help planning from Istanbul to Croatian coast

Hi all! Would love any guidance, suggestions on this: I'm finishing up a trip with buddies on May 30, 2009 in Istanbul and am having the girlfriend join me there for an additional 10-14 days of traveling. We'd like to make it from Istanbul over to Croatian coast (Dubrovnik/Split, etc) and possible go up to Slovenia, Venice, Budapest). Any ideas

hey what do you need? Easiest/quickest route or nice places to stop between Istanbul and Croatia?

the easiest way to do it is by plane.
Because it takes too much time to go there by bus, and there are no direct lines with train
Check Turkish airlines site...that's how i went there

Fastest way would be to fly. But if you are set on overland travel it is possible to take a ferry from Turkey to Italy and then catch another ferry from Italy to Croatia.

http://turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/Ship/tk-italy.html
http://www.cemar.it/dest/ferries_croatia.htm

A nicer way to do this is to go via Greece, stopping enroute and seeing a Greek island or two.

http://turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/Ship/GreekIslandFerries.html
http://turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/Ship/domestic_gk_fys.html