Gay Vacations: Escorted tour to Croatia for gay and lesbian travelers

CROATIA & The DALMATIAN COAST
September 8 - 18, 2009

Croatia is generously endowed with natural and man-made wonders, a rich repository of culture, a complicated history, and people who are warm and welcoming. Croatia’s charms include endless beaches and clear blue sea, a wealth of Roman ruins, medieval hilltop castles, and an impressive collection of natural wonders.

Despite the turmoil of the 1990s that erupted with the breakdown of the former Yugoslavia, today’s Balkan countries are certainly on the rise, and that includes Croatia, which is poised to become part of the European Union in 2010.

Its Dalmatian Coast is spectacular, and this – the east side of the Adriatic Sea -- is arguably much prettier than the other side (sorry, Italy!). It is a sun-washed mosaic of red-tile roofs, bell towers, lush vegetation, and beautiful beaches. The region’s history is rich with very visible Roman and Venetian influences plus a mild Mediterranean climate.

The Istrian peninsula juts into the northern Adriatic Sea and bumps up against Western Europe. It has a complex identity thanks to a long history of occupation by Romans, Venetians, Austro-Hungarians, Italians, and Yugoslavs. The area has a reputation for gastronomic accomplishment due to its wines, truffles, and refined cuisine. Istria’s coastal landscape is scented with pine and rosemary and dotted with golden beaches, busy marinas, and Venetian-style towns.

Zagreb, Croatia’s inland capital, is a thriving metropolis of nearly a million people. The country’s capital since its independence in 1991, historic Zagreb has played a major political and cultural role for centuries. Endowed with myriad museums, libraries and theatres, its cultural life is enviable. Considered largely a stopover rather than a destination in its own right for the last century, the city is steadily changing and making a name for itself, clinging to tradition yet embracing progress.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites on this itinerary:

* Plitvice Lakes National Park *

* St. Euphrasius Basilica in Porec*

* Cathedral of St. Jacob in Sibenik *

* Diocletian’s Palace in Split *

* The town of Trogir *
* Stari Grad Plain on Hvar Island *

* The Old City of Dubrovnik *

Day 1, Tuesday -- September 8, 2009
After arriving into Zagreb under your own travel arrangements you’ll make your way to our centrally located hotel right in the heart of the city. If you’d like an airport transfer, we can set that up for you. We’ll come together later today for an orientation and our welcome dinner in Zagreb.

Meals included: Welcome Drink and Dinner

{Note: If you’d like to arrive in Zagreb early, please let us know if you’d like us to arrange any pre-tour hotel nights for you.}

Day 2
We begin in Zagreb’s main square, Trg Bana Jelacica, the fulcrum of the city connecting the Upper Town and Lower Town, and a popular rendez-vous spot for Zagrebacka (residents of Zagreb). Trg Jelacica is within easy walking distance of many of the city’s interesting sights.

Dolac is one of the most colorful open-air markets anywhere. More than just a place to buy fruits and vegetables, it is ringed with cafes and you’ll find kiosks selling embroidery, baskets, textiles, and other Croatian products. Some consider Dolac to be one of the best markets in Europe.

A shining symbol of Zagreb is the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Its 345-foot twin spires soar above this magnificent Gothic structure, which was restored by architect Hermann Bollé after an earthquake in 1880. We will also explore the studio and 17th-century house of Ivan Mestrovic who is Croatia’s most famous sculptor and a protégé of Auguste Rodin. He worked here from 1924-42, and there is a vast array of his work inside and in the garden, including famous persons, religious icons, and plain folks. Many consider Mestrovic to be the greatest sculptor of religious art since the Renaissance.

A visit to 19th-century Mirogoj Cemetery is on the program as well. Its creations by Bollé make it one of Europe’s most beautiful memorial parks. Much more than a graveyard, it is as much sculpture garden as burial ground. There’s a fascinating mix of architecture that includes soaring domes; a neo-Renaissance arcade; and gravestones in all shapes, sizes, and colors, all enclosed by a protective wall. Heroes and common folk are buried here, irrespective of faith: Christian crosses, Jewish Stars of David, and five-sided Muslim headstones are all present.

After lunch, the remainder of the day is free to follow your own interests: explore museums; stroll through parks; check out the boutique shopping; claim your space at a sidewalk café.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 3
Leaving Zagreb this morning we head to the countryside. Two hours away turquoise lakes, countless waterfalls, and dense forest of beech, fir, and spruce are the setting for Plitvice Lakes National Park – a UNESCO Natural Heritage site and Croatia’s best-known natural wonder. The lakes flow into one another and tumble over travertine deposits, creating waterfalls that may drop just a few feet or over 200 feet. Soaring rock formations tower over crystal-clear waters. Gravel paths and boardwalks allow us to wander about. Brown bear, wild boar, wolves, and deer inhabit this park (although sightings are rare).

