Cruising Croatia, Quietly
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Dalmatian AN INTIMATE CRUISER IS THE PERFECT WAY TO REALLY EXPLORE THE PRISTINE ISLANDS, BEACHES AND MEDIEVAL SPLENDOURS OF CROATIA'S DALMATIAN COAST, WRITES JANE CORNWELL. discovery 30 The Sophisticated Traveller / Spring 2018 Croatia TAKE ME THERE Peregrin Adventures' eight-day Croatia Coastal Cruising trip costs from $2503 per person. See peregrineadventures.com for more information. Left: The port city of Split is a tourist hub. Right: Peka is a traditional slow-cooked Croatian dish, in this case with octopus. “We feast nyone born near the sea in on seafood our first morning of sailing, delivered at Croatia knows how to recognise full volume: “THE BUS IS LEAVING FOR the different winds that blow. plucked from KRKA.” Well, at least it got me out of bed. “You have come during the A little more than 10 kilometres inland perfectA period,” says our driver, Ivano, from Sibenik, Krka National Park is a as we speed out of Split, the blue-green the remarkably sprawling 142-square-kilometre expanse Adriatic Sea glittering to the left, a hot of nature trails, tumbling waterfalls and summer sun flaring on the windscreen. transparent stunning if chilly aquamarine lakes, “Right now, we have our wonderful one of which we gasp in as we paddle breeze, the mistral. It is good for clearing Adriatic.” alongside hundreds of happily splashing hangovers, and also for sailing.” families. Two-thirds of the great Krka Sailing is what they do a lot of around River flows within the park’s boundaries here, and it’s easy to see why. The before emptying into the long, narrow Bay Dalmatian Coast – or the Adriatic Riviera a cruise. We meet the Peregrine Dalmatia of Sibenik. Back on board the Peregrine – stretches 350 kilometres from the Istrian in Sibenik, an hour’s drive north of Split Dalmatia, we set out for the so-called Peninsula in the north to the border with and a waterfront locale with a medieval queen of the Dalmatian Islands, Hvar. Montenegro in the south. All mountains, warren of stone steps and alleys. While more than 80 per cent of bays and islands (around 1200 of them) A plus for Australians on this adventure Croatia’s islands have no people on sprouting pine forests, olive groves and is that Peregrine falls under the aegis of them, Hvar is teeming with party-loving, centuries-old harbour towns, it’s a region the Melbourne-based Intrepid Group, gelato-licking, selfie-stick-wielding life. of great beauty and historical interest. the world’s largest small-group adventure Or at least it is in Hvar town, which has Summertime is when the tourist hordes travel company. traffic-free streets of marble and a swanky descend, pouring off the apartment- Mindful of the ever-increasing yacht-lined promenade with pricey cafes block-style cruise ships that dock in popularity of cruising – and the downsides overlooked by a looming medieval fortress. cities such as Split, where we fly into, of holidaying on a liner with 4000 other The Peregrine Dalmatia can reach ports and the World-Heritage-listed Dubrovnik, people – the company has applied its that other cruises can’t, so we’ve berthed where we’ll fly out of once we’ve spent signature style to the cruise industry. at Hvar Island’s enchanting second town, a week meandering south on our small The destination is what matters, they say, Stari Grad. After visiting a lavender farm cruiser, Peregrine Dalmatia, visiting with the focus is off the boat. (just us, monitored by two mongeese, off-the-track places and enjoying warm Still, the Peregrine Dalmatia, with its several donkeys and an old red dog) local welcomes. There’s just 30 of us, sleek lines and brass handrails, is as in the island’s typically Mediterranean including our Croatian captain and crew, refined as its name implies and has a interior, we dine al fresco in a restaurant a nothing’s-too-much-trouble bunch with wooden deck aft for diving off. The cabins courtyard strewn with grapevines. insider know-how, jokes and a knack for are on the small side (while nice, this is not We eat well, both on board and off, Opposite page: The Peregrine Dalmatia making a mean cocktail. extreme luxury). Nevertheless, they have feasting on fish and seafood plucked stops for a mid- Our 40-metre motor-cruiser was built good storage space, tinted windows, and, from the remarkably transparent Adriatic; morning break so in 2012 specifically for cruising the as I discover too late, a public address nearly 100 of Croatia’s beaches have passengers can enjoy Dalmatian coast, but this is the first time system on the wall behind my pillow. been awarded Blue Flag status by the the