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Ancona, Italy
Our departure port from Italy for CroatiaWe left Italy after driving from Rome Monday 2nd June earlyish. We set GiPS and he decided to take us due east to Pescara, then up the coast. The drive over the mountains was one to remember. You would drive directly towards a mountain, enter a tunnel maybe 2 km long and come out on the other side directly onto a very high bridge, straight into another mountain. The mountains still had a little snow on them but this was a lot higher than we were. It was quite spectacular. When we got to Pescara, we turned northwards up the Adriatic coastline. A couple of hours, we were in Ancona. The Adriatic is very calm with few beaches and those who know the area will know they are not beaches in our sense of the word beach. Gravel at best.
We arrived at Ancona, a port town about 2 pm and found our way to the ferry terminal amongst hundreds of heavy haulage trucks. The ferry lines office was closed with a sign saying it opened at 7pm. We knew that we were early but we wanted to make sure we knew where the office was - to be sure, to
The Ferry
Was a great if long trip over but this was a floating hotel. No rocking at all. be sure! We set out to explore the town. It was very quiet and we then realized it was siesta time. Even so, it was extremely quiet. We had seen a large department/supermarket on the way in so we made our way back to that. All locked up and not a soul in sight. We made our way back into town and found a nice café on the water down the bottom of a cliff at the end of the main street. The manager told us it was Republic Day celebrating the end of dictatorship at the end of WW2. Just our luck! The manager could speak fair English and actually used to work on the ferries. Fran was especially interested as the ferry we’d booked was a smallish line that took all night to get across to Croatia. Oh, no, he said, he used to work on the big ferries. Frans’ consternation increased. She was imagining a “slow boat to Croatia” We supped some wine and ate pretzels as there were no restaurants open due to the holiday. The manager didn’t know if any food would be available on board. At 6pm, we headed for the office, found it
Last shot of Italy
for a week at least til we drive back into Venice. open and everything went very smoothly for a change. We had to see the police for our exit from the EU at 7 so we went over the road to a bit of a greasy workers restaurant come bar come café for workers. Ate what we could and then drove to pier Otto (8) Much to Frans’ relief, the ferry was a good size. About 20 times bigger than the largest Rotto ferry. We drove on board and made our way up to the passenger decks for check-in to our cabin. The cabin was a 4 berth bunk type up and down. We were a little worried they might have booked us a shared cabin even though we’d booked a twin. Smelt a bit of urine, but not too bad. We ascended to the lounge deck and were very pleasantly surprised. Lounges (3), sun decks (2), club and casino bars, a self service food galley and an a la carte restaurant. All serviced by excellent well dressed staff. Very nice, with us regretting the greasy diner… lol.
We stayed in the club lounge 'til almost midnight and then retired. Fran didn’t sleep until 4ish. I slept till 3 and watched
Balcony shot
This is from our balcony at Ciovo, Croatia. Couple of big girls were topless skinnydipping below. Unfortunately they were big all over :( the sunrise at 4.30. At 5.30 we started the passage through the outer islands. I was amazed at how many there were, big and small. We docked at 7am and had a smooth transit through customs. This entailed a policewoman asking if we had anything to declare and spot-checking for any AK47’s in the back seat and we were in the town of Split, Croatia 😊
We had booked a self contained unit on an island (Ciovo) linked to another very small island (Trogir). Trogir was easy to find about 30km north. It’s quite famous. You cross a very small bridge off the mainland and about 2 minutes later you cross another bridge onto Ciovo. I might add that that was driving around the perimeter of the island of Trogir. Once on Ciovo, the directions were simple (if you had been on the island all your life. Hah!) Mind you we got very close to the apartment before having to ring the landlady. She sent her Son whom we followed. We parked underneath a concrete tennis court and then started down the stairs, then down some more stairs, then down some more stairs. Hmmmn! We decided we would not be
The fortress
On the ultra small isle of Trogir. The connecting island to Ciovo. leaving the apartment for the duration of our stay!!! The apartment was on the outer side of the Island. Directly opposite us was the island of Salta which is in line with Brac Island and directly behind that is the island of Hvar, where Stephen and Robyn stayed. Once ensconced at the apartment, we realized that we needed to visit a supermarket, which, as opposed to Italy, are plentiful, albeit small. We stocked up on fruit and veg and returned. I have to admit that the ferry trip and 3 trips of steps had taken it out of me. Went for a nap but couldn’t sleep. Oh well! We made dinner that night which was just so delicious using the fresh ingredients from the town and market. First time we’d had a wholesome home cooked meal for 3 weeks.
