Umag- lazy days!
We’ve had a chilled few days here. We arrived and thought we were staying in an eastern block gulag but thankfully we drove past those and ended up with a nice apartment in some pine and oak trees.We enjoyed watching the red squirrels busily working each morning. Willow would have loved it! We’ve lazed on the beach and the pool, swam in the sea (with some jellyfish😬), done a bit of stand up paddle boarding and a bit of running. There has been entertainment due to world seniors tennis tournament here too and we have just watched Argentina beat the bad tempered USA to get to the semi’s. When we arrived, it was really busy here but after Sunday the place emptied which has been lovely and we have felt very young!
You can’t make a waterfall without breaking clouds…
And the clouds really did break! We decided after our days of laziness we ought to get some exercise so we headed to Plitvice National Park and it’s famous lakes. We checked into our camping bungalow and then drove to the park for a short late afternoon walk. We were surprised by how busy it was at the start but eventually got rid of a Polish tour group, enjoyed a boat trip across the lake and a couple of hours of walking.
The next day, we knew that the weather was not meant to be great but set off anyway under ominous but quite warm skies.Just as we started our hike (18k route), the rumbling began which was closely followed by lightning and torrential rain. We decided to keep going anyway although we were already very wet. It did mean that we had the trail mostly to ourselves which was lovely. We saw fire salamanders, a water snake and lots of fish but no bears.The walking was quite easy with beautiful scenery and the lake colours changed with the changing weather. We finished our walk just before the next downpour which lasted the rest of the day. Although we had gotten very soggy, it had definitely been worth it and we’d recommend a visit if you’re in Croatia.
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The camping was ok ( if you don’t have your own toilet, it is camping in my eyes!) Our little bungalow was quite cosy and Callum moaned more than me! Tonight, we’re back to an all inclusive for a week so normal service is resumed!
On the way south, we stopped off at Krka National Park to see the waterfall that Kate had visited. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy and the weather had improved a lot. We walked up to it rather than take the boat and although the water wasn’t as beautiful, it was still a nice way to break up the journey and spend a few hours.
Back to all inclusive and a day in Split.
We booked into the hotel with some trepidation as it seemed incredibly cheap online (£68 a night for the room and board etc) but we were surprised to find that the room is really nice, the people are lovely and the food amazing. Unfortunately, we are doing the whole 3 meals in 1, as always at an all inclusive, as it’s all so tempting!
The weather has been pretty good but we woke on Tuesday to a fairly strong wind so decided to drive into Split for a bit of sightseeing. We’ve seen quite a lot of pretty towns now and this was lovely too. The old town ( basically Diocletian’s Palace) means that there are lovely old streets around every corner. Callum has made the decision that from now on he’s going to try the ice cream and spend his entrance fees into churches on that whilst I go in and wander round. Apparently, the strawberry gelato was far better than the crosses and crypts! Not sure I agree.
We sat by the harbour and people watched for a while and were very surprised by the number of people who have full leg tattoos – seems to be a thing here for many men and women. I’m not convinced they went with the pretty dresses and heeled shoes!
We got back late afternoon and sat for a bit in the beach before pre showering drinks followed by a lovely meal. We were stocking up the calories in readiness for our canyoning trip. We couldn’t take our phones for obvious reasons but took a quick pic before we set off! Here’s a taster of how amazing we looked! We’ll add some more about it when we get our pictures from the group.
Canyoning
We had a choice for a day out of either doing something active or a boat trip. I decided that we needed a break from pretty towns and a bit of an adrenaline rush would be best. What I didn’t realise was the just the drive to the canyon would give me that. We have been counting the warning arrows on the windy ( massive understatement ) roads and we hit the 7 warning sign all time high on this one. We made it safely however, met the guide and followed him to the office where we donned our flattering outfits: wet suits , helmets, life jacket and “nappy“ to protect the backsides of the wetsuits when we scraped on the rocks!
We had a 5 minute drive to the canyon and set off clambering with our group down to the river. Our group had 13 people in it and we were the oldest by about 25 years! I have to say we did keep up with them though . The day involved basically floating through rapids in the water with our belly buttons in the air to try to make sure that our behinds weren’t too scraped by the rocks . The life jackets were pretty good so we were reasonably buoyant. We got lots of dunks but it was great fun. In-between, we would be clambering (or slipping) over big rocks and then jumping off them from a height into pools when we were told it was safe to do so. There were plenty in front of us so that Kate,as the family sacrificial lamb, was replaced for once.
Callum did really well with his fear of heights and there was only one lot of noticeable jelly leg. In fact, it was him that decided we should upgrade from the basic to the extreme canyoning so that we could do the 55m repel next to the waterfall you can see in the picture. Have to say, the view of the way down was something else.
It was about 4 and a half hours of fun but by the end we were pretty cold and ready to end the day. The next day, we definitely paid for all the fun though with the aching thighs!
Dubrovnik
We set off pretty early from our hotel with a view to stopping at Ston, a small town with impressive walls on the way. The drive was just lovely along the coast road and we managed to travel through Bosnia without any trouble other than having our passports checked. Croatia are the country that has been hottest on this. Anyway, Ston was just lovely though the walls showed us that our thighs still hadn’t recovered from the canyoning.
We arrived in our Airbnb and after a bit of a rest went out to explore Dubrovnik old town. The listing had said it was a 35 minute walk but it was actually much longer which was hard with the aches and pains but if you’re with Callum there’s no getting on a bus! We had a lovely wander, a beer at the harbour and then a dinner with music. After a long walk back with many moans, we collapsed hoping the magic thigh fixing fairy would wave her wand.
It was lovely and warm the next morning and we, once again, walked into the old town. It was so impressive it really ranks as yet another favourite and we would definitely recommend as a city break. I think walking the walls knowing that so recently they were under siege was a bit mind blowing. We both remembered hearing about the war when were in our early 20s but had forgotten that the town was under siege for 8 months with no water or electricity supply and was never taken . 21,000 people managed to survive the bombardment but we only saw 1 place that hadn’t been restored and so many brand new tiles. You expect to read about this from the Middle Ages but not from when you were 21. The Game of Thrones references were, of course, all over the place too and it made us think perhaps we ought to go back and finish season 2.
We really enjoyed our meal that evening over family FaceTime and a spot of lounging in the jacuzzi that was well used throughout the stay. The following day, we worked out and spent some more time in the jacuzzi before leaving to have a more laid back day around the local area, Lapad. We found a bar which reminded us very much of a Rossie family favourite in Thailand and then had dinner before boarding the overnight ferry to Bari- the most disorganised ferry loading ever. The little Juke was squashed between massive lorries. There was no wonder we were 2 hours late leaving despite boarding 3 hours before the advertised departure time😂.
The cabin we paid quite a lot for was pretty ropey – certainly not up to Brittany Ferry’s standards. Right next to the men’s loos and so we heard “that” all night! Getting off was a complete joke; 2 and a half hours after docking, we still couldn’t get to the car. There were Italian lorry drivers shouting at older ladies with suitcases trying to get through between vehicles and cars from the upper decks reversing round a curved ramp! Good job we weren’t in a hurry. Entertaining in its own way though. We did chat to a rather nice Danish man who was equally bemused and was doing a similar tour to us but on his own in his refurbed Volkswagen Beetle!
Rossies Go Roaming 