Month: February 2008

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Croatia

Croatia agrotourism – Stancija 1904 in Smoljanci

By guest columnist John J. Goddard

1904 entranceDriving west from Zagreb to the Istrian peninsula is a bit like bidding farewell to a tipsy uncle at a boisterous family gathering as you retreat to the peace of a cottage in the forest. Croatia’s remarkable diversity isn’t reflected only in its food, dialects and microclimates, but also in the distinctive moods that hang in the air of each and every locale. While Zagreb chuckles mischievously behind a deceptive façade of imposing architecture and lingering Austro-Hungarian formality, the soul of Istria whispers dark green aromas of sea mist, pine smoke and herbs from the crisp silence of wooded hills.

The sleepy Istrian village of Smoljanci exemplifies such serenity. While it’s a bit of a trek from Zagreb, it’s only a short drive from the fairytale city of Rovinj. Tourism is not highly developed in Smoljanci, but if you’re up for some classic Istrian cooking with local wine and brandy, the rolling estate at Stancija 1904 is worth the extra coin for a night or two.

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Articles Croatia

Random Croatia Photo of the Moment

Here’s a random photo from our Plitvice Lakes page of our Croatia photo album:

Waterfalls

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Articles Croatia

Random Croatia Photo of the Moment

Here’s a random photo from our Boats and Beaches page of our Croatia photo album:

Zlatni Rat Beach

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Los Angeles

Newport Beach

lagunanewport.jpgNewport Beach is a city at the heart of Orange County with much more personality than the narrow focus of reality shows or teen soap operas have given it in the eyes of the rest of the world.

The main attraction in Newport Beach, as the name suggests, is the beach. The picturesque coast brings tourists in from around the city and the beach is one of the most popular with body boarders and surfers as well. The famous Wedge, a challenging set of waves that break right off the Balboa peninsula, attract surfers and athletes to play in the curling waves.

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Articles Croatia

Croatian Adventure Tours

ship_rope_know_271775_m.jpg Adventure travelers have discovered Croatia and they aren’t worried about their sheets’ thread count or mints on their pillows. (Well, some of them are, but we’ve got adventures for them too.) Adventure travel companies have sprung up from the outdoor attractions throughout the country and travelers are flocking to see what sort of stimuli their adrenal gland can find in Croatia.

Here are some of the best outfits offering the most exhilarating and beautiful options for adventure travel, no matter what your sport.

CroChallenge www.crochallenge.com

The folks at Cro Challenge provide and promote adventure and conservation through the action sports they allow travelers and locals to take part in. Cro Challenge attracts tourists, but not exclusively, and hosts an Adventure Cup of Adventure races that is growing every year.

Cro Challenge offers mountain biking, sea kayaking and Adventure races in Paklenica, Middle Dalmatia and Dubrovnik.

Huck-Finn Adventure Travel www.huck-finn.hr/

Huck-Finn Adventure Travel has their fingers in every river in Croatia. They’ve been guiding trips longer than Croatia has been a country and offer some of the best deals on rafting trips in the Balkans. One day trips for $38 and eight day excursions for $550 are some of the most reasonable prices you’re going to find for spending time on water anywhere outside the public pool.

Cliff Base Rock Climbing www.cliffbase.com/

On the island of Hvar, these rock climbing and adventure professionals have the skinny on routes at the reservation-only Cliff Base rock center on the southeast corner of the island. Climb directly out of the sea and hang out over the water on these free climbing routes. Cliff Base also has sea kayaking, mountain biking, windsurfing and trekking available.

Explorer’s Corner www.explorerscorner.com

Explorer’s Corner takes travelers on a sailing excursion around the Adriatic. “So what,” you say? How is that an adventure?

Well, while most sailing excursions treat the boat as a base camp for drinking, Explorer’s Corner drops its travelers in the best kayaking spots along the route each day. The price tag is a little steep at $3,300, but for a ten day trip the average price is about on par with what you might spend living it up on the mainland. This is the trip for paddlers who want to have a place to sleep each night.

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Articles Croatia

Where to book your Croatia hostel

Croatia is one of those hot destinations that more and more people put on their travel priority lists each year. There aren’t a ton of hostels in Croatia yet, but based on the undeniable pattern seen around the world, that situation won’t last too long. There are already a handful of good and cheap hostels in Croatia’s major cities, and a few in more remote destinations as well.

