Croatia and the Balkans

I'm writing this while sitting on the balcony of an apartment aptly named "Apartment with Spectacular View B".  I'll admit that when I booked it, I was skeptical that the view could live up to the word "spectacular".  But judge for yourself:

Overlooking the medieval walled old town of Korcula on Korcula Island, with the mountain backdrop of mainland Croatia beyond, I get to write.  I glance up every few words to take in the boats moving slowly around the island, the purple bougainvilleas spilling over stone walls that tell me I'm in the Mediterranean, the Croatian flag flying proudly over the town's medieval gate.  "Does this make me a travel writer?" I hesitantly ask myself, daring to type the words on this page. I'm not sure, but judge for yourself:

When to Travel to Croatia: 

We visited Croatia in June, hoping that crowds and heat would be less than the rest of summer.  The water temperature was lower than most Junes, because the country uncharacteristically received a lot of rain in 2016.  Otherwise, the weather was near-perfect.  Warm enough to swim, not so hot we were unwilling to sightsee (with a few exceptions).  If you want to swim in the aqua Adriatic Sea, visit in summertime.  If you are primarily sightseeing, visit in spring or fall.

How to Get to and Around Croatia:

Croatia's biggest airports are in Zagreb (its capital, located north and inland), Split, on the Dalmatian coast, and further south in Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast.  If you are just visiting Dalmatia, I recommend you fly into Dubrovnik and out of Split, or vice versa.  If a roundtrip to one of those cities is cheaper, then add the cost of a transport between the cities and make your decision.  If you want to see Zagreb, the city probably offers the most affordable roundtrips, but you will be quite a distance from Dalmatia.  Europeans fly from London into Pula in Istria, if this northern coastal part of Croatia is your destination.  Or, you can fly to Venice and take a two-and-a-half hour catamaran across the Adriatic Sea to Istria.

We flew Aer Lingus from New York to Dublin, then Dublin to Dubrovnik, because it was the least expensive way to get to Dubrovnik and also be able to fly home from a more northern city.  At the time of our booking, Munich to Dublin to New York was less expensive than leaving from Ljubljana, Vienna, Venice, or Klagenfurt, Austria.  So we started our Balkans journey in Dubrovnik, rented a car at the airport, drove south to Montenegro, then back to Dubrovnik where we returned our car.  We hired a veteran from the 1991 war (he was amazing!  See below for details) to drive us to/from Dubrovnik and Mostar, Bosnia.  From Dubrovnik, we took ferries and other transport, described below, to get to Korcula, Hvar and Split.  We rented another car in Split and drove to Plitvice National Park, Rovinj in Istria, Ljubljana and Lake Bled in Slovenia, through Austria and dropped the car in Munich. It sounds like a lot - and it was.  It took me a long time to organize this itinerary to see as much of the region as practical in our seventeen days of travel.  The good news is, I've done the work, and you can just copy it!

Don't miss:

• A day with Pepo Klaic, a veteran from the 1991 war and refreshingly open and unbiased human being.  He is based in Dubrovnik, but will take you to Bosnia or Montenegro if you wish.  Scroll down to "What to Do in Dubrovnik" for more details and his contact information.  Our day in Dubrovnik's hills and in Mostar, Bosnia with Pepo was a highlight for my entire family.

• A boat trip with Paulina and Antonio in Korcula.  Try the sea urchin and swim in the turquoise sea!  Scroll down to "What to Do on Korcula" for details.

• Dinner at Konoba Menego in Hvar.  Try the eggplant marinated in honey and garlic, part of "Vegetables Menego", and the "Barley with Seasonal Vegetables".

• See Diocletian's Palace with Lucy from Split Walking Tours.  Details below under "Split".

• Kotor, Montenegro is one of the most beautiful spots in the Balkans, with fjord-like cliffs dropping into the bay, a fortified medieval town, and a 2.8 mile-long stone wall snaking up through the mountainside that you can explore on foot.  Click here for more about our trip to Montenegro.

