By Kathleen Sterling
Emerald waters. Walled cities. Cobblestone corridors leading to ancient courtyards filled with tumbling flowers. Truffles and seafood. Brilliant days. Soft nights. This is Croatia.
While the mere mention of Croatia no doubt brings up this beautiful imagery, the experience of exploring the country far exceeded all my expectations. With an itinerary set to kick off in Sibenik, we decided to start our vacation a few days before our scheduled departure wandering and exploring. This charming town is the oldest city in Croatia, less crowded than other nearby cities and offers a beautiful, medieval atmosphere ideal for leisurely wandering.
Our Hotel Armerun backed up to the ancient ramparts and was filled with artifacts and architectural ruins, touching on its historic past while still offering any modern amenity a traveler could wish for. It faced the waterfront and we started each day with our complimentary breakfast (anything and more on the menu and the food was amazing) before setting off to explore. It is home to not one, but two UNESCO heritage sites, fortresses and nearby Krka National Park, a beautiful oasis of waterfalls that we hiked on one of our first days.
The old stone buildings were charming, and we loved getting lost in Sibenik’s narrow passageways. Serendipity led us to old Byzantine churches, al fresco bars, tiny shops offering truffles and local wine, historic cathedrals and more. We spent an evening at a beachfront café, sipping the local Rakija, a fruit brandy, and watching the sun set. A slow evening that quickly became a highlight.
The next – and real focus of our trip – was boarding Always Croatia’s MS San Antonio, a small cruise ship that would be our home for the next seven days, starting in Sibenik and sailing down the coast to end our journey in Dubrovnik. With only 18 cabins and recently refurbished, our family of 11 filled up most of them, so it was almost like having a private yacht. The intimacy of the ship not only allowed for access to smaller coves and off-the-beaten path excursions, but the chance to really get to know the crew on board. The sparkling San Antonio launched in 2018, and is one of two ships run by a local family. The crew of approximately 10 people were young, extremely friendly, always attentive and unbelievably accommodating to the little kids we had in our group.
The cabins themselves were compact and comfortable with surprisingly large bathrooms for a small ship and frankly, a cozy respite after a day in the sun. With three decks to lounge in, gather for drinks or just gaze out over the water to the islands, the MS San Antonio offers variety for whatever mood you may be in, whether it be a social cocktail hour or a quiet reading moment.
Onboard, the food was incredible – fresh seafood, truffle risotto (truffles are a big hit in Croatia), a large breakfast buffet, and a full bar. Everything but your alcohol was included in the price: cabin, breakfast and lunch daily, a welcome dinner, a Captain’s dinner, daily tours, plus numerous swim stops, often in secluded coves where passengers could swim, paddle board, snorkel or simply float in the cool, clear, crystalline waters.
The ship meandered between Croatia’s 1,000 islands and stopped at towns both large and small for historical walks, dinners and exploring. There were lectures on the deck and guided tours almost every day when we were in port, just two hours or so of historic and cultural information. Then we were free to wander on our own, shop and find a local, hidden gem of a restaurant or bar. As the ship sailed during the day and docked in port each night, we had a lot of free time allowing the itinerary to be a perfect blend of structure and exploring.
Croatia is a country of cobblestone alleyways and we took to getting lost as a way to explore, stumbling onto tiny trattorias tucked away between the walls, al fresco bars and even locals selling their homemade wine right out of their homes. We stopped one day at a stand offering olives and wine, and followed the backyard vintner into his basement where we saw his surprisingly large tanks and bottling. The red was more than decent, the white not so much – but it was an adventure and we’ll always cheers to that!
We visited Croatia’s many fortresses, castles and medieval sites, learning of the country’s rich history. For Game of Thrones fans, Croatia is a mecca – as a lot of the show was shot there. There is a Games of Thrones museum tucked away on a side street in Split, and several stores dotted about selling themed merchandise.
But, while the included tours take you to the more tourist-famous spots, this itinerary ensures that travelers get a few tastes of Croatia’s hidden gems as well.
The San Antonio crew took us to an amazing dinner in a lavender field in Stari Grad one night, and lunch at a family home where we got to help make Soparnik, a local Swiss chard pie, and dine on their homemade cheese, sausage, wine and delicious cherry brandy.
It’s also a country known for its unique wines and the family took off twice to wine taste at local wineries. The Popic winery in Korcula overlooked a valley of vineyards, red-tiled roofs and small churches. Seeing as how they produce their own varietal named Grk, only found in this region, we bought several bottles as souvenirs and enjoyed our wine and charcuterie plates as workers crushed grapes right below us.
The people of Croatia are lovely, helpful and charming and the city itself is breathtaking. There is virtually no crime in the country, and everywhere we went we were greeted warmly.
I wouldn’t suggest going in August as it was hot. Really hot. Trekking up the inevitable stairs was tough somedays – but worth it for the aerial views of the city. One highlight came after climbing quite a steep hill to get to the Buza Bar in Dubrovnik, a hidden spot with a literal hole-in-the-wall entrance to a bar carved out of and hanging over a cliff, with gorgeous views of the Adriatic Sea.
We reluctantly departed the ship in Dubrovnik on our eighth day, having loved the trip so much we talked about taking Always Croatia’s Greek tour in a few years. Croatia exceeded our expectations and there’s truly no better way to experience the history, culture and community of the cities than traveling by water.
While the official tourism slogan of the country is “Croatia, full of life,” our experience with the people both on and off the ship seems to be more in line with a cultural saying of theirs, “Dok je srca, bit će i Kroacije.” It’s only apropos that it translates to “As long as there is heart, there will be Croatia” because we all left with a little piece of it in ours.
Can you keep the LAWA story in but make Mayors the main story?
