From Sunny Sorrento to Cloudy Croatia.
I was very fortunate in 2017 to have two holidays to Europe. One for my sister's wedding and another, a more traditional week away, with my fiance, Pamela. We had been interested in Croatia for a while. We've never heard of anyone that dislikes it. In fact, when you speak to someone who's visited Croatia, you often find that they only holiday in Croatia after that. So when we found a fairly cheap week at the start of September, we pounced. We'd be staying in a town called Vrsar (the English holiday rep pronounced it as "Vi-SAAR) in the Istrian peninsula which is in the north west of the country.
Of course, as far as this blog is concerned, that means a load of new photographs and somewhere new to talk about. I was also quite surprised, having done a bit of research, that there wasn't a load of photographs of the area online. Even the TUI website had a "coming soon" message in the area gallery. So I thought this might be an opportunity to get some photos of an area that relatively few people had photographed.
We were very much looking forward to it. I've mentioned before but I've been all over the place, really. About 6 years ago, I travelled around the Eastern Hemisphere for just under a year. Before that, most of my travelling was around Europe for football matches. And before that, we used to do quite well out of family holidays to Europe, visiting, Spain, Italy, Malta and various other places in the Med. Pamela has not done much travelling. In fact her first holiday that took her out of the UK was with me when we went to Turkey, just before I started college. One of the things I remember about Turkey was that when we arrived, we find ourselves at the tail end of some of the worst weather they'd ever experienced and got a few spells of thunder and lightning. Maybe we're cursed...
As if you you haven't worked out already, the weather wasn't great. It wasn't ruinous either, in all honesty. It did mean that some of our planned activities got cancelled, though.
Day One: The journey from Scotland to Croatia was a pretty pleasant one. Certainly compared to the travel to Sorrento in July. The airport was much quieter, the flight was only just over two hours, the airport over there was tiny so we were through in no time and the minibus to the hotel only took half an hour along the motorway. It should have been longer as we were to be the last off the bus. We had heard the TUI rep talking to the driver about the order of the passengers before she left to join another bus. Clearly, the driver had other plans and we went from last to first and arrived quickly. We weren't about to complain.
Arriving at the hotel reception, we were told that we had been upgraded to one of their newly furnished apartments. We always joke that we should tell everyone that I'm a famous travel photographer/writer in the hope that we'll get preferential treatment. So this gave me an excuse to claim that they must had heard of me.
Now, our upgraded apartment was lovely and came with a double balcony that looked over the bay. It was however, up a seemingly never ending hill and quite honestly, we should have just asked for our original room back. But we were seduced by the view and extra space so said nothing. By the end of the week, we were dealing with it better but it caused Pamela quite a bit of pain that in retrospect, could have been avoided pretty easily.
When we looked out across the town, this was our view. You can already see the mix of dark clouds and harsh sunlight. We found that most towns in the area followed a similar template. A church would be at the top of a hill, with buildings cascading downwards from that.
We went for a walk around the resort to get our bearings. We picked a place next to the harbour to get some lunch. One of the good things about certain countries in Europe is how cheap things are compared the UK. Even with a fairly poor exchange rate, we were able to get lunch for two people at the waterfront for a good bit less than you'd pay in any run of the mill chain restaurant in a retail park in Scotland.
It was at lunch that we got our first taste of the weather. What had started off as broken cloud cover soon developed into a storm that had the restaurant staff frantically grabbing stuff from the outside area and bringing it in. They also called to passers by to tell them to seek shelter in the restaurant. At first I thought it was a great way to capitalise on poor weather, but the staff seemed happy to let people sit and ride it out. The storm passed as quickly as it arrived so we continued our little tour of the area and headed back to the room to get some sleep before dinner.
