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Well, good morning adventurers. and welcome to another beautiful day here in Croatia. This incredible or what? It'll do. It's our first official day out exploring and I think we have started out with a bang. We got up bright and early. We took one of the zodiacs from the National Geographic ship that we've been staying on and it took us to Millette National Park. I think I'm saying that right. Probably not. But as you can see, 80% of this island is just covered in greenery and it has these beautiful lakes in the middle and you can just come here and go hiking.
Apparently, it used to be filled with snakes and then they brought over a bunch of mongoose that ate all the snakes and so now it's snake free. So, if you caught our last video, we mentioned how National Geographic invited us to come along and check out a new route here in Croatia. We boarded the ship and it was way different than any cruise ship we've ever been on, but we'll link to that video on screen, so definitely check it out. But, we are ready to get out and see Croatia. We're going to be going all along the coast to experience as much of it as we can. We're going to try some absolutely delicious and kind of strange local food, explore beautiful ancient towns that cover the coastline, and of course, hang out with a bunch of little
kitties, and maybe even a Dalmatian or two. Croatia, here we come. Well, good morning. We have officially arrived to Drovonik, y'all. This was our first and only stop in Croatia 10 years ago. If you've been with the channel for that long, then you know we had some fun here. Man, it hasn't changed one bit, has it? It's still just as epic and magical as I remember. But the way that our ship works is it actually anchors out at sea and then they bring you to shore on a little zodiac boat. Since we've seen the city before, we're going to try to get outside of it and try some delicious local treats, I think. Ooh, my favorite kind of day.
Sea water treats. Yes. The candy of the sea. Fruit of the All right. Is that what it is? You started off so strong. Dang it. Let's do something. Okay. We took an incredible drive along the coastline about an hour to the little fortress town of Stone. Is this incredible or what? It's like a little Great Wall of China. I had no idea this even existed. So, this is considered kind of like a little Drovonic or like a little version of the old town of Drovnik. So, if you want a smaller, more manageable version of that, you can come here. A lot less people. So, I believe these walls were meant to fortify from
people invading from that way. And then as the walls came down and connected to the fortress near the sea, they got thicker to protect against the cannons from the ships at sea. And then of course once they invented air travel, none of that mattered anymore. All right. Are we going to scale this wall? I think we have to. Right. Let's do it. I'm ready. Well, like Dub Bronick, you can walk on the city walls. They're very narrow, but could you imagine wartime and all your metal and gear and trying to get up this?
No. I mean, if you slipped and fall, you'd be like, "Okay." Yeah. Doing the job of the enemy for them. I don't think they would have had this railing back in the day. No. Well, this has been a bit of a trek, y'all. We are up there now. Woo! And conveniently, the sun came out right in the middle of our hike up. But the views all around are amazing.
Yep. Making it worth it. So those are uh salt fields where they harvest sea salt. That's the big uh crop. I guess you call it a crop. The big commodity. The big commodity. We made it to the tippy top. We've been walking around the side of the mountain to the other side, which is equally as beautiful. Totally worth the trek up. I mean, look at this, you guys. It's like a fantasy Game of Thrones land. We learned that uh a lot of fresh river water flows into here, which is why it's good for muscles and oysters, which is what we are going
to be doing next, y'all. We are going to learn how they farm muscles and oysters, and then we're going to eat them. Yeah, I think that's it right down there. Those little things you see in the water there. Let's do it. Yes, please. We've arrived at the oyster farm and they just pulled up a fresh basket of oysters, shuck them right in front of us and then gave us a little history of how oysters are farmed. They throw down this plastic net and little eggs attached to it. They pull it up and they put it into this little mesh looking almost like a laundry bin to keep them safe from predators. Then once those have matured a bit, they cement them together onto a line and put them back in the water.
