Although Croatia is not as renowned for its pastries as its northern neighbours, they are (thankfully) a big part of life here. There are bakeries (or pakeras) in every town, so there’s been no shortage of pastries to sample.

On the whole, Croation pastries are good, but not great, and are a little generic, with the odd gem. The pastries on offer come in three main varieties.

Brioche – buttery, croissant-like and filled with dark chocolate or marmalade. They aren’t too sweet and make a very good pre-breakfast start too the morning. I may have eaten my own bodies weight from the bakery in Cres, where I could wander down early in the morning and pick them up hot out of the oven…..

Strudel – comes mainly in apple or cherry. Typically not great, with pastry that’s too hard and chewy. Occasionally one bucks the norm, like this one from Split, which was much lighter and crispy (and still hot).

Krafna – Baked doughnuts with marmalade, chocolate or custard. As you can imagine these vary widely in quality. The best aren’t very sweet and have dark chocolate inside. This one was also coated in coconut, and was like a cross between a lamington and a doughnut…..not sure if this makes it a doughington or a lamingnut…..