#AAAinCroatia: Krka National Park, Zadar Old Town and More!

Hello again and welcome to the third instalment of my #AAAinCroatia series! By now you'll know all about the trip itself so I'll get straight into it...

KRKA NATIONAL PARK

So on the second day the guys from Croatia Wave took us to the place I'd been most looking forward to seeing - Krka National Park. Let me tell you right now I was not disappointed and in fact I was in awe of how beautiful the place is. No amount of photos or videos can do this place justice and if you are ever in Croatia, this is somewhere you must visit! The waterfalls, the deep blue water, the sound of the birds and the nature around you; it all adds up to one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. We also got to swim in the waterfalls at the bottom too which was a fantastic experience and my Slydes proved to be even more durable than first thought (Seriously I think they could survive all conditions!). Andre, one of the guys who was staying with us, did have stop me floating away in the current a few times; being 5"4 when everyone else is over 5"7 meant that my little legs couldn't touch the bottom that far out!! Entrance to the park costs just 110 kuna, which is about £11 - amazing right?! I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed going here and it was definitely one of my favourite moments!

THE FOOD

When I go on holiday or abroad somewhere, one of my favourite things to do is try the local cuisine. Like I said in yesterday's post, I don't eat meat at all really when I'm at home but abroad I do, just so I can really get a taste for the local foods and after all, who doesn't love a bit (a lot) of food?! So after Krka, we headed to Pag Old Town for dinner in a beautiful little restaurant called Stara Solana, which served us with a lovely meal consisting mostly of seafood. Fish isn't something I usually go for at home but as you can see in the first photo, everything was so fresh, served on a platter with whole pieces of fish and octopus. Yep, that's right, octopus! It seemed to be really popular in Croatia and I found it to be surprisingly nice! It wasn't something I could eat a lot of but considering how much I hate squid I did think it was okay! My favourite meal had to be on the final night where we went to Na Tale Restaurant. Amelia opted for the biggest tuna steak I have ever seen while I went for a grilled chicken breast with some kind of cheese sauce. It wasn't like anything else I'd ever had before (it was bright green!) but it was frickin' amazing! 

THE BEST CHILL DAY EVER

On the Friday, we were taken to a little hidden beach called Dubrava Beach which was right next to our villa. We did have to have a little trek down the side of the huge hill and although I've never seen Lord of The Rings, I was assured that it was lot like a scene from the film and it is safe to say that even though it was a very sweaty climb (I think I burned about 1000 calories just from doing it!) it was worth it. The beach was tiny but so beautiful and I have never ever seen water so clear. It was actually warm and there were little fish and crabs everywhere you looked. We were the only ones on the beach apart from one other couple so we had literally the whole place to ourselves for the afternoon. It was absolute bliss and was exactly what I needed!

After we'd had our fill of the beach, we were treated with personal massages from masseuse, who came to the villa. I'd never had a massage before (I know! Shocking right?!) but I know that one won't be my last. I opted to have the relaxation massage instead of the sports massage (I think a sports massage would have made me cry) and it was bloody fantastic! Can you think of anything better than lying on one of these beds by the pool with the view like we had?! Amazing!

THE OLIVE GARDEN TOUR AND ZADAR OLD TOWN

On the last day there was only Amelia, Erica and I left (I'll link up their sites at the end of the post!) so we were taken on a tour of Pag's olive garden where they grow the olives to make Pag's famous olive oil (I brought a bottle home and it was delicious!) It was absolutely sweltering (almost 40 degrees!) so we were taken around the garden on a little caddy by the tour guide, who explained the process of growing the olives and when they are picked, along with showing us one of the oldest olive trees in the garden. Can you believe that the tree in the final picture is 1600 years old?! 

Before we headed to the airport, Amelia and I had a quick stroll around Zadar Old Town to get a real taste of Croatian culture. The buildings in the Old Town were so beautiful (you can tell Game of Thrones was filmed in Croatia!) and the streets were lined with little boutiques, coffee shops and homemade ice cream stalls. The Old Town was right up my street and although we did get a bit lost at one point (small windy streets are not the easiest to navigate!) it meant we got talking to a little old Croatian man, who told us a little bit about the history of the town and how it was bombed 75 times during WW2. The atmosphere was friendly and lively, with live bands getting ready to play in People Square as we were leaving - it made me so sad to leave such a beautiful country behind!

I also made a little video about the first couple of days so give that a watch below and be sure to subscribe to my channel here.

So there we go! That's what we got up to during our trip! HUGE thanks to ASOS, Slydes and Croatia Wave for such a fantastic opportunity that I will never forget. I know Karl and I will be heading back to Croatia for sure!

Amy x

p.s. You can find Amelia's blog here and Erica's website here