Our Croatian Adventure - Things to do in Cavtat Part 1

Last Monday, I shared the first travel based post which centred around where we'd decided to stay during our first trip to Croatia, namely the beautiful town of Cavtat. Whilst Cavtat is a small town with a population of around 2000 peoples, there is no shortage of bits and pieces which you can do during your stay!

First of all, I'll share things which you can do in Cavtat itself, starting with a visit to Our Lady of the Snow.

This is quaint little church which is set right by the ocean front. You have the opportunity to light a candle if you so wish or just sit and take in the artwork which is dotted around the church. Given that this is one of only two churches in the area, it's surprisingly peaceful and is a lovely spot to sit and gather your thoughts.

Having been to Rome last year, what struck me the most about churches in this part of the world is how simplistic they are.

So long as you're at this end of Cavtat, the next thing which you can do stroll through the Old Town and head up towards the Mausoleum to take in some of the gorgeous views.

As a word of warning, there are A LOT of steps involved in reaching the Mausoleum, but the views on the way up, and once you get there of course, are totally worth it.

Just try not to think of the steps and focus on the fact that if you want to be able to keep sipping cocktails and eating your weight in pizza and pasta you've got to do some form of exercise.

The Mausoleum belongs to the Racic family and was constructed in 1921. Inside the Mausoleum is the inscription "know the mystery of love and thou shalt solve the mystery of death and believe that life is eternal." It really is a beautiful piece of architecture being constructed entirely of stone with bronze doors.

The views from the top are beautiful and truly worth the effort of trudging up all of those steps. Once you've finished up the top, it's time to dawdle down the steep hill and potter around the rest of peninsular. 

There are two main sections here and I would say it'll take a couple of hours to waddle around both. They both front the sea and there are plenty of benches dotted around where you can take a break if you need to.

As you finish the first loop, you'll head back towards the Church of St. Nicholas and the Rectors Palace. Whilst we didn't venture into the Rectors Palace as it's closed on a Sunday, we did have the opportunity to enter the church.

Again, you'll notice it's very paired back, but this church is significantly bigger than Our Lady of the Snow. 

Other things which you can do also include visiting the House of Vlaho Bukovac, a famous Croatian painter which features some lovely gardens and many original features which date back to the 19th Century. On top of this there are also art galleries, the opportunity to sit and watch the yachts come in along the harbour, watch some water polo or just sit along the water front and fish.

What Cavtat lacks in size, it more than makes up for in charm, friendliness and generally focusing on the more important things in life (relaxing with friends over cake and coffee as opposed to sitting on laptop!). 

Next week I'll focus on some popular excursions which you do from Cavtat if you'd like more of a sense of Adventure!