To Croatia and beyond!

Like the rest of the world, we found the cheapest flights possible to go to Croatia. A downside to this is the flights are usually either at a bad time or from a bad place, if not both. Our flight was scheduled for 0650 for Orly airport to Dubrovnik; we took the first available public transport to the airport which left Paris at 0530, arriving close to 0600. We searched around to find the check-in desk which displayed Dubrovnik so we were all good. We got to the front of the line, gave the lady our e-ticket and she said “You are too late. Next please”. Her attitude was abhorred; I understand that people get a little aggravated with missing flights, but to just dismiss us and not provide any form of aid was infuriating. Luckily the person next to her directed us to go to the desk near-by and reschedule flights. There were numerous things that we annoying about this: we could have easily made it through security and on to the plane, but we had a bag to check in, so obviously we missed the cut-off for checking-in luggage. Secondly, we took the earliest transport to get to the airport. We inquired as to how they expect people to get there without a car, and they said there were buses. I whipped out my phone, checked the timetable and we could make it to the airport at 0530 if we left my place at 1230 the night before and make 4 changes, waiting at each of the bus stops for an hour or so. When I enquired if this is what they meant by there being buses, the lady said she could not answer that and that the resident bus expert was elsewhere at the time. Smells like shit to me. The thing that really added insult to injury was not being able to reschedule our flight until the plane had left, so we sat there for just under an hour. The change cost 75€ each, which is outrageous, but we looked for other flights and it was going to be the best option, so we did it. As I mentioned in a previous post, coming back from England, I had issues with EasyJet. This experience was also with EasyJet. I am not annoyed at them for missing my flight. I am annoyed at them for their terrible service, fees and their general demeanour. Never again will I travel with them. Whilst they are cheaper on the surface, you pay in the long run. Anyway, I digress. The next flight was the following day, at 0630, so we took the bus back to Paris and didn’t do all that much. We were packed and ready to go, so to kill some time, we went to the movies and saw Pacific Rim. Whilst it was not the worst movie I have seen, it is pretty close to it. We organised a taxi for 0430 the next morning and then had an early night.

To Croatia, and beyond! (Part two)

The next morning, everything went smoothly. The taxi was on time (well, early), there was no traffic, no line for check-in and EasyJet allowed us to check in a second bag for free – presumably as we had missed our flight the day before. We got through security and then we had well over an hour to kill before the flight. Unfortunately, a monster storm rolled in, delaying all flights and as we had an outdoor section to reach our plane, we received a little sprinkling. But it was one hell of a storm, which was nice to watch. We eventually took off and then had really nice weather outside of Paris. We flew over the Alps, which was stunning and then continued over the Italian/Croatian coast, which was all very pretty. Before we knew it, we had landed in Dubrovnik.

The airport is little more than an air-conditioned shed, with a single runway and little space, which explained why there were so few flights there. But after getting through customs and collecting our bags, we went to collect our car. We had pre-booked a car online for our time there from a company which was by far the cheapest and came highly recommended from some online travel forums (ACTIVE rent-a-car). The thing that made it all a bit difficult was all the car rental places are in a line, with temporary units used as offices and a tiny car park used as the pick-up and drop-off point for all of them. Long story short, it was absolute chaos. In addition, the company we hired from obviously has an alliance with other companies, so we were looking for ACTIVE, whilst in Dubrovnik, it was called something else. So after some screwing around we found a 10 pt sign that said ACTIVE and then got everything organised. We were given the keys to our monster, a Fiat 500 (the same car I had with my father while touring Normandy and Brittany) and headed toward Dubrovnik. Initially we followed the signs, which while they get you to your destination, they do not always take the most direct route. After this, we used our map; IGN Découverte du monde: Croatie/Slovénie, which covers both Croatia and Slovenia at 1:300 000, and we the best that I found. The only downside was its size! So after a scenic detour of the suburbs of Dubrovnik, we found a car park, ditched the car and headed to the old town.

To say Dubrovnik is a pretty city would be a crime. It is just beautiful – the jewel of the Adriatic. The walled city with its tight streets, uniform building style sitting on crystal blue water is really something to behold. The town is not so big, but there is a lot packed into the walls. Unfortunately in peak tourist season there is also a lot of people packed inside the walls. Stupidly/cleverly, we were exploring in the midday heat, so the number of people diminished. Just walking the town is a delight, so we visited all the sights as well as a photography museum which concentrates on war photography which was excellent. Very sombre but really good. We then headed up on the walls, which I suppose is the thing to do there. It really is something special, beautiful views of the town and the sea/islands, but boy is it toasty up there. In full sun we were just cooking. I think the top temperature was about 35 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, which stayed for our entire holiday, so bring some sunscreen and water!

