Mike & I love the beach. L-O-V-E it. We could live in flip flops and sand in the house never really bothered us when we lived in Florida. Well, not too much.

So since we've been living in Germany - NOT near a beach, btw - every summer we've had to travel to get our fix. I know- it's awful, right, living with these first world problems. (Yes, I'm making fun of us. I really need a sarcasm font.)

Anyway, this year we went to Croatia. We'd been hearing about how beautiful and unspoiled it is and we couldn't wait to go. While we didn't get to do everything I wanted to do while we were there, we packed as much as we could into our week on the coast.

We flew into Zadar and stayed the night to have time to check out the sea organ. Haven't heard of that? Give it a quick google. I have a video of it, but I'm not sure how to upload it; I'll work on it and see what I can do. It's one of the cooler things we've seen here in Europe.

Zadar is a small city in the middle of the Dalmatian coastline. To say it's beautiful would be an understatement. We stayed right on the coast in the middle of the walled old city which was a perfect spot for exploring this little gem. Zadar has some really interesting history (as does most parts of the surrounding area). If you're curious, you can learn more here.

Chuck full of really old buildings and lavender growing everywhere... and no crowds! That's right- NO CROWDS! Of course, there wasn't a beach or a very good place to swim from unless you took a ferry out to one of the islands, but still. Walking along the boardwalk unencumbered was fantastic. But if Croatia is on your travel list, be careful with the taxi drivers. They'll rip you off and give you a bogus receipt for your trouble. (Yeah, it totally happened to us.) Save yourself the headache and book online with a reputable company in advance. The Croatian Tourism Board can help you find one.

After our night in Zadar, we moved on to where we would spend the majority of our vacation: Vodice.