Trend setters beware the best way to travel in Croatia is with the
very efficient bus system that allows plenty of stops and with judicious
seat placement a perched eyrie to purvey the ultra scenic coastline.
Leaving Dubrovnik over the coat hanger bridge the road heads along the
coast until 60 kilometres from Dubrovnik the Peljesac Peninsular starts at the
bay leading to Ston and Mali Ston the home of the Ottoman salt works. Here
are the world famous oysters and mussels in great rafts out into the placid
waters surrounded on the hillside by a necklace of turrets and fort walls.
These walls stretch like a grey worm over the hills and go for 5 kms with 41
towers and 2 forts dating from 1000AD but enlarged in the 13th and 14th
Centuries. Perhaps they were protecting the seafood and the best Peljesac
vinos even in those times?
The journey continues in a never-ending vista of water and holiday areas all in
a sombre loneliness of the May off-season. A notable difference is the delta
like paddy fields of Opuzen the tangerine capital. The major interest stopover
is entering Neum in Bosnia-Herzegovina where a 10 kilometre sector of
territory bisects Croatia. It is a cursory stop at the border that barely drags the
ubiquitous cigarette out of the guard’s mouth to do a visual check... In
comparison to the prior journey the area looks like a badly developed East
German holiday resort of times past. Perhaps the prior finery of the coast
spoils visual appraisal but there is no intrinsic beauty in these concrete bunker
like units.
The bus has a dual purpose stopping in Neum as any Croatian leaps into the
wayside stop wrestling packets of fags and bottles of liquor from the duty-free
shelves as hungry passengers swarm the char grills.
Beautiful coastal villages and beaches flash through the Kodak psyche and
eventually a mutual common ground of unbridled beauty settles as a
benchmark. The Makarsker Riviera seems to be the domestic playground and
drifts into the Gradac triangle as more upmarket multinational beach resorts
follow.
White beaches fringed with trees and buildings right to the waters edge hug
the roadside on the longest beach in the Dalmatian Adriatic. The road
continues alongside the rocky mountainous terrain as it follows the coastline,
forts on the horizon and pockets of village houses that seem merely to act as
rock barriers. The trip falls into the somewhat ordinary environs of the Split
outer industrial area and surrounding burbs toward the waterfront again. A bus
change at the ever efficient Split terminal and the uninspiring ride for 25kms to
the UNESCO listed town of Trogir with its touches of Dubrovnik, Hvar and
Syracuse wrapped into one parcel. There has been continual habitation for
2300 years from the Greeks, Romans to the destruction in the 11th Century by
Saracens to the rebuild by the Venetians.
.
Roscoe King - mob: 0439761815 - a/h: 07-54446000 - email: Roscoetfdq@gmail.com - PO Box 505 4557
Chew Ate Eat - for your party menus
Food Torque - try the recipes from our food engineers
Travel Lobotomies - sort your flash packing and triptological travels
Looters Locker - buy from the dilly bag of collectivity
The wicked, weird and wonderful - as the cool-chaser
picks up the new and traks the webs developmental sites
Crash Pads - Check your baggage into flashpackers’
heaven - villas to cabins at mates rates.
The drop off at the bridge to Trogir town allows a
quick dumping of chattels at one of the many cafes
leaving companions as a deposit whilst the Croatian
sport of Sobe Solitaire commences. Any wandering
traveller is aware that there is no need to stick firmly
to an itinerary as the signs for Sobe/Zimmer/Rooms
are plastered about and one can inspect, haggle or
leave according to whim. Forty minutes of scurrying
about the ancient town and Ciovo Island quickly
enables a decision at E50 a double for a quirky
room inside the Pizza Vanjaka Café. Vanjaka has a
kitchen one floor up from the square below and the
2 rooms upstairs were accessed via the restaurant
accompanied by a homely smell coming from the
ovens drifting warmly into the living space. The
kitchens service outside tables in two small areas in
the squares from 9am to 10pm underneath the
ancient gables of the cathedral. The church circa
11th century had mass every day as according to
our host Vanja there are 3 priests in Trogir “nothing
for them to do all day but make Masses”
The old town is an Island of Renaissance and baroque buildings adjoining tiny winding alleys with the majority of locals living on the
Island of Ciovo in apartments and tidy semi detached buildings more suburban than most places in Croatia. Wandering the area
reveals the residents all grow vines over carports and structures surrounded by micro plots of healthy vegetables. On the skyline are
the vestiges of ship building gantries from a past industry but now detuned to suit local construction.
