The last stop on my Semana Santa trip, which included trips to Florence, Venice, Slovenia, Zagrab and the road trip through Croatia and Bosnia, was Dubrovnik. We stayed just outside of Old Town and walked in and out each day, mostly because we still had the car and figuring out parking was easier staying outside the city walls. Dubrovnik was a gorgeous and wonderfully relaxed way to end weeks of constant travel. We didn’t do much beyond walk around and enjoy it, but it is exactly the city for that!
Dubrovnik Highlights:
Dubrovnik’s Old Town is surrounded by defensive walls, constructed between the 12th – 17th centuries, considered to be some of the best from the Middle Ages as they have never been breached. We’re now able to walk across them, which offers incredible views of the entire town. It takes about two hours, maybe a bit longer if you’re like us and stop to have a drink with a nice view along the way, and costs €25 per person.
We ate at Lady Pi Pi which is at the top of the Old Town – it’s a literal hike to get up to it, but oh man is it worth it. It’s SO delicious (mainly seafood and grill) and had lovely views and was such a pretty place covered in grape vines. They don’t do reservations so I’d recommend arriving early!
Walking through the town at night was so charming as well. Something it was a bit cold for but I’d love to do if we ever go back is a sunset kayak tour, like this one.
And then the holiday was over and Gareth flew back to London and I flew back to Logrono to finish the last month of teaching during my year in Spain!
After Gareth arrived in Zagreb, we grabbed our rental car and set out on a road trip through the country (and into Bosnia). We were heading to Dubrovnik, with stops at Plitvice National park, Zadar, Krka National park, and Split along the way.
Plitvice Lakes National Park
After Gareth landed at Zagreb airport we headed straight for Plitvice Lakes National Park. It has 16 terraced lakes and dozens of waterfalls. It is stunning.
There is parking at both entrances (7 Kuna) and for adults entry is 80 Kuna (£9) January to March and in November and December; 180 Kuna (£21) during April, May and October; and 300 Kuna (£34) for June to September.
Zadar
I’ve heard wonderful things about Zadar but we were only here for about 18 hours. We had dinner and drinks on the water and watched the sun set. This was a cute little town but we left early the next morning for Krka.
Krka National Park
There are buses and a ferry that give access to the park – we risked it and drove all the way there and bet on finding parking (there’s apparently also a car park in Lozovac but we didn’t know that at the time). We were successful and after about a 30 minute walk down the path we were there!
You can only swim June – September which was a bit gutting, because it looks wonderful! We didn’t time it right to take a boat tour (included in ticket price) but we’d do that next time for sure. There’s a cafe with food and drinks and it’s a nice place to relax for a few hours and take in the beauty!
Again we were only in Split a short while before our last leg in Dubrovnik, however we really loved Split. We had dinner at Konoba Marjan which is a really delicious fish restaurant, and most importantly found a old tavern, that I cannot remember the name of but that felt like it hadn’t changed in decades. We hung out there for a few hours playing cards and had a lovely time.
We walked up Marjan Hill to have a nice view of the city. We didn’t have time for a tour of Diocletian’s Palace, which Game of Thrones fans will recognise as Meereen and also the dungeon Danny keeps the young dragons in, but we did peek in and it looked very cool!
From there we drove up and spent a day in Mostar, before reaching Dubrovnik, our final destination.
Writing about our incredible road trip through South Africa over the Easter holiday has reminded me that I haven’t posted about our week-long road trip through Croatia during Semana Santa (Easter) last year. We packed a lot in but hit some of the best spots in Croatia (sans islands), and I think it’s time I share that itinerary!
Itinerary
I arrived four days before Gareth, and spent them hanging around Zagreb. Zagreb is SUCH a gem of a city, it would be a huge mistake to skip it and only see the coast. Trust me, it’s worth spending some time there!
Unfortunately for Gareth, we didn’t know that at the time, so while I got to spend four days there, he landed at the airport and we immediately set off for the Plitvice lakes. Plan to spend a few hours walking around and taking pictures, the place is really incredible.
To break up the drive we spent a night in Zadar. We stayed in a really cute Airbnb only a short walk from the city centre. Zadar was cute but quite honestly, it was the least exciting of the places we stayed and I think skippable. If we were doing this again, we’d find a place to spend a night in the mountains or just drive straight down to Split.
