Sailing in Croatia
Posted: October 14th, 2012 by Courtney
We made our way by bus to the town of Split, where we would embark on a 7-day sailing trip around the islands. Split is Croatia’s second largest city after Zagreb. It is located along the Dalmatia coast which stretches from Split all the way to Dubrovnik in the south. The coast is known for its thousands of islands and plentiful seafood.
We spent the day hiking up Marjan hill, which offered great views of the city and exploring the old town and Diocletian Palace which was built around 298.
We ran (sorta) up this hill for our morning workout.
The next day we boarded our ship and set sail to the island of Hvar. We had time onshore to explore the town and castle and have a lovely seafood dinner.
The walk was long getting up the hill, but the view from the castle/fortress at the top was amazing.
Day 2 on the boat was a long journey. Due to the high winds we had to do some extra sailing. When we finally arrived in a small port we had time for a BBQ on board the boat before heading to bed.
The following day we sailed to the most well-known town in Croatia, Dubrovnik. We arrived just around lunch time so we had plenty of time to explore the old town. The city walls in the old town are some of the best preserved and most beautiful in Europe. Scott and I hiked up the hill outside of the old town to get some great views. We also learned that the giant fortress above the town was used in the 1990’s to defend Dubrovnik during the war in Yugoslavia.
This is supposed to be the most beautiful city in Croatia
The next stop was Mljet National Park where we got to go for a swim and visited the isle of St Mary, with an ancient Benedictine monastery and church dating from the 12th century.
Courtney at the Monastery on the lake at Mljet
The following morning we sailed to Korcula, which had been described as a mini Dubrovnik because of it’s preserved walls. We actually enjoyed this town better than Dubrovnik because it was less touristy.
The last stop was Makarska back on the main land nestled under the massive peaks of the Biokovo mountain range. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and then had an amazing grilled fish for dinner.
One of those boats is ours.
The morning we sailed back to Split.
View of Split from our boat in the marina on our last night.