 |
St Cyrus Home | |
Photos | |
About St Cyrus | |
St. Cyrus Kirk Steeple | |
Links | |
Contact Us | |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Croatia - September 2009Our 2009 September outing, with Monica & Brian, took us to Croatia. Margaret's choice. As usual we did our own thing with flights (RyanAir from Edinburgh), accommodation, etc, all booked via the net. Flights were good with both arriving early. Zadar airport is quite small and the RyanAir flights tend to arrive and depart around the same time, making for a bit of a scrum in the departure lounge. Allow plenty of time to pick up a hire car – the kiosks are manned singularly and the one person does everything. Having said this, the Avis rep was very helpful and proved a star in directions to our first accommodation. The photographs are shown/numbered in the order we travelled around Croatia Arriving at Zadar quite late and an overnight stop at the Hotel Mediteran, which was clean, tidy and more than adequate (www.hotelmediteran-zd.hr). Day 1 - we headed for the island of Krk via a coastal route taking in Starigrad (and there are two Starigrads in Croatia!) and Karlobag, a good coffee stop, ending with going over a spectacular toll bridge onto Krk from the mainland. The scenic drive took about 4 hours and there was not a lot of traffic. Our end destination for the first few nights was the Kanajt Hotel in Punat. En-route we had a lunchtime stop-over on the beach at Omisalj – very pleasant and a taster for our time in Croatia. The Kanajt Hotel (www.kanajt.hr) is very well situated - easily walkable into Punat, via a handy gate into the marina, good facilities, views, etc, and the staff of the family run hotel were very helpful. Wi-Fi and internet access is free. We had a very good meal in the hotel – their speciality dishes cooked ‘under the lid on an open fire’; it’s a busy restaurant and booking for weekend meals is essential. Punat itself is a nice small town and very much geared up for holiday visitors and sailing. There are plenty of restaurants. The one thing we did notice, locals tend to eat earlier than, for example, central Europe. We had a couple of meals in Punat itself and both were O.K. One other thing we found out, certainly for restaurants, cash is often the only way to pay! Prices for food and drink were reasonably, throughout Croatia, with Coke and bottled water usually costing more than a glass of house wine! Day 2 - Our first walk was from Baska and the Church of Svete Ivan – just follow signs for the church. A nice woodland path which takes you onto open and very rocky ground and onwards to Hlam Summit, where the views are superb. It was a circular route and the path down was more difficult than the woodland path. We would recommend climbing the path on the south side first; access to this path is at the base of the hill just off the tarred road to the church. Baska itself is a town of two halves with the old part and its shorefront cafes reflecting more of what we expected of Croatia. After coffee in Baska it was off to Stara Baska for a swim in the crystal clear sea. Most beaches in the north of Croatia are shingly shores, but not too difficult to get in and out of. Next stop was a hilltop coastal town called Vrbnik. Very quaint, narrow streets, etc, and not at all commercialised. Day 3 – A walk near the town of Krk, around a well mettled road on Prniba Point. The walk is through pines and olives with coastal views at most points. There are fig trees to hand if a snack is needed! Krk town has a lot of history and its busy harbour, waterfront cafes, etc, make it an interesting place to visit. Highlight of the morning – watching a Merc being put onto a tow-truck for illegal parking! We then ventured north to Glavotok - a small coastal village with a monastery. There is a small snack bar just off the beach. After Glavotok we ventured, cross country – although the map did not show it as a gravel road! - to Poljica and onward to Malinska, which turned out to be a nice coastal town with a harbour, etc. Just about all the harbours we visited in Croatia are working ones. From Malinska it was a cross country jaunt to Silo. Once again a nice place with a beach, etc. We also managed to visit Kras twice in the same day! The east side of the island has some nice countryside and is the major wine growing area. Day 4 – change of island and we headed for Rab. Our last trip on Krk was simply to kill a bit of time before the ferry out of Valbiska and we went to Amor. Another surprise and a nice little harbour. Ferries are easy to book and frequent (assuming of course you get the right ticket to the right island – Monica & Margaret!). Arriving in Lopar we did a walk at the north end of the island. There are some super beaches/coves and walking was not too strenuous. Both Dubac and Sahara beaches are shallow and ideal for children (but Sahara is a mixed naturalist/normal beach). Rab Town has a very nice old world feel about it and it would have good to spend a bit more time there than we did. There are plenty of bars and restaurants