Croatia & Bosnia Tour of History and Cultural Exploration

We are a couple in our upper seventies who recently returned from a fabulous 10-day private tour of Croatia. Of the many places we have visited around the globe, Croatia is among our favorites. The country offers extraordinary national parks, a gorgeous, dramatic coastline, warm, friendly people, great food, and a cosmopolitan culture with a rich history. The weather was splendid in late May.

Zicasso's travel specialist worked closely with us to put together an itinerary that was truly perfect in terms of the pace and the types of activities we like to do. She is a great listener and truly understood our concerns as senior travelers. We were very pleased to meet her for breakfast at the end of our trip. Although we had not been directly in touch earlier during the tour, we had the sense that she was checking in with our guides along the way, just to make sure every detail was attended to. When the Meštrović Museum in Split was closed while we were there, she arranged for us to have a private tour, just one example of her thoughtfulness.

At every phase of the tour, we had wonderful drivers and guides. All were extraordinarily interesting individuals, willing to share their personal experiences and opinions about the complicated and painful history of recent decades. We feel we learned a great deal and came to admire the resilience of these remarkable people. Despite great hardship, they remain positive and optimistic, and are very proud to introduce their culture to visitors.

We visited Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, and Mostar, and had walking tours of each. Truly every place we visited offered highlights. Among our favorites: Plitvice Lakes and Krka National Parks (the two are quite different and both are worth seeing); the Meštrović Museum in Split; walking the walls of Dubrovnik; an incredible Middle Eastern lunch following a trek to the historic bridge in Mostar; the Sea Organ and Greeting to the Sun in Zadar; lunch featuring prawns buzara at a harborside restaurant on a glistening day in the Elaphiti Islands. Indeed, too many fine restaurants to mention!

In sum, Zicasso's travel company created a superlative tour for us, for which we thank our travel specialist and her marvelous team.

The entire nine days of travel from Slovenia to Montenegro were seamless as far as being picked up at the arrival airport and departure as planned. Transportaion was on schedule, which was important to me in a foreign country and eliminated any stress. Each private guide and/or driver throughout our trip was courteous and spoke English, which avoided any misunderstanding about all the wonderful sites we saw.

Lake Bled was absolutely wonderful. The guide parked the van at this family home four blocks from the lake and introduced us to his mother and sister, who welcomed us, and we saw how they lived in this beautiful village. The walk of four blocks to the lake also gave us the opportunity to see more of this quaint place to live. Since the lake does not allow power boats, we and about 20 other people were rowed to the island, where an ancient church was located. We found out that this family, in the past, were the caretakers of the island and our tour guide had to row himself to the shore to go to school and, in the winter, skate to school every day.

Next, we were driven to the castle on top of a small mountain, which had a perfect, 360-degree view of the area. Beautiful!

The next day we went to Plitvice Lakes National Park, with too many waterfalls to count and water that looked as crystal clear as any natural water I have ever seen. The four-kilometer walk upstream was nothing like I've ever seen in the USA.

We spent the night in a wonderful mountain lodge, with individual lodges and an upper-end-style bed and breakfast theme.

Split was a city with parts dating back to the third century, with many Roman influences in its many buildings.

Mostar in Bosnia was very interesting and had a central arch-style bridge which seemed to be a central point for all to see. There was so much we saw that it is too much to describe here.

We also stopped at a wine tasting at the most modern winery I've ever been to. It even had 12 guest rooms, with a pool.

On our way to Dubrovnik, we stopped at Ston to have an unbelievable lunch. At the restaurant, we had an oyster tasting of fresh oysters being farmed several hundred yards from the restaurant. We were served oysters three ways, from raw to fried and baked, and they were the best I will ever eat in my life.

We next went to Dubrovnik, which was particularly interesting to me because it is where Game of Thrones was filmed. Our guide was excellent, as he worked as a "roadie" for the film company, helping set the scenes by taking down modern signs or anything modern, and putting them back after filming. He had large screen shots in a spiral binder and would take us to a cove and hold up the screen shot of the actual scene from the movie to show us the similarity. His behind-the-scenes knowledge of the actors and the reaction from the town and church was beyond expectations. My wife and I were fans of GOT and so excited that we are going to watch if all again one day.

Our last day was in Montenegro, which again was beautiful, and we spent the day next to the water there. We were ferried to a man-made island with an old church on it.

Overall, the Adriatic Sea along the coast of these countries was one of the most beautiful stretches of water you could imagine.

Our expectations of this tour were met and exceeded.

I am writing this review with fond memories of my trip with Zicasso's travel company. From my first contact with Eva, I was impressed with her responsiveness and follow-up. This was not an easy trip to plan, as I traveled to many different cities and had unique requests. There was not one time when Eva did not respond promptly through email or WhatsApp.

When on the trip, I was provided with names and contact information of drivers and/or guides. There were instances that come to mind where the travel company and Eva really stepped up:

1) In Sarajevo, I wasn't able to see the famed Haggadah, but the guide was great with explanations and I did see a replica and met with her parents.