A note on Hotels and Restaurants in Croatia:

I had read that the hotels in Croatia are often not worth their price tags.  So, we opted to stay mostly in apartments and guesthouses, which were less expensive and convenient.  In Croatia, renting a room or an apartment is called a "sobe".  We sprinkled in a few "splurge" hotels so we could have amenities like a swimming pool and breakfast.  Two of our hotels were really nice, and we were glad we spent the extra dollars.  One of them (in Hvar) was not a good value.  For apartments, I like to rent places I find on TripAdvisor.com, where the owners live on site and rent out a few apartments in their building.  This way, the owners are around, the apartments tend to be clean and well-cared for - it's a business, rather than staying in someone's home.  The "Apartment with Spectacular View B" in Korcula?  120 Euros per night for the four of us.  The owners baked us banana bread and did our laundry.  They made sure we knew about the music festival taking place one evening in town.  They sent us to the best restaurants and beaches on the island.  This kind of personal service beats a big hotel's concierge desk - and at a fraction of the cost!

Similarly, restaurant prices vary widely.  When you are traveling in Croatia, check out menus and prices before settling on a spot for lunch or dinner.  The same fresh fish from the waters of the Adriatic can cost from 15 Euros to 75 Euros depending on where you eat. On this site, you will find specific restaurant recommendations.  I rarely go to a restaurant when traveling unless it has been recommended to me by a friend, guide book or website. In Croatia, you will pass lots of restaurants with employees trying to lure you in for a meal. While all of those places may not be tourist traps, most are, and I advise you to mark your map with a few places you want to eat before setting out into a town or city.

What to Read:  

If you want to learn more about the recent war and Croatia's history in general, try The Guns of August: the Outbreak of World War I or My War Gone By, I Miss it So.  Both are a little tough to get through, and I will admit that I didn't finish either one.  Before we left home, we did borrow several children's books from the library about Yugoslavia and the war.  I did finish and enjoy The First Rule of Swimming and The Hired Man, works of fiction set in Croatia.

Dubrovnik:

Dubrovnik is Croatia's most visited city, frequented by thousands of cruise ship passengers daily.  We had read to avoid the old town between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm, when it is most crowded.  If you follow this advice and explore the old town in the early morning or evening hours, you will be happier.  Dubrovnik is a beautiful city, but you can see it in one or two days, depending on what activities you want to pursue.

How to Get to and Around Dubrovnik:

We rented a car from Sixt at the Dubrovnik airport, and drove south one-and-a-half hours to Kotor, Montenegro, which was spectacularly beautiful.  Click here to read about our two days in Montenegro.  We drove the rental car back to Dubrovnik and dropped it off in the city center.  You do not need a car in Dubrovnik, and given the traffic and winding roads, you don't want one.  If you stay in or near the old town, you can walk everywhere.  Otherwise, you can take a taxi or the bus.  If you are arriving into the airport, ask your hotel for transfer information, or take a taxi. 

Where to Stay in Dubrovnik:

There are lots of resorts with swimming pools on the ocean on Dubrovnik's outskirts. These are a good option if you don't care about location or charm (the hotels tend to be modern, or "modernized" Communist-era buildings that are unappealing), but want a pool and a beach.  We opted to stay just across the street from the walls of the old town, so we could walk everywhere.  Our friends Kristen and Scott had stayed at the Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik.  While the thought of staying in a Hilton abroad made me pause, I am glad we booked the hotel.  It is in an old palace, and our room was beautiful.  There is a fabulous breakfast included in the room rate, and a nice outdoor lounging area.  I wish the pool was outdoor instead of indoor, or had been connected to the outdoor lounging area, but the kids had fun swimming anyway.  The location was perfect.  With an advance booking rate, we paid 440 Euros per night for a suite on the Executive Floor, which gave us access to the Executive Lounge that was stocked with fresh food and drinks throughout the day. (Because we were four people, we could not book a regular room.)  Despite the high price tag, we felt the hotel was a good value, and a welcome break from apartments.  If you want something less expensive, look for a sobe in or near the old town, or book a resort on the outskirts and be prepared to take a bus or taxi into the old town.  This option is not a terrible one - after exploring the old town you can return to your hotel for a swim!

Where to Eat in Dubrovnik:

• Kopun:  For a good seafood meal, sit outside at Kopun, in a quiet square in the old town.
• Buffet Skola:  If you tire of Dubrovnik's many pricey restaurants, sit outside in the alley at Buffet Skola for reasonably-priced sandwiches on homemade bread. 
• Gelato:  The locals swear by Dolce Vita, but we didn't think it was very good.  None of the gelato in Dubrovnik that we tried is worth recommending.

