Our Holiday to Croatia by Jacquie Russell

OUR HOLIDAY TO CROATIA

by Jacquie Russell

Well what can I say?  First of all I am delighted we met at the Mayor’s Ball as I was stuck for something to do for our 25th Wedding Anniversary (and Bob’s 60th that was in April), when you mentioned Croatia it jumped at me – as I remembered that that was our first ever holiday 27 years ago – I kicked myself over and over wondering why I didn’t think of it?
To be honest- it is the most beautiful holiday we have ever had.  Bol as a resort was simple 27 years ago –it is now simply stunning.  It has obviously moved on but has been sympathetically and tastefully renovated.  It is fantastically clean and the people are fantastically pleasant and surprisingly reasonably fluent now in English, whereas in the past I almost always had to speak to them entirely in German – I think the German English thing is probably about 60/40 still but nonetheless it is very apparent that this resort is making a supreme effort in its bid for tourism.
The town is littered with attractive places to eat and drink and is currently reasonably priced –although I fear that may change when Croatia joins the EU next year.  The food is of a very good standard and their ice cream is something to be revered- as all ice cream is made on the premises and all fruit is island grown – it is very very special stuff –and this is a ‘non ice cream lover’talking.
Beaches – we visited Zlatni Rat again and found our old beach – but neither matched the stunning beauty of the Monastery Beach just on the other side of town – I have enclosed pictures of this.
The Hotel Elaphusa is of a very high standard.  Extremely clean and the staff very pleasant.  The hotel made a supreme effort for us – we arrived in our room to find two towels made into the shape of swans looking at each other that formed a heart- this was covered in sweets accompanied by a card from the hotel and a small gift of a bag of lavender. On top of this there was a bottle of red wine and a bowl of fruit – it was the most wonderful thing to see in what was already a lovely room with the most beautiful panoramic sea view overlooking the pool – I actually thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
The Tour Operator – I have deliberately left this till last.  Prestige Holidays used Elite Travel and I have to say they were outstanding.  We arrived at Split Airport to discover we were the only two people travelling with that tour operator to Brac.  We were taken to a minibus which we had to ourselves, driven down to the port where we were met by another representative who looked after our bags whilst we had  a coffee as the ferry had 25 minutes before departure.  The ferry took us to Supetar (one of the very very few downsides) which is on the other side of the island to Bol. We were met in Supetar by another representative who led us to another minibus to take the two of us to Bol –the whole thing was seamless and exactly the same on the return journey – with the bonus of going back via the catamaran at Bol Harbour which left  at 6.30am Thursday morning.
The whole thing was the most fantastic lovely experience and to be honest I didn’t want to come back – but we will be going back and we will use that tour operator again.  Am half tempted to see if I can muster the money to sneak back in September but if not next year for definite and we intend to take the children too.
Like any holiday there is always the odd niggle- it was nothing major on our part but two things we felt could be improved.
1.       – The transfer from Split to Bol directly with the catamaran – we had the return journey this way because the catamaran travels twice a day into Bol but if you have a midday journey you have to take the ferry to Supetar which is on the other side of the island and means a 30 min taxi journey as opposed to 5 mins.  Years ago we travelled on  the Hydrofoil straight into Bol so it would be  good to think the service was the always the Catamaran into Bol Harbour.
2.       To be able to have a Bed and Breakfast option.  The hotel restaurant was buffet style and was absolutely fine – the food was well prepared and breakfast was relaxing – the evening meal however was not.  The food was of good quality but very same-ish every night.  Also in the evening the restaurant became more ‘canteen style’ , the noise level very loud with so many people eating or walking about to the different food areas – you didn’t feel like you were having a nice evening meal and really couldn’t wait to get out of there.  We would have preferred to have had the option to either eat in the hotel or eat out.  Another small thing really. It was bearable but not desirable.
I’ve covered most things here but could go on and on – if there is anything you particularly want or need to know then just ask.  Of course if you want me to be your tour rep out there – just ask away
I’ve attached some photos – a tiny portion of the ones we took.

If you'd like to know more email me: charmaine@hallmarktravel.com

Meet me in the gallery!