I was born in Cottesloe, only a kilometer or so from the beautiful,
iconic Cottesloe beach and grew up close to the Indian Ocean. The beach has always been a big
part of my life. Now living in Frankfurt we are a far from the smell of the sea.
So what does an Aussie/Kiwi family do to rectify this...well, we jump in the car and
drive for twenty or so hours over two days to spend a few weeks
by the Adriatic Sea in Croatia of course.
We drove through Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Bosnia to get to Croatia in the time it takes to
drive from Perth, Western Australia to the South Australian border.
It still amazes me to see road signs with directions to three different countries on them
and games of 'Spotto' involve not makes of cars with the odd
'Eastern States' number plate thrown in but number plates showing people travelling
from Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Russia, Poland and more.
The motorways/freeways were great, despite lots of traffic.
on your windscreen. We also paid tolls to pass through some of the longer tunnels on the way.
Traffic slowed at border crossings, giving us a chance to look at the local landscapes.
Farms in Slovenia overlooked by gorgeous old buildings.
We were all happy to arrive in Zagreb for an overnight break in our journey and enjoyed a fabulous
Croatian BBQ dinner at a very friendly local restaurant. The waiter was horrified when we told him we were driving to Dubrovnik in the morning. He told us half of Europe heads that way on Saturday mornings and
advised us to get a really early start to avoid long delays. Best advice ever as the roads were already busy
by 6am and service stops packed with holiday makers.
I was spellbound by the spectacular landscape and mountains as we drove through Croatia.
The mountains that were revealed as the early morning mist lifted.
The beautiful azure blue lakes we drove by.
Time flies when you are driving past scenery like this,
made me add even more places to my list of destinations to visit.
We were all pretty happy when there was finally a road sign with our final destination on it!
The motorway came to an end and we drove the last few hours on roads that wound their way by
the most beautiful bays, villages perched on hilltops and boats tied to shore, waiting for their next trip out.
Traffic crawled near the Croatian/Bosnian border, but with views like this out of the car window,
we didn't really notice the delay.
What a road trip! What a destination!
Time for adventures of the sun, sand, sea kind...with a bit of history thrown in!
Breaking our trip into two days made it much more bearable if longer.
Was nice to have a wander around Zagreb and have a great local meal.
We took healthy snacks and some treats for the trip, so much nicer than the food available
at the service stops on the way. We also took lots of water and stopped for breaks along the way,
essential for the driver/navigator to refresh even if it added a few hours to the drive.
The girls are great travelers and happy to listen to their music, watch a movie on their tablets
or sleep as we drove. The dog was just happy to sleep!
We are now enjoying a few car free days and relaxing before we spend the next few weeks exploring this
most beautiful part of the world.
What lovely views you captured. I'll look forward to the next installment.
ReplyDeleteThank you Marcia. Croatia is stunningly beautiful! All these photos were taken out of a moving car with my daughter's little Sony camera.
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