Croatia | Sea | Kayaking | Tours | Lifejacket Adventures - Adriatic Expeditions

An old friend from New York City, the Gregster, dropped in to visit us this weekend. We hadn’t seen him in 7 years - it was great to catchup and talk about the days in NYC - the bars, restaurants and clubs, and playing for the NY Magpies. It was also an excellent opportunity to eat at some of our favorite restaurants and take some embarrassing pictures of Greg.

The first day we had lunch at Konoba Šperun, next to the laundrette. We often grab a quick meal here - usually during the summer on their curb-side tables and just the cold appetizers. They have excellent marinated anchovies, a cheese and tomato plate, calamari, bread and olives - really simple but tasty things.

The next day was a gluttonous road-trip to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful towns in the world. Now is the perfect time to visit before the summer cruise-liners arrive and swamp the cobbled streets.

On the way we stopped at Kapetanova Kuća in Mali Ston- one of Croatia’s Top Ten Restaurants - which has been mentioned previously on our blog. After denying ourselves breakfast we were ready for a huge lunch.

We started with oysters of course - as Mali Ston is famous for them. I had always thought that all oysters were the same - but after visiting the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station in NY many years ago, where you can order them from all over the world, I learned that every region produces different size and shape shells and, more importantly, different flavours.

After the oysters we shared a plate of mixed mussels and clams - cooked buzara style. Buzara is a Dalmatian white wine and garlic sauce in which they cook their shellfish. The sauce is so good that after eating the shellfish you then mop it up with plenty of bread.

The main meal was black cuttlefish risotto (made with the ink from squids) and grilled squid. People always jump when they see the colour of the risotto - but, if the initial fear of eating black food can be overcome, black risotto is delicious. The squid was simply grilled and then drizzled with olive oil and garlic.

All this was washed down with a bottle of Marco Polo Pošip. Pošip is the white wine variety from Korčula Island.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Greg need a slice of rožata - Dalmatian creme caramel - to top it all off. I was thinking to offer him a glass of desert wine - prošek - but that would have been excessive!

Once we arrived in Dubrovnik we needed to rest. So we found a hole-in-the-wall cafe clinging to the town’s famous walls and watched the big ships sail passed.

In Dubrovnik there is only one place to eat - Lokanda Peskarija. All the other restaurants are tourist traps. The Peskarija has a limited menu - maybe 10 dishes - and they are all served in small black pots. Its such a simple, elegant idea. Its location is stunning as well - right on the edge of the water in the old port, under big umbrellas. After such a big lunch we just needed something small - just calamari, grilled prawns and a big mixed salad - and a little more wine and coffee.

The next morning, nursing the first twinges of gout, we decided some brisk sea air and a little walk would do us good. So Greg, Jules, the kids and I piled into the Fiat and caught the ferry to Hvar Island. We drove across the island to look at its southern slopes which are famous for producing excellent plavac -Dalmatian red wine.

The plan was to hike amongst the vines but the weather gods were against us so we retired to Konoba Vrisnik for lunch. The owner, Andro Grgičević, welcomed us in but said that they were not yet officially open for the season. However a group from Zagreb had organized a meal and he said we could join them.

The meal started with a broth made with goat meat stock and buck-wheat - very tasty. Then Andro brought us a plate of boiled goat meat, mashed potato and tomato sauce. He explained that this was typical Saturday meal for the villagers of Hvar. After the first course of goat another bowl of goat meat cooked with peas appeared. The sweetness of the peas was excellent with the young goat meat. Just as we were settling down completely satisfied, we saw Andro serving the other guests with yet more plates of grilled lamb and salad. Thinking that heart-attacks were imminent if we continued with the last course, we went for quick a walk.

After returning to Split, for the evening meal we decided to try Restoran Perlica. The restaurant had been recommended as the best place near Split to get lamb-on-the-spit. And we were not disappointed! The friendly staff (often a rarity in Croatia) provided us with a plate piled high with roasted lamb, green salad and a side-order of young spring onions. Once again really simple food but so good. The reason we wanted to try Perlica was we wish to include it in a half-day tour from Split to the archaeological sites of the Roman city of Salona and the hill-top fort of Klis. We will definitely bring guests to it!

Finally, Greg fell in love with a Croatian beer - Karlovačko - which always seems to be the favorite of foreigners visiting here.

After such a debauched weekend I was happy to see the back of Greg - but hopefully it won’t be another 7 years before we meet again.

Tonight our friends Jane Cody and John Nash had the official Croatian launch of their book, Croatia Cruising Companion. Jane also did some writing for the new Timeout Croatia magazine, and she presented it as well to the audience of marina representatives and tourism agencies.

The Cruising Companion took Jane and John several years to research - they visited every bay of significance from Zadar to the south. For each they produced anchorage charts as well as wrote lengthy descriptions on available facilities - such as our laundrette in Split.

The book is perfect for those coming here to rent a yacht and visit the Dalmatian Islands. It is currently ranked #3 for both books on Croatia and those on sailing on Amazon.com.

