As I've stated previously, Croatia and the rest of the Balkans were going to be a massive flop after having such a great time in Iceland. However the region continues to surprise us and given it's managed to provide us some much needed respite from this strenuous travelling game, it's a region that we can wholeheartedly recommend for people to go and see and relax in.
What We'll Miss
- Concrete sunbathing/diving-in-off platforms
- Croatian Prsut... Other countries in the region do their take on this but don't deliver like the Croatians do
- Croatian islands that are actually more spectacular than any pictures could ever have you believe
- The Bay of Kotor and Kotor in particular - just stunning
- Meeting up with THE Michael J Clarke in Dubrovnik
- The friendliness and hospitality of people throughout the region - like guesthouses that will pick you up and and drop you off at the bus station free of charge and barmen that share their chips with you
- The haunting beauty of Mostar and Sarajevo
What We Won't Miss
- Judgement Cat in Split. Everyday we would walk past this particular cat and ignoring our smooching and psswsswsswssss noises it would just stare back at us and judge harder than you've ever seen any other cat judge
- Sea urchins that sit in the shallows ready to drive their needles deep inside your heel
- Gypsy kids in Kotor that stroke your face and hug you in an attempt to get money and food out of you
- Ulcinj in Montenegro, what a sh*t of a place...
- Week long thunderstorms. We like a good bit of lightning as much as the next person but not for an entire week. This is our summer. We'd done winter for an entire year, we don't need to be reminded of it.....
- Those 16° C water temps in Split, what's up with that...
The Food
THAT squid ink risotto for sure. Nicola rattled off about five other strong contenders when I threw the question out there but you'd come back to Ston for that squid ink risotto alone.
The Drink
Cheap wine by the litre, even cheaper beer by the litre, powerful and potent raki... All very good but walnut and fig grappas in Split win the chicken dinner. You know when something says that it is aged with, aged on, flavoured with x and you only get a hint of what it says it will taste like and you only think it tastes like that because you know that it should? No risk of that here. The walnut and fig aromas and flavours invade your nostrils and palate immediately and have you calling the waiter over for another.
Barrie-ometer of "Feel" - oooooooweeeeeee, what's up with that?
