A Quickie Croatian Escape

While once again I haven't had a proper summer holiday this year, the Mr. and I opted for a quick, pre-season escape to Croatia.

A friend of his father's has a house on the beach in a quaint village 15 minutes from Zadar. Since I am a bit particular about where I holiday, and like to know what awaits me, it took the boyfriend some convincing before I was sold on the idea of an eight hour drive (one way) to holiday somewhere on the Croatian coast for four days. 

In the end, he had to set me an ultimatum: either I would come, or he would drive alone. Oh alright then, I agreed. And what awaited us, was more perfect than I could've imagined…

The house was perched directly on the stoney beach. From what I've heard, most of the coast in Croatia is stoney. Generally I love the grind of a sandy beach between my toes, but what is so special about the stoney shore, is the clarity of the water.

The above was the view from "our" bay, along with "our" jetty.

The view from the main terrace… 

The view from the cushiony loungers on the main terrace.

The morning-view from our balcony… 

Instant bliss, whenever I looked out onto the ever-changing body of water. And so my morning ritual as soon as we got out of bed, was to spend a few moments meditating upon that vast blue.

After that, our morning continued with fresh fruit, before the first swim and "proper" breakfast. Much like the seamless merge of the ocean with the horizon, our four days merged into a blissful blur. 

Since it was too hot to hang out on the loungers in our bay, we took monopoly of the small jetty where the sea-breeze kept us comfortable. There, we swam, chatted, read to each other and generally sealed about.

Until dusk broke… 

Drowning the bay in a golden glow.

At this stage we would return to our balcony… 

For the obligatory, celebratory glass of vino! Celebrating that we are alive and healthy and on holiday!

It was tough work… ;)

We watched captivated, until the red disc dipped into the ocean for the day and the fiery sky made way for the first stars.

A couple of days we tore ourselves away from our jetty, and visited Zadar, as well as a couple of the surrounding villages.

Since it was still pre-season, most of the city and villages were still desolate. Empty sets waiting to be filled with their seasonal actors.

Even though we spent most of our time on the coast, I fell in love with the lush Croatian gardens.

One day, I too will have a garden as unfussy and bountiful as this one, with shells hanging in the trees… 

On our last day, we explored the tip of the coast on the other side of our village, and while the tip appeared to be man-made (since it was extremely flat and close to sea level), in the distance we could spot the ragged mountain line. 

On the brink of ravenous, I was ready to settle for the next best restaurant. But the Mr. insisted we turn a couple more corners in the village, where we discovered a bit of a culinary gem.

From what we experienced, Croatian cuisine is not so developed. One day we found some local Croatian cheese with truffle on the menu which was a flavour highlight.

But the speciality was generally either a whole-roasted pig, or seafood platter.

I was not so keen on the piggy, so we lived off fresh seafood accompanied by the typical sides: spinach and potatoes with beans.

While I don't want to bore you with pictures of all of our platters, the one on our last evening was the highlight… 

Hmmm…Don't you just wanna dive into that garlic and herb crusted fish?!

Accompanied by a crisp and fruity vino from the vineyard around the corner! I can't quite remember whether it was in fact a Sauvignon Blanc, but judging by the taste it could definitely compete with the typical zingy freshness of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

The perfect finish to our quickie Croatian escape… 

…I'll drink to that!

Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x