Ever wanted to experience Pleasure, relaxation and comfort away from home? Then, Croatia is the place to be. In a private guided Tourā¦
Croatia – the hidden gem of Europe has become one of the most popular places in the Mediterranean and Europe altogether. From our experience, personalizing your tours enhances the memories and uniqueness of your trip.
DestinaTour – a luxury oriented private tour agency provided us with the finest accommodation, services and terrific private guide & driver; they ensured we had value for every amount we spent with them. Their dedication to providing class and comfort, from our transportation to our lounges. During our stay in Croatia, we were privileged to visit lavish resorts, five star hotels, and wine and dine on their tantalizing Croatian cuisine and sparkling wines made from local wineries.
One of our major highlights was that: Croatia was given a golden award for producing the best variant of olive oil in the World, āGrimaldaā – an organic robust blend from Croatia, manufactured with the utmost respect for tradition. Being with Max, our private guide, and his company DestinaTour, we were privileged to have a feel of this oil in Istria, which is the biggest peninsula in Croatia.
During our private tour of 2 weeks, we visited 4 countries within 11 UNESCO sites including our primary tour of Croatia; it was fun filled going to neighboring countries: Slovenia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
We found out that Croatia along with Spain has the highest number of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of any European country.
Some interesting facts were discovered about Croatia, a striking point was the discovery that: The necktie, worn by business people around the world, originated from Croatia. The cravat as it is called was originally rocked by Croatian soldiers who served as mercenaries to the King of France. So, thanks to Croatia we do not have to wear this outfit anymore!! Ā š
Our tour began in Dubrovnik, this city left us in awe, it had so many things to keep us shell shocked in a good way. Initially, we did not know where to begin in this marvel of a city, after a while, we chose to walk the Dubrovnik city walls. On realization that these were the same walls that were chosen for the kingās landing in the Movie Series – Game of Thrones, our excitement was increased a notch, being diehard fans of the movie; it felt like ādreams come trueā.
From the walls, we went in for dinner at āThe Pearl of Adriaticā, as it was named by English poet Lord Byron. Our guide was awesome, he had just the right things to keep us engaged and excited. Our meal was prepared according to the original recipe from 16th century, reminding me of a quote by: The great George Bernard Shaw wrote: āThose who seek paradise on Earth must come to Dubrovnikā. We could not agree more.
For the next 2 days, we walked and explored the stunning Kotor bay in Montenegro, where the mountains surrounding the Kotor bay reflect themselves in the clear blue sea; a unique feature in itself.
One of the most remarkable experiences we had in Dubrovnik, which was real fun for my foodie husband, was oyster picking and the amazing food experiences along the way to the local wineries, with amazing cheese and olive produce. We had the freshest oysters possible, taken right from the sea; it was an amazing oystersā picnic. We also walked on the 2nd largest defensive walls in the World! The Great Wall of Croatia, it was amazing!
We visited numerous attractions including the off road visit of the vineyards, high in the hills of famous wine region of Peljesac peninsula, which was on our way to Korcula, the birth place of famous Marco Polo, whom we just realized was Croatian.
Another attraction was crossing over the famous Mostar Bridge; even though we lacked the courage to jump into the cold river beneath the bridge, the local guys gave us a feel of how it was, as they were happy to entertain us, jumping off the bridge. We also experienced coastal drive, another amazing experience in Croatia; with mountains piled up on one side and hundreds of islands on the sea side, giving you nature at its finest.
We visited Split, and came to another UNESCO World heritage – Diocletianās palace, we were told about Diocletian who was a famous Roman emperor and how people still live in his ancient massive palace, differentiating it from other similar palaces around the world which are just a bunch of stones that fuel Archaeology.
During our tour, we arrived in town of Sibenik, where a cardinal attraction site is the St. Jamesā Cathedral, built over 500 years ago. Uniquely, it is made entirely of stone slabs and ribs, without any binding material. How it is still standing till today is remarkable.
