DUBROVNIK - Croatia (Sat 27 June)

We left Sukosan and headed down towards Dubrovnik today. About a seven hour drive down a beautiful coastline on a stunning summers day. The rocky hillsides turned into solid lumps of rock and near vertical cliff faces on one side of the road and ‘beaches’ on the other. Looking out towards islands both small and very large set in the middle of the most amazing blue water. Every few kms we pass another very large marina, with big boats. It makes you wonder where all the owners are and where they come from. We also suspect that they don’t take ten years to get council consent to build these puppies.

We stopped at a few places along the way (where we could) for photos and a stroll. We stopped at one spot that looked out over a little peninsula with a town on it, of the style that we see here, white stone walls with terracotta rooftops. Set against the blue sky and water it looked amazing. Unfortunately when we got to the road edge and looked down there were some ugly abandoned rooftops that disrupted our photos so we decided to walk down what appeared to be a disused track, to the waters edge.

On the way down the track we passed a number of buildings that looked like they had been apartments that had been abandoned and stripped out. Suddenly we came out onto the beach, and this was a surprise in more ways than one. We had stumbled upon a nudist beach! The bodies that were there were not the most enticing to say the least, and by all appearances this wasn’t the first time that they had participated. So what do you do? We decided to smile and nod, and keep walking, hoping that the stares would abate. It’s funny how they managed to make us feel uncomfortable, when it was us that were fully clothed.

It seemed like it was a known spot for the locals, as when we walked further along the beach, the amount of clothing increased to topless, and then to standard beachwear. Despite the heat of the day we decided not to ‘hang out’ with the locals, so we ran the gauntlet back to the car.

Our next stop was a little place called Omis, just south of Split. A very cool little town that is dominated by the cliffs behind and the market down the main through street. The main attraction here seems to be the rafting and rock climbing that they do further up the canal/valley/canyon from the town. Our mission though was to find food, and so we headed into one of the back streets. As we were sitting there eating our pizza, two men came walking along the alley/road/walkway, carrying a coffin and went in a door and up some stairs almost opposite where we were sitting. We thought either someone had died, someone was about to die, or perhaps they had acquired it at bargain price. But no more than ten minutes later, a black shawl was hung out an upstairs window, and the coffin came out again carried by four men who led a procession down the street, which included wailing, black clad women. And we carried on eating our pizza. It was all rather surreal really. Like something out of a movie interjected into normal life.

A few more stops and a few more amazing little fishing villages and before you knew it we were in Bosnia. You have to cross through Bosnia to get to Dubrovnik. Crossing into Bosnia, the guards were very attentive, but perhaps that was because we stopped and I shuffled through our boot just before the border (I was just locating my passport … honest). What we saw of the Bosnia countryside was no different to what we had already been seeing, but the bullet holes in road signs was a bit of a give away. Leaving Bosnia, well they didn’t even look at us. We weren’t sure if we should stop and wait or just drive on. For the next few kms we expected to see flashing lights behind us, but no such excitement today.

The first sign that we had arrived in Dubrovnik was the bridge. It is a strange looking affair which is half suspension bridge and half … well, just bridge. On the approach to the bridge, you get a good view of the city you are about to enter.

Our first contact with one of the locals was a man standing at the lookout trying to flog off accommodation, or as they call it here, an ‘Apartmani’. This was a feature of the drive down, men, women, and children, holding out signs for ‘Apartmani’. On one hand it seems a little desperate that people should sit out there all day trying sell private accommodation, on the other hand we think good on them for competing with the large chain hotels.

We found our ‘Apartman’ on a side road only 25 minutes walk from the old city. The apartman itself was a surprise. We didn’t know what to expect as we had booked it online and it was cheap, with a shared bathroom. As it transpired, it was on the top level of a private home, and the bathroom is shared with the tenants of the other two rooms, but so far no one else has showed up. So we have a bedroom, a shared bathroom we don’t have to share, and a communal kitchen, with an oven (we haven’t had that luxury for a while), a large fridge and the view of the harbour is an added bonus.

After settling in we went for a walk around the old city. All I can say is ‘Wow! This is one of the best preserved medieval cities that we have seen. White stone, steep steps, large Piazzas, churches, etc, etc. Oh and also the 3^rd oldest pharmacy in Europe (just in case you wanted to know).

All these amazing buildings and architecture, despite the pounding that they received during the 1991-92 fighting with the Yukoslavs, Serbs and Montenegrans. There is a plan of the city here that shows where in the city rooves received direct hits, where they received shrapnel damage, where buildings were burnt down and where the walkways received direct hits. The map is littered with marks like confetti. It really must have been a horrific experience to have been living here at that time.