The main reason we needed to break the drive up was so we could stop at Krka National Park, which was gorgeous (and would be even better during the summer months when you can swim!).
We spent two nights in Split and could have stayed much longer! The city was gorgeous and was full of great food (and such a great bar).
We couldn’t be so close to Mostar (another place I saw in a picture once and knew I had to go), without popping in, and luckily it was (pretty much) on the way. We only spent one night in magical Mostar, but the town in tiny and honestly this felt like enough. Mostar is definitely a can’t-miss part of this itinerary.
After some trouble getting back into Croatia (some border crossings are only for locals!), we arrived in Dubrovnik for our final three days in the country.
While we would have absolutely loved to spend more time in each place, and to visit some of the islands, given our one week time limit this was the perfect itinerary for us. We moved around a lot but the infrastructure was top notch and the drive one of the most beautiful I’ve ever been on!
After Kruger, I was worried we peaked too early, and leaving was quite bittersweet. Luckily, a road trip through the Garden Route was just what the doctor ordered to lift our spirits, as I don’t think there’s a more beautiful drive on the planet. This is a long post because there is an insane amount to see and do in this part of the country. Our itinerary and additional recommendations are below!
Jeffrey’s Bay
We went straight from Port Elizabeth to Jeffrey’s Bay so G would get some surfing in. Tip: we had a harder time than expected finding the beaches to surf on (bad preplanning), so know where you want to rent your board from and base it around that. We spent a few hours surfing and eating and taking in the scenery – beautiful beaches but we also drove by/through our first Township, which was quite shocking. We later spent an evening at Mzansi restaurant in the Langa Township in Cape Town, which was incredible.
Storms River
We spent our first night in Storms River. This little town was adorable and our hosts absolutely lovely. It felt like staying in our grandparent’s comforting home. It was green and beautiful, and I highly recommend booking there! If we go back, we’d spend all three of our nights along the Garden Route in Storms River – though it’s not for everyone. See where to stay along the Garden Route here.
Dinner (and breakfast) in Storms River
We went to De Oude Martha and loved it. The food was so good, the service excellent, and the venue gorgeous. Go back for their breakfast buffet – after our sad little grills in Kruger, this delicious food was much appreciated (and overindulged).
Activities in Tsitsikamma national park
The two best things we did in Storms River were ziplining and kayaking down the mouth of Storms river. Ziplining was fun, and not scary at all, even for me. If you’re looking for some serious adrenaline, instead go a bit further down Route 2 and hit up Face Adrenalin for one of the world’s highest jumps at Bloukrans Bridge. As that sounds like my personal hell, we skipped it, but everyone we spoke to who had done it said it was one of the highlights of their lives.
After ziplining we went kayaking and lilo-ing down Storms River mouth, which was gorgeous. It was fun, just a little challenging (swimming against the tide at points was not easy!) and there was cliff jumping! The water is full of tannans, but it doesn’t taste (or smell) nearly as good as wine. It looks dirty but we were assured it’s not, and I wouldn’t miss the jumps as they are just high enough to turn your stomach.
We didn’t do the hike to the waterfall as it was pouring rain and visibility was low, but if you’re up for it, it’s meant to be beautiful (though better in the wet season than dry).
Knysna
We spent the next two nights in Knysna. Storms River, Plettenburg Bay, and Knysna are all close enough together that you can easily get to each one no matter where you stay, so it’s not necessary to move each night if you don’t want to. Knysna is cute and mid-size (though the biggest of the three) and if you want to hop around the coast, is a great place to stay.
Dinner in Knysna
Go to The Waterfront, where many of the most recommended restaurants are clustered. We were there right at the end of March and a reservation wasn’t necessary at even the most popular places. This allowed us to wander around the pier and window shop restaurants. We had heard the best things about 34 Degrees South, which is a Knysna institution. It was delicious and lively – full when most other places were nearly empty. Knysna has great food – Drydock and Easthead Cafe, if you’re willing to drive a bit farther out, were also both highly recommended.
Plettenburg Bay
The next morning we woke up early and headed to Robberg Nature Reserve for one of the best hikes of my life. If you like hiking and beautiful landscapes, do not miss this one!
