Pearl’s Blog
Pearl’s Blog
Nervous flying! Getting to Zadar - Croatia part 1
(Okay I am apologising in advance if I go into a lot of detail - but I am also writing this website for people who haven't travelled that much - and to be honest things do change a lot - so please bear with me!)
So I decided to take the whole day off - even though our flight wasn't until 5pm, mainly because Eleanor (my friend from work who I was travelling with) hates to fly. It was actually her first foreign holiday in 13 years, so we thought - let's take it easy, get there really early etc. etc. Luckily this meant I had time to wake up leisurely, go for a swim, pack for about 3 hours (!), and send out another DVD that had been ordered, having a lovely lunch before lying in the park for an hour. The packing took so long because we'd decided to travel light - partly because of Ryanair's charges for luggage (another £30 for a checked in bag) and also so that we could move around more freely as we'd only booked one of our three nights’ accommodation. This was the first time I'd ever done this - and, although I was a bit apprehensive about "back packing", I knew there were literally thousands of private apartments in and around Zadar. (For more info on apartments check out www.adriatica.net)
As it's outside of the Euro we had to pick up our cash - it was 8.2 kuna to the pound - as we sorted out our cash on the Stansted Express I did feel a bit like a bank robber!! Oh yes - the Stansted Express - about £26 for an Anytime Return, which adds quite a lot on to the price of your ticket, but we could have got an Easyjet or Terravision bus cheaper - but as Eleanor's not a relaxed traveller (or should I say, was not) we thought the traffic might make us a bit stressed.
Anyhoo - it was great to walk past the long line of people checking in bags - we had already done our online check in and printed out boarding passes (very, very important - if you don't have these they will charge you quite a lot to reprint!) but we did have to sort of repack, as we had quite a lot of fluids - mine was all sun tan lotion (Once from Boots - it's the best!) but Eleanor was gutted to have to ditch her fake tan - 250ml. (The rule is you can have as many 100ml sizes as you want of liquids, gels, creams, but it has to fit in a 20cm x 20cm bag - which is actually the same size as a Tesco sandwich bag.) Mine just went in, as luckily I had put it all in a Tesco sandwich bag anyway, but Eleanor also had to ditch her perfume - not happy.
It's a shame that security takes so long now - not that there were any problems - but it's one of the reasons I leave so early for the airport these days, as otherwise I have kittens in the queue. Then we had a little potter and some lunch at Wetherspoons - it was okay - and I never ever get on a Ryanair flight without eating or without food - not since I flew back from Agadir in Morocco and they forgot to put any food or drink on the plane - luckily the girl next to me shared her sandwich with me - or I would have had to eat an air stewardess!
Eleanor had paid for priority boarding - so she could go on and save me a seat - as a nervous flyer she was absolutely not going to sit apart from me. So she went and got herself set - although being by herself did make her a bit anxious I think it was good because she got on the plane by herself and calmed herself down too. I'd brought along a Neal’s Yard Travel Rescue Remedy roll on as well - which she used - did it help? - well let's just say that we had the most amazing flight - as amazing as a Ryanair flight can be - but it was super smooth - on time - just over 2 hours, and we had a very nice cup of tea - and the view as we flew over the Alps and then into Croatia, with all the little islands was incredible - we got off the other end and Eleanor said "I love flying!"
We jumped on a bus to Zadar - which was about 25 kuna each - about £3 - and got used to Croatian bus drivers. If you stand up and mill around because you're not sure where you're supposed to be they will turn round and shout "Sit down", when you are at your stop they'll shout "Get off". When we got to our "Get off" we asked the bus driver where we got a 5 or an 8 bus (to our B&B) at which point he did a big sigh - said "Sit down" and took us back to the previous stop before turning round and telling us "Get off". I'm not even sure that he was supposed to go back there - so it was very nice of him.
Everybody (bar 1 or 2) in Zadar would answer our "Do you speak any English" with "A little" and then proceed to sort everything out for us - the people with the worst English were the old school taxi drivers (more on them later) and the ladies in the Information kiosk at the bus station.
We jumped on a number 8 and pointed out our little B&B to the bus driver on the map - 18 kuna - "Sit down" - five minutes later we stopped, and started walking down a dark dirt road. "Beep" - we went back to the bus - "the other way" - and 2 minutes later we were at our B&B.
Our first bed for the night was the Pansion Albin - which was rated No 1 on TripAdvisor for B&Bs - and which I fell in love with when I was emailing the owner Leo - he is a bit of a legend on TripAdvisor, and I can see where it comes from. When I emailed him if it was possible to do the 120 things I had planned he said - please do not do this - you will miss the forest for the trees - and when we took the double room as they had no twin room he wrote "I hope Eleanor does not snore."
So the biggest disappointment of Croatia was not actually meeting Leo - but his night manager was really great - pointing out to us how to get a bus back down to Zadar - using a big map that he gave us - that we soon found out that everyone has in Croatia - we ended with at least 4 of these for Zadar and 2 for Biograd.
We got a bit bored waiting for the bus - until it zoomed along - exactly on time. It is a really nice way to travel - although most of the windows are shaded which spoils the view this is essential when it's hot. They are also air conditioned - apart from the one to the airport (which is also the only bus that wasn't exactly on time!)
We'd already seen the beautiful bridge that connects the Zadar peninsular from the mainland on our little detour on the first bus, so as soon as we saw it down one of the sidestreets we jumped off and went to wander round Zadar.
The two big modern attractions of Zadar are the Sea Organ and the Monument to the Sun - I had no idea where the second one was, as the internet was very unhelpful, but it was clearly marked on the map - and the night manager had even drawn us a little route of the prettiest way to walk to it - over the footbridge, through the sea gate, to the very small People’s Square, down Elizabete Kotromanic, to the "doughnut" (Cathedral of St Anastasia and Church of St Donat) and then left onto the sea front according to the sign the most beautiful sea front in the whole world - turn right for the Sea Organ, and the Monument to the Sun is just next to it.
What can I say about Zadar? For a start it's so clean - even at night we could look down into the water beneath the bridge and watch fish chasing each other. The streets are cleaner than my floors at home - possibly cleaner than my plates! As we walked to the "doughnut" there were so many little cafes, and every other shop was an ice cream shop - families and groups of friends sat out on the terraces, drinking cherry brandy and eating ridiculous desserts. My kind of place. I have to say that none of my guide books were very useful - they just seem to list every little historic artefact but without giving a real impression or idea of what to enjoy - and I had kind of ignored what they were saying about any of the monuments, but when we reached the "doughnut" we both fell in love again. Lit from beneath, you can see the red curved stairs give the tower a wonderful gothic feel - magical.
We wandered down to the Sea Organ, still blown away by the clarity of the water. As the waves lap on the steps of the Organ they create a sound, that varies with the intensity and strength of the waves, it's haunting, Eleanor loved it, but it made me a bit sad. I enjoyed dancing on the Monument to the Sun, right next to it - as you move it lights up, powered by solar energy, but then it was time to find something to eat.
The problem with the many, many cafe bars is that they don't really serve food "only sweets" - hmmm... good in one way, but we just needed a little something - and we also needed to sit down - there was a nice looking bakery on the side, but they just had counters where you stood up to eat. So we went to the tacky Pizza place on good old Elizabete Kotromanic, where we sat outside, and had pizza, which they reheated in the microwave - it was still really, really good - unfortunately we also ordered some red wine, which was really rough house wine - with ice in it. But still for about 40 kuna (£5) for everything you couldn't expect that much.
We wandered back to the bus stop where we found we'd missed the bus. Although I had a number for a taxi from the night manager - he'd warned us to only use them - I had no idea how to dial on my phone. Luckily we stopped into a little bar, where I asked for some help - the barmaid apologised that she didn't have enough credit on her phone to call for me, but helped me dial correctly and a very nice man said our taxi would be there in 15-20 minutes. 15 minutes later we realised that the taxi was the one that someone else had jumped into. This is one thing about Croatia - it's possibly the nicest, politest, friendliest, safest places I've ever been - but they have absolutely no qualms about nicking your cab - one time I even had to kick the people out of my cab and they were most put out. Anyway always use the Lulic taxis (00 385 23 494 494) (as the old school Merc drivers will try to rip you off, in my experience) and give them a destination and a name so you know it is your cab - they are very smart, in suits, the cars are lovely and you pay 20 kuna for the first 5 km, so it's practically the same price as a bus if there are two of you - cheaper if there are more!
And back to our room - I have to say it was very nice - small, but with a cute little balcony - a very tiny corridor bathroom with a shower that soaked the floor - but this was the same everywhere and the bed was excellent - we lay down and that was it - best night's sleep of the weekend - even though it's on a main road - there are no cars until about 7am - heaven.
Friday, 4 June 2010
Eleanor on the Zadar footbridge, Croatia