Sailing the Beautiful Islands of Croatia
- John Zuchero
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Croatia - Day 1
In our last blog, we flew from Copenhagen to Split, Croatia. Our driver,Igor,dropped us off at our Sail Croatia ship, the Romantic Star, to begin our wine cruise. It was too early to board so we decided to explore Split, which is the second-largest city in Croatia, after the capital Zagreb. Split was founded in the 2nd or 3rd century BCE by Greeks. As we wandered the circuitous streets, we came upon a very old square built by Romans, next to the Emperor Diocletian’s Palace. In the middle of the square were two young and opportunistic Croatian men dressed as Roman Legionaries. Intrepid Nancy decided she wanted her picture taken with these Centurions. Below you can see Nancy jousting with them and in the other, the three of them turning on John.
After getting lost in those “circuitous” streets, we managed to find our way back to the dock. As we were walking to the ship, John caught sight of a guy with a Philadelphia Eagles cap. He immediately got a little nutty and approached the gentleman and his wife. Luckily, they were nutty ex-Philadelphians too. We talked Eagles, Phillies, and cheesesteaks before wishing each other Bon Voyage!
The Romantic Star has a capacity of 36 people. Because we are at the end of the season, there were only 21 travelers. The furthest were from Australia. In the initial “where are you from” stage, Nancy found one woman, Ronnie, who was from Haverford, PA, a town close to where she grew up (Ronnie actually went to a prom at Cardinal O’Hara High School which Nancy attended). Another woman, Terri, lives in Sewell, NJ….the closest town to Turnersville, NJ, where Nancy lived with her husband, Al. A little strange to have that many connections in a small group so very far from home. It turned out to be a really great group of people. Not a curmudgeon in the bunch, except for JZ 🥴
Because of the extreme wind and rough seas, we did not depart that first day. So, dinner was in Split. Our tour leader, Vin, gave us the name of a small wine and tapas place in town called Sip27. It turned out to be a gem. We got the last two seats at the bar and met the young owner (who Nancy declared was “just adorable” and of course, told him so). We tasted a number of local Croatian wines, both red and white, ate some local prosciutto and cheese and bread. He also honored us by sharing olive oil from his family’s farm….see what a few compliments gets you!
Croatia - Day 2
The next morning, because of the continued wind and rough seas, we skipped the island of Milna and traveled instead to Hvar, which was a nice small town. We strolled the promenade for a while and came upon a sweet couple with Duke University hats on. Needless to say, John had to stop to talk to them. John’s daughter in law, Joy, went to Duke. And, his youngest son, Andrew, had gone through a stage in his juvenile years always wearing a Duke baseball cap…..though no one was ever sure why!
Later that day, we traveled to our first winery. We joined another Sail Croatia group on the bus going there. And yet again….we just happened to sit behind a young couple who was from Philly. Of course, we struck up a conversation and debated cheesesteaks and Philadelphia teams!
We arrived at StariGrad, a winery/restaurant out in the countryside. There were three “dining areas,” one of which was already in full swing with about 20 “younger” people. Our group sat in the middle and the other youngsters from our bus sat in the third area. Our first wine was a white, which was pretty insipid. The second was a red, which was passable. The third was too sweet…not the best first impressions of our wine excursions. However, dinner, which was a beef and potato dish cooked in a tandoori-like oven called “peka” was excellent. We sat with a lovely couple from Miami originally from Mexico City: Hector and Miriam, shown below.
As we ate, the two other groups kept getting more and more wine and louder and louder. When John went over to the two Philly youngins’, the woman said that they could drink more wine than us because: “we metabolize alcohol quicker than you old folks…” That was John’s last time trying to be neighborly.
But, the highlight of the evening was when we learned that the bus driver couldn’t be found! We actually never located that reprobate. We figured he may have had a few too many glasses of wine! Our fearless leader, Vin, had to call three Mercedes taxis to take us back to the ship.
Before day 3, let’s talk about the ship’s somewhat daily routine.
7:30 am - coffee in the dining room
8-9 am - ala carte breakfast. Very nice selection of things from eggs to granola. John, who never eats breakfast, had breakfast every day.
11-12-ish - Swim time. The ship would pull into a secluded area, tie up to the rocks on the shore and allow people to swim in the cool Adriatic. Nancy, of course, swam at every opportunity; John did get in the water briefly on the last day just to say he did it.
11 am - pastries and coffee
1 pm - sit down lunch
Afternoon - free time
4 pm - wine tasting
6:30 pm Dinner - often on your own in whatever town we were docked.
Croatia - Day 3
Day 3 was supposed to be Vis, however, again because of rough seas, we headed for the island of Vela Luka. Here we had a great afternoon of wine tasting at the Merga Victa Winery. This was probably the most American-style winery, located in an old stone building with a super informative woman giving notes on each of the five wines we drank while we snacked on a charcuterie plate. That night we had dinner in a small restaurant with Terri, Ronnie, Ann and Mike…pizza and salad it was.
