Croatia

Remember how we used to play Name, place, animal, thing in school and how getting the letter ‘z’ was such a pain because of very few places starting with this letter? Now, thanks to my Croatia trip, I know one more place that starts with ‘z’- Zagreb- the capital of Croatia.

Zagreb was a great start to our holiday because of the cooler climes. The maximum temperature was a very pleasant 25 degrees. When you are arriving from Dubai, that means a lot. Another reason I liked this charming town was that it was not overcrowded. Although it's very much like other European cities, in terms of architecture, full of pretty buildings, I noticed some interesting sculptures built into some of the buildings- like bas-relief, which gave them a quirky touch.

Another thing that grabbed my attention was a 3 D map of the old town which brought to mind the credit images of the mega-popular HBO series Game of Thrones- unsurprising, as Croatia is GoT country.

Incidentally, Zagreb has some interestingly named museums- Museum of broken relationships, Museum of Illusions and incredibly- Museum of Torture! Needless to say- with the kids along, we didn't visit any of these.

Croatia should be called Castelly-Croatia. There are so many castles and forts, that my boys invented a new verb- 'forting'. From our second day till the last, seeing the castles and forts always involved walking and climbing, which resulted in us clocking in a full 58.5 kms in the ten days of our trip, according to my iPhone pedometer. The first few days we climbed gamely and after that the boys felt the need to invent the verb so they could say 'we don't want to go forting anymore '.

Trakoscan castle outside Zagreb was beautifully preserved- with all furnishings and décor intact, to give an idea of the rich lived. Reaching here involved driving past pumpkin patches in the green countryside.

The next stop, Plitvic Lakes/National park was a highly anticipated destination for us. But the enthusiasm palled somewhat when, upon reaching, we found out that there were three different trails- of which the shortest was 5 kms! We took the shortest one but ended up walking 7 kms anyway because of a wrong turn we took. Plitvic is made up of lakes which are interconnected and cascade into each other through waterfalls. The waters are extraordinarily clear and a brilliant turquoise blue. It is a very picturesque place. What is lacking is a diversity of fauna. Hardly any birds and only a few varieties of fish could be seen.

We drove south and the weather kept getting warmer. After a long drive down twisting and turning hilly roads, past a lovely green countryside, we reached the Dalmatian coastal city of Split. This was overrun with tourists and way more expensive than Zagreb.

Split has many beaches- which are pretty enough but lack the loads of lovely, soft, walkable sands which make a beach, a great beach, for me, at least. Dalmatian beaches are either pebbly or have smallish amounts of clayey sand. And they're crowded. But on the positive side, you see women of all shapes and sizes sun bathing in two piece costumes on them- yay for positive body imaging. The water of the Adriatic sea is extraordinarily clean and blue- given the crowds. And the seafood is good, I'm told.

The first fortress we visited in this region was Klis, which has served as the filming location of Mereen- where Dany practises her queening skills.

The temperature was over 30 degrees in Split, which made it that much harder to tramp around Diocletian palace- incredibly well preserved for its age. This was built by a Roman emperor who decided to retire here, in the fourth century AD, instead of his home country. Italy is just across the Adriatic sea, which explains why there is a strong influence of Italian cuisine on Croatia. All the restaurants invariably feature pizza, pasta and risotto on the menu, and they’re good. Stay away from the gelato, though. It is decidedly fake. Diocletian palace is where Dany locked her dragons in the dungeons in GoT when they got naughty.

Do not however think that fortresses is all this region has to offer. You can always cool off by taking boat tours, island hopping and for the adrenalin junkies, there is snorkeling, and diving off cliffs into the sea. There are no corals but you can see fish and other underwater life forms. It would be advisable to wear rubber sandals to avoid getting your feet cut on the sharp pebbles on the island beaches though.

Hvar is an island we drove to from Split, taking ferry part of the way. It's supposed to be the party town of Croatia, and obviously that aspect was completely irrelevant to us, so we left quickly.

After many hours of driving, we finally reached our last destination- Dubrovnik. Interestingly, you have to enter Bosnia and drive through it for fifteen minutes en route to Dubrovnik. Fortunately, no separate visa is required and the passport control at  the border is short and simple.

The highlight of Dubrovnik is the old town, where the majority of the King’s Landing scenes in GoT have been shot. For die hard Game of Thrones fans, the old town is an absolute must -visit, but even if you belong to the minority who has no clue about GoT, the old town will not disappoint you- it is that gorgeous.

The old town deserves to be seen from three vantage points-first is by walking inside in it, secondly from the sea, by entering the harbour by boat and thirdly- from the top of the castle walls. All three views have their own charm. Climbing up the castle walls and circum-ambulating them is arduous but the views from the top make it totally worth it.

Bear in mind, that while you will be able to identify the locations of GoT filming, it will take a bit of work, because there are computer-generated images superimposed on the shots we see on the screen. Best to take a guided tour or do a thorough homework on internet, if the GoT pilgrimage is your chief reason for going.

After this, we drove long and hard along a lovely coastal road back to Zagreb to catch our flight back home. Goodbye Croatia. You were tiring but absolutely worth it.