Sunday, September 13, 2009

Croatia


So I took a little break from taking pictures of everything I ate while I was on my honeymoon - I think the photographic evidence of a week of indulgence might horrify everyone too much! But I thought I would at least tell you a bit about what tastiness we encountered.

We started in Split, which is quite a large sprawling port, but we stuck to the picturesque UNESCO part which includes Diocletian's Palace, which is beautiful. The first night we went to a recommended seafood restaurant, Nostromo, from which I have the only picture of food from the entire trip. It was a good place to start - next to the fish market, it sells grilled seafood by weight, so the waiter recommended we get a 1/2 kilo of grilled squid and a 1/2 kilo of grilled dorade between the two of us. The squid was a revelation - not rubbery at all, crisp on the outside, with a few almost creamy bits inside. Fish was also grilled perfectly - these came with some lemon wedges on the side and a big bowl of frites. Delicious (but pricey). We also discovered Ojusko beer, one of the most popular in Croatia, which was often served in half liters (and once in a liter mug!)

We also went swimming at Bacvice beach where we had pizza for lunch - I'm not sure there's such thing as bad pizza in Croatia - some were better than others but everything I tried was better than the pizza I've had in London. The Dalmatian coast also has good smoked ham (Pršut, which is similar to prosciutto), which we asked for on our pizzas quite often. Dinner was at a restaurant in Diocletian's palace, at an outdoor place with grape vines for a ceiling - decent food but the atmosphere was what really made it special.

Took a ferry to Hvar, where we had a light lunch of octopus salad and burger at the hotel. The octopus salad was amazing - it was so tender that A couldn't stop being surprised by how much he was enjoying octopus. On a little walk to explore the town, we discovered Faria, which is where we decided to come back for dinner later in the day. More grapevine ceilings and candlelight -the grilled squid here was also tasty (but not quite as good as Nostromo) and A's pasta carbonara was very good.

We then had a one day sailing trip to the Green Cave and Vis island, where our skipper produced an amazing lunch with various salads, crisp breaded chicken cutlets, zucchini fritters, and white wine. Absolutely amazing trip - the snorkeling was great since the water was so clear and warm. Also got a tip from our skipper to try wine from Ivan Dolac, which is only found in Hvar - we managed to get a bottle at the grocery store since we couldn't quite stomach the price of a bottle in a restaurant, and it did turn out to be the nicest wine we had in Croatia by far. Back in time for a pizza dinner right on the harbor, where we watched a group of men on a yacht try to entice girls walking by to join them for drinks.

Back to Split, where we had a quick lunch at a place right by the ferry terminal, and then out to the resort where we were spending the rest of our time being as lazy as possible. Food at the resort was a little expensive but all pretty good, at least. Most remarkable was the seafood buffet we tried on our last night, where loads of fresh fish was laid out in front of a grill and you could have it cooked right in front of you - we tried tuna, swordfish, scorpion fish, squid, whole sea bass and whole dorade. Quite an experience.

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