So that's what's connected to all these buoys. I think is it just a line that they cement oysters to? Yes. The process takes 3 years and then you end up with this beautiful fully matured oysters for little Allison to consume on a boat on the Dalmatian coast. I mean, it's kind of surreal, y'all. Elegant as always. Well, that was delicious. It's nice and meaty, perfectly salty, and these are so interesting. They're so flat. I'm used to like really deep oyster beds. It's funny when they come out of the water, they're just covered in marine life and seaweed, and they really don't look very appetizing, but it's real and raw. Oh, yeah.
Lobster spaghetti bolita looks delicious. We just stumbled across this big vat of salt. So, this is the actual salt that they harvest from those salt pools that you saw. Put that on that lobster. You'll have something going on. There we go. Now we got something cooking. You know, I was going to sarcastically say good one, but that actually was a good one. Yeah.
So if you're coming to Croatia and have done any research at all, you have probably come across this. We are in Kirken National Park and that is the Scredinski Bachinski. That's the name of the waterfall. This is a beautiful waterfall. It is very well known in this area. Until a few years ago, you were able to swim here, which would have made it even more magical. Sadly, now you cannot because one too many people went over the waterfall. I think what happens is you're swimming in a calm part and then very quickly you can get caught in a current and it's way stronger than it looks and then boop.
Yeah. And this is not the only waterfall in the park. There are many, many, many. Yeah. Some of them are hidden in the forest. So, next thing you know, you're flying down something like that. And I don't really want to be uh thrown down a luge today. So, we'll uh view it safely from the bridge. We mentioned this was a popular waterfall. Definitely get here early. Our group arrived closer to 8:00 a.m. and there was nobody. And now closer to 11:00, there's a lot of somebody. So, obviously there's a lot of water in this park and getting across that is not very easy, but they have thought of an ingenious way to do that. There's a wooden walkway that spans the entirety. So, there's this amazing walking path.
So, you're elevated up above the forest, up above the crazy crawies. But, watch out because it's very rickety. I mean, there's a lot of boards to keep up with and some of them are just loose as a goose and seem like they're going to break at any moment. So, it is fairly uneven, which is a shame because you want to be looking out, but look down every now and then, otherwise you might tumble in. West of Split, tucked away inside this little bay, you're going to run into the town of Senic. You know, the locals have kind of been saying Shibanik. Is it more of an sh sound?
I think so. We've been having a lot of fun pronouncing all these Croatian words. Of course, the town is stunningly beautiful and has all these alleys that you can meander through, but most importantly, like all the other towns, has a bunch of little kitty cats to hang out with. This guy's just chilling, man. living the life. So, we've been calling this country Croatia, but the locals actually call it Harvatka, which I think is a lot funner to say, don't you? But as you may know, this country was part of the former Yugoslavia, and then they gained their independence in 1991. And actually, in 2013, they joined the European Union. And at this point in time, they accept euros, so you can just come with your stack of euros and get by
anywhere. I feel like Americans probably have this weird idea of what Croatia is actually like, like that it's unsafe or something like that, but it's actually got one of the lowest crime rates in the world. It's like in the top 10 or 20 of safest countries in the world. But one thing we have noticed is that the locals here are very friendly and they like to joke a lot. So you got to have a sense of humor when you come here. He is out of it. What a sweetie. Onward. We done. All right. Information segment over.
If you are a Game of Thrones fan like us, this building behind me might look a little familiar. This is the location of the Iron Bank in some episode of Game of Thrones. It looks so much different than it does in real life. They basically just kept this little bit of the bottom and then extended a bunch of stuff on top of it, you know, to make it look more epic. I guess this wasn't epic enough. Well, this town is charming. The alleyways are lovely. The cats adorable. But we're here on a mission, and that is to try some local Croatian cuisine. And that is what I'm about to do. Follow me down here.