We got lucky with the weather at night. There was a lightning storm every night we were there but managed to avoid getting caught outside in it every single time. Sometimes by just a few minutes. But our evening meals would remain mercifully undisturbed by the rain. And what a relief that was. Our hotel put on an all you could eat buffet with loads of meats, salads, sauces, breads, pastas etc. My mouth is watering thinking about it. It really was excellent. The staff would cook the food right there in front of you before adding it to the buffet. I ate like a king for a week. The best thing was taking random foods and putting them together to see what would happen. Who ever serves pasta carbonara with chicken and beef steak? Nobody, sadly. But I tried it and it was amazing. I might look into cooking that actually. It sounds great when I say it again.
Day Two and I was up early to do my now customary walk around the town at sunrise. It really is the best time to get a look at things and get your bearings. Not only is the light magnificent at that time (you can see the nice, blue sky as well) but with no one around, you're free to go wherever you like without intruding on people. I think a place comes alive once the hustle and bustle kicks in but you'll learn lots from seeing a place when you're the only soul about.
The church was the main destination for this walk about. It's obviously the main attraction of the skyline and is beautifully maintained. There wasn't an information board in English but it doesn't seem to be that old. At least parts of it were built in the 50s.
In general, Croatia is a pretty clean country. If you've ever been to certain places in Spain or Greece, you'll be familiar with the fairly frequent bad smells that get carried by the wind. There's none of that. There isn't litter in the streets, very little graffiti, we saw no drunken behaviour or any hint of crime in our time there. Though as you can see above, some of the buildings in the older parts of town don't get the attention they deserve so it's not a complete paradise.
From there, I visited Casanova's look out. I can't say I know too much about him, other than that he has a bit of a reputation with the ladies but it seems he'd take his dates here and make his moves. Given that people didn't have toothpaste or their own hair due to nits back then, my guess is that his moves must've been quite special.
You can see our hotel from here. Just above that row of orange buildings by the water side.
When I got back to the hotel and sat on the balcony, I was amazed to look out and see the Alps. It was the first time we'd had a sky clear enough to see that far. I didn't even notice them at first as I thought they were clouds. That was as pleasant a surprise as you could get on an already nice morning. It was actually the second time I'd seen them in the year as we flew over them on the way back from Sorrento. So as well as a lovely view of the town, our upgraded room came with a view of the Alps. Maybe that climb wasn't so bad after all.
The rest of the day was spent mostly by the pool. I say 'by' rather than 'in' because it was one of the coldest swimming pools I've ever encountered*. It was to be heated by the sun and there simply wasn't enough of it. I lasted a minute or two before giving up (before my heart did) and settled for sleeping on the sunbeds.
* The actual coldest swimming pool I ever encountered was in New Zealand. We had gone there during the transition from autumn to winter, although there was an unseasonably warm spell at the time. Relatively warm, that is. We arrived at a campsite and noticed there was a pool. I asked the guy at reception if I could use it, since it was a nice day. Relatively nice, that is. He told me that I could, but warned against it as it wasn't heated. "Don't worry, mate, I'm Scottish" I replied, in what might've been the most stupid thing I've ever said, in retrospect. So I wandered along to the pool and dived in without so much as testing the water with my foot. My entire body seized up under the water while I tried in vain to scream from the pain. I left the pool as quickly as I entered it in a manner that in my head appeared to be like a penguin leaving the sea while being chased by an Orca, but in reality was probably more like a walrus falling out of a washing machine. I lay on the ground shivering and mumbling for god knows how long before eventually managing to get back to my feet and stagger back to the campervan. The only mercy was that no one was there to see it. As far as I know. Not my finest hour.
We did go out on a glass bottomed boat and saw nothing other than several thousand jellyfish. Looking back through my photos, I have three shots to get the exposure correct and then didn't bother taking any photographs after that as there simply wasn't anything to look at. The clouds gathered.
The evening consisted of dinner and an aborted attempt to go dolphin watching. Dolphins are so common in the area that most tours offer a money back guarantee if you don't see any (presumably they like jellyfish). Unfortunately, arriving at the boat, we were told that the tour was off due to bad weather. The skipper told us that other boats would attempt to go out but that we would be best avoiding this as it would be dangerous. I took his word for it. He looked like he'd been sailing all of his life and if there's one thing I've learned from watching various Youtube videos about people living on yachts, it's that you don't mess with the sea. We would try again the next day. We watched some of the tours go out from our balcony. They soon returned. Whether they were inexperienced skippers or trying to get out of refunding money, I don't know.
