Summary of the Slovenia and Croatia Adventures Abroad Tour
This is an area of the world I’ve always been interested in seeing, but when I traveled Europe back in the ‘70’s it was behind the Iron Curtain and going there was difficult. Now it is readily accessible and in fact with the success of The Game of Thrones series (which I have not seen) that was shot in Dubrovnik, the country is high on the bucket list of travel destinations for all fans of the show. In fact the city is actually having problems with accommodating the people and dealing with the crowds.
Adventures Abroad is a Canadian company based in Vancouver and offers a wide range of tours worldwide. First off I have to give a huge shout out to our excellent guide Amanda, from Ontario and our amazing coach driver Urska who navigated the highways, cities and narrow mountain roads with skill and grace. Thanks to both!
Adventures Abroad only offers this tour twice a year, spring and fall. We opted for the fall and I am exceedingly glad that it was not offered in the summer as the temperatures have been in the high 30’s and low 40’s (celcius) for the whole summer. That would have been unbearable. We also lucked out with the weather. We had suitable temperatures for touring and most of the promised or threatened rain didn’t materialize or if it did it didn’t dampen our plans. We only had to walk in a light rain once, from our restaurant in Mostar back to the bus and that only added to the atmosphere of the place.
The tour we took was more upscale than I usually take and was a senior’s tour, as sadly that is what I am now. The hotels were mostly very nice, with pleasant rooms and wonderful breakfast buffets. I found most of the hotels sterile and not particularly notable except for Ethno Houses Plitvica Selo after our visit to the Plitvice Lakes, which was unique, quaint and woodsy. It was situated high up a hill in the woods and had a couple of wooden two storey buildings, a small animal zoo and a playground for kids.
The tour included breakfast and dinner everyday. As mentioned, the breakfast buffets at the restaurants were excellent and provided lots of options. The dinners were all at well selected restaurants and offered a variety of meals. Occasionally there were special local recipes that some of us tried such as octopus or the little local sausages; but often the menu consisted of the usual: a pasta, chicken, or fish or seafood meal. Most were quite good.
We had a very interesting group of fellow passengers on this trip. It was a small tour group of only 18 people, six solo travelers and 6 couples; 12 Canadians and 6 Americans; average age about 70 and most very well traveled. As a group we bonded quite well and there were no personal issues or disagreements that dampened the spirit of the trip. Most of us had some aches and pains because of our age but we were able to undertake all of the hikes and walks included in the itinerary. A couple of people opted out of a few activities but there were no complaints, or people who held us up or slowed us down.
I noticed that most of the 18 passengers had selected to fly economy plus or business class unlike us, so that type of comfort is desired and affordable to people selecting this type of tour.
I talked to different people in the group about their preferences for travel and most of us agreed that as we get older organized tours are easier in that they provide a guide, accommodation and safety. Renting a car in a foreign country is sometimes problematic what with different driving rules, or parking and ticket problems or just trying to see the locales as you are focused, hopefully, on the road. Then there is the issue of doing all the research about what to see and where to stay as opposed to picking a travel company that has done that research already and you benefit from their experience. I also think that way there is an element of surprise when you arrive at a beautiful, or interesting place that you have never heard of before. We had many experiences like that on this trip thanks to Adventures Abroad. The beautiful city of Ljubljana, the Predjama Cave Castle and Mostar immediately come to mind.
I chose to visit this area of the world at this time after seeing a video on YouTube of ‘the highlights of Croatia’. Plus it was an area of the world that Shayna was interested in seeing. After investigating a few other travel companies we chose this one based on the research two friends of Shayna did. It covered most of the spots we wanted to see, mainly Lake Bled, Plitvice Lakes, Split and Dubrovnik, and none of them disappointed. The weather cooperated with us as we had sunshine in all four, and most importantly at the two lake locations as the sun enhanced the natural beauty of the areas and created excellent opportunities for photography. Several other places we visited were additional highlights, particularly Hvar and Split. We had the opportunity to see several smaller towns and other spots. The itinerary was packed with locales and sites to see and explore. Although we drove on the coach most days none of the journeys were more than a couple of hours.
I brought my new iPhone 15 Pro Max and my Sony DSLR RX10 markIV camera on this trip. I found that the phone was much more useful in the narrow confines of the cities and towns we visited and took amazing photos. I had purchased the Sony for my Antarctic trip and found it excellent for the wide open vistas of both the north and southern parts of our planet and was excellent for nature photography there and in Kruger National Park, but I found it cumbersome on this tour and didn’t use it very much. Also, because of the narrow tight spots in the towns and streets we visited I found myself taking vertically (or portrait) orientated photos rather than horizontal (or landscape) ones. I much prefer the latter for viewing on the large screen Smart TV I have but the former is much better for framing shots and capturing the beauty in tight spots.
An interesting thing we noted was that the plastic water bottles in these countries have the cap attached to them. They do not come off. I think this is to prevent losing it or making more litter or garbage.
As I’ve alluded to in places on this trip, the history of this area of the world is really complicated. With so many diverse ethnic and religious groups living within the confines of Europe there has been a never ending series of conflicts as one group tries to dominate another. To name but a few there have been the Romans, the Ottomans, the Venetians, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austria-Hungarian Empire, the Italians, the communists, the fascists, the Nazis, the Serbians… Then after the First World War the countries of the region were combined to make the ‘Land of the South Slavs’ or Yugoslavia. One of our local guides explained how her grandmother, mother and herself have lived under three different regimes. It really makes me realize how simple our Canadian history has been and how unbelievably lucky we are to have not had our country invaded or conquered. Although Canadians have been involved in fighting in the two World Wars there have not been battles in our country and my generation has been lucky enough to have lived during peaceful times.
About the photos in this summary: I chose not to show a best of the trip, as they are already posted on individual days. Instead, as I like to try to capture unique or interesting faces or people that may represent the peoples of the area I have included some here. I also love to take nature photos and pictures of birds. The only unique bird I saw on this trip was the gray bodied black winged member of the corvid family, the hooded crow or corvus cornix.
Until next time thanks for following along and reading the posts, comments are always welcome.
