Croatian Freedom

Croatian Freedom

I was really looking forward to spending September in Croatia. I’d been last year and was again anticipating enjoying the stunning scenery and coastline with that warm refreshing feel the Adriatic brings.

I’d had a good ferry deal from CC’s booking service and with Red Pennant felt assured for a safe and enjoyable time. Landing at the Hook of Holland and overnighting near Munchen Germany, Austria beckoned and I looked forward to enjoying 4 days by Lake Keutschach before travelling on to Croatia.

Following Tom Tom’s missus’ instructions proved to be exact, any errors were mine (my brother has Tom Tom himself – he won’t have a woman telling him where to go). The facilities here are excellent with a shop and restaurant, but if you’re the type that wants to see English breakfasts served here; look elsewhere, English translations don’t even appear on the menu which is very ethic Austrian. In fact I never saw another UK van on the site until the day I left.

The air here like the water in the lake is very refreshing and everyone is getting a fine all over tan since this site is FKK Camping Mullerhof a naturist site very well run by the Safron family q.v www.fkk-camping.at  

                       

FKK Camping Mullerhof

You enjoy the freedom that caravaning brings; add the freedom of no clothes and really soak up true, natural wellbeing freedom. It’s exactly the same as any other caravaning experience, you meet new friends who become old buddies, chatting and sharing life’s experiences enjoying the company of good people the only difference is when the climate’s right you choose not to wear clothes.

I belong to  Suntreckers who are affiliated to British Naturism www.bn.org.uk who had organised the rally where 23 units gathered to meet and enjoy Solaris – a very well organised site with all the facilities you need including restaurants, bars supermarkets, a swimming pool all set in a very quiet pine forest location that goes down to the sea; q.v. http://www.camping-adriatic.com/solaris-naturist-resort-porec for more information.

There’s usually an event organised every night if you want to participate – and they’re fun. All though initially the weather was cloudy with a very spectacular thunderstorm one night but when it’s 25 – 30 C who cares and Phoebe did her sunny duties from then on.

We enjoyed the communal barbeque, name the 50 films in the picture quiz, communal singing and Kerry’s theatrical extravaganza comprised of entirely of internationally unknown stars i.e. ourselves – but eh up, weren’t it fun chuck!

 

 

Solaris Site Porec

 

Since there was a break between the two Croatian rallies, I spent 3 nights in Kovasada – you know it’s where the cruise ships call in – but I went on to the naturist site. This is more commercial with higher site density but more amenities and excellent restaurants plus a tremendous location with classic sunsets.

As an aside, I was enjoying a meal at the Saline when a couple with a beautiful, active blond 18 / 20 month old daughter sat near me. Clearly she loved dad as they played peek-a-boo with hands and serviettes and then she climbed out of her high chair with dad chasing her down the stairs – a joy for a grandfather like me to see. ‘Cause what happened next was that she understandably objected to being restrained and being put back into that rotten highchair (which was plastic of course).

To placate her, what did mum and dad do next – they got out an iPad which immediately transfixed her and peace reigned in the restaurant. Am I missing something here; perhaps this is the way forward with technological family love – hmmm I wonder.

It does highlight what I believe to be one of UK society’s ills, that of young men abandoning their paternal duties and leaving too many children (boys in particular) being brought up in a feminine dominated environment and missing out on the fun that that young man had with his own child.

 

 

Kovasada

Another thing I also noted is the lack of insects except of course the one that has a substantial 3 course meal on you in the middle of the night. Is it the numerous lizards that scurry about, but then I watched in fascination as one ate another one head first of course, the whole process taking about 40 minutes. Then there’s the squirrels darting about the trees some of whom are red, others black which isn’t the case with the black birds that have untidy spiky feathered blue heads, ornithologists will doubtless enlighten me.

Anyhow onwards and upwards, having paid the bill – 3 nights cost half what 9 nights at Solaris did - OK allowing for Suntreckers volume discount - on Wednesday Krk island beckoned.

This place is something else – having a big van I came through the tunnel and paid the tolls (and backing out of the pre-paid auto-toll booth – silly me trying to beat the queues) rather than taking the more strenuous coastal route. What views and what road engineering presuming of course you keep your eyes on the road with snap shot appreciation glances at the rest of the world – and what a world it is. Tom Tom’s missus kept me in line with the confidence that I was on the right road; the only problem is of course you have no spatial geographic appreciation where you are which comes with reading a map but hey ho, Captain James Cook probably felt the same and he turned out to be the world’s cartographer.

FKK Konobe appeared where Mrs Tom Tom said it would be and I very steadily descending the 1km 10% incline to be greeted by my now old Suntrecker friends with a very welcome cup of tea as I set up on site. This is much more naturism in the raw (pun intended) and is an older, more basic site with as I tried on the first night a small but excellent restaurant which in truth is a general comment in that all the restaurants I visited served good quality food with pleasant staff with at least half UK prices.

In truth if you have difficulty with walking steep slopes as my chubby little fenland raised legs do, then Konobe isn’t for you. Even trekking up the slope to the loo made me wish I’d been before I started.

….and then the lightening started very spectacularly and continued all through the night along with the rain creating a very rock ‘n roll night with the wind. Unfortunately the weather for the next two days was cloud and rain which gave the incentive to go for a drive and explore this unusual island.

The drive to the south like everywhere you go to in this fascinating place, is full of spectacular scenery as was my trip to Baska. This was well worth while and the town has lots of shops, bistros and promenade side stalls selling all the usual tourist items.

