CROATIA #17

It's impossible to not love a place with Tiffany blue water and gelati stands on every corner, despite some rough patches, I loved every second of this place! My companion, Ms Murphys Law herself, made sure to keep things interesting with a series of snafu's. Nothing like starting off the trip with forgetting your ATM card in the machine in the airport only to then leave her wallet on our bus, (over 2 hours away from where we were staying), luckily a sprint up the hill proved successful. But what can you do but drink some local vino and laugh about it?

Like, all our trips, Ashley and I went because it was cheap! £45 was enough to get us Rijeka, only a few miles inland from the Adriatic sea. Croatia's tourist season starts at the end of May, which allowed us to enjoy the weather and afford some 3 star diggs. As cities weren't really our goal this time around, we decided to stay in the small, lesser known Baska on the Island of Krk, a true Mediterrean dream right on the sea. It's become a popular tourist destination for its pebble beaches and beautiful accomodation, but lucky for us, it was empty! A long, bumpy ride through the mountains left us feeling like we would never get on the beach but the ass numbing pain disappeared as we walked down the hill lined with colorful buildings, staring at the bright blue sea. It was ideal, even more ideal if you are on a lovers getaway! But Ash and I are traveling buddies and since it was her last journey before returning Stateside, we decided to go big...lovers getaway big! For once we had no plan or internerary, well nothing beyond laying on the beach, eating mediterranean cuisine, and enjoying massages!

We briefly took joy in our 3 star accomodation, there really is something to be said for actual beds over bunk beds, before heading out to dinner. Since this wasn't our first stroll around the block, we spotted some divine looking grub on the walk into town. Note: A good tourist always makes a mental note of good smelling restaurants and gelati stand locations! Our restaurant selection was everything we hoped for and then some! As one of the only tables in the joint, we got lots of attention from our server and his waiter cronies. I usually don't obsess too much about the food but seriously I would do Croatia all over again just to eat my way through the country. I'm gonna go out on a limb and vote it better than Italy (gasp!) Ash and I are pretty cheap when it comes to eating, merely because we have to be, our budget doesn't factor in Michelin stars. But in a place like Croatia, we can eat till our pants burst with an 9 to 1 exchange! We started with a plate of fresh prosciutto and sheep cheese, topped with local olives and oil. To continue our foodie's wet dream, we ordered steak and local fish wrapped in bacon (yup wrapped in bacon) with fresh meditteranean grilled veggies. Barely able to breath, we polished off more wine before moving on to dessert, which was a tray of traditional goodies. Of course eating 3 desserts is completely unacceptable, unless its in the name of exploration, which of course it was! And if that wasn't enough, we were urged to take 3 shots of the local hooch, some of which taste a little too close to Rocki (the Albanian liquor). When I mentioned this, our waiters were amazed I knew what it was and after explaining, the response was at least I'm not dating a Bosnian. With our bellies busting at the seams, we walked back for a decent wine induced sleep. We awoke in a panic, somehow I still manage to forget to adjust the time zone when leaving England and we were 5 minutes late for Helga. Helga (or some foreign variation of that) and her posse were waiting to give two hungover Americans their massages. Which was my version of heaven (just add proscuitto), I'm not one to do the spa or massage thing but I think I could learn to be after 45 minutes of Helga's magic hands.

After that, there isn't much choice but to relax by the pool and drink a beer, especially when said beers cost 50 cents. There was no urge to sightsee, the mountain backdrop was enough of a view for me. We left only to return to our restuarant for a mid-day feast and then the beach. Our new friends, brought us cold beers out on the pebble beach. Maybe it was the food, the beer, the gelatis, or the sheer relaxation of it all, but we promptly fell asleep, a fact I would take back to avoid the lobster look we sported the rest of the weekend! Thoroughly crispy, we went for an afternoon nap with the constant Croatian breeze. Fully refreshed we decided it was time for more eating and a walk around the village. Our walk was disrupted by our waiter friends, who invited us to join them for drinks. Before we knew it, we were in a one room, local restaurant watching piles of meat being ushered to the table. Very similar to the Albanian style, everyone ate with their hands from central plates piled high, urging us to eat as well. And how can you say no to the hospitality. We were then escorted to another local restaurant for a full meal before meeting up with our new friends at the one and only bar/club. We had no intention of staying out but there was something fascinating about the smoke filled glorified hut where the music came from a man with a laptop and speakers. Like moths to the burning liquor fire on the bar, we danced and drank with our new friends until the early hours of the morning. Which we regreted in the morning as we ran for the 7am bus to Krk city.

Krk is the capital of the island and our last stop before returning to London. It's rests on the coast. as a much larger version of Baska. We walked through the maze of the streets along the water to our hotel higher in the mountains. It was advertised as a romantic hidaway and they truly weren't lying. With 3 infinity pools and a spa surround by the woods, overlooking the sea, it was a Sandels ad in the making. We wandered the city before returning to the pool for another relaxing day. Unfortunately, the downside to traveling off season is many tours, boat cruises, and attractions are closed. But I guess exploring the small islands and caves of Krk is nothing more but a reason to return. Slightly disappointed we didn't know what to do with ourselves after dinner, so unsure, we considered playing Bingo at the hotel. We were about 40 years below the average guest so Bingo was on the calendar. We would have played, except for the fact that not even the early birders wanted in. Talk about irony....the youngest guests at the hotel are the only ones who want to play! So we drank wine in the hotel bar and got a little sappy reminiscing about our various trips around the world.

We often said that we didn't want to go back to London throughout the weekend and apparently the travel gods listened, or Ashley's bad luck returned because we spent the next 36 hours trying to get back home. Nothing like a flight canceled and having to travel across the country to catch another a day later. But the travel nightmare was well worth the trip! Croatia is unexpectedly high on my list!