What to Do in Dubrovnik:

• Walk the walls:  The old city walls carry a pricey admission fee, but if you made your way across the world to Dubrovnik, buy the tickets and climb up to the top of the walls where you can walk the whole way around the old town.  As you look down at the terra cotta roof tiles, notice the bright orange ones - those are the replacements for the damage done by the 1991 war.

• Stroll the town:  The beautiful old town is small - you can cover it in a couple of hours.  

• Kayak:  For a different perspective of the walled town, join one of the kayak tours leaving from outside the main gate (you will see the companies lined up at the main gate entrance waiting for customers).  We didn't have time to kayak, but our friends went last summer and recommend it.

• Hire Pepo to take you up to the fort and hills above the town:  Pepo Klaic fought to defend his hometown of Dubrovnik during the 1991 siege.  Refreshingly honest and open-minded, Pepo talks candidly about his experience in the war, and has moved forward in his life with a humanistic and healthy perspective.  Our day with Pepo in the hills of Dubrovnik and in Mostar, Bosnia, was a highlight for all of us, especially for my two kids who say they will never forget his description of people getting shot as they lined up for clean water in the mornings.  Pepo can be reached at:  pepoklaic@yahoo.com and 385-98-4273-01.  Click here for tips on Mostar, Bosnia.

Korcula:

It is tough to choose one favorite spot in Croatia, but when asked I answer with a wistful smile, "Korcula."  

How to Get to and Around Korcula, and Where to Stay:

From Dubrovnik, there are direct ferries to Korcula in July and August.  In June, ferries leave only from the end of the Peljesac Peninsula, about a two-hour drive from Dubrovnik. I had read that lining up with a car for the ferries around the islands is recommended hours before departure to ensure a spot, especially between Korcula and Hvar and Hvar and the mainland.  Also, the car ferries take significantly longer than the passenger catamarans.  We decided to do the islands without a car.  

Korkyra Transfers picked us up from our Dubrovnik hotel on time, and drove us about two hours up to the end of the Peljesac Peninsula to Orebic, stopping for a seafood lunch by the second longest wall in the world (you know where the longest wall is).  After lunch, the driver (with whom I was displeased because he drove like a maniac and did not stop at the vineyard for wine tasting or the wall for photos as promised) drove us onto the car ferry, and fifteen minutes later, we drove off the ferry to our accommodation, the Adriatic Pearl Korcula.  Smiling Ivan and Gaelle (and their two-month-old newborn son) met us and gave us an orientation to the apartment and to Korcula that satisfied my Type A standards. Ivan and Gaelle even have a binder with laminated pages (there's nothing a Type A person loves more than a binder with laminated pages), listing activity suggestions, recommended restaurants, marked on a map, along with wifi passwords, emergency numbers (although the owners live just downstairs and are always available), and laundry service (which we needed desperately).  The other item included in the apartment that served my Type A tendencies very well?  An extra-large drying rack with clothespins, meaning we could dry all of our bathing suits on the sunny balcony after a day on the water or at the beach. 

Ivan and Gaelle's building is new and features four apartments for rent, located just a five-minute walk from the old town.  We chose "Apartment Spectacular View B", although Apartment Spectacular View A would have been just as good.  And when we stepped out onto the spacious balcony, the view was indeed spectacular.  The spacious one-bedroom apartment was perfect for our family of four.  We didn't cook in the kitchen, but it was great to have a fridge to keep drinks cold.  The small bathroom was clean and functioned perfectly.  The windows have room darkening shades (although the balcony doors have curtains that let light in so whomever is sleeping on the pull-out in the living room should know this).  Gaelle even baked us delicious banana bread to take on our boat excursion.  All of this cost us only 120 Euros per night, an excellent value.  Our only wish at the Adriatic Pearl Korcula was for beach towels - this was the only accommodation at which we stayed during our Balkans trip that did not supply them.  Since they are a bulky item to pack, we bought two cheap beach towels to share, and left them in Slovenia.  But we absolutely loved our accommodation and would definitely stay here again if we return to Korcula! 

Note that our friends Kristen and Scott stayed at what was rated the island's top hotel in 2015, the Hotel Korsal, and were displeased by the lack of pool, outdoor seating and unhelpful concierge.  