After the hike, swim, and ensuing sunburn, we went to Monkeyland for lunch – you don’t have to pay for entry if you’re only eating/accessing the restaurant, but the restaurant is inside the park and you can see quite a few monkeys just eating lunch.
From there we went to Elephant Sanctuary. This was recommended by a host as a rehabilitation centre and right next to our lunch place, but we didn’t do the right background research before going. It called itself a sanctuary but the elephants were too well trained to be wild and it felt more like a circus. When asked, they said they only trained with food and never violence, and the elephants were given to them by the governments from South Africa and nearby countries because they couldn’t survive in the wild. However they all seemed fine and though the goal was rehabilitation, no elephant has been released thus far. I write about this as a warning to others. Don’t be me, ALWAYS research thoroughly first. If you really want to see some elephants, Knysna Elephant Park has actually rehabbed and released elephants, though they’ve also had some abuse claims.
Wilderness
We set off the next morning for Wilderness. We were going to hike but it was cloudy with low visibility and I was suffering from one of the worst sunburns of my life – Malarone is no joke, and sunblock doesn’t help. All this to say, we ended up skipping the hike, but you can find a list of the best ones we researched here.
Mossel Bay
We stopped in Mossel Bay to see the Post Office Tree. Back in 1501, a Portuguese explorer took shelter in Mossel Bay after a bad storm. He wanted to get a letter to another explorer, warning him, so left a boot nailed to a tree with a letter inside. It managed to reach the correct man (!) and for decades was used as the “post office” in Mossel Bay for explorers. Now there is a little monument there with a slot to put mail into, so I sent myself a postcard. I do this everywhere I go as a type of journal entry about the trip, and with the local stamp and such. I like sending them from cool locations, and this one and the one I sent from the top of Table Mountain are of the few that actually made it to England from South Africa (I think the only two, actually).
From Mossel Bay we drove to Franschhoek, and thus ended our time on the Garden Route. I was getting used to feeling both sad and excited that one part of the trip was ending while another was beginning, but the incredible drive to Franschhoek softened the blow. It was astounding!
MORE GARDEN ROUTE ACTIVITIES
There is so much more you can do on the Garden Route. We only had a few days, and would strongly recommend a longer trip if you can. Some of the most popular things we missed out on were:
Addo Elephant Park. This was our back up in case we didn’t see any elephants in Kruger. We were innocent babies who didn’t realise how incredible (and elephant rich) Kruger would be.
Whale Watching in Hermanus – this is something we would have done without hesitation at a different time of year, but it wasn’t the right season so we gave it a pass. If you’re there between June and November, don’t miss it!
Birds of Eden – right next to Monkeyland and really highly rated among bird lovers.
Shark Diving – we left this up to the last minute, and then decided not to go. Mostly because I truly don’t think I’d ever get in the ocean sans protective cage again. If you’re less of a baby, this is something loads of people put at the top of their list.
Featherbed Ferry to Knysna Heads – this one we missed only because we didn’t know about it. One the list for next time for sure!
Obviously, there is a HUGE number of things to do on the Garden Route. The natural beauty, wildlife, food, and activities means there’s something for everyone, and to be honest, just writing this post has me desperate to go back and do more. Until then, I’ll live vicariously through this blog post!
This Easter, Gareth and I were lucky enough to spend two weeks in South Africa. It was by far the most exciting and adventurous trip I’ve ever taken (I cried tears of happiness two different times!), as well as the farthest from home.
We had 13 packed days in South Africa (and one day in Cairo!) and while it’s impossible to do everything in 13 days, I put hours and hours into researching the perfect itinerary — all that hard work paid off, because I think I did it!
In the coming weeks I’m going to post about each of the five sections of the trip in detail, but here I’m going to share the basic itinerary. Having only two weeks meant some things had to be left off, but I think we fit in a great mix. Each of our five segments felt very different — because of that by the time we came back to London two weeks later, it felt like we had been gone for months and been on five completely different trips.
We took a red eye from London to Cairo on Egypt Air. While there were cheaper options, this one allowed me to build in an 18 hour layover, which was enough time to do a great tour of the city. While one day is not nearly enough to cover Egypt, it did feel like we saw nearly every major tourist attraction in Cairo itself.