sparkling waters of Jean-François/Hemis.fr Peregrine Adventures has chartered it for The first announcement comes on Foundation for Environmental Education. the Dalmatian Coast. The Sophisticated Traveller / Spring 2018 31 Krka Croatia Split Mostar Sibenik Hvar Opuzen Korcula Dubrovnik GO TO GUIDE Te cruiser Peregrine Dalmatia has 17 cabins for 32 Above: Local legend “Every country in Europe is jealous of our rubble below Dubrovnik’s indisputably passengers. Each cabin has airconditioning/ has it that Venetian clean water,” says Ivano. There’s meat spectacular city walls marks the areas explorer Marco Polo heating, a flat screen TV, plus en suite. too: peka, a slow-cooked lamb dish made restoration work has failed to reach. was born in Korcula. Above right: Don’t with potatoes and other vegetables, and Outsider art adorns the projectile- Te experience miss visiting Massimo the typical red-wine-and-prunes-stewed pocked walls of Mostar in Bosnia- Extreme comfort meets no frills or fuss. My bar atop the medieval beef delicacy known as pasticada, to Herzegovina, a riverside town whose fellow guests were friendly and well travelled, Zakerjan Tower in be found on the menu of almost every legendary 16th-century bridge – a Korcula. mostly in the 45-plus age range. A series of traditional konoba (tavern). 28-metre arabesque over the Neretva – on board dinners had people mingling and In Opuzen, a town on the banks of the was destroyed by Croatian shells in 1993. exchanging stories and email addresses. Neretva River near the border of Bosnia- Rebuilt a decade later, the spectacular Herzegovina, we pile into a small wooden edifice is again a major attraction. Best spot on board boat and drift serenely through vast Clutching our passports, we take an early With a bar and loungers, the cruiser’s sun deck wetlands, spotting egrets, herons and an morning bus over the border and arrive is the perfect place to sit, especially in the eagle, wheeling in the sky. before the hottest part of the day, when evenings with freshly grilled fish al fresco. A restaurant, looming on a reedy the tourist buses arrive and fit-looking bend, serves us – just us – the local local men in budgie smugglers are Not so sure about specialty: frogs’ legs grilled in garlic, or wont to dive off the bridge, 20 metres The bathrooms are elbow-bumpingly small. wrapped in bacon then smothered in up, for money. And don’t forget to pull down the blind at night gorgonzola sauce and deep fried, each We get plenty of rest time, too. There if you don’t want passersby waving as you sit dish resembling little pairs of high-waisted are swim stops in deserted little bays, on the loo. There’s no swimming pool on board, pants. Shots of rakija, the country’s fierce where we chill in deckchairs, the ice in but plenty of sea to jump into. fruit brandy, chase them down the hatch. our G&Ts tinkling, or do laps of the boat. Back in Opuzen we dock and swim, After a seafood lunch onboard we What to pack joined by a giggling gang of local cruise to Korcula, the sixth-largest Adriatic I spent most of the cruise in shorts and T-shirt. 10-year-olds and serenaded by an island and one of the most picturesque, adolescent musician wielding a traditional with its dense pine forests and pebble What to read single-stringed gusle, his bow carved to beaches. It was here, in Korcula town, Start with George R.R. Martin’s A Game of resemble a snake and lyrics telling either a medieval nirvana of squares, spires Thrones; much of the television series was of warriors from battles long gone or and stone houses with red-tiled roofs, filmed in Croatia. bigging up the heroes of the Croatian War that Marco Polo, then a young wannabe of Independence (1991-1995). explorer, liked to sit up in the skinny stone Don’t-miss stops ashore Reminders of this brutal, bitter war, tower attached to (what may or may not Massimo Bar atop the old medieval Zakerjan which followed 50 years of communism have been) his parents’ house, watching Tower in Korcula and the lovely Konoba Mate and saw the break-up of Yugoslavia, are the trading ships come in. eatery in the same town. everywhere. There are bullet holes in “The Italians say that Marco Polo was the door of the cathedral in Split, and born in Venice but we Croatians know that 32 The Sophisticated Traveller / Spring 2018 Croatia “Fit-looking local men are wont to dive of the bridge for money.” he was born here in 1254, in that house,” sets gold, red and orange over the sea. Above left: Mostar’s plates of grilled vegetables, omelettes says our chatty and knowledgeable Unsurprisingly, climbing down proves beautiful old bridge with asparagus, and figs stuffed crewmate, Dinko.