Well, horror, but not horror-horror!

Written: 3 september 2012
Travel time: 4 — 11 august 2012
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday; For recreation with friends, for young people
Your rating of this hotel:
6.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 4.0
Service: 5.0
Cleanliness: 6.0
Food: 7.0
Amenities: 8.0
Well, to be honest, I chose such a title in order to attract attention (I judge by myself - if the title did not catch my eye - and I will not read it, unless I am interested in this place). I didn't find anything terrible. But first things first.
I wanted to go to Croatia, but since the prices were biting, the cheapest package tour was chosen, but with half board, because I’m sorry to spend time shopping and cooking (well, plus pathological laziness). The cheapest tours were with the Joint Up operator. The name didn't mean anything to me, but I decided to take a chance. Since I wanted to embrace the immensity and see the country to the maximum, I chose Trogir and the Medena 3 * hotel with a 2 * class tourist room. It turned out 1200 euros from two for a week with a flight from Donetsk. I bought it, and only then read the reviews about the hotel (I used to do the opposite). I read it and was horrified, but did not change anything. The flight was about 8 pm. The airport in Donetsk was rebuilt, of course, in a rich way - such squares, toilets on every corner. But there is no way with catering there at all - on the first floor there is one vending machine with coffee and the second with drinks, and the prices there are quite European - 0.33 Morshynska costs 7 hryvnias! And there is nowhere to eat and drink. I understand that it is necessary to show off in front of Europe, but you might think they don’t drink and don’t eat! By the way, with the new Donetsk railway station the same song.
Well, I digress. The flight was not delayed. The Donbassaero carrier was true to himself - sobriety is the norm, only juices and various other teas. They flew well. At the airport, nothing was filled out, nothing was paid. We exchanged a certain amount for local kunas (the most extortionate rate is 7.08 / 1 euro. Turtesse's clients also flew with us on the plane, and they were met, as usual, by representatives of this tour operator). Our host was called IBCI. They are all different. If at Turtesse (at least in Egypt it was like that) some people meet, others sell excursions, others take us on these very excursions, then Yaroslava met us at the IBCI, she also sold us vouchers and even took us on at least one of the excursions . But the quality of service did not suffer from this, and their transport is excellent - brand new Volvo buses with panoramic windows.

They quickly loaded it, quickly brought it to the hotel (it is located 7 km from the airport), and I consider this a big plus of the hotel, since the rest of the people were taken somewhere 80 km away, and late in the evening after the flight, I think not very pleasant. No one accompanied us to the reception, and there was no need for this. We handed over our vouchers and passports, they immediately gave us the keys and showed us how to get in.
Now about nutrition. Breakfasts are boring, as, however, everywhere, but there are a lot of them, but every day is the same. The only variations are either some sausages (very nothing) with mustard (not spicy at all), or fried small sprat. The second dish was more often than the first, and although I love fish, it got me (and on the embankment this happiness costs 23 kunas, in my opinion). The coffee in the coffee machine is disgusting, I could only drink cocoa, which goes under the name “chocolate” in the machine. But juices are quite okay, especially grapefruit. Dinners are practically not inferior to dinners in Egyptian fours. 2-3 types of meat, 2-3 types of fish, different fruits every day (peaches, apples, plums, oranges, bananas, watermelon) and different ice cream. And there were no queues. We came at different times and there was always everything, as well as free clean tables. But here are all the drinks for an additional fee. We didn't take anything because we drank either before or after, or both before and after. Ate from the belly. Well, how else? For example, there was a chop on the ribs and baked mackerel (among other things). And what do you think I chose? Right! Both (although I understand that eating meat and fish in one sitting is not recommended).
Territory. The buildings are located 100-150 meters from the sea, there is practically no slope, so going to the sea is not at all stressful from the sea. There are many nice little cafes along the beach. You can, sitting in a cafe, go for a dip and return to the table. If you go further to the right, the coast is in the pines, there are few people, but entering the sea is more difficult. Then the camping area begins, you can hang out there. There is shade and good entries. Then there are continuous private villas and apartments, but what’s nice is that everywhere you can freely walk along the sea, which, for example, in the Crimea, and on the Azov coast, is often problematic. We thus walked from the hotel for about an hour at a leisurely pace, sometimes diving in search of oysters. And we did find them at the extreme point of the journey, since the steep coast began further. As I understand it, it was the village of Upper Seget. Medena is located in the Lower Seget. We have not seen oysters before, but only mussels. But I took a knife and a lemon with me. I saw a man who was diving with a knife and putting something into a net on his belt. I assumed it was them. And indeed, managed to get a few pieces. And then there was a frame from the film "Sportloto-82", when Kokshenov tried to open a can. And this way and that, the knife does not stick out anywhere, well, at least throw it away. Well, somehow they opened it, poured lemon juice on it, ate it. They didn't squeak. It tastes like mussels. True, we do not eat raw mussels. Looking ahead, I’ll say that later we found oysters in the sea, clearly opposite the exit from the hotel to the beach (which is past the trampolines). There, about three meters away, some kind of piece of iron sticks out, and oysters grow there. And there were larger specimens than those that we found the first time. Even I was able to open them quite easily. Well, I digress. What I want to say is that people came to our beach not only from other hotels, but also from Trogir, because there is no such thing in the vicinity to the beach and cafes and all kinds of entertainment. By the way, we tried one entertainment for the first time - parasailing. To be honest, at home (in the sense in the Crimea or here on Azov), such a whim would never have occurred to me, but here I was for some reason inclined to overspend. With an unwavering hand, I gave 550 kunas for 15 minutes of pleasure, if you can call it that. I was a little disappointed - zero adrenaline (except for the fear of dropping the camera). But now I will not see off with an envious look the lucky ones on a parachute. Come on! In short, worth a try, but 10 minutes would be enough (450 kunas for two). By the way, after Croatia we immediately went to the Crimea, and in Sudak I asked about the cost of this service. It is even more expensive there and the boat is not much worse.
Excursions.