As was customary by this point, we got thunder and lightning in the evening.
Day Three started much the same way as the previous. I had seen people climbing about a hill in the previous two days and had found out that it was a lookout point. So that was my destination.
The weather was not nearly as glorious as day two. It was dry for the most part but clearly wasn't going to stay that way. Sill, it created some nice, dramatic looks over the town.
There was a quarry area where someone was making a load of sculptures. The town has loads of them dotted about. I dunno if it's the same person but they all seem to come from this quarry.
More than a few people took the opportunity to profess their love for someone or other.
It rained for the rest of the day. This was as close as I got to a dolphin tour. The guy let a few of us sit on the boat and wait. In the end, the rain had put too many people off. As only 6 of us had turned up, it wasn't viable for the guy to sail. Frustrating, but understandable. I considered looking for another boat to see if they were waiting for people to show up but the harbour was empty so it would have been pretty pointless. I returned to the room.
As much as the weather was a disappointment, it did at least give me something pleasant to look at. Our balcony was high above everyone else at the resort and at the end of the block. It meant we were totally isolated from everyone and sheltered from the rain. I often sat outside, watching the storms come and go. It was quite serene. Storms in Scotland means high winds and terrible temperatures. It was still warm enough to sit outside in t-shirt and shorts even during the worst of the weather so that's exactly what I did.
Besides, the next day, we had booked a trip out of Croatia, to visit Venice. It's only an hour away by ferry and you can get a day trip there through the tour rep. I've been to Venice three times in my life, although the last time was nearly 20 years ago so it would be nice to visit as an adult and outside of the busy season. It would be an early rise (pick up at 6am) so an early bed was in order.
Day Four: We did not go to Venice. When we woke up and headed to reception, the weather was lovely. A great day to go for a trip to such an iconic city. But it turned out that the weather out at sea was not so pleasant and the trip was cancelled. I don't have an issue with that. By this point I was used to having my sailing trips cancelled, anyway. What wasn't so great was that no one told us. The tour company obviously had our details as they were coming to pick us up at the hotel front door. So why they didn't phone ahead and tell the receptionist, I'll never know. After various phonecalls to 24 hour hotlines, we gave up and went back to bed feeling a bit dejected.
A little later and the weather was nice again. I decided to take a wander to one of the regions biggest attractions. The nudist camp. Nudism is a big thing in Croatia and our resort had huge camps to the north and south of it. I went south, having been told there was a pleasant walk around an island on that one. I checked beforehand that it was ok to go with clothes on and headed off. I would have my camera but would be keeping it in the bag unless there was something (non-nudist related) that I felt the need to photograph.
Now to be honest, I was in two minds about going. I did want to check it out and see what I giant nudist camp looks like but I don't want to be watching people while they wandered about naked. I figured that I wouldn't be doing any harm if I just walked through it and didn't park myself to get an eyeful. So that's what I did. The place was huge, though. And the weather was great, so it was more than a little tiring.
At the far side of the island on a little deserted beach I found these sculptures. I'm not sure what they're supposed to represent. Maybe the person is a fan of candles?
Camera away again, I walked the mile or two back to the hotel. Despite being out of season, there really were a lot of naked people. Nudism isn't something I'm particularly interested in trying (I don't hate other people enough to subject them to the sight of me in the scud) but it's kinda cool to see loads of people who don't care what people think of them gathered in one place, not giving a damn together. And playing volleyball.
After a second day of sunning ourselves by the pool it was back to watch the evening storms from the balcony. I was actually beginning to enjoy the routine. It did stop us from going out to a bar and getting chatting to people, which was always a holiday ritual for us growing up. But seeing as I don't drink and Pamela only does on occasion it didn't seem like a huge loss.
