Croatia 15 - Krk will it be as good as last time we visited?

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Sometimes you should never go back to a place that you loved. Memories can be shattered if the reality of the second visit does not match what happened first time round. Well Suzy was pointed towards Krk and we were going to see if Krk was going to be as good as the first time round.

Suzy ate up the miles as she does on Croatian motorways. They are arrow straight, almost empty and without roadworks. They are a joy to drive on according to the driver. As a passenger I enjoy the endless views across the grey karst scenery and attempt to work out what the flowers are that bloom on the roadside. Occaisionally I act as navigator when Sally Sat Nav throws a wobbler which she does from time to time. But most of the time I just look out of the window and admire the views. The little toll houses are sweet. I cannot think of any other way to describe them. They wouldn't look amiss on a chocolate box and they have two slots to retrieve your ticket from . So none of the opening of doors , getting in and out before going through. I can hang out of the window and take the ticket fairly easily from the lorry slot. There are human beings on the exits. Nice young ladies who greet you with Dobra Dan and smile as they take your kunas from you. Not many kunas change hands either. Croatia is that sort of country.

We skirt around Rijeka and I think as always of the gulag. The shipyards of Rijeka where dissidents were sent to repent of their ways. Now the blocks of high rise Communist flats are still grey and lifeless but covered with enormous signs encouraging me to stop off at Lidl. The road outside of Rijeka is the flying road. The road that launches itself into space and causes serious difficulties for a British driver on the wrong side of the road if he suffers from vertigo. So we braced ourselves for our fly out into space but Sally did not tell us to drive that way. Instead she said nothing and we carried on along the new motorway built since we last came and avoided the dreaded floating road and the long drive around the coast. We arrived at the bridge much quicker than we had done in the past. Another dobra dan and 46 kunas changed hands and we crossed from the mainland to the island . Knock a nought off and the price is about £4. It had gone up by a few kunas since our last trip across .

Before arriving in the town of Krk we stopped off at the Konad supermarket. It boasted to be the largest on the island. It was bigger than some but compared to our Tesco, Morrisons or Asda it felt a little like Arkwrights corner shop. I did manage to stock up on essentials but there was little choice. But then we wouldnt worry about that food was cheap in Croatia we would be eating out to get rid of our kunas and lipas .

ARriving in the town it looked exactly the same as it did two years ago. We drove up the hill to Autocamp Bor the same camp site we stayed at last time. The camp looked the same, from the reception guy who obviously was son of the household to his mother who looked after the shop. From the golf buggy which took us around the site to the restaurant nothing had changed . It was still full of character and charm. Dobra Dan - I will take you round the site and you can pick a pitch. No problem we know where we want to park up Suzy. Right at the top with views to the right of the Adriatic blue in the distance, below us Krk town with its onion domed church and limestone karst scenery as far as the eye could see . We paid 148 kuna a night about £14 as we used our ACSI card. We got the same spot and hunkered down. The sun was beating down, the temperature in the 25's and it was scorching. Out came the awning, the seats and the table and the wine - of course the wine helped relaxation.

We did force ourselves off our bottoms as I had left my dirty underwear with mum and she was going to wash it for me. She spoke little english but we did manage to talk about the pretty violet flowers on her desk. Small like snowdrops but with the appearance of an orchid . The were vilder she said . I replied wild how lovely.

The only problem with Autocamp Bor if it is a problem is that it is at the top of the hill. We strolled down in the afternoon sunshine but coming back uphill was going to be pretty hard work. But before that we sat on the harbour as pretty as we remembered it , we ate gelato, still as nice as last time. We drank soft cold drinks in a cafe. We watched the yellow and red submarine as they took passengers out into the Adriatic. We looked at the trips where you could drink yourself silly, eat yourself full with fish and swim in the sea. We wandered down the quiet backstreets all Venetian with wells and clocks .

At night we ate a meal in the camp restaurant. Glenn the usual meat selection and I chose a Croatian speciality of a goulash with thick pasta tubes. Accompanied by a nice Croatian home produced wine we had a lovely night. We met the first English couple we had seen in weeks but did not stay long talking to them. We purchased four bottles of their home produced wine and one of their home produced olive oil. I shall look forward to drinking the wine and putting the oil on my salad .

Next day we just sat on the campsite soaking in the atmosphere. The sun shone down on us . We felt incredibly lucky. We fell into conversation with a Croatian American who was trying to unwrap his boat which was wrapped up like a kipper. He had forgotten his stanley knife and was struggling. He came over to us and asked if we had an old knife he could use to unwrap his vessel which had been packed up for the winter by a German team. He told us he lived in Los Angeles. We never found out why he had moved. But then do we need to know everything?

Our last trip was back down the hill to the town where we sat again on the harbour watching the world go by. All the sights in the town have plaques with descriptions written on them. The Archbishops House, the walls where felons were tied to a donkeys tail and dragged through the town. We did not want to leave. We decided that Krk did live up to our expectations. It hadn't changed, it was still as lovely as ever . And we were sad to leave . Why are we sad? Well we now on our way home . In a few days we will be back in rainy and cold Britain. We will miss Croatia . We will miss Krk. We really must come back again. Krk lived up to every expectation we had of it. If you ever get the chance cross the bridge , pay your kunas and come and visit and lovely island which delivers on everything you ask of it.

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