In the late afternoon, we went for a swim at a near-by beach (Sveti Jakov) which looks back on the town, where we stayed and watched the sun go down over Dubrovnik, which is definitely a sight worth seeing. Back in town, we found a nice little place for dinner where I had the calamari (it is the local speciality) and besides the serving being a little small, it was fantastic. But the town transforms after dark. The seedy party people come out, with clubs opening on every street corner; imagine a lot of English/American/Australians who go there simply to party, and the city caters to their needs. I like to pretend that it didn’t happen and it is the pretty city I remember it being during the day. With a few scoopfuls of ice-cream, if was off to bed to prepare for some island adventures.

Mljet: breaking the rules

We awoke to a very quiet Dubrovnik, apparently Saturday nights are wild enough that to dull the city. After some technical problems acquiring breakfast (it was included with our accommodation, but held on the other side of the city, and there was no way to find out where this was other than being showed, so we had to wait for someone to show up) we were on a mission to the island of Mljet, which is a large island, half of which is a national park. We were equally on a mission to get some snorkels and a FM broadcaster. The former is self-explanatory and the latter so we could listen to music, as there was no auxiliary port or equivalent in the car. We got snorkels from a supermarket for 15 Kuna, but the transmitter turned out to be a lost cause; we did at least get a USB car charger so electronic devices could be charged. We took the ferry from Prapranto, which runs every few hours, and we had a bit of time to kill before it left so we went a visited the near-by town of Žuljana. It was a little place with not much to see – the appeal is a nice beach and the fact there isn’t much to see, so there are not many people. We only had about 5 minutes there before we had to return to catch the ferry, but it was enough. The surrounding countryside was really nice as it is all very mountainous, a lot of bluffs and tucked in the valleys are lots of wineries. The town of Ston, just near the ferry is quite spectacular as it has the longest wall in all of Europe. There is not much else to see, but it is quite the draw card. We loaded the car onto the ferry and after an hour or so, disembarked onto the very pretty Mljet.

Our arrival on Mljet. It is a pretty place!

The first thing to do was get some lunch. We went to the near-by town of Sobra and found a place on the water. We stocked up at a tiny general store and went to search out a beach. The island has one road running between its extremities, and we followed back-road of sorts to an unmarked beach. This was definitely a good idea. It was a secluded clove, only a few people and really calm water. We took our recently purchased snorkels and took to the water. The aquatic life is plentiful, if a little bland (as compared to North Queensland, which is what I reference when diving) but still good to see. We chilled out here for a bit and then headed to the island’s principle attraction: Malo and Veliko Jezero. Deep within the national park are two lakes, both connected to each other and in turn the sea. The roads getting here are a bit average, with towns forcing the road to one lane, which makes navigating through the traffic a real pain. We followed the line of cars toward the lake, and there was a car park atop a hill, but we pushed our luck and hoped to get a park closer to the lake. The road quickly narrowed and there was a blank sign, so we followed this with plans to follow it all the way to a monastery on the other side of the lake. There was a small town 100 m down the road and then not much else. There were a huge number of pedestrians and cyclists, so the going was really slow. We reached the point where the two lakes meet and pressed on. We were receiving some pretty filthy looks, and it just didn’t feel right. A cyclist flailed wildly at us, and we decided this was not good, so we ditched the car and walked the rest of the way. The walk was really nice, and everyone was finding their own piece of bank to set up and go swimming. We made our way to the monastery, which was pretty but the highlight was the swimming. Deep water with large rocks on the bank for diving, perfect water temperature and the lake was full of life. Unfortunately the snorkels were in the car – the first of a few times this would happen. We hung until it started to get dark, but I was dreading the return drive, as we had concluded that the road was not for driving. The drive back was terrible. The filthy looks provided by all were all the worse knowing that we were in the wrong. To top it off, we drove past a park ranger, who had to move his moped out of the way so we could get past. He was just shaking his head. Needless to say, the second the road widened we were out of there. We headed to town of Pomena to watch the sunset and have dinner, which was a nice little town, but not much to see other than boatloads of tourists (doing the sail the islands of Croatia type tours). I had some delicious mussels and Mia (and I) had a monster plate of prawns. It was here we made a discovery: there was a massive wooden sign for the national park. We almost didn’t read it as we didn’t want to prove our theory. But we did read it: Rule 1) No driving on the road around the lake; Rule 2) Have your ticket (60 Kuna or so) with you at all times. We had no ticket. The ticket office at that time was closed. So not only did we break the number one rule and be those guys who do what they want to make it easier for themselves, we flaunted it in their faces by not paying for it. I still cringe at the whole situation now. I spent the remainder of the time on the island expecting to be fined by a ranger. We hastily headed out of the park and to a near-by camp site for the night.