Day Five was another nice day although there was some rain at some point. It's the day my camera started malfunctioning. Or rather a lens did. I'm not sure whether the camera damaged the lens or vice verse but either way it's an issue that started here that didn't really come to a head until very recently. Right now my camera is being shipped back to Nikon to get repaired. Essentially the aperture on one of the lenses was stuck wide open and now the camera can't change aperture on any of my lenses. It was intermittent at first so it took me a while to realise what was going on. I did know that my expose was off, though so I didn't use the camera too much that day. I got a few at lunch, though.
There were some glass ceilings in the hotel that were now covered in water. The mix of the water and the sun hitting the angles above was impossible not to photograph.
And the view from the balcony once again. I photographed that view a load of times, at different times of day and in different weathers. It probably won't surprise you that this one was my favourite.
Day Six was a coach trip to finish off the holiday. The welcome pack provided by TUI called it "A taste of Istria" and the rep explained that we would be given a fairly whistle stop tour of the area, getting a look at two of the major attraction in the region. Stop one would be in Rovinj. Stop two would be Pula. I didn't know too much about Rovinj (sounds like, Ro-VEEN) but I knew that Pula had a huge amphitheatre in better condition than the Colosseum in Rome so that was pretty much a done deal. Ordinarily, going alone is better than in tours but since we were new to the country and hadn't really had a chance to see it because of the bad weather, we felt it would be a good introduction to Istria.
The weather forecast was for rain. We didn't see a drop all day. What we did see, was Rovinj.
Apparently the Venetians used to rule over Istria back when they were in the position to rule over things. It's still relevant today because Italian is the second language. All the people speak it as fluently as they speak Croatian and all the road signs are in both languages, too. From the little I saw of Croatia, I think you can visualise that best in Rovinj (also known as Rovigno).
It follws the same pattern that the other towns in the area do. Church tower at the top with the old town pouring down the hill into the water. The part you see here juts out into the water so that only one side of the tower looks down onto land.
It really was beautiful. This is the view as you round the corner into the harbour and it stops you in your tracks.
Look at the way those buildings open out onto the water. It's like something out of a movie. I'd love to get a look at the inside as well to see if they're as ramshackle as they are on the outside.
Our tour would take us through the old town and up to the church at the top of the hill. It was quite a walk and we decided to take it at our own pace, even if it meant missing out on some of the commentary.
When we arrived at the church at the top of the hill, it was shut. So the closest I got was sticking the camera through the bars and taking a photo one handed. Seems like a nice place, as well. As far as I could tell, it was meant to be open but the old man that opened it was running a bit later than expected. I think they have a casual relationship with opening hours in Croatia as it wasn't the first time we found ourselves in a situation like this.
We hung around for a while to see if the guy would show up but it didn't happen. It was quite amusing as by this point we were not the only tour group here so all these guides were running about trying to apologise/stall for time/inform/give up all at the same time.
When we did finally give up, we headed down the other side of the peninsula. We decided from this walk that we'd come back and have a holiday in Rovinj one day. It is very much like Venice at times. A clean, Venice.
Doesn't that look like a great place to sit and have lunch? Maybe next time.
It was here we had a small break from the tour. We had been dispersed in the main harbour part of town. I knew that the cafes there would be the most overpriced, over crowded in the town and wouldn't work too hard to keep your custom. So I quickly grabbed the guide and asked for his recommendation.
He took us there personally and had a coffee with us. I'm gutted that I can't remember his name. He was a really nice guy that normally worked as a translator in Austria during the winter months and did this during the summer. He spoke 5 languages (though he included Croatian and Italian which is kinda cheating since you don't get a choice in that), although there was one quirk of his English that got more than a few laughs on the bus. The church on the hill that wasn't open, is the resting place of a young girl in a sarcophagus. We were told this story on the bus as we approached the town. Now, 'sarcophagus' isn't the easiest word to say, even if your native language is English so it must be really quite challenging when you've learned later in life. Well, he pronounced 'sarcophagus' as, 'Sarko fuck' and that had half of the bus giggling away as we got the story. I didn't have the heart to tell him and I wonder how many others have felt the same way and left him to mispronounce it over the years.