We then proceeded to Island Hvar, one of the 1000 islands in Croatia. Hvar is tagged āthe sunniest Islandā in Europe. There, we were treated to homemade dinner; our host was a family of fisherman, and as you would expect, sea food was the main menu. We had Octopus prepared in the traditional way.
At Zadar, we had gained the impression that Croatia is home to the āworldās most beautiful sunsetā, according to Alfred Hitchcock who had a cinematically magnificent view of Croatia, and claimed Zadar had the best of sunsets. This is corroborated by the award given to Zadar as the best European destination of the year 2016.
Another significant event at Zadar was the visit to The Kornati National park. Kornati National Park is a site to behold, words would not let me describe the embodiment of its beauty, I would herein make reference to George Bernard Shaw who wrote in his book: “On the last day of the Creation God desired to crown his work, and thus created the Kornati Islands out of tears, stars and breath”. With steep cliffs or “crowns” making the coastline unique and dramatic, waters are crystal clear unlike anywhere else. It is one-of-a-kind, the sailorās paradise.
The Kornati Islands are the densest archipelago in the Mediterranean. Nowhere else in this large sea would you find such a great number of islands crammed in so little space. Lest I forget to add, we had the best fish ever in a private restaurant on a small hidden island, where our skipper Nick took us on the private speed boat day-trip. It sometimes feels like that fish grows only in that part of the world.
With all the fun we had experienced up until Zadar, we thought we had reached the pick of our adventure, we were wrong! After Zadar was the real highlight of our Croatian adventure. We walked through the Plitvice lakes, one of the most stunning places in the world. At every turn and corner, with every passing second, you could feel this engineering masterpiece of nature; there were hundreds of waterfalls, streams and lakes to leave you speechless. Our guide, Max, continued impressing on us telling us the finer details about the lakes, giving us some insider tips and taking us on some of the beaten paths and secret viewpoints. Of course, here we had totally different specialties, because we were in the mountains, a bit far from the coast.
The very next day we were already breathing fresh alpine air, exploring another hidden gem ā River Soca valley an amazing emerald river with hidden gorges and incredulous waterfalls, which were hidden by surrounding cliffs.
The biggest castle in the world inside a cave!!! We were speechless. Other landmark sites were the Postojna cave – the most visited tourist cave in Europe. In our tour, we also went to Hum, the worldās smallest town officially with a population of 26; Hum was founded in the 13th century.
Other places of excitement were: Roman times Gladiatorās Amphitheater, in Pula, Croatia, one of the best preserved, we also ate one of the best truffles in the world in tasty meals that amazed the famous Anthony Bourdain.
We took strolls in the medieval towns on the Istrian hilltops and the capital city of Croatia, in the Upper town of Zagreb.
Croatian wine cannot be exempted from the pleasures, the famous Zinfandel wine has its roots in Croatia. Croatia is also a land of vineyards, with more than 300 geographically defined wine districts corralled into an area roughly the size of the state of West Virginia.
Croatia is filled with many architectural marvels, landmark sites and gems of nature, it has a vibe of excitement, which ensures that all types of travelers come in anticipation. The same can be said of Slovenia, which is slowly gaining prominence amongst holidaymakers. We really should come back to have some more of it! Soon!
These are really some of the landmark and unforgettable memories of Croatia, and it was not possible without our hosts: Max and his luxury travel agency – DestinaTour, they gave us memories to last a life time, it was a great, unique and highly customized experience of Mediterranean. Most importantly, there was value for every amount spent.
Destinatour provides you an exquisite luxury travel tourism experience in Croatia and Slovenia (plus Bosnia and Montenegro), for your leisure and pleasure!
I invite you to take a look at their website: http://destinatour.eu/Ā or contact them on email: tour@destinatour.eu
kereta sewa puchong
May 17, 2016 at 1:06 amjust discover this site from somewhere. great sharing story & experiences. i will recommend this site to my friends out there.
