Dear lovely Steemers,
Welcome back!
Since it’s cold and snowy out here and since I am missing summer dearly, I would like to tell you more about Croatia in this post. I have visited Croatia multiple times over the last couple of years. And, since my boyfriend is half-Croatian, half-Slovenian, I have had the luck of always having a good guide next to me.
In this post, I would like to show you how easy it is to have a good time in Croatia so you might be inspired to book your next holiday over there. Be quick to book your next summer holiday though, because Croatia is now the most sought-after travel destination in Europe for the Chinese. If you do not want to end up with the last possible options when it comes to hotels, now would be a perfect time to book your trip, right?
Because of the popularity of Game of Thrones, a few of the cities at the coast (Dubrovnik and Split) have become super popular for tourists. I just would not advise going here in the heart of summer, because it simply is too hot and too crowded to really enjoy it. May, June and September are perfect for that. If you feel like you will never come here again and this is your only chance: visit the cities in the evening. It is beautifully lit-up, however, you will feel like you are in Disney world, but hey – at least it is not so hot.
If you are here for your well-deserved summer holiday, I'd say: just go for the beauty of the country, the clean Adriatic sea and the simplicity of its good food!
The first lovely thing about Croatia, which you can enjoy in your own privacy even during high season, is:
The abundance of beaches and the clear blue sea
(I have taken this picture at Krk, Croatia)
Little beaches like this are literally everywhere. Since there are not many sandy beaches, the water is super clear and blue. Also, the current in the Mediterranean sea is very convenient for this part of the Adriatic Sea. All the trash that ends up in the sea washes up in Italy! With respect to those sharp rocks that you can see in the picture above, you will need to pack a few things with you to make the best of it:
- a pair of water shoes – they look ridiculous, but without them, there will be nothing left of your feet
- foldable pillows to lay on – trust me, it will make it much easier to find a good place to lay down
- towels
- bottle of water + snacks
- snorkel gear – I bought mine with prescription glasses (€120) – and I would literally recommend this to everyone who has prescription glasses!
- sun protection!
- plastic bag – For your (and perhaps someone else's) trash. I'm all up for Plogging. And hey – at least you don't feel useless on the beach
- reading material
Hang your stuff (especially when you brought food) in the low hanging olive-trees that grow between the rocks, because: ants.
Let me tell you about my favourite (budget & easy) beach-snack over there.
I usually just take one sweet, juicy 'Coeur de boeuf tomato' (from the garden of my boyfriend's mother, or bought at a local market) and a can of sardines. After a few dives in the sea, and finding refuge from the midday sun underneath the trees, I mix these two things up in a bowl. And trust me on this one: After the salty seawater, a good ripe tomato, that has enjoyed a lot of Mediterranean sun will give you exactly the sweetness that you crave for!
Important sidenote: Ants love this as well, so my advice is to clean the bowl in the seawater before you put it back in the plastic bag. Otherwise, you will take a huge family of ants home at the end of the day.
After a long day of reading books, sleeping in the shade, snorkeling to check out the fish and octopus between the rocks, and discretely measuring out your sun marks, it is time for this:
(With the increase of tourism, you can have cocktails everywhere at any time of day, without getting bankrupt – YAY!)
And this:
(At this point of the day, I usually also get really really hungry)
The Croatian food
You will find affordable little restaurants everywhere along the shore and in the villages. You can use TripAdvisor to pick one out, but most restaurants pretty much offer the same – a mix of Italian and Croatian food. What should you pick – you are asking me. Well, whatever you feel like eating of course! The menus are often really big, so you will have enough to choose from. Sometimes you will find black risotto on the menu, which I usually find a good option. However, what I would ask for is the freshly caught 'fish of the day'. You are at sea, after all! If your waiter does not speak English, and your German and Italian is not on point either, ask them this: – "Imate li svježu ribu?"
They usually bbq the fish which makes the skin very crispy and the inside nice and juicy. It is often seasoned with rosemary, and it comes with potatoes and a simple salad. I usually am too hungry to make good pictures of the food before I start eating, so I just borrowed this picture from the internet to give you an idea:
Yes, it is simple food, but with fresh fish one doesn't need much else anyway. In the end, good food is all about good ingredients, right?
If you rather eat meat, you could also go for a regional dish called 'Ćevapi' or 'Ćevapčići'. It is not one of those fancy, presentable, instagram-able dishes. It is more like street food (like how people eat pizza in Italy). You can eat this everywhere in the Balkans, as takeaway or next to a beer(or Radler), although Bosnia and Serbia consider this to be their national dish. I guess it is a bit like hummus in the middle east; everybody loves it so much, so it must be their invention and not their neighbor's. The dish probably came to this part of Europe during the Ottoman empire. Doesn't Ćevapi sound like kebab, in a way? There you go.
So what is, or are cevapi? Well, little bbq-ed sausages! Usually, you can choose between a portion of 5/6, or a portion of 10/12 pieces. It comes with a paprika-paste called ajvar, cottage cheese or kaymak, pita-bread, chopped onions and sour cream (instead of the garlic sauce you can get when you order kebab anywhere else in the world). It is perfect when you had a long day at the beach, but expect a huge after-dinner dip. This food is heavy!
Another regional delicacy is the sheep cheese (Cheese is 'Sir' in Croatian). Sheep are everywhere in Croatia, you will even hear them sometimes when you are chilling at the beach! This cheese is usually spiced with sage or rosemary, or plain – but in all cases quite strong and salty in taste. It is perfect on a cheese platter if you are still hungry after dinner, but also very nice to put on your bread for lunch.
I also think the cheese goes very well with a little drop of honey from the region. This honey has recently become a protected product by the EU. You will often find honey in little stalls next to the road where farmers sell their produce to passersby.
For dessert, go and try your luck at one of the ice cream (Sladoled) vendors, often standing in front or in between the restaurants.
Here I am eating lavender and stracciatella-icecream! Whuuut?! Lavender? Yeah, it was quite nice, but after a few bites the taste became all too familiar to potpourri, hihi!
Finally, I would really advise renting a car to enjoy this country as best as you can. This way you can look for your own little private beach (which is really not that hard if you go early in the morning in high season), and eat in different places and enjoy all the different views Croatia has to offer.
More about roadtrips and beautiful Croatian landscapes in my next blog posts! Let me know if you liked this post below, or if you would want to know more about Croatia, what to do or where to go!
For now, have a great day, dear readers!! Or as they say in Croatia: "Dobar dan!"