2009/7 CROATIA

Croatia as the brochure says – ‘The Mediterranean as it once was’, and it is certainly one of the new tourist destinations.

We arrived in Zadar, Croatia, very early in the morning, expecting all sorts of hassles from customs because it is not EU here, but we were waved through with a smile. We were going through terrible withdrawal symptoms because we don’t have maps for the Navman for Croatia and had no maps of Zadar. Took the first park we could find and discovered that we were right in the heart of the old town, perfect for exploring, and so we did. A beautiful old town, lots of pokey alleyways with cafes and stylish shops, all paved in marble. Wonderful old churches, no entry for us because of David’s shorts and Joanna’s bare shoulders) and some Roman ruins, plus an amazing sea organ with a series of pipes that whistle and moan as the sea passes over them. Quite an eerie, haunting sound. It’s a compact town so the sightseeing was quick and the cafe sitting long. The way we like it really and David can pursue his local beer research.

         

We don't have any reference for speaking Croatian but with having learnt the words for hallo, thank you and beer we get by as Croatians make the effort to speak English unlike most Italians.  The money are ‘kuna’ at about 7 to the Euro, our reference money in Europe. We are obliged to stay at camp sites – no free parking allowed. So we have to find sites and pay about E15 for simple sites that we prefer up to E36 for the three star, often crowded large camp sites.

After Zadar we visited three National Parks in the ‘karst’ limestone country so typical of the mountains here. The first was the Paklencia Park where we tramped up a long canyon past climbers on the very impressive Anica Kuk massive with 700+m routes of 7c grade. Missed out on the cave/grotto – maybe next time. Next day the highlight, the Plitvicka Park half way between the coast and Zagreb. This is a water wonderland, fairy tale stuff with a dozen turquoise lakes in cascade with water tumbling over falls,over rapids, through the forest and a network of board walks.

Every corner there is a surprise with water spurting, tumbling, falling, and always the brilliant, turquoise lakes absorbing the translucent light of the sun. The park is very well organised with bus-trains to take you to the highest lake and a boat ride across the largest lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third park was the Krka park.  This is also a water feature but not so grand as Plitvicka, water sliding over travertines, all green and reflective with a waterfall in to the lake.  Also a hydro scheme with started in 1894 only a year after Niagara falls and a village with working flour mills, weaving etc. Joanna now claims to have added another word to her Croatian vocab – slap -meaning waterfall. That’s 4 words now. She doesn’t want to to see another waterfall for quite a long time. However wouldn’t have missed Plitvicka for anything.  

The drive between Plitvicka, inland, and Krka, on the coast was somewhat sobering as it ran close to the Bosnian border and there is still plenty of evidence of the civil war – burnt out houses, in fact whole villages burnt and deserted, bullet holes in walls. All very desolate and must have been desperate times for the locals.

Back on the coast we have mixed swimming and working on the tan with visiting a series of old towns.  They are all very appealing with a lot of similarities, narrow alleyways, marble paved streets, great fish restaurants and the most awful souvenir stalls. We have never seen such terrible tourist tat – we are not tempted to buy anything. I am sure that there must be a history of crafts such as lace making, weaving, pottery, wood work etc, but you don’t see it for sale. Anyway, enough of that. The towns are all different in their own ways and we enjoy spending time in each one. Many of them (Sibenik, Trogir, Split, Omis) are set on peninsulas or as the French say – presque ile, which adds to the charm and helps keep them isolated and intact. Omis was a very pleasant surprise as it is on a river mouth set against a backdrop of towering rock, enjoyed the campsite there and dinner in town (both had Octopus cooked in different ways. Down the coast a little further to Dvenik and took the ferry across to  the medieval town of Korcula on the island of Korcula, reputed home of Marco Polo. The town is again on a ‘presque ile’, well preserved, and with its imposing city wall, resembles a miniature Dubrovik. Another good lunch on the sea wall.

The island of Korcula has provided the highlight of our non-historic stay – a camp site on the NW shore at a place called Grscica.  This was a place recommended by the camper van‘s previous owner. Hard to find, but a paradise in a field next to the a small harbour, one other Slovenian camper and elderly owners.  Camped under the olive trees, 50m for a swim in the crystal clear waters.  In fact the clarity of the water is amazing due in part to the lack of sand and pebble only beaches. So our three days there were the great relax - several swims per day, cycling along the coast to the store for bread, or further along the coast etc, eating locally caught fish cooked on our barbeque in the shade of the trees – local wines, washed all the clothes and bedding, walk around the shore in the evening – relax, relax, how the time passes.

Have met briefly only one other English couple as here it is all local Croats, Slovakians, Czechs, Poles etc, all languages I cant even recognise, luckily the old couple in the campsite speak a little Italian. Lots of unfinished new houses, the ‘apartments to let’ business must not have gone as well as hoped and down the coast road there were people standing beside the road with ‘apartmeni to let’ signs everywhere. However on the island there are lots of abandoned hillsides complete with an elaborate system of stone walled terraces but this is a legacy of the great grape blight with was a disaster in Dalmatia and apparently over 1000 people left Korcula in one day to flee to Australia and NZ, and of course help form the basis of NZ’s wine industry west of Auckland.