Carmen Edelson
May 17, 2016 at 8:17 amThanks Kereta! I’m glad to hear that you like my site and will recommend it to others.
sarah
May 21, 2016 at 8:36 amAh good to see that you took much the same route through Croatia as me, since I made up the route myself and you always worry that you miss something important that way.
What time of year did you go? I went in August and it was very crowded. I’d like to go back and see these things again with less people.
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:44 pmAugust is a terrible time of year to go, not only is it very hot but can be crowded from all the kids out for summer vacations. We went in June and it was the perfect time of year.
Brianna
May 21, 2016 at 10:50 amPrivate tours are a great way to see a lot and learn interesting things about the place you’re visiting, but I fear they don’t always give the best insight to the true culture of a destination. What do you think?
Carmen Edelson
May 22, 2016 at 4:52 pmIt depends on the tour. I feel that working with a local company that knows the destination well is beneficial.
Vicki Louise
May 22, 2016 at 6:31 amI love Croatia as a destination. It’s defiantly a bit of a hidden gem in Europe – the place, the people, the culture, the rustic charm – just incredible. Thank you for sharing the beauty!
Carmen Edelson
May 22, 2016 at 4:53 pmCroatia is such a wonderful place with so much charm that it’s hard to have a bad time anywhere you go. I’m definitely going back soon.
Kathryn Hunter
May 22, 2016 at 1:34 pmA castle inside of a cave? That’s motivation to go to Croatia, all on its own, with the rest as a bonus!
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:37 pmPredjama Castle’s dramatic setting in the gaping mouth of a cavern halfway up a hillside is impressive.
Kerri
May 23, 2016 at 5:50 amVisited Dubrovnik, Split and Hvar and loved them all. I think what’s it has done though is given me a yearning to visit nearby Bosnia, Montenegro etc. This post has definitely made me want to do this.
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:31 pmWe definitely want to go back and spend more time in each of the places.
Jessica
May 23, 2016 at 6:23 amMarvelous landscapes Crotia has! I love how you captured it. Still wishinh to finally visit this finest place this year.
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:38 pmTwo weeks isn’t enough time to visit Croatia. If you do plan a trip, make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to visit all these sites.
Nathan
May 23, 2016 at 7:15 amAmazing photos! I was in Croatia last summer and loved it. I would recommend it to anyone thinking of going!
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:33 pmI would highly recommend a trip to Croatia for everyone. It’s full of amazing landscapes and sceneries that you just can’t miss.
Christine | The Traveloguer
May 23, 2016 at 7:20 amThat’s so cool you got to see so many UNESCO sites in such a short period of time. I would love to visit Croatia.
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:45 pmSo many UNESCO sites to see in Croatia that we wanted to make sure we saw most of them. It was a lot to see in two weeks.
Elisa
May 23, 2016 at 5:58 pmNice pictures
Carmen Edelson
May 23, 2016 at 6:41 pmThanks Elisa! It’s hard to take a bad picture in Croatia. š
Tom
May 25, 2016 at 3:41 amCroatia is somewhere I really want to go! Looks great from the photos!
Carmen Edelson
June 6, 2016 at 11:58 amWe loved our stay in Croatia and really enjoyed visiting some of these sites. I’m a big fan of Game of Thrones and its neat that now I recognize some of the places they filmed in Croatia.
Hang Around The World
May 26, 2016 at 10:28 amHi! I really like this post, it’s really interesting.
When I read it I was able to imagine everything you’ve written. The photos did the remainder š
You’ve included in few words the essential things to see and to do.
Well done!
Carmen Edelson
June 6, 2016 at 11:59 amThanks for your kind words, and I’m glad you enjoyed my post.
Wyatt
February 28, 2017 at 12:00 amHi to all, the contents existing at this web page are truly awesome for
people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.