After lunch we continue our route into the peninsula of Istria, whose people have acquired an Italian sensibility while retaining their Croatian soul. There’s even a sort of dialect here that blends Italian and Croatian, and menus in the region are often a fusion. We'll check into our charming hotel for two nights in Rovinj, and dinner is on your own this evening. Try the hotel's restaurant, or venture around this small and charming seaside town and choose a restaurant that looks good to you.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 4
Some will contend that Rovinj is Croatia’s prettiest town – founded by the Romans, heavily influenced by the Venetians, and still home to an Italian majority. It’s one of the most photographed places in Croatia and looks like a quintessential Italian fishing village. The old center of town is a warren of steep pedestrian streets with polished cobblestones, lined with galleries and quaint shops, and marked with signs in Croatian and Italian. The hilltop church of St. Euphemia and its campanile dominate the skyline. The people of Rovinj made St. Euphemia their co-patron saint (along with St. George) after the stone sarcophagus containing her body mysteriously showed up on their shores following its disappearance from Constantinople in A.D. 800.

We’ll proceed to the immaculate seaside resort town of Porec, home to the fabulous St. Euphrasius Basilica and its glittering Byzantine mosaics, 14 centuries old, and which still glow with gold, gems, and sharp color. These compare favorably with those celebrated in Ravenna, Italy. This UNESCO World Heritage site is the last of four churches that were constructed between the 4th and 6th centuries, one atop the other.

To experience a taste of the “Tuscany of Croatia,” we’ll then head to inland Istria, known for its deep green vineyards, silvery olive groves, truffles, and charming, small hill towns. We’ll enjoy lunch in one of Istria’s best restaurants and stop for a stroll in Groznjan – a beautiful little hill town that was almost deserted 40 years ago after most of its Italian population left seeking economic opportunity. Now it’s blossomed into an artists’ colony and hosts a summer jazz festival with big-name talent.

Back on the coast in the town of Pula, we come to the Roman Amphitheater -- smaller and a little bit less old than Rome’s Colosseum and in better shape, its outer wall almost entirely intact. It was finished in A.D. 14. The amphitheater’s “basement” is now a good museum of the history of the Istria region.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 5
We now begin our journey southward, heading for the Dalmatian Coast. Our first stop is Zadar, an ancient city brimming with more than 3,000 years of history and culture. The city is also fiercely nationalistic, a characteristic that took hold while it was isolated from the rest of Croatia by the Serbs during the Serb-Croat war in the early 1990s. One of Zadar’s charms is its sounds. At one end of its beautifully landscaped Riva, you can take in gorgeous sunsets (Alfred Hitchcock declared them the most beautiful in the world) accompanied by the horns of ferry boats, while at the other end you can relax on white stone steps that descend into the crystal water and listen to the eerie melody created by the waves and air in the city’s unique sea organ, an art installation installed in 2005. Also situated on the Riva is the oldest university in Croatia, dating back to 1396.

The Forum, the city’s main square, is notable for the Roman ruins that lie just outside the 9th-century St. Donatus church complex and which are incorporated into locals’ daily lives: Merchants display their wares on the remnants of the walls; children ride their bikes on them; and people like to sit and relax on them. The Roman Forum once included a temple to the gods, and its paving stones are still here. We’ll also visit the Benedictine Convent which houses one of the most intriguing museums in Croatia with its amazing collection of precious sacral art and elaborate reliquaries done in gold or silver.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 6
Today we’ll witness the beauty of Krka National Park with its waterfalls, gorges, and traces of ancient settlements along the Krka River. The falls were formed by deposits of limestone sediment (travertine), and Skradinski Buk is considered one of the best falls in Europe as it tumbles 150 feet over 17 distinct travertine deposits. We’ll also make a stop at an island in Visovac Lake and its 15th-century Franciscan monastery.

We stop in the town of Sibenik with its UNESCO-listed Cathedral of St. Jacob, a Gothic-Renaissance church that took more than a century to build. Sibenik is also a favorite port of call for yachting enthusiasts in the Eastern Adriatic.

