Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Croatia- part 1

Last week we went to Croatia.

We'd been wanting to go to the beach for sometime, but thought France, Spain, Italy, etc. looked a little too expensive for this summer. Then we stumbled upon the idea of going to the Dalmatian coast in Croatia and we were hooked! :)

As we told our family members our plans, we kept getting concerned responses... Hadn't they recently had a war there? Well, yes, they had a war of independence from 1991-1995, but they're totally stable now. Isn't it dangerous? Not at all! Although we were warned to stay on the marked trails at one tourist site, as they haven't fully cleared the place of land mines yet. Who goes to Croatia?!? Lots of people! Overwhelmingly we heard German, but we saw license plates from all over Europe and Slavic countries. We really didn't hear much English though. And we had people ask to take pictures with our kids-- maybe they looked famous?

Here are some snapshots!

Relaxing by the pool.
Since it is still early Summer, the resort we stayed at was not crowded at all. It was a perfect getaway! (The water was pretty cold, but we went in anyway.)

Rob taking the kids out to look at the big floating play area. The Adriatic is great for kids because there are no waves to speak of, and the water is really shallow for a long way out-- or at least it was on this stretch of beach.

The next day we decided to take a boat ride out to see some of the islands along the coast. They drove us past this cave-like place, and learned that this is where they kept their war ships. We oohed and aahed appropriately, but later remarked that those must have been some tiny war ships, since our tourist ship (capacity 100) wouldn't have even fit through there.

The first island we went to was rad. Only one house on it- the lighthouse keeper's. We were left to explore on our own for a few hours and we did just that.

White rock "beaches."
I'm glad we bought the kids those water shoes.

Rob and Toby walking down the pier.

The lighthouse.

Really, really clear blue water.

The second island they took us to was to go to lunch at a restaurant. Yes, I ordered this fish. (We only had two choices.) I am very allergic to shellfish, but I do eat tuna. I've never really had other fish, and they said it was their "specialty," so I thought I'd be brave. When they brought it out all scaly, and head-and-tail and all, I realized just how brave I was going to have to be. And it was... okay. I ate it anyway. (By the way, Charlotte liked it so much, she asked to have it again 2 days later!)

The boat tour was a fun way to pass a cool, drizzly day. There are soooo many little islands out there. This one was just covered in flowers. And we got to see a group of dolphins too! Some people think we're nuts traveling with two little kids (sometimes we even think so,) but we love getting to have these adventures as a family, and this is just our life right now. :)

2 comments:

Mandy said...

Julie those are some really beautiful pictures! You are definitely adventurous! What great memories you'll have of these trips.

Harmony said...

What a fun family vacation! I never would have thought to go there. What a great idea.