Sunday the bells tolled as locals gathered after mass in the square outside the 13th Century Church of St Lawrence competing with a
claxon like brass band with members made up of 4 generations. Unfortunately this noise must have awoken a passing cruise boat of
touring chimpanzees as they poured in chittering and cooing blindly gathering to block out all the elderly people seated around. This
blasting cacophony of evergreens was followed by a time warp parade of eight marching girls dressed in short uniforms of the sixties.
This seemingly incongruous scene was highlighted by the baton twirling of the girls of Trogir throwing as to a different beat as
twinkling smiles passed between them.
Sunday afternoon belongs to the yachting fraternity and the esplanade becomes a show-piece for chandlery, berthing, drinking and
the social promenading commenced. The local Lotharios began to drift up and down in a style reminiscent of the Italian passigiata
seemingly no more engrossed in life other than strutting. There was a uniform of quasi militaria, long sideburns and 90% wearing
jeans some seemingly painted on the adherents. Café cruising and good food is the other local
Derby but noticeable amongst the dwellers were the empty glasses as most sit on one drink.
It is a cheap session to sit with a cold Pivo Ozujsko looking out at a modern scene
blending seamlessly with the ancient backdrop in what must be one of the more
friendly villages of the world. The central market over the main
bridge had a World Series cured meat section blending in a
great marriage with the local cheeses and soon traveller’s
packs were purchased for the on going journey.
Trogir is the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex in
all of central Europe as its medieval core is surrounded by
walls internalizing a preserved castle and tower. One can
recognise why places like this need protection under world
heritage statutes which was further amplified by chatting with
our host. Her simple reasoning was that if the United Nations
had not stepped in the locals would have sold the farm and
prostituted sites due to unemployment and low local wages.
The trials and travesties of leaving Trogir are exacerbated by
the vehicles delivering the produce for the Monday market
and the Rejika bus was almost hard to find let alone board for
the 7 hour journey. The cost from Dubrovnik was $30, to
Rijeka $53, and the transit to Rovinj in Istria a further $11 so travel and comfort was not expensive.
The trip to Rovinj is a long day’s travel and every part holds interest as the majority of the route follows the coast then diverts onto
Pag Island to travel its length until popping out onto a ferry back to the
mainland. The Dalmatian Coast ends at Zadar and the scenery changes
radically once the area is reached. The trip is another coastline of perfect towns
like Mandre Simouni, Primos which look like the must stop holiday destinations
redolent of the lower coastline of the Makarska 60 kms before Split. If there ever
was a chance to slowly drive this coastline how would one ever make a decision
where to stop and play. The change of scenery after leaving this area takes on a
more fort like guise with random buildings popping up in nondescript places. The
Islands are barren rock so blastingly lunar, sundrenched white, the landscape
blitzing the horizon in contrast to the azure sea. Made me think Sir Richard Burton
may well have misnamed the Mountains of The Moon as no vegetation other than
green splashes in ravines appear testing the viability of any grazing animals. Pag
is famous for its cheese leading one to believe perhaps the paucity of feed
concentrates the flavours. The Island has the longest coastline in Croatia and its
notoriety as a site for the murder of 10,000 Jews in WWII is its historical infamy.
The bus in typical Croatian fashion seems to stop at any gathering of five houses
and let’s loose the odd passenger at the confluence of any lonely road connection.
The ride on the ferry is a good diversion providing both a chance to get sea air, a
refreshment break and a walk around the decks.
