Dobar dan and welcome back to “When Wine Calls” from on board MV Bellissima.
Our first full day on board was busy as we set sail for the Elaphiti Islands with the first item on the itinerary being, what else, but an onboard wine tasting presented by the very knowledgeable, multi talented Head Steward “Mate” who used decanters, candles and even white gloves as part of his tasting demonstration stating it was all part of the experience of getting to know local Croatian wine – he was also more than generous in his pouring. It certainly set the trend for the remainder of the week on board.
In the afternoon we anchored in a quiet cove and enjoyed our first swim in these fabulously clear blue waters. The water was initially colder than we had expected compared to what we had encountered across the Adriatic in Italy, but you soon adjusted and enjoyed the high salt content in the water floating around off the back of the boat.
After our swim we arrived at a wonderful little fishing village, Slano where we tied up and boarded a coach to take us a short distance to a little seaside town Ston. As we walked to what at first glance appeared to be a local restaurant on the waterfront, we found the place buzzing with people that had apparently driven up from Dubrovnik for lunch with the restaurant having an outstanding local reputation.
A local fisherman was there to greet us and commenced bringing into the restaurant strings of fresh oysters together with mussels collected that morning from his farm in the bay outside for us all to have for with local wine. They were without a doubt the freshest and most flavoursome oysters and mussels we have ever tasted and that’s a big call given our love for seafood and for those that know me would know that I peronally don’t normally eat natural oysters or mussels.
After lunch it was back to the boat to prepare for the Captain’s Dinner with the highlight being three local Croatian musicians that played some fantastic music for a singalong that covered music from all the nationalities of the guests on board, predominantly from the US, Australia, Croatia, UK and Germany – a great evening with the small Australian contingent on board really embracing the music and providing a very lively atmosphere for the night that was certainly appreciated by the musicians.
After a late night, we didn’t even notice when we woke up that the ship had departed earlier in the morning from Slano and was sailing to the small port of Mijet as our drop off point for a short walk to Mijet National Park where we visited the famous salt lakes. Interestingly, there are 2 lakes in the park that are connected via a small viaduct with a reasonably strong current running between the two that is enjoyed by swimmers continually floating between the two lakes.
Mijet was a really sleepy fishing village with a few holiday apartments and it was great to sit at the waters edge for coffee after our walk and appreciate its beauty and simplicity.
Then it was onto the island of Korcula, which is best known as the supposed birthplace of Marco Polo.
We had a walking tour of the Old Town with our guide Angela, the funniest and best local tour guide ever, who showed us around this gorgeous, fortified town with an ingenious layout in the shape of a fishbone that controls its climate throughout the year.
The view of the coastline from the restaurants along the town’s wall is amazing so it was great to enjoy a drink there as the sun set before returning to the ship that was moored nearby. It is fantastic when you do not have to travel far back to your boat each night after dinner and can enjoy the atmosphere of the town from the deck with an aperitif to end the evening.
At Korcula we again had to tie up against an array of other cruise ships rather than at the wharf based on who arrives in port first. There could be anything up to 6 or 7 ships tied up against each other so when you leave and return to the ship you go through each of the ships between you and the wharf to get off but more importantly you must remember which boat is yours in the line when you get back on or else you could easily end up on the wrong boat.
We had never seen this before and found it fascinating as the next morning all the boats on the seaward side of the line know they have to leave by a certain time to allow the others to depart – it just happens like clockwork as early as 5-6am in the morning and you don’t hear them leaving from your cabin so when you get up and open your curtain there is no boat beside you. It took a few days to get use to this phenomenon and to remember to close the curtain out to the balcony each night otherwise the crew of the adjacent boat could look straight into our cabin from the wheelhouse.
The next morning, we anchored in another crystal-clear cove so we could take a swim and enjoy a relax on the sunlounges on the upper deck.
After lunch we headed for the island of Vis, another beautiful old Croatian town that you can walk along the promenade and select little bars on the water to enjoy an aperol and then find a quaint restaurant for dinner. This activity became an important part of the day during the week at each of the small towns and villages we visited, and we found some amazing local gems as we headed down little laneways or doorways that appear to go nowhere at first glance.
The following morning, we were at breakfast early with great excitement as we were scheduled to visit the Blue Cave. The night before we were advised that the visit would be subject to the weather conditions in the morning as it is very difficult to get into the cave if the wave activity is too strong as it blocks access. Luckily, the organisers cleared our boat to visit and we moved towards a landing jetty to disembark from the boat and into a cluster of small fishing boats that can enter the cave. However, on arrival those at the front of the boat, including myself, had to drop to the floor for the bow to get through the entrance but once inside the sight is simply unbelievable and while our pictures try to do justice to what you see the reality is so, so greater.
