Creating Memories in Croatia

So we ended up staying in Croatia a lot longer than planned… keep reading to find out why!

When we crossed the border to Croatia from Slovenia, the first border control we got to wasn’t an international one, so we had to drive an extra 15km to get to an international one. We didn’t even realise this was a thing! Anyway, we got our passports stamped and enjoyed our first night in Croatia just staying in a car park. We were awoken by the sound of Croatian music playing through the car park speakers!


Our first spot by the sea!

We stayed at so many beautiful places in Croatia, and even though we were there throughout October, the weather was flawless pretty much. And of course, being on the West Coast, we got to enjoy sunsets nearly every night! Our first proper stop over was at a lovely rocky beach, where we actually ended up staying for 3 nights. We enjoyed BBQ’s and swimming, and a flat battery at the end of it! Luckily, it was a popular spot and a local guy (who was actually Dutch) ended up jump starting us. 


Sunsets and BBQ's

The waterfalls near Pazin



A quiet spot by a castle ruin near Fucki


We mostly hugged the coast as when the suns out, there’s nothing nicer than being by the sea. We did stop at this lovely spot by a stream in the mountains in Vrbolvsko, where there was a bar around the corner (bonus!). Once again, the Weber came out and we had BBQ’s in complete serenity. 


One thing we did notice in Croatia, was the amount of Germans! It all dates back to the Second World War, as here the Germans could holiday without any problems, and it’s all just sort of continued on that way. 



One place we saw being advertised on Facebook actually, was Plitzvice Lakes, which are absolutely stunning, but little did we know they wanted to charge an extortionate amount of money to get from the ticket office to 50 metres away to see them! You couldn’t even go on a walk to see them. And not only that, apparently it closed 1 minute before we got there! So we decided to not go as we prefer natural beauty that hasn’t been made into a huge tourist attraction.


Whilst hugging the coast towards Zadar, we stayed at quite a few peaceful spots, including Kubus Ura, where we enjoyed a sunset, and a spot on the beach overlooking the Paski Most bridge.


Kubus, Ura sunset
Overlooking the Paski Most bridge in the distance


But out of everywhere in Croatia, and the reason why we ended up staying so long is because we found our own slice of heaven in what we like to call Paradise Bay, right next to the town of Razanac. Here we made friends for life. We stayed for 2 weeks, enjoying glorious sunshine everyday, fantastic company, Yoga and swims in the morning and bonfires & BBQ’s at night. There was even a guy from Germany who made his very own Silver Jewellery, and sells it at Christmas markets in Germany. So I pierced 3 people's ears, so that they could wear the earrings they had bough! We made friends with people from Lithuania, Belgium/Holland, Morocco, France, and Germany. We even wrote and recorded a song all together which you can check out on this YouTube link.









After a very emotional goodbye, we eventually moved on to continue our journey. We visited Zadar, and were fascinated by the Sea Organ (see video below). We enjoyed a couple of islands (which you could drive to), Vir, and Murter. And ended up at a spot near Sibenik, where we met a fellow British guy, who’s a full time hedge fund  lawyer on the road! As well as a Finnish couple who specialise in Van Conversions, including their own, which had a bed which came down from the ceiling, a dishwasher, a shower and oven, and their cat! We stayed here for 2 nights, the first of which we ended up staying up till 4am finishing the night off drinking Jaeger with water! And the second of which we enjoyed a BBQ and an outdoor movie night.


The island of Vir

The island of Murter
We went for a walk to this mini island
off the island of Murter


Movie night with our new friends!


We fell in love with Trogir, a place with windy cobbled streets in a walled town, and a cute marina. We also visited the famous Split, which is like Trogir but a lot bigger! We went there after Trogir so it was nighttime, and we enjoyed a drink and the twinkling lights on the horizon.


The cobbled streets of Trogir
The quaint marina of Trogir


The twinkling lights on the horizon of Split
Stacey enjoying a limoncello cocktail!



We got to meet up with a fellow friend from Paradise Bay as we made our way inland towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. We spend the night enjoying a roast chicken on the BBQ in her friends garden.


On our way towards the highest mountain in Croatia, Dinara, we stopped at the Cetina springs for a walk. We attempted the hike to the top of Dinara the following day, but alas we started to late and the sun was setting too soon. But we did enjoy our pack up at the still very high point we did reach!


Cetina Springs

Cetina Springs









Making our way up the Dinara!
Hiking up the Dinara


Pack up at the top!
Amazing views!









After our trip around Bosnia & Herzegovina, which will be our next blog post, we did pop back into Croatia for a night, mainly to buy Baked Beans at Lidl, but also to enjoy the gorgeous walled city of Dubrovnik. Luckily we were there off season, so it was quite quiet, but we could imagine in the height of summer it would be heaving! Here we were glad to have a low roof top Campervan, as all the parking is underground, which luckily we just fit in!





Dubrovnik 
The square in Dubrovnik


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