Leaving Grscica was a tough decision but after a few glasses of wine with the 91 year old owner and his 80 year old wife we were off. We had a quick look at other little seaside resorts – can hardly call them resorts, just a collection of houses in a sparkling bay, but often only a narrow road to get to them – a challenge in our van especially passing the occasional car or truck, keeps the driver on his toes and the navigator tense.

Back to Korcula and a large camp site, but very pretty with views of the sea from our site and close to town. We caught the ferry across to Orebic on the long thin Peljecac peninsular and headed for the mainland with a brief stop at the rather surprising city of Ston, a small city inside castle walls but the walls continue right up and even over part of the mountains behind – one look up and we we gave up on a wall walk. A surprise for the night was a little ‘one star’ camp near Slano about 30km north of Dubrovnik.  We parked right on the beach, crystal-clear water  at our doorstep, and a tiny stone church a few metres away. Very quaint and picturesque. 

Now we are camped a few kilometres from the old part of Dubrovnik at a camp called Solitudo which it is not solitude at all but big, busy and expensive but only a short ride on the bus into town. Today we completed the obligatory walk all the way round the city wall , 2 kilometres long and lots of steps. The heat always makes these jaunts seem more physically demanding. However it was well worth the effort – great views.  All the city roofs have been repaired since the bombing 17 years ago. The city is a very impressive sight although lots of tourists this morning – three cruise ships docked, but they thinned out early afternoon. The wide main street and the squares with consistent and beautiful Venetian style architecture and the marble pavers, not to mention the stunning setting almost surrounded by the sea, all make for a memorable impression of one of the world’s great historical walled cities.

This is near the end of Croatia for us – we are booked on the overnight ferry to Bari, Italy tomorrow the  20th July.The proposed meeting up with Joanna’s sister Susan and her daughter Laura and husband Tane failed today, as they were not allowed on the ferry with a hire car from Italy and have decided to drive right round the coast. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow.

2009/6 Rest of Italy

Our last week in Italy has been spent exploring the south, on both coasts and through the countryside of Puglia. The coast varies between miles of flat, boring, beaches lined with umbrellas that you have to pay for, can be E25 for an umbrella and two loungers – we have invested in a E5 umbrella and sit on the sand, and wonderful rugged coast with the road carved into the cliff. Heart attack stuff to drive along. but the views are breathtaking. Joanna has honed up her navigational so she is now indispensible and unavailable to drive on these roads!

We met an English couple who were returning from Reggio down opposite Sicily and they convinced us it was worth the extra effort to go right down there. However after stopping for a swim at the next (Free) beach, in full view of us, about 50 metres away, Stan was broken into. Thank goodness for our newly installed alarm. As David raced to the van, the guys took off, and got nothing. However, they broke the lock on the door and we spent the next day organising bolts and then someone to install them. Not easy in a small town with our rudimentary Italian. David manages to draw on his time in the Sudan with Italian tunnellers 40 years ago. Joanna just speaks French with an i or an o on the end of each word. Stan is now a bit like Fort Knox with 2 magnificent brass bolts added to the door. Anyway it somehow put us off heading further south, so we headed cross country instead.

 

 

 

It was welcome relief from the hot, dry coast and as we moved up into the hills the countryside became more green and interesting. Spent time exploring the town of Matera, a troglodyte town built into the cliffs. Some quite elaborate houses and churches. The population of 20,000 were forcibly removed in the 1950s but it seems that it is being smartened up and quite a few moving back in. We enjoyed the visit but it was interrupted by an amazing thunderstorm that turned the streets into rivers and enforced us to take refuge in a handy bar – yet another beer! 

 

 

 

 

We passed through Martina Franca, an area with the unusual trulli houses (conical thick walled dwellings now having a bit of a comeback as holiday homes), and on to Ostuni- yet anther hill town ( we think that we have seen enough now!), but different architecture and very white. There must be a subsidy on white paint.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that we couldn’t help ourselves and back down to the coast to work on the tan! We are really enjoying the swimming and do a lot of reading on the beach. Actually we spend a lot of time just looking. The beaches are very different from ours. Row upon row of umbrellas, a multitude of sellers plying their wares – jewellery, hats, sunglasses, dresses, towels. Some of them wheel huge clothes racks along the beach. They are good at their job and seem to do quite well. Joanna got sucked into buying a couple of sun dresses. 

We have continued up the coast staying at a couple of different resort towns – San Margherita and Vesta. All Italian. We are wondering where all the other foreign tourists are. We thought we might bump into more at Ancona waiting to catch the ferry. But no – lots of Italians and us. We came here a day early to pick up our insurance Green card from the Post Office. Good old Poste Restante. David trudged downtown to the main PO this morning to find it hadn’t arrived. However after some anxious moments we have heard that it is there and we can pick it up this afternoon.

Have managed to fill in the day exploring what is known as the Conero Riviera, a  pretty stretch of coast just south of Ancona with countryside which resembles Tuscany, with a long leisurely lunch of lots of local seafood and a bottle of the wine of the region. Ancona is a surprise being clean and well laid out with pedestrian promenades and very animated,very nice. Catch the ferry to Zadar, Croatia late tonight.