7 Days of Vegan Food and Adventures in Croatia!

Welcome to Croatia, a country full of crystal clear waters, charming old towns, and yes, some amazing vegan food. Join me as I recap this seven-day vegan tour to Croatia I hosted, where I'll be sharing about the amazing vegan food and the beautiful cities you need to visit. This group trip was all about the good vibes, great food, and unforgettable memories, so let's go. So I just got to Croatia and I'm about to start this seven-day vegan journey with a group of people, and something that's really important to me as a content creator is to stay connected online. And if you're ever traveling abroad, I highly recommend. So I've partnered with Saly, which is an eSIM company that has connection in over 190 countries and eight regions. So I've purchased this SIM card for Europe, because I'm going to be traveling all over, not just Croatia, to stay connected, be able to post online, use Google Maps, find vegan restaurants. So I'm going to tell you a little bit more about it. So as mentioned, you can enter the country specifically that you're going to be traveling to if it's just one, or you can do what I did and buy a regional SIM, because I was traveling throughout Europe to different countries. To give you an idea, five gigs will last you about one week, so you can choose five gig or an unlimited plan. And if you want a discount, you can use code RATEDFEE to get your discounted price. I'll leave a link below to where you can get this app, and let's continue with the tour. First stop was to check into our four-star hotel in the city center of Zagreb. The rooms are very spacious, and we got a view of the city. It was a very nice hotel. We had some time to kill before the welcome dinner, so we walked around the city center and we found a place that had vegan gelato, so you know I had that. But now it was time to meet with the group to go to our welcome dinner. Our welcome dinner was held at Zerno, the best and oldest vegan restaurant in Zagreb. They're known for vegan macrobiotic cuisine, and they make everything from scratch. They have their own farm, they have beautiful indoor and outdoor space, and the owners told us all about it and welcomed us with wine. Welcome to Croatia! You guys can be my hand models. Mushroom pate. I think, I'm not sure. Look at that. More food. Is this schnitzel? Tofu fried rice, food on noodles, and vegan schnitzel. Look at that. All the food was incredible, and of course they ended us with two kinds of cheesecake. And don't worry, we took the leftovers home. The next morning I was ready to check out the vegan options at the hotel. So what I am enjoying is that our hotel has some vegan options clearly marked. For example, I love that they have soy milk and rice milk for our coffee, and like the cereal muesli bar, they have fruit. It is considerate. When I checked in, they also were telling me like, oh yeah, you're not our first vegan clientele either, so we know to clearly mark certain things. So I'm going to go check around to see what else they have for us. But next it was time for our first activity of the day. Starting our walking tour this morning. It's going to be a two hour walking tour. This is Filip. He is our tour guide. Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia and accounts for 25% of the country's population. They're known for their colorful buildings, cathedral, and the iconic St. Mark's Church with its vibrant tiled roof. Fun fact, Zagreb is also home to the Quirky Museum of Broken Relationships, which I highly recommend checking out. So every day they have a farmer's market. Boys. Oh, I love that. Couldn't help myself. I grabbed an apple. They just looked so good. Sadly, the city endured a big earthquake in 2020, which is why a lot of the city is under construction right now. But overall, we had an amazing time getting to know more about the history and checking out the city. But for dinner, it was time for a cooking class workshop. The cooking class was hosted by Chef Tamara from Makarnova and we learned traditional Croatian recipes adopted for a plant-based diet and macrobiotic diet. The organization they formed offers training on organic agriculture, holistic plant-based nutrition, and they use certified organic products in all of their programs. So they taught us how to make sofarnik, which is like a Swiss chard pastry. Think of it like the Croatian version of spanakopita. She also made Istrian bean soup, pastikada with seitan served with this white polenta. It was delicious. And medamurska for dessert, which is like a bread pudding. And then afterwards we checked out their vegan grocery store Bio Bio. So this morning we started at 7 30 in the morning because we are commencing our way to Plitvice lakes. It's about an hour and a half to two hours away from Zagreb. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. It's absolutely gorgeous. This is a site you cannot miss if you make it to Croatia. But before arriving at Plitvice, we made a quick stop at Rastoke, a cute village known for its waterfalls. But then we were off to Plitvice. In order to visit, you must make a reservation for a time slot and you must be on time. It's best to do it early in the day to avoid large crowds. Although in peak season, it's always going to be busy. But once you arrive, the views are incredible. Look how turquoise this water is. There's no filter or saturation in this video, just so you know. Our guide Ivan explained how the calcium carbonate and limestone create this color. Almost anything in the lakes and here it's pretty white. So it covers the bottom and then the crystal clear water with the sun gives it this special color. Oh my goodness. This is one of the best views ever. Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of Croatia's most breathtaking natural wonders. It's known for its cascading waterfalls, crystal clear turquoise lakes and forest surroundings. As the oldest and largest national park in the country, it feels like you're stepping into a fairy tale. There's 16 interconnected lakes that flow into one another through a series of stunning waterfalls. You can take ferries to each side and it's just the kind of place that leaves you in awe. You never get sick of those crystal clear waters and it's a must visit for any nature or travel lover. Oh and by the way, they do have a vegan option at this national park if you don't bring your own food. So something cool to know in Croatia is that all the tap water is drinkable. So you can literally get it out of anywhere and at the park they have a fountain and the water tastes incredible and it's ice cold. The tap water is drinkable. But next we're on our way to Zadar for dinner. We've officially made it to Zadar. We're gonna have dinner here at the Botanist. It is Zadar's only fully vegan sit-down restaurant and I have been here a few years ago and I really enjoyed it so I'm excited to be here again. And also if you didn't know Zadar is known for their sunsets. I'm hoping to catch that as well. We got to try the tomato bisque soup. This was delicious. This had to have been one of my favorite dishes that night. We also tried a fennel root salad, the juicy marbled steak and the gnocchi which did not disappoint. And yes we got to see that stunning sunset. Fun fact there's also a Sea Organ in Zadar that is a one-of-a-kind architectural sound art installation that uses the movement of the waves to create beautiful natural music from the Adriatic coast. They also have this cool solar-powered art installation that functions as a model of the solar system. But after our very long day we were finally headed to Split and the next morning we woke up to this. That's the ferry we're going on to Brock Island. Brock Island is a must visit because it's known for its beautiful white pebble beach Latni Rat, its charming villages, but more importantly we were going to go check out the olive oil museum. The olive oil museum on Brock Island is a historical gem where you can explore century-old milling tools, learn traditional production methods, and taste award-winning local olive oils. And we definitely feasted here. This was actually our favorite meal of the whole trip. So much so that I didn't really film because I just wanted to eat. We destroyed everything. It's so good. You have to take souvenirs when you leave this museum, trust me. You'll be like, take my money, I want it all. Next stop was beach time. This is incredible. Trust me when I say this is an island you must visit if you're ever in Croatia. So we've landed back in Split in the old town. We're going to dinner. We're going to have some Italian style food. Very good. Very busy town tonight in the old center. Super cute and picturesque. Wow what a beautiful restaurant. This is the pate spread. This focaccia is incredible. Oh yeah. Tell me what it's like Denise. Fabulous. Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. Okay I have food I want to try now. This pesto is incredible. So we have orecchiette pasta in sun-dried tomato and pepper sauce. Then on top we have cashew cheese with pistachios, olives, and capers. Final course before dessert. Thank you. Thank you so much. And afterwards the perfect digestion walk was an evening stroll around Split. All right everyone how are we doing day five? There's only half the group. The other one's in that other van. We're on our way to a wine tasting. So this is a French family that owns it. So it's supposed to be pronounced Marley but because they're in Croatia everyone pronounces it Marley. Marley Winery is located on Croatia's Pelješac peninsula. It's a cozy family-run spot for seven generations and here you can learn about their winemaking traditions all with the beautiful vineyard view and laid-back vibe. And next we were off to see the Great Wall of Croatia which you can find in the city of Staun. The Great Wall of Staun is a 5.5 kilometer long stone wall built in the 14th century to protect its valuable salt works from the Ottoman Empire and the Venetians because Staun is also famous for its ancient salt pans where sea salt is still harvested to this day using traditional methods dating back to the 14th century. We've arrived to Dubrovnik. This is our last hotel and our last beautiful view. Wow no balcony but it's okay. For our first night in Dubrovnik we headed to a true Dalmatian dinner experience. Pekka. Croatian pekka is a traditional dish where vegetables and meat are slow cooked under a bell-shaped lid covered in hot coals. However we were lucky because the restaurant agreed to recreate the experience for us just using vegetables and potatoes which created this rich smoky