Croatia & Montenegro: Part 1 - Split & Trogir, Croatia

Part 1 of 3: Split & Trogir, Croatia

Click here for Part 2: Island Hopping & Biking the Croatia islands of the Dalmatia Coast

Click here for Part 3: Dubrovnik, Croatia & Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

Kris and I recently traveled to Croatia and Montenegro with our good friends, Greg and Charmaine. 

Feel free to message me if you would like our detailed itinerary including where we stayed, logistics, etc. The high level itinerary was:

Flew into Split, Croatia and spent a day and half (2 nights) there to recover from jetlag and give us some extra time before our boat/bike adventure in case there were flight delays or cancellations (there weren't thankfully).

Then we spent an epic week on a large schooner-like boat with a group, island hopping some of the Croatia islands of the Dalmatia Coast in the Adriatic Sea, and biking across each island. This was arranged and booked through 57 Hours. We began our journey in Trogir and by water went to the islands of Vis, Korcula, Hvar, Brac, Solta, and Ciovo, biking on each island.

Then we wrapped it up with a visit to Dubrovnik, Croatia for a day, and then toured the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro for two days (visiting Herceg Novi, Perast, Dobrota, Kotor, and Lovcen National Park) then returning home, flying out of Dubrovnik.

Early May was a good time to visit. It's the shoulder season before the busier more crowded summer season ramps up. The air temperatures were comfortable in the 60s/70s, perfect biking weather, however the water was still a bit chilly in the 60s. 

More details, videos, and photos to follow, but these are the top things that stood out:

- Super friendly locals with a fun sarcastic sense of humor (my favorite). 

- Feral cats everywhere, but they appeared very healthy. Dubrovnik and Kotor had the most cats.

- Biking the stunning Dalmatia Coast islands in Croatia was very worth it...highly recommend. We boated to and biked the islands of Vis, Korcula, Hvar, Brac, Solta, and Ciovo. Korcula might be my favorite.

- Beautiful blue water along the Dalmatia Coast. Croatia apparently has over 1,600 islands (we visited 6) where most of the world's yachting takes place. 

- We enjoyed meeting new friends from all over the world on our boat.

- Excellent local food throughout with Mediterranean + Balkan influences of fresh seafood, seasoned minced meats, really good wine and cold tasty beer. Great coffee and expressos too of course. 

- Pedestrian-only old towns in Split, Trogir, Dubrovnik, and Kotor surrounded by fortress walls, some older than Christ. UNESCO World Heritage Sites we experienced were: Historical Complex of Split including Diocletian's Palace, Old City Dubrovnik, Historic City of Trogir, Cathedral of St James, Natural and Cultoro-Historical Region of Kotor, and the Fortified City of Kotor. All amazing and mind-blowing, certainly worth seeing.

- It's wild to consider that as recent as the 1990's, this was a violent, war-torn region with a very complicated history (formerly was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that was broken up into six independent countries). It's nice to see it making a comeback showing off its raw beauty and growing a new economy. 

Split, Croatia

Charmaine and Kris atop the Bell Tower of St. Dominus Cathedral in the middle of Diocletian's Palace.

People's Square in the heart of Old Town Split

Old Town Split at night

Narrow alleyways everywhere to get lost in

Riva Promenade

Enjoying the local beer - tasty!

We had really good food in Split - a standout restaurant I would highly recommend was Laganini and our excellent & friendly server, Michael. It's hidden deep in a narrow alley inside Split's Old Town.

Views from atop the St. Dominus Cathedral Bell Tower

Charmaine, Kris & Greg - we walked around Diocletian's Palace, which was built in 305 AD for the Roman Emperor Diocletian. It sits in the center of Old Town Split. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Riva Promenade

We walked up Marjan Hill, a series of criss-crossing trails on a peninsula, for these views of Split.

Republic Square

Adriatic Sea

Split is backed up by some big mountains that are very close to the coast.

Trogir

St. Lawrence Cathedral in Trogir, Croatia

On the day we got on our boat for the island hopping and boating in Trogir, we walked around Trogir that morning. It's a separate small coastal city about 30 minutes from Split. 

Kris atop the Bell Tower of the St Lawrence Cathedral

Views from atop St Lawrence's Cathedral

Walking around the old town of Trogir

The view from Fortress Kamerlengo - it was built in the mid-15th century when the Venetians attacked and ruled over Trogir.

Our boat is down there in the middle, waiting on us.

Fortress Kamerlengo

More wandering around Trogir's old town

Trogir's waterfront

Gelato!

Some more photos from inside Fortress Kamerlengo

Walking to our boat to begin our island hopping & biking adventure


Click here for Part 2: Island Hopping & Biking the Dalmatia Coast