Dubravka –

Just got back to Boston – we had an amazing time.

The way you arranged our logistics from the time we landed (save for an early flight) to details about pick-ups, hotels, daily activities was tremendous.

We loved each spot and would not really have changed a thing.

Split – it was great to fly in and Hotel Judita Palace was an ideal place to start our trip. The walking tour was a great way to start. Saša was lovely! The dinner of wine tasting and local cheese and meat was amazing. Just a note – many people from the US may not eat as much meat or ham/pork (for us, it was not an issue) – but it is something to ask. The wines were good – not great (as we then experienced amazing wines later on our trip).

We loved the falls the next day and the time of day was perfect for us – it was lower on tourists and we had a chance to hike in the am and give the kids an opportunity to sleep in a bit.

Dinner that night behind the “closed doors” with Tatjana and her husband was memorable and I would do it again and recommend it to anyone. We felt a little “sloppy” since we came right from the falls and swimming to dinner at her house – it was hot and we were fine (in fact, I changed to dry cloths but Natalie and the kids were fine).

The next two days with Domagoj was among my personal favorite – LOVED him and all the activities and his historic knowledge. I don’t think the “typical” family would have done too well on the bike ride – it was a challenge. Dom was great and it was well worth the whole bike ride seeing the Natural spring. The walk to the monastery was beyond belief. For me, getting this exercise in was good timing on our trip. Both Dom’s picnic dinner and then the wine lunch were among our top meals (more on that). It would have been nice to have a little more time with the team at Senjković winery. We could have taken a later ferry so it was our choice to leave when we did. There was another couple so we were a bit slow to start the lunch (as we certainly were in no rush).

We also really, really enjoyed our day in the Adriatic sea – we ended up getting to Hvar after 6PM since we enjoyed our time with Tom and Tom. They picked such a special spot for lunch. Probably the best grilled whole fish of the week (get the name of the restaurant – it’s worth going ). Swimming and naps on the boat/yacht was perfect spot in our trip.

Hvar was worth it for us – the Hotel was fine – great service and amazing views (and it was the only hotel with a gym in it). Kids went out that night and enjoyed – and it was fun for all of us to see and compare and contrast. We realize that if you’re Croatian, it’s a foreign party town and not really what the country is about but still fun! We had dinner at Giaxa sitting in a palace square – unreal. Food was ok, wine was great.

Korčula island was wonderful as well – we loved our buggy adventure and lunch (they even took us on their boat for a traditional meal) – again, perfect for us. The views from the buggy were picturesque.

Something to recommend to any food lovers – the final dinner we had on the Island was at Lešić Dimitr – we did the chef’s tasking with wine pairing sitting outside on the terrace – I would list it was one of the top 5 dinners we’ve ever had (combination of food, location, location, location, wine, service, weather) – it’s up there with Chevre d’or in Eze. We got a detailed run down of each dish and wine (including history of each wine). We also happened to have dinner next to a wedding party and had the bride and Groom join us for a drink (or two) after their guests left.

The hotel suite was really cool – it rained day 1 and our patio didn’t dry out too well. I personally found the room very dark given that we were overlooking the sea and had such amazing views a blast. But we enjoyed the big Jacuzzi baths and the service was amazing. We had some free time which was great but didn’t get settled on a beach or area to hang together – we ended up doing our own things (which was fine).

And to cap off the trip was our tasting day with Mario on the Pelješac peninsula – we learned a lot about how wines are made and loved the day. We managed to bring back and ship 3 cases of wine for our Croatia week at our beach house. It turns out that, we eat like Croatians (simple salads, grilled meats and fish) so we are dedicating a week with our wine!

Finally – Dubrovnik was an amazing city and good end to our journey- the guided am tour was great (we added the synagogue) we enjoyed resting on the Adriatic again in the afternoon. On our own, we did a sunset wall walk before our final dinner.

Personally, if I could have figured out 1-2 mornings of exercise, I would have been even better (but that’s just me and not most others).

Count on us again!

Barry Greene