We landed in Johannesburg at 5:00 am on the second day of our trip. We had a car rental ready and waiting, and drove the 4.5 hours to Crocodile Bridge Gate, which was the nearest to our camp. We did an evening game drive our first night, and sunrise and sunset tours days three and four. I have so many tips and recommendations about Kruger, as well as a cost breakdown – it’s more affordable than you may think! I think this was the best part of our trip — it was so magical, and completely unlike anything else I’ve ever done. We had three nights and nearly three full days there, and while I would have loved to stay longer I didn’t feel rushed or like we didn’t have enough time to have a real safari experience.
We left Kruger at 4:00 am day five and drove back to Joburg airport to catch our flight to Port Elizabeth — and started the Garden Route! The Garden Route runs from Storms River to Mossel Bay, and while we only stayed in Storms River and Knysna, we did activities in each of the stops along the way. We had four days and three nights for this part of the trip, and it was so fun to move from place to place, making each day its own new adventure. During this trip we did one of the best hikes of my life, ziplined, kayaked, cliff jumped, ate some really good food, and drove through some astounding landscapes.
Wine region! During planning, we went back and forth on this — having lived so close to Santa Barbara and in La Rioja, I wasn’t sure taking a few days out of our trip to go on wine tastings would be worth it. I’m so so glad we went! We had planned on Stellenbosch, as I had heard the name thrown around much more often, but Franschhoek is like its cuter, smaller little sister and was an oasis in the mountains. Plus Franschhoek has a wine tram! Need I say more??
Day ten was really just the journey from Franschhoek to Cape Town (we stopped in Betty’s Bay to see the penguins, and took a longer route along the coast which was so. worth. it). Cape Town was incredible. It was one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to, and I absolutely need to go back, hopefully for much longer — though not because I feel like I missed any major tourist attractions (minus one).
We did so much — a walking tour of the city, climbed Table Mountain (it was so hard, but so worth it), went to Bo Kapp, ate at some amazing restaurants, went to The Waterfront, hung out in Company’s Gardens, shopped along Green Market Square, and had dinner in a Township. Cape Town was the first place we really had time to just wander and take everything day by day, and it was welcomed after the packed schedule we had leading up to it. It was the perfect, chilled end to an incredible trip.
Like it said, there’s no way to do absolutely everything, and there are some things not on this itinerary that others may no be willing to skip — we didn’t go shark diving because I don’t think after that I’d ever get in the water unless I was still in a cage. We didn’t to Addo or an Ostrich Park because we had seen so many elephants and ostriches along the way. But in the detailed posts I’ll explain where and how you can do these things and give as much information as we can!
Coming back to London we were welcomed with a week straight of predicted rain. So far, that has been accurate. While I miss South Africa and really want to go back some day, I feel so grateful for the trip we had. It gave me some much needed headspace, and I feel excited for the coming summer here in London — maybe there will even be some sunshine!!
Once more a visit to a place I saw in a photo and couldn’t miss! Luckily, while in Split during our trip to Croatia, we were only 2.5 hours away and would be driving past the border on the way to Dubrovnik anyway, so it wasn’t hard to convince G to make the detour. Mostar was tiny and you need only spend a day or two, but it is so worth a visit.
Drinks
We had drinks at Labirint which was along the river and such a stunning location to sip some wine, play some cards, and even watch the locals jump off the bridge!
Dinner
We ate at Šadrvan which was incredible and highly recommended! The food is delicious, there is a LOT of it, and it is traditional Bosnian fare. We made a reservation and our table was 5 minutes late so they made sure we had (free) drinks while we waited, and the service was just top notch all around.
Activities
There’s not much to do in Mostar, but one thing you should absolutely not miss is climbing to the top of the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque. As someone who is terrified of heights and claustrophobic, I was nervous. The climb up is long, circular (so there’s no end in sight), and extremely tight. Still – do not miss this! It’s around 5 pounds for entry to the mosque and to climb up, and the view is STUNNING. Seriously, I can’t imagine a better view of Stari Most.
Tips
Some of the borders are only for people with either Bosnian or Croatia passports – we drove to the nearest one on Google maps and were turned away. The drive was great but very windy and my car sick (and hungover?) self was not pleased about this mistake!
Mostar worked into our Croatian trip very well, but we weren’t prepared for how much Bosnia would appeal to us – we were so sad to leave after just one night, and regretted not planning to go on to Sarajevo. If your schedule allows, perhaps plan further travel in Bosnia.
