Friday 17 April
Ventured into Zagreb today.
Weather was warm but cloudy. Tricky finding a car park, but once we did
we discovered it was under a shopping centre.
Not the most sparkling City you have ever seen, especially for a
Capital, but it did have quite a sophisticated air about it. Coffee culture seems to be big in Croatia. We have seen lots of locals gathering for coffee outside in the squares
even on the coldest days.
The City has
some attractive churches and old streets and a good market. But we will not be recommending it for a
weekend City break!
The grey pictures reflect the grey city and the weather.
On the plus side the cost of coffee has come down a lot. Paid about £1.30 for two coffees. Supermarket bill was also a lot less.
In fact prices in general are much lower. Using my well and
trusted cost of living barometer – a loaf costs 40p, a half litre bottle of local
beer in a supermarket is 60p and a pizza is £5.
We have been eating out with a bottle of wine for less than
£30.
The really big saver is diesel at 85p a litre.
Saturday 18 April
Bucketing it down with rain – our first really wet day! Didn’t venture out anywhere. Sarah spent the afternoon doing a jigsaw and
I edited my photographs.
Sunday 19 April
Woke to a sparkling sunny morning so Sarah made use of the
washing machine (also much cheaper in Croatia).
The bar at the site was busy with locals most of the
day. A group of boys were playing
football and amongst all the shouting you occasionally heard shouts of “Real
Madrid” and “Ronaldo”. Football really
is a universal language.
An English couple arrived in a Land Rover Defender which had
a tent that popped up out of a box on top.
They were on their way home having been down to Dubrovnik. They have been to many out the way places
over the years such as Mongolia and Uzebekistan, which makes our trip seem
rather tame.
Monday 20 April
Moved on to Plitvice Lakes National Park. We plumped for Camping Korana as the scenery was
pleasant and there were restaurants nearby.
The site is in a lovely setting and is huge (only part of it was open)
but pitching was a bit odd. There were
large areas of concrete with no pitches marked out. More individually marked pitches were miles from
the toilet block, and there was no grass area flat enough. It was a bit like pitching on a car park,
but the facilities are very good and the site has a good shop and large
restaurant. We ventured out to
Restaurant Degenje about 10 mins walk away. It had a pleasant atmosphere, with many
different nationalities eating – German, Italian, Brazilian, American and us as
the token Brits. Food was good.
Comment: I had been a bit worried about a complete lack of knowledge
of the Croatian language. I thought that I would be resorting to the old Google
translate app on a regular basis. I needn’t have worried. Almost everyone we
have come into contact with speaks English. Sometimes it’s just the basic stuff
like hello and how much something costs but the majority of Croatians speak excellent
English. In fact in the restaurant
mentioned above everyone ordered in English. It made me feel very guilty about
not having a good grasp of a second language. I can just about get by in French
but I wouldn’t pass an O level. Sarah was taken aback when she went to buy some
bread in a small village shop in the middle of nowhere. She was greeted with “Can
I help you”. Of course the downside to this is we obviously look English.
Tuesday 21 April
Beautiful sunny day and Sarah’s birthday. We had croissants for breakfast to celebrate. Not as good as French ones, but not bad. After Sarah had opened her cards we drove up
to the National Park Entrance 2.
Plitvice Lakes, as the name suggests is a series of 16 lakes connected by
hundreds of cascades and waterfalls. The
landscape is created by the river picking up tavertine, calcium rich deposits,
and depositing them downstream. Over
many millennia this process had produced barriers behind which lakes have
formed. The water is the most
stunning turquoise colour. The Park is organised as well as any national
park in the USA with boats and buses to ferry you around so you can walk as
much or as little as you want. To really
see it you do need to walk. There are
high level paths, lake side paths, boardwalks up to and across the lakes and
falls. The boardwalks were flooded in
places but we managed to navigate them.
The falls vary from a few inches to a 100ft. Every time you turn a corner there is another
fall and another view. It really is a
spectacular place.
Went back to the same restaurant for Sarah’s birthday tea.
Many people have asked us why Croatia? Well here are a few
reasons…..
Typical. You wait a whole year to see a decent waterfall and then.....
Wednesday 22 April
An English couple arrived this morning – very chatty. They had been travelling with another couple
but had a bit of a traumatic time which resulted in the other couple going home
to get divorced! They had originally planned a trip through Croatia, Hungary
and the Czech Repulic but were on a bit of a downer so were going to Italy to
meet some friends.
After lunch we drove to a town called Slunj about 10 miles
away.
