Shore excursions in Croatia
We are looking for advice on what to see mostly in Croatia. We are doing this trip independently because we prefer the Wind Surf to Ponant. Here is our itinerary:
Sun Sep 14
VENICE
6:00 PM
Mon Sep 15
ROVINJ
8:00 AM
4:00 PM
Tue Sep 16
SPLIT
8:00 AM
5:00 PM
Wed Sep 17
DUBROVNIK
8:00 AM
10:00 PM
Thu Sep 18
KOTOR
8:00 AM
5:00 PM
Fri Sep 19
AT SEA
Sat Sep 20
GIARDINI NAXOS
8:00 AM
2:00 PM
Sun Sep 21
SORRENTO
8:00 AM
3:00 PM
Mon Sep 22
ROME
7:00 AM
Rovinj, Split, Dubrovnik, and Kotor are the primary places we could use some guidance, as of course all excursions will be independent. We would appreciate recommendations from people who have visited these locations. We are staying in Venice for two nights before the cruise at a hotel in St. Marks Square.
Comments
Take a look at Tauck's land tour of the Adratic and see where they take you. That should give you some hints.
One of the most interesting sites during that trip was the Postojna Caves - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2019-2Adriatic-08.htm - and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postojna_Cave - but that may be too far inland for you to get to. Lake Bled is nice to see and I thought Ljubljana was a very interesting city - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2019-2Adriatic-06.htm#Ljubljana
The Tauck tour of that area was one of the best tours we've been on. There are a lot of interesting things to see.
A problem is that many of the most interesting sites are some distance from the Adratic, which makes them difficult for an excursion from a ship.
We are heading to a cruise on the Adriatic in a couple of weeks. Not with Tauck but visiting some of those places I’ll PM you
Thanks British. We go on nine eleven. Here is a picture for those who deal better with pictures like me.
Just another ‘by the way’, I have nothing bad to say about Ponant. We have been on them many times, and I currently have three trips booked with Tauck and one is on Ponant. We just really like the Wind Surf. The ‘standard’ staterooms on Ponant are better than those on the Wind Surf, but we are seldom in our Wind Surf stateroom with the lights on.
Sealord; Look at Plitvice National Park. We went with a travel company no longer in existence. I remember the cascading waterfalls were just spectacular. It was just beautiful with catwalks around the various falls. . Try and find a you-tube on the park and location. . We dined at a restaurant at the edge of a cliff in Dubrovnik that was very high end. It was called Restaurant 360. I swear I was eating 24k gold-leaf. The only problem is I can’t sit for nearly 3 hours dining but oh, the view. There is a very lengthy and easy to understand article written by Rick Steves about the Croatian war that occurred in the early 1990’s. I wished I read that before taking the trip. Maybe you can find it or if I do, I’ll try and send the link.
Here it is: Fascibsting article.
Understanding Yugoslavia | Rick Steves' Europe
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/understanding-yugoslavia
Krka National Park is similar to Plitivice but much closer to Split. Both are magical. Walk the wall in Dubrovnik. If your ship goes into Montenegro early then get up to see the beautiful views - well worth it. When we were in Sorrento we hired a driver to take us to Amalfi and Ravello. We really enjoyed it but then, on another trip, we also enjoyed Sorrento. Enjoy the limoncello! Just remembered that one year we took a ferry from Sorrento to another town - can't remember which one, maybe Positano?
In Split, if you want to stay in town, the old town, including Diocletian’s Palace.
As mentioned, the sail-in to Kotor is beautiful. Getting dark when we sailed out, so not as interesting. I recall that we took a morning tour that visited the nearby small Church on the little Island and had a small boat tour of the Bay. We enjoyed the afternoon on our own in town - we wandered around and visited the Cathedral and the Maritime Museum and stopped for a refreshment. We did not have time to hike up to the fortress. I am sure that the views are amazing.
This is where we are going. It’s priced in pounds, 2495 for best cabins.
I didn't like Rovinj. The resort we stayed at was very nice, but it's across the water (and about a 30 min walk) from old town Rovinj, which is a run down small town with little to offer, other than being on the way to the Roman amphitheater in Pula.
That Roman amphitheater in Pula is spectacular. It is in better condition with less crowds for sure than the colosseum in Rome, or so we were told. There were barely any crowds when we were there.
