A Trashy Camp and a Romantic Evening...

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You'll have to excuse any spelling mistakes or missed capitals, I'm having a frustrating time with this keyboard and don't want to pay for time spent correcting! Other than that, hope you like it!!!!

So we took the train from Ljubljana, got stopped at border control as we left Slovenia... then, curiously enough, we rode for about 20 minutes and got stopped at border control for Croatia! I guess there are still some (civil) disputes about the precise location of the borders!

The view from near our camp- we didn't bother ohotographing the actual camp.. ick
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I ran out of reading material so I spent a lot of the train ride haning my head out the window watching the scenery, instead of with my nose in a book. Quite lovely in fact!

So we thought we would get to Riijeka (a northern port town, the most major port town in the country and impossible to avoid if you want to go....anywhere) and swagger over to the ferries and hop on a boat to Dubrovnik.

WRONG

The next ferry wasn't for TWO DAYS!!! eep, said sheepish us. So we took a bus to a campground which I wouldn't recommend to anyone, not even someone I didn't like... It was super out of the way (which is good if your whole vacation is two weeks at one camp but not for a stopover!), packed full (several tents within 5 ft of each other!) and fairly dirty- no grass just rocks on dirt... not nice without a thermarest. BUT! It was right next to the beach so we watcherd the sun set over a cove which was super beautiful. Also, they had fairly cheap burgers.

Walls like this were pretty much the standard... a far cry from France etc
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After an awkward sleep, we went back into town early in the morning, stashed our bags and walked around town all day. One advantage to Rijeka is that although ALL Tourists pass through here, most don't bother to stop unless they are forced to (like us) so we climbed up to the castle which was free and almost clear of tourists!

It's a small castle but on the highest point in the area, affording INCREDIBLE views of the adriatic and the city and the mountains behind us! We got some pretty cheap piyya and ice cream (exactly like italian gelati but a fraction of the price- go croatia go!) then hhad a visit at the monastery across the street from the castle- talk about history central!!!

at the castle
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At about 5 we took a Katamaran boat to the Island of Cres, which we only had one night to see. So as soon as we got there, we were looking for a room to rent when this little old lady approached us and asked us if we needed a room. We went with her to her house, got changed and headed right back out. We decided to splurge a little on dinner and spend more than 5€ for both of us. We avoided the ultra touristy restaurants around the harbour because they were so loud and busy and found this little restaurant on a side street. For 20€ we got a wonderful gourmet meal. I got IstrianTruffles (Istria is just north on the mainland and is apparently quite popular for truffle fans because they are like the Italian and French ones but much cheaper) and in house made pasta called Fuzi with a super creamy cream sauce, Scott got Istrian sausages. mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it... Also we got wine and beer and as we were leaving they brought us a postcard and a shot of Schnapps each!!

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We walked around the island until late, cruising around the harbour, sitting on a pier watching the sunset, walking along a boardwalk and popping into the random shops that were open quite late (most of the stores are closed mid day so they are open late).

It was so beautiful, all the boats bobbing along in the harbour, the lights being reflected in the clear turquoise water, the ssuper clear night sky. It was perfect for a one night visit, so romantic!!! oooh lala

The next day we had to catch the ferry fairly early, but we had time to get some juice and coffee at a harbour cafe and watched a bit of the sunrise (very early ferry!!), just the end of it.

Cres Harbour
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The rest of the day was spent trying to find things to do in Rijeka again while we waited for our ferry. It's not easy, all the museus were closed for some reason. As a result we spent a lot of time in cafes (it was also really hot and there was no shade anywhere but cafes!!). It was so much cheaper than cafes in Germany- 2€ for a cappucino and a fresh squezed lemonade! So it was easily justified but we joked that we were going to ˝under 2€˝ ourselves right out of a budget!!

At 6ish we went to the cruise-sized ferry and scored some really good spots on the deck, we each got a life-jacket box and immediately spread our sleeping bags out to claim them! By 8pm the deck was full, every box, bench or under starirs spot having been staked out quite early. We hung out with this cool guy from seattle for a lot of the night and had some great conversation. His name is Aaron and he's doing this huge around the world travel, he's been to asia and australia and he's going to africa and south america and his bag is incerdibly small... i envy him his bag.  I fixed a little ornament on his bag and he shared his salami with us which was perfect because after a bunch of wine i was famished.

At our lovely dinner
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The sleep on the deck was one of the most interesting and pleasant sleeps i've ever had, it was really warm but windy (but I had my wonderful down sleeping bag to protect me from the wind- thanks daddy!!) and perfectly refreshing and i kept trying to stay awake to look t the stars. At about four there was an intense sunrise on our side of the boat so i just cracked my eyes open to see a bowl of blackness over my head with pinks and yellows mingling right along the coast, outlining mountains.

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Pretty Stunning.... Next entry!