The truth about hostel booking sites is that they all basically offer the exact same places at the exact same prices. Some use the phrase indicating you won’t find the same hostel cheaper anywhere else, but they might as well also add that you won’t find the same hostel for a higher price anywhere else.

But that said, there are differences in the different major hostel-booking sites. Some have better maps than others, and some have helpful travel guide information that helps you figure out which neighborhoods are best for your style of travel.

Just to make it easy on you, here are some of the major hostel-booking sites that cover Croatia so you can check them out yourself:


BootsnAll

EuropeHostels

HostelBookers

HostelsClub

HostelWorld

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Articles Croatia

Hotel Dubrovnik Palace

beach_tourist_seashore_280414_m.jpgExpensive extravagance is the norm at Hotel Dubrovnik Palace, Croatia’s premier luxury travel resort.

Dubrovnik Palace is the finest of Croatia’s luxury accommodations and bills itself thusly. The winner of the tourism flower award among five star resorts, the hotel was also named Europe’s Leading Resort in 2006.

What makes Hotel Dubrovnik Palace so special? It outperforms its competition repeatedly and out supplies its guests with the kind of amenities that matter to those who have the cash to spend a week on vacation in the finest luxury resort in an up and coming tropical European destination.

Four swimming pools, three outdoor, one indoor, sprinkled throughout the facility, as well as tennis courts, its own scuba diving center, a private beach and a private wooded area behind the hotel add to the resume of this accomplished resort.

The resort also provides a full compliment of bars and restaurants, all seaside, convenient to your room or activities. From the upscale restaurant Lenga, to an a la carte snack cart that you can sample from and take back to your pool or beachside barca-lounger, the food at Hotel Dubrovnik Palace is conveniently located, but it also might be the resort’s weak link.

Does it live up to the hype?

Travelers give the hotel strong reviews and find the resort’s location and amenities often exceed their expectations. A common theme in their criticisms seems to be the food. “Gourmet” becomes “overpriced” when travelers aren’t satisfied with the selection, taste, or quality of the meals. There have been no reports of food-poisoning or similar horror stories, some travelers simply felt the food wasn’t on par with the price they were paying for it.

The service and accommodations, except for the snootiest of travelers, are generally agreed to be top-notch.

Location

Location is one of Hotel Dubrovnik Palace’s most marketable features. Other hotels and resorts can build more pools or offer more free massages, but no other hotel can offer downtown Dubrovnik after only a short bus ride from the hotel.

To be specific, the Hotel sits on the Lapad Peninsula, just outside of Dubrovnik, where there are pine forests instead of ancient buildings. The Dubrovnik Airport is about 10 miles away and the historic part of Dubrovnik is even closer.

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Articles Croatia Los Angeles

Southwest Museum

sw-museum.jpgThe Southwest Museum in Los Angeles is home to over a quarter million American Indian artifacts and works of art. It was one of the most impressive collections of Native American pieces assembled in this part of the world and because of limited room, the museum could only display about 5,000 pieces.

This meant that at any given time, about 98% of the museum’s collection was in storage. But no longer. The Southwest Museum is going to be renovated and restored to a level that will give curators much more flexibility and option in their display selection and increase the usable space in the museum significantly.

Unfortunately, this will also force the museum to relocate from its neighborhood location on the top of tight-knit Mt. Washington, to the expanded campus in Griffith Park.

Previous problems with the building itself led to problems with leaking roofs during rain, flooding, electrical problems and an infestation of what the museum’s website calls “vermin.”

The plan is to have the Southwest Museum up and running again by 2009, in a new building with updated seismic technology, display capabilities and technology. Meanwhile, work will continue on the old building, which is scheduled for completion in 2010. The Southwest Museum will then become some other type of cultural building, as was stipulated in the donor’s will. Until then, the Museum store will be open on weekends and events and programs will be open to the public and put on around the year. The Southwest Museum website has information on the restoration, remodel and move to the new location.

Admission

Museum exhibits are now closed to the public until the collection is moved to another location. The Southwest Museum had a deal with a location in Griffith Park called “The Museum of the American West” that allowed for admission to both for $12.00, but that deal has been discontinued since the Southwest Museum closed.

Location

The new location of the Southwest Museum is undecided, although the plan is that it will be part of the expansion in Griffith Park. This is a map to the old location on Mt. Washington, which will become another cultural interpretive center.