Awesome holiday to Croatia (Part Two)

It's been a few days since I wrote the last update but I need to get this done so I'm going to type this up in free moments I get from now until it is completed.

Rosie is very excited for her Banana Split

Cannot wait to get stuck in

My cookies ice cream was really nice also

Only a little over spill

And done - what an effort!

I left you as we had settled into the French Square (not its real name) in the palace at Split. It was hot and we were well ready for the rest, the drinks and even more importantly the ice cream. Rosie ordered the banana split and when it arrived her eyes went wide. It was huge. My ice cream was pretty awesome as well to be fair however Rosie was the star of this show as she sat there and ate the lot without taking a break. Very impressive and she was rightly proud of herself.

House of a resistance fighter

Beautiful view across the bay above Split

So many lovely narrow shaded streets

Rosie was impressed with these bikes

An old section of the city wall

Split is full of beautiful old buildings

Raising a hat with a statue

Rosie really enjoys fountains

A pretty creative fountain we found

Rosie in Froggyland

Angela in Froggyland

Angela and Rosie in the narrow street

So much smoke from the fires

Rosie is tired but happy with her sweet

Large flames visible above Makarska

Loads of flames on the hill

Following this excellent rest we headed for a walk towards the viewpoint looking out over Split. On the way we saw Palmina's house (see this link, though you'll need to translate the page) and then continued past lots of cats which Rosie loved and finally reached the top after lots of climbing. It was very lovely indeed and the views were amazing however Rosie got a little upset on the way down as it was quite a long walk. We ended up in another beautiful square with statues and fountains and beautiful buildings and the old town walls. Amazing place, Split. It was starting to get to time for lunch and we headed over to a lovely Italian restaurant with great food, good service, and Rosie made friends with a little boy with an awesome bin lorry toy but spent most of the time sat with his parents talking to them. So funny. After lunch we headed towards the highlight of the day - Froggyland. This was incredible and despite misgivings Angela really enjoyed it too. I can recommend it very highly if you are ever in Split. It is just so funny, so cleverly done, and so inspiring. Rosie also loved it and when asked about her highlight for the day she couldn't decided between the Banana Split or Froggyland. Sadly we were not allowed to take any pictures at all. With that done we had a final little stroll around, found the really narrow street, then went for more coffee under water sprays right on the front by the port. Then it was uber back to the rabbit and then onwards towards home. A really great day and we did get some swimming in the evening as well. The fire near Makarska was looking really bad, the smoke was terrible, and while swimming I was starting to see ash on the surface of the sea. Rosie got to enjoy some of her sweets from the classic sweet shop in Makarska but then that evening as I looked across the bay I could see jumping flames on the hills not far from the town. Crazy!

Me and Rosie set off for our swim

We were having a really great time!

Quite a large fish tail

Angela and Rosie rig up the fishing line

Rosie getting her fish on

Loads of fishes (look closely)

Playing with the ball in the sea

My shoes covered in stones

Yes she is excited

Looking across towards where we were staying

The next morning Rosie joined me for my morning swim which honestly to me was the highlight of the entire holiday. She was so excited and had been asking to join me all week. We had bought her a full face snorkel mask after I broke the cheap one we'd picked up in Bulgaria. She was comfortable enough with it from her swimming the night before so we climbed down the steps, with Angela along to watch and be there in case something went wrong. Nothing did go wrong, however, and we had a lovely swim looking at the beautiful fish and sharing that experience together. After another lovely breakfast from the bakery we setup the cheap fishing rod and took it back down to the rocks and sat and fished for a while. Rosie had more fun just throwing the food in than actually holding the rod, but it was cool to see all the fish around. When Angela rejoined us I went in the water again to swim and watch from under the water. Later on that day we were once again down at the beach this time with our water polo ball and had lots and lots of fun throwing the ball around and just generally having a laugh. Angela was not in the water as she had been to the shops but was able to get some really cool pictures and a video. I also took some time to relax and while I was snoozing Rosie covered by shoes with stones which she thought was hilarious. Dinner was up at a lovely restaurant right across the other side of the village where Rosie had the best pork ribs and chips. On the walk back the sunset was beautiful, and also you could see where we're staying so I grabbed a picture and there is a red arrow on it showing the location.