It's that way, right? Listen, just follow this alley down that alley and then we're well I'll be eating Croatian food. That was bad. It was really bad. Sorry. When you're exploring the coast of Croatia, it is all about the seafood. And check out this spread we have here, you guys. So, we have the sea bass over here, which came highly recommended. Comes with some Swiss chard. Just some fantastic looking muscles. They come with a little bit of pasta. And then this is what we really wanted to try. This is a black palenta. Doesn't really sound all that appetizing, but it looks pretty good though. It's black because they use squiding to color it. And uh they actually do black risoto as well,
which is what we were going to try, but they didn't have it anymore. So, we stuck with palenta, which I feel like is equally as popular here. Yes. The squiding palenta is what I was most interested in. So, I'm going to start with this. Get a nice healthy scoop of seafood. You thought I was going to eat that whole bag, didn't you? I did. I was hoping. Oh my god, look how black and ridiculous that is. Get some squid on there. Not going to say it looks good, but maybe it'll taste really good. So, the black squid ink in there makes it super salty. It is a bit sea watery
tasting with all of the seafood in there, but not overwhelmingly. So, the blind is so interesting. It's so grainy to me. Not my favorite text. Not something that we eat often. No, but with the fish, it's actually pretty dang nice. So, you guys might remember we did have squid inking pasta in Venice, I believe, which was also very salty and kind of a strange dish. It is. But if you ever get the chance to try squiding guinea, I would do it. What do we do with this little guy? Rip off his head and suck out the guts.
Right. Yeah. He's missing a knot. Oh no. Oh, I found it. Oh, there it is. Oh my gosh. I love And I'm terrified when they give you the whole fish here. I never know how to get it started. We're really bad at avoiding the bone, so that's the key. That's a really good looking cut of fish right there. I know. It looks already so tender in there. Well, that is some of the best fish I've ever had. It's just perfectly cooked. Oh my gosh, it's so tender. So steamy and so moist in there. Honestly, I don't think there's anything on here except
salt and pepper. And then on the side here, we've got the Swiss chard with potatoes again with garlic and I think just olive oil, salt and pepper. Super simple dishes but bursting with flavor. Yes, exactly. Well, we did a pretty good job. Ate I'd say 90% of it. I'm pretty proud of us. But I will tell you this. We got our bread basket. You dip some of that in this butter. Then you dip it in what's left of this seafood mlange. Oh, baby. That's where the money is. No. Well, we were heading back to our National Geographic ship and then we learned from a passer by that there is in fact a Dalmatian museum in the town.
Well, as you know, this is the Dalmatian coast, but this museum is not about Dalmatia. Is that what you think? It's about literal Dalmatian dogs. And there are dogs in there that you can go and pet. So, we turned right around and we're heading back into town. Well, confirmed. Our dreams are coming true. They've got a fivemon old Dalmatian here. Do the Dalmatian. Let's see. What are you doing? I love when they have Well, good morning from another beautiful day in Croatia. Today we are on the island of V Viz V B Vis. Lots of difficult things to pronounce on this trip.
Things aren't quite what they appear. There are often a lot of extraes and in this language, but we're learning. This is actually a large island that sits off the coast of Croatia to the west of Split. We've come specifically to the little seaside town of Kisa. Obviously, it is a beautiful historic seaside town, but it is famous for one dish that I wish to try now that might contain fish. Swish. I just nailed that. I'm sad to say I really enjoyed that.
