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One of our absolute favourite cities here in Croatia is Dubrovnik, we have visited the city numerous times, both privately as well as professionally, and every time we have had a great time in this historical pearl.

Historically Dubrovnik has always been very special, as the city was a republic it had a very interesting political system, the major / governor was elected for a period of only one month, this was done to avoid corruption and keep focus on working in the interest of the republic. – I am sure a few citizens around the world could benefit from a similar system in their country.

See more pictures from Dubrovnik here: Dubrovnik Pictures

Before the Balkan war Dubrovnik was the absolute top destination in Croatia, the war, where large parts of the old town was damaged, was of course a major set back for the city, but meanwhile the city has regained its position as one of the major tourist spots in Croatia. The old town of Dubrovnik has been completely rebuild, only visible evidence left from the Balkan war is the many new red roof tops in the old town.

When we go to Dubrovnik we normally take the coastal road from Split, which takes about 4 to 4.5 hours by car, the trips offers a magnificent view on the coast and the Dalmatian islands. If you follow the coastal road you will have to pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina about 60 km north of Dubrovnik, so please remember the following.

• Passport
• Not to bring any items, which are applicable to custom?
• It is wise not to speed in Bosnia, as you most likely will meet the police with a “laser pistol” checking your speed.

Alternative to going by car (or bus) is taking the local ferry line, which goes from Split, via Hvar and Korcula to Dubrovnik; we tried this once and can absolutely recommend it, although the trip takes around 9 hours.

Here is a fee tips which might be useful for a trip to Dubrovnik:

1. Parking

• Parking in Dubrovnik is relative expensive (1.5-2 Euro/hour) there are 3 parking spaces close to the wall, but before you decide to park on one of those you might read below where to find the no charge parking space, just 500 meters from Pile Gate.

This is how you find the no charge parking space:

• Follow the signs direction centre and later direction Hotel Hilton, when you pas Hilton on your right hand side, continue for about 150 meters, on your left hand you will see some green containers, here you have to turn left, follow the small road up hill and you are there (The best time to find a free space is early morning and late in the afternoon).

2. What to see or do while you are in Dubrovnik?

• The e wall which is the absolute highlight.
• The many churches inside the wall and the Cathedral.
• Visit the city part Gruz where you find the green market and lots of small streets with the most beautiful private gardens in Dubrovnik, (In this part of town you also find the largest supermarket – Konzum).
• Take a daytrip to National Park Mljet.
• Drive to Mline and Cavtat which is south of Dubrovnik.
• Rafting trip in Montenegro.

3. Prices and other useful stuff

• Dubrovnik is much more expensive then e.g. Split, but still 20-30% cheaper then e.g. Copenhagen
• The city beaches can be quite crowded, so get there early or go to the city part Babin Kuk instead.
• In main season June – September, you should book accommodation before you arrive, otherwise you risk ending up far away from the city centre.
• Ask your land lord for a pick up in the Airport, as it is quite expensive with a taxi.

Hope these few tips will be helpful on your trip, and I of course would be delighted of any feedback, which could be helpful for other travellers.

Here you can see a list of other interesting thinks we right about: Croatia Travel stories

And here you can see our 3000 pictures from Places we visited in Croatia: Pictures Croatia

Friday we went to visit the observatory on the Mosor Mountain south of Split, the Observatory, or the star village as it is called, is fairly unknown even among the locals, I actually never heard about it, but “discovered” it my selves from a visit to the top of the hill above Gornje Podstrana.

The staff at the observatory was very friendly and helpful with information, as we arrived before it got dark; we had a guided tour in the building before we went to the roof and looked at Jupiter, Venus and the moon through the big telescope, especially the look at the moon was very interesting, as the detail level which you get through the telescope is quite impressive.

Information about the Star village:

• To find the observatory you have to take the road from Split direction Omis (South), just a few km south of Split you turn left and go direction Žrnovnica, from Žrnovnica you have to go direction Gornje Sitno, as there is no signs you might have to ask, follow the road for about 6-8 km, until you see the sign saying Zvjezdano selo Mosor (which is the place you are heading for), about 2.5 km before you reach your final destination you will make a right turn on the main road, and follow a gravel road which will take you to the star village 700 meter above see level.

• Observatory is open to public Friday and Saturday evening – you don’t have to announce your arrival

• Group and School classes can sleep at the observatory, where they have 20 beds. And give course in Astronomy

• The Observatory is mainly financed by the 10 kuna entrance fees and the fees from school classes staying overnight, so if you can afford it, I am sure they would appreciate a few kuna extra.

• Official webpage Zvjezdan Selo

Last Saturday I went rafting on the River Cetina with at couple of friends from Denmark, although I tried it several times here, I am always existed about it.

In and around the city Omiš there is quite a few companies arranging rafting, canyoning and wild water canoe on the river Cetina, this Saturday we had booked attour with our new cooperation partner, so I of course was existed to see if the where better in organising, then the other companies I tried till now.

TIP: The meeting point for rafting can easily be found, after crossing the bride in Omiš (arriving from Split) turn left and follow road 5 km direction Radmanova Mlinice (Radman Mills), 800 meter after passing Radmanova you find the meeting point Isletište Luka on your right hand side.

At 14:00 everybody was assemble at the meeting point, in our case 37 people from Latvia and a few people from other nations, from the meeting point we where transferred by bus to the starting point 9.5 km up river, here we got the our equipment, lifejacket, helmet and paddle and of course the obligatory safety instructions.

At 15:10 everybody was in the boats and we started our trip, the rafting tour on Cetina is divided in to 3 parts, where the first and the third part are the relative quite parts, and the second is part with the most wild water, at the beginning our of guide gave us a thoroughly instruction in how to manoeuvre the raft in different situations.

