Clear blue sea, beautiful nature and delicious food. Oh Croatia, we love you.
It was already quite a few years since I visited Croatia and now it was time to show this beautiful country to Ralph. Nature is overwhelming and the food is delicious. You can call Croatia a combination of Italy and Slovenia. There are few big cities to be found but especially many small villages with a lot of atmosphere. And, last but not least, the most perfect beaches!! There are just few sandy beaches, but the most beautiful pebble beaches.
Croatia is certainly not the undiscovered country as it once was, but we managed to find places where we could walk around in peace.
PLITVICE LAKES
Okay, this nature reserve is clearly not an example of my earlier statement. But our journey started together with Raymond and Kayleigh in Plitvice.
It’s beautiful, but crowded even when it’s rainy weather! We had to be careful that we wouldn’t get hit with an umbrella and didn’t accidentally step next to the wooden paths. As long as you have a little bit of patience, you can still take beautiful pictures and enjoy the impressive waterfalls and the clear water. Raymond and Ralph could not resist it, they had to stand at a forbidden spot, at the top of a waterfall to see how the water falls down. “What a fool?” I said to Kayleigh, but oh well … Let them.
We slept in nice B&B by the Dutch Jannie Rapaic, het place is definitely recommended, a nice cozy apartment with a delicious breakfast in the morning. Jannie also gave us all kind of tips that we could check out in the area.
MIMICE
After the cold and the rainy weather, the boys drove full speed to the sun, sea and beach as quickly as possible. Our next destination was Mimice where we had a beautiful AirBNB apartment on a hill overlooking the sea, the island Brac and the sunset. Oh and maybe the best thing about it, there was a private beach. The boys were crazy because they could finally snorkel and we … Well we could sunbathe on a bed with the best view ever. The next day we went rafting together in Omis, we just needed a little action! It was fantastic, over the wild river with the raft and jumping from the cliffs, we felt like little children again.
Unfortunately, Kayleigh and Raymond left after spending 4 days together. They had arrived earlier and had already finished their holidays. But do not worry, we still had a lot of good things to come!
SPLIT
After 4 days we were again with the two of us. We had left Mimice behind and drove to the north, destination Split. Again, we rented a small AirBNB apartment that was a 15-minute walk from the city center. Because of the good weather we headed towards the beach immediately after arrival. A good advice we had received was to pay a visit to Kasjuni Beach. And we can tell you one thing about it. Magnificent! A lovely pebble beach with plenty of (paid) sun beds, two beach bars and lounge music at the background. We had a blast.
Because we didn’t made any nice pictures of the both of us yet, Ralph insisted that we took some beautiful pictures at sunset. After rushing a bit we walked towards the center. After some snapshots in the harbor, Ralph decided to take me to a small park on the edge of the harbor. But those ‘snapshots’ we made – before it was completely dark – turned out to be just a distraction … Ralph started talking nervous, “we’ve been together for almost 6 years now …” . And suddenly Ralph pulled out a small jewelry box of his pocket! :O After this he sat down on one knee and gave me the most beautiful ring. After this magical moment we ate something in the city center as two newly fiancées. 
The day after we walked into the old center of Split, we had the best coffee so far during our holiday at D16 and …. We went back to Kasjuni Beach, just because we could and it was such a nice beach!
HVAR
The next day it was time for our trip to Hvar. But first waiting in line to take the ferry with our rental car. We had some gray weather and the drizzle slowly began to fall in Split but the ferry, took us to the sun, the island of Hvar! Once there we were amazed. Beautiful surroundings, we drove through the mountains and blooming flowers. Again we had an AirBNB apartment, but this view absurd. Here we could wake up every day!! After arriving at the apartment we walked towards the city center, this route along the harbors and the water is a route that never gets bored. We saw quite a few nice things, but decided to go back to the apartment on time, because the day after we would spend the day on the water – after all, we had booked the green & blue caves tour.
If you are in Hvar and have never seen these caves, don’t miss them! With a small zodiac started at the island of Vis where we visited the first caves and a private beach. Here you could sunbathe, snorkel and relax a bit. Then we went on to the various caves where we were able to get out of the boat for snorkeling of diving. Only the blue cave was an exception, here we had to stay inside the boat to watch the cave and the most beautiful clear blue water.
Our time in Hvar went too fast, but we know for sure … We will be back again! On the way back to Zadar we spend our last night in Sibenik and the same for this city. For the best food, look for the small streets and avoid the touristic areas.