Around Korcula, there are buses, but we found "Taxi Jerry" at the taxi stand on day one, got his phone number, and his immaculate Mercedes wagon became our chariot for the next three days.  Jerry took us to the island's best beaches, and always arrived at the appointed time to take us back to our apartment at the end of the day.  Taxis are not cheap, but are convenient.  Taxi Jerry's number is 385-99-6855414.

Where to Eat on Korcula:

• Nonno, recommended by Ivan and Gaelle, was our best meal on Korcula. Sitting on top of the walls of the old town, we savored every bite of the homemade pasta while watching locals and travelers on their evening stroll around the walls.

• Pizzeria Tedeschi has very good pizza, friendly service and a great location on the town's medieval walls.

• Marco Polo, which sits by a piazza on the water just outside the city walls, is a pleasant place to sit and have breakfast, a snack or a (pretty good) pizza.

• Babic Bakery, just across the piazza from Marco Polo, is a great spot to take away pastries.  We loved the spinach pies for our beach picnics.  We did not like the sandwiches as much from Pizzeria Leut, although it's a favorite spot of the locals.

What to Do on Korcula:

• Walk on top of the walls:  Unlike most medieval towns where life happens within the city walls, in Korcula it happens ON the city walls.  Wide enough to hold restaurants, a walking path and shops, the walls are an idyllic place to stroll in the evening, choosing a spot for dinner and walking along with an ice-cream afterward.  You should also explore the town within the walls.

• Take a boat excursion:  Initially, I had tried to book a room at the Korcula Waterfront Accommodation, but it was booked up when I emailed seven months in advance. Paulina and Antonio, the owners, recommended the Adriatic Pearl Korcula, and then kept in touch.  On our first full day in Korcula, Paulina picked us up and drove us to their waterfront guesthouse where we were outfitted with snorkel gear and a cooler for a picnic lunch.  Then we climbed aboard the "Paulina" - a great day boat with lots of shade, a fresh water shower, a swim platform, and perfect hosts.  Antonio and Paulina took us to a spot to snorkel and swim in the clear turquoise sea.  The snorkeling is not fantastic, but the water is wonderful for a swim and there are a few fish around.  While we snorkeled and swam, Antonio went diving for sea urchins.  

My picky kids were so impressed, they decided to try eating sea urchin along with the adults!  (Eating it on big hunks of bread helped to soften the fishy blow.)   Next, the captain brought us to an island for a walk to a stone quarry, passing two old stone churches on the way.  The island was deserted except for a friendly dog with whom my children fell quickly in love and asked to have a summer home on the island so they could continue to play with the dog (they've had worse ideas).  Our hosts then dropped us off on our own white stone beach with gorgeous clear water, where we picnicked and swam.  They even ferried over two umbrellas and set them up so we could have a bit of shade.  And finally, we visited an island with a monastery and wild deer that were brought to the island to impress a visiting Tito (who never showed up, but the deer stayed and flourished). And the whole time, Paulina took photos of our family to send to us later.  I highly recommend spending a day with Paulina and Antonio (you can contact them through Korcula Waterfront Accommodation, as they also own this guesthouse - click here - or the owners of the Adriatic Pearl Korcula will contact them for you).  

• Hit the beach:  We visited two beaches on the island.  Vela Przina was a sandy beach, so we visited that first.  It was just okay.  The second beach, Pupnatska Luka, was spectacular.  Wear your aqua shoes, because it is rocky.  But rocky beaches mean much clearer water.  We rented chairs and an umbrella for a small fraction of the cost of loungers on an Italian beach.  The four of us played monk(ies) in the middle with the little water ball that has traveled the world with us.  The kids explored the tide pools and I enjoyed a solitary, perfect swim and float in the salty aqua Adriatic Sea. Hire Taxi Jerry to take you to the beach and arrange with him a time to pick you up when you want to head back to town.  Taxi Jerry's number is 385-99-6855414.

• Mljet National Park:  We didn't have time, but our friends Scott and Kristen loved their day in Mljet National Park, on a nearby island.  You can book an excursion through one of the travel agencies in town - ask Ivan and Gaelle to recommend a company.  The park has bike paths and a lake for swimming, and is supposed to be beautiful.