all in walking distance (we ate at the Santa Maria in the old part of the city and it was very good). We stayed in the Imperial Hotel (www.imperial.hr) and had great views over Rab. Day 5 – another ferry, this time from Rab to the mainland (Jablanac). The ferry wasn’t supposed to be running at the time we arrived but it was, so we hopped on! The whole are is well signposted for walks and we chose the valley walk to a shepherds hut (Planinarski Dom). All in all about 5 hours walking in very hot conditions. There are a couple of areas en-route where refreshments are available and the whole thing is very well organised. Onto the Hotel Vicko (www. hotel-vicko.hr). We were not in the main hotel but a block of apartments on the sea front. Initially, on being told this we feared the worst, but it turned out that we had great rooms overlooking the sea (as can be seen from the sunset shot). The hotel owners were very friendly, although their head waiter could do with attending a charm school! A meal in the hotel proved to be good. Day 6 – an early morning start (do we do any other type of starts to the day!) for Plitvice National Park, the main national park of Croatia. It does pay to get there early and to see the large waterfall first. We didn’t do the latter! A superb park with great walks and the lake scenery is stunning. Ours was a midweek trip and we would guess that weekend visits, and those at anytime during July/August, could see the park being very busy. No need to take a packed lunch as there are plenty of snack bars/places to eat. The Sunflower Book suggests certain walks, but we found the park organised walks (which mirror and expand on the Sunflower Walks) are better – to be honest, Sunflower should leave the walking bit out of their book and just mention the facilities the park has to offer. Travelling to and from Plitvicka was simple and there is a new motorway from Zadar to Zagreb/Rijeka (eventually) and the roads are not busy. Throughout our travel we found motorways and roads throughout Croatia to be pretty good and driving is of the same standard as in the U.K. A final meal in Starigrad at the Dalmatian Restaurant on the water front. A good choice and the food was super – and not expensive. It was busy all the time and this is always a good sign. Day 7 – we had planned to spend the whole day in Zadar (for a late evening RyanAir flight) but decided to have a look at the island of Vir. En-route we called in at Nin, a very pretty coastal village which houses the smallest cathedral in the world. The cathedral is not functioning but it is well maintained. Onwards to Vir Island where we arrived at Vir Town. The town is a bit of a sprawl but we wended our way to the beach area and a really nice promenade to walk along. Thanks to the Zodiac Cafe for letting us log onto their WiFi – and the coffee was good as well. It was a really nice surprise to find some lovely small towns so close to Zadar. As for Zadar, first impressions are that it is a new town in a hurry to catch up on the building boom, but this would be misleading. The old part of the town, which is walled, is steeped in history and is well worth a visit. There are some areas where old meet new to good effect. In the old city, go to the end of the promenade and there is a huge circular solar panel set into the ground (which you can walk on!) and nearby a water pipe mechanism that uses the motion of the sea’s waves to produce musical notes. A climb up the Bell Tower is well worth it and gives a good view of old and new Zadar and a great view of the coastline and local islands. And to prove that wine is cheaper than water – we had a late afternoon drink (well, it was after 4.00 p.m.!) with the girls having house white wine and Brian and I on soft drinks; and the wine was cheaper than my water! For our last meal of the trip we chose a restaurant suggested in the RyanAir in-flight book – Stomorica. It took a wee bit of finding but was well worth it and the price was excellent (well done Mr. O’Leary!). And for the entertainment – an electrician had just wired up some decorative lights and decided to have a grand switch-on. The lights went bang and a parasol burst into flames, but nobody was injured. We departed just as the local police arrived! Overall our visit to Croatia was super - seven days of sunshine and heat. The locals are very friendly people - and just about all those under 40 years old speak English! Croatia itself is a very clean, virtually litter free tidy place and it is very apparent the residents take pride in their country (other than the odd mindless graffiti artist in Zadar). Would we visit again – a definite yes. Reference book to purchase: Sunflower Landscapes of Croatia – car tours and walks by Sandra Bardwell. The Rough Guide Map to Croatia was good for general car use and we found, for local maps, tourist info centres in most of the small towns visited. Next year’s vacation (Brian’s choice) was divulged on the last night in Zadar Airport – Austria and a two city break (Salzburg / Innsbruck) and walking in the Tyrol.
|
