After years of wanting to take a girls trip, we finally did it! This summer my sorority sisters from University of Washington and I all took the trip of a lifetime to Croatia. Our friend, Kim Jacobs, who lives in Sun Valley now and owns Mountain Spirits. We’ve always wanted to have her plan a trip for us and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So after 30+ years and a lot of talking about it, the nine of us all jumped at the opportunity for adventure!
We started our trip with two glorious days exploring and dining in Rome and then hopped on a 30-minute flight over to Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik we spent two days exploring the historical Old City. We did a City Tour with a local guide, we walked the famous Old City walls and swam in the Adriatic. September is a perfect time to visit Croatia with wonderful weather and less crowds. Because it’s so close to Italy, the food has a strong Italian influence. Dubrovnik is also a very walk-able city!
For those who don’t know the Croatian history, back in the 90’s there was a war and the six Yugoslavian republics split up and Croatia became independent (as it remains today). Dubrovnik has a historical museum where you can learn more about the war which we found very interesting.
Dubrovnik is also where the show “Game of Thrones” was filmed, which has increased the amount of tourists visiting over the years. If you watch the show, you probably know about the “Walk of Shame”. In the city, those stairs are now a big tourist spot where people like to stop and take pictures. Apparently, people actually try to pose naked for their photo ops (we didn’t do that). I’m sure the “Game of Thrones” fans will appreciate this and know exactly what I’m talking about.
From Dubrovnik we chartered a catamaran yacht and sailed to many of the different Dalmatian Coast islands including Hvar and Korcula. On the yacht we had our own captain and chef which was fantastic! The nice thing about being on a yacht is that you get to explore something new every day. Because Kim’s company is based around adventure travel (including helicopter skiing and world wide trekking), she planned a lot of hiking and day adventures for us. Each day brought a new island and a new adventure for us and all were different and unique! We also had ample time to swim from our yacht and enjoy the crystal clear blue waters of the Adriatic and anchor in private coves each night. Our trip ended in Trogir, which is another historical city of Croatia (near Split), where we had time to explore and wind down before traveling home.
What struck me was how beautiful the scenery was everywhere. It was also really amazing getting to do this adventure with my friends from college days. We got along like sisters, had a ball, and would do it again in a heartbeat!
