Before I even get started, I’d just like to say – Croatia is one of the most beautiful countries we’ve had the pleasure of visiting this year. Morning drives (which usually means a quick nap for me – I’m a sucker for naps when someone else is driving) were so different here as your eyes are peeled and your cameras primed ready to stop for a photo pretty much every 5 minutes.
Eventually, we all made our way to the Hotel Soline which would be home for a couple of nights, checked in (early check-ins are amazing – none of that hauling your luggage around) and also checked out the new digs.
I love a good seaside view…
Soon enough, it was time to head out in search of the Biokovo mountains.
These mountains are so ingrained in the history of the area (at the bottom is Makarska) and as you can imagine, back in history, the mountain people were safer from invaders than those down at the seaside but had no access to water so there was always a trade-off between living in the mountains or down by the sea.
The mountains also have their own micro-climate and it could be sunny and warm down by the sea and raining with hailstones and fierce winds up at the top – which is a bit surreal when you consider how close both are. The view from the mountains though is pretty special…
We had to make many stops on the way to the top (we didn’t get to the ‘top-top’ but we got pretty high up)…
The roads are quite tiny as you go up so it’s best to drive with someone who’s used to them but fret not, after a while, you get to drive within the mountains on much flatter terrains…
Eventually we arrived at the highest point we would be getting up to in the mountains and to celebrate, aperitifs were whipped out (almost out of nowhere) – which I welcomed with open arms. I say to celebrate, I don’t think you need any excuse in Croatia to have these, in fact, I’d go as far as saying a trip to Croatia is not complete until you’ve had some home-made cherry or figs liquor… (and home-made wine of course). Like I kid you not, people actually make these for their own homes and, in a lot of cases, not to sell them on. Coming from London where quite a lot of items are store bought, this is quite a refresingly different change…
Yes, those photos for Facebook had to be nailed before we left… 😉
Finally, we started to make our descent back to the town, randomly stopping at one point when this herd of goats appeared almost out of nowhere…
Lunch was at a farm called Feniks (in Gornji Tucepi) which also doubles as a museum and a B&B!
We had a little tour of the museum and a gander of what life in Croatia looked like back in the past…
The kitchens back in the day were rather rustic looking…
And this bit below is a baby stroller – you put the baby in the middle and it walked back and forth along that line…
We got a sneak peek at lunch which is the traditional Croatian meal we’d gotten used to – lots of meats, chicken and potatoes (roasted underneath hot coal) and served with salads…
While we waited, we kept our mouths busy with some tasty snacks… and a look around the museum.
Finally, we were summoned up for lunch (my favourite kind of summons) and dug into a feast of bread, wines, meats, soups and sweets to finish off…
And like that wasn’t enough, I got myself a cherry liquor to take back home with me (Lloyd got the fig one)…
…which may explain why back at the hotel, after a quick dip in the pool, I retired to my room and promptly fell asleep till dinner time! That fresh air (or the wine/aperitifs) will get ya!
Waking up to the sound of the sea the next morning was absolutely brilliant!
I used to live by the sea in Wales and in Scotland (though that’s technically the Firth of Forth) and so it was such a welcome sound to wake up to… I kinda forgot how much I missed it till then!
Reminiscing over, it was time to head on out in search of more of what Croatia had to offer, which by this point, I’d learnt to have great expectations about.
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