We just sat down to a candlelit dinner on the balcony and the heavens opened up on us and we ended up eating it just inside the doors. The rain didn’t last too long, but we went to bed to a distant sky show of lightning and thunder, which seemed to surround us in the distance. About 3am it was our
Trogir boardwalk.
Behind the palms is the intact old walled town. turn to have the lightning directly above us with deafening thunder. This went on for about an hour and a half. The lightening storm made the national news later that night about church steeples that had been struck.
Wednesday 4th. Having been rudely awakened by the storm, which provided surprisingly little rain, we washed our clothes in the shower recess (alright, Fran did) and set out to circumnavigate the island. The island is mainly tourist apartment buildings and fishing towns. Quite beautiful in its’ own way. We ended up on the fortress island of Trogir where they have a remarkably well preserved old town within walls. A nice walk around because it wasn’t too big with lunch included. I tried out a bit of Croatian which pleased the waitress and impressed Fran. More likely caused hilarity. You’ve got to be careful not to pronounce words with a Slovakian or Serbian accent. Can’t remember which, and as I am still alive, apparently I didn’t.
Thursday 4th June.
Had a good nights sleep, probably from the wine we’d bought which was made on the island of Hvar. Was a litre bottle costing about 30 Kuna. That’s about A$5.00. ‘Twas drinkable! But I
Brac Island
Short ferry trip to see the famous beach of Bol, which we never got to see :( think it was that that gave me the vivid “Nightmare on Elm Street” type dreams. Serve me right for drinking the expensive stuff. Had home made breakfast and headed to Split to check out the Emperors Palace. Diocilitian (i think) was a local who made good in the military in a rags to riches story and finally became Emperor of the Roman Empire. He was the first one who actually retired. The Empire at that stage was beginning to crumble. We weren’t too impressed with it, unfortunately. We figure we must be getting a little jaded from fabulous palaces! We decided to hop on a ferry to the nearby Island of Brac. We had read about a world renowned beach on the opposite side of the island which we were assured we could get a bus to from the dock. The trip only cost $10 for the both of us, return and it turned out to be a large car ferry taking mainly commercial trucks over to the island. When we arrived at the dock we found that there were no buses to Bol, the beach. A taxi would cost us A$170.00 so we naturally decided to walk around the
Plivicki falls
Photo does not do it justice! town instead. 5 minutes later, we’d seen the town lol. We walked down the wharf looking for a café to while away some time until the next return ferry. Walked past a café where the owner was touting for business out the front and his off-sider was reading a girlie mag and politely declined and went next door. The owner of the previous café mouthed off a bit in Croatian. Luckily, we couldn’t understand a word. Another scrumptious home cooked meal that last night in Ciovo. The salad ingredients have so much taste here!
