Pula to Tisno via the beautiful Coastal Road

 

11.07

A hilly 7 kms bike into Pula got the legs working.  This laid back city gives the wrong impression on the outside, it’s unattractive and in need of a makeover, however once inside it’s a different story!  We parked the bikes near the ‘brocante and produce market’ and walked through the Roman Archway into a beautiful old town dominated by it’s extraordinary Roman remains including the Forum, Cathedral, Castle, it's defence system and chimney. 
 

We're amazed how incredibly intact and beautiful the Amphitheatre is – the best we’ve seen in Europe so far!  Tasty pizza slice each and peach tea picnic in the park.

 

12.07

 

Enjoyed the sun and the sea around the camp.

 

13.07 

 Up early and swam, this is a wonderful time of day! Croatia has a beautiful coastline!

In the afternoon a picturesque walk around the headland, along a narrow track overlooking the sea, through the pine forests to the seaside village of Volme.

Beers in the evening in the camp restaurant.  A nice way to complete a wonderful stay here!  Heading South tomorrow!
 14.07

We took the A8 motorway (11 euros) through a tunnel onto the coast and the Opatija Riveria via Rijeka.  A very laid back drive along the coast, rugged mountains on one side and the Adriatic on the other.  We’re amazed at how little traffic there is especially at this time of year, school holidays start tomorrow so perhaps the crowds will arrive, though we’ve been told a lot of holidays makers don’t drive this far south for a two week holiday. 

The most amazing, beautiful drive between Senj and Paklenica below the Velebit mountain range!  Pretty little towns, rocky bays and crystal clear, blue water that looks like a lake rather than sea, overlooking the island of Rab.   We took a detour down a narrow windy one way system  to the little resort town of Jablanac which is also a ferry port for those who want to explore the Kvarner Islands. 

Unfortunately there are no campsites here so we took the one way system back out. 

We swam and picnicked just down from Jablanac at Stinica where you can catch the car ferry to Rab . Stunning!

 

Eventually we found a charming little campsite at Ribarica, Camping Ribarica, (26 euros) which consists of two small olive groves in the owners backyard and a path through her garden to a gorgeous rocky inlet for swimming, overlooking the barren moonscape island of Pag  

We were joined by an Italian couple in their camper and an Italian  cyclist.

Important to note, there are limited petrol, shops and campsites between Senj and Ribarica (before Karlobag).

 

15.07 
  

After swims at our camp we continued south along  the stunning coast and spotted a pod of dolphins as we drove through the seaside town of Karlobag.  We stopped to watch!  What a  treat! 
If you look hard at the photo below you will spot them!

The panorama now even more beautiful!!

Onward and enjoying the drive! 






 
................................... glorious!!

..............................................and it continues!!







As we got closer to Paklenica (45kms from Zadar) the scenery changed very quickly!  More built up and touristy as this is the first major shopping spot.  There are a variety of campsites, shaded by pines, more traffic and petrol stations.  Here to  ‘The National Park Starigrad Paklenica’ also attracts the holiday makers being the entrance to many hiking trails into the Velebits.

Onward, passing the mussel farms in Seline, and the bridge which connects the Island of Pag to the mainland, through olive and fig groves.  Built up and industrialised as we enter the large town of Zadar, known for it’s Roman and Venetian ruins.  We stopped and bought ourselves a ‘Mr Cool 240/12v chilly box from Intersport’ as the temperature is forecast to remain in the 30’s and our small fridge/freezer is overloaded.  Just the job! (150 euros). 

Too hot for sightseeing so continued onward and stopped for a swim at Prosika and then to our chosen camp at Tisno, ‘Camp Dalmacija’ (31 euros) which we ‘blind booked’ a month ago to enjoy over the ‘high demand’
school holiday period.
Photo left shows our campsite in the olive groves over looking Murter Island.

Been here over a week now and what a lucky choice, we have a nice site with plenty of shade provided by the olive trees.  A sea view and good swimming.  Great people, Mario runs the camp with the help of Stella and Valentino. 

Our view  on the left!

  



A very quiet camp, popular with inflatable boaties as there are a large number of islands offshore. 

A small seaside restaurant specialising in ‘pig on a spit’ every night (16 euro for two).

Very tasty and lots of crackle!!