Hvar:

Hvar is known by travelers for two things:  partying and yachting, although not necessarily by the same group of people.  Hvar has lots of backpackers, lots of young people who like to dress up and stay out late, and lots of wealthy yachtspeople of all ages.  My family is none of these.  But we really liked Hvar and wish we had spent a second night on the island.

How to Get to and Around Hvar:

It was painful to wake up so early in the midst of a Mediterranean schedule, but we took at 6:00 am passenger ferry from Korcula to Hvar, which took about an hour and forty-five minutes.  You can book your tickets on Jadrolinija in advance online by clicking here. There are also other ferry companies, including rival Krilo.  We walked five minutes to our hotel.  The town center is compact, so if you are staying in town you do not need a car.  If you are staying at a resort on another part of the island, your resort will shuttle you from the ferry or you can find a taxi at the bus station, a few minutes' walk from the ferry.

Where to Stay in Hvar:

Centrally-located and convenient, the Hotel Park Hvar had a spacious room for our family and friendly service, but was a poor value at 355 Euros per night.  The included breakfast was not good.  If you want a pool and a fancier resort, you'll need to look outside of town. Or save a few bucks and look for a sobe in town.

Where to Eat in Hvar:

Our best meal of our seventeen-day Balkan adventure was at Konoba Menego, recommended by our friends Rich and Susan who had eaten there in August 2015.  Located on a stone alleyway in the beautiful old town, Konoba Menego had friendly service and a cozy dining room (we do wish we could have sat outside).  After about a dozen seafood meals in a row, we devoured the freshly-prepared vegetarian options, which were creative and delicious.  There are also seafood options  Eat there!

What to Do in Hvar:

We spent our day on Hvar on Secret Hvar's Offroad Tour, which our friends Susan and Rich had taken with their three- and eight-year-olds last summer.  Although it was pricey (80 Euros per adult, 54 Euros per child), the tour was a great way to see the island in a day. We loved visiting the abandoned stone village and learning about the island's lavender and olive oil production.  Our lunch stop for peka, a local dish cooked in a pot with meat or octopus that must be ordered hours in advance, was tasty.  The highlight for our family was the hour-long beach stop.  The typically-rocky beach had beautiful turquoise water and lots of surf to play in!  Our guide was just okay - he was knowledgeable but had a negative/bitter attitude.  You can also take a boat excursion to explore one of the gorgeous, secluded beaches located all along Hvar's north coast.

Split:

We spent only a few hours in Split, which was perfect.  While the city's outskirts are a sprawling, communist eyesore, the old walled town, containing the ancient Diocletian's Palace built in the year 305, is a marvel.  We took an 8:00 am ferry from Hvar, arriving in Split an hour later. We walked to the Split Walking Tour office, which stored our bags for us, while we got a bite to eat and met up with the 10:30 am walking tour of Diocletian's Palace.  We had inquired about a private tour, but the pricing was much more attractive for the group tour, and we are glad we took it.  (Click here for walking tour information.)  Our guide, Lucy, was fantastic.  She has a real passion for the history of her city, and her enthusiasm is infectious.  Request Lucy if you can.  We learned so much, and were fascinated to see 2000-year-old Roman structures riddled with bullet holes from World War II and the 1991 war.  My kids also liked the tour, although they complained of the heat. Nothing a scoop of gelato couldn't fix!

After the tour, we grabbed affordable and delicious pastries from Bobis - get the soparnik, a spinach or swiss chard filled pastry with garlic.  Although the bakery is take-away, if you walk across the street you will see a covered seating area with long tables and benches, a perfect place to enjoy your pizza or pastry in the shade.  While you finish your lunch, you may be eyeing the gelato across the road, just next to the bakery.  Don't even consider it - instead, walk a few minutes to Pumparela, which actually has good gelato.  Full of pastry and ice-cream, we collected our bags from the Split Walking Tour office and walked to the Sixt rental car office.  We picked up our rental car, and were on our way north to Plitvice National Park.

Plitvice National Park:

We had read that Plitvice National Park is one of the most beautiful spots in Europe, and since it was (mostly) on our way from Split to Istria, so we stopped for a night.  The park is, indeed, beautiful, although I'm not sure I agree it's one of the most beautiful spots in Europe.  I don't think Plitvice is a must-do, but we are glad we stopped at the park.