An absolute Krka

We arose early in the morning to take the first ferry back to the mainland. As we were leaving the island, we were on deck and taking a “DSLR-selfie” as we often do and then someone offered to take our picture. We accepted, but purely because you don’t want to explain that we actually want the DLSR-selfie as we are building a collection of them to document our travels together; it was just the first time this had occurred. After disembarking, we immediately went for to the Prapranto beach for a swim. This was one of the only sand beaches we encountered and because it was early, so it was quiet; the sun was not too strong so it made for a really pleasant swim. After an hour-or-so of relaxing, we hit the road to Krka national park.

At 250 km it is not too far, but the roads are not so well developed. There is a motorway under construction, stretching from Zagreb down the coast, but at the moment, it starts/ends near a town called Vrgorac. It was about 90 km to the motorway, but it was really slow going. There was a fair bit of traffic, and the windy coastal roads, whilst pretty, are very slow. At one point, one must cross the border into Bosnia and drive through the country’s only water frontage. It seemed nice enough, but also what you expect from the only coastal town for a country; a lot of holiday houses and the tackiness that goes along with this. After a little over 5 km, one enters back into Croatia; the border crossings were really quite slow – surprisingly so. 99% of traffic is tourists following the coast, which must make the job of an inspector very boring, as they know this. Anyway, not long after this are the incredibly lush planes and what one can only assume is the fruit bowl of the country. The area, near Ploče, is just crazy as the coast is so mountainous, and then it just drops to floodplains. There are street vendors selling fruit (the exact same fruit and other tourist garbage) every kilometre or so, which would be advisable to visit, because afterward, there is nothing. The road zigzags back into the hills and then once it meets up with the motorway, it is just dead straight, with very little to distract you. There were at least signs that told you the outside temperature. The micro-climates resulted in temperatures ranging from 34 to 35 degrees. Even that was boring. Although every 5 km or so there are forested overpasses to allow bears and foxes to cross the motorway. That is pretty cool!

The waterfalls and the colours were amazing

A beautiful cascade hidden away in the forest

We stopped for some lunch at a service station/”restaurant”, which was better than expected. Some sandwiches and coke woke me up a bit, enough for us to reach the national park. One parks in Skradin and then catches a (free) boat up the river into the good stuff – namely waterfalls; lots and lots of them. There is a board-walk which circumnavigates the main falls, which most people take, and there is a swimming area beneath the main falls. We decided to do the walk and then swim, as that makes sense. We were the first of the boat, and there was a ticket booth and a big map. We immediately began discussing our plan of attack in front of the big map; there was a park ranger there who asked if we needed help and we had a little chat and she said our plan sounded good. Unfortunately in this time, the rest of the crowd has arrived and formed a massive line at the ticket booth. As we wandered toward it, the park ranger told us to go to the other side of the booth as there was a second, secret vendor. It is times like that you remember why it is good to be friendly with people. It never gets you into bad situations and sometimes can really help you out.

We began ambling around and just taking in the scenery. It is just something else. Easily the most impressive falls I have seen, not just from volume of water, but aesthetic value. The number/size/form of the cascades combined with the water colour is something truly magnificent. The walk takes an hour or so, and it was nice and relaxing, except near the start there were vendors selling dried fruit necklaces (again, vendors selling the exact same necklaces) which detracted from the experience. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a small water snake, bringing the total number of snakes I have seen in Europe to one. We were on the hunt for bears, which apparently can be seen there (I imagine when there are no people) but it did not stop me from wishing to see one.

After arriving back at the main fall, we went for a swim, which was refreshing, but as the sun was hiding behind some clouds, it was a little fresh. We also tried to take a DSLR-selfie and again, people offered to take a photo of us. Darn friendly people! Although upon inspection, said photo has the waterfalls perfectly in focus and we are just a foreground blur, which is a bit unfortunate.

We then headed back into town and grabbed some dinner; we found a nice restaurant that seemed more than happy to have us sitting out the front, presumably to bring in others, so much so they gave us a free entrée and dessert – although the dessert appeared on our bill! I had some black risotto (from cuttlefish) which, alongside a beer, was just perfect. We made for a nearby camp ground and set up, and not long after we witnessed one of the largest thunder storms I have ever seen. Bizarrely, there was very little rain, only about 30 seconds of torrential rain, but hours of constant lightning – literally striking every few seconds. If we had been in a photogenic place, you can bet your ass I would have been out there, as I am not sure there would be a better storm to photograph. Unfortunately, camping sites leave a bit to be desired when it comes to beauty.