I love Roman ruins, we are going there
Agree with Mike the Postojna caves are a must. Great experience.
For any tour everyone has their own highlights. Before you take the tour, I'd suggest that you read Rick Steves' travel guide for the area. He presents quite a bit of the history of the area especially regarding the formation of Yugoslavia under Tito and then the fighting and dissolution after Tito's death. Other guides will point out things that you might want to see.
Here are some of things that I would point out:
Agree that you should walk the walls in Dubrovnik. Also take the cable car to the top of Mt Srd for great views of the city. On both of these look at the tile roofs on the buildings. Dubrovnik was bombed extensively during the war. Those that are bright orange are the new ones installed during the rebuilding. They far outnumber the darker ones that survived the war.
If you like octopus some of the restaurants in Dubrovnik offer it. There's a bar that you can access through the wall and sit on the edge of the cliff looking out to sea.
Eastern rite churches are different than the western rite ones that we are most familiar with. There are quite few in Kotor that are worth stopping in to see.
In Split, the Mestrovic museum is worth visiting. He had a unique style. Besides the sculptures in this museum and around Split, he has some US connections. He came to the US and became a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame. They have some of his sculptures on their campus. There is also one in downtown Chicago.
In Rovinj walk through the city and then up the hill to the church. Great views of the sea and the town from above. Again, some nice cafes along the coast.
If you are offered tours from the ship, Krka is worth seeing and definitely do not miss the colosseum in Pula making sure that you go to the museum underneath..
A lot of good advice here. We traveled to this region over 20 years ago on a Rick Steves tour. We took two of our children then 16 and 20. Rovinj: we spent a day here. We split up and I wandered off on my own and it seemed I had the place to myself. It clearly has Italian heritage (Venetian) and I enjoyed looking for that among the buildings. The bell tower is the tallest structure in the town (by a lot) and at the time you could climb to the top. I did and I remember a lot of narrow rickety steps. We had terrific seafood pasta along the water. Dubrovnik: unfortunately you’ll be sharing it with several thousand of your newest friends. (We stayed outside the walls in a place called Lapad. Had a small pebbly beach with many young women sunbathing topless. My 16 year old son thought it was the most wonderful place on earth.) Walk the wall, have a beer at the hole in the wall bar. The shelling was not that long ago (1991) and, as a military guy, you’ll know what to look for-lots of shrapnel marks, bullet holes especially outside the walls. After our tour we rented a car and drove to Kotor where we spent a terrific week. We stayed outside the old city in a flat in Dobrota. There was a small beach, little restaurants and power failures 2-3X daily. But we loved it. Montenegro is an under appreciated country by Americans for the most part. The town of Kotor is often referred to as a little Dubrovnik but it is not, except having a wall. Good for wandering, climbing the fortress if so inclined. The little church in the bay is Our Lady of The Rocks. Young guys will row you there and back and you can stay about an hour. It is worth seeing. We drove to the interior from Dobrota over countless switchbacks to Njegoš Mausoleum. This is a phenomenal place carved into a mountain. I doubt there will be an excursion but if so take it. On the way back we were starving so we stopped at an open air roadside dive. There were a group of Russians doing shots of vodka. They invited us to sit with them when they heard our American English. (Note to self: do not try to out drink a Russian ever again). After a while I had taught them to sing America the Beautiful and my barely legal driver son became our designated driver for a scary return to Kotor.
Great description of your family vacation, Folsomdoc - Loved it!
Oh, Split. They built a very modern promenade along the water. Totally out of place but very popular. Also, many pickpockets so beware. Diocletian’s palace is not very palatial. People lived there for many years and now it has a ton of trinket shops. But, if you can get a tour, there are some really interesting parts you’d otherwise miss.
I didn't find Split to be that interesting, either.
We have booked four tours with Wind Surf in advance just in case they sell out before boarding. We will get more detailed descriptions when aboard and probably book some more. I’ve arranged for a water taxi from airport to our Hotel Rosa Salva near Mark’s Square, and I’ve arranged another to get to the ship which will be docked only a mile from the hotel, but we are not going to schlep luggage that far. This tour starts in two weeks so the house has become a ‘clothing storm’. The standard rooms in this hotel were pretty small so we booked a junior suite.