Top Tips for Planning Your Trip to Croatia

1. Download Apps Before You Go

In my opinion the best app for food and wine in Croatia is Taste of Croatia.

You can also follow Taste of Croatia on twitter here: @tasteofcroatia 

The Tourist Board Apps for Istria and Croatia are also useful:

  

2. Hire a Local Guide

Many people think a tour guide is going to be boring and akin to following someone holding up an umbrella saying walk this way and just spouting out lots of dates and names. But that is not the case when you work one on one with a local guide. The local tourist board can help you locate a qualified guide to suit your needs. 

For foodies and wine enthusiasts looking for a customized experience in Zagreb, Istria, and other parts of Croatia, I recommend Mladen Car of Funky Zagreb. Here is Mladen ’s Trip Advisor page. 

3. Get Lost in the Hinterlands

Rent a car and wander around in the back country and hinterlands of Istria. You’ll discover wonderful places well off the coast-side tourist trail. 

4. Book Winery Appointments in Advance

Some of the best wineries are very small operations and need to know well in advance if you will be visiting in order to welcome you for a wine tasting. Another good reason to work with a local guide is they can facilitate winery appointments that may be difficult to secure on your own.

5. Pack an extra bag for all your wine and cheese and olive oil purchases. It’s well worth the second bag fee for the bounty of flavors you’ll want to take home with you.

6. Tell’em Marcy sent you! –Well, that will only work in a very few places, but give it a try anyway. 

Links to my Forbes Travel Guide posts: 

* Spending Two Perfect Days in Zagreb

* Best Places to Eat, Drink and Stay in Istria

Croatia Series:
Croatia Series Preview: Zivili!
Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation
Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split
Croatia Part 3: Šibenik Caressed by the Sea
Croatia Part 4: Zadar, The Perfect Date
Croatia Part 5: Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir
Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!
Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb

OTHER CROATIA POSTS
The Wines of Croatia: A Preview Tasting
Croatian Wines Making Waves
Country of Good Vines: Countdown to Wines of Croatia
I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near
Wines of Croatia Tasting: The Recap
Ajvar Smackdown
Croatia: Memories Lost and Found
Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Maraschino - Wrapped in Tradition

Croatia, I Can’t Quit You!

Next week, on July 1st, Croatia will join the EU, and while I wish Croatia the very best for the future, I also feel rather protective of a country I’ve come to love.

To paraphrase a quote from Brokeback Mountain : "I can't make it on a couple a visits once or twice a year. You're too much for me, Croatia, I wish I knew how to quit you.” 

This year, I’ve received more emails from readers looking for food and wine recommendations in Croatia than any other destination. Here are a few excerpts from people who wrote to me asking about BIBICh. {Click to enlarge images}







As I continue to write about wine, food, and wine tourism, and assist readers in pursuit of their own discovery of Croatia and other destinations; I dearly hope it's not spoiling my favorite places in the process. I hope it's helping places to carry on.

The first time I visited Croatia was in 2003, it was summer and the coastal villages of Istria were packed and bustling with sun seekers from neighboring European countries, especially Germany.

Ten years later, Croatia is now on the radar of most Americans, and in the last several years Croatia has been touted as the hot new "undiscovered" destination in magazines and featured on many travel guide top ten lists. I worry about Croatia and the possibility that it will be ruined by rapid growth to accommodate the surge in tourism.  I worry that I may be contributing to the problem.

Once emerging destinations become mature, the magazines lose interest and the crowds are off to another trendy hot spot, until the cycle comes back around and it's deemed the newly “rediscovered” destination. But Croatia is so much more than a spot on a list. Croatia is more than a trend. Croatia is in it for the long term.

Even though I worry about being part of the problem, I think blogging about little known wines and wine regions around the world is a service to wine lovers. Without the word of mouth you might never hear of some wines. And some under the radar wine regions need to be discovered solely so that they can continue to exist.

This past March I was in Croatia again. I came home longing for Teran. {Which as of July, won’t be called Teran-- see here for more about that}

I craved Posip with botocnie salad or some other morsel plucked fresh from the sea.