Well done

Leaving Krka, there were some navigational troubles which allowed us to visit Šibenik. It was a drive through tour, but the citadel which was undergoing renovation did look impressive. Our plan was to visit Zadar, but to follow the coast rather than take the highway. We were in the mood for some beach action as well, so we went out onto Otok Murter (Murter Island), which can barely be considered an island, as it is connected to the mainland via a 3 metre bridge. The bridge-town of Tisno was one big traffic jam due to some crazy traffic flow around the bridge. The island was also the place to be for cyclists (apparently) making driving some-what of a pain. We took a turn off to Jezera, hoping for a beach, but we were greeted with a port. We then went to the head of the island, where one finds Betina. We followed the signs to the beach, which in reality was a concrete slab, so we ripped a U-turn and headed back. On our way we saw a camp ground with a beach, so again ripped a U-turn to get in there. The road was a bit tight, and immediately someone flashed their lights once we had completed the turn. I pulled over and then noticed a hub-cap on the side of the road. So thank you, stranger. The beach was okay, but paying 10 Kuna for a full day and only using 45 minutes is very unsatisfying. But we were able to swim.

Vransko Jezero. I start sweating just thinking about how hot and dry this place was

Back on the mainland, we came to Vransko jezero, a big lake which is a wildlife sanctuary of sorts. We were presented with a tee intersection and the promise of parking a few hundred metres down, so after a kilometre or so, it was clear we took the wrong turn. In our defense, nothing was labelled and the map was garbage. So we found a place to pull over, and walked along the lake. It was seriously toasty and very dry, and the crickets we out in near plague proportions. We saw plenty of old-school eel traps and eventually reached the lookout point, which was decidedly unspectacular. At this point some people approached and said we had to pay, but our wallets were in the car so we couldn’t. We thought they thought we were making excuses, so when we did get back to the car, we drove back around to pay. We were there for all of 10 seconds and hoped they would say “oh, don’t worry” or similar, but no. We paid around 25 Kuna and left, somewhat bitter.

A floral piano. It really struck a chord with me

We soon arrived at Zadar one of the bigger cities in the country. Again, it is a very pretty walled town, although nowhere near as spectacular as Dubrovnik. We found a parking spot (which was non-trivial) and then headed into the old town. It was probably about 1 or 2 in the afternoon and it was just scorching. There are plenty of Roman ruins alongside the Church of St. Donatus, a building completed in the 9th century. The church was built from the local “scrap” rock, meaning there pillars have random Latin inscriptions, as the rocks were just picked up from a collapsed building and put in place. We then went up to see the Morske orgulje, an “organ” which is built shore, with incoming waves “playing” the organ. It is not particularly musical, but it is certainly impressive; even a little soothing. The landscape of the near-by mountains was quite pretty, and one gets a good view near the port. We briefly visited the town gardens which had this amazing floral piano, followed by an equally brief walk along the city walls before we again hit the road for our destination of Irinovac, just next to Plitvice national park.

We were back immediately on the motorway, and the section heading north from Zadar must have cost billions. There are insignificant bridges every 100 metres and monster bridges every few kilometres. The road climbs up into the Velebit mountains and then there are as many tunnels as bridges, topped off by Tunel Sveti Rok, a 5.7 km dual carriageway tunnel. It was fun driving and the landscape was so pretty. There is a real change on the other side of the range as well, as the sea facing landscape is so dry and arid, whereas the higher planes facing inland were a few degrees colder and much more lush and green. It would be a great area for some hiking!

We took the more direct, back-way to reach Irinovac, however this was a poor choice. It is obviously the truck route, presumably as truck drivers would rage if they had to drive through the tourist heavy Plitvice, but it was undergoing resurfacing, meaning that we got stuck in truck traffic on poor quality dirt roads. But we eventually made it to the Camping Korana, our camp site for two nights. The lonely planet guide recommended at least 3 days to visit Plitvice, so we had hoped one full day plus maybe a half day was going to be enough. The camp site is the biggest I have ever seen, but was really nice. So green with soft soil; one thing I have not mentioned is how hot it was during the nights. During the evening it was lucky if the temperature was below 26 degrees, which in a tent is warm. So when I had to put on a jumper as then sun set I was happy. Sure enough, the night was cool and we slept like champions.