On our walk home we passed an endless line of bars, although that is a loose interpretation of the word. It seems that people convert their garages into bars and ask their friends around. It is more like, asking your friends around to sit on the half dozen seats on the street outside your garage, and then charge them for the drinks. It does make you wonder what came first, the friends or the drinks.

ZADAR - Croatia (Fri 26 June)

We headed back into Zadar today. One of the things that they promote here, is the number of churches in the old city. And they are great … from the outside. It doesn’t seem that any of them open for the public. There were some of the churches we would have liked to have gone in to, after all one of them holds St Simon’s relics.

The other great attraction here is the ‘Sea Organ’. Now this is very cool. Along the seafront there is a promenade that has been promenaded down for centuries. It has been built, rebuilt, extended, enhanced over the years and something that the locals are justifiably very proud of. This whole area was heavily bombed during WWII and the promenade was rebuilt (again) after that. At the channel end (where the ferries come in) there is now a ‘Sea Organ’. This is a series of pipes that run vertically and are built into the structure of the walkway. As the waves and wake wash up against the promenade, the pipes act as an organ playing a melancholy tune, changing pitch as the strength of the waves ebb and flow. Rather than a tune, it was more like the random wheezing of the ‘old man from the sea’. Not a very cheerful sound, but very cool. Nearby there is also a large circular area of solar panels. This completely powers the lights around the waterfront area as well as being a piece of art.

We finished the day by watching the sunset at the waters edge in Sukosan, after all when Alfred Hitchcock was here he said that the best sunsets in the world are in Zadar. Perhaps he was here on a different day.

ZADAR - Croatia (Thur 25 June)

We left the cigarette pit in Pula for Zadar today. It was a nice drive down via the coast road (about a six hour drive). The noticeable thing about the countryside here is how green it is, trees everywhere. It seemed very quiet and isolated. Despite being only a few kms away, you could not mistake this place for Italy. As we progressed down through the National Park, the hills turned to stone with clumps of trees sprinkled over them like icing sugar. We stopped at a couple of places on the way. Little fishing villages with the most amazing coloured water, exactly as you imagine it should be.

We got to Zadar with a bit of time to spare and so we had a quick look around the old city to orient ourselves, with a promise to come back tomorrow.

We headed towards our accommodation, and this is where it all got a bit complicated. The address that we had been given, didn’t exist. We knew it was 10km out of town, but which direction? After asking directions of a number of people, interpreting the results, and heading in the wrong direction several times, we finally found ourselves in Sukosan. Sukosan is a little village that has no street names and no house numbers and houses are located by their inhabitant’s names (of which we didn’t have). No wonder no one knew where it was. But somehow we got there. It seems that everyone around here rents out their spare rooms to supplement their incomes. The one that we are staying in is more that adequate, although the ‘bathroom’ looks like it inhabits what was previously the wardrobe. But we do have hot water.

After settling in we went for a walk. There is no such thing as a manicured, or even a mown lawn. Every available space around their houses are filled with vegetable gardens (right up to the wall of the house). And fig trees everywhere, with the fruit just ripening nicely. I relived my childhood habit of relieving the overhanging boundary trees of a few fruit to go with breakfast.

It was nice to see that people around here seem live in their own houses and cultivate their own gardens. You see them in the evenings digging their potatoes and picking their fruit. There seems a very nice small town atmosphere here.

PULA - Croatia (Wed 24 June)

We went into Pula today for a look around the ruins etc. An old amphitheatre that is huge and very well preserved, at least the outside walls are. They were setting up for a Sinead O’Connor concert while we were there. She is performing here tomorrow night in the arena and Elton John is coming here soon too. They do like their old school music, but what a great venue for a concert. Also here are churches, a Triumphal arch, a Roman theatre, a historical museum set in castle like surroundings, plus, plus, plus. We went into the church at the front of the Franciscan Monastery, and just like the Cossack this church was very simple and unadorned. So unlike the other churches that we have visited over the last few weeks. There was a woman doing a piano recital on a grand piano at the front of the church while we were there. Nice touch I thought.

After meandering around the old town, we headed for the beach, or rather resort town. These resorts are huge and include theme parks that would easily outdo the Easter show. They also provide access to their own beaches. But these are beaches not as we know them. In reality they are little bundles of white cliffs, down which you can scramble to wedge yourself between rocks at obtuse angles to gather the few rays of sun that are out today. You get the impression that the occupants of the beach are saying to themselves “I have paid for this holiday and I am going to sunbathe, rain, hail or shine.” And they do, on the rocks, despite the fact that today is a very average day and quite chilly.