The Yugoslav wars in the 1990s took the lives of over 100,000 people. After Tito died in 1980 there was a period of instability in which the Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic emerged to assert Serbian nationalism. He instigated a plan which involved setting up a “greater Serbia” by swallowing large sections of the other parts of Yugoslavia – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. Serbia used the force of the Yugoslav army against these countries and from 1991-92 Dubrovnik came under bombardment for seven months.
Driving through these countries we became more aware of the complexity of the conflicts.
From Kučiste we drove to Mlini, just south of Dubrovnik and stayed at a lovely little campsite, Camping Kate. We were glad we got there early as it was full by the evening. From there we took the water taxi to Dubrovnik, a beautiful half hour journey which took us right to the entrance to the old town. Through a website called Freetour.com we had booked a tour guide called Marco who took a group of about 15 of us on a just under two hour tour of the city. Marco was great. He spoke good English and he spoke loudly and clearly. He was very engaging and very interesting. We learned all sorts of things, including that Dubrovnik was founded by Greeks in the 7th century, managed to avoid being taken over by Venice and was an independent state for 500 years until Napoleon turned up in 1806.
Dubrovnik is very beautiful with its pale yellow stone buildings. Its pavements too are made of yellow stone and are very shiny, making the whole city seem very light. It’s also very clean. It has lots of narrow cobbled streets, enticing gift shops and wonderful gelati. What it doesn’t have much of is ordinary shops because, as Marco explained to us, ordinary people don’t live there any more. Instead they rent their properties to tourists. It also has no advertising in the streets. Shops are only allowed to advertise on street lamps!
Dubrovnik was the main filming location in Croatia for King’s Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones and the city is full of shops selling merchandise. Some tours take you around all the filming locations.
not much left of the gelatidelicious waterstreet lamp advertsMarin Drzic – Croatian writer -people rub his noseChurch of St Blaisewindows in St Blaise
The view of Dubrovnik from above was stunning with its red roofs. Our guide Marco told us that originally the roofs had been the yellow / grey colour of the local stone, but as a result of the attack on Bosnia during the homeland war in 1991 many buildings lost their roofs. When the war ended, France donated new roofs to help with the restoration of the city and those were terracotta.
Campsite
Just across the road from the campsite was a restaurant where we were able to have a delicious meal on our last night in Croatia.
Whilst staying at Kučiste we cycled to nearby Orebić and then took the ferry to the island of Korčula, 15 minutes away. The medieval old town is gorgeous, a city wall, pale cream stone buildings, narrow alleys branching off the main. There were lots of restaurants, but we were on the hunt for a Croatian speciality we’d read about called “brodet” and we finally found it in a little restaurant along an alleyway where everyone else eating was Croatian. It’s a delicious fish stew served with slices of polenta.
Our third campsite in Croatia has been a delightful small family run site on the Peljesac Peninsular called Camping Palme in the village of Kučiste. We are on the front edge of the site, right by the sea. Fantastic. The sea is crystal clear, calm and warm enough for swimming before breakfast.
We discovered a lovely little wine bar called Dino’s not far from the campsite where you can sample local wines by the glass whilst looking out at a wonderful view of the sea and neighbouring island. We asked if they had any snacks we could have with the wine and this is what they brought. Both the rosé and the white were delicious. Didn’t manage to get on to the red as we still had to cycle back to the van.
Snack at Dino’s
Cycling along the coast we stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the sea and had a variety of vegetable dishes – all delicious.
Lunch – Djuvec rice, chard with potatoes and olive oil and roasted mushrooms
On the way back Valerie took a detour up a mountain to a Franciscan monastery above Orebic. “It was a steep 1km climb, partly cycling but mostly walking, up to the Franciscan monastery above Orebic. But it was worth it for the view of Korčuk and the other smaller islands.”
We stayed at Amadria Park Camping. It’s a very large site but extremely well run and with an ACSI card costs 23€.
From the campsite it was a lovely half hour boat trip to the medieval town of Trogir, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. With its narrow cobbled streets and beautiful buildings of pale yellow stone it’s delightful. Unfortunately that makes it a popular destination for cruise ships, so we kept becoming overwhelmed by large groups of people wearing identical red boxes round their necks (so they could listen to their tour guide).
The first pharmacy in Europe was established in one of the houses on Trogir’s main square.
the fortressCathedral entrance
The coffee is very good in Croatia so naturally when Valerie spotted a shop selling the Trogir speciality Rafioli , we had to buy one and head for a cafe. The recipe for Rafioli is of course a closely guarded secret but apparently its main ingredients are almonds, butter, rum and citrus peel. So, not surprisingly, it was delicious.
Yet again we had tap problems! Water leaking/streaming from under the kitchen tap. Oh dear. Fortunately the campsite were able to give us the details of a mobile motorhome repair company operating in Croatia and cheery Mr Nottebohm came to the campsite in his green van and saved the day.
We needed a new tap and he had one of the right type in his van!! Within half an hour it was all fixed.
Here’s a picture of the view from our campsite in Paklenica. (Campsite NacionalNI Park). The campsite was very near the entrance to the Paklenica National Park. We didn’t stay long there because thunderstorms were forecast but we managed a short walk in the morning while the weather was still good.
Walking in the gorge
As it was a public holiday for Croatia National Day (lots of red, white and blue flags 🇭🇷 everywhere), a lot of people were out and about. Many of them – some of them quite small children – were rock climbing or learning how to.