After we learn to manoeuvre the raft and follow the commands given by our guide, we started the real rafting as you can see on the pictures here.

INFO: At the middle of the trip there is a passage with a waterfall, which for safety reasons required that you leave the boat and follow path for 200 meter, to a pick point below the waterfall. Our new cooperation partner, although offers and alternative for those who likes a bit more excitement, they have permission to take guest to a small cave which leads to the pick up point.

My friends and I of course took the “extreme” route through the cave, to enter the cave we although had to cross a small lake with only 10 degrees warm water, S… it was cold, but we all manage to get to the other side and through the cave.

When everybody was back in the rafts we continued further down river, here we had entertainment from a Latvian lady who manage not to do like the guides specifically told us to, with the result, that she of course fall in the water, we also so raft from other organisor flipping over, luckily in both case nobody was injured.

At 17:30 we stopped to swim and jump from a big rock, after finish swimming we continued to the end point Isletište Luka where we arrived at 18:30

My friends who had there first rafting tour on this Saturday was totally excited about it, they even ask me if I wanted to go again Sunday, personally I think we had a great trip, not only because of the rafting but also because beautiful nature you get to see, our new cooperation partner was by far the most professional I tried until now, so I think we have picked the right one (-:

Here is some general information’s about rafting:

• Rafting on Cetina is possible from April to October
• Water temperature in the river seldom gets higher then 18 degrees Celsius
• Person from 8 years to 60+ can participate in the rafting
• Rafting on Cetina is category 2, which is average for the difficulty. (Calm water is 0).
• Remember extra clothes as you will get wet
• Wallet, mobile, camera etc, can be given to the guide who will store it in dry box on the raft.

Price and booking

• Price for rafting through organiser with all licences, new equipment and well educated instructors / guides is 32 Euro. Pick up in Split can be arranged but is charged extra.
• The following is included in the price, insurance, transfer to meeting point, fresh fruit, snack and water.
• You can book rafting with our cooperation partner by sending a mail to info@soltium.hr specifying, date of rafting, time and number of participants.

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On the 8th of Juli Stari Grad Plain was added to UNESCO’s list of world cultural herritage

The Stari Grad Plain on the Adriatic island of Hvar is a cultural landscape that has remained practically intact since it was first colonized by Ionian Greeks from Paros in the 4th century BC. For 2400 years this area has been used for Wine and Olive growing, The landscape features ancient stone walls and trims, or small stone shelters, and bears testimony to the ancient geometrical system of land division used by the ancient Greeks.

With the adding of Stari Grad Plain, Croatia now holds 7 UNESCO sites:

6 of the Croatian UNESCO site is on the list for world Cultural herritage

• The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik

• Historic city of Trogir

• Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Porec: 

• Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian

• Old City of Dubrovnik

• Stari Grad Plain

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The last site is on UNESCO list for world Natural herritage

• The Plitvice Lakes National Park

In addision to these 7 sites, Croatia has several sites on the Tentative list

• Zadar - Episcopal complex (2005)
• Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston with Mali Ston, connecting walls, the Mali Ston Bay nature reserve, Stonsko Polje and the salt pans (2005)
• Historical-Town Planning Ensemble Tvrda (Fort) in Osijek (2005)
• Varazdin - Historic Nucleus and Old Town (the Castle) (2005)
• Burg - Castle of Veliki Tabor (2005)
• Lonjsko Polje Nature Park (2005)
• Velebit Mountain (2005)
• Frontiers of the Roman Empire Croatian Limes (2005)
• Lubenice (2005)
• Primošten Vineyards (2007)
• Hermitage Blaca (2007)
• City of Motovun (2007)
• The historic town of Korčula (2007)
• Kornati National Park and Telašćica Nature Park (2007)

Here you find all our favorit links from Croatian - Links about Croatia

Traveling to Croatia

www.solitum.hr

Lastovo one of the farthest islands is protected park of nature since 2006. It is ideal place for vacation, untouched nature, so quietly and beautiful landscape… ideal for peaceful summer holiday. Most attractive are excursions by boats to Lastovo archipelago, islands and islets, where you can swims near beautiful landscape and have fish picnic.

Lastovo is very attractive Island and there is lot of thinks what you can do there during the summer from scuba diving, fishing and underwater fishing, and many other active things…hiking, trekking, biking.

You can reach Lastovo by ferryboat or catamaran from Split (Split – Vela luka – Lastovo). It is possible also to come to Lastovo via Korčula – with the ferryboat in Vela Luka.

From Split:

• If you arrive by car, then ferryboat is your choice (the journey takes less than 5 hours).
• By high-speed boat, the journey takes 2 hr. 45 min.

What to do this summer at lastovo:

• Music Festival  Lastovo – the Music Island 2008 will be July 24th - 27th. All concerts will be at the ‘Bašta’ - next to the Lastovo Church, and a camping place will be next to the Football playground. This festival we call Dalmatian Woodstock because over the years the most popular rock attractions have been included in the Festival.

MAPA OF LASTOVO

Here you find all our favorit links from Croatian - Links about Croatia

On our last trip to Split we’ve visited my brother in law in ACI marina Split. He is helping a friend in repairing his sailing boat. They were mostly painting – this needs to be done yearly because the wood without good protection gets damaged by salt water. We were not happiest with the weather, but they like strong winds - they are sailing lovers.

The sailing boat they were working on is specially designed for regattas and it is old model, but still in great conditions and its owner was many times between winners.

The ACI marina Split is one of biggest and best equipped on Adriatic, with 364 berths and 60 places on the land. It is great protected from winds, placed in town centre, with beautiful view to Diokletian’s palast and Marjan hill, two most important town’s symbols.