The smoke has really died down now

Fishes jumping (look to the left)

Angela and Rosie having fun

Final few moments at the beach

Looking up at the village of Pisak

A very very tasty final dinner

Double ice cream

Beautiful sunset!

And so finally we were at the last full day of our holiday and it had gone waaay too quickly! I was up, did my swim, and then relaxed on the balcony watching the smoke still around from the fires in the hills and also the awesome fish jumping. I got a good video of this finally as well, including an enterprising fisherman who was chasing around trying to catch the fish. We spent the day on the beach which was a whole lot of fun. The beaches at Pisak really are lovely, if small, and the water was warm, calm and full of fish. It was just a perfect location. It's a really pretty spot as well. For dinner Rosie had asked that we go back to the restaurant from the first night which we happily did. I ordered a stuffed chicken dish which took ages to arrive (because it was cooked fresh, and the chef had only just started work) while Rosie had her burger and Angela had a really nice pizza again - those pizzas were good! Afterwards we had icecream from the little ice-cream parlour next to the restaurant, which was also lovely. The evening was stunning, the sunset was beautiful, however during the night a huge storm came through that was so loud it woke me, Rosie and Angela!

A quick look at the beach in Pisak

Final breakfast is out the way

I treated myself to some Peach Cobbler

This was a pretty little bench

Sat with Rosie on the bench

A final look at a wonderful view

A bad picture of a beautiful view

Lots of waiting in queues on our return journey

Xena is so happy we're home

Rosie gets her lolly

Despite the slight disturbance from that storm we did sleep well and were up at normal time. I was going to swim but decided against it and I'm glad I did as it would turn out to be a super long day. I walked down to the bakery for the final time and got a picture of the little beach there (this is the first beach we went to, and also the last beach) and picked up a load of supplies for breakfast and also to feed us on the way home. After breakfast I straight away started loading the car and again I'm glad I did so as the temperature rose fast so I was able to get most of it done and avoid sweating. We were ready to leave by our target time of around 9am and Rosie and I sat on a little bench for a bit before we finally went in the car. We were super careful about the satnav this time and made sure we went the route up the length of Croatia then across into Serbia and back down. On the way we went over the new bridge we had gone under on our boat trip, though the pictures were rubbish. The rest of the journey was long and awesome at times and then tedious. There was a lot of traffic at times and the Croatian/Serbian border was a little slow however everything was looking good until we reached the Bulgarian border. This was incredibly slow. There were crowds of immigrants harrassing cars in the queue to wash windscreens (doing so without even asking unless you yelled at them) and it took about two hours to crawl up to the checkpoint. We got there and were through pretty quickly once we were seen and I got to about an hour away from home before I woke Angela as I thought she'd have to take over the drive. As it happens just chatting a bit woke me up and I was able to complete the full 19.5 hour drive on my own. It was 5:30am when we pulled up and after unloading the food only I went to bed and slept for 5 hours. The girls were super happy to see us, of course, and Rosie was very happy to get to start on her huge lolly she got at the shop in Makarska.

So there it is. Thank you so much for reading it all. I hope you enjoyed. I'll be back at some point, not sure when yet though.

Awesome holiday to Croatia

We've been back from holiday a few days and I've finally recovered from the return journey (of which more later) enough to get started on this update. It really was a lovely holiday and I highly recommend Croatia to anyone who is looking for a relaxing beach holiday.