flavor and delicious tender texture. The restaurant was beautiful, very home-like, and I really appreciated that we got to participate in this traditional family style meal in a plant-based way. All right so I'm trying Croatian pekka for the first time. Ours obviously has no meat so it has roasted potatoes, peppers, eggplant, everything, and more importantly it comes with bread. Okay this is a carb lover's dream. Okay let me try this. I haven't eaten like all day. This is delicious. It's not too hot. It's actually sort of piping hot and it's rare when I get to eat piping hot food so to me this is perfect. You need to have this experience. I highly recommend coming here. Yay thank you to our guides for bringing to this. Ella if you can't tell we really enjoyed it. We destroyed that meal. There's like nothing left. I'm so full. It's so good. We're on our way to see the sunset. Are you guys full? Oh my god it's so good. That's Bosnia on the other side. Wow. So this is a very popular spot for the sunset and you will see why in a second and that's why you see lots of couples and tourists and everything here. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. This is such a pretty place. Look at the city. You pay one euro per person. You get to go down here. Okay. So this is just for a better view that's why you have to pay? Yes. Okay. And for those wondering you can actually take a cable car from the city center of Dubrovnik up to this viewpoint. The cost is about 27 euros per person but lucky for us in our tour our tour guides drove us up to the very top so if you can I highly recommend that instead. So this morning we are on our last full day of excursions. We are doing a walking tour in Dubrovnik in the old town having some free time and then some of us are going to go ziplining. I don't want to think about it right now because I'm a little scared and then we're gonna have our farewell dinner. These blue waters never get old. Look at that little boat over there. So the reason there's a lot of walls here is because they used to protect themselves from the Venetians. They wanted to take over. This is their line of defense. So this is actually a local legend that claims if you successfully balance on the mascarone gargoyle's head drain and then remove your shirt while facing the wall you'll be lucky in love. Didn't remove my shirt but maybe it would have gotten luckier. I know. The 700 year old pharmacy is through this alley. They have they're known for having these amazing rose creams that they've been using the recipes for hundreds of years so you best believe I'm going. Dubrovnik's old town is a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its well-preserved medieval walls, limestone streets, and stunning blend of gothic renaissance and baroque architecture that transports you back in time. But we had some free time so of course we had to check out the local vegan scene and we went to Nishta Vegan Eatery. Old town, focaccia, pakoras. These are just the appetizers my friends. Look how meaty these mushrooms look. Yum! The word Nishta means nothing in Croatian which is why at this restaurant you can get a little bit of everything and there is no set cuisine type so we went all out. We had noodles, wraps, curries. It was delicious. That was amazing. It was delicious. We are all super full. But after some digestion it was time for our next adventure. Okay we're on our way ziplining. Who's ready? We'll see how that reaction is afterwards. So this is where we're going ziplining. It's called Do The Wire. I don't know if I'm ready for this. The reason this zipline was so intimidating is because it goes 900 meters headfirst over the Adriatic Sea. So let's check out everybody's experiences. This is part one. You have to put your hair down because you have to wear a helmet. So it costs 60 euros but if you want the GoPro camera which is obviously worth it, it's an extra 10 euros. So 70 euros total. Time. On our way. Yeah since you're the one with all the adrenaline rushing you, you might as well go first. Remember hands behind your back. It's fine. Everything's gonna be okay. What's your name? Seferino Montes. Hands behind my back the whole time right? Highs behind my back. All right here we go. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Wow. That was wild. It was great. That was great. It was fun. Welcome. Thank you. I made it. And then they treated us to a small shot of grappa to calm our nerves. But all good things come to an end and it was time for our farewell dinner. Can't believe it's already here. The vegan family. Wow. What a beautiful restaurant. We went to Urban Veggie and enjoyed our last family style dinner. They gave us a plethora of starters. I love this donut bun. We had a delicious vegan cheesy risotto and some seitan and the dessert was great. This experience was incredible. Some of us had to say our final goodbyes because we were leaving early the next morning but for the most part all of us saw each other the following morning. If you want to join one of these vegan tours make sure to check out the links below in the description and my website because I'm going to be dropping all the trips there. There's still two that are coming up this year in the fall. We have Spain and Vietnam so make sure to check those out if you're interested. Bye.