First, I want to thank one of the most amazing persons I know online – Lori from Jane Be Nimble – for the support and motivating words by dedicating this little travel story for her. Hearing positive feedback from nice people is what keeps me writing, and she’s such an awesome person that I suggest you check out her blog right away. The welcome will be warm. Thanks again, Lori.

Now back to the road trip (click on the photos to see them in full size).

When we left Venice, it was still early noon, so we had plenty of time to drive before dark, which was a good thing because we had decided to drive quite long way that day. We had heard that the coolest places in the coastal Croatia were Split and Dubrovnik, that are located in the Southern part of the country, so we decided to head there as soon as we could, keeping in mind that we had only two weeks time and so many beautiful places to see.

It would be impossible to drive directly to Split from Venice, so we just figured out that the best option would be to drive as long as we could and then choose a nice little town with a little help from our Lonely Planet book to stop for one night.

Driving from Venice on the highway was a little bit easier this time because now I knew how to use the pay toll, so we didn’t end up arguing with the pay toll workers this time.

The Moment We Almost Ended Up Hitch-Hiking

However, we almost ran out of fuel because I was quite optimistic about how often there would be gas stations on the way. The driving computer of our Toyota has a counter for the kilometers you can drive with the particular amount of fuel, and when I saw it counting the last kilometers to zero, I was pretty sure we would end up hitch-hiking, because there was still like 20 kilometers to the next gas station.

I want to send my sincere thanks for the Japanese engineers that had been proactive and realized that this kind of thing can happen to dumb people who postpone filling the tank without any good reasons – we actually got to the gas station just a moment before it would have been too late.

Another funny incident was that we couldn’t find our way out of Italy when we got to the border city Trieste. When you come from Slovenia to Italy, it’s very easy to just drive straight in order to get to Venice, but the other way around we couldn’t find any signs that say “to Slovenia”, so we ended up in the Trieste city center two times before finding out what the right road was by asking one kind local how to get out of the country.

Finally in Croatia

After we finally got inside the Croatian borders, the sceneries were again incredibly beautiful (I’m starting to run out of superlatives), although again a little bit different from what we had seen so far.

It was green everywhere and the small curly road that we were driving along had planted trees on both sides of the road, very close to the actual driving lane. I wondered how safe that could be though – it didn’t leave any slack for mistakes, so I had to focus on my driving to keep us alive.

The road safety is at a quite high level in Finland, so we joked that whenever someone dies in this Croatian road, they probably only remove that particular tree that was hit by a car so that no one will drive on it ever again.

After driving in that planted forest for some time we arrived to the actual coast, and the breathtaking views from the hills to the seashore were really beautiful once again. It was almost too beautiful because it’s kind of difficult to watch the post card views when you are trying not to crash with a truck at the same time.

We had chosen a few potential relatively unknown towns to spend one night at, and around 9 PM we decided to stop in a small town called Crikvenica, because it seemed to have a very relaxed atmosphere and looked like a potential place to find accommodation even though it was pretty late once again.

This time we found a nice room quite close to the town center, thank god, and didn’t have to sleep in a car.

We spent the night eating nice local food and strolling around enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, finding out that it was sort of a small tourist destination for Croatians. There was a pebble beach that we also tested quickly the next morning before continuing our journey to the South.

The Beach

Next Stop: Split

The drive from Crikvenica to Split takes a lot of time – I can’t remember exactly how long, but it took almost a whole day.

It must have been one of the most beautiful driveways I have ever driven, because we were driving along the small mountains all the time, and you could see the Adriatic Sea with all the small villages down there showing their best parts for us.

After many hours and countless tries to find a decent radio station (we forgot our CD’s home), we finally arrived to Split.

According to Wikipedia “Split is the second-largest urban centre in Croatia. The city is located on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, spreading over a central peninsula and its surroundings, with its metropolitan area including the many surrounding seaside towns as well. An intraregional transport hub, the city is a link to the numerous surrounding Adriatic islands and the Apennine peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.

Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area, and is traditionally considered just over 1700 years old, while archaeological research relating to the ancient Greek colony of Aspálathos (6th century BC) establishes the city as being several hundred years older”.

The coolest thing about Split is that the old town in the city center consists mainly of an old fortress (or palace, whatever), and walking inside it makes you feel like you have been traveling several hundred years back in time.

There were a lot of young traveler groups from all over the world, so it seems like Split is a really cool destination at the moment, but still not overly popular, so I think now is the perfect time to go and visit this marvelous city. Walking around in the old town, stopping for a coffee in the small cafeterias, and eating great local food in the lovely restaurants will make you feel good for a long time, I promise.

Oh, and if you are looking for a great party, I got the feeling that there’s a lot of clubs and parties for young people, but we were too tired from driving to try those. Or maybe I’m just getting old. Sigh.

You Must See Dubrovnik Once in Your Life

The last stop for us in the Croatian coast was Dubrovnik. This infamous medieval city is well known for its beautiful fortress that is something that I’ve never seen before. It’s been a famous tourist destination for a long time, and the city inhabitants were deeply shocked when the Serbs bombed the UNESCO world heritage site after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991.

Now it’s fully reconstructed and definitely worth seeing. Just like in Split, you just get the amazing medieval feeling when walking inside the old city walls. We found a very nice private accommodation from the city center for 40 euros a night (about 50 dollars), so a visit there can be very affordable even though it’s a tourist destination.

We took a little walk to the nearby hill to take a few nice photos from the fortress at night, and when we came back there was a small party on the stairs of a church (!) with DJ’s playing good house music and lots of people dancing on the street. I remember thinking that it could never happen in Helsinki because Finns always seem to think about rules and appropriateness first. I prefer the Dubrovnik way!

The next morning, when we headed back to our car, we remembered that it has been very windy last night, and realized that the roof of our rental car was full of small bumps. We couldn’t figure out what had caused them, and I’m still not sure, but my best guess is hail (the icy rain).

During the rest of the trip we were guessing whether we have to pay for those bumps or not, because I, the main idiot, didn’t remember to take the full insurance that would have cost only €70 extra, and they had reserved 800 euros from my account for excess in case of an accident. Fortunately they didn’t notice anything when we returned the car.

Hmm. I hope that the rental guys are not reading this blog.

For an amateur photographer like me the whole Croatian coast was a small paradise, and I think it’s better to let the rest of the photos speak for themselves.

After leaving Dubrovnik we were very curious to see Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and I can tell you already that those cities were to become one of the most memorable experiences during the whole road trip, so you might want to check back next time when I write about our journey in that beautiful and controversial country.

More Photos of Stunning Croatia

Split:

Dubrovnik:

Related articles:

1. How Beautiful Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina Made Me Question Humanity
2. The Balkan Road Trip: Amazing Sceneries of Slovenia
3. How to Make Your Photos Look More Professional
4. Continuing the Road Trip to Venice, the Floating City