We visited San Diego and Palm Springs on Z’s winter break from Wharton. As usual, our vacation was packed full of adventure!
We flew into LA and drove to San Diego where we enjoyed the beautiful weather, watched the seals on the beach and visited the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal park. The wild animal park is great. It’s expensive but a really nice zoo.
We also drove to Josuha Tree national park, Palm Springs and the Algodones Dunes.
We used the Jadrolinija ferry to travel from Hvar to a Sebenik which is near Murter, Miljenko’s (Z’s dad) hometown. We spent some time at his family home and enjoyed the beautiful sunsets and great beach.
View our Murter photos
Each year we try to go to Slovenia & Croatia to visit Z’s family. Zvonimir grew up visiting Murter, Croatia and surrounding towns where his dad is from. However, he had never visited Dubrovnik, Hvar or the towns further south of Murter.
Since we were planning a trip to Slovenia for Lucija’s wedding we extended our time in Croatia to visit Dubrovnik and Hvar.
Dubrovnik is a town on the Adriatic Sea (opposite the heel of the “boot” in Italy). The old city is surrounded by a wall with a walking path with amazing views. Dubrovnik was exteremely beautiful and the Hilton hotel there was incredible. There were very few Croatians in the old city and they were surprised when Z ordered in Croatian. The only disappointment in Dubrovnik was the number of loud American tourists!!
Hvar was much more of a nightlife scene. It is the place to be seen for the rich and famous! Many tourists find room rentals with local families. This is a cheap and easy way to travel if you’re willing to take a gamble and find something last minute. Families stand at the bus stop advertising their rooms. You can find private rooms from $15-30/day.
We were a little worried about taking this approach since we were visiting at the height of tourist season so we booked a room in advance with a local family (though we paid much more). The family was extremely nice and the owner was very excited to know that Zvonimir could speak Croatian that he treated us to some homemade Croatian liquor (similar to how I would imagine jet fuel tasting!).
View our Dubrovnik and Hvar photos.
Plitvice, a National Park in Croatia is a series of lakes and waterfalls.
View our Plitvice photos
Pictures from our stay in Slovenia
View our Slovenia 2006 photos