2) Prior to my drive to Mostar, I was to see the Tunnel of Hope close to the Sarajevo airport. There was an issue in that the local tour company cancelled the reservation and forgot to rebook it. After nearly an hour with back-and-forth phone calls and texts, I finally was able to enter with my driver. That being said, we were late to arrive for the tour of Tito's Bunker as they have only three tours a day and I was unable to enter the bunker. My driver was on the phone with Eva, who was on the phone with her contact at the tour company and, ultimately, it was determined we would drive to Mostar. Because of traffic and border control, I would arrive later than anticipated. Additionally, my travel specialist was informed that my scheduled trip to Blagaj the next day would not be possible as there was an annual spiritual festival I would not be able to attend. My travel specialist was able to work with the local company to switch around the itinerary so I was able to go to Blagaj, and I was fortunate to have been able to see this town, which was so interesting. Because of the inconvenience, it was arranged that my guide in Mostar would, of course, provide the tour of Blagaj and Mostar, but also take me to a very nice restaurant for dinner. It was very nice to experience how the locals eat.

*I do want to add that the destination company for Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very good reputation, but this was an isolated incident. And my point is... Eva took complete control of the situation and, truth be told, was very upset about this turn of events as she is indeed a perfectionist. All worked out as best it could.

3) Leaving Dubrovnik to go to Split required a ferry ride. Because of rain, the 8:00 a.m. ferry was cancelled. My travel specialist received notification at 8:41 a.m. and I had been at the dock since 7:40 a.m. My travel specialist was very disappointed that my driver just left me there. There was no place to shelter and it was pouring rain. Additionally, there was no guarantee that the 3:00 p.m. ferry would go. So I would be at the dock with my baggage and no place to go. I sent a text to my specialist via WhatsApp and was ready to walk across the street for shelter. However, within 10 minutes a driver was dispatched to pick me up. As luck would have it, this was the same driver I had for a couple of side trips in Dubrovnik. The good news was that I got to Split about three hours before I would have with the ferry, was able to check into the hotel, and binged on Netflix until the rain ended and I went to dinner. Again, thank you to my travel specialist for her quick response and follow-up.

My travel specialist was very attentive to my unique requests. Jewish heritage is important to me and she arranged visits to the different museums and synagogues. I appreciated the special arrangements made to personally meet with members of the community. I had a traditional Bosnian meal in Sarajevo with two very interesting people from the community.

In Trieste, Italy, my guide and I made a traditional Sephardic dinner and spent a pleasant few hours speaking to this wonderful husband and wife. Overall, I think I developed a strong connection with my guides and, through social media, I now have new friends, and someday, I will return, or if anyone comes to Chicago, I will be the tour guide.

The accommodations were very good as well. A couple of months before departure I needed to switch my hotel selection in Dubrovnik because of stairs. My travel specialist found me a very nice hotel in a good location that was not too crowded or noisy, just steps away from the Jesuit Stair ("Game of Thrones" site). The irony of this was that the steps in the hotel would have been the least of my challenges as I climbed many steps in these cities and up to castles. The staff at these hotels were so helpful and nice. The restaurant recommendations and them personally contacting the restaurants for me was much appreciated. As a solo traveler, I really appreciated this special attention, both from hotel staff as well as the restaurants.

The drivers and guides were courteous, friendly, informative, and on time. They really know the area. We were fortunate to not have long waits at border control between the countries. I do intend to write individual reviews for my guides and the transportation companies. A benefit of private tours is flexibility and getting to know the drivers and guides. I was able to enjoy Bosnian coffee and double espressos. I was able to go to restaurants that real people go to and not just the tourists.

When in Zagreb, I was finally able to meet my travel specialist. After almost a year of emails, texts, and conversations, it was nice to see the face behind the screen. We had lunch after my tour and it was a perfect way to end my visit in Zagreb.

This trip was not inexpensive and overall more expensive because of the value of the U.S. dollar to the euro. However, knowing that this was pretty much a trip of a lifetime (almost a month), I would expect the cost to be what it was, as it was not the height of the tourist season.

I would definitely arrange travel with this company again and recommend them highly.

Thank you for a wonderful trip.

We just returned home from a very memorable trip to Croatia. Thanks to Zicasso's travel expert and her company for the terrific itinerary. Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split, Rovinj, and Zagreb were all toured with knowledgeable guides and experienced drivers to get us there!

There were many highlights, including the beautiful Adriatic countryside, Plitvice Lakes National Park, and a dinner with wine pairing. Of course, there were many more delightful experiences, but too many to include all of them!

We received top-shelf transportation, well thought out itineraries, and first-rate services. I would highly recommend this travel company!

Zicasso’s travel specialist was very attentive to our personal preferences in planning an unforgettable honeymoon. Her knowledge of the area allowed us to have a diverse itinerary, which included city and hiking tours with personable local guides, a flexible skipper trip with options to snorkel and visit islands and caves, and a chef's table to sample local cuisine with a personal chef. We had the opportunity to stay in Dubrovnik, Hvar, and Split at high-quality hotels in convenient locations.

She was very responsive and connected us with drivers, our skipper, and guides to assist with coordination. Overall, the trip was made stress-free thanks to the personalized itinerary, recommendations, bookings, and ferry/park tickets provided ahead of time.