The island of Murter is 2kms away by way of a small drawbridge, a 32kms sealed bike ride around it.  Plenty of beautiful bays with the most crystal clear water and a small number of bars, restaurants and shops scattered around.  This should be perfect for a month's ‘holiday’!
The photo above shows Tisno overlooking Murter and drawbridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Croatia - Rovinj

 

29.06 – 06.07

 

Wonderful, sunny days spent cycling to the pretty town of Umag with it’s great alfresco eateries, square and port with a market. 

 On our return we found a coastal path which took us alongside the rocky inlets with pebble beaches, through campsites and villages.  We’re amazed at the size of some of these camps, they’re like towns.  40kms and back to camp.

Beers on the waterfront watching the beautiful sunsets. 

Met some awesome people from Holland and London.

Lots of biking along the pretty bike path to Novigrad for swimming, coffees, groceries and dinner at the restaurant opposite the Bay.  A fun night with Margaret and John, fabulous calamari meal with all the extras and beers (30 euros).  Well looked after by Boris who gave us free coffees with the meal.  Biked in the dark back to camp where we listened to a rock band.
 

Read our kindles by the sea, (Col surrounded by all his toys) and laughed at Buster having his daily shower, (shower time!).

We had some good news, the Camp found our ASCI Card they had misplaced.  Phew!

A final catch up and ‘goodbyes’ to everyone over beers and watching the sunset!!

07.07

We hit the road following the coast via Porec then inland around the estuary of the national park Lim Fjord, back to the coast and our chosen campsite ‘Mon Paradis’.  A quaint, little camp on the water in Vestar Bay.  A great choice selected from the internet.  Most ASCI Camp discounts end on 30 June in Croatia and start up again at the end of August.  We spoilt ourselves and chose a pitch 5 metres from the water with a spectacular view overlooking the tree lined bay, bliss! 

After swims, we went for a recce to find a good bike route we can take on our ride to Rovinj tomorrow.  We walked along the coastal path for about 4kms, passed  rocky inlets with wonderful views, through campsites with designated ‘naturists areas’ signposted ‘FKK’, to Camping Polari. The size of these camps is staggering, they are well catered for ‘towns’ with all the facilities including supermarkets, pools, restaurants, gelatos, entertainment, car and bike wash right down to ‘dog swimming areas’!  Camping Polari caters for 5,000 occupants!  We’re amazed at how clean and well organised the camps in Croatia are.  Full time workers keep facilities spotless and toilet paper as well as soap is provided!   

We vistied the camp reception ‘check in’ area where a very helpful chap gave us a bike map to Rovinj which also showed a bike route back to our camp.
 

Back at camp we met Ros and Rod with children Elliot, Freddie and Gwendoline and dogs Pax and Mertyl who have just arrived in their camper and parked next to us.  They’re from England but are living in the French Alps. 

 

08.07

We started the day with swims, a great habit to get into and a good way to wake up! It’s in the 30’s most days now, hot but fabulous and a beautiful tree lined rocky bay with a sandy bottom and pebbly beach with concrete areas to sunbathe and shower.

We ‘sun creamed up’ and carried the bikes across the pebbly beach to Vestar Camp next door where we began our ride.  Along the quiet road passed the Grill Restaurant with the pork spit outside (spits are popular here), 3kms to Camp Polari where we took the coastal path for 7kms to Rovinj. 

A very picturesque ride (no. 203) alongside rocky bays with crystal clear water, through large campsites and  eateries in the pine forests, passed the marina and onto the promenade to the beautiful old town of Rovinj. Built on an island close to the coast, it became connected to the mainland much later in 1763.  From 1283-1797 it was governed by the Republic of Venice.  We walked the traffic free cobble streets with  eateries, admired the Venetian architecture, and walked up to the bell tower for a wonderful view over the Adriatic and surrounding Islands.  We ate our picnic lunch over looking the marina and old town.  

30kms back to camp via a 4kms detour in search of a kettle at Lidl supermarket.

09.07    

Caught up with our chores and read inbetween lots of swims!  Later we battened down the hatches as a storm looks to be brewing.

10.07 

By lunch time the strong winds subsided and the sun came out.    
 

Went swimming in ome of the rocky inlets further around our bay. 

Had a fun evening with Rod and Ros.  They live in Le Burget-du-Lac and overlook Lake Bourget as well as a view of Mt Blanc nearby. 

 

Tomorrow heading to Pula!!