Timeout Croatia has a thicker guide magazine again this year. More stories and more information are crammed inside. One of our kayaking pictures, taken on a tour around Vis and Hvar Islands, appears in the adventure section.

Ray Fusco has been helping us with promoting our tours and needed a new flier to pass onto Jersey Paddler.

Another magazine, another poll and the Dalmatian Islands are again ranked very highly. Travel + Leisure Magazine put them at #7 in their Top 10 World’s Best Islands. Follow the link and you arrive at a 2005 article about many of the islands we often visit.

Of Dubrovnik - “Dalmatia’s most famous city is touted as an unspoiled gem, though this is really a matter of degree. While it’s not yet as overrun as, say, Prague or Positano (the two unlikely places that Dubrovnik most resembles), it’s well within the crosshairs of mass tourism. Dubrovnik’s Old Town maintains a precarious equilibrium between Then and Now, Here and Elsewhere. Menus in Italian, English, and German hang outside every traditional wooden-beamed konoba, or tavern. Benetton and Diesel boutiques line the medieval lanes. And pushcart vendors proffer not just handmade olive soaps but also Old Town mouse pads.”

On Korčula - “The sharp scent of pine resin mingles with salt air on Korcula, three hours by ferry from Dubrovnik. Forests of Aleppo pine, cypress, and holm oak make this one of the Adriatic’s most verdant isles. It’s known for top-notch wines and for being one of several alleged birthplaces of Marco Polo.”

About Hvar - “By far the most glamorous of the Adriatic islands, Hvar is heir to that noble lineage running from Cannes and Capri through St. Bart’s and South Beach: the latest of the famous international playgrounds. At the height of summer, Hvar Town is so relentlessly gorgeous it makes your eyes ache. Everything screams, Ogle me: the harbor edged with bougainvillea, the perfectly aged Renaissance façades, the absurdly huge yachts and sailboats, and a nonstop parade of caramelized torsos. As if the cast and setting didn’t already suggest a perfume ad, Hvar’s entire waterfront is redolent of lavender, which proliferates on the island and is sold in satchels by sidewalk vendors.”

And Vis - “From the sea, Vis seems an unforgiving hunk of rock, dotted with parched scrub and brush. Despite its desolate appearance, Vis holds remarkable natural bounty. More than 500 varieties of herbs flourish on the island (consider that the whole of England has only around 300). Climbing those scrabbly hillsides, you can grow dizzy from the scent of rosemary and sage. Asparagus, garlic, and arugula all grow wild here, alongside the mandarin-orange and carob trees—carob infuses the local grappa. There are also some passable island wines, such as the dry white Vugava and the ruby-red Plavac, which, for some reason, Viskis often dilute with ice cubes.”

We could have posted a picture of the islands surrounded by blue seas and sky, but instead its a dark interior shot - of another of Dalmatia’s draws - Modra Špilja (the ‘Blue Cave’) - a blue grotto on Biševo Island.

Some of our pictures.

Given that Europe has a population density of 112 people per km² (Australia’s is 2.6) it is difficult to find remote places to which to escape. The Pelješac Peninsula is probably as rugged as it gets in Croatia.

The Peninsula sticks erection-like from the mainland, about 1 ½ hours up the coast from Dubrovnik, towards Korčula Town. Two ridges of hills run up it, creating a central valley. These hills then drop dramatically into the Adriatic Sea on either side. The great thing is that, except for existing villages, this landscape precludes too much further development.

The view above is difficult to read but what it shows is the roof of our kučica (an old donkey shack) looking south with Mljet Island on the left and Korčula Island on the right. This stretch of water is the first section of our Korčula to Dubrovnik Kayak Expedition.

Eventhough its remote, Pelješac is not wild. In fact it could be even described as civilized given that it is known for 2 things that every fine meal needs - oysters and wine.

The briny water of the gulf between the Peninsula and the mainland has for millenia been known as a source of good quality oysters. Our friend, Tony (see above), is a local oyster and mussel farmer. He spends half the year in Croatia and the other half in New Orleans, where, up until Hurricane Katrina, his family also produced oysters.

Our favorite restaurant in Mali Ston for shellfish is Kapetanova Kuća.

Plavac Mali is the Dalmatian red wine grape. On Pelješac there are 2 regions, Dingač and Postup, that are allowed to use their names on wine made from this grape variety. Our kučica sits amongst the vines of Dingač and, as the vineyards are a Croatian cultural monument, no other houses can be built. The soil and steep south-facing slopes is what makes these areas ideal for red wine growing.

A close relative of plavac mali, another local grape variety, from Kaštela, next to the Split Airport, is the same as the world-famous zinfindel from California. The man responsible allowing this discovery is Mike Grgić, founder of Napa Valley winery, Grgić Hills. He was born in Dalmatia and recently returned to open a winery in Trstenik, one of the small towns on Pelješac. Another fine drop is made by Mario and his family at the nearby Bartulović Winery.

Our hope for the Dingač Shack is to drop a moderne Dalmatian box inside the existing stone walls. The platform is designed to take in the view. The box will be clad in compressed cement sheet with Dalmatian dogs screen printed onto each panel or in timber planks such as used on a traditional boat.