Afterwards we’ll continue southward, finally arriving in Split, Croatia’s second largest city.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 7
Diocletian’s Palace, completed in A.D. 305 in Split, isn’t what is normally thought of as a palace. The Roman Emperor built his estate in such a grand manner that it was converted into a city after his death. The city has been tinkered with so much in the last 1500 years that the original character has been erased. But what remains and what has been added is now Split’s Old Town. In its day the palace included the emperor’s apartments, several temples, and housing for soldiers and servants. The 10-acre enclave is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and approximately 2,000 people actually reside within it. We’ll explore the Peristil, a town square that was once Diocletian’s reception room where he greeted important visitors. It is perhaps the one spot where you can appreciate the scope of the palace and how it appeared in its prime. This is also where the city puts on its famous opera performances during its celebrated summer festival. Also on our route is the Cathedral of St. Domnius, which used to be Diocletian’s mausoleum and now ironically houses bones of the Christian martyrs killed by the Emperor in an effort to destroy their religion. Our circuit within the palace will take us to the four coordinate gates: Silver on the east; Golden at the north; Iron on the west; and Bronze at the south, facing the harbor. Always interesting is a stroll down Split’s Riva, the city’s spiffy, busy promenade along the harbor -- ice cream cone optional. The sidewalk cafes and restaurant tables here are rarely empty.

This afternoon we’ll make an excursion to Trogir, one of the most enchanting towns on the Adriatic. It’s a postcard-perfect jewel in Croatia’s crown, with its well-preserved decorative stonework and intact medieval character. The entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 8
The coastal region of Dalmatia from Split to Dubrovnik is the inspiration behind the tourist board’s “The Mediterranean As It Used To Be” promo publicity. With the mark of Greek, Roman, and Venetian cultures and the Dinaric Alps and the Adriatic Sea as a backdrop, this skinny strip of land squished between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the sea shows off one gorgeous place after another.

Today we’ll board a ferry from Split and enjoy a nice ride among some of the islands on this stretch of the Dalmatian coast, such as Brac and Solta. Our destination is Hvar island -- known for sun, glamour, and herbal fragrance, mainly lavender. Hvar town, where we overnight, can certainly boast its share of celebrities (it’s a sort of St. Moritz – Hollywood – Milan - St. Tropez kind of place), but many more visitors are just hip (or hip wannabe) tourists looking for a beautiful, sun-drenched, seaside place with good restaurants and nightlife.
But there is some history here, too, and fine architecture: St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Venetian Loggia (16th century); the Venetian Clock Tower (19th century); a 15th-century Franciscan monastery with a lovely cloister; and a Venetian-era fortress above the town that affords a great view of the town and the harbor.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 9
We drive the 40-mile length of lovely Havr Island this morning, passing fields of lavender and other aromatic herbs and vineyards. A short ferry ride re-connects us with the mainland where we head south to the town of Ston. The 3-mile, 14th-century defensive wall that stretches above the town from both sides and forms a horseshoe above it in the hills resembles (somewhat) the Great Wall of China from a distance. Ston is well known for its oyster beds and its salt pans, and its restaurants serve fabulous versions of oysters and mussels fresh from Malostonski Bay. This will be our very pleasant lunch stop before we continue on to Dubrovnik.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 10
The UNESCO World Heritage city of Dubrovnik has been referred to as the “Pearl of the Adriatic, a “city of stone and light,” and it is stunning. In the early 1990s shelling by Serbia wreaked havoc on the beautiful city, but now it has regained its composure and sparkles just as it did 500 years ago when it was a major sea power and endowed with Renaissance beauty. You can sometimes tell which terra-cotta roof tiles are new, as they are brighter than the older roof tops that escaped the mortars during the war with Serbia.
It’s now bustling with an international crowd that comes for its historic churches and buildings; designer shops; restaurants; ancient art and modern galleries; sculpted fountains and bell towers; and most famous of all, its ancient city walls.

One of the highlights of a visit to Dubrovnik is the walking circuit atop the 14th-century Old Town walls, which is a little over a mile. Built in medieval times the walls – 80 feet high and 20 feet thick at points -- surround and protect the Old Town. We’ll see greater Dubrovnik from all angles, swimmers off the rocky base, and diners set on outcroppings. Our visit of Dubrovnik also includes the Cathedral (Church of the Assumption) which is the Baroque version of earlier structures that were here, going as far back as the 6th or 7th century Byzantine basilica, then replaced by an elaborate Romanesque church in the 12th century, which was destroyed in the 1667 earthquake. In the church’s apse is a polyptych by Titian, “The Assumption of the Virgin.”

Other Old Town highlights are the fountains of Italian engineer Onofrio della Cava and architect Pietro di Martino from the 1400s; the city’s Western (Pile) and Eastern (Ploce) Gates; its raucous morning market; and Franciscan and Dominican monasteries. You may be interested in also seeing Europe’s second-oldest Judaic house of worship.

After free time this afternoon, we'll come together again for our farewell dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 11, Friday -- September 18, 2009
After breakfast transfer on your own to the Dubrovnik airport, or extend your stay to explore more of this beautiful city and surrounding area. Please let us know if you’d like us to arrange any post-tour hotel nights for you in Dubrovnik.

