Hotel Belvedere Opatija

... after a head injury. In the evening we popped out to try and find something to eat was just about to give up seeing as everything is shut and closed when Ian went ahead and found a kebab shop so got some take away kebabs and ate them in the room then watched all the worst american sitcoms ever on the tv the only things that we could find in english. Which I have to admit was better than watching BBC world news which I had been ...

... had to at least wear pants..hehe. I went snorkelling at one stage, naked of course and came across about 1000 tiny fish... it then got me worried where they might swim and I had to cross my legs and swim with my arms only after that!

Our 2nd full day we woke up to a lot of wind and I was worried our pop up top would rip off so i pulled it down and top and tailed with kathleen downstairs. The wind didnt let up ...

Après une bonne nuit, malgré le retentissement des cloches de 5h du matin, nous voici partis, chaussures de marche aux pieds, sur les côtes de l'île. Nous décidons d'aller directement sur le versant opposé au camping pour fuire la foule. Le temps de trouver le chemin (les croates sont assez avares d'indications!), nous commençons notre randonnée sur une ...

... les agences vous permettront de vous faire une première idée, ce qui vous évitera de parcourir des kilomètres pour rien.

3ème conseil : les agences de location proposent toujours la chambre la plus chère. Insistez auprès d'elles, elles vous en trouveront toujours une, soi disant la dernière!

Pour nos 2 premières nuits ce sera : lit king size, salle de bain privative avec frigo d ...

Enfin le train arrive en Croatie! Malgré le retard, nous ne regrettons pas ce trajet à travers la Slovénie car les paysages étaient superbes, naturels et verdoyants. Un bon coin pour faire de la randonnée.

Pour une raison pratique (prendre le bus pour l'île de Cres au plus vite), nous décidons de ne pas descendre au terminus (Rijeka) mais à l'arrêt Opatija-Matulji ...

Still at the lake this morning, filling up the water, having a quick breakfast, taking last pics of this lovely place and bye. We are off to the Snežnik castle, check the pics.

Sneznik Castle - really nice building in the middle of woods, very well preserved, all newly renovated. Here we sould like to thank again to the lovely crazy man for telling us about this place. We don't ...

Sorry, too dark for any good pictures, but here are a few attempts. This place is HUGE, with awesome, massive caverns that blow your mind, very impressive and interesting. The remains of the original internal stairs are visible in many spots, built by the original explorers ...

... keep our bags while we went in search of a room. We walked down to the Kvarner Hotel and, even though our guide book was correct about old and no airconditioning, the hotel was so characterful and the staff were so friendly that we chose not to look anywhere else. There was also the added bonus of a swimming pool and a private "concrete beach". For our first night the room we ...

... were a little bit hampered but we didn't let that get in the way. Jess and I had bought a tiny Christmas tree in Split and some lightweight decorations, so the girls had some fun getting things ready for Santa, and we all did a bit of wrapping and preparing but despite all of this it was probably the most relaxed Christmas preparation that we have had for a long time. For the first time since I can remember I was in bed before midnight!