Blogs from Dalmatia, Croatia, Europe - page 66

I guess it is something hard to forget. The holes in the walls in front of me remind our host of what was being a kid and waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of an alarm and gun fight to hide in the basement. In Zadar, there is not many buildings full of what reminds some of the bad time. Most people never refer to the war, life in one of the most beautiful sun destination is too precious to spend much time reliving bad memories. The beaches, the amazing weather and the stunning Island would charm even someone allergic to the sun. Welcome to the Croatian dream. Zagreb, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik in two weeks to make you learn a bit and discover some of the Croatian wonders. I do ... read more

Day 71-74 Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik ...and it had to happen somewhere!! We took a boat from our campsite to the small walled town of Trogir, situated on a peninsula North of Split. Boat seems the only (and cheap) way to travel because its so hot! (Think we mentioned the heat before!). Trogir was very pretty, well kept white stone walls narrow streets, incorporating a castle, cathedral and town square. Lots of souvenir shops and eateries, but the harbour was full of visiting cruiser sailing and motor yachts which is always good to watch. The following day we went further, a boat to Trogir and another larger passenger boat to Split. Arriving at Split was delightful as the beautiful facade of the Diocletion’s palace (300AD Roman/ Venetian origin) is right at the port. Within the walls of ... read more

Yet another sunny hot morning and today a visit to nearby Split, Croatia’s second largest city, was on the menu. With the outside temperature already reading 36 degrees we set off, hoping for an underground car park once we reached the historical centre of the city, where Diocletian’s retirement palace is situated – maybe we would get some tips for our next home. It took some time to thread our way through the apartment tower blocks and the rather nondescript looking commercial buildings as we entered Split. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side, with no vacant car park anywhere to be seen, so we just drove on out of town, calling in at a huge air conditioned shopping centre we spotted. The heat is such that each day an important part of life is to ... read more

After two nights rest in London, we were off to Croatia. Because we like to keep things interesting, our trip to the airport on the Monday morning went something like this: 7am - go to Post Office and collect passports (we had sent these away to get our Russian Visas while travelling through the UK) 7.30am - after being driven through London traffic (thanks LB!) it was a run to the Underground then a run to the train station to get the 7.42am train to Gatwick Airport. 8.10am - run through the airport to the check-in desk where 'last call' passengers were being bought forward: that was us for sure! 9.00am - We made it before the check-in closed, headed through security and got to the gate with a whole 5 minutes to spare before final ... read more

Day 61-68 Sailing in Croatia When we first decided to embark on this big trip, being keen sailors, the intention was to sail the coast from the Balearic islands to Cyprus. Our expectations gradually diminished until it looked like a quick sail from Venice to the Greek islands though still a significant challenge on its own. When we bought the Bongo we realised there is so much to see and do on the land we’d go across country and mix it with some sailing. Booking the boat only three days before we set sail, on arriving at Kremik Marina, we were assigned our boat the 32 ft yacht ‘Escargot’, that’s it I thought it’s the slowest boat in the fleet -On the contrary it went like a dream. Instead of just hiring the boat we decided ... read more