Croatia – the land of semi-skimmed milk and honey
Tuesday, May 1
Camping Jezevac For anyone thinking of exploring Croatia in a motorhome, this isn’t a bad place to start at all. The site is an absolute model of camping perfection – wonderful shower blocks, plenty of hot water, big pitches, generally flat and, with the terracing, most of them have a reasonable sea view. The one we chose seemed like one of the better ACSI-enabled ones: it was nice and flat, with water on hand and even a makeshift set of steps up the side of the hill to the back of us which acted as a short cut to the loos. For about €5 we had access to a good tennis court while, when the weather was fine (most of the time, it has to be said), the site’s beaches had something for everyone. There was a dog-friendly section, an area for couples, one for families and, a little further around the corner, a little FKK section, for naturists. The pool was lovely but full of kids, all having a rare old time. Note to self: May Day is a holiday in most of Europe and in Holland, for example, the country usually takes a week or two off and has its first sunny break of the year... to Croatia, it seemed. Nevertheless, the atmosphere about the place was always lovely, never more so than at the very swish beach bar where we enjoyed a nice bottle of red on at least two occasions. For exercise and variety, we had a tough bike ride around the headland. Ironically, it brought us out about 500 yards from the camp entrance. Nevertheless, we’d seen a lot of the countryside around the region and the lovely coastline on this side of Krk. By midweek, we’d arranged with Zarko, now officially the world’s greatest car mechanic, to take the van to him on the following Wednesday when he would have the parts needed to sort out the front brakes. Wednesday, May 9 Camperstop, Senj We were up early, ready to get to the garage for 9am sharp, just as we’d been told. Sure enough, when we got there Zarko was ready to take the van off our hands, promising to have it ready within about 3-4 hours. In the meantime, we took our packed lunches and hiked down the hill to the beach and the rough and ready campsite alongside, now almost deserted after the May Day frenzy of the previous week, when we’d visited while the van was having its temporary fix. This time, there was an eerie stillness about the place, like it had been abandoned. Still, we found a couple keeping the beachside cafe clean and had a coffee there, lounged by the sea on the quayside and, before we knew it, three hours had gone and when we’d walked back up the hill to the garage the van was on a test drive. Within a few minutes, Zarko was back to talk us through the work he’d done – changing the front pads and discs, oh and he’d also had a look at the back brakes (they’d changed colour but we’re okay) and, for good measure, he’d sprayed oil on the back brakes to stop them squealing. “Just take it steady for the first 100km,” said Zarko, so we did and, on route to our overnight stop, everything was fine. No more drag on the uphill slopes, no more play in the handbrake and no more warning light on the dashboard. One more thing: as Zarko’s sister prepared the bill, we tossed around ideas of what the amount would be. Anything less than £600, we said, would be a result. The final bill – around £270 – felt like a resounding victory. Proper chuffed, we set off south in search of the next campsite. Just as we were getting close, at Senj (pronounced ‘Seniya’) we spotted a gathering of campervans right on the quayside below us. So, we investigated and found it be a lovely little camperstop (€16) and pitched up for the night. Senj itself is a lovely little fishing village, overlooked by a fine old castle and dotted with interesting little bars and restaurants. We had a drink at one before we loyally had a carafe of wine back at camp. After dinner, we fell in with a young Dutch couple, Eric and Celina, fresh from their journey around Montenegro and Dubrovnik. Over a couple of bottles of wine, they told us what they’d been up to and then, as they’d run out of gas back at their little tent, we warmed up a portion of soup for them and gave them a chunk of bread for their supper. You’ve got to do your bit for international relations in these troubled times, haven’t you? Thursday, May 10 Zaton holiday resort, Nin If we thought the 5-Star campsite at Krk was good, then the vast complex at Nin, further down the Adriatic coast, set the bar even higher. The size of a small town, it had everything you could need, including a main street full of bars, shops, restaurants etc. The private beach stretched for almost a mile and the pool complex was huge. Our pitch, a few lines back from the more expensive and non-ACSI beachside pitches, was shaded but large and well-serviced. It was flat, too, so we didn’t mind a cycle to the nearest town, Nin, which sits on an island just off the coast to which it’s connected by a number of bridges and causeways. A devastating flood here last year destroyed a lot of the historic defences which surround Nin but repair work was well under way and if we hadn’t seen the evidence on information boards on the way in we’d hardly have known. We explored the area and spent an hour or so dozing on a quiet beach before getting back on our bikes, doing a bit of shopping (why, oh why can’t we get skimmed milk anywhere? There’s nothing but semi-skilled on the shelves, plus racks and racks of locally made honey) and then, on our