How to Get to and Around Plitvice:

We drove to and around Plitvice, which gave us the freedom to stay outside the park.  From Split, it took us about two hours.  If you are relying on public transportation, you will need to take a bus, and stay inside the park at one of the three monstrous and overpriced hotels, which have generally average-poor reviews.  Once you park your car inside the park for your day of hiking, you can use the park's efficient shuttle bus and boat system to get around.

Where to Stay and Eat:

We LOVED our sweet little Alpine-style guesthouse, just a few miles outside of the park on the main road, called the Plitvice Miric Inn.  For only 126 Euros per night, we had a lovely "family room", which had a separate cozy sleeping area with twin beds for our kids.  The included breakfast was fabulous, and I recommend you also take dinner here.  For only 20 Euros per person (they only charged us for three people, figuring the kids would eat less), we were served a beautiful platter of freshly roasted whole fish, meat, and a variety of vegetables. The food was delicious, and the staff at the guesthouse is extremely friendly and kind.  There are grounds around the guesthouse, where we kicked around a soccer ball and relaxed.  Click here for the guesthouse's website.  

What to Do:  

In the morning, drive to the National Park, park and pay the daily admission fee (there are two lots - we parked in Entrance 2 so we would be close to our car when we finished). Follow the walking path, which reaches the park in about ten minutes.  From the park, you can choose to hike, or take the shuttle bus or the boat to another starting point.  We took the shuttle bus to Station 1, and walked on the well-maintained paths and boardwalks, stopping to gape at the gorgeous waterfalls dropping into green-blue water.  We took the boat across the lake to P2, then hiked to Station 3 to catch the bus back to the entrance (Station 2 if your car is parked at Entrance 2).  It sounds more confusing than it is, and the park is well-marked with signs.  Our favorite part was walking on the lower paths along the water, where we could see the trout swimming through the clear water. Sadly, swimming is forbidden.  We spent about five hours total in the park, which was perfect.

Rovinj, Istria

Istria is a peninsula in northwestern Croatia that feels a little bit more like Italy than Croatia.  In fact, Istria was once part of Italy.  Most of the locals still speak Italian, as well as Croatian, and the town where we stayed, Rovinj, is reminiscent of an Italian riviera hamlet.  One benefit of being so influenced by Italian culture?  Istria has excellent gelato!

How to Get to and Around Istria:

Istria is a bit out of the way, particularly if your itinerary focus on the Dalmatian coast, but we are glad we made the detour.  From Plitvice, it took us about three hours to reach Rovinj, our base in Istria.  Many of the other travelers we met had come from Venice, a two-and-a-half hour catamaran ride away.  Others had flown into Pula Airport from the U.K.  Once we arrived in Rovinj, we didn't touch the car.  Had we stayed more than two nights, we would have explored Istria a bit more - hitting the hilltop village of Motovun and perhaps hitting Istrialand, a water park.  Our hotel also had a BMW convertible for free loan to guests.  We didn't have time for a cruise, so my son had to be satisfied with sitting in the driver's seat, pretending to steer. 

Where to Stay in Rovnij:

We broke from the apartments and guesthouses and splurged for two nights, staying at a resort called Hotel Monte Mulini about fifteen minutes' walk along a promenade from the town center.  The kids were thrilled to have four pools to play in, and the adults loved having four pools to sit around and relax while the kids made friends with other younger guests from around the world.  Hotel Monte Mulini is expensive.  Brace yourself.  It cost 657 Euros per night for a "Family Room" - really two connecting rooms, even though one room could have fit my family of four plus my neighbors' family.  The massive bathrooms could sleep another six.  The rooms are beautiful, and our sea view was lovely.  The service was top-notch, and no request was too much trouble.  Breakfast is included, and while the buffet is gorgeous and plentiful, you can order anything you want from the kitchen. Anything.  The hotel has a convertible BMW for FREE loan to hotel guests.  There are also complimentary bicycles, even children's bikes, and we used these to ride around the bay to the inflatable water park just across the water from the hotel (you can see it from the pools and beach).  

The hotel has a beach club that is open to the paying public, but is complimentary for guests.  The chairs on the dock even have a call button to the bar!  We loved the outdoor showers next to the beach.  The food by the beach was better than by the pool, but the ocean water, while clear, was not very clean.  There was some trash floating around, and a layer of seagull feathers on top of the sea.  We spent most of our time by the pools.

