I have officially got the coast bug, and after having returned from Zadar 10 days previously, we were once again setting off from Sarajevo for a weekend of eating fish and swimming!
On this occasion we went to Hvar, probably the most famous Croatian islands. Known for being the sunniest of all the islands in the Adriatic, it also attracts a hedonistic crowd looking for hot days spent on their boat, followed by long equally hot nights partying in one of the several bars and clubs! We were staying in the town of Stari Grad, located on the North East of the island. Stari Grad a slightly smaller and sleeper than Hvar Town, which is where the hedonistic set hang out!
As always before we left, we spoke to a few people about the best route to take and as always we got varying opinions. However, we learnt that rather than going all the way up to Split and taking the ferry direct to Stari Grad, there is also the option to go to Drevnik (a small coastal town located about 75km south of Split). From Drevnik, it is possible to get the ferry into Sucuraj which is on the east coast of Hvar. Option two seemed preferable, we wouldn’t need to drive as far up the coast, we could avoid the cost of the motorway tolls, the ferry crossing is only 35mins (a opposed to 2hrs) and it was much cheaper. The only additional point to consider is that we would need to drive from Sucuraj to Stari Grad... not a problem... it is about 65km.
As it turns out... this 'simple' drive is the section of the journey we needed to be most concerned about as the road is more commonly known as the 'Road of Hell'. The articles written about this road, are not kind, neither are some of the stories which we subsequently heard from people in Sarajevo (locals and internationals) who had taken this route. A couple which stand out... 'Don't drive it at night, at all, it is lethal...' ...'the road is a single track, with few passing places, with shear drops on both sides....'
my favorite has to be... 'I once had to drive through a forest fire which was on both sides of the road. There was no other option as there is no other road, so i just went for it....' We were slightly skeptical of these comments as how much worse than Bosnian roads can it really be?
We made it to Sucuraj just before it got dark (already ignoring one piece of advice given), but we had about 45mins of getting used to it before it got really dark! Okay, so for the reality... it really is not that bad (we were almost slightly disappointed not to be met by a forest fire or a hungry boar). It is narrow in some sections, and when passing another car you both need to pull right in and slow right down, something the locals and Italians hadn’t quite got to grips with! Some of the drops are spectacular, and there is definitely a lack of crash barriers. Additionally, some parts are raised about 3 meters either side, which means that when met with another car there is nowhere to pull into without crashing off the road... we saw one car which had done this and need to be rescued by a tow-truck. However, having had six months practice on Bosnian roads, we took it reasonably slowly and it was fine. It takes about an hour and half from the ferry terminal to Stari Grad and there is very little on the road - no petrol station, a couple of one-horse towns which actually look almost uninhabited and no street lights. However the views are breathtaking and in my opinion a preferred route to the motorway up to Split.
When we arrived in Sarajevo back in January, everyone told us that we would spend all our weekends in the summer down on the Croatian coast. Being Sarajevo's biggest fan, I was doubtful this would happen as I love it here.
As I mentioned in the past, we took our first trip to Dubrovnik at Easter and I was totally underwhelmed by it all. Okay, so the weather was not perfect, but all in all once we had enjoyed the Old Town and the views, I thought the rest of it was overpriced, the food was average and the service was terrible. I was in no rush to head back.
However, in retrospect, I may have been too hasty to write off the whole coast based on one short trip, to one small part.
Summer has been non-stop, with trips back to the UK, starting a new job, camping, rafting and generally enjoying lovely weather and being able to make plans for a BBQ at the weekend, knowing it is not going to be 15degrees and raining!! Recently my Mother came over for a week (her second time to Sarajevo) and we decided that rather than staying here, we should really take a trip back to the coast. Mum had mentioned a while ago about an article in The Daily Telegraph about a Croatian town called Zadar, located north of Spilt, South of Istria. So this was where we decided to go.
Leaving on Friday afternoon, the drive took us about 6hrs, 3hrs of which are taken simply getting out of Bosnia. We went via Mostar, Medjugorje, Citluk and then crossing the border at Crnvi Grm as this seems to be the quickest place to pick up the new motorway which runs up the coast toward Zagreb. Once on the motorway, it only took us 1.5hrs to get to Zadar. We had booked accommodation right in the centre of the Old Town. As with many of the Dalmatian towns, the old town (Stari Grad) is a pedestrian zone. The rooms (Tinel Rooms) were great, cool (it was just shy of 40 degrees outside), clean and comfortable. We immediately headed out for food and a beer. The city was packed, but we were expecting this as it was the first weekend in August. Our only requirement for food was that it has to be fish, and the beer had to be cold! We found both of these and it did not disappoint! I enjoyed a plate of mussels which were fantastic and the others has fresh tuna (locally sourced). The cost was also surprising, we were expecting costs to reflect those of Dubrovnik, but it was noticeably cheaper, around 70kn for the mussels (about 7.50GBP).
The next morning we were up early to move the car. There is free parking just outside the Old Town, so well worth making the effort to find it. We then spent the morning pottering around the town, enjoying breakfast, coffee, more coffee and eventually a beer! There is a lovely fruit and veg market within the walls, other highlights include a beautiful promenade around the Old Town, the famous Sea Organ which is quite incredible and offers a lovely swimming spot for those who don’t want to venture very far. Additionally, at the sea end of the promenade is the Sun Salutation. A large area of solar panels which light up at night, but create enough solar energy to power all the lights around the sea front.