way back, we noticed an entrance to what seemed to be a well-defended military base. It turned out to be the back entrance to our site and by sneaking in through here we cut about three miles off our return journey. As a treat, we planned a dinner out for our last night and, instead of cycling back into Nin, we ate at the beachside restaurant at the site where we enjoyed a good helping of salmon and an enormous mixed grill. There were drawbacks, though, and we both felt the site was just too big. Not just that, but the tennis complex (12 clay courts, all empty, all day) was way overpriced and impersonal. The beaches, too, were just slabs of concrete laid at the water’s edge. There had to be better sites than this in Croatia, surely... Monday, May 14 Camping Krka, Krka ... this roadside, rustic camp on the road to Split was nice enough, but it wasn’t IT. We rocked up in the early afternoon and were shown to a shaded pitch near the smart toilet block. We did intend to spend a couple of nights here, allowing us time to have a look at the nearby waterfalls. But we decided to head for a campsite nearer to Split, but not before we’d had a very nice, authentic Croatian meal in the very charming and reasonable site restaurant. Tuesday, May 15 Camping Stobrek, Split Another long drive brought us to this busy and functional site, right on a lovely strip of coastline about five miles south of Split, Croatia’s second largest city. We got our bearings with a walk along the coast towards the city. It took us along the esplanade of the little village of Stobrek, up the hill past its charming little church and a succession of French-like clifftop coffee shops where, on the walk back, we had a beer overlooking an amazing beach in the distance washed by the most astonishing clear turquoise-blue water we’d ever seen, certainly on this trip. Typically, we hadn’t brought our costumes or towels along and Jane resisted my overtures to have a quick skinny-dip on this deserted stretch. On the Thursday, we took the bus which ran from outside the camp into Split and had a good two or three hours exploring this old Roman settlement, particularly the Diocletian Palace which seems to have transformed itself into an African-style bazaar, full of tourist shops, bars and restaurants shoe-horned into the archways and alleys alongside the museums which tell the story of this part of Croatia. There is obviously so much more to Split than this rather overblown forum but we didn’t have much time. Before we caught the bus, back, though, we did have one of the best little lunches we’d had so far, from a little kiosk selling fresh salads and sandwiches. In the evening, we took a walk around the headland to the north of the site where more upmarket bars, restaurants, hotels and marinas lay in wait for the more well-heeled tourist. Friday, May 18 Camping Nevio, Orebic On our relentless journey south to Dubrovnik, Croatia was staring to come into its own and the slightly disappointing impression we’d had so far, given our very high expectations, was starting to be replaced by a much warmer feeling, almost a constant ‘Wow’ in fact. This was reinforced by Camping Nevio, which had been recommended to us by a British couple we’d met on the bus into Split. We reached it by driving to Ploce and taking the short ferry crossing to Trabanj. This little hop enables you to avoid the 12-mile strip of Bosnia that you would otherwise have to drive through to get to Dubrovnik. And, as we didn’t have insurance for this little strip it was about the only option for getting south that we had. On arriving at the site, it seemed our bus friends were right, this one had the lot – free WiFi, free tennis court, free auto-toilet cleaner, amazing shower block and some of the best pitches we’d seen so far. After one night in a shaded spot, we leapt into a sea view position the next day when the German couple occupying it moved on. Once installed and with a fantastic view of the Adriatic over to the little islands off this coast, we felt ready to have at least a week here and use the time to take an excursion organised by a company with an office at the camp gate see Dubrovnik. Before that, though, we had time to walk down to the site’s own stretch of beach (a lovely shingle strip leading to more fantastic blue, clear water, perfect for swimming and snorkelling) and, on the Sunday, cycling into Orebic, the little town about 5km down the hill, from where a ferry can be caught to any of the five or six little islands in the sound off this stretch of coastline. The town – a village, really – is just a collection of apartments, villas, TICs and ferry ticket booths, all served by a seafront full of bars, restaurants and ice cream shops. It’s more charming than it sounds, honest. The camp, though, has all you really need. The steep climb down to the beach aside, there’s a lovely pool/bar/restaurant complex about 20m away (on the flat), there’s the tennis court (best one yet!) and the well-stocked supermarket just across the road. God, this really could be heaven. |
Pictured, from top: our pitch on the terraces of the well-equipped Camp Jezevac; six views of the town of Krk, the capital of the island; the waterside camperstop at the charming town of Senj; a church on the island of Nin; a deserted little cove near Strobek, Split; the Riviera-style seafront of Split; six views of Orebic, including the ferry from Ploce to the peninsula
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