The hotels' four pools are concentrated together, and are beautiful.  There are underwater jets in various spots that go on and off on a rotating, timer system, which the kids loved. There is a swim-up bar, which the kids loved even more, since the hotel (and their parents) let them charge smoothies and ice-cream to the room (the rates were reasonable). The only complaint we had is that there are not enough pool chairs.  The first afternoon, there was not one in sight, although there were chairs by the beach.  On the second day, we went to the pool straight from breakfast, and got chairs without a problem.  High-end hotels that do not ensure guests pool chairs in the shade is a travel pet peeve of mine.  I don't like to play that "reserve chairs with a towel and sun hat in the early morning" game, in competition with other guests.  Plenty of people plopped their stuff down on chairs at 8:00 am and then disappeared for hours before returning to use them.  In my opinion, hotel staff should be monitoring this practice.  Actually, if you are still reading this and really want to know what I think, I believe that all hotels that feature a prominent pool or beach area should have assigned chairs per room, or a guarantee of two chairs per room, plus an umbrella. In my perfect travel world, I would show up to the pool at any time of day and know that I had a comfy place in the shade to sit in between swims.

There is also a seaside promenade that runs by the hotel all the way around the bay in both directions, and into town.  It is incredibly relaxing to swim all day, return to the room to shower, then stroll into the old town on the promenade for dinner and gelato.  I think I just described my perfect Mediterranean summer day!

Where to Eat in Rovinj:

Book an outdoor table at Santa Croce, a wonderful restaurant known for its homemade pasta with black truffles.  The food was delicious and the service was excellent.  It was a little pricey, so we made up for it by having pizza the second evening.

Pizzeria da Sergio has good pizzas and calzones in a festive atmosphere.  Seating is indoors only.  We had to wait about fifteen minutes for a table at peak dinner time.

Follow up every meal with gelato from Gelateria Italia, run by an Italian woman who knows her ice-cream.  You will see countless places selling gelato in Rovinj - trust me and pass by all of them, saving your dollars and gelato rations for Gelateria Italia.  Pay first at the counter (they even have soft serve, which pleased by son immensely, and panna, which is fresh whipped cream you can ask for on top of your gelato, just like in Italy).

If you are staying at Hotel Monte Mulini, your breakfast needs will be well taken are of. My kids ordered waffles, nutella crepes, pancakes...they were in heaven.  When I asked the waiter what the choices were for omelette fillings, he said "anything you want."  I listed a few vegetables and he nodded and brought me a perfectly cooked omelette filled with everything I had ordered.  If you order lunch by the pool, it is just okay.  The sandwiches by the beach were better, but not necessarily worth getting out of your pool chair for.

What to Do in Rovinj:

Relax!  We spent a lot of time sitting by the beach and pool, and swimming.  We rode the complimentary bicycles from the hotel along the traffic-free promenade to the trampoline park, which was like an inflatable obstacle course on the water.  The kids met Australian friends in the pool.  Mom and Dad actually read their books.  In a busy seventeen-day itinerary through the Balkans, Rovinj was our vacation.  We loved exploring the beautiful town and its lively pedestrian center.

If we had had an extra day in Rovinj, we would have borrowed the hotel's convertible and driven to the hilltop village of Motovun, which I had read is beautiful.  We may have indulged the kids and visited Istrialand, a water park.  If we had wanted to see MORE Roman ruins (we didn't), Pula is the place.  With a fourth day, we may have ventured out on a day boat trip to a nearby island, or taken the two-and-a-half hour catamaran ride to Venice, Italy.

Everyone told me Croatia is beautiful.  I believed them, but thought, "there are a lot of beautiful places in the world."  I was blown away by Croatia's beauty, particularly the Dalmatian coast and islands.  It really is a spectacular part of the world and you should go!

If I am lucky enough to get back to Croatia someday, I would revisit Korcula and stay for awhile at the Adriatic Pearl Korcula.  Since I would have more time, I would take a day trip to Mljet National Park.  I would also explore Vis, the most remote and untouristed of the islands.  To read more about Vis, click here for a 2016 Condé Nast Traveler article.  And if I'm really lucky, maybe I'll get to spend a week on a sailboat, exploring remote coves and islands of the crystal clear Adriatic Sea.