Day 74 - 92, 20 August - 9 September, Croatia
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2006
1
32
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Adriatic Coast,
Croatia
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Finally, we've arrived!!! Aaaaaaah, how we've missed the smell and the taste of salt in the air. We decided we'd check out the Istrian peninsula first so headed straight for Porec, about 50kms from the Italian border. Our first glimpse of the Adriatic was when we stopped for lunch at Rijeka high on the side of a mountain overlooking a huge inlet. It wasn't the nicest of days but that didn't matter to us, we had finally hit the coast. By the time we arrived at the campsite in Porec, which was easily the biggest we've been to so far at 1300 campervan sites, the weather had fined up substantially. The last campsite place genie was on our side again as we nabbed the last of the waterview spots, unfortunately it was smack bang in front of the naturist beach, but we chose to look past the nudies and cast our gaze towards the tiny rocky islands and azure waters beyond
01 View from Porec campsite
. We erected (tee hee) the awning using our privacy screen for the first time, we also happened to be on the main thoroughfare to the beach unfortunately, and hit the beach, or rock shelf to be more precise, and indulged in our first swim in the sea for almost a year. It was lovely. Everything is rock, no sand, so the water is absolutely clear. After dinner we strolled along the promenade to watch the sun setting over the water.The next day we woke up to grey skies and drizzle so we decided to do some much needed maintenance to the interior of the van. The sun came out in the afternoon so we headed to the beach to do some serious brown. In the evening after a hard day we headed to the Grill about 40 paces from our van door for some of the best Calamari and Bass we've ever had.
Did I mention we were having electrical troubles again? This time with everything that runs off mains power. Luckily they had a caravan service place at the next camping place over so we made an appointment to drop it in that afternoon. We spent another full day in the sun until we could take it no longer. No sunburn so far though, loving this ozone layer. We had the airbeds out this time and both had a lovely float about in the Adriatic. We got the electrics fixed in the arvo, yaaaaaaayyy, (loose wire, how embarrassing) only to return to the campsite to find nothing that ran off the battery was working
02 Marnie floating in the Adriatic
. D'oh! And for some reason the fridge had decided to cark it. After much cussing we dined a la van and hit the hay.After a little too much sun yesterday we thought we would have a day off. And since we hadn't left the campsite since we arrived we were feeling a bit guilty so we did some internetting, re-booked the car in for the electrics for the following day and headed into the township of Porec. Porec has a cute little old town with lots of off white rendered buildings with terracotta roofs and timber shutters crowded together forming quaint narrow criss-crossing laneways. Like most coastal towns it overlooks a small harbour also quite crowded with boats of all shapes and sizes. We also visited the 13th century basilica with its amazing mosaics. We toyed with the idea of taking a boat ride but decided we'd wait til we were further south somewhere, and we headed back to camp for dinner and one last beautiful Porec sunset, then headed to the beachside cocktail bar we had been eyeing off for the last couple of days for some Pina Coladas and Sex on the Beach (the drink that is!!!).
