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> SlowTrav > Other > Vacation Rentals > Reviews > Croatia Review 1511: Villa Olga, Unit 6free-si.htnet.hr/Olga-Petkovic/engleski.htm
apartment, sleeps 4, in Zablace, Croatia 
WhenJune, 2005, Ten nights ReviewVilla Olga is a diamond in the rough. A little polishing and it will sparkle like the Adriatic that is at its doorstep. We spent 10 nights here in June, 2005. The villa is a six-unit building in Zablace, a small village just outside Sibenik on Croatia's central Dalmatian coast. The owners are Dr. Tomas and Olga Petkovic, a lovely older couple who speak very little English; we communicated largely in Italian. Their daughter Daniella is fluent in English and we made all the arrangements for our stay with her, via e-mail. Croatia is a country under construction; everywhere you turn on the coast you see buildings going up. Most of them will house the owners on the ground floor with rental units on two or three floors above. That's Villa Olga, which started life as a small family home. The Petkovics have added three stories on top and have six units to rent out. We chose unit six, a one-bedroom with pull-out sofa top floor unit with the best view of the sea. And what a view it was - a 180-degree panorama. The Solaris hotel complex is in the distance on the left; the island of Zlarin in front; Vodice and the Sibenik sea channel to the right. We literally spent hours on the terrace, sipping wine and watching sunsets. The ride to Zablace through the edges of Sibenik is not pretty, but the village itself is sweet. There are several restaurants and a small but well-stocked grocery that was open from 7 am to 11 pm. There's a large marina and the Solaris complex is just a few minutes away. Foreigners are welcome at Solaris even if they're not staying there; we visited several times to use their beautiful beach and pools. The excellent Dalmare shopping center is just ten minutes from Villa Olga; there's a huge Konzum grocery store in the Dalmare complex. The locals are very friendly. We met Vinka our first day there - retired in Zablace after 30 years as a cleaning lady in Manhattan. She misses her grandchildren and kept hugging and kissing our boys. Vinka explained about half the village left for New York when the Communists were in power. American money is helping to fuel the building binge taking place there, and pretty much everywhere along the coast. Villa Olga is on the quiet road along the sea just a five minute walk from the heart of the village. Going swimming was as easy as crossing the road and jumping in the crystal-clear water. Central Dalmatia is like one huge beach. Unit six is not fully finished (they're still working on a sleeping loft in the bedroom) but we wanted that terrace and that stunning view. The place is airy and quiet and the kitchen was pretty well equipped. But several electrical outlets and the oven did not function, and the refrigerator plug kept popping out so we had to check it constantly. We also had to ask for a change of towels after one week and unlike in Italy, there was no weekly cleaning of the unit. But all in all we enjoyed our stay. But at 50 euro a night we sure felt we got our money's worth! This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com. |
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Recommended.
Review by cobblehill from
New York
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