Rabac to Motovun

Monday 24th June

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay on the beach at Rabac and after a morning swim we departed for the central inland medieval hilltop town of Motovun.

It was only a one hour fifteen minute drive through and we passed through some beautiful countryside on the way here.

We`re at the motorhome parking area at the base of the hill and a shuttle bus provides a welcome service up the hill to the fortress town.

Otherwise it's quite a climb ! We took the bus.

The town is interesting and quite pretty but has superb views in all directions.

Opposite the town across the valley is a protected forest which is unusual in that it has deep, rich fertile soil not commonly found in this Karst region. 

The forest is famous for the Truffels for which dogs are used to unearth them.

They then sell them in the restaurants to the foodie tourists at inflated prices no doubt.

The area also is a big producer of Olive Oil and in need of some, I priced it up and glad I did.  £11.49 for a half litre bottle.  Eek, it`ll have to be Lidl for us.

Motovun is the birth place of Mario Andretti the former Formula One Champion racing driver. He was born here but as native Italians, his family were resettled to a camp near Lucca after WWIl when Istria was annexed from Italy to form Yugoslavia. There are photographs of him in a couple of the shops on a visit he must have made at some time.

This afternoon was spent relaxing, again, having a sleep under the awning, and the camper stop has a pool to cool down in, so I'll probably take advantage of that later.

Tomorrows destination has not been selected yet, that's my job for this evening.

Spectacular view of Motovun from across the valley

Motovun valley and forest

Motovun 

Motovun views

Motovun views

Motovun views

Motovun Town Gate

Motovun Roman carvings

Motovun Roman carvings

Motovun Roman carvings

Motovun views

Motovun Town Gate

Motovun Town Gate

Motovun Town Square

Motovun - Door of the Day

Motovun Town Gate

Motovun Town Walls

Motovun Town 

Motovun Town

Motovun Church

Our parking amongst the Olive Trees at Motovun 

Our route to Motovun 

Rabac – day two

Sunday 23rd June

It rained quite heavily for a lot of yesterday evening and night, but we awoke to our usual expectation of a bright warm sun filled Croatian morning.

It has been considerably cooler though than the last week and that is quite welcome to us and especially Louis ! (and not forgetting the fridge)

Today has been spent relaxing on our pitch next to the beach, mostly watching the world go by. 

And quite entertaining it has been too !

We also have a great view of the island of Cres that we didn`t see last night owing to the rain cloud.

The bay here is quite delightful with gently sloping sea bed that is very swimmer friendly, apart from the rocks, but that`s just Croatia. The sea is clear and warm, lovely.
The beach stalls here (and Croatia generally) do a good trade in selling swimming shoes that make walking on the rocks so much less painful.

This morning we walked around the bay into the small town of Rabac.

Most of the town seems to be at the promenade sea level, but it rises steeply behind with lots of holiday villas and apartments.

On the opposite side of the bay is a heavily forested hillside with a large disused building at sea level that was once used for the loading of Bauxite onto ships for transportation.

Bauxite was mined in this area between the two World Wars for the manufacture of aluminium.

After the hustle and bustle of this site on the bay, I think well move inland tomorrow and get a taste for the Istrian countryside.

Our pitch by the sea

Rabac Bay

Rabac Bay

Rabac Bay

Rabac Bay as the sun set

Povile to Rabac

Saturday 22nd June

Despite early dawn sunshine, it was noticeable cooler this morning by the time we got up.

Showers followed for much of the day as we made our way to Rabac on the Istrian peninsular. 

I still got my morning swim in though.

Istria is very noticeably greener than where we have traveled up from, even though it`s only a relatively short distance.

We found an interesting deserted hilltop castle to stop at for some lunch at the little village of Krsan.

Krsan Castle is deserted now although there seem to be some cottages attached that are occupied.

It was first referred to in 1274 and in the mid 1800`s documents were found in the castle detailing the literacy of the Croatian population in this area.

It was interesting to have a wander around the ruins and wonder at the sort of lives the people led when it was occupied.

After that it was onto Rabac.

It`s a small seaside resort situated in a sheltered cove with pebble beach.

Unfortunately it`s been thundering and lightning on and off since we got here so we`ve only been for short walks along the front.

We can`t complain though, it`s the first rain we`ve had for nearly three weeks. At least we know how you feel in the UK with all the rain there.