Are you old enough to drive? I don't know. Going to need to see your license and registration. Our first little stop is to try a local wine. Of course, we are learning Croatians love wine. Yeah, we woke up saying, "Oh, no more wine today." But here we are. This is from a winery, the biggest one on the island, and they actually own this bar, which did we say is a former jail. Yeah, if you can't tell, looks very well. It looks really nice now, but it kind of looks jail-like as well. Hopefully, we won't have too many of these. They won't have to turn it back into a jail. But more importantly, this
is what we are here to try. This little cutie is kishka pogacha. It's fish pie. So, this is the dish you have to try when you come to the island. It is super simple little pie filled with onions, tomatoes, fish. That's a sardine right there. And then I think salt. And I'm assuming it's freshly caught sardines from the boats right out here. Didn't sound too appetizing to me. So Allison's going to give it a try. I'm impressed. I was skeptical. Sardines, they're not my favorite thing. Even getting a whole sardine on my bite, I would have not known. It really just tastes like um a savory onion pizza almost. It tastes like fkaca bread, but
it's really thin and uh really doughy. All right, this is a delightful little treat. I would cheers you, but I don't have my wine. I need to rectify that right now. Yes. Big cheers. Ding. So, apparently this boat is referred to as like a Lego boat because if you can believe it, this top portion is removable. So, if they need to be lighter and more nimble, they can take this off or when they're unloading their
catch for the day. Or if they catch a lot of fish, they can put this on and hold even more fish. And we learned that they go all the way to Malta, or they used to in these exact boats. This is one of the last ones of the kind. Malta is very far away. If you don't know that, you Yeah. How'd you like to travel that distance in this boat? I mean, my skin couldn't handle it. I would burn. I think I would explode from the sun. They catch all their fish. And this would have been filled with salt. So they salt them and cure them so they stay good while they're out in the baking sun, I guess, during their journey. And that's why they make the kcomissa pie, right, that we ate earlier, cuz
they would put the salted fish into that dish. Apparently, it is a very sturdy pie. So they can take it with them back out on the water. It's a full cycle here. Love a sturdy pie. That's one of the key attributes of a good pie, sturdiness. Europe does sturdy pies very well. Well, so far this town has been a little bit more chill than the other ones we've visited. There are barely any people, so you can really find little alleyways and corridors all to yourself. Of course, incredibly beautiful buildings all over the place. Stone streets. It's amazing.
You'll actually notice all throughout Croatia, there's a lot of abandoned buildings that are somehow still beautiful. Not abandoned and ugly like they are in the US. It turns out that's because the buildings are actually usually owned by a bunch of different family members that are sometimes scattered throughout the world because they immigrated from here a long time ago. So, you have to basically get all of their permission to sell the house or do anything with it. And that's impossible to do. So, there the house sits. We just made a quick stop at the fishing museum, which is a little windy. That was already broken.
I promise I didn't do that. Uh-huh. We just made a quick stop to the fishing museum, which is right on the pier because obviously fishing is a huge part of the history here. So, you can see tons of artifacts throughout the years. Definitely worth the stop. And you get a very nice view of the town. Plus, it is in this old fortress that they actually used to use to shield themselves from pirates in the elements back in the day. I did not know that. Y Oh, yeah. That's definitely a troublemaker if I've ever seen one. Do we need to get one of those for Ruby?
Probably. Oh, yeah. She's a troublemaker. She makes a lot of trouble for us when she breaks down. This guy might be a troublemaker, too. I don't know. Sweet ride. Once again, it's been a pleasure standing with you throughout our journey here in the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. We hope to stay with you again somewhere else in the world.
Well, I am very sad to say that the cruise is over. Back to reality. No more catered meals. No more nicely madeup rooms. No. We're at the airport in Vadar. Is that the name of it? Look at what we're eating now. That's all they had. The world's most basic sandwich. There's allegedly meat on here. Oh, look. One slice of pushcido, one slice of cheese, and two olives. Great. Yum. But we really enjoyed our time on the ship. Obviously, it was very different from our previous cruises, and we liked
it a lot because it was much smaller, much more intimate. We met every single person on that ship. The crew members all knew our names and everyone else's names by the end of it. We had a blast exploring Croatia, seeing all the little towns, seeing all the incredible water. Still so much more to see. So, we're just going to have to come back to Croatia at some point. I think a road trip is in order to do the interior of Croatia and see all the mountains and even more national parks. For those of you who stuck around to the end of this video, we're going to let you in on where we are headed next. We
are headed right now to London and then after that, the Pharaoh Islands. This has been a top bucket list location for us for a long time. It's this chain of islands that's just north of the UK. It's going to be freaking sweet, you guys. Technically, it's part of Denmark, but you can get there easily from London. So, that is what we're doing. I think almost 2 weeks we're going to spend there and then off to more European countries. Yeah. So, it's going to be just incredible. Mind-blowing scenery. We can't wait. But, uh, this camera's getting heavy and, uh, we have a gross sandwich to eat.
Okay. Goodbye, adventurers. We'll see you on the road.