National park? More like national car-park…

We woke up, had some breakky and were on our way – it was nice to not have to pack up our tent. We arrived at about 0730 as we wanted to get into the park and see as much as possible before the bulk of the tourists arrived. There are 2 car parks, we went to the second, which means that you climb the hill as see many more smaller cascades before going down the canyon and seeing the mega cascades; I think this is a much better way of doing it, such that you warm into it and don’t “spoil yourself too early”, as my sister put it. We purchased our tickets and were ready to roll out at about 0750, however the park does not “open” until 0800. This is complete garbage, as what they mean when they say this is that the buses (which are used to transport those who do not want to walk) don’t start taking people until 0800, which in reality is closer to 815 or 820, but the park is accessible prior to this. We were tossing up whether we should walk up, and we decided it would be good to catch the bus in 10 minutes and be the first up there. We regretted that decision due to the tardiness of the buses, but we were committed; if we had started walking at 0800 or 0810 the bus would have beaten us up there. That being said, the bus (once moving) must have been averaging at least 3-4 km/hour, so strap yourself in!

We arrived at the top and we could see very little. One arrives on the edge of an amazingly clear turquoise coloured lake, and it only gets better. There is tons of wildlife in the water, and apparently in the surrounds, but we saw nothing - but that was not from a lack of trying. A short way down we decided that we wanted to take the unmarked track to get a view over the lakes from up high. While in principle this is an excellent idea, the execution could have been better. We took a wrong turn and found ourselves in the woods after climbing up around 100-200 metres vertically. Whilst it was nice, it was not exactly the waterfall experience we were going for. After 15 or so minutes, we gave up hope we would intersect the other track retraced our steps. Unfortunately, we timed our arrival back on the main track with the next wave of people from (presumably) the next bus. So our tranquillity plan was also trashed. But with the “wave” nature of people coming from the bus, it was only necessary to wait for a few minutes and peace and quiet returned. From that point on, we followed the path.

Galovački buk, the second largest waterfall

The lower lakes provide spectacular views

The park is centred about boardwalks which traverse the 16 lakes, the 12 upper lakes, with many smaller cascades and the 4 lower lakes, with more “showy” waterfalls. The total height drop is 133 metres, with the largest single fall (Veliki slap) coming in at 78 metres. Needless to say, the stage is set for some pretty water features. And in reality, it was simply astonishing. The colour of the lakes and falls contrasted against the green of the land and the yellows and reds of the surrounding rocks is really something special. The volume of water moving is not that great, meaning all the lakes remain quite still, allowing for the reflections to make everything even prettier. We wound down the hill and made our way to the ferry which is used to cross the lake Kozjak, which is the largest lake, but with not much action on it. This took us to the “lunch spot”, where there are a few shops selling the same food and countless benches. We smashed some lunch and continued to the lower lakes.

As I mentioned, the lower lakes are the supposedly more spectacular lakes/falls. Our first impression was that there were many more people. As the first car park is essentially at the base of the lower lakes, it meant there were a large number of people climbing up the boardwalk, along with all those descending. This lead to frequent traffic jams, particularly around the photogenic spots. But one of the most special aspects for me was not the grand cascades which seemed to be receiving the bulk of the attention, but rather the smaller ones which snake their way between the trees and their roots, flowing over mossy rocks and alike. It is really a special place. There is a cave system which is not accessible other than walking through the hollow connecting the canyon top to the river, but the view from the top is spectacular. The trail really bottlenecks at the ultimate feature of the trail, Veliki slap, with benches set up for group photos alongside people having lunch there, which is despite the fact the area can hold of order 100 people and an entrance walkway only 2 metres wide makes for one hell of a party. The smart choice was to not backtrack but rather continue, walking on a path which followed the cliff-tops next to lakes, which lead us back towards lake Kozjak. This walk was nice as there were very few people (mainly as it is not focused on waterfalls) but really allows you to see all the scenery of the area and gain an appreciation for how blue the water is! We followed this track to the lake and continued all the way back to the car park, as it was not far from the park closing time. We managed to acquire a cup of blackberries along with an apparently traditional cherry/cream cheese, which were overpriced, but equally overly-delicious.

I would say my only gripe about the park (other than the volume of people) is the fact you cannot swim! You are not allowed to swim (and for good reason), but it is absolutely demoralising when you are roasting in the sun and the swimming hole is most likely the most inviting you will ever see. But the aforementioned 3 days as advised by the lonely planet is not necessary. We actually would have preferred to not stay the extra night here, and head somewhere else, but we had already organised to stay two nights. So once we returned to camp, we had a bit of extra time so we managed to sneak in a few quiet beers and again sleep like champions.

