Ros Maris Hotel Rab

... for it!
Taking it easy again today, catching up on postcards, journal and facebook updates of course! missing everyone at home, and miss mama eddie who is back in sunny pommyland [and whom i had an interesting chat with a slightly worse-for-wear shano about last nite!]
Looking forward to Prague which I hear is beautiful, but will be sad to lose a few more topdeckers there.
xxx Leesa

We finished up the last leg of our road trip in Cesky Krumlov in Czech. It is the most amazing and well preserved medieval town in the country. They were too poor to rebuild the town in the 1800s - as a result everything has been well preserved from the 15-16th Centry. We have seen plenty of castles on our travels - but this one is something else. We stayed in a cool ...

... ruelles de la ville. Au dernier étage d'une charmante maison, la chambre est simple et confortable. En revanche nous partagerons la salle de bain avec l'hôte de la maison. Pour une nuit, nous acceptons et négocions le prix à 230 kunas (31€ environ)! La dame nous offre gentiment un verre de jus d'orange. Avant de partir découvrir les lieux, elle nous conseille d'aller du côté de la baie de Cikat.

A noter : les environs de Mali Losinj ...

So we drive down to Croatia. We thought it would be a great idea to wear our bikins as we drive so we get tanned... brilliant plan... that was until we got to the border and thought, whoops. Luckliy there was a car in front and we quickly put clothes on. In my haste I put my dress on back to front and inside out.... The guy then asked if we had anything to declare and was in hysterics when we laughed and said only 3 beers ...

... cyclable, qui devient un chemin, qui devient un sentier... jusqu'à ce qu'on perde sa trace! Nous continuons à l'aveuglette en suivant le littoral. L'eau turquoise nous attire comme un aimant, nous devons nous arrêtez pour piquer une tête!

En Croatie, maillots de bain, chaussures d'eau et masques sont nécessaires pour vaincre les rochers ...

... br>
Cres (prononcé "tsresse") est moins touristique que les autres îles du golf de Kvarner et c'est ce qui nous a tout de suite plu. Son petit port tranquille et son centre-ville pavé nous ont conquis!
Cette étape marque également le début de notre 1ère prospection "sobe" (chambre chez l'habitant).

Si vous choisissez ce mode de logement, voici quelques conseils utiles :

1er ...

Great little place to relax, with plenty of beaches (topless, nude or otherwise), hiking, boating and more. Heavily touristed by northern Europeans, with lots and lots of skin on the beaches and boats, and a very interesting medieval town made for wandering tourists.

A short catamaran ferry ride and we landed in the town of Novalja on the nearby island of Pag but it is a world away from the quiet medieval Rab! Here the promenade was filled with tourist stalls one after the other; bars and restaurants blaring out their music, and all filled with people doing their best to consume the island's supply of alcohol. It is not surprising that Pag has earned the title "Ibiza ...

Our day out can be described in three words – amazing, fantastic, spectacular!!!

We, along with our new Dutch tour group friends who insisted we join them in a 10am drink of Schnapps!, went off to a few island stops, beaches, a fjord with a bombed, sunken warship, coves and just magnificently beautiful blue water.

At some of these stops we dived off the boat into the amazingly clear, sparkling and buoyant water and loved every moment of it.
Rab, Kvarner Bay Islands, Croatia jmabro

How to describe the water - it is absolutely the bluest water you'll ever see in your life - like someone's actually dyed the whole sea, and so incredibly clear - you can easily see 30 metres down. Oh, and so amazingly calm - makes the Swan River look like waves out of The Perfect Storm. All this with islands just offshore - perfect for sailing, sunning and island hopping. Who are we to ignore the call. We put the van on the ferry across to Rab Island, one of ...