly an experience. Everyone seems to be in a rush to somewhere. However, it's a coastal drive, so we enjoyed the sea view. Split was fantastic. The Diocletian's Palace is a whole city on its own! It is less touristy than Dubrovnik so we could see and absorb the local culture. There are mostly local consumers within the city. Our hotel was newly decorated. So everything is new! Exposed stone wall. Gorgeous. And we were the only guests! Dinner that evening was at Fife, a local tavern. Then we ended up in Crème de la Crème for dessert. For the record, their cakes are so good we went back the next morning for breakfast!. We went up The Bell Tower of Cathedral of St. Domnius. Since it was constructed in 1100AD, the steps were so steep and open! My legs couldn't feel much. All I felt was this tingling sensation behind my legs. The view of the city from this tower was stunning though.

We did not planned long in Split. After a night's stay we headed to Zadar, which we love. Again, less touristy. We aimed to see the sunset at the Sea Organ. We had to rush for it. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy for sunset. Nonetheless, we did enjoy the musical hum made by the Sea Organ. Next to it is the Sun Salutation, which is a vast circle of solar panels with LEDs lit up by electricity they generated. Dinner that evening was so good. It left us with awe and we kept praising it. This was at Pet Bunara, which means 5 wells, where this restaurant is located adjacent to. The next morning we visited the Museum of Ancient Glass where we had a private glass blowing demonstration by Marcos. The deco of our apartment The Luxury Bridge Apartment was so modern. It has a maisonette bedroom with an open bath (which took us an hour to fill, sadly. *I used kettle in the end).  It is so well equipped we went to the fish market to buy fish, squid and octopus and cook them for lunch. Very satisfying.

The next stop was Plitvice National Park. We arrived quite late in the evening. We were starving. We were recommended by Carlos, the proprietor of Plitvica Lodge, to go to Ethno House, just 3 minutes down the road. The don't do menus. It was either meat or fish. So we chose 1 of each. Wow, they serve gorgeous hearty home-cooked food. We were stuffed. The waitress is so lovely. We forgot to take her name. The national park is stunning. Absolutely stunning. The water was so clear we lost for words. We struggled with our photography skills to capture the clarity of the water.  It was autumn/fall. Slightly later in the year for for what we like to capture autumn, but it is still breath-taking. We packed our lunch the night before as we knew we were going to have an adventure. We walked for solid 9 hours, enjoying the walk, trek and the crystal-clear lakes and waterfalls. As we got back to Plitvica Lodge, we were so hungry. Guess where we went for dinner. Ethno House again. This time, both of us ordered meat dishes! Next morning, we were just enjoying the cool morning weather outside in our balcony. There is this pig just came along to the front garden looking for food. So cute. So adorable. Then we went for a short walk around the lakes and waterfalls before we drive off to Zagreb.

Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, as you can expect is buzzing with cars and people. It was dark as we found and got settled in the hotel. Zagreb tourism produces excellent guide books. We literally used it to 'hit the spots'. We started with Donji Grad (Lower Town), where it is more 'architectural'. Dinner was a failure. Planned a surprise for my other half. A nice restaurant in the city. Arrived on time, couldn't find a space to park. Lots and lots of one way street, couldn't turn back! Finally ended up going back to the hotel without food. I was so upset, but I so lucky to have other half. She was so understanding and comforted me. She suggested us to buy cooked food from Konzum (akin to our Tesco). We bought Ham Hock and roast pork belly for dinner. Didn't expect it to be this nice! Proper crackling! The next day, we walked in Gornji Grad (Upper Town), which where the buzz is. We went to Lotrščak Tower. They fire a 'cannon' at 12pm daily to signal bell-ringers of city churches (see video below). We did not expect it to be that loud. You can see the camera shook as it was fired. Well, all of us did. After that we hit another confectionary, Zagreb Slastičarnica. For cakes of course! A strange place to visit, but we went to Mirogoj Cemetery. Yes you read it correctly, a cemetery. It was a 35-40 minutes walk from the city but we made it there after a kind old man with gold-plated Cartier glasses guided us. They are famous for the stone work. We took the bus back (it was too far! Haha). Interesting conversation with the bus conductor when we were trying to buy ticket. Then a kind old man with a large strabismus offered his translation. For dinner we decided to stop by at Konzum again (which she knows I'll love). My heart dropped when we were there! Low supply! There was only a couple of ribs with meat on left. Without a choice, we ordered 1. The lady asked me which piece would I like. With a smile, "The one with more skin, please". Roast pork, at the comfort of a hotel with my beautiful lady, I wouldn't ask for more.

The next day, our final day in Croatia, we hit the shopping mall! Avenue Mall. Window shopping, coffee, we event went into their Spar, which they sell large chunks of joints. We of course bought some local food in a packet . We spent our Croatian Kuna so well, down to 65 lipa (which you can't really buy anything else in Croatia). We were so chuffed. 

We love our Croatian trip. People are nice (some do not have much sense of humour though). Language is not really a problem 90% of the times. Weather was good. Food was AMAZING. Just 1 bad experience for the whole trip, which I'm not going to elaborate. Sad to leave, but we have to face reality. 

To finish, enjoy a few photos of our cake journey.