Dalmatian Honeymoon, June 2013

Wanda/Julie/Iva:

Thank you for making our Dalmatian Honeymoon Interlude a success. 

Overall it was a great trip, we wish we had a few more days of course as it went by too fast. Here is some specific feeback. I am missing some of the guide names as I am not sure where I put the travel notes right now but I wanted to send this while the information was fresh in my head. 

1. SPLIT:

1.HOTELS:

Atrium hotel- very nice, the 7th floor is the newest and our room was immaculate and spacious. The gym and spa were nice. I actually needed to repair my manicure and they had shellac! So was thrilled.  And enjoyed checking out the Joker mall nearby.

Hotel Vestibule Palace- room was small but a unique experience. we had too many bags to make it comfortable. The staff was nice and they had a lovely rose petals on our bed. 

2. DINING

 Kanobas Varos- we had dinner here and the service was poor, food okay and seemed a little cheesy. 

Bayamonti- we ate here for lunch and it was one of the best meals we had. We had an excellent fish dish. 

3. GUIDES

Both were excellent and well informed. The only issue is the younger guides tend to try to tell you all the information they know and it is overwhelming. We prefered the more mature guides that could flow with the information a bit better.

4. MISC

– we enjoyed a nice jog around Marjan Park. Though it is poorly marked.  We also took a trip to Trogir. This was okay but we probably could have done without this…our fault because we added it based on tour guide recommendation. 

Also the live music around the palace at nigh was wonderful.

We almost missed the ferry beacuse the tourguide and hotel manager had told us to wait in the wrong place by the cafe in the pier. It was actually on the other side. Luckily we are both athletic because we sprinted to make the ferry when we realized at 7 minutes to 5 that we were in the wrong place.

1. KORCULA
2. HOTELS: Leslic Dimitri was fabulous. We were able to stay in the same room- INDIA which was great. The food, breakfast etc all excellent. Dinner here was very good !!! 

2.. Tour Guide: our tour guide spoke spanish which was great for carlos. She did not give us the full two hours but did give us a lot of information. She cut the tour about 25 minutes short.

3. Extra Tour: we took an island tour with the hotel manager. It was too much time in the car and not active enough for us but we did get to see every part of the island and visited the GRK vineyard in Lombarda. I wish we would have just rented bikes. There is beatiful places to bike and run (we did go for a nice run the following day).  We also received a good history lesson.

1. CHARTER: Mon Cheri

Sebastian and Gaspar are fantastic. The boat in great condition. However, I did get a bit seasick as the first night was rough. We would have liked an intinerary of the islands we would visit beforehand in our travel notes.

1. Mijet- nice and enjoyed running around lake- did not like the restaraunt. Nine. 
2. Ston- nice view from the wall and excellent restaurant glastomare.
3. Elaphites- Lopud and Siphan…nice final dinner. 

The food on the boat was fine and by the last day they understood. I would have prefered more fresh food. We were a bit tired of pasta.  The wines from slovenia were quite good.

1. DUBROVNIK

1.Villa Dubrovnik— amazing! we had a great room on the 4th floor with amazing views of lokrum island and the city. We loved the modernity of this hotel yet charm. The food was excellent and creative! We would have liked two more days here to relax and enjoy!  We both had excellent massages there on our last evening. Very good. Our favorite accomodation… truly a gem.

2. Tour Guide- our tour of the city was nice and that is a perfect hour 6 to 8pm to go. We ate at Natika and it was good.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable as she had grown up within the city wall and was able to customize the tour to the sites we wanted to see. It was a perfect evening.
3. Kotor/Montenegro/Aman- this was a long day of driving and would have like to have included in the travel notes to wear walking shoes to climb the wall in Kotor. I did climb to the church to get a bit of exercise and our tour guide was a good sport. The Aman was nice but we were disspointed in both the service and quality of food at the resort. I actually got food poisoning from the chiken I ordered. Also, the beaches nearby are so nice that I bought a bathing suit so i could take a dip. Perhaps suggesting to your guest to bring this along for the day trip.In Budva etc… Our driver was amazing.
4. we were able to get kayaks delieverd to the hotel so we could kayak around lokrum. This was a definitely highlight. 

We were not able to take advantage of the classical music being played at the churches in the evening but we would have liked to experienced this…

1. ROME

You were right the Posta Vecchia was an excellent ending. They also provided champagne and rose petals in the room. We were in the Ancelio suite and it had a great view of the water. We were able to take a nice bike ride around the seaside when we arrived as well… Thank you for recommending this. It was very convenient to the airport and we would hope to return. Dinner at the hotel was okay. Great setting and view, though not our best meal. And expensive…

Let me know if you have any questions! And we hope to visit Istria at some point! 

THANK YOU!

Best,

Rebekah & Carlos – Dorado, Puerto Rico
June 2013

J.A.

The Tasteful Croatian Journeys Team has exceeded all my expectations. The only word to describe my vacation is “perfect.”  I look forward to working with the Team in the future.

J.A. – New York, NY
June 25, 2013

Kate Carlson

Wanda, Iva and team,

Thank you for putting together an amazing trip that we will never forget. We’ve had a hard time describing to our friends how special Croatia is with all of its undeveloped and pristine natural beauty and world class sightseeing. It’s safe to say that our shortlist of favorite hotels in the world has been expanded. In addition, the guides and drivers that you selected were top notch. Every part was special. We commend the Tasteful Croatian Journey team on the availability of a local contact. We have worked with several travel specialists in the past, and have never had a local concierge or someone who was regularly in touch, checking in to make sure everything was going well.

Kate Carlson – PA
June 10, 2013

Arthur Selkowitz

Wanda

We are sitting in the Frankfurt airport en route home but I wanted to dash off a note of thanks before boarding. We had a marvelous trip and loved Croatia and Montenegro. Everything you arranged was executed perfectly. We had a wonderful time with Ratko and Gaspar on board our sailboat. They were knowledgeable, interesting and fun to be with, and Gaspar was a superb chef. The islands were lovely and the boat itself very comfortable.

The hotels you selected were well located and comfortable, and our guides were easy to be with and very knowledgeable and interesting. We had an excellent driver and interesting conversationalist (Vladimer) spend the day with us to Montenegro. He also took us to the airport this morning which was great.

So, Wanda, thank you so much for making this trip so special for all of us. My birthday cake, and the rose petal-strewn room for Adam and Laurie’s anniversary were very nice touches. We certainly would have no trouble recommending you to any of our friends interested in coming to Croatia.

We wanted to thank you again for a wonderful visit to Croatia. We truly loved the country, the people, and the history.

All of us on the trip are very appreciative of your efforts on our behalf.

Arthur Selkowitz – CT
June 3, 2013