When I told people that I was going to visit Croatia they all replied with the same responses about how brilliant Croatia was 'meant' to be or that they had an amazing time there when they visited 10 years ago. The problem is that Croatia has changed so much in the last 10 years and not for the better and peoples nostalgic memories of empty coastlines, low cost accommodation and cheap food and drink just don't match the reality of Croatia today.
We chose to visit the ancient city of Zadar which is the historical center of Dalmatia. It has a history that can be traced back almost 3000 years and over that time it has found itself under the rule of many an empire, including the Roman and Byzantine followed by centuries of rivalry over the Dalmation territory. The old Citadel of Zadar sits on a small peninsula of southern Zadar completely surrounded by water and a fortress wall that was built by the Venetians in the 16th century to keep the Turkish out. That's enough of a history lesson, let's get to the suffering.
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| Zadar's Sparkling Solar 'Sun Salutation' Installation Lights up the Night With LEDs |
The danger of letting your other half book the accommodation is that your level of grumpiness is likely to be amplified when you find out that the hotel isn't quite to your liking. This is what happened to me in Zadar and I spent the whole holiday with 'a right grump on' as my better half so eloquently puts it. I knew that I wasn't going to like it before we even arrived, because my GPS said that it was 2.5Km to Zadar and only 200m from the hotel. The fact is, you can't actually stay in the old citadel unless you book well in advance or can afford a really expensive hotel. There are literally hundreds of hotels and B&B's marketing themselves as being in Zadar when none of them are actually anywhere near where you want to visit.Here's what I wrote on TripAdvisor about where we stayed. Who would have thought that the owner would threaten to sue me over these comments. I'm usually much more scathing in my criticism!!!
Not a big fan of this place and thought it was expensive for what you get. We were told local currency in cash only for payment, so had exchanged a load of Euros at a rubbish exchange rate and then were charged at the rate of 7.5KN to the Euro, so it ended up costing us nearly €30 extra in exchange rate losses. Then told that we could have just paid in Euros!!!
The apartment we had was big, clean and well equipped, but with a few quirks. One very annoying thing was that we had a light in our apartment that could be turned on and off from another apartment, so we had the light going on and off at strange times during the night. There was also a lack of cutlery in the kitchen, which meant that preparing and eating a meal was a bit tricky. The hob is a dual burner, gas/electric but the gas isn't connected, leaving only 2 hobs usable.
Breakfast was quite poor with a very limited selection of low quality food, particularly the cheap ham and cheese that was offered.
In terms of location, it's almost a bit dishonest to say that this is in Zadar, because in reality it's quite a long way from the old town of Zadar that you're presumably here to see. The beach is supposed to be 300m away, but I checked on google earth and if I'm being very generous then it's 500m in a straight line and more like 15+ minutes walk with children. You also have to pay for the beach when you get there or stay in the smelly and crowded, free part.
Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, but I didn't really like the place and I'm only giving it a 3 rating because my partner said that she thought it wasn't too bad and Anna was friendly and the place was at least clean and tidy.
Stay tuned for more.........
Not a big fan of this place and thought it was expensive for what you get. We were told local currency in cash only for payment, so had exchanged a load of Euros at a rubbish exchange rate and then were charged at the rate of 7.5KN to the Euro, so it ended up costing us nearly €30 extra in exchange rate losses. Then told that we could have just paid in Euros!!!
The apartment we had was big, clean and well equipped, but with a few quirks. One very annoying thing was that we had a light in our apartment that could be turned on and off from another apartment, so we had the light going on and off at strange times during the night. There was also a lack of cutlery in the kitchen, which meant that preparing and eating a meal was a bit tricky. The hob is a dual burner, gas/electric but the gas isn't connected, leaving only 2 hobs usable.
Breakfast was quite poor with a very limited selection of low quality food, particularly the cheap ham and cheese that was offered.
In terms of location, it's almost a bit dishonest to say that this is in Zadar, because in reality it's quite a long way from the old town of Zadar that you're presumably here to see. The beach is supposed to be 300m away, but I checked on google earth and if I'm being very generous then it's 500m in a straight line and more like 15+ minutes walk with children. You also have to pay for the beach when you get there or stay in the smelly and crowded, free part.
Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, but I didn't really like the place and I'm only giving it a 3 rating because my partner said that she thought it wasn't too bad and Anna was friendly and the place was at least clean and tidy.
Stay tuned for more.........
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