Croatia Days 1-3: Itinerary, London Layover, and Split

I've had Croatia on my travel list since the early 2000's. Back when facebook was young and you needed a .edu email address to join and digital pictures barely existed and you had to scan in photos you took on vacation to post on your wall, a UT swim teammate of James went to Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and posted a picture. I fell in love. I have copied the name of that park onto every travel wish list I've made for 20 years and a few weeks ago I finally got to go!

I asked Landon where he wanted to go for a graduation trip and he said he wanted somewhere warm, no big cities, not "too much" history, and lots of "jumping off rocks into water." We've already done Curacao and some other great rock jumping spots. After two trips to Africa last year, I'd been wanting to head back to Europe, so I thought of Plitvice Lakes, googled "Croatia rock jumping," saw a million results and thought it would be perfect. I linked up with my beloved Kaleigh at The Shameless Tourist to give her some general guidelines and she and her team planned us the most amazing trip.

Landon couldn't miss much training and I didn't know when he'd need to report to college back when I planned this a year ago, so we decided to go right after his high school graduation and Claire's birthday.

The best flight I could find (besides the million dollar direct one that was already nearly full 9 months out) was a flight to Dubrovnik with an 11 hour layover in London. We'd land at 6 am and take off again at 5 pm. I messaged Kaleigh and we added a half day in London so the kids could see the city and, other than how insanely tired we were at the end, it worked out great!

Itinerary:

Day 1: Fly DFW to London
Day 2: Explore London, fly to Dubrovnik, drive to Split (3 nights at Briig Hotel)
Day 3: Split, walking tour in evening
Day 4: Plitvice Lakes Day Trip!!
Day 5: Ferry to Hvar Island, half day on private boat (2 nights at Pharos Hotel)
Day 6: Hvar, e-biking around island
Day 7: Ferry to Dubrovnik, walking tour in evening (2 nights at Royal Neptun Hotel)
Day 8: Full day on private boat!
Day 9: Day in Dubrovnik, 8 pm flight to London, stay overnight in airport hotel
Day 10: Fly London to DFW


Our floors would be refinished while we were gone, so I was a little stressed about the cats, but we made them a deluxe suite in the girls' bedrooms and connecting bathroom and our pet sitter coordinated with our contractor so she could visit every day to play with them and give them a lot of love. Maggie went to her favorite house to be boarded and fell in love with a gentleman labrador she followed everywhere for a week. She was very awkward about it and it was wonderful.

Our flight from DFW to London was fine. It's long. We were in coach. We did the economy + for that precious 3 extra inches of leg room, but Landon and James don't really fit in those seats. We landed at 6 am London time, quickly went through Customs, and met our personal taxi driver outside baggage claim. We chatted on the drive into the city and planned out our day, stopping at the major sites, learning some history, and getting tickets for the Tower of London. But first caffeine and carbs!

James and I had each been to London (separately) in 2004 but we hadn't been back since and the kids had never been, so it was a great way to give them a preview. We couldn't see Buckingham Palace because the streets were closed to practice for Trooping the Colour that was taking place the next weekend, but we got to see everything else! Big Ben, Parliament, various bridges, and the Tower of London.

The girls have seen SIX! four times so they are VERY up on Henry VIII's wifes and what happened to them there. James loved the history and Landon wished he'd listened to his mother when she told him to pack a jacket.

As noted above, Landon does not like cities (or chilly weather) and London did not change his mind. When I saw him about to sneak a picture of the Crown Jewels and told him no, he replied with, "Oh no... we might get kicked out of London....". But the rest of us had fun!

4/5 of the family fell asleep on the taxi ride back to the airport. It was now 3 pm London time which is 9 am Dallas time and no one had slept on the plane the night before. We flew to Dubrovnik which was only 3 hours and uneventful and THEN we had a 3.5 hour drive to Split. We got a couple sunset views of the spectacular Croatia coast but mostly it was dark and we were very tired, a little hungry, and VERY ready for bed. We got to the hotel at midnight Croatia time, which is 3 pm Dallas time the day after we originally left.

But I'm glad we did it. We knew it would be a long travel day, but it was lovely - and well worth it - to wake up in Split. (I should note that Kaleigh knows us and knows we'd always rather push through and have a full relaxing day than morning travel and she walked us through exactly what that travel day would be like before we left!).

James and I woke up in our room at 10 am Croatia time to a bunch of messages from the kids asking where we were. My have the turns have tabled!

Landon had already been up and swimming. The girls had explored the hotel. We all met for breakfast and walked around the beach. It was so bright and beautiful!

The boys went to swim at a nearby natatorium, the girls and I walked around a bit, and then we all accidentally took naps for a while.

Then we took an Uber to a nearby beach that promised great cliff jumping and it did!

Claire and I found the water too chilly for such normal everyday cliffs, but Landon did lots of jumps and James and Cora played in the water.

We went back to the hotel to change and meet our guide to go explore Old Town Split. She was lovely- as they always are- and we started walking over to Old Town and Diocletian's Palace.

The Palace immediately demonstrated something I LOVED about Croatia. The history is amazing, but it is vibrant and living and lived IN. The Palace was built in the late 3rd Century to be a retirement fortress by Diocetian, the last non-Christian Holy Roman Emperor.

It is huge and sturdy and still fully in tact, but the city and its people moved inside its walls and grew and developed with it over time. I mean how often can you grab gelato (with a gluten-free cone!) in between stories of the 2200 year old fortress you're walking around exploring with your guide.

I loved the narrow pathways and hidden passages.

There are dungeons where sewage was stored before they became storage and the place where Daenerys's dragons were kept and filmed in Game of Thrones.

There are straight walls built when warfare was up close and personal that are surrounded by angled walls that were added when warfare became about cannon balls and artillery.

James got to do a lot of "imagine what these stones have seen" and we all know that's his favorite thing in the whole world to do.

Homes, restaurants, shops, and the world's oldest longest running pharmacy are all inside its walls. Our guide's grandparents have a home there that has been in the family since the 1300's.

I absolutely loved it. We all did. And after our tour (we learned so much, I wish I could give a proper recap) we walked to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our guide, walked back to the hotel, settled into our rooms and were pretty insantly fast asleep!

First thing in the morning we'd be meeting a driver to go to Plitvice Lakes!! My dream. 2.5 hours each way, I'm so so gald we kept it in the itinerary and can't wait to show you pictures in the next post!