Croatia

This year, as the rate of the Euro makes it expensive to travel to the usual holiday destinations (France, Spain, Greece), and the continuing credit crunch makes us hesitant about travelling further afield to more exotic destinations, many people are choosing to holiday in Britain, especially as the Met Office is threatening good weather here this summer*. However, after the last 2 years of lots of rain during the summer, I decided we were not taking the risk. Instead, we chose to visit Croatia (formerly known as part of Yugoslavia). It’s close to Italy, so has many Italian influences, with a picturesque coastline on the Mediterranean. Should be good for food, sun, mmmmmm. So, following the helpful hints on my favourite website (www.moneysavingexpert.com) on how to get the best deal for a last minute package holiday. I got a good deal from www.monstertravel.co.uk, and the lovely guy from the Geordie call centre couldn’t have been more helpful!

Croatia is not yet a popular holiday destination for Brits (always a good sign – not for me the ‘English pubs’; ‘karaoke bars; wide screen TV showing English football matches; lobster coloured, beer drinking yobs sporting football shirts and stupid hats). Most of the tourists were from Germany, Scandinavia, Russia and Italy, and many locals did not speak any English. It did make it all feel more like being abroad!

That’s not to say that no Brits go to Croatia. I spoke with my nephew, Benji, just before going away, and he told me he had co-incidentally booked flights to holiday in Croatia in July. And then of course there’s always that bizarre co-incidence where you bump into someone you know, just when you are least expecting them (ooh, Deirdre Chambers**). As we at the airport in Pula waiting to get on our plane home, we bumped into a guy we know who is an East Yorkshire pig farmer (customer of James’) and stall holder at the weekly Beverley market! Small world! (www.eastridingcountrypork.co.uk)

Liddi finished her last ‘A’ level exam on Monday 15^th June, and we headed off in the middle of the night to Manchester airport and caught a plane to Pula in Croatia. I just love that feeling when you step of plane on holiday and you are immediately greeted by warm air and sunshine. Our resort was just on the outskirts of Pula, so only a 20 minute journey. We stayed at the Verudula Beach Resort apartments, part of a larger complex of many apartments, couple of hotels, swimming pools, restaurants, bars, sports facilities, etc. Our one-bed apartment was great (Liddi had a sofa bed in the lounge), and we had a large terrace with a view of the beautiful blue Mediterranean sea! The apartments were nestled amongst lots of pine trees which gave welcome shade from the hot sunshine and kept the apartments from getting too hot. There were a few ‘beaches’ with safe, shallow swimming areas. These consisted of lots of lovely white pebbles rather than sand, so shoes were a must.

Day 1 we decided to do not much at all – isn’t that what holidays are all about? We had a walk around our resort to acclimatise (Lorrenzo***) ourselves. Had a sit on the beach, shared a pizza for lunch, soaked up the sun and enjoyed the 28 degrees heat. James was concerned that Liddi and I might want to be mostly sunbathing, reading and swimming. He said that he would be bored with that and needed more to do. However, he is mostly used to holidays in Whitby (with 3 children all wanting entertaining), so I can understand that sunbathing, swimming, relaxing are not the most tempting pastimes and he’d never been abroad on holiday (no James, short visits to a couple of European cities for pig conferences do not count!), so it was fun to see what he would think of this holiday. He was VERY enthusiastic about everything from strange currency (Currency is Kuna. Approx 1 kn = £1.30 – and despite initial teasing about the currency converter examples table I prepared, he used it all the time); foreign languages (his favourite word of the week was ‘kwala’ meaning ‘thankyou’ in Croatian); unusual foods (“what’s calamaris? Oh, that sounds horrible….oh go on then I’ll have some……yum, that’s delicious – can I have some more?”); and of course, sunbathing and swimming (both great).

Day 2 we went into Pula town on the bus. The weather was more cloudy but still warm. Pula has a very large amphitheatre, initially built in BC 14, which dominates the town. It’s a fabulously impressive structure, especially considering they had no modern methods of construction. The venue is still used for concerts – posters in the town were promoting Sinead O’Connor the following week, and a concert by Elton John in July!

Day 3 James went out in the morning for some stuff for breakfast, and came back with a lilo. (mmm, tasty, grilled on toast). Usually we had fruit, yoghurt, bread and cheese with a cup of tea (concession to being British – always bring t-bags in your suitcase!), but hey, it’s good to try something new. We headed to the beach and found a comfy spot amongst the stones. After a bit of sunbathing James went into the sea with the lilo (now blown up, not grilled). I went for a paddle to cool down, and (I still can’t believe this) ended up swimming in the sea. It was beautifully clear, and refreshingly cool. Bobbing about on the lilo in the sea, with the sun beating down was absolutely gorgeous. So tempting that even Lydia had a go! In fact it was so lovely that James spent a little too long and despite our attempts with the Factor 30 suncream, ended up with a rather lobster like! (spot the Brit). Luckily for James we then had a couple of cloudy days so it gave him a chance to recover a bit.

