Uly S.
I am so happy we made this trip
From my clients who recently enjoyed a trip to Croatia I am so happy we made this trip to Croatia. We had a wonderful time in Croatia. The people were so kind and accommodating, it seemed that anything anyone asked of the guides or staff of Via Tours, they tried to accomplish. Ivana, of Via Tours, contacted us when we got to Croatia first. We actually met Ivana at the restaurant in the hills outside of Rovinj, so that was nice. Some notes for your information only: Villa Dubrovnik was a lovely place to stay, and the old city of Dubrovnik was an interesting place to tour. It was great that you get into town by boat or a short walk. The wine tasting in Dubrovnik proved to be a good option, because later wine tours seemed to take up time getting to the wineries and didn’t leave time for other site seeing options. Had a great Captain and skipper take us to Korčula. We stopped at the National Park Mljet on the way. We had to wait for a boat to take us to the island on the lake, but once on the island the guide realized we wouldn’t make it back to the town of Polače in time for lunch, so she arranged to get a boat to get us back to town in time. Then we had a great lunch served by a fun waiter at the restaurant Stella Marina. Left Mljet around 4:30 and it was raining so we stayed inside the boat. Tara’s Lodge was a nice place to stay. It was on a hillside and I was concerned about Regis getting up and down, but he managed and the drivers were able to accommodate our needs. We all enjoyed Korčula and our guide Nada was so good. She talked to us at places where we could sit in the shade, she was organized in what she presented, and she took into account that we could not walk as fast or as far of some of us. We had dinner at a great hillside restaurant Maha. The chef of Maha, Ivan, took us out the next day on his father's boat for another special dinner. We had one of the best meals on the trip. Sea bass ceviche to start, and fish with lentils and vegetables for entree. I watched Ivan prepare the meal so he called me his sous chef. Next day we took a bus to the ferry to take us to Ston. Had a good lunch in Ston and then took a tour of the oyster and mussel growing operations. This was fun experience. Then we drove to Split. The Vestibul Palace was a great place to stay, within the old city area. The rooms were small but I enjoyed being able to walk out the door and see the city. Our guide was Ivy was nice, but not as sensitive to the need for places to sit and shade. Left Split for the day to visit Hvar. On Hvar took a van to the other side of the island to visit Tomic winery. We then went to second more local winery, and then to lunch in a hillside home. We we then getting back to the boat around 5:00 PM, two hours later than anticipated. So an uncomfortable decision was made not to visit the blue grotto. I think if we had realized that the wine tasting and lunch would take so long we would have made different choices about trying to see Hvar, Brac and the blue grotto all in the same day. The next day we met Maria, who would be our guide for the next three days. She was terrific. Our first stop was Šibenik. Tina served as our guide in Šibenik and she was great too. We were not able to do full city tour, so two of us stayed behind while the other walked around. After lunch at a great local restaurant, Nostalgia, we headed to the National Park Krka. Again we stayed in main area while the others walked around the park. We stopped at another winery on the way to Zadar. Arrived at the lovely hotel Falkensteiner around 8:45 PM and need to head down to dinner soon. Had dinner at beach restaurant, and I was almost too tired to eat. In the morning we headed to the town of Zadar, with the Sea Organ art installation. We rested again while the others walked around the town. We had a progressive lunch with appetizers, lunch and dessert in different restaurants. Way too much eating and wine for me. We then met our boat to take us for some sight seeing, a swim and dinner on the lighthouse island. The dinner at the light house was nice, and the boat was able to take us directly to our hotel area so we didn’t need to transfer to the bus to take us back to the hotel. This was Maria’s good idea. Next morning we headed to Plitvička Jezera National Park. Meghan had arranged with Ivana to have a wheelchair available, but that proved impossible to use in the national park. We saw a lot from the top and were able to walk down a little bit, but we waited at the main entrance for the other to finish the loop. We now faced a 4 hour drive to Rovinj. Meghan asked Ivana to have us break it up with a stop for dinner. And she found a great restaurant near the sea for dinner. Our driver managed to find a route that only took 1 1/2 hours to our Hotel Monte Mulini in Rovinj. Departed for Pula and seeing the amphitheater. We saw it and then returned to the hotel. The others stayed for the full tour and had lunch in Pula. For dinner the others went to the restaurant in the hillside and there they met Ivana. Finally, it was evident that everyone involved in our vacation in Croatia wanted us to have a great time and they did everything they could to make it a pleasurable experience. I have only kind words for the places we stayed, for the people who drove us places, and for all of our guides. It was a wonderful experience and we are we were able to make it. Hvala