I must be honest: I’ve started writing this post only a few days after my return to Rome from Croatia (to be precise from Dalmatia). Here, with this article, I want to summarise all the information I have gathered during the nine days of stays, together with the ideas, opinions and personal thoughts that I had to formulate during my trip.
– Travel documents: Croatia is in the European Union, but not in the Schengen area. You will have to pass the customs control of the papers (as to go to London) and the valid documents to enter are the identity card and the passport. If you go in your car, remember to take with you its registration book. The green card seems to no longer be mandatory (I have read some conflicting information about this information); it is compulsory to have a green card if you want to go to Dubrovnik because you have to cross a tiny piece of land in Bosnia, where it is expressly required to have it.
Speed ​​limits are not very different from those we find in Italy:
– in urban centers 40-50 km/h;
– extra-urban roads 80 km/h;
– expressways 100 km/h;
– motorways 120 km/h;
Besides, by car, you must have the “danger triangle” (EU regulations), a first aid box (which complies with the EU regulation), a box of spare bulbs and a reflective jacket for every person that circulates with that car. The police seem to turn mostly plainclothes to check that the limits and rules of the road are respected and I can assure you that you never notice them (I saw them shoot with only recognizable vehicles twice, the first because they had the official car and the second because the policeman he was in uniform on an official motorcycle).
– How to get there from Italy: you can, of course, decide to go by car, passing through Slovenia, taking into consideration that from Trieste to Dalmatia it takes at least 4/5 hours going calmly (and adding the hours of travel in Italy). I chose to go by my car going through Slovenia, stopping for the night in Palmanova in Friuli Venezia Giulia (a solution that allowed me to save a bit on costs. Of course, I have reckoned to employ at least a day and a half, almost two, to arrive by car. As far as the ferries are concerned, there are some “main routes” you can choose from: Ancona – Split, Ancona – Zadar, Civitanova Marche – Split and Bari – Dubrovnik (there are other possibilities if you have to check the websites of the companies that offer the ferry service.) There are also some direct routes to the islands, such as Civitanova Marche – Hvar or several courses to the island of Rab.
– Local currency: in Croatia, there is not the Euro, but the Kuna. Currently (26 August 2018) 1 Euro is equivalent to 7 Kuna. The exchange is undoubtedly beneficial for us, and the cost of living is significantly lower than in Italy. I must admit that I had made a bright idea, before leaving, about the cost of living in Croatia in general: in the end, however, the cost of living there was not as convenient as I had thought (let’s say 10- 15% cheaper than Italy).
– Bancomat and money exchange: there are ATMs almost everywhere, almost one for each commercial activity and those of the bank branches. In addition to that, of course, there are a lot of money exchangers scattered around the cities. I noticed that, in some cases, even the motorway service companies offer the money changer service (but only for minimum amounts, such as 100 euros maximum).
– “Host city”: I chose to book an apartment in Alissa, Omiš in Croatian, to be precise in Stanići (for accommodation costs) located 5 kilometres from the city. The centre of Almissa winds around the river Cetina (Cèttina “translated” from the Croatian) and a long beach crowded during the hot season. There are also numerous small “hamlets” along the way, where there are lodgings, supermarkets and restaurants.
– Accommodations: in Almissa there are mainly apartments and very few hotels (concentrated in the “new” part and not in the historical centre). The apartment has had the advantage of significantly reducing the costs of meals, being able to cook directly at home and not going every day to eat at the restaurant.
– Shopping: I found several supermarkets, Studenac and Konzum are the most widespread (the first above all) with more or less large stores in all the cities where I happened to pass during the trip. Numerous, in Almissa, are also fruit and vegetable counters (there are many along the main course). If you are a smoker, you can buy cigarettes in supermarkets and some newsagents, while in the bigger cities you can also find tobacconists.
– Beaches: in the area of ​​Stanići there are numerous beaches and coves all of pebbles and rocks; the shore of Almissa, practically in the city centre, is instead of sand (the bottom of the sea has some stones). Prevale, as far as I could see, the first type and also the sandy ones “hide” a few rocks: I suggest you bring shoes suitable for pebbles/rocks because they will be beneficial, even my travel companions have agreed that having bought them allowed us to take baths without problems. The water is of a blue that I did not expect, even though I had read a beautiful sea; the water is quite cold but bearable. The small coves of Stanići have not signalled the limit for boats, and this implies that ships of all types (small and medium-sized) could arrive quite near the beach! In this case, of course, always pay attention to what happens around you (I happened to see not too smart approaches from the owners of the boats during the stay).
Note: if you book an organised tour to the Blue Lagoon, close to the island of Zirona Grande (Drvenik Veli or Drvenik Veliki in Croatian), the boat will almost certainly stop on a rocky and pebble beach. Unless you are a lover of bare feet on the rocks, sometimes a bit slippery, the “rock” shoes will be practically indispensable.
To conclude, I would like to sum up my trip in a few lines. I found a country that allowed me to relax a lot and to other moments of tranquillity with trips to discover the history (in Croatia there are numerous UNESCO sites, many in Dalmatia). I came back relaxed as it had not happened for years, perhaps because the place took me to do everything with much less haste. I noticed that on some aspects related to hospitality there is room for improvement, having spoken with some locals gave me the confirmation, but it is not something so “dramatic” that you can’t resolve it. Surely it is a country that I would recommend to those who are looking for a place not far from home, which allows you to alternate sea and relaxation with history and culture millennial (nothing prevents, however, to take only one of these aspects to build a more or less long journey around us).