Time to Split

Awaking to people shouting is annoying at the best of times, but when it is people just swearing and giggling afterward, that begins to push the envelope. Our neighbours awoke at around 0600 and were speaking what I think was Hungarian – but I cannot be sure – but every tenth word was an English swear word, which was yelled. This lasted for about 30 minutes before we got up and they went back to sleep. We did have a brief exchange while one of the guys got up and was booting a football into their tent at the other guy, and he asked us if we could give them a lift to Zadar. Regretfully I told him we were not going there, but rather we were heading to Split. Shortly after we had packed and we headed back on the highway.

Our ultimate aim for the day was to get to Hvar Island, which is most easily accessed via a ferry from Split. We wanted to also have a look around Split, as we had heard it was very pretty. This was a fair bit of back-tracking, but that is not so bad, as the scenery is really pretty - as has already been described. The only event of note was a guy walking on the road in the middle of nowhere dragging a massive cross with him. We kept our eyes out for churches, but saw nothing, so we had no idea where this guy was making a pilgrimage to – maybe he was off to crucify himself or someone else? Who knows?

We arrived in Split about midday and headed straight for the ferry to buy our tickets. Unfortunately, the map we had was not great in towns, so we were guided solely by the city signage. This caused us problems for two reasons: firstly, the road system is crazy and, secondly, it is poorly marked. I would highly advise not driving in Split, as it is infuriating. But we found our way in the end. We purchased the tickets and asked what time we should be here for boarding and she said loading starts at 1330. So we went off, found a parking spot – which was non-trivial and involved a 10 minute walk to find change for the parking meter – and headed into Split. The old town is really rather small, but is really pretty. Like all cities in the region, this was walled, and like all other days of the holiday, it was clear skies and seriously toasty. We made our way to the main event, so to speak, Diocletian's Palace. It is a beautiful palace built at the turn of the fourth century. Like the rest of the city, it is built with limestone which has weathered ever so nicely, leaving everything super smooth. After looking around there we really just ambled through the narrow streets and corridors of the city, which was definitely a great way to see the city. But as we were a bit pressed for time, we headed back to the car so we could get on the ferry.

We arrived at the ticket booth area to an absolute circus; there were people and cars everywhere, and we could not figure out what the heck was happening. Insert 5 minutes of stress and illegal driving manoeuvres here and it turned out that when we purchased our tickets, we should have entered the line for the ferry at that moment, which snaked its way (unmarked) through the docks. Instead we were at the base of a kilometre long line of cars. Little by little the line dwindled; I was convinced that we were never going to get on. But this ferry is big. So as time passed, we got closer and just as we were reached the front of the line, close enough to get your hopes up, of course they stopped loading. At least we were at the front. There was another ferry in a few hours, so we grabbed our gear and headed back into town. But there was someone a few cars behind us who clearly was not having a bar of it, and was just abusing the boatman. Even after the boat left, so was still having a go. She definitely had a screw or two loose!

After some lunch in Split, lounging around in a park and an ice-cream, we came back to the car and were literally the first car on (which had its downsides, when we were the last car off) but at least we were on. The ferry is just like one big seedy bar, including plasma televisions and seriously overweight individuals. 2 hours later, we were arriving at Stari Grad and we headed straight off to find a camping spot. We headed East, not far past Jelsa and found a nice spot, set up camp and then headed into Jelsa for some dinner. We arrived for sunset, which was really pretty, as one can see the mountains of the mainland dwarfing this lovely little village. It was a delight to wander the small winding streets and see the tiny town church; I would really recommend it. We found a lovely somewhat hidden restaurant for dinner, which gave us some of the local spirit upon our departure on the house, which was ruthlessly strong, but all part of the experience. We headed back to our camp site and called it a day.

Hvar good time

Today was our first day without a real plan. We had planned to camp on the other side of the island, somewhere near Hvar, but that was it. So after packing up our tent and rolling out, we decided to go to the southern side of the island, to see Zavala and find a beach. At first sight, this would seem a non-trivial task, as there is a massive ridge which separates the north and south parts of the island, with very little on the south side. We took the turn off and we were pleasantly surprised by the road quality; a brand new, extra wide two-lane road. Considering where we were going, winding through the hills to this tiny town, it made little sense (given the state of the road elsewhere on the island) but I was going to take it. Needless to say, just after I commented on how nice it was driving on a good road, it dropped to a heavily degraded single lane road, encased by buildings and resulting in super stressful driving. It was very reminiscent of Corsica, particularly the very pretty hillside town of Pitve. We soon arrived at the one of the most oldschool tunnels I have seen. It was quite cool. Obviously there is no need for a massive tunnel most of the time, so there is a single straight tunnel drilled through the mountain, about 2km long and only a little wider than a single car. Obviously this means that you have to wait until you have right of way and then there is a 30 second window to enter the tunnel. On the other side there is a rather steep and windy decent into town, but it is very pretty. We drove to the end of the road, which placed us at a lovely little beach – which did have a nice looking cocktail bar near-by, but it was a bit early. We had some good snorkelling, but strangely this kid was also snorkelling, and decided that he would follow us, and very closely at that, so on a number of occasions I either swam into him, or kicked him. But he didn’t seem to mind.