Day 78, 24 August, Pula, Croatia
Well we were sad to leave our beachside paradise wondering if we'd ever again have such a great spot, but who knows what lies ahead
03 Sunset at Porec
. We got the electrics fixed again! After an hour and a half of waiting around. Now everything works except the headlights, the fridge and the spare tyre. We are getting there slowly. We headed south to Pula, the main town in Istria, to the check out the ancient roman Amphitheatre, constructed between 49 BC and 34AD. Definitely the oldest piece of architecture Marnie had ever laid eyes on. It was very reminiscent of the Coliseum only slight smaller. The exhibition in the tunnels underneath was quite cool, these were where the Gladiators and wild creatures were kept before the 'entertainment' begun. We wandered around the old town for a bit, not totally impressed, it was quite commercial and a bit grotty. Marnie's tummy was giving her trouble again, it might have been the previous night's cocktails, so we headed to the nearest campsite for a quiet night in. It wasn't a bar on the Porec campsite but were still charging 27 Euros a night so we decided from then on would be a good time to try some freecamping. Good news is the fridge is working ok again, no idea why, it must have something to do with the battery stuff not working. Anyway big relief, we are starting to love Big Green again.Day 79, 25 August, Punat, Krk Island, Croatia
We spent the day do some shopping in Pula, and hanging round waiting for our head lights fixed, another one ticked off the list
04 Cocktails at Porec
. We are now very relieved to be able to drive at night. We didn't leave Pula til about 5pm but decided we try out the new head lights and get some distance. We headed west back past Rijeka and over the Bridge to Krk Island. We briefly drove through Krk Town looking for a nice quiet spot to freecamp. It wasn't the quiet, sleepy seaside town we were looking for. After negotiating some traffic we headed a bit further south and settled on a parking lot outside a marina just North of Punat about 7 kms south of Krk. Officially freecamping isn't allowed in Croatia however there was another discreet camper in the lot next door and we were hidden from the main road behind some olive trees and kept the lights low and weren't disturbed all night. And we save ourselves 30 Euros. Gotta love that, that paid for our Headlights.Day 80, 26 August, Baska, Krk Island, Croatia
We got up early this morning in search of a nice beach to have our brekky before we were busted. We found a gorgeous pebbly beach about 2 kms down the road with a carpark that would have been perfect for freecamping, situated about 400m off the main road down a dirt track. There were 2 other campers already there when we arrived. It was so lovely we spent the morning there on the beach doing some brown. We are getting quite sensible now and trying to stay out of the sun between 11 and 2.30
05 Marnie in Pula
. So about 11 we headed further south to a beautiful little town called Baska, nestled on a harbour at the end of a valley between two barren rocky mountains. The harbour faces the rocky completely barren mountains of the neighbouring Island of Cres with the lush mountains of the mainland further on in the distance. The pebbly beach and promenade stretch about 2 km wrapping around the semi-circular harbour. Lining the way are loads of little restaurants and bars from which emanate mouth-watering aromas of grilling seafood. We wandered through town and along the beach, amazed by the number of bodies piled on top of one another. We have learnt since being here that one must disregard any prior understanding of personal space in order to enjoy oneself on Croatian beaches in the summer peak season. We set ourselves up at the campsite and headed to the neighbouring hotel pool for the afternoon, that was a nice perk of the campsite, as we couldn't face haggling for a spot on the beach and the wind was blowing a bit too. We hit one of the beach bars for a beer and an iced coffee (Marnie is off the grog while her tummy is getting better) then home for a lovely van dinner.Day 81 - 82, 27 - 28 August, Zadar, Croatia
We awoke and went for a quick run, then went to the beach for a swim, but the weather turned nasty so we went back to pack up the van. After weathering a hefty storm, we drove back along the length of Krk Island and drove to the city of Zadar. After looking, to no avail, for a spot to free camp, we pulled in to the only campsite close to town. Luckily for us, we got a spot right next to the water, overlooking the nearby islands, in a perfect spot to appreciate the gorgeous sunset.
The following day we walked the 4km into Zadar, which is your standard Croatian seaside town: beautiful water, history-laden old town complete with Roman ruins, tons of tourists
06 Big Green in Pula
. Of special interest was the Sea Organ, which was a set of pipes built in to the seaside promenade, which made "music" as the waves washed over them. Another interesting place was the Square of Five Wells, mostly because it enabled us to say "well, well, well, well, well" and laugh at our rapier wits.After a few hours of wandering around the town and looking for some fresh fish to buy, we gave up and got the bus back to the campsite, with the intentions of still-motion capturing the sunset, which locals claim is the "most beautiful in the world". Unfortunately, Mother Nature conspired against us by placing a thick blanket of cloud directly over the sun (but nowhere else of course). Bummer.
