Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

As usually in all our trips, Dalmatia was no exception. Enjoying local food and drinks was an essential part of the trip. We did this both ways by preparing at home products we bought on the market, sea urchins caught by ourselves in the sea, and also by visiting restaurants, cafes and vineyards. Testament drink producers It sounds strange – to go to Croatia to visit a business run by Scandinavians. But as it turned out later, the drink we had bought there ended up being the best on the trip. Testament winery is located about 3 kilometres from the main road of the region D8, the nearest town is Zaboric. The basic idea of the winery is to combine technology with the knowhow of the best winemakers to create rich and complex drink from the Dalmatian region. We had written down their address before travelling, just in case, but we did not plan to visit it; the tasting of three drinks costs more than 13 euros, which is not that little money at all. However, it happened to be the only chanc

This is most likely be one of the last blogs about Croatia in the 2022 series. There is also something else to write about. I have written this year about such wonderful places in Dalmatia as Split, Omis, Grebastica, Sevid, Rogiznica and Primosten. Some time ago I also wrote about Dubrovnik and Dalmatia . We were in Zagreb quite a long time ago, but it is the place where our great interest in Croatia began, when we drove there with our car from Riga. So this is very good reason to end where it all began. In addition, the city has many places for tourists to see and exciting entertainment opportunities can also be found. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia with a population of less than 800 thousand people. Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia. City’s surroundings have been inhabited since the time of the Romans, but the city was founded in 1242, when the Tatars arrived in the region. The king took refuge in the city from the invaders and in gratitude allowed it to maintain its judicial

Istrian Peninsula The Istrian peninsula is one of Croatia’s many peninsulas, but it differs from many others because it is located in the north of the country. It borders Slovenia and Italy. In general, the territory of the peninsula is shared by these three countries, but the majority (almost 90%) belongs to Croatia. Italians call the peninsula Istria. The Istrian peninsula is the largest peninsula on the Adriatic Sea. In order to understand more about its dimensions, I will just mention the distance from Pula to the Slovenian border is around 60 kilometres, and to the Italian border 80 kilometres in a straight line (it will definitely be much more when driving on the road). Istria is also known for the fact that truffles grow there – mushrooms that are used as an addition to food, especially pasta dishes. The largest city in the Croatian part is Pula, located in the very south of the peninsula, but the Slovenian city of Koper and the Italian city of Trieste are even larger. Pula has

I have already written quite a lot about traveling to Croatia , but here I will summarize how to get there by car from Latvia. Even though we have been flying everywhere for the last decade, we have mostly driven by our car to Croatia. We have also seen other cars with Baltic and Polish license plates in Croatia, so we are by no means the only ones and this information may be useful to someone else. The usual route is as follows: Riga – Warsaw (Poland) – Bratislava (Slovakia) – Graz (Austria) – Maribor (Slovenia) – Zagreb (Croatia). This is also the option offered by Google Maps. What happens after arrival to Zagreb is entirely up to you, depending on where else you have decided to go. There are people who prefer to drive through the Czech Republic, but staying overnight in the Czech Republic (not to mention Austria) can be quite expensive. If you are going to relax by the sea, then you should take into account that it is practically impossible to visit all the regions of Croatia at on

The ancient city of Dubrovnik While travelling around Dalmatia, we visited the city of Dubrovnik, called the pearl of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik is one of the most impressive cities in Europe. By that, I do not mean its size, but rather feelings. When you walk along the city walls and the ancient streets, you get a feeling that you returned to ancient times, because the surrounding architecture has practically not changed over the centuries. Dubrovnik’s Old Town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. This city is one of the most visited destinations on the Adriatic coast, although the city has a population of less than 50 thousand. The city had its heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries when it was a strong city-state, but in 1991, when war broke out between Serbia and Croatia after the break-up of Yugoslavia, the city suffered quite severely from firing, although visitors no longer felt it. The only inconvenience if you drive your car may be finding a parking space; once you fi

Kingdom of Natural Wonders Croatia Croatia, especially Dalmatia and Lika, definitely are our favourite holiday destinations when it comes to travel by car because there you can find everything your heart desires – wonderful nature, sun, mountains, waterfalls, beaches, interesting tourist attractions, etc. In addition, this is a very safe country for travellers with a developed infrastructure, where the care of tourists is not only described in travel booklets but really exists in real life. Of course, it’s not a cheap country, but for your money, you can get what you’ve been expecting. The Croatian National Tourist Board has a very good website to explore many options for travelling around Croatia, including Dalmatia and Lika. Here are just a few episodes where our destination has been Dalmatia and Lika; the various places and attractions in the region we have visited many times (here is more about Dalmatia in my blog). I would say that, in essence, Croatia is made up of several very