We had passed through it on our
way to the campsite and it looked pretty and as it got a mention in the guidebook
we thought we would take a closer look.
There is an area of the town called Rastoke which is now virtually
encircled by the main road. However, the
road is high above the village. Once again it is an area of waterfalls and
cascades. The village developed as they
used the water for mills. You can view
the falls from the road but you can get more up close and personal from one of
the B&B’s in the village.
Thursday 23 April
Drove to Split.
Straight forward journey to Camping Stobrec about 6km from Split. Lovely site right by the sea with huge
pitches.
Friday 24 April
Cloudy and damp and had been very windy in the night. We hadn’t been disturbed by the building
work as you couldn’t hear it for the wind!
Asked at Reception is there was a dentist nearby. The receptionist said there were two very
close by would we like her to ring for us.
She did and got an appointment for 11.30. Very flash designer dental surgery with a
dentist who spoke excellent English. He
explained that all he could do was smooth the tooth and put in a temporary
filling as there was so little tooth left.
He did this and charged nothing – result. However, a couple of hours later the filling
came out again. Apparently, Croatians
do not generally have good teeth and once you started looking there were dental
practices everywhere.
We had a brief trip into the Split and booked a walking tour
for tomorrow.
Saturday 25 April
Despite conflicting bus timetables we did catch a bus into
Split which took about 20 mins. From the
bus we walked through the daily fruit and veg market, all of which looked very
inviting. We sat in one the market cafes
for a coffee.
 |
| Well this ones big enough for me which one do you want. |
After a lunch of traditional spinach pie (it was ok but won’t
be bothering again) we ventured up the cathedral bell tower for an excellent
view of the City.
We also wondered
along the Riva. This is a promenade on the sea front outside the City
Sunday 26 April
We trundled off to the small town of Trogir which is about
20km from Split. It is a small town
built in the 3rd Century BC and beautifully preserved. Very much
like Split but tiny. We had a wander
and some lunch. Later in the day we
joined Yvonne and Mike from Bexhill for a BBQ.
They have been away in their caravan for nearly 2 years. They let out their house and off they
went. They have spent a lot of time in
Spain, France and Italy. They are on
their way home now aiming to travel through Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and Poland. Sarah says she won’t
contemplate going way for 2 years!
Comment: Another slight concern of mine before we left was
the quality and width of the roads. Once again I needn’t have worried. With one
or two minor exceptions the A type roads are better than In England and more than
wide enough for a caravan. The motorways are toll roads but much cheaper than
In France and relatively new with lots of fancy bridges and tunnels.
Monday 27 April
Set off for Dubrovnik.
We drove inland to join the motorway and were surprised by how
mountainous the area is and how sparsely populated. As some of you will know,
as we have told you at length, you have to drive through a small area of Bosnia
which comes down to the coast. I had to
change car insurance companies before we left home to join one that would ensure
us to drive through Bosnia (apparently because of the on-going risk of
landmines). The sat nav does not
acknowledge the existence of Bosnia so suggested that we drive 821 miles to the
foot of Italy to catch a ferry to Dubrovnik.
Needless to say we ignored that.
Set a course for the border. When
we arrived at the border there was a guard which is quite unusual but he wasn’t
bothered about looking at our passports.
Whilst driving through Bosnia the Sat Nav was silent and there was
cursor showing our position in the middle of a white screen. It took all of 10 mins to drive along the
coastal stretch. As this is Bosnia’s
only access to the coast it was quite built up so I am not sure where any
landmines were meant to be hiding! So a lot of fuss and time for a 10 minute
drive.
Arrived at Camping Kate in time for a late lunch. The site is in a very small resort called
Mlini (after the mills that used to be here) about 5 miles from Dubrovnik. We were a little disappointed with the site
initially as we have been spoilt by larger sites with great facilities. It is a
bit rustic, a bit like an English CL but with toilets and showers which are
clean but there’s nowhere to hang your clothes whilst you shower. However, we
have got our own orange tree outside the door, a small chapel should we need
someone else’s help and a glimpse of the sea.
We walked down (about 100 steps) to the harbour which has some very nice
bars and restaurants and some smart looking hotels so we are staying for a few
nights.
Comment: I have been pleasantly impressed by this country so
far, stunning landscapes, friendly people and good food. Given the choice, I
would now chose to visit this country rather than Northern Spain where to food
is poor and the locals not very welcoming. A local gent came across to me a
couple of days ago to ask where I was from and if I was enjoying my stay. He
left saying that it was very good to see a car with a GB plate.
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