Enjoy your time there! It’s such a fairy tale place, and to this day the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.
I arrived in Spain the day before orientation, but two weeks before work actually began. I knew I wanted to fit in a trip or two, but wasn’t exactly sure where to go. South of France? Stay in Spain? I also didn’t want to miss much of San Mateo, or any job interviews, and it seemed like everyone was going out every night in a desperate bid to avoid being friendless and alone.
I mapped out a trip to Asturias that would have lasted about three days, but we cut it down to two days, one night to avoid leaving Brady for too long/being away from all the action in Logroño. This worked fine, but was a LOT of driving. I basically lied to Gareth about the length of every leg of the trip, mostly because my brain refused to accept the fact that driving many miles/kilometers amounts to many hours in the car. Sorry Gareth. You can look below and see the actual estimates. Oops.
We rented a car in Logroño and drove to the Ikea in Bilbao first. I needed some things to set up my room–a mattress pad (fun fact, my bed is actually two twin mattresses of DIFFERENT HEIGHTS pushed together, which is even less comfortable than it sounds), a desk, a mirror, and some plants, obvs. My room is now amazing.
From Bilbao we headed to Asturias, first to the Mirador del Fitu. This was up some windy mountain roads, and I was 99% convinced I was getting us nowhere but lost until we finally arrived at a parking lot. The view from below the stairs was impressive enough, and once we climbed up, we were looking at one of the best views I’ve ever seen. We hung around soaking it in for a while before heading down to start the journey to the Covadonga lakes.
Note that if you’re following the same route, it’s fastest to continue driving the same direction you were going to get to the Mirador. We discovered this only after we had retraced our path down the mountain and got GPS signal back. We had to turn around and head back up which added like 20 minutes to the total driving time and did nothing to help my car sickness.
Also note that the drive up to the Covadonga Lakes is sketchy as hell. You are on the outside of a mountain road the whole way, and the drop offs are ridiculous. It was terrifying, especially with a Brit driving whose natural instincts were to do everything backwards. But, if you can get up there without dying, it’s so worth it. There’s free parking, the views were gorgeous, and you’re right in the mountains. There’s a lot to explore and a hike around the lake if you have time–we didn’t do the hike but still found enough to do to fill about an hour. It was pretty great and I highly recommend if you’re into lakes/mountains. Maybe find someone non-British to drive, though.
From the lakes we drove to Las Arenas, where we spent the night, getting ready to walk Ruta del Cares the next day!
One of my favorite things to do is plan, in great detail, trips that I’m not actually going to take. Or, to be more accurate, not take in the immediate future. But I will do a RTW trip one day, and when that day comes I know my route and about how long I’ll stay where, and what will be flights and what will be ground transport. And it will be epic. That was what I spent most of my time doing during the hardest months of unemployment. Planning that RTW trip.
Now, with that very important task completed, I’ve moved on to a road trip around Europe. I roadtripped from Boston to Los Angeles in January of 2010 with my best friends from college, and it was one of my favorite life experiences. So when Gareth got a car last year, I started googling and realized just how tiny Europe actually is. It only takes two and a half hours to drive from Brussels to Amsterdam, or five and a half to drive from Berlin to Warsaw, for example.
I don’t know exactly when this road trip will happen, but it’s definitely going to. I think it’ll be about two-two and a half weeks (though only 12 days with a car), and renting a car in Brussels and dropping it off in Tallin 12 days later is about $300.
I feel like that’s how much cars rent for in Los Angeles a day.* The ferry from Tallin to Helsinki is only 19 Euros, and there are flights back to London for as little as $80. This feels so doable and not very expensive, minus the fact that gas prices in Europe are crazy high.
Take a look!
Also as I was planning this I got more adventurous and look at this one! What a beauty! Though I can’t find anywhere that has online information about picking up a car in Calais or Brussels and dropping it off in Belgrade. Or even Budapest.
It’s not happening soon but that doesn’t matter in my crazy head. Planning, to me, is half the fun.
*This felt like a huge exaggeration but I just checked Enterprise and to rent a car from Friday-Monday is about $250!
Once more a visit to a place I saw in a photo and couldn’t miss! Luckily, while in Split during our 