The next day we awoke early for a seaside jog and walk, then got on the road.
Day 83, 29 August, Trogir, Croatia
We arrived after a beautiful, though somewhat hairy, drive along the mountainous coastal road to Trogir, a gorgeous old town on a tiny island 20km north of Split. After catching up on some internet action, we headed for town. Twisting cobblestone alleyways dotted with restaurants and bars make Trogir a pretty cool place to just wander around, which is exactly what we did for an hour or so, taking plenty of happy snaps along the way
07 Marnie's tanline
. Once again we tried and failed to find a free camping spot. It is very difficult in this region, as you pretty much have the main road, then a town, then main road, with virtually nowhere to stop in between. We stayed in a campsite on the opposite side of the island, right on the water again.
Day 84 - 86, 30 August to 1 September, Split to Hvar Island, Croatia
First stop Split, an industrial coastal town surrounded by hideously ugly apartment buildings, but housing a jewel of an old town that ranks among the most interesting towns we have been to. The old town resides within the walls of the Diocletian palace, built by the Romans in the 4th century. It still retains many of the original Roman buildings, plus the "new" extensions added by the Venetians in the 14th century. After refueling with some pizza down by the bay, we spent a good few hours checking out the sites, including the Temple of Jupiter, the palace and the various old gates. The most impressive part of the town was the area known as the peristyle, a beautiful small square flanked by semi-derelict Roman colonnades, leading into an open-air domed vestibule. Although the entire old town could easily have passed for an archeological museum, in fact it was buzzing with cafes, restaurants and shops, giving it a really good feel.
We left Split mid-afternoon, and that's when things started going downhill. We were heading for the village of Drvnik, to catch a car ferry to Hvar Island, as it was about one fifth of the price of getting the ferry from Split. The drive itself was gorgeous, along the winding coast with bay after bay gleaming blue and green in the sun
08 Andrew at Baska
. About 20km from our destination, Andrew was booked for going 70kmh in a 50kmh zone, his first ever traffic infringement in 13 years of driving. It should have cost us 500 kuna (over 70 euros), but the dodgy cops downgraded the fine to 300 kuna for paying cash on the spot. We figured the money went straight into their pockets. So, after arriving eventually in Drvnik, we parked and waited for the ferry to arrive. When it pulled in, with Andrew still fuming over his speeding fine, we tried to start the car, but the key wouldn't turn and panic set in. The ferry guy came over and told us we had seven minutes to get on board, so we applied a few drops of miracle sunflower oil and it ticked over with five minutes to spare. We were lucky enough to be on the 7pm ferry, so we could watch the sunset over the islands and mountains as we made the 30 minute crossing to Sucuraj, on the southern tip of Hvar Island.
After looking around Sucuraj unsuccessfully for a free camping spot, we got on the main road which crosses the island, looking for a camp site or a free camping spot. As the only campsite we came across was designated FKK (German for nudie), we decided to press on and drive about 50km to the nearest town of Jelsa. The "main" road was awful, so narrow that our van couldn't fit in the lane, so we had to drive in the middle, with no reflectors or other indicators of where the edge of the road was or where it might lead and with the occasional 20ft drop off into pitch blackness on either or both sides of the road
09 Marnie at Baska
. Oh, and potholes too. We could only manage about 30kmh in these conditions, so after an hour and a half of shit scared driving, we eventually arrived in Jelsa, gratefully pulling in to the first campsite we came across, nestled in the forest on the side of a hill overlooking the water. The roads in the campsite were also very narrow and the place we were given quite small and very awkward to get into. "It's a bit tight in here" we said, not knowing how prophetic those words would become a few days later.After the stress of that day, we spent the next day recuperating on the beach, even forking out the 20 kuna each for the luxury of a sunbed. After a few hours of browning and swimming, we walked into Jelsa in the evening, a nice little seaside village, for a little look around and to pick up some groceries.