You can get to Trogir in 4 ways - 1. take an excursion from a guide or on the beach (but why? ); 2. sail on a boat from the beach - there are several companies doing this, so if one boat left, you don’t have to wait, but walk along the beach and find another one. The cost is 15 kunas one way and 25 kunas two way. 3. Take the bus - exit the reception, go a little up and to the left along the highway. There will be a stop sign. It costs 9 kunas. 4. Walk. First along the coast and then a little along the road. There is a small sidewalk there. You will go out to the market and to supermarkets and the old city is nearby.
We got to Split from the bus station in Trogir by some passing bus. It cost 26 kunas. And back we were generally lucky - we got into the already departing bus to Sibenik, and he took us straight to Medena (we asked) and paid 16 (!? ) kunas for it. Although the road to Split cost us 9 + 26 = 35 kunas. The bus was large and empty (there were 2 other passengers besides us).
Initially, I planned to buy 2 excursions - to Plitvice and Dubrovnik. The question was where to buy - from a guide or on the beach. On the beach, these excursions were not much cheaper (by 10-20 kunas), but the departure was at 6 in the morning, and the guide at 7. And, since breakfast starts at 6, we decided to still have breakfast and go with a guide. Yes, we gathered people in hotels and lost some time, but the time that we had left on the excursion (in Dubrovnik 1 hour excursion and 2 hours on our own, on Plitvice Lakes - 4 hours) was enough for me personally. In addition, as I already wrote, large new buses with panoramic windows and a Russian-speaking guide who constantly tells something are important factors. And although we returned somewhere at 21-30 from Dubrovnik (dinner until 21.00), we managed to have dinner. The guide called the reception and asked to hold the kitchen. And from Plitvice Lakes we arrived at 20-45 and ate calmly, all the dishes were available (including fruit). And no one hurried us, as happened in Egypt.
Having beaten the money, we decided that we could afford 2 more excursions - Sibenik - Krka and a fish picnic. But we bought them already on the beach. Excursion KRKA - also cost a little cheaper than the guide. The minibus arrived. Except for the two of us, the rest are all English. The Russian guide girl didn’t speak Russian, but it didn’t matter at all, because, sitting next to the driver, she instantly fell asleep. We arrived in Sibenik, walking along the embankment, she led us to the cathedral, said a few words about Sibenik, a couple of words about the cathedral, gave us 45 minutes to plunder the city and sat down in Turkish on the parapet. When we arrived at the reserve (again, in absolute silence), she brought us to a large waterfall, said that we would meet here in three hours, and woke up slyly. And we spent all three hours bobbing along with the rest of the numerous people in the waterfall. Three hours later we boarded a boat and rafted to Skradin. A minibus was waiting for us there. On the way back we stopped at the town of Primosten. Again we were given 40-50 minutes. We managed to go around the town along the sea and drink a glass of beer. Speaking of beer. The cheapest draft Karlovacko is still on the beach near Medena - 14 kunas. In other places where we drank - more expensive. In Dubrovnik, in general, 30. Well, that's it. On the whole, everything was fine, the only thing, dear, was upset that no one suggested, and we ourselves did not realize that it was possible, instead of a three-hour swim in the waterfall, to wander part of the time along other paths.

