We left Branka’s with an itinerary created over a few glasses of wine during a dinner where we met a local friend, Susie. It was solidified during breakfast and we headed out from Pula. The plan involved some island hopping and some main land musts. We headed first for Mali Losinj, a 30min ferry ride from the mainland. The island has 200kms of walking paths criss crossing it...through little villages and along the Adriatic. All of the villages are situated around a harbour with beautiful views from the hills that surround them. From there we took a late day ferry to Zadar, our longest ferry ride of 7hrs, arriving well into the night to find our rented apartment in the old town. Zadar was more than we expected. I had read a bit about the town and looked it up on Atlas Obscura (a great resource for unique spots to visit when traveling), so we set off in the morning with a few places to visit. The sea organ and sun salutation were two of our favourites, but walking the town at night gave us a beautiful perspective of the old and new buildings. We left Zadar and drove the coast toward Split stopping along the way to explore small towns and one of the national parks. Our apartment in Split was a 5min walk to the old city and along a very narrow, and busy pedestrian street. Split is a city with a lot of character. It’s a UNESCO heritage site as the old city was once a Diocletian Palace built in the 4th century, which more resembles a fortress than a palace. It is now a bustling city centre with modern day shops, markets, restaurants, hotels and bars all built within the ancient walls and archways. The contrast between the old and the new is breathtaking...and distracting for the exploring walker (yes...me). With our exploration complete we headed for some islands, Hvar and Korcula. Both islands are beautiful and have several villages hugging Adriatic coves. Hvar was a quick overnight to check out the fortress and make our way to Korcula. The fortress sits high on a hill overlooking the cathedral and the coastal islands. Our ferry rides to Korcula sailed us through more islands and into the village of Lumbarda, with an apartment that had an amazing view of the sea. Our time on Korcula, while short, was well spent as we drove the island and walked to the little beach in a neighboring bay. The old city of Korcula is a walled with narrow alleyways and steps leading down from the cathedral to the water’s edge. We are now in Cavtat, just south of Dubrovnik and looking forward to walking the wall of the fortress tmw!