Croatian Creation

 

Our previous was posted from a beautiful coastal town called Koper in Slovenia. Slovenia is located to the east of Venice at the top of the Adriatic Sea, and was one of the nations that emerged from the former Yugoslavia after major wars only twenty years ago. We regretted that we only had one day to drive through Slovenia, as it is a beautiful country with scenery reminiscent of a ‘mini Switzerland’. However, we needed to move quickly through Slovenia as our first 90 day period in ‘Schengen Visa’ countries was up, whereas Croatia, our next destination, is not yet a member of the Schengen Agreement.   Croatia, is another of the former Yugoslav states, famous for its coastal and mountain scenery, as well as for winning World Soccer some years back.

We intend to spend four and a half weeks in Croatia. Two of those weeks have already passed as we commence this posting. We spent those two weeks with private people as their guests, and it has been a marvellous start to our Croatian adventures, adding a richness of experience to our travel.  We had previously organised our stays with these kind people through various hospitality/travel websites and organisations. After communicating with some of them via the internet for over 12 months, it was wonderful to meet at last. To all of our hosts, our sincere thanks.

We drove into Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, on Sunday 6^th July, completing our 1,300 km drive from France. For once, we and our GPS navigator easily located our host’s suburban address. Upon arrival, our host (Annie) gave us a short lesson on the pronunciation of Croatian letters, and a few handy words. Croatian words seem to have less vowels than we are used to in English, so this was a valuable lesson. She also helped us identify top tourist destinations and hikes that we might like to get to see or do. In the next days, we visited a handful of such sites in Zagreb – the main square, a series of museums, restaurant streets, and scenic walks.

 

On one day, our plans for a drive to the top of a mountain near Zagreb and subsequent long walk were scuttled when I struck a kerb with the right rear wheel of the car, causing the tyre to slowly go flat. That incident triggered a litany of dramas for the day – such as having to find a street in downtown Zagreb where we could change to the spare tyre without disrupting peak-hour traffic, then driving to the nearest garage – who it turned out could not be authorised by the Peugeot lease people to repair it, so we drove across town to Peugeot’s address - which turned out to be their head office, not their repair garage... More hiccups driving to the real repair place, because the GPS maps we were given are partly out of date. We’ve learnt to see the good in all that doesn’t go according to plan, and the good from this day was that: we learned all about Peugeot Roadside Assistance in a convenient city over only a trifling problem; although heavy rain fell on the destination mountain region, we weren’t there so didn’t get wet; we went on to visit other places of interest. We stayed with Annie for four nights, enjoying her hospitality, her guidance for travelling within Croatia and accounts from her life story, hiking and travel adventures.

World Cup soccer audience in Zagreb's main square

Monuments and street scenes in Zagreb

To buy or not to buy

Anne and Annie

 

After four days in Zagreb, we made our way to our second Croatian hosts, Igor and Nina, a couple in their fifties who again opened their arms in welcome. We went with them on a sight-seeing tour of nearby hills and on the weekend they took us to their apartment on the coast. En-route, we called in to see a dramatic gorge, waterfalls etc.

 

View through a cave entrance

 

 Once at the coast, we were ready to cancel the rest of our holiday plans and just stay there. Clear blue Mediterranean water, leisure boats, and tourists soaking up the sun. From what I (Bob) could make out, all of them were women, and all were clad in skimpy, colourful bikinis – especially noticeable because all the women on the Morocco beaches, where we’d been only a couple weeks earlier, were drably garbed from head to toe! Our hosts also drove us to nearby Krk island (connected by a bridge), where we again captivated by the scenery – beaches, vineyards, towns. All picture-book scenes!

 

 



A standard beach scene



Beaches are popular, but they are not all as crowded as this one was





Bob with our hosts at the coast



When out walking on the Saturday evening we came across groups performing traditional music and dances, which we really enjoyed watching.

 

On another day, we looked around our hosts' town/city – the museum and markets etc – ending the day with a wonderful twenty km bike ride through the surrounding hills and dales. Throughout these parts, the vegetation is so vibrantly green and healthy, houses are extremely well-maintained (painted and landscaped), that we find it hard to believe it when people say that the economy is weak.

 

All in a day's bike ride



We found out where the witches leave their brooms while they are out shopping

Fatty sausages and pork chops. Yum. These were being cooked in a large 'kettle' full of what looked like a gravy

Our third Croatian host, Vedran, is also from the northern part of Croatia. We spent three nights with him, high in a mountain village. Vedran took us on several guided walks to vantage points overlooking the border with Slovenia. He also took us mushrooming through the dense forests and with his knowledge of what is safe to eat and what is not, picked various types of fungi that we would normally walk straight past….and left the ones we might consider picking. We also had time to ourselves, which we used to walk/hike up another narrow waterfall gorge. Vedran is an accomplished cook and insisted on preparing and serving all our meals – and plying us with various home-grown brandies and wines. We particularly appreciated his giving us a copy of a beautiful sound track from a Croatian coastal tourism movie he’d produced some years ago.



