split, dubrovnik and all the sea in between, Croatia

At the beginning of June, right after the end of my croatian course -a little before in fact- I went with train to Split and Dubrovnik, in the coast of Croatia, taking my beloved bike with me. The Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea is fantastic, not only because of its beaches and waters, but for the cities next to them. I stayed a couple of days in Split, in a wonderful hostel with stone walls, a lot of plants and flowers, and a terrace where to drink endless coffees and beers. The old city of Split is not as known and well preserved as the 'citadel' of Dubrovnik. But, maybe because of that, its more truly alive, and not so crowded of tourist and restaurants to feed them. The whole city is very nice, in fact, and is the second one in importance in Croatia. After walking for hours and swimming every day in the beach, I took a ferry -extremely early in the morning- to Dubrovnik. Those were 8 grate hours of ocean, islands, little old cities, dolphins and the pleasant movement of the boat.
Dubrovnik is so so beautiful, but as I said, packed with zillions of tourists (italians, spanish, russians and, of course, the quintessence of tourists, japanese). So, the city was great, nice, medieval yet modern, well preserved and charming to the bone. But anyway, fantastic beaches of turquoise water were around, and I couldn't resist the temptation. Half a day for the city and its old walls; day and a half for the sea.
I came back to Zagreb tanned by the sun and happy by the sea. My stay in Croatia was close to its end, since my classes were ended. The time for taking planes and traveling around Europe was near.



1. Sunrise from the train, somewhere near Split.


2+3. Old city from Split, crazy streets, alleys and houses.



4. Terrace at the hostel.
5+6. Beaches near the city. I went a little bit further with my bike, anyway.
7. Old city from Split, again.





8, 9, 10+11. From the ferry boat, trip Split-Dubrovnik.


12+13. Islands and walled ancient tiny towns. I think this one is Korčula.


14. Arriving to Dubrovnik.
15. Steep, narrow little streets all around the old city.


16. Main gate to the Citadell.
17. Again, narrow steep streets, this time from above. Ufff, those were hard to climb.


18. Japanese tourists. These people is in another dimesion, believe me.
19. From my room, during the night. I was alone in a three bedroom apartment. Loved that.


20. Panoramic view of the Citadell, south side (rear side)



21, 22+23. Beach next to the old city. Close, clean and beautiful. Sunset swimming, nice view. Super.


24. where are you?!


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otok Krk (Krk island)

For the closure of our classes, the whole Croaticum group (about 80 persons, among students and proffesors, some of them speaking croatian really good, some of us just babbling) went to Otok Krk, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) islands in Croatia. As usual, the way through Gorski Kotar was cloudy, cold, little bit rainy and beautiful. Better, most of us hadn't slept much (the day before were the last exams, so it was a hard partying night at the residence). Just a coffe on the road and we got into that marvelous tunnel that separates the mountains from the coast, clouds from sun and cold from warm. Slowly we went down the road towards the coast, and the islands started to appear like swimming dinosaurs.
Krk has many urban centers, not really big but very beautiful. The towns are trapped between the sea and the mountain, so the roads are narrow and the buildings tall, with an exquisite mediterranean style, tiny balconies, windows with flowers and an easy going atmosphere everywhere.
At the beggining was still cloudy, but after lunch the sun came out, the water become turquoise and warm. In the afternoom we went to a winery for a degustation of some special wine made in Krk. As you can imagine, half an hour later everyone were drunk from varied types of wines and rakijas. At that time, i stopped taking pictures, and i hope the others did the same thing. On the returning bus, we started singing and continued drinking the wines that were supposed for souvenirs. They never got Zagreb.
Ajde, bok!!












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pula & brijuni national park

Last Sunday, we woke up extremely early and went on a trip to Pula and Brijuni islands, in the Istrian peninsula, at the west of Croatia, quite near Italy. Between Zagreb and Istria you have 'Gorski kotar', a mountainous region with beautiful woods and lakes (šime i jezera, in croatian). It's higher and wetter than the rest of the country, so in winter (zima) it's quite cold and you have a lot of snow there. It would be a fantastic place for camping and easy living, if there were not wild hungry bears around. Anyway, you'd enjoy a fantastic stay before being their lunch.
A long tunnel separates this region from Istria, after wich weather can change drastically, as you can see in the pictures. One hour and a half later you get to Pula, a beautiful little city on the coast of the Adriatic sea (Jadransko more), in the extreme south of the peninsula. It has one of the few coliseums (arena) in the world, and some extremely friendly cuasi-italian population. After walking through the city, we crossed the Fažana strait on a ferry to get to Veli Brijuni, the bigger island of the Brijuni archipielago. It was one of Tito's residences (former president of Yugoslavia)... wise guy. It has a little zoo, with an elephant and some zebras, and an olive tree 1600 years old, but it still looks nice.
The crossing of the strait was, for me, one of the most beautiful moments of the trip. I wish it would have last more, but it's a very short strait.
Ok, here go the pictures. See you later!
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1. on our way / Gorski kotar landscape
2. on our way / After crossing the tunnel, in Istria side
3. on our way / going down to Pula
4+5. around Pula
6+7. around Pula, looking at the Colisieum
8+9. around Pula, again.
10, 11, 12 + 13. before, meanwhile and after crossing the Fažana strait.
14. Brijuni islands, big map
15. around Veli Brijuni
16. excursion around in a tiny bus, Veli Brijuni. at the center, Najwa from Jordan. at her right, Ignacio from Argentina. in front of her, little bit to the right, Vjollca from Albania (but she lives in Macedonia and studies in Kosovo).
17. taking pictures feverishly to everything that moves.
18. where are we?

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