We did manage to book a trip to Venice for the Saturday. We were very excited, as initially our local ‘mis-information centre’ said they didn’t think we could go. On Friday, we were told that it could be stormy on Saturday (how bad could it be?). When we got up at 5.30am it did look a little cloudy, but then it was stupidly early!! We got on the bus and travelled or a while. Some instructions were given in German. The bus turned around. A lady got on and told us the boat was cancelled due to the impending storm. It was getting a bit windy by then. We headed into Pula again only to find nothing open. It was still only 7.30am. We found a coffee shop. We then took a look at some historic sites and had our packed breakfast that we had brought for the boat trip, but were now eating it in the ruins of an ancient theatre. We then headed towards the fruit and veg market. A fantastic range of food – all local grown. We had half a kilo of cherries. Yum. We looked at a few shops and the local fish market. Then we found another coffee bar. We sat under a large umbrella and ordered coffee. The sky was looking rather dark and it was pretty windy. Then the rain started. You know, large blobs of warm rain, as you get when abroad in a hot country. Then the heavens opened, lightening struck and we were in the middle of a huge storm. It went on for about half an hour. Lucky we weren’t on a boat to Venice!

That evening, it was still rather windy and chilly. We decided not to got out. We put the TV on to see if there was anything interesting, hoping to see some strange Croatian programme. However, we could only find German programmes. We ended up flicking between a programme of an animated sponge who seemed depressed, a German version of ‘dine with me’ with a gay host, and a programme commemorating ‘Die Flippers’ 40 years in show business. They are a 3-man singing group. They even had their wives on the set (one seemed particularly uninterested). It seems they have only had hits in Germany, and it’s clear to see why they aren’t popular anywhere else, it’s just not clear why they are popular in Germany. The miming was atrocious, so were the clothes, sets and songs! We haven’t laughed so much for ages!!

Our most local evening entertainment was at a rooftop disco/bar. They had a resident band consisting of 2 middle-aged men. They had a rousing repertoire of foreign songs, with lots of whooping and gesticulation, and finished every song with “thank you very much, danke schön” We named them Raw Sex ****. You would only watch them if you were on holiday!

We visited the Pula Aquarium, about 500 yards from our apartment! Not quite as exciting as a visit to the Deep but nevertheless we saw some impressive fish – sharks (baby ones), tropical fish, and their pride and joy – turtles. What gorgeous creatures.

On the last day, we took a trip on a glass bottom boat, hoping to see some exotic fish in the clear water. In fact, we mostly saw rocks and sea slugs. They are ugly creatures (re-named by us: Sea Turds!). They look like large black sausages laying on the sea bed. Perhaps they had been dumped by all the Germans? Apparently they are a delicacy in Japan & China (what isn’t?). No exotic fish, but good view of the coastline.

Some facts about Croatia:

• Language sounds like Russian. Croatians and Russians can just about understand each other (according to the pool attendant who thought James was Swedish because he has blue eyes!!).

• They make several local wines that have a similarity to several different brands of paint stripper.

• At a very nice restaurant in the historic part of Pula, Lydia had a delicious meal of steak with gorgonzola sauce, and it was served on toast!

• The country is called Hrvatska. So why do we call it Croatia??

We came back and had our final day’s holiday in sunny Yorkshire – we sat out in the garden and had a bar-b-que (although we did wear our sweatshirts and succumb to turning on the patio heater!). Time to plan another holiday!

*oh yes, like the last weekend of sunny, hot weather – except that here is East Yorkshire it’s been misty with a chilly sea fret off the North Sea!!

** reference to the film ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ – if you haven’t seen it you really must!!

*** apologies, couldn’t resist – family joke. Won’t bother to explain!

**** reference to the name of the band headed up by Roland Riveron that accompanied early French & Saunders series.

I love miniatures

I read with great interest today, about Miniaturist (that's what I want to be!) Peter Riches. He is planning his first ever glitzy world cruise after being offered £50,000 from a Canadian fan who spotted the retired builder's 23-room masterpiece online. The tiny 10-bed mansion took Peter a painstaking 15 years to complete (spending an average of 8 hours per day!) and boasts servants quarters, a hand-crafted games room with snooker table, a music room housing a grand piano and a well-stocked library with over 1000 separately bound books. Take a look at this link for more photos.

I love miniature things and I would love to have a dolls house. However, why is it that most of the dolls houses (including this one made by Mr Riches) are replicas of old-fashioned houses, often Victorian? What I would like is a modern house! In fact....my real dream is to build a miniature version of my own house (one I don't yet have). How cool would that be?

The most exciting miniatures I have seen are the totally amazing sculptures of Willard Wigan. He makes micro sculptures on pin heads. You need a microscope to see them. Why does he do it? Who knows! But I LOVE them.