After some lounging around, we decided to continue exploring. We headed back to the north side of the island and then in the vague direction of the northern cape. We past the town of Vrboska and headed to the point. As we approached, it turns out that the entire point is a camp site called Kamp Nudist, which wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, so after a quick retreat we saw a sign near-by for a beach and fort, so we ditched the car and headed down. This turned out to be a great decision; the fort left a bit to be desired as small ruined tower would have been a much more apt description, but the beach was probably the nicest of the entire trip. The walk was a little rough to get there, particularly in thongs, but we arrived to a secluded cove with calm waters. It was perfect for snorkelling, but of course we had left the snorkels in the car! Regardless, we had our lunch and just swam around, enjoying the serenity. Upon reflection, it was the times like these I rate most highly from our trip – just finding a nice private place and relaxing.

Upon returning to the car, we loaded up and set out for Hvar. It is a bit of a drive, but along the main road it is not hard. The tunnel on this route was much more modern and subsequently less fun, but the coastal driving was nice. The towering cliffs would have been a rock climber’s paradise and indeed every few kilometres there were climbing sites/companies. That being said, only a lunatic would climb at that time of year and thankfully we saw no one doing so. We arrived in Hvar, dumped the car and headed into the old town, perched on the harbour. I had read that Hvar is the place to be if you want to show off how rich you are, and there was plenty of this going on. Luxury yachts lined the harbour, with everyone sitting on deck with the “observe us, peasants” attitude; really not my scene. But ignoring that, the town is really quite pretty. Very small, but that adds to its charm. We had a wander around and then headed up to Fortress Španjol, which dominates the town. Seated atop the hill, watching over the town, one gets a nice view from the top, but the entry fee was something ludicrous, so there was a big group of people milling around the lookout area, which one can access without paying anything. We headed back down and found a market to purchase some fruit; some local grapes and berries, which were delicious and I was amazed to see the weight measurements were still made with counter-weight scales!

We wanted to find a place to camp and then head out for an afternoon/evening swim. There is a site near-by Hvar, which we went to, but like the town itself, it was luxury camping. Pools, tennis courts and all other bells and whistles, but no option for only sleeping and thus prices were plain silly. So we decided to head back to the heart of the island and find another spot. On our way back, we stopped at Zaraće for some swimming. A very steep decent down to the point and an artificial barrier makes two lovely coves for swimming, one of which is private and the other has an bar/restaurant overlooking it. So we had a nice swim and a (delicious) beer before continuing to camp.

We found a camp site just outside of Stari Grad, so pitched here and then headed into town for some dinner. Stari Grad is another relatively pretty town, but really has nothing on its neighbouring towns. We found a nice place in the centre to have dinner, which was nice but there was a family of 4 Germans sitting next to us for the entire duration our meal, who spoke for about 2 minutes when deciding what to get and then sat in silence for the rest of the time (approximately and hour and a half) which I thought was just bizarre.

Trogir happy

The mission today was to get back on the mainland. The first ferry was at 0600, the next at 0900 and then at 1200. We figured we would have an easy morning, so we aimed for the 1200. We packed our stuff and headed east, to find a morning swimming spot. We ended up not far past the place we camped on the first night, on the way to Humac. There appeared to be the remnants of a café or bar built upon the beach, but it had long been abandoned. There was a big jetty in the centre which made for a nice diving spot. We remained here and then headed for Stari Grad to get in the line for the Ferry – we were not making the same mistake as last time. We arrive at about 1110, and were greeted by a massive line. It was the same deal as last time, lots of cars, lots of people and only a sprinkling of patience. I was convinced that we were going to make it, but what we didn’t know is on certain ferry services, trucks delivering goods have priority, and all the trucks that had made the morning deliveries were on this service. So again, we did not make the ferry, but we were close to the front. This time though, there was not a town near-by, only the island's “shopping centre”. So we nipped in there, purchased some supplies and made some lunch and had some beer while we waited for the next ferry. When it arrived, we were again loaded at the start and put in the spot which meant we were going to be unloaded last, I guess because our car was small.