Entry into Rijeka is via a large ship building and refurbishment port with the bus
travelling into the city down tree lined avenues to drop passengers at the station
for the Rovinj connection. The route to Rovinj exits through the Villas and
opulence of Opatija a throw back to an Austrian Imperial enclave presenting a late
19th Century image. The road follows the 12 km promenade along the coast
where the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph built palaces and his court resided in
the mansions.
Leaving the coast up a steep curve through chestnuts and conifers and into Lapin
which was the home of Croatia’s largest coal mine and in fascist days incorporated as a separate miner’s state for a few months. The
town is reminiscent of a Russian apartment town with Gothic long
haired youths idly watching the bus passage through the outskirts.
The route to Rovinj via Pula is two half hours and entry to the
station belies the proposition that this is a waterfront town.
Rovinj Originally an Island of Roman origin has both Italian
and Croatian names, mutual historical backgrounds plus
officially it is a bilingual town with 65% of the population
Croat. The Venetians had ruled Istria for many centuries with
all Italian control relinquished at the end of WWII as it
reverted to greater Yugoslavia. For the first time in Croatia
accommodation proved harder to find with a paucity of sobe
signs leading to enquiries at an information bureau. Rapid
phoning draws out Giula an Italian widow who scuttles
around to herd her new clientele down to her E43 per night, 1
bedroom internal suite at Aldo Negri, on a waterfront board-
walk.
A morning walk around a picture perfect marina reveals the
extent of the Venetian influence as a mosaic of faded pinks,
yellows and all shades thereof worked them selves into a
tortured torte of intersecting buildings. This town is a perfect
three day stopover if the issue is not a rest and recreation
holiday as shopping; eating drinking and slothing were the prerequisites for brain fodder. The influence food wise seems Austrian
rather than Croatian and noticeable was a large Germanic burble in the café conversations. Precision and good service in Café La
Mare Robert on the waterfront provided a choice meal of Cevpcici, risotto, grilled pork, chicken and squid served with the paprika
onion relish that takes the place of the Balkans ajvar. To have good fare at the right price with organic house red wine reminds one of
the pleasures of yesteryear before the anxiety of Nouveau cuisine overload foisted its iniquitous mini portions onto diner’s tabletops.
The harbour is chockfull of small craft but is noticeably short
changed in mega boats of the rich and famous perhaps they
were across the water in Venice two hours away. A walk onto
the original Island to the perched Church of St Francisco ,
which is by far the tallest structure on the hill, is via narrow
lanes of strategic greenery, perky apartments and trendy
shops. Stopping for crisp white wines, wood fired breads and
pizza is an easy task as no pressure is exerted to move or
order further.
The afternoon draws down and a definitive move is afoot as
the population lingers in the extended daylight to drink and
eat at the cafés lining the perimeter.
The dusk closes in the surrounding islands as lights blink on
the Cathedral and larger buildings, perhaps, paying homage
to the rising thump from the Monvi entertainment area. This
area houses the nightclub sector... not perhaps in full stream
in May but no doubt getting ready to waken once the summer
hit.
The alternative cacophony is the large cat population that
haunts these alleys reminiscent of that boyhood song
‘Cats on the roof tops ,cats on the tiles some with siffo and
some with piles ,some with their rectums wreathed in smiles
as they revel in the joys of copulation’ Yes even the car roof
tops were being used as performance platforms oblivious to
the passing population. Rovinj is a large Hvar with rubbish;
but the nearby Adriatic Islands no doubt draw the boating
fraternity through and it is a base to explore the Roman
Amphitheatre in Pula 40 minutes away. Pert villages are
inland and day trips to the sedentary life are the alternative to
the booming tourism trade that does dilute the experience at the wrong time of the year. Whistle-stop tours do abound in singular
experiences but there are so many places to see in the Croatian coast where or how can it all fit in.
Perhaps one can contemplate the inexorable persuasion of the signs outside the Rovinj Harbour Casino and wonder what dastardly
harm after the banning of guns and dogs the prospect of an armed ice cream could do?
Top
