Croatia – a country of two halves Pt2

Ok…. So I’m a bit behind. But I’m finally catching up! 😎

Croatia is a country of two halves, split by a mountain range that runs north to south, effectively dividing the country into the coastal region and the rest of Croatia. To the East of the mountains, there remains many indications of the recent war, with the places we visited in Petrova Gora and Zeljava being good examples of the Socialist period and the conflict that raged in the 90s. Towns and villages bear the scars, with unfilled bomb craters in fields and even inhabited buildings with evidence of RPG strikes on them. There is also a range of facinating relics around the area, which rightly attract tourists along with the stunning Plitivice valley. There is some investment in the area, but it’s confusing in its execution, with new hotels and apartments being erected alongside burned out husks of other buildings, abandoned since the war. Litter is a real eyesore in this area – it is everywhere, with flytipping being a massive problem.

To the west is the coast, where most of the money has been invested. Today there is a huge surge in effort to prepare for the summer, with new road surfaces, new apartment complexes and hotels being built. Campsites are opening, though many remain building sites at present – they promise to be ready by summer. We left the Plitivice region and headed for Split (even passing tank hulks along the way), a longer drive than you’d expect, but along a well maintained and modern highway.

Split was where we said goodbye to Pablo The Syncro as they headed further south into Albania, en route India. Good luck to them, they’re amazing people and we hope to catch up on their return route.

Split was our most southerly stop and we then turned north, meandering up the stunning Dalmatian coast line, up the side of the Adriatic Sea into Istria.

The coastline is dotted with Roman ruins, relics of WW2, olive groves and vineyards and tiny picturesque villages. The drive itself is great, with good roads twisting along the inlets and it is possible to island hop in high season – few ferries in low season sadly.

We saw the site of a sunken German freighter, bombed by the allies which lies in shallow waters (too cold and rough to snorkel on the day we were there), gun emplacements and the most intact Coliseum in Europe.

In particular we would commend Rovinj, north of Pula, as it is beautiful and a few hours spent wandering the alleyways and harbours is time well spent.

There’s so much to see and Google maps or the app Traces of War will show you what’s there.

We are 8 weeks in and around 6000km, so with 4 weeks left on our Schengen allowance, we have moved to Italy for a loop down the East coast and up the West, hopefully exploring lots of beautiful areas and maybe catching up with some more new friends, before running home.