Meals: Breakfast

{Please note: The above itinerary represents our intentions for this 11-day tour through Croatia. We reserve the right to modify some of the itinerary details if circumstances dictate.}

ACCOMMODATIONS
The following are the hotels that we plan to use for this tour as of the time of publishing this itinerary. We may make changes to the accommodations.

Zagreb:
We’ve chosen a hotel smack in the center of Zagreb on Jelicica Square, well-located for exploration on foot into the old town quarters of Kaptol and Gradec. The hotel originally opened in 1929, added a modern wing in 1982, and underwent a renovation in 2003 to make all rooms equally modern and plush. The staff are exceptionally helpful, and there’s a well-regarded Croatian/Italian restaurant at street level along with a “see and be seen” café.

Istria:
We will stay in what was once a 17th-century bishop’s palace. The hotel was recently renovated and has been kept in superb condition. As it’s a small, historic building, no two rooms are the same. One of the best views in the city is from the balcony off the third-floor library. The hotel also has an excellent restaurant where you can dine in a lovely walled garden.

Zadar:
While not right in the Old Town, we’ve picked one of the most pleasant accommodations Zadar has to offer. Built in 2003, it’s located across the street from the sea, and guest rooms have balconies. Décor throughout is high quality, and the restaurant here is something of an institution in the area and one of the best around.

Split:
This small hotel opened in 2005 and is literally right in the middle of Diocletian’s former living room and next door to the Cathedral of St. Domnius. The hotel shares walls with the palace. It took several years of work to come up with a design that respected the ancient monument that surrounds it, and the result is commendable. A further bonus is the good restaurant here.

Hvar:
The accommodation we’ve chosen in Hvar Town could win the “ugly duckling-to-swan” award, and the location is right at the hubbub of the pier so there’s always quite a show happening. A renovation has turned this old building into one of the town’s hip places to stay, dine, drink, and schmooze. The rooms are all very “designed,” with flat-screen TVs, slick colors, and ultramodern bathrooms.

Dubrovnik:
This hotel is of a unique design -- a mixture of modern, simple design and traditional temperamental Mediterranean surroundings. A spirit of “wellness” is present in the hotel, from the exotic scents of the exterior, to its clean and simple interiors, to its diverse restaurant menus including macrobiotic dishes. The hotel’s spa recently won the best city spa award from the Croatian Tourism Board. Indoor and outdoor swimming pools and views onto Lapad Bay are some of the nice features of this hotel, and the Dubrovnik Tourist Board awarded it second place in the category of best designed hotel landscape.

TEMPERATURES
Zagreb: During this period of September the average high is 73 F; the average low is 53 F.

Split: high 78 F; low 61 F.

Dubrovnik: high 75 F; low 63 F.

TOUR COST
On most Venture Out tours, the price of the trip depends on the final number of people who sign up. This way we are generally able to offer slightly lower pricing if we get a higher number of guests enrolled on the trip.

$4,295 (15-16 participants)
$4,495 (12-14 participant)
$4,695 (9-11 participants)
Single supplement: $685

Tour Cost Includes:
* Accommodations for 10 nights in carefully selected hotels taking into account a balance of comfort, location, and cost
* All breakfasts at our accommodations
* 7 lunches and 3 dinners
* Welcome drink
* Croatian tour escort accompanying the group throughout the trip
* Local tour guides' services and sightseeing tours for all towns/cities visited
* Entrance fees at sights mentioned in the itinerary
* Comfortable, modern tour bus; fuel, tolls, parking
* Driver's services and room/board

Tour Cost Does Not Include:
* Airfare
* Tipping to Tour Escort and Driver
* Meals not specified in the day-to-day itinerary
* Alcoholic beverages
* Any extra hotel nights that may be needed or desired
* Entrance fees to sights not specified in the day-to-day itinerary
* Personal expenses such as laundry, phone calls, room service, minibar charges, etc.

{Please note: Over the past few years the value of the U.S. dollar has fluctuated significantly against the Euro — and in an unfavorable direction for the dollar. We reserve the right to alter the trip pricing indicated here should there be a significant fluctuation of the dollar in either direction — up or down.}

ITINERARY CHANGES
While as accurate as possible at the time of printing, this itinerary should be considered an approximate indication of the schedule and scope of activities, trip routing, and meals, rather than an inflexible schedule of events; it is subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control. This trip is subject to the Limitation of Liability and all the Terms and Conditions as detailed in the Trip Enrollment Form.

To realize the maximum enjoyment from your Venture Out trip, you must remember that it is an adventure. The essential requirements are flexibility, a sense of humor, curiosity and enthusiasm about new peoples and places, and an openness to the unexpected. With a spirit of adventure and positive attitude, we’re sure you will have a very special travel experience. If you are uncertain about the level of comfort, difficulty, or any of the activities described in this itinerary, please call Venture Out at 1-888-431-6789 to discuss your concerns.

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