It was then decided that time on the beach/swimming was needed and we discovered that only 30mins away by ferry there is a small island called Uglian. Jadrolina ferries run from the main port every hour from 5am - midnight to the town of Preko and it costs about 38kn per person, (4GBP) return. A short walk from the ferry terminal is Preko, a small coastal town (heading right from the ferry). There is a lovely coastal footpath which takes you round to a small, beautiful harbor town, with a number of restaurants, bars and shops. We found a perfect lunch stop, located just past the harbor in a little row of restaurants - Roko. A simple pizza grill, the food was fantastic; we had a selection of starters for the table including Dalmatian ham, octopus salad, caprese salad and it was all delicious, and again the prices were very reasonable. After a couple more beers and then a much needed comproses of a concrete promenade with steps and access into the sea, benches, showers and changing rooms - all in all perfect. The sea was a perfect temperature and there is a little island just off the coast which you can swim to and swim around. Following a couple of early evening beers, we made our way back to Zadar and had another great meal at a taverna style restaurant located in the Old Town. We enjoyed the fish platter which was fantastic!
Realising the town was small and that we didn’t really want to get in the car, the following day we joined an orgnised trip out to the Kornati Islands. Located about 3hrs (by boat) from Zadar, the archipelago is made up of 150 island, most of which are uninhabited. There are plenty of trips from Zadar, boats lining the harbor with salesmen pitching their best deal to you. We joined a boat for about 30Euros, which included breakfast, lunch (fresh fish), free drink (orange squash) and free wine (turned out to be dreadful red wine).! We left at 8:30, sadly the boat was packed leaving little room sunbathe and spread out, but it was a beautiful trip. Eventually we stopped when we reached the National Park, had some lunch and then had 3 hours to explore. A five minute walk from the harbor there is a salt lake, which is unique as it is about 150m above sea level, separated from the sea only by one set of cliffs, so it looks quite amazing (from the air). We enjoyed a swim here, although again, it was packed and as the name indicates, it was very salty! Whilst I am pleased we made this trip, it was slightly too organised and touristy for us all and given a little more planning, we probably could have found something slightly smaller, offering a less commercial route.
The remaining time was spent eating copious amounts of seafood: http://www.bruschetta.hr/en/, exploring a bit more of the town (there are plenty of churches, museums etc) and then another lunch (and evening meal) at Roko on Uglian. We don’t make a habit of eating in the same place not just twice, but three times in as many days, but it really was fantastic! And of course, enjoying more swimming and relaxing on the town beach - where there seemed to be only locals... very few tourists which made it even lovelier.
The journey home was easy; we broke it up by travelling via the coast road from Split to Makarska, where we joined the motorway again. The coast road is well worth a look as the views are amazing, but it is dreadfully slow, so once you have done it once, you won’t do it again and will stick firmly on the motorway!! By the time we got home, Team GB had won a dozen more gold medals; we had eaten as much fish as we could and enjoyed the clear waters of the Adriatic and I was already planning our next weekend away!
With one almighty hangover following the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony celebrations, we dug out our tents, packed up the cars and with the help of a bacon sandwich (a coveted treat here) we set off for a weekend of camping and rafting.
Located about 2hrs South East of Sarajevo, just beyond Foca, the Tara Canyon is the largest canyon in Europe and the second largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon in the States. The Tara River runs through the canyon, the majority of the river is in Montenegro, it then joins the River Piva and converges into the Drina when it flows into and through Bosnia.
Camp Ivana offers basic overnight accommodation in little wooden huts, there is basic ( and I mean basic) toilet and washing facilities and bar/kitchen area. The accommodation was full, so we offered to camp in the field which was perfect (although subsequently we discovered that it a bit 'anty'! Being about 150 degrees (OK, slight over exaggeration) we walked the 100m or so down to the river. Wow... was my first impression, a relatively fast flowing, wide river with steep banks and woodland on either side. Ice blue in colour and as it turned out; also in temperature... it was freezing! Only two of us actually made it in properly, the others fussed about on the shore! It was certainly refreshing, so clean you can drink the water straight from it, something I realised I had never done before.
That evening we had a delicious meal at the camp 'restaurant'. A feast of meat and fresh river trout and a couple of beers and after a few camp fire games, we all hit the sack.
By 7:30am the next morning I was awake, as soon as the sun rose the tent got hotter and hotter! We packed up the campsite and were then put into groups, handed some rather dodgy (and smelly) life jackets and waterproof shoes. We then piled into a van and set off up stream. The journey to the rafting start point was about a 40 minute drive away, across the Montenegrin boarder. It is a beautiful drive, right up through the steep cannon. After a bit of organised chaos, we were carrying our raft down to the river and offer we went. We were given some basic rafting instructions by our 'Skipper', in short to 'paddle' when he said so, and to stop when he said so... and that was our briefing! Arrrh the joys of being outside the EU!
The gentle drift downstream was quite fantastic, the steep sided canon/gorge is beautiful and the water is crystal clear (yet still absolutely freezing)!! As none of us knew what we letting ourselves in for, in terms of how much 'white water' there would be, we didn’t take a camera which is a huge regret. However, this means we will have to go back next year! We were on the water for a good 4/5hrs, we had a number of stops where we moored up, had the chance to swim etc... we even stopped at a fantastic river side bar which kept the beer cold in the water itself! There were other people at these stops (no Brits, lots of locals), so it was not quite as isolated as we were expecting and it would have been marginally better if the stops had been staggered so we were not all stopping in the same place at the same time.
Anyway, our journey ended back at the camp with another delicious meal consisting of about 3 courses, just what we needed after a tough day on the water!