Welcoming our awesome house-sitter

On the road for our holidays

Having dinner with our friends

The sun comes up while we're travelling

Bosnia is a beautiful country

Dirty windscreen and mountains in the distance

I really struggled to take a picture of this river

Some big lumps of rock by the road

The first thing that has to happen for any holiday is our house sitter needed to arrive. Angela went to collect her from the bus station and Rosie got ready (including decorating her room and dressing up specially in her cape and grandma's hat) and was waiting when Donna arrived. She settled in very quickly, the puppies were very happy to see her, and it was great to know our life would be looked after so well for our return. We were up normally the next morning and didn't rush out the door but left about 8 or so and drove through the day to arrive up with Steve in the north of the country where we were breaking the trip. We relaxed and chatted (and I slept a bit) before heading out for food at a local village and then heading to bed early. For some reason I woke at 2am and so we left their house a little earlier than initially planned but this turned out to be a great decision. Our initial plan was to head up and over Serbia and down the length of Croatia so we set our satnav for this route. The first border between Bulgaria and Serbia was very quick with no traffic at all and we sped on our way following the satnav. Then we turned a corner and suddenly were at another border crossing (again with no queues) but this was actually leading us into Bosnia which we had initially decided to avoid! We were committed, however, and it turned out to be a really lovely drive and the country is beautiful. Rosie got a little sick at one point due to the super-windy roads through the mountains but she was fine after that one incident. We then reached the border between Bosnia and Croatia and suddenly we were in a nearly two hour queue to get through the single checkpoint and that was tedious! No matter, with much frustration, we made it through and then drove the last hour or so to our accommodation, including a 15km tunnel right through the mountain range!

A beautiful panorama from the balcony

Sat down for our first dinner on holiday

I must be on holiday

Rosie tucking in to her burger

Loads of fish in the sea

It was a little complex trying to find the location however we were able to ring the host and she guided us in and showed us where to park. What a stunning place, and the view from the balcony was out of this world. We settled ourselves in (having arrived at about 4pm) and went for a swim straight away before getting set and going for dinner at one of the two restaurants that were within a couple of minutes of the cottage. Food was really nice, the service was good, and I welcomed the holiday with a beer. Rosie enjoyed her burger very much and then was loving watching the fish swimming around just below the dock that the restaurant was built on.

Rosie looking at the long distance swimmer

There he is

Rosie had a doughnut for breakfast

Fishes jumping in the bay

Rosie doing some drawing while we prepare for the day

I was up early the next morning and went for my morning swim which took place off the rocky area directly below the cottage. Rosie wanted to join me to tell me about the fish jumping so she followed me down a little while after I left but was stopped by the hostess and sent back inside. She didn't repeat this stunt thankfully. The swim was lovely! After that I went back up and found everyone awake, because of Rosie's excursion, so we sat on the balcony for a bit and then I went and picked up breakfast from the bakery and ate that on the balcony. We were enjoying watching the sea and seeing all the activity including lots of fish jumping and a long distance swimmer who went all the way across the bay and then back again. It was a nice relaxing start to the holiday.

Rosie and I swimming together

Lunch time with Roo

Having a game of Snake on the table

Pizza on the balcony

The sun sets behind the ridge

Angela bought us some ice creams

More games on the balcony

We had been told about a nice beach that was a short walk up the cliffs from us so we packed ourselves and headed over, past very loud cicadas and some posh apartments. When we got down to the little beach there was only one other family there and we went straight into the water and had a lovely time, though all the time more and more people arrived. We stayed until lunch then headed back to the cottage for lunch and a game of snake and a rest. Dinner was pizza and ice-cream and then more games of snake on the balcony.