 

 

Baska promenade

 

When I’m on holiday, the first thing I do is take off my watch (and now can’t find where I left it), avoid the news and newspapers to add to the freedom Suntrecking brings. The only downside is that I now have to take nine pills a day some of which are of course day marked to help you remember if you’ve taken them or not – kinda spoils the plot a bit.

But by now I was well into forgetting which day of the week it was although the Duchess of Cambridge’s revelations were received with a great deal of sympathy. Anyhow beach barbeque tonight with the gang followed by Kerry whipping us into teams to play guess want’s in the bean bags – and very well done it was too with a lot of effort and organisation which was genuinely appreciated by all.

….and then the next days the sun shone and shone and shone.

Towards the end of the rally I decided to move on to another site, this one being very close to Krk itself, Politin. I managed to get a site down by the sea shore to enable me to enjoy the coastal views and magnificent sunsets.

 

 

 

Van step view

 

 

Politin Site Krk – my van’s just right of the flag pole.

 

This is also run by the same group Solaris which entitled me to an additional 10% discount. Currently it’s relatively small with c.350 pitches almost all of which were occupied and is due to major changes in 2013 including a swimming pool – the beach’s here are small but horror of horrors it’s going textile.

The permanent site owners are obviously very upset especially considering the care and devotion some put into their plots with extended framed awnings and vans under roofs – one was even growing their own tomatoes. Apparently Solaris are stating there’s less competition here with textile sites but with c.95% occupancy at the tail end of the season I don’t see the logic.

As I was leaving my near neighbour dismantled his site which took 2¹/₂ days with fridges, freezers, frameworks and other accumulated items. His van was I guess at least 15 years old, unregistered and finally towed away by a taxi, to where I don’t know – Konobe hopefully perhaps rather than the big caravan maker in the sky?

Indeed many of the site’s occupants arranged a protest procession with a funeral arranged to bury naturism at Politin at sea complete with brass band provided by the German residents; who are in the majority.

 

 

The Death of Naturism at Politin Funeral

 

…and the memorial plaque

 

Ah well, its cloudy now so I’m off to walk to Krk – suitably attired of course…….and got soaking wet. But it was warm and very well worthwhile. Krk is a walled town full of character with harbour side restaurants and good shops where I bought a leather belt, a wallet and managed to get 64Gb memory for the camera.

 

Krk Town

 

As we all know, all good things come to an end and after 6 glorious weeks I had to hitch up and drive the two days back home. I certainly had a most edifying experience and will do it all again, with great appreciation for the Suntreckers club and all it stands for.

My especial and sincere thanks go to those rally organisers who gave up their own time and with much effort made this break the great success it was – especially to Ann and George at Konobe, Ken our international rally organiser and for Solaris Len and Ann, Maureen and Graham and for keeping smiles on our faces James and Kelly plus Dennis and Sue for taking care of this chubby little loner.

Guess where I’m going next year - yup only this time I’ll share this gorgeous country with someone and not just myself.

 

THANK YOU

General notes about Croatia.

Shopping. The supermarkets are on a par with the UK with one or two that are even better, the major benefit of course being that the prices are considerably lower. All major credit cards accepted but not all take Euros.

Beaches. Essentially there aren’t any, certainly not large extensive sandy ones. Plastic wet shoes are essential to protect your feet from sharp rocks – be extra careful that you don’t bang your knees into one – and the initial steps as you carefully pick your way into the sea are invariable slime covered and thus ice skatingly slippery – but once you’re in the water is excellent and far more refreshing than the Mediterranean. Frequently there are concrete access points with handrails to overcome access problems, choose these and you’re OK. The notice said the water was 20C but to me it seemed cooler; about 3 degrees above involuntary bladder emptying I’d estimate.

Toilets. With my bladder I’m a frequent visitor but not once did I find malodorous or less than pristine cleanliness anywhere.

The People. Very friendly and helpful, speaking excellent English on the whole once they realise you’re not German.

Roads. Narrow and generally not smooth other than motorways which are not many. Speed limits are low and most drivers obey them and the driving attitude is generally non aggressive – we’ll get there given time.  Diesel here’s c.£1/litre.

Of course satellite navigation isn’t absolutely essential – but it’s the next best thing to it and makes your journey so much easier, hassle free and indeed safer. Both Austria and Slovenia demand the payment of what is essentially a temporary Road Fund Licence, the amount depends upon your length of stay, called vignettes.

Food - eating out. Generally very good indeed to high quality standards and Italian based. Expect to pay less than £20/hd including drinks.

- eating in. Very much the same food is available as in the UK if you don’t want to be more adventurous especially with a wide variety of vegetables, plus at about half the price. Products frequently have English descriptions plus if you don’t know just ask another shopper they’ll almost invariably speak English.

Two gripes, not very keen on the bread, its close structured and dense as in the UK rather than the crusty open texture of French bread – but of course it stays fresh longer – secondly couldn’t find any UK type sausages for breakfast only frankfurter style varieties. So if that blows your frock up, bring your own.

Weather. I was there in September where temperatures ranged from 25 to 35C max during the day, with the sea at a refreshing 20^o. There were some cloudy days but almost invariably there was 2 or 3 hours sunshine during the day – but at 25 ^o who cares anyway. At night, a pullover might be needed especially if the wind is blowing.

But what about the buildings, why do they all have very elaborate lightening conductors – experience thunderstorms as we did and all becomes very clear in a flash.

I know this reads as if I’m employed by the Croatian tourist board; these are my own views and experiences so get your kit off and trek with us and enjoy real caravaning freedom.