Croatia

We had limited time in Croatia but we made the most of enjoying this gorgeous country. Mojo family fans may remember that we spent two nights in Dubrovnik, Croatia before we went to Bosnia for nearly one month. Then we had 4 nights in Croatia to enjoy some sights.

Split

Arriving in Split after being in Bosnia for nearly a month was very exciting. Even though it was late February, the weather was sunny and warm. Toursists were out and about and the main promenade was full of folks walking and drinking coffee. We appreciated ammenities like recycling, more modern infrastructure, and finding new food in the store - like fresh blueberries! We treated ourselves to Mexican dinner take out.

We were glad to be staying right in the main tourist area. Our place was very close to the bus stop, the waterfront promenade, and Diocletian's palace. It wasn't far to hike to the top of Marjan Hill or to go to a nearby beach.

the waterfront promenade

Diocletian's Palace

view from our hike up the hill

Rubbing the bishop's toe for good luck

We spent two nights here and really enjoyed this lovely town. Then we rented a car and had a two day road trip to drive from Split (which is on the Dalmatian coast, relatively South) to Rijeka (which is on the North coast near the Slovenia border.)

Hiking to the Oldest Geocache in Croatia

We started our drive slightly North and up into the hills. As you may know, I love geocaching and the oldest cache in Croatia is pretty old (Oct 2001). It's also on the top of a hill next to a cute little chapel with a beautiful view. It's about 2.5 km / 1.5 miles each way, and it was a nice day to get a hike in.

The Saint Ivan chapel

Looking for the geocache

Found it! Signing the log book.

Krka National Park

After the hike, we drove to Krka National Park to enjoy Skradinski Buk (the large waterfall). It was really great to walk along the boardwalks through some lakes, smaller falls, and to have different vantage points of the 'big falls'. This park (and the ability to walk and explore) was really amazing.

We spent the night in a little town called NoviGrad, not far from Zadar. We were only there for dinner, sleeping and breakfast. It's a tiny little town that had a good value apartment for the night... but in the off season in the evening, everything was closed. The 2 little grocery stores and bakery were closed after lunch and all the restaurants were closed for the season. We didn't want to get in the car and drive further to sort out dinner, so we had a strange picnic of all the snacks, cereals, pasta, and lunch meat we could put together for a creative dinner.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

The next day we drove to Plitvice Lakes National Park - the well known and busy tourist attraction. It's a little higher in elevation and cooler, but there wasn't much snow or ice despite it being late February. The lower lakes are open in the winter (the upper lakes area opens April 1), so we walked through the recommended "B" tour. The largest waterfall was stunning. Then we walked along the boardwalks, enjoying the beautiful azure colour of the water and the smaller falls here and there. A boat ride (included in the entry fee) takes visitors across the lake, and then a short park bus drive brings you closer to the end of the loop walk. We were in the park for several hours and really enjoyed it. There were other tourists but we didn't have any crowds.

Rijeka

The town of Rijeka was the end of our road trip, where we returned our car. We spent one night in this town, that feels a bit more industrial in parts and less touristy. The main pedestrian street is still beautiful and has a really different feel than Southern Croatia with Venetian and Austrian architecture. Jason and I had a nice run along the breakwater before we caught the bus that took us to our next stop - Venice, Italy.

Skiing at Vlasik (near Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

We spent 3 nights in the central-Bosnian city of Travnik, and decided rather spontaneously to spend one of our days skiing at the nearby resort of Vlasic. 

The resort is about a 30 min drive from town, and best to do in your own car as there aren't really any handy bus / shuttles. We were told a taxi there would cost about 50 BAM/25 euro and about the same for a return trip. We had unfortunately already returned our own rental car to Sarajevo, and there weren't any formal rental car companies in town. But we were able to rent a car from our AirBnb host for the day for 50BAM/25 euro total (Pro tip: if you rent a car like this, check to see that all the seats have seatbelts before you agree!)

So we drove up the hill, which is a narrow windy road with rocks falling off the hills on to the road and a few bumps. It hasn't snowed in about a week, so the road was clear of snow until the very end. We saw a beautiful fox cross the road on our drive - a family highlight!

The weather was lovely. Sunny with no wind and temps during the day ranging from 2-10 degrees C. (34-40F).

Parking lot

Base of main run and end of ski race area

We paid 10BAM/5 euro to park our car for the day in the formal parking lot, and were interested to see the number of cars from all over Europe. The resort has a really lovely village / base area. Lots of great little ski-in/ski-out A-frames that would be a terrific place to stay. Restaurants, cafes, rental shops, an Intersport (like SportChek or Dick's but small), and people out sledding throughout the village (including the bottom of the ski runs!).

Our rentals were 120 BAM / 60 euro for our family of 4 to rent skis, boots, poles, helmet, goggles and our lift tickets were 104 BAM/52 euro for our family of 4 for the full day. The quality of our skis wasn't great, but totally fine for a family day. And our goggles weren't scratched and provided great visibility.

The resort is pretty small. There are 2 T-bars, 1 platter lift, and 1 very slow, old 2-person chairlift. The resort and map make it look like there are 2 additional lower T-bars, but they aren't in use anymore. There are about 7 wide open blue/green groomers to ski.

There was a ski race event going on, so the village was alive with music and parents cheering and half of the main lift closed off for the event. This was pretty fun because you could ride up the T-bar and watch the racers, and also ski down the run in between the T-bar and the race barrier. 

It was so lovely to ski under a blue sky and have it be warm. It was a bit icy in the morning, and got quite soft in the afternoon. We skied every run on the mountain and enjoyed several solid hours of going strong. We had a lovely lunch of 'cevapi' sausages and bread (25BAM/12.50 euro total for our family of 4). We had a few more runs after lunch before the afternoon sun softness, melting and lack of terrain encouraged us to pack it in. We were home in our apartment in Travnik by about 3:15pm.

Riding the Tbar together

Our kids riding the T bar ahead of us

This is the bottom of the ski run in the melting snow as people walk around and sleds appear

Busy with the ski race vibe

Monopoly warming hut

Snacking in the snow

In the chairlift line

On the very slow 2-person chair

Eating cevapi for lunch at one of the many restaurants

We had a super fun day, and we were all glad we added this spontaneous ski decision. The terrain and snow was nothing to rave about, but it was fine. For a family day and a fun time experiencing a new place, it was totally worth it. Cheap lift tickets made it fun to just go and try it and enjoy!