I dreamed of little hand-rolled fuzi pasta with a drizzle of fine Istrian olive oil.


No, I can’t quit Croatia. And you won’t be able to either after you read my new multi-part series on the wine and food of Istria coming up next on my blog.

In the meantime I offer you-- Top Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Trip to Croatia:

1. Download Apps Before You Go
In my opinion the best app for food and wine in Croatia is Taste of Croatia.

You can also follow Taste of Croatia on twitter here: @tasteofcroatia

The Tourist Board of Istria app is also useful:

2. Hire a Local Guide

Many people think a tour guide is going to be boring and akin to following someone holding up an umbrella saying walk this way and just spouting out lots of dates and names. But that is not the case when you work one on one with a local guide. The local tourist board can help you locate a qualified guide to suit your needs. 

For foodies and wine enthusiasts looking for a customized experience in Zagreb, Istria, and other parts of Croatia, I recommend Mladen Car of Funky Zagreb. Here is Mladen ’s Trip Advisor page.

3. Get Lost in the Hinterlands
Rent a car and wander around in the back country. Follow the food and wine trails of the hinterlands of Istria. You’ll discover wonderful places well off the coast-side tourist trail.

4. Book Winery Appointments in Advance
Some of the best wineries are very small operations and need to know well in advance if you will be visiting in order to welcome you for a wine tasting. Another good reason to work with a local guide is they can facilitate winery appointments that may be difficult to secure on your own.

5. Pack an extra bag for all your wine and cheese and olive oil purchases. It’s well worth the second bag fee for the bounty of flavors you’ll want to take home with you.

6. Tell’em Marcy sent you! –Well, that will only work in a very few places, but give it a try anyway.

Links to Forbes Travel Guide and my other posts on Croatia:

* Spending Two Perfect Days in Zagreb
* Best Places to Eat, Drink and Stay in Istria

Croatia Series:
Croatia Series Preview: Zivili!
Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation
Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split
Croatia Part 3: Šibenik Caressed by the Sea
Croatia Part 4: Zadar, The Perfect Date
Croatia Part 5: Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir
Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!
Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb

OTHER CROATIA POSTS
The Wines of Croatia: A Preview Tasting
Croatian Wines Making Waves
Country of Good Vines: Countdown to Wines of Croatia
I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near
Wines of Croatia Tasting: The Recap
Ajvar Smackdown
Croatia: Memories Lost and Found
Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Maraschino - Wrapped in Tradition

5th International Wine Tourism Conference 2013 - Croatia

In less than thirty days, wine lovers, tour operators, and educators will gather in Zagreb, Croatia for the 5th International Wine Tourism Conference on March 15-16th. I can’t think of a more dynamic and exciting place for a conference on wine and wine tourism than Croatia. I’ve written more posts about the food and wine of Croatia than any other region.  {See the full list of links below.}

Once again I’ll be speaking at the conference and you can see the list of talk and speaker bios here. I’m especially looking forward to the Wines from the Balkans Grand Tasting led by Caroline Gilby MW. I'm also looking forward to expanding my experience of this popular destination for fans of great wine, food and natural beauty. If you'd like to attend you can register here.

Links to my Croatia series posts:
Croatia Series Preview: Zivili!
Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation
Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split
Croatia Part 3: Šibenik Caressed by the Sea
Croatia Part 4: Zadar, The Perfect Date
Croatia Part 5: Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir
Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!
Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb
More Croatia Posts:

Ajvar Smackdown

Croatia: Memories Lost and Found

Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Maraschino - Wrapped in Tradition
The Wines of Croatia: A Preview Tasting
Croatian Wines Making Waves

Country of Good Vines: Countdown to Wines of Croatia
I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near
Wines of Croatia Tasting: The Recap

Ajvar Smackdown

After discovering my long lost Croatia photos that I posted here, I also found a post on Ajvar that I never got around to posting. I present it to you now--The Ajvar Smackdown-- a taste comparison of Ajvar.