The next day was not the best we have experienced on this trip. It all started innocuously enough, with a nice run alongside the ocean, followed by a brekky and the standard packing up of the van. Disaster struck shortly after checkout as we tried to leave the campsite. After winding our way further up the hill, we had to turn downhill around a tight right hand bend to head for the exit. Andrew was driving and Marnie was directing him to help steer the portly Big Green down the narrow driveway
10 Funny signs part IV
. We were inching as close as possible to the wall on our left to ensure that we didn't fall down the drop off on the right side of the driveway, when a soft scrape told us that we had inched too far and we were up against the rock wall on the left. Further inspection revealed that the back right wheel was balanced precariously on the four foot drop off! Shit! OK, we said, no need to panic, we'll just back it up. Unfortunately, Big Green is a rear wheel drive, so the back right wheel couldn't get traction and the back left wheel would only spin and smoke. So, can't go forwards, can't go back....official diagnosis: stuck (or something that rhymes with stuck anyway). We tried a few more times to back it up, using Marnie as a make-weight on the back and our floor mats as traction, but only succeeded in getting our back wheel partially off the edge and putting some more scratches in the front bumper. Now it was probably time to panic.We told the lady at reception, who started to tell us all about her bad day (her printer was broken the poor dear), then waited around for her father to arrive to help us, dreading the worst the whole time. When the father arrived, he tried to drive it straight out, taking some of the wall and some of Big Green with him, but only succeeded in getting the back wheel completely off the edge of the driveway, dangling in mid air. So much for towing it out now, definitely time to panic
11 Well well well well well
! The guy mumbled something in Croatian and disappeared, so we started to gather rocks and some planks of wood to build a retaining wall so we could drive the back wheel back up onto the driveway. The father returned with another elderly guy, and they proceeded to jack the back wheel up and reinforce our wall with some sturdier planks. After much construction, heated Croatian exchanges and knocking down some of the wall on the left of the driveway, they managed to extricate Big Green with just a few scratches on the front left and the bumper, much to our relief. After thanking them profusely and offering them some money (which they refused), we decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valour, and we abandoned our plan to drive the remaining 30km across the island to Hvar town. Instead, we drove back from whence we had come to Sucuraj, heading for the ferry off this god-forsaken isle. On the narrow roads on the way back, our driver's side mirror clipped the mirror of an on-rushing 4WD. The Italian driver stopped his car and got out gesticulating angrily. Andrew hopped out of the van and the look on his face must have told the Italian that today was not the day to be yelling at us, and he jumped back in his 4WD and sped off.
As we got to the ferry, we managed to sneak on to the second last spot, which we took as a sign that we were definitely supposed to leave the island. As we drove off the ferry, we looked back and cursed "Hvar-ster Island" vowing never to return, nor ever to drive Big Green onto another island.
We drove 3km from the ferry and found a campsite in a glorious spot, with a beautiful beach overlooking the mountainous islands in the bay
12 Marnie in Split
. Our luck was definitely on the rise, as we pulled into the only remaining spot overlooking the water. We tucked into some early nerve-settling drinks, then headed up to the campsite bar/restaurant for some dinner. Happy days! Fridays in the campsite are "Gratis FischParty" days, when they cook up a free fish feast for all the guest...things were definitely looking up! After a couple of gorgeous, fresh grilled fish each and a whole lot of excellent Croatian white, we went down to the beach to lie on the sun-warmed pebbles, watching the moon set over the ocean while creating dodgy poetry and arguing about insurance. Quelle romantique!Day 87, 2 September, Camp Ciste, Drevnik, Croatia
We were planning to head off today but after all that wine last night we woke a bit groggy and decided we deserved a day of R & R after all yesterday's stress, i.e. getting the van stuck. So after a morning of lazing round on the beach we headed into town for delish calamari on the grill and chips. We headed back to the camp site for a nap (it's a hard life) and an early night after a light supper.