The interesting thing I noted is that when you emerge from the cave and look back you would not know that the cave is there, it is so hard to see the tiny entrance.
After the visit to the Blue Cave, it was another swim in a lovely little cove before heading to a gorgeous town called Jelsa where we boarded a coach for a short drive to an old family winery Tomic Wines for, you guessed it, a wine tasting. The tasting was conducted in their magnificent stone cellar alongside the large storage barrels. I naturally had to buy a bottle of one of their reds to take back to the boat.
It was then back onto the bus and a drive along the cliff faces hugging the wonderful coastline to Fortica, an old fortification overlooking the coastal town of Hvar.
Hvar is another port town but has become quite a party town for tourists full of bars and restaurants with extremely expensive super yachts tied up at the wharf and cruise ships anchored offshore. It was not our sort of town to be honest so after an aperol or two we headed back to the quieter town of Jelsa for dinner.
Next day was another action-packed day as we headed to Trogir, a quaint town. On the way we passed by the famed Golden Horn Beach (named for obvious reasons) but with the wind up we cruised past without stopping.
On arrival at Trogir we noted that no other small cruise ships that we had seen each night previously had moored at the town’s promenade and that we would be alongside the wharf for the first time. This outcome turned out to be a highlight of the week as when we came back to the town in the evening for dinner from visiting
Krka National Park and the wonderful waterfalls there was this great “covers” band playing on the promenade
immediately in front of the boat
After dinner in a nearby restaurant we enjoyed a drink on the deck listening to the music and then couldn’t resist joining in with other tourists and locals in dancing on the promenade. It was well after midnight and after much encouragement from the crowd to keep playing that the tremendous impromptu evening came to an end – such a memorable night although Pauline was upset that she could not get them to play “Dancing Queen” as they did not know the words, so she had to settle for Mama Mia.
On our last morning before we arrived in Split, we had our final swim spot and relaxed morning with drinks and sunbathing on the deck
then it was off to berth at Split Harbour in the late afternoon followed by a walking tour of the Old Town and our final dinner in the township and night on board prior to saying goodbye to the crew and the new friends we had met during the cruise.
Well, that is our cruise through the Croatian Islands complete – what a great week it was visiting quaint towns, villages and sights that we had never heard of previously and off the usual Croatian tourist route in many cases, swimming in the blue waters of the Adriatic, eating and drinking some amazing food and wines along the way, not to mention those local oysters and mussels in Ston (just wow!) and meeting some wonderful new friends.
We had arranged to stay a few extra days in Split to explore the city further and booked a hotel located right in the heart of the Old Town. Piazza Heritage Hotel was an old Manor House in the Old Town and commands pride of place at one end of the Piazza surrounded by other manor houses that are now eateries and other forms of accommodation. It is located right in the heart of the city, so you literally walk out the hotel entrance and you have an array of restaurants, gelato shops and cobbled laneways in front of you to explore.
The gelato shops immediately out the front fascinated us as there were three of them located not far from each other up a laneway. One of them had a continual line leading up the laneway with people waiting up to 30 minutes for their gelato while the other two had only relatively small patronage. We tried two of the three shops and could not understand the difference in people’s interest other than presumably the power of social media that had encouraged the tourists to head for one shop, in particular. We have seen this outcome on several occasions on this trip with various shops and restaurants and it is amazing to see how tourists respond to social media posts.
Many of the restaurants in the Old Town of Split are so quaint located in original old homes that have been converted with beautiful courtyards or tables outside in the narrow cobblestone laneways. We would walk around the laneways each evening and pick restaurants that had that unique charm factor rather than larger restaurants in the piazza or on the waterfront and in all cases have found the food quality to be tremendous. I would recommend that if you are traveling throughout Croatia to walk through the laneways of the Old Towns and pick one of these cobblestone laneway restaurants for a unique dining experience.
Following our last night in Split we were picked up the next morning for our six-hour drive north to our next stop on our adventure, the historic city of Rovinj in the Istria region of Croatia. Many of you reading this blog would not be familiar with Rovinj and its significance to Pauline and myself so I will outline our week-long stay in this amazing city in our next bog – until then “Dovidenja” again from Croatia.
Bruce and Pauline
When Wine Calls 
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