Croatia

As soon as we crossed the border into Croatia we headed straight to the coast. Since leaving Sydney, we had both desperately missed being by the sea, so were desperate to swim in the beautiful crystal clear warm waters of the Adriatic. We jumped in as soon as we could and weren’t disappointed; the only thing missing was lots of colourful fish to watch as we bobbed about in the water.

After a couple of days on the Istrian coast, exploring hilltop medieval villages (on our bikes, obviously!) and eating more than our fair share of seafood, we caught a ferry to a remote island, Cres where we slipped into the swim, read, eat, swim routine for a few days.

Cres is the largest island in Croatia, but one of the least developed. There is only one main road that runs down the middle of it, with beautiful views of islands dotted around it, and the mainland either side. The drive included an accidental detour through the ancient villages of Lubenice and Valun and down some really hilly, beautiful, narrow, dry stone walled roads – a bit hairy when you meet oncoming traffic!

We caught a ferry down the coast to meet up with Lou’s brother Nic, his girlfriend Helen and a couple of their other friends in Zadar. We immediately had van envy when we saw their huge camper! We set off in convoy to Plitvice National Park.

It was great to get away from the coast for a couple of days - as soon as we headed inland the temperature dropped by a couple of degrees, and in Plitvice we had rain for the first time in a couple of months, which was quite refreshing.

Plitvice National Park was well worth the trip inland. It is an amazing site of 16 piercing turquoise lakes and loads of waterfalls, intertwined with a boardwalk allowing you to walk amongst it all. Whilst it is Croatia’s most popular tourist site, it is well managed and we all enjoyed visiting the area. The road trip inland was a bit of an eye opener, as we passed loads of houses riddled with bullet holes and covered in graffiti from the Yuogslavian war 15 years earlier.

We then all headed South down the coast, via some beautiful beaches and islands, and a few days later caught up with a couple of friends of mine and headed to Brac, another island just off Split. Island hopping is a great way to see Croatia, but probably better done as a foot passenger as the costs soon rack up when you’re taking a campervan over.

It took a while to find somewhere suitable to stay in Brac, but after driving round the island for a couple of hours, we finally settled on Sultivan, right back where we’d arrived on the ferry…Sultivan was a great place to base ourselves with beaches, kayaks and plenty of activities to keep us all amused.

Our final day in Croatia was spent in Split, a beautiful city that we both wished we’d spent more time in. It was a shame that it was about 40 degrees as we all melted, but Lou was still happy after her freezing Canadian winter! Split is bursting with hundreds of ancient lanes that you can wander around, get lost in, and find the most fantastic little nooks and cafes and shops! We had a final last dinner with Nic and Helen before they flew back to the UK and Lou, Fernando and I made it on to the ferry to Italy.

We were a bit nervous about what to expect from a night in a 4 berth cabin, below the waterline, but both slept well and had a refreshing shower before disembarking in Anconda and driving across to Rome.