2 hours passed and then we were back on the mainland, and we were getting out of Split in a hurry. Not to say it is not a nice place, but the traffic is crazy and if you are not in the old town, there is not much to see. We followed the coast in a north-west direction, and only a little bit out of Split, we stopped in the town of Trogir. Due to missing the ferry and taking the ferry, it was already latish afternoon, so we decided that we would visit one thing properly for the day. We found a car park, dumped the car and headed toward the town. Trogir is sold as “the island city” which is a true statement, but what I imagined from this statement and what I saw are very different. The island is a true enough island, but the separation from the main land is about 10 metres. It is not a large island, so the city has engulfed the entire island, but the historic section is only covers one half. It was first settled in the 3rd century BC, so it is old, but after numerous razings, the oldest buildings date from the 13th century. The tiny winding streets are a joy to walk around, particularly in the older quartier. The density of churches is very high, with the cathedral of St. Lawrence being the main attraction. We simply ambled around the town for a while, as there is plenty to see. On the other end on the island is Kamerlengo Castle, which is pretty impressive, but there was nothing going on there other than the castle.

After we had had our fill of Trogir, we were obliged to buy some drinks so we could get change to pay for our parking and then we went in search of a campground. We ended up in Vranjica, which is essentially a town based around a campsite. It was huge, but quite nice. As it was a bit out of the way and it had its own beach, bars and restaurants, we decided to stay here for the evening. We went down to the beach, had what would be our final swim in the Adriatic and then had some beers whilst watching the sunset. It was not too bad. Afterwards we went to the restaurant for some dinner and then hit the hay.

Crying babies on a plane

Our return flight was scheduled for the early afternoon, so we had time to fit in a morning adventure. We decided that we would just follow signs to a random town and hope we came across something cool. We headed through the port town of Marina and turned off in the direction of Vinišće. Other than a large number of signs indicating that there were boars in the area, we did not see so much. When we pulled into town, there was really nothing there; a single restaurant with a large car park. We turned around and by that time we had to head to the airport, and we were keen to have a half hour or so in the bank since we missed our flight to Croatia.

We arrived at the airport and things went pretty smoothly. We had a bit of time to spare, so we went to the only restaurant for some lunch, which was garbage. The only thing that rivalled the food was the service. With some remaining cash, we visited the duty-free outlets which were all selling the generic items one finds in an airport (Toblerone, Haribo, etc.), of which we spent our remaining money on. We actually went over, meaning we had to pay about 3€ in addition to the rest of our Kuna, but the lady was nice enough to say don’t worry about it, telling us to “make it up next time”, which was really nice.

Our flight was not direct to Paris, but rather via Prague with Smart Wings, whom I had never flown with before. It turns out that it is a conglomerate airline, comprised of about 25 smaller airlines. Our first flight was with a Russian airline, which was fine, but the plane looked like it had seen better days. The killer was the fact the in the seat behind us was the spawn of Satan himself, who was crying up an absolute storm the entire time, which at sporadic intervals caused the baby across the aisle from us to pipe up. It was so loud and continuous that all people could do was laugh; we could not even hear the announcements over the PA. With elevated blood pressure, we landed in Prague. After transferring as passing through the most thorough security I have ever been through (which took forever) we found a place to have a beer and some chips before our flight. As we sat there, we watched a monstrous storm roll in, blanketing the airport with lightning and some light flooding. Needless to say we were delayed. So both our flights from and to Paris were delayed from a storm. Was it the same storm; one which had a personal vendetta against us? No, as that is ridiculous.

A few hours later, we arrived back in Paris, to possibly one of the most French things I have ever seen, and something I will not soon forget. It was August the 4th, meaning the holiday season in France had started. For those unaware, in August, basically the whole of France goes on holiday and the place shuts down. So as we go to pass through customs, from an international flight from a non-E.U. country, there was a sign saying summer hours 0800-1800, so everyone was free to go through. In the context of France’s major concerns about immigration, both legal and illegal, particularly from either Eastern Europe or Middle-East, this is nothing short of hilarious.

Croatia

After a long voyage, I like to attempt to sum up my experiences. We had a few teething problems getting to Croatia, but once we arrived, we were very welcomed. If anything, we were too welcomed; it was all too easy. It makes sense: the country is very pretty, it has a huge coastline with crystal clear water and more islands than one could ever hope to visit; it invites tourism. Everything is set up so anyone can visit and function facilely, but this is detrimental to the “real” Croatia. Whilst the landscape, weather and food were definitely Croatian, there is a lot that is not so Croatian. This can be said about anywhere in the world nowadays, but it felt especially strong for me here. But when you can manage to wash away the tourist coating and see the real Croatia, in all its glory, that is something truly special and something that is really worth experiencing.

Adventures