Day 87 - 89, 3-5 September, Dubrovnik , Croatia
So off we went down the gorgeous Croatian coast line once again, heading further south, this time destination Dubrovnik. We were hoping for an incident free day with Big Green, but unfortunately it was not to be. Stopping to pick up some groceries and delicious home grown and dried local figs, we pulled back out onto the road only to be stopped once again just 100m on by the friendly local police, this time for not having our head lights turned on
13 Temple of Jupiter
. After a bit of sweet talking from Andrew and some stern answering back from the official (Andrew: 'We don't have 300 Kuna with us right now, is there anything we do???" ie pay you off, Cop: 'I can give you a ticket and you can pay the fine!') surprisingly he let us go on our way with no ticket. With our hearts in our mouths we continued cautiously. We arrived in Dubrovnik a few hours later and caught some late afternoon sun at the camping beach. The next morning we awoke to another gorgeous day so topped up our tans in the morning and headed into the old town in the afternoon. I know a few people reading this have been there already so you guys already know how stunning it is. The old city is entirely fortified by a Stone wall over 2km long and up to 25m high. We wandered through the marble streets and narrow alleys for a while before venturing up the steps to trek the wall. The views of the port, nearby islands and terracotta rooves were fantastic, as you will see in the thousands of photos we took. We spied a tiny bar clinging to the rocks outside the wall on the sea side of the town and took in the sunset from there with an afternoon bevy. We treated ourselves to dinner in a lovely little square in the center of town and headed back to our 5 star accommodation.The next day we organized a little boating trip for ourselves around three islands off the coastline near Dubrovnik. The boat we chose is currently the oldest boat in the Adriatic, built in 1878, which prompted Marnie to ask a number of questions including 'and it's not going to sink, is it?'. She was only joking but we received a very lengthy answer from the rep detailing the number of passengers she's taken, the certificates of seaworthiness she has etc etc. We boarded at the commercial port near where we were staying and cruised round to Dubrovnik to pick up the rest of the passengers. First stop was a tiny island about 30 mins away with nothing much but a few old holiday villas and a restaurant and café
14 Marnie Splits again
. It was another beautiful but scorching day so we dove straight in for a swim. Then back on the boat for a grilled fish lunch which was divine and is the only way we are eating fish ever again, whole and thrown straight on the barby grill. The next stop was the island of Lopud, we docked at the tiny township on the northside and walked to the beautiful sandy beach on the south side of the island. As it was relatively uncrowded and half the beach was 'naturist' we thought it would be the best and most discreet opportunity to get our kit off. So Marnie took her top off and Andrew boldly discarded his bottoms. Unfortunately Marnie wasn't naked enough. The 'Beach Nazi' as we nick-named him proceeded to scream at her to strip off or remove herself from this end of the beach. He himself was fully clothed so he had the upper hand at this stage, it is very difficult to argue when you're starkus. So red-faced Andrew put his togs back on and we headed to the 'clothed' end. Who'd have thought you could get busted for not being naked enough. Anyway we spent the next half hour watching 'Beach Nazi' chiding and arguing with many other beachgoers so apparently we weren't being singled out, he was just a dickhead. Back on the boat, last stop was Sipan Island for a coffee and a wander about the lovely little fishing village. We cruised back and disembarked groggy from too much sun and salt, and maybe all the wine, which was basically as much as you want just help yourself, and headed for the nearest pizza place for some chow
15 Split levels
.Day 90, 6th September, unexpected stopover in Podgora Fire Station, Croatia
Today was not a great day. It started off well, we took advantage of the late 1pm check out and got some washing done in the morning before we left and then did a big shop at the local supermarket. We were planning to make our way back north stopping o/n at Split on our way to Plitvice National Park. Unfortunately about half way there we completely blew a tyre and had to stop on the wrong side of a blind corner of a coastal two lane major road to change the bloody thing. Only thing was the spare was flat and the jack didn't work. Oops. We couldn't move the van it as we were driving on the rim, so we were stuck. Help arrived in the form of a non-english speaking (possibly the only one in the whole of Croatia) road-worker who was simultaneous directing traffic around us, yelling something at us in Croatian and calling for help on his mobile. A couple of guys arrived about 15 mins later who we later learnt were from the local fire brigade. With heavy duty jack on hand they had the flat spare on in no time and we crawled 2 kms into a little township of Podgora at about 5km/h. We didn't trust the spare to get us the 8kms to the nearest tyre service place so our new friends of the Podgora fire service let us camp outside the firestation for the night. We were very grateful for the rescue and hospitality so put on some pasta and beers for them all. They were lovely guys and half of them spoke practically perfect English. We would deal with the tyres the next day.