Vedran and Anne at his mountain home



Vedran prepared breakfast for us each morning and insisted on doing all the food preparation

Croatia experienced severe weather conditions several months ago which damaged large sections of the forests

Slovenia to the left, Croatia to the right

Would you eat these?

Or these?

 

 

 

 

On our way to stay with our next host, we stopped at the Plitvice National park for one night. Plitvice is one of Croatia’s top tourist destinations.  The tourist route follows a series of waterfalls for several km down the lakes. Because of the geology and particular rock formations, the falls are spread out and constantly changing.

We had heard so much about Plitvice that we feared we may be disappointed, but not so for it was like walking in the Garden of Eden. Anne described it in her journal as “fairy rings of waterfalls, with ribbons of lace tumbling into azure blue lakes”.  We took many photos on the day and have included just a selection of these.  

 

 

 

 

 “fairy rings of waterfalls, with ribbons of lace tumbling into azure blue lakes”. 

Many fish swam in the crystal clear waters, which also gave rise to great reflections

 

As you can see, its a very popular tourist destination! We started early in the day and for some time had the paths to ourselves, but as bust loads of tourists arrived some of the narrower paths became very crowded




Oh deer - do be careful on the road!

 

 

Paths from above enable views of the cascades as they work their way down the lakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As you travel from north to south the scenery changes, with the green patchwork being replaced by a white, rockier landscape

 

 

 

 

 

 



Our plans to stay with our next host, Goga, in a nearby mountain village changed somewhat, because she was actually resident at a small coastal town at the time. We joined her there and spent another three wonderful days based in her upstairs unit, again soaking in the coastal ambience. A highlight was when we all went on a day boat trip to the Kornati Islands - which are designated as a National Park. The beauty of these islands is in their spotted starkness (hence the term Dalmation coast); bare hills covered with rock formations that swirl around the land, cliffs rising straight up from sea and the numerous small bays and inlets set in pristine blue waters. We enjoyed a hearty lunch on the boat and the ‘one drink’ provided with it turned out to be one bottle of wine, not a glass.  This all set the scene for a three hour stop for swimming or just lying about, although Anne had the energy to climb to the top of the nearby hill.

 

 

The bay where we stopped to swim



Patterns of rock on the hills

A spotty "Dalmatian" island

Cliff ahead captain


 

Two happy travellers at days end

The grandchildren would love climbing Croatian trees

Even tourists need a holiday and that’s what we are doing now. We booked a unit in a small town on Hvar Island, listed as one of Croatia’s top ten islands. Upon arriving in the town of Split to catch the ferry, we were caught in an electrical storm with heavy rain, which didn’t seem like a good start. But once on our way the rain cleared and we have had beautiful sunny weather in which to enjoy the beach just 100 metres from the house.

Cars driving onto the ferry.
Below is our ferry's 'twin'. There are many ferries and catamarans that take passengers to the islands Many private vessels use these waters, from small sail boats to the yachts of the very rich.

We swim every day, drive around a little, rest a lot and generally relax. Yesterday we drove to the main town of Hvar and while there climbed to the top of the hill to an old fortress, being rewarded with great views of the town.

Blue waters, white houses with red roof tops against a green or rocky white background make up a typical coastal Croatian scene of which we never tire

We returned via a narrow back road that wound its way up and down the mountains, with blind corners, no guard rails and steep drops down the side.  The views, when we were able to look, were marvellous being able to see the coast on both sides of the island.  

The hill tops are patterned with lines of rock, evidence of past lives in this area

Beaches in Croatia are different than our Australian beaches. There are very few sand beaches; instead you enter the water from the rocks (sometimes concreted to make a small platform) or from a pebble beach. The absence of sand is made up for by the clear waters with no waves, and no sharks or stingers. Having learnt to see the good in everything, we note that there is also no sand-grit to remove from cars, clothes or carpets. 

Our 'beach' and bay on Hvar Island

 

Relaxing at our apartment

 

 

Upon leaving Hvar we intend to go further down the coast to Dubrovnik, again a top tourist destination in Croatia. From there we drive to Bulgaria, arriving on the 6^th August, to stay with another host. This requires driving through Bosnia- Herzegovina and Serbia, countries of which our only recollection is of the war of some 20 years ago. It will be good for us to have these images changed by the reality of people who have moved on to rebuild their lives, just as has happened in Croatia.