Friday 6th June (D Day)
We were up very early to beat any traffic to head north. We went past Zadar on a great Autostrada. We were doing about 130kph with cars whizzing past us as if we were standing still. The traffic cops here are certainly a lot more alert and obvious than in Italy. (In Italy, they get passed and nothing happens.) We branched off the main motorway about a third of the way up to visit a group of lakes that Robyn had told Fran about. Always a worry when you deviate off the main roads as GiPS only covers the main
The Lakes
There are several lakes connected by waterfalls and my rod and reel hand was itching something chronic with all the fish visible at every point around them. ones here in Croatia. This road ominously took us towards the mountains and up and up we went. The houses started to change to ones with a lot more wood being used in them. More like German or Swiss. We eventually found the lakes. The Plivicka Lakes system is World Heritage Listed and we paid our 110 Kuna each. We had decided that we would just go to the lookout, have a quick look and go. The first sight was so magnificent. We eyed the track down to the base of some big waterfalls with trepidation, but they had done it well with a zigzag and we decided to go down for a closer look. It was more distance than the climb back up that was the concern. We blame it on the altitude rather than any level of fitness (honest) Once down at lake level, the beauty of the lakes was breathtaking. The water was crystal clear and the lakes were stepped with small waterfalls in between. There are thousands of fish in the lakes. Not sure what variety - either Salmon or Salmon-Trout. No fishing there so they inhabited the fringe of the lakes without fear. Some would
Otatija
Two of the three buildings of the grand old hotel, Palace-Bellevue on the waterfront. We were on the 3rd floor second balcony from right in the RHS building. 14' high ceilings. have been 2kg. We walked about a kilometre upstream, past about three lakes before turning back, knowing of the hike back up. We had to take it easy up the side of the mountain but made it without a hitch. Easier than riding a bike, I s’pose. Lol
We decided to head up to the main Zagreb road and head left at the T junction rather than the shorter cut back to the Autostrada. With GiPS not having 100% capabilities, we thought discretion would be the better path than valour. The rain that has been following us to a great extent caught up with us when we reached the T junction and turned back towards the coast (and the mountains) We reached an altitude of nearly 900 metres when a combination of teeming rain and road works for about 40km slowed us to a crawl. The mountains go right to the coast, so when we descended, we were at Rijecka. Our hotel was at a little town called Opatija. Pronounce the j as a y! We arrived to find a magnificent beachfront 1930’s style grand hotel waiting for us. A massive room with a spacious balcony overlooking a tourist playground.
Below the boardwalk at Opatija
Great place for swimming and sunbaking (if'n it were hot) Look at the trees growing through the rock walls. We were waiting for Errol Flynn to sail in or Dean and Frank to roar up in one of those wooden speedboats. I can certainly recommend Opatija and the Palace-Bellevue. Cheap as chips too!! The light rain did not deter the locals doing their passetiata up the promenade. A lovely place to be sure. A lot of French and Italian influence in the architecture of the hotels along the boardwalk. We saw some Kangaroo Paws on the footpath too! I wanted to stay longer but the next hotel 130km up the coast was paid for, so we headed off after a breakfast in their very large dining room with the marble columns and the numerous chandeliers. We called into Pula, a port along the way. We didn’t know much about this part of northern Croatia as our book didn’t go up that far, rather concentrating on the Dalmatian Coast. We were astounded to find an arena the size and style of the coliseum which we’d never heard about. It was just a shell, though, which is probably why it is not as well known. As we took the last leg to Rovinj, the clouds started to gather and Fran pointed
Colosseum II
This was almost as big as the one in Rome but only a shell. to the darkest grey part and said “ that’ll be Rovinj” Sure enough, the road unerringly led us there. Luckily the rain eased as we got to town. Rovinj has an old town section on a knob on the end of a point and we searched for our hotel closer and closer to it. We asked a taxi driver and he said that our hotel was actually in the old town. No cars allowed! Parked outside and walked in gathering directions along the way until we arrived at the fountain at the end of the knob right at the docks. Looked up and there was our hotel. Best position in the town! And our room…. First floor with a balcony overlooking the pedestrian piazza and fountain.
Fran really got it right on this and the last hotel!!!! Actually, Frans' done a great job in the planning.
Marvelous, absolutely marvelous!
We watched the tour boats arrive in, late afternoon and there were 2 weddings going on. They really do their weddings with a bang. A procession through the old town with piano accordions playing and dancing in the square before getting into their cars with a lot of
Rovinj
This is where we're staying on this almost Island. There are many islands very close together. Our hotel is the building on the right facing into the harbour. horn tooting and doing a procession through the other parts. The guests of one of the weddings got onto a large charter boat and headed out to parts unknown. The other held their reception in our hotel. They were certainly getting stuck into the Grappa from the boot of one of the cars. They had all gone by the time we got back from dinner at a restaurant on the side of a cliff. We shared a Sea Bass at dinner. Scrumptious. The few seagulls here are either on steroids or have been cross mating with albatrosses, hah, and you can’t walk with food in your hand without it being snatched.
We have certainly enjoyed the people in this northern part of Croatia. The people down south seem a lot broodier and don’t seem to like the tourists, whereas up in this part, they’re fun and helpful. That’s our take on it, they may have just been pissed off about the late start to their peak season. (no more than us, lol)
Venice next....
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kath
non-member comment
breathtaking!
Thanks for letting us share this adventure! the photos are fantastic. Do you have a problem remembering where you are when yuou wake up?