Tourists in Croatia

Hello everyone, it's the tourists!

Because yes, that is what we are and also how we've been feeling these past few days. Unfortunately, tourist sometimes rhymes with "tourist trap". So as the tourists that we are, we go around to see the sights and we made a stop in Pula to see the very impressive and beautifully preserved Roman amphitheatre, that could hold up to 23,000 people😲. Now that deserves respect...

We walk around the town, go for a coffee and when we get back to the place where we had parked our moving house, surprise!! We had a beautiful ticket on our windscreen of 99€!! 😱.

We had paid for parking so we immediately contested it. Yes, we had seen the sign that it was forbidden for campers to park there, and in the middle of summer we would have likely parked elsewhere but since it is November, and since there was practically no one else around we didn't think it would be a problem. Clearly, we made a mistake there. We haven't paid the fine and are maintaining our claim arguing that we did not violate any rule as we are not a camper van but a utility van (which is not true anymore but still), that we are not longer or wider than a parking space, etc. We don't know if it's going to work but for 99€, we're giving it a shot... 

After we get that show on the road, we leave Pula to move ahead to the stopping point we had chosen for that day. To find our overnight spots, we use a lot the application Park4Night that lists places where you can park for the day and/or for the night. On the app we had found this farm nearby where you can overnight for free. In exchange, it is expected that you buy something from the producer who, in this case sold ham, wine, olive oil and some other products. Now that's the kind of deal we really like and the comments we read from the last people who stopped there made it seem like it was perfect for us. But then again unfortunaltely, we were disappointed. Patrik greeted us correctly but nothing more, we bought 2 bottles of wine (1 white and 1 red), some olive oil and some ham from him. The ham was OK but not really worth the price, the wine (both the white and the red) is terrible (we'll use it in cooking to not spoil), we haven't yet tried the olive oil but we're crossing our fingers... We did stay there for 2 nights for free but nevertheless, we left with the feeling we had been somewhat ripped off 😳.

And to top it all off, we were stopped twice by the police for an identity check, going to and back from the Plitvice lakes. So much for Croatian hospitality....  

But we didn't let all of that get in our way and we stayed focused on our touristic track💪. The Plitvice lakes, let's talk about them because they are really worth it. It was a bit of a detour for us to go all the way there, but we did not at all regret it because the site is really wonderful. In short, it is a succession of lakes that flow down into each other over a vertical drop of about 160m:

The whole forming 16 lakes and 92 waterfalls, all in a beautiful colored setting of green, blue, yellow, and more... 

It is a natural site of pure beauty. Several itineraries are proposed of shorter or longer distance, with the possibilty to take shuttles and/or boats so that everyone can make the most of their visit. It is all very well organized, there are wide and easy to walk paths along the lakes, and footbridges where we litterally walk over raging streams. 

We give it all an  A+. And that is well worth a detour and a few inconveniences... 👍👍

But as soon as you get away from the coast the temperature is starting to get a bit chilly, particularly in the morning. 

So as we are tourists, it's back to the beach we go! Hence we returned to the coast where the sun shines and the light and mild temperatures feel sooo good in November.

And what can we say about those sunsets....

We think we're going to give Croatia another try...

Tourists also take lots of pictures! To see them all it's over here: Carte et photos

Jérôme and Sophie