Ajvar is a wonderful pepper and eggplant relish that I discovered on my first visit to Croatia. It’s the perfect complement to vegetables and most of all meat--especially the tasty sausages called cevapis that I tasted in Croatia.

When I came back from Croatia I went in search of Ajvar locally. Depending on where you live, it is not hard to find, but sourcing the true flavor of Croatian Ajvar proved more elusive. Luckily I did find a few examples and Mia Salazar was kind enough to send me a jar of Podravka made in Croatia, along with her grandmothers recipe so I could try making my own.


The Ajvar Smackdown Line Up

1. Zergut Mild Ajvar

2.  Trader Joe’s Red Pepper Spread- AKA: The Bright Orange Ajvar
3. Podravka Hot Ajvar
4. Homemade:  From Croatian grandmother’s authentic recipe as shared and translated by Mia Salazar.

Results:
I found the Zergut was too sweet and the Trader Joe’s color was distractingly neon orange with too much vinegar aftertaste. I must also note neither one was made in Croatia, both the Zergut and Trader Joe’s were imported from Bulgaria.

Winner:

The clear winner in the jar ajvar was Podravka. I liked the texture and the hot spice level. It also had an ingredient the others lacked -- paprika! Of course! That’s the tipping point!

Podravka: Thick, spicy and a bit of smokiness

Homemade Ajvar:

My attempt at making Ajvar from scratch was not so successful. It came out way more eggplantay than peppery and in fact it reminded me more of a caponata style of relish my Italian grandmother used to make. Actually it was not really like Ajvar or Caponata, it was it’s own hybrid, not necessarily bad, but not the true Ajvar I was hoping to make.

The glowing orange Ajvar from  Trader Joe's

I made roasted potatoes and lamb sausage to taste with all the all the Ajvar contenders. By the way, if you love broccoli as I do, you’ll love it even more with Ajvar.

Croatian Wines to try with Ajvar:

I think both reds and whites are great with Ajvar.

Thanks to Mia Salazar for her generous sharing and translating of her grandmothers recipe and also for the winning jar of Ajvar.

I plan to bring one empty suitcase to Croatia when I return in March to fill up on not just the outstanding wine, but also the olive oil and of course the Ajvar.

Croatia: Memories Lost and Found

Half way through my trip to Croatia in October 2011 my Lumix digital camera died. Actually it was the battery; it would no longer hold a charge. So I tossed the camera into my bag and used my iPhone for the rest of the trip. This week, more than a year later, I finally got a new battery and what a surprise when I turned the camera on and found Croatia lingers on in several hundred photos and a few video’s I completely forgot I'd taken.

Oh Croatia, you really got under my skin. And seeing these pictures makes me fall in love with you all over again. Luckily, I'll be visiting you again soon in March for the 2013 International Wine Tourism Conference and Workshop in Zagreb. I'm looking forward to rekindling our romance.

Here are some highlights from my lost “film roll" plus a lost video from the 2011 Chiavalon olive oil harvest in Istria. You can click on the headings below to bring up the related posts.

L to R-- Me, Lavinia Spalding, Kimberley Lovato

My fellow travel writers - we are actually triplets separated at birth.

 Sibenik

Konoba Dalmatino in Sibenik

The Food and Wine at Bibich! 

Be still my heart. The outstanding food pairings presented at Bibich winery was a rare event, not usually available to the general public. But the fabulous wines are available in the U.S. from Blue Danube Wine Company so you have no excuse not to try them. The pictures I took below are the same as the pairings Anthony Bourdain was so effusive about on his last season of No Reservations.

Pag and Paski Sir Cheese Factory

Sage infused Paski Sir -- Best cheese EVER! 

Chiavalon olive oil harvest of 2011 in Vodnjan, Istria

Zadar

If you missed my posts on Croatia the first time around here they are again--Enjoy.
Links to Croatia Series:

Overview: Croatia Series Preview: Zivili!

Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation

Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split

Croatia Part 3: Šibenik Caressed by the Sea

Croatia Part 4: Zadar, The Perfect Date

Croatia Part 5: Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir

Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!

Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb
Croatia Part 8: Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Zagreb Wine Gourmet Weekend April 13-15

Next weekend I'll be attending the Zagreb Wine Gourmet Weekend where I'll be on a Twitter Tasting Panel moderated by Cliff Rames. We'll be discussing the power of twitter and the influence of new technologies and social networks on the wine culture and conduct a live twitter tasting with U.S. bloggers and members of the live audience too.

It's not too late to jump on a plane and head to Zagreb and join us. But barring that, you can tune in to twitter on Saturday April 14th at 8am PST / 11am EST and follow the hashtag #WoCroatia and #ZWGW12.

We will be tasting Milos Plavac, Krajancic Posip, and Terzolo Teran.  If you'd like to join in live with your own tasting notes you may be able to find the wines at your local wine shop, or you can order them via Blue Danbue Wine. 

In addition to all the wine and food exhibitors on the show floor, there will be Master Class tastings including presentations by David Gates of Ridge Vineyards and by Ivo Jeramaz of Grgich Hills. Seminars topics include a session with George Taber on The Judgement of Paris. A full slate of films will be screened including the Life on the Douro. You can view the full schedule here.

ISTRIA

After the Wine Gourmet Weekend I'll be exploring the wilds of Istria (and wifi permitting) tweeting all my finds as we hike the trails, forage for asparagus with wolves and bears, sample traditional rakija recipes, and taste and drink our way around the tiny towns of the region.

Maraschino - Wrapped in Tradition

Kings ordered it, Balzac wrote about it, Hemingway and Hitchcock had a hankering for it. It even went down with the Titanic --Maraschino the clear spirit distilled from the marasca sour cherry has been a sought after drink by royals and celebrities for centuries.

The liqueur, first distilled by Dominican monks in Zadar in the 16^th century for medicinal purposes, went on to become the official gift and souvenir of Zadar. A unique symbol of Croatia, the traditional liqueur is making its way back into the international market after years of interruption to production during the war.

Today, just outside of old town Zadar, the Maraska Company is producing Maraschino from their prized orchards of marasca sour cherries. Yet before manufacturing could return to normal, the orchards had to be restored. Unfortunately the orchards were planted with more than cheery trees during the war-- landmines were planted there too. But with the help of government grants and funds from UNESCO, the trees were saved and the historic orchards were cleared. Currently the Maraska plantation has over 100,000 trees producing fruit.

I asked our host Igor Zupancic if the landmines had been purposefully placed in the orchards to destroy a part of the heritage and cultural identity. He diplomatically answered—“You’ll have to ask the other side that question.”

The marasca sour cherry is known for it’s distinctive aroma and has a very tight harvest window. All the cherries must be picked within a few days of reaching their peak between 22 to 25 brix.

We tasted the many products Maraska makes today starting with the refreshing 100% fruit juices and moving up to the cherry brandies and liqueurs. The brandy was delicious and not overly sweet as I thought it might be. But the Maraschino was the real surprise. Clear and slightly viscous, it had a vivid cherry scent and was quite smooth for a 64 Proof beverage-- even at 11am in the morning.

 The traditional woven wicker basket around the Maraschino bottles was developed to protect them in transport and give it a distinguishing image. We proved the protection factor theory as five bottles of Maraska Maraschino rolled around in the press van for six days without mishap. Well, four rolled around, one we drank.

Maraschino is best served well chilled in a glass with a high neck to focus its particular esters. It’s also great in cocktails. I tried several of their recommend cocktails found on their web site and invented one of my own I call the Cherry Bomb--

Cherry Bomb

1 shot Maraschino

1 shot Gin

½ oz Cherry juice

Splash of Grenadine

Dash of Lime juice

Garnish with cherry

Serve over ice and Enjoy

For more information on the history of Maraschino and a wonderful archive of product labels, visit the Maraska web by clicking on the photo below.

Links to previous Croatia Posts:

Croatia Series Preview

Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation

Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split

Croatia Part 3- Šibenik Caressed by the Sea

Croatia Part 4- Zadar, The Perfect Date

Croatia Part 5- Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir

Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!
Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb

Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee