Rovinj - day 2

 

Well, we decided to brave out the weather and give it a bit longer to settle down.

We went to bed early last night with heavy rain bouncing off the roof, but thankfully no thunder, Louis slept soundly and so did we.

This morning was really chilly, about 12c which is not what we're used to.

But the good news is it isn't raining 😃

Well, it did a little, on and off through the morning, but we'd decided to have another night here and spend the day in Rovinj. 

We can catch the water taxi from the campsite pier, which takes us across the bay to Rovinj.

It's a popular and busy tourist town with lots of bars and restaurants.

And of course tourist shops.

Our water taxi back to the campsite

We didn't get rained on, but blimey it was chilly with a blustery wind and overcast all day.

So we wandered around the town, took some pictures sat people watching, then caught the water taxi back to the campsite.

This unseasonably wet and cool weather seems to be common to a large part of the continent at the moment, but it looks like its improving next week, so I feel we ought to give Croatia a bit longer.

But we'll decide our next move in the morning.

This campsite is probably one of the smartest we've been on, the facilities top notch

Cabins for hire

Jet Skies for hire

Infinity pools

Glamping tents

The sky was a little brighter at sunset so hopefully a sign of the weather improving tomorrow ?

Rovinj

 

Thursday 12th September 2024

Well we've not had the best of days today, the thunder storm arrived as forecast at about 1am so for an hour we had Louis on edge and barking at the thunder.

It had subsided by about 2am, until about 7am when it started again for an hour.

So we were already feeling a little meh😕 

The rain continued, leaving us unsure which way to go and feeling more meh.

The weather forecast for most of Croatia looks pretty dire, some decent odd days interspersed with rain and thunderstorms.

And that's even down as far south as Dubrovnik

I decided to set off as planned, but by lunch we were questioning the wisdom of staying in Croatia after driving on soggy flooded roads for a couple of hours ? 

Even down to Split it's not looking particularly settled weather although it does seem to change frequently. 

Being stuck in the motorhome in the rain isn't a lot of fun.

I didn't want to be beaten by the weather as we had a similar situation last time we were here and we beat a hasty retreat to the south of France, found the sun and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So the best of the weather locally seemed to be in Rovinj, so we headed here, back on the coast.

No thunder but lots of rain.

We'll decide overnight / tomorrow what we're doing, staying in Istria to see if it improves or head back west, Tuscany is looking good, or there's still plenty of the south of France we've yet to explore.

No photos today, you don't want to see Croatian rain even if it is warmer then UK rain lol.

Camping Savudrija - day 2

Wednesday 11th September 2024

We took the chairs down to the beach this morning and very pleasant it was too, warm without being too hot, and a gentle breeze blowing in off the sea to freshen things up.

I then had a walk up the coast to the headland where there is a lighthouse and the most northerly coastal part of Croatia.

The most northerley coastal point in Croatia

As well as the lighthouse to warn sailors, if they don't take any notice, there is what I think is an old heavy gun implacement in front of the lighthouse.

Presumably left over from WWll.

The section of the campsite we're on, ie the cheaper end 🤣 there are lots of old caravans that look as though they were pitched here during Tito's reign.

Quite big caravans with a large awning and then a large canopy. 

 This is one next to us and one of the smarter looking ones

None appear to have been occupied recently, and some look as though it's been 10 years since anyone visited.

But presumably they're paying site fees so it's odd why they are just left.

This afternoon was spent equally lazily pondering this and life's other mysteries.

I also realised we're parked under a walnut tree, after I tripped over a nut on the ground.

We have heavy rain in the weather forecast for tomorrow so we might have a day on the road to somewhere if the rain arrives ?

Some more views from around the campsite on our evening walkies . . . . .

Camping Savudrija Croatia

Tuesday 10th September 2024

No photos from today, we've not really done or seen anything worthy 🤣

We left our parkup at Grignano and the lovely Castello di Miramare.

What a parkup it turned out to be, I've bookmarked it as a favourite to return to, maybe even on the way back ?

Our destination for today was Croatia.

But in-between Italy and Croatia borders, Slovenia has a finger of land extending to the Adriatic with a short coastline.

So it's necessary to enter and exit Slovenia without going on their motorway and paying a toll charge.

Simple you'd think, but no it's quite tricky made more difficult by the Garmin sat nav playing up and wanting me to do some bizarre route.

So it was back to Google maps on my phone with a screen I could hardly see.

I'd planned a lunch stop in Slovenia at a town called Koper which has a large carpark, surely there'll be space today ? Sadly not it was rammed.

I had to do a three point turn and exit quickly before i got stuck by other cars arriving.

So off to the supermarket and then an out of towncarpark for some lunch.

Anyway we made it to Camping Savudrija at Basanija in the far north at the top of the Istria region.

I booked the campsite from just reading reviews, it's ok, not amazing, but it's on the coast and I managed a swim in the sea after tea which was nice.

Earlier we did some laundry so that was useful to get done.

We're here for two nights and so I have some time to plan where next.

I'll take some photos of the campsite tomorrow.

Where's the Mediterranean weather gone ?

After the weather forecast for this area that I read yesterday, the reality wasn't nearly so pessimistic. 

It rained a bit in the night and we had a couple of showers in the morning, but by afternoon it was quite bright and sunny.

Quite different from the continuous rain all day the forecast told of.

It's also been warm all day, around 21-22'c.

The main feature though is the wind which has been blowing strongly all day.

I'm not sure if it's the Croatian Bora come early, or were just unlucky, but the wind, threatening sky and showers have taken the shine off the Mediterranean feel of Croatia I was anticipating.

The outlook doesn't look much different either for the foreceeable future .

As a result, were not going to go further south into Croatia, instead we'll head back into north Italy where I've found some interesting looking villages around the lakes, so we'll go and explore those and hopefully get away from the wind and find some good weather.

Today I found a great coastal walk through the pine forests, around the craggy headland and sat for ages watching the waves crashing onto the rocks below, getting the occasional blast of sea spray.

The path eventually led into Krk town one way,  but I didn't go that far, instead turning around and going in the other direction past the deserted nudist beach, lol.

Tomorrow we'll land somewhere in Italy.

Sparrows feeding on the lawns

No swimming costumes allowed here