He discussed with us how young Croatians in his area are faced with a choice mainly of studying agriculture or getting into the tourist industry. This is the kind of thing you rarely hear when you go somewhere on holiday, unless you're able to chat to locals in an informal setting. It was really interesting to hear about the 'real' Croatia, away from the boat tours and people trying to woo you into eating in their restaurant.
I had planned on buying the coffee but he was sneaky and paid for it when he nipped to the toilet. He left his brightly coloured umbrella that he was using to identify himself in a crowd so we took that back for him. I did suggest that it might be quite funny to see the look on his face if we just left it there and told him that he'd forgotten it when we got back to bus but I couldn't be that cruel.
We left Rovinj slightly reluctantly. Not as reluctantly as the couple who showed up tens minutes after the meeting time, despite having had it impressed upon us how important it was that we be on time. We were heading to the countryside for lunch and the place had a timetable that we had to adhere to. Thankfully, we arrived when we were supposed to and had a lovely meal. And met a donkey,
The next stop on the tour would be Pula. We'd been there before briefly as it's the location of the airport. The big attraction here is the Roman amphitheatre that sits right in the middle of the town. We flew over it on the way in but I couldn't appreciate it as I was feeling sick from the turbulence.
It's an impressive structure and in very good condition. There's a small museum underneath that gives a bit of info and leads into the giftshop but I was actually quite surprised at how subtle it was. Go to things in Rome, or most places actually and they have all sorts of touristy infrastructure in the surrounding area. This really didn't have that. It was refreshing to see but the capitalist in me couldn't help but think they could do more with it without turning it into a complete tourist trap. Maybe a few more information boards here and there would do.
All that was left to do after that was to wander the streets of Pula until it was time to go back. It was a nice place but not nearly as interesting or as beautiful as Rovinj. It didn't have the old town charm that was abundant in Rovinj. And we were there just as shops and markets were closing for the day so that didn't really help matters. As the tour guide arrived at the meeting point, I noticed his umbrella was missing. I asked where it was and he immediately turned and ran away back to the cafe where he'd left it. I'm guessing he spends a fortune on umbrellas.
All the chat in the bus was how people wished they were still in Rovinj.
And that's really all there is about our holiday in Croatia. Our flight was fairly early the next day so after the bus trip we returned home, had dinner and went back to the room to pack and sleep.
We'll definitely return to Croatia. It's a lovely place and the people are all lovely too. We never met anyone who was anything less than pleasant and there's definitely a whole load more for us to do there. Even in the same area (there was a dinosaur theme park 5 minutes away from us that I somehow thought was hours away so didn't investigate. My face when we drove by it on the way back to the airport must've been an amusing sight).
Two things of note happened on the way home. The first, was that we flew over Inchcolm Island, which was cool having visited there just a few weeks earlier. I grabbed a snapshot with my tablet from the plane window.
It's actually quite hard to see as it's the island closest to the mainland and was quite far away by the time my tablet booted up.
The other interesting story from the trip home was that while waiting for our luggage to appear on the conveyor belt, I saw a guy that looked like former F1 champ, Nigel Mansell. It was unlikely that he was on a budget package holiday to Croatia but, it really did look like him. "That guy looks like Nigel Mansell", I said, rather observantly to Pamela, who agreed. I mean it really looked like him. So just as a little helper person asked this guy if he had picked up the correct bag, none other than Nigel Mansell said, in his best Nigel Mansell voice, "Yeah, that's the one". And sure enough, it really was him. Presumably his private jet had landed at a similar time to ours.
As he walked away, he turned round and gave me a little wave, having heard me mention his name. I waved back rather more enthusiastically than he had. It soon became apparent that he was waiving to someone else.