Excursion "Fish Picnic" on the beach was almost half the price than the guide, but not on the island of Brac, but on some other. Forgot the name. I remember that there was a "Blue Lagoon". There are three islands. One bigger and two smaller. On the way to the island, everyone was given a decal of rakia. On the island they were given 2 hours to swim. Both the beach and the entrance to the sea are disgusting. We decided to swim to the next island. And absolutely in vain. Unlike Medena, there is no distinction between boats and swimmers. As a result, we almost got hit by a boat. And how many hedgehogs are there! I took Egyptian slippers from home, but constantly forgot in the room. And this time too. I did find a cute hedgehog with a heel. I picked out needles with a knife - nothing happened. Then they took us to feed. They gave out baked mackerel and cabbage salad. And red house wine. And this is where the main trick lies. We love this business, but poured - who asked for how much. Well, it seems that they drank their usual norm, but someone was specifically covered. The wine turned out to be somewhat insidious. Therefore, Maslenitsa Island, to which we were later taken, was somehow vaguely remembered (we managed to take pictures, then we looked - a big beautiful island), and we almost missed the boat. On the way back, they gave me a piece of watermelon, but I had to eat two pieces, because some of them were drowsy all the way.
Food and drink. They took Mahan's wand in Tatar with them, which, in the absence of a refrigerator, was the very thing. And they did the right thing, because their vaunted prosciutto did not impress. I lard is tastier than salt and I don’t need 2 years for this. On the first day we stocked up on wine in Trogir. They took the recommended Malvasia and Babich, well, and a good favorite Cabernet Sauvignon. The last wine, both in taste and in price, completely coincides with the Crimean counterpart. Babich is twice as expensive, but I won’t say that it is twice as tasty. Malvasia is also a little more expensive, but it didn't impress me, maybe because I prefer red wines. We also bought cheese. The price is quite adequate. You can and should take it. The one with mold was especially good. Well, these simple supplies were enough for us not to go hungry between breakfast and dinner. Plus fruits that were taken at dinner. Absolutely everyone carried them out in the open, because it was simply unrealistic to eat them at dinner. And there grows no-man's figs (or we wanted to think that no one's), in short, we ate them too. We ate at the cafe only twice - near Plitvice (relatively normal prices) and in Dubrovnik - it was not worth it. Firstly, it's expensive, secondly, we lost 45 minutes out of 3 hours, and thirdly, to say that it's very tasty - it's not. I like Tatar cuisine more, but you won’t surprise us with seafood. I’ll cook mussels in every way tastier. Well, except that the octopus salad was a curiosity. We do not have them, but the whole point, I think, is in the sauce. And so. . .
On the way to Dubrovnik we stopped in Bosnia. There prices are either without VAT at all, or it is lower, in short, cheaper there than in Croatia. I bought a 500 gram pack of ground coffee there - about 40 hryvnias with our money. The guide said it was good, but we haven't tried it yet. Well, I also bought their famous Maraschino (everyone took it, and I took it), although I don’t like liquors. We tried it at home - I couldn’t drink it in its pure form. Kind of like amaretto, but it tastes like cherry pit instead of apricot. I added schweppes, lemon and ice - excellent.
I have described all this in such detail for those who ask questions like “How much money to take with me? ”. So, not counting the dutik (this is a separate issue), we spent 620 euros for two (I remind you that the sausage was brought from home in the amount of 1 stick). Bread, sinful, tyrila at breakfast (but only bread).

Departure day. For some reason, in this hotel, check-out is not at 12, but at 10.00. Our flight is at 21:40. And no matter how we tried to persuade the receptionist to leave us a room until the evening - no way. The hotel is full. When asked what to do with things, they showed a glass room near the exit, which was not guarded in any way. In general, after breakfast we packed a suitcase, put civil things in a separate bag to change before leaving, and a backpack with food. All this was left in this room. We took only a beach bag with us and went to wander. The keys were handed over without question. I was a little worried about the torn lampshade on the night lamp - so that they would not hang us. (I heard such cases took place in Egypt). But, thank God, it seems that the administration believes that there is nothing to break there. We went to Upper Seget, went to Trogir, drank a beer there, returned on a boat to our place, drank a beer on our beach, periodically swam. And time goes on endlessly. I was frankly bored. And how can people sit in a hotel all day long? In Egypt, and I could do it for some reason. But that was in November. I already had time to miss the sea and the sun. So please don't be indignant, make allowance for the fact that we are indulging in this respect. Finally, it's already evening. For the last Kuns ate a local variety of shawarma with prosciutto instead of meat. Dinner was no longer served to us. Let's go take our clothes (lo and behold - the suitcase and bags are in place), change clothes and the bus arrived at the appointed time for us. They left without tears. I liked everything. Everything was fine, without excesses, even somehow boring without them, but everything was enough for me. Everything planned was overfulfilled. I regret only two things - instead of a fish picnic, I had to take rafting and it's a pity that the plane arrived in the dark and flew away too. Both times I had a window seat, but what's the point. I did not see all the beauty from a great height (does not count from a parachute).
In general, draw your own conclusions, given my specifics.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original