Day 91, 7th September, we make it to Split, Croatia
One of the lovely fireys drove us and our blown out tyre to the tyre service place first thing in the morning and back again after it was fixed, as well as helping get the new tyre back on Big Green at the fire station
16 Split vestibule
. He was honestly the loveliest guy ever and we were the luckiest stupidest tourists ever. We presented him with our Australian Flag apron which went down a treat as we'd learnt the previous night that he is the head chef at the fire station. He loved it, everyone got a good laugh out of it. We headed back into the bigger town to get the spare fixed (oops again) and searched high and low for a car jack to no avail. We dropped a case of beer back to the fire station for the boys and headed off on a very nervous journey to split, in the knowledge we still had no working jack. We made it, phew, with the intention of staying put until the jack situation was sorted. Day 92, 8th September, Korenica, inland Croatia
After a few texts back and forth to the previous owner of Big Green we concluded that the jacks (we have two for some reason) should actually work with no extra attachments so we spent the morning determined to make them fit into their designated slots in anyway possible. With the aid of copious amount of WD40 and vegetable oil, and some elbow grease, we scraped away a good 1cm of dried caked mud from each of the Jack slots and they fit like a glove. Oops again. So in the knowledge we were in possession of a working jack we jumped on the motorway, which was heaven after the switchbacks we'd been driving on for the past fortnight. We pulled in for the night in a town called Korenica, near the Pitvice Lakes National park. There were no camping places for the last 90kms so we decided to freecamp for the night. We pulled into a carpark in town, had some dinner, then went to check our emails. We returned to a barrage of rocks landing on the roof of Big Green, being thrown from about 50m away by some local "yoofs", so we thought a move might be in order. Luckily there was a restaurant in town that allowed campers to park overnight in the carpark for free
17 Andrew Dalmatian coast
. Perfect, our luck might be changing.Day 93, 9th September, Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
We awoke earlyish in the carpark and skedaddled to the nearby Plitvice Lakes National Park. After a quick breakfast, we set off on a delightful walk in the park. The Plitvice lake system is made up of sixteen lakes of brilliant blues and greens, each flowing down into the next, interspersed with literally hundreds of waterfalls. The walk we took is a series of boardwalks that go around and occasionally over the lakes and waterfalls, allowing ample opportunity for taking gorgeous photos (we took about a hundred). The lakes were teeming with fish, which obviously get fed by people quite frequently, as they were hovering expectantly around the boardwalks.
After catching a ferry across one of the larger lakes in order to save our legs, we walked around the remaining lakes and got a bus back to the trail head. It is difficult to get across just how pretty the lakes and waterfalls were, it was like some fairytale landscape that had been designed for a movie set, it was really spectacular. The photos will hopefully give some idea of how special it was.
Being a little tired after not having a great night's sleep, we decided to head to a nice (though expensive) campsite nearby and enjoy the afternoon sun with a few beers and our first game of world championship badminton. It is fair to say that we will not be representing our country at the Olympics in badminton, especially with our current racquets, which catch the shuttlecock between the strings at least as often as propelling it forwards.
