Recently returned from Best of the Adriatic tour. 14 days. Long time independent traveler, but this was my third RS tour and it was fabulous. For a guided tour I thought it was just about the perfect mix of scheduled and free time. The scheduled times with local guides and sites never felt rushed or too much or too little. To me it was perfect and top notch. Our guide Sanel was the best. I highly recommend this tour. Having never been to this part of Europe before the tour was a great overall introduction. The only drawback was there were three nights where we only stayed the one night. I am not a fan of that but understood the need for it.
My friend and I flew into Zagreb, Croatia from Michigan. For the first time ever we had a taxi meet us and take us to the hotel. After a long travel day is was nice not to have to figure out public transportation. Had a leisurely evening and the next day did lots of walking and visited two museums; Broken Relationships and Naive Art. We enjoyed both of them. The next day we traveled to Ljubljana, Slovenia with the company called Go Opti. Would recommend.
Loved Ljubljana, spent two extra nights there before the tour and glad we did (stayed at tour hotel). As suggested on this site we enjoyed the Friday food festival (we went twice), which was an easy walk from the hotel. So many
food choices and so tasty.
The next day I took a tour van out to the Postojna Caves which I really enjoyed and then on to Predjama castle; I did not go inside just sat, relaxed and enjoyed the view.
The next day I went to mass at the Franciscan Church of St Mary, then enjoyed wandering before meeting the tour at 4 pm. Group walk and group dinner; was nice to get to know some of the group.
The next day we had a three hour guided tour of the city then the entire afternoon and evening free.
Day 3 we boarded the comfy bus and headed to Lake Bled. Scenery was lovely. We had several free hours in Lake Bled; enough time to walk around the lake and enjoy lunch and the special Lake Bled cream cake. Then headed to Bovec for the night with a stop in Planica to see the tallest ski jump in the world.
Day 4 and 5 were busy; toured a WWI museum with a very informative guide then on to a family run Slovenian winery then to the fun hillside town of Motovun for two nights. Next day we went to Pula to tour the amazingly preserved Roman amphitheater, then on to an olive farm for tasting and lunch then had some free time to wander around Rovinj before heading back to our hillside hotel.
Day 6 Spent a few free hours in Opatija along the sea. Then on to Plitvice National Park for a group dinner.
Day 7 up early to explore the park and avoid the crowds. A bit of rain but lovely nonetheless. Then on to Split for 2 nights.
Day 8 Split all day. I loved this stop. Amazing to see modern life amongst the sprawling well preserved Roman ruins. Tour in the morning, free time in afternoon. Great seaside for people watching.
Day 9 Up early to head into Bosnia. Spent time in Stolac (our guide is from here) with the group and enjoyed a wonderful group meal at a local place. Then on to Mostar for one night. I wish we had more time in this amazing country, we visited a mosque and a traditional Serbian Orthodox monastery. We had some great food and learned about proper Bosnian coffee drinking and had fun mingling with the crowds in the bazaars. A highlight was seeing the rebuilt Old Bridge in Mostar and listening to the incredible stories of both our guides on what it was like to grow up during the war and their lives now. Very moving.
To be continued......
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