Rosie using Grandad's binoculars

A wind shadow reveals the gusts

The view from our coffee spot

Settling into our place on the boat

Rosie is loving her boat trip

This is the new bridge

Looking up the river

Rosie excited with her ice-cream

Meeting a little pony

It's time to paddle

Sitting right at the front of the boat

Beautiful reflections on the river

Crazy person on zipwire

Rosie with a sea food pasta

On the Monday we had arranged to meet one of Angela's friends who has lived in Croatia for many years. I was up early but a strong wind had picked up in the night and I left Rosie watching the wind-shadows on the sea before walking down to have my swim. It was pretty cold and I was not in for very long before coming back to warm up. We headed out early enough and met Angela's friend in a lovely cafe right on the banks of a river. We had time for a good chat before walking over to our boat hire which would take us up the river. It was absolutely lovely with such beautiful views and we all really enjoyed it. Rosie had brought her sailing hat and was the Captain of this voyage. The trip was up the river (under the new bridge which was quite impressive) to a location with food, ice creams and a little paddling beach. After ice-cream we made our way to the beach where me and Rosie did paddle (I also was asked to film a guy swimming in the river - strange but OK) and we saw some ponies both on the way there and back again. Too soon it was time to get back in the boat and head on the return trip which was stunning once again and included seeing some crazy person on the zip wire going over the river! When we got back to the starting point we all went into Maisie and drove a little way out of town to a really nice restaurant where we had some lovely food before Rosie and I went for a swim (the water was a little warmer by this time) and then headed home for a rest. It was a great day out!

Small waves of very cold water

That was bracing!

Wind blowing up spray! Incredible

Rosie is so beautiful

Makarska marina

Rosie loves icecream

Rosie with her new teddy on the submersible

Lots of fish 

Rosie watching the fish

Back top-side on the way back in

The next morning when I woke it was still very windy so I went to a different beach (the one we swam from the day we arrived) and there were actually waves and when I went in for my swim it physically hurt it was so cold! I was in and out in about five minutes. I went back to find Rosie waiting for me and we watched the spray blown up by the wind across the bay - it was VERY windy. After breakfast on the balcony (again from the bakery) we decided to change our plans. We had originally said we would spend the day on the beach here but it was too cold and too windy so we packed up and drove down to Makarska. This is a town I was aware of as a friend from years back lives here however I didn't have contact with her so couldn't reach out. No matter, it's a beautiful place and we had a lovely time. It was VERY hot so we were dodging from shade to cover. We walked round the bay to see if the big wheel was operating but it only runs at night so then we headed back, got some ice cream, and booked onto a semi-submersible boat/submarine thing. There was a yellow one but Rosie chose the red one. It was awesome, lots of fish, and Rosie loved it.

Sat on the high stools

Food arrived - noodles and a burger

Rosie reaching for the water

Lots of streets like this

A traditional sweet shop of awesome

Having a snooze after milk-shake

Getting a swim in late

Rosie with her prawn salad

Once we were off the boat we headed back to a street food place we had seen while walking around and had some lovely noodles (Rosie had a burger) and then we headed for a walk to explore the town. It was a lovely place as I've said, with beautiful architecture and open squares with fountains but Rosie was most impressed as we walked along and spotted a traditional sweet shop. We bought a load of sweets for all of us which was a lot of fun. It was super warm so we had a bit of a rest after drinking some lovely milkshake (bought from the same shop we got our ice-cream from at the beginning of the day) and then we were back in the car and driving home. The breeze had died down a lot so we made our way over to the "Party Beach" as Rosie called it (there were some inflatables moored there) and had a swim, went on the inflatable for a couple of minutes (we were supposed to pay but the guy gave it for free) and then we went to a new restaurant for our dinner. This was absolutely lovely, more expensive but higher class food. A lovely day all round.

Fire on the hills!

That night while I slept Angela was sat on the balcony and watching as a fire started to spread over by Makarska. She took a picture and showed it me the next day, though I hadn't realised this had happened and thought it was clouds, not smoke!

Sunrise through lots of smoke

A fire fighting plane heads to the fire

Meeting the bunny

Awesome classic car on the way in

By the lucky toe

The romans attacked us!

One of the many statues around

Heading underground

Really well preserved Roman flooring

Time for a rest and some ice-cream

The next day I didn't even try to swim as it was still very windy and I didn't fancy freezing myself again however I did get a picture of the sunrise through what I thought were clouds but then found out was smoke. We were meeting Angela's friend again today in Split to have a day of touristy stuff so headed off relatively early and reached her flat in good time to meet the bunny then get in an uber into town. It was another really hot day and there was a lot of walking but it was also epic. On the way into the palace we met some students dressed as Romans and got some pictures taken with them. Then more walking and exploring and lots of cool architecture and amazing history before we made our way to a lovely square the was open at one end looking out to the bay where we had ice-cream.

But you will have to wait for the next update to hear about that as this is already way too long! Back soon with the rest of the holiday.