Advertisement
Published: September 22nd 2009
Croatia started with two major disadvantages to some of the other countries that we've been 1) I've heard so much hype about it, which almost invariably disappoints and 2) I'd adored Slovenia, thus upping expectations just that little bit more. So, as we left Piran, Slovenia with those thoughts in mind I was quite unprepared to reach the border only 10 minutes later with none of those thoughts resolved! We got our passports out to leave the Eurozone and were waved on by some thoroughly uninterested border guards - maybe its not just British Immigration that's a sieve! Our destination was Pula a resort in the Istria region in the north-west that used to be part of Italy.
We had a terrible start, we were shattered from a storm the night before preventing any restful sleep and the method for allocating pitches at the camp site was complicated and drove Jo near to verbal dispute with reception. Then, after a good hour pitching in what we thought was pegs into solid rock in what we thought was the right place we were told we were pitching in a 'road' - funny that I thought that we were in an empty
bit of woodland under a tree! All in all I took this as a message from the gods to get a proper room with real walls for a couple of nights!
Rooms to rent in Croatia are ten-a-penny. I have no idea how they survive as businesses but we only had to drag our exasperated selves a few hundred metres from the campsite to find a little-old-lady (anyone remember Chorlton and the Wheelies?) who rented us a room for a couple of nights and the remainder of our euros. We went straight to the room and fell asleep until way into the afternoon to later emerge and get excited about silly little things that we haven't experienced for a couple of months - going to the bathroom without shoes on, having proper lights in the evening, being able to come back from the shower without getting dressed .... believe me the list goes on but is still all as trivial.
After a couple of nights, and some sea swimming we were recharged and ready to head on. Not having made plans for our route through the country it was my wish to go inland to the Plitivace National
Park - yet another place so fantastic it's on the UNESCO list (Jo thinks I should have printed the list out before this trip and just followed it around the world!) The park itself really has to be seen to be believed, its geologically special in the way that the lakes and waterfalls form and reform - the science of which lost me a little (I have never seen such exacting and detailed information given on public notice boards as in Croatia!) In short there are about 8 lakes and 6 waterfalls one flowing down to another. Within the park of stunning aqua water were larger fish than I have ever simply seen with the naked eye through perfect water, dramatic cliffs and varied flora and fauna. We had our walking boots on and poles out - for anyone that knows me my idea of heaven. But! Sadly a couple of thousand other people were also enjoying its beauty that day! We were quite simply on one of the busiest conveyor belts ever! With Jo's constant reassurance I quelled my frustrations and got on with enjoying it as best we could. She heard more than once how impressed I was
with the fish!
From here it was back to the coast and to Zadar. And with that mention again of the sea itàs probably time to give it just comment. I don't have the figures but roughly looking at a map there aren't many countries that have quite the amount of coastline as Croatia for its landmass. Well, maybe I should take that one step further. There aren't many countries that have idylic, unspoilt, and dramatic coastline sat next to the majestic, clean and clear waters of the Adriatic. For me this is where Croatias real beauty was. I personally found a lot of the land to be quite barran and despite the terracotta roof tops the villages lacked the appeal of other such parched lands like Greece. It's history is also so new and complicated that I found it hard to get a handle on what it is to be Croatian. By the roads there were signs of stability in election campaign posters but these were vying for space with gang murals and posters hailing certain military figures heroes.
It was therefore light relief to enjoy what Zadar offered - a pretty old town to walk through
and, at the end of the town by the sea enjoy the towns Millenium project - The 'Sea Organ'. The organ has been constructed so that the sea breeze blows through various pipes in the pavement to make sound. The guide book said that it was a cross between whale music and pan pipes and I honestly can't describe it any better. We both found it strangely enjoyable and there were plenty of other people sat around quietly enjoying it too.
From Zadar onwards we decided to follow the coast road all the way down and this made for a very enjoyable drive to Split. Split itself is everything that you could possibly want from a holiday resort. Lots of bars and shopping, sea excursions and restaurants all against the backdrop of some, but not too much history. And this is exactly what Split felt like - the perfect resort. All in all, despite the stunning sea and spectacular national park I was most the way south in the country and stuggling to see why it deserved the hype.
Whilst we were in Split however was the most important day of the year, the day of my birth!
I woke with a couple of lovely cards, and, just to remind me of what the weather is usually like on my birthday - a thunderstorm! This soon cleared and as it was my choice of what to do that day I opted to go to an island, so we did, we went to Brac, the only island close enough to day trip to. Brac is famous for its marble. In fact Barrack Obama could be stood right now on marble from the island, or, closer to home anyone visiting Liverpool Cathedral. It was another leisurely day made wonderful with lovely cards, texts and emails .... so thankyou all!
Croatia really did save the best to last though. On Sunday morning we drove from Split to Dubrovnik. Jo was tired and dozing next to me as a radio station played back to back perfect chilled out sunny driving music. The coast line became more dramatic, the mountains higher, the road more like ticker tape clinging to the cliff side with long arching bends just calling for you to put your foot down and enjoy the drive (I'm thinking of you there dad x) - the weather perfect as was
the sea. Then suddenly I nudged Jo awake. "I think there's a police point there". And there was, or more accurately a border crossing. We were going to Bosnia! Well, not for long. Bosnia has a tiny bit of coastline at this point and less than 4 miles or 7 minutes later we were waving our passports again at uninterested guards!
Jo had promised me that Dubrovnik was the highlight, described as the 'Pearl of the Adriatic' and it certainly didn't disappoint. It was a lot smaller than I imagined, clinging on to the very south of the country, but it was designed to be smooth running for the huge tourist pull that is the old city. We set up and set off.
The first comment is how beautiful and how incredibly preserved this old Roman city is. Well, sadly, not entirely preserved. In the troubles between the Serbs and Croats one of the greatest slights upon the country was the bombing of Dubrovnik and having seen the place you wonder how any sane minded person could ever want to destroy something so ancient and beautiful. There are signs placed around the entrances to the city describing where
shells or shrapnel hit, mainly roof tops but one or two buildings were destroyed. That said, the restoration and clean up process and been seemless and impressive. The city still retains its main street, the stone worn slippery through use. It takes no imagination at all to see what life there was like as a Roman. Jo was quick to say that it was straight in her personal chart at number 2 (it'll take some beating Prague to her number 1 spot!)
The following day it was just as beautiful by daylight and in the evening we sampled Bosnian food in the one restaurant that didn't specialise in seafood. It was fantastic cooking and a good spot to consider our goodbyes to Croatia. We had both really enjoyed it and we found in the end it was worth much of the hype. The Croatians seem to look at us all now descending in droves as tourists with a calm welcome - they have always known how lucky they are - we're the ones just catching up!
And on that point, and, for us, the furthest geographical point from home, (on this leg anyway) it was time to set
our sail towards Italy, probably the country heading into this leg of the trip I was most excited to visit.
Finally got the pics sorted! Enjoy! xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.375s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 86; dbt: 0.0746s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Pat Morris
non-member comment
Homeward bound
Hi both of you, Your first lap of your journey is coming to an end. Drive safely and we can't wait to see you both again. No doubt we will be getting some tales of the journey not already published. Maddy and Mika will be glad to see you . Safe journey home enjoy the rest of Europe. Love Mum and Dadxxxx