We`re at Camping Olivia, it`s a large campsite, not my favourite type, but this one seems ok and we have bagged a pitch right on the front overlooking the sea.

We`ll probably stay for the weekend and move on somewhere else on Monday.

 Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle Main Gate

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle - the clock tower has a clock on only one side

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle - Door of the day ?

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle

Krsan Castle - Well in the courtyard

Krsan Castle - detailed carving to the stone lintel

Krsan Castle sunken garden

Krsan Castle Basements

Krsan Castle Views

Our Route to Rabac

Pag to Povile

Friday 21st June

Ed is this evening parked up under the welcome shade of some cooling pine trees at Autokamp Povile, overlooking the Adriatric Sea and with the Island of Krk in the distance.

It`s a lovely spot with fantastic views and I`m expecting a great sunset later.

We overlooked a position with a view of the sea in favour of the shade of the pine trees.
We also have a cute little chapel on the site should we find ourselves in need of salvation we won`t have far to go. It`s St Magdelene and dates from the 16th Century.
Long before tourists in motorhomes started turning up and splashing around in the sea. 
I wonder what the first minister of the chapel would think if he could see it now ? 

Where we were on Pag gave us little shade and with the sun on the back of Ed all day, (where the fridge is) this morning we awoke to milk that had gone off !

No morning Yorkshire Tea cuppa today !!! nearly a disaster.

The fridge has struggled a bit in the heat and it didn`t help having the sun on the back of the fridge.

Today the fridge is much happier :o)

We caught the ferry back to the mainland and this saved us quite a bit of driving.

After a supermarket shop to replace the milk, we made our way to Povile before lunchtime.

This afternoon was spent relaxing, in the shade mostly, and a swim and snorkel around the coast to cool off.

Tomorrow we`ll move up the coast a bit to find some more Istrian delights.

I didn`t bother buying the Pag cheese, we don`t really eat much hard cheese preferring the soft stuff, so it`d have just taken up valuable wine and beer space in the fridge.

Oh and the mirror bodge seems to be working well, should be good enough to get us home.

Enjoy you`re Summer Solstice and have a great weekend.

Ferry port on Pag

Ferry port on Pag

View of Pag

View of Pag

St Magdelene Chapel at Autokamp Povile

Ed`s view of St Magdelene Chapel at Autokamp Povile

St Magdelene Chapel info board

Our pitch at Autokamp Povile in the shade

Views of Povile

Louis cooling off at Autokamp Povile

Views of Povile

Views of Povile

Views of Povile

I`m the pink dot in the sea at Povile (not a beaching Humpback Whale thank you)

Our route to Povile

Pag – On the beach

Thurssday 20^th June

Today was spent on the beach at Camping Navis.

Phew, it ain't half getting hot though !

Not got a lot to report as you might expect lying on the beach all day.

I needed a day to recover from my collision with the Croatian tipper truck. 

This camp is almost exclusively occupied by the Germans and they seem a very miserable lot for some reason, not sure why. Elsewhere they were friendly and cheerful, but certainly a different bunch here.

eBay seems to have plenty of replacement mirrors for Ed although the style has changed a bit over the years, so I'll probably have to buy a matching pair when I get home.

I've also managed to swop the mirrors over so I have a good one on the offside and the DIY bodge on my nearside. So that'll be much better for driving on the right. 

I'll just have to do a quick swop over whilst speeding through the Channel tunnel on the way home though. (note to self - keep the tools handy ! )

Tomorrow we're moving on from here, there is a little ferry goes from the top of Pag back to the mainland, avoiding the need to drive back down to Zadar, so that'll save a couple of hours drive time and the ferry's not expensive.

I think we'll start to take a few leisurely steps towards home with the option of staying somewhere a few days if we feel like it.

Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Maggorie, Dolamites all spring to mind, but before that I might go to the Istria area of Croatia that we saw some of last year, but there's still plenty left to visit.

After that it'll be deciding upon a route home.

I know you're all cursing the lack of summer in the UK, but we got plenty of sun down here and could do with temperatures a touch cooler.

We`re still enjoying the good weather though.

I hope the weather bucks up for you at the weekend.

Anyway, bye for now.

A few views around Camping Navis, I`ll spare you the nudist beach pictures !

Ed parked up, seeking some shade

And the ar$ehole who took my mirror out

Note the no overtaking sign at 8 seconds !!!