Croatia - Day 4
On day 4, we headed to the island of Korcula. John was waiting to meet the Count of Korcula, but it was daytime and he never showed up. Nancy swam even though it was very rough…but she's a trooper. John was under the weather and did not participate in any activity that day. Later in the day, Nancy left the ailing John and went out to go to the wine tasting with the group. It was held in a quaint alleyway restaurant.
We all then headed to a small town about 30 minutes away. We were given a history lesson about the town by the sweetest, most energetic man. Before dinner, we watched a young making pasta by twisting it around a thin stick. Then on to dinner in a small (possibly the only) restaurant in town. Each table was given a large carafe of red wine and a smaller one of white. There were eight of us at the table and we managed to drink all the wine fairly quickly. Fortunately, there was an empty table next to us with another two carafes….which we “borrowed”. When the waiter asked who took the wine, we (Nancy) pointed to another table announcing “They Did”.
Wine tasting. Man explaining the town. Young man making rolled pasta.
Croatia - Day 5
The next island was Mljet. Vin, our leader, told us there are only 40 inhabitants on the island in the winter. Years earlier, a researcher came to the island to investigate a skin condition that many inhabitants had contracted, thinking it may be a new type of leprosy. He discovered it was from inbreeding….mmmmm.
Mljet does have a beautiful national park with a clear blue lake, which we cycled around on electric bikes. Those things make biking so much easier, once you get the hang of it! At one end there was a dam, built to trap any trash from the ocean. Creative!
From top left: Explaing the dam, the dam, a beautiful home on the lake, the intrepid bike riders, another home, Nancy and John, a lake view, the riders having a celebratory drink after the ride, and the last guy’s grave who feel off his bike.
That night was Captain's Dinner. John was unluckily seated next to our handsome 31 year old captain. A very quiet young man. John struggled through dinner asking him questions and receiving yes and no responses…until after his fourth glass of wine when all of a sudden he told John about his girlfriend, his two brothers, his father (and grandfather) both postmen, and his mom. Then, after dessert, he left our table, and being fully lubricated, proceeded to charm the next table. This was also the night Nancy discovered that the bar made espresso martinis…it was never the same afterwards.
Croatia - Day 6
The island Sipan was an add on to our original itinerary. Sipan has more olive trees per area than any place in the world…check it out in the Guinness Book of World Records.
We had a lovely wine tasting up in the hills that a former oil tanker captain ran. His family has farmed this land for hundreds of years. He not only has wine grapes, but figs, olives (and olive oil), cacao and pomegranates. He led us through a presentation interrupted only by serving a crisp white, clean rose, and nice Cabernet Sauvignon.
The owner serving a meat and cheese snack, him giving a slide presentation, our wine tasting team that night.
Upon returning to town, just the two of us had dinner at a fabulous restaurant that Nancy had researched, Konoba Tauris. The restaurant had white linen table cloths and napkins and a great host/owner, Milos. It also had a very unique sculpture made by Milo’s friend from discarded trash metals. First, we were presented with fresh fish to select the one we wanted. We had white anchovies for a starter followed by grilled squid, ending with a grilled scorpion fish. Because it’s the end of the season (the restaurant closes for the winter next week) there was only one other couple at the restaurant. When they finished their small dinner they asked if we really ate all the food we were served..which of course we replied YES! Who could stop eating such a feast?
Croatia - Day 7
Our last day on the cruise. John finally decided he needed to take a dip in the Adriatic. Unfortunately, the sea was rough and cold and it was windy. He didn’t last too long but could say he did it. Earlier, the wind actually snapped the thick rope holding us to the mainland. Thankfully, the ship moved to a quieter spot. Nancy lasted about 30 minutes. The other pictures are of other days of Nancy swimming with others.
Later that afternoon we took an Uber into old town Dubrovnik to meet up with our tour leader and a walking guide, who was fantastic and explained the fascinating history, culture, and the wars of the 1990’s.
We ended the tour at a beautiful restaurant where the roof was interconnecting vines. Now, early evening, we tasted three more Croatian wines. One red, called “Black Sheep,” which was a Cabernet Sauvignon, was our favorite. After the tasting, we stayed for a lite tapas dinner and more “Black Sheep.”
Croatia - Day 8
This morning we met the passengers for our last breakfast before everyone disembarked. Here’s a picture of some of the crew: Vin, our illustrious tour leader (this is his last cruise, he’s headed to law school. The next motley group are an unknown crew member, our bartender, and Drago…not a Bond villain, but a funny guy. John took a picture of this last guy throwing firewood out of his boat in preparation for winter.
After leaving the ship we headed to the airport for a plane ride to Milan via Vienna. Tomorrow we began the “Quest for the Holy Barolo!”
More wine and food next time as we travel to Piedmont.
John & Nancy