Ok, so this is not the first time we went to Croatia in summer. Here are the links to previous blog posts (in German language):- 2017-Rovinji in Istria and Cres Island
- 2018- Round trip: Plitvica Lakes (national park), Makarska in Dalamatia with Split, Trogir, Biokovo mountains, Rafting on the river Cetina, rock of brela, Dubrovnik, Pakoštane, Zadar, Kornati national Park, Krka national park (Link to part 1, there are further linksto part 2 and 3 of the trip)
- 2019- Camping in Vrsar, Istria (near Rovinji) - no blog post
- 2020- Camping in Baška on the Island Krk and Cres on the Island Cres
- 2022- Camping on the Island Lošinj and near Pakoštane
Doesn’t this look boring? Well, on the one hand it is, as traveling to the same country and sometimes even similar places doesn’t keep many surprises, there is a lot of familiarity with how the people are, how to communicate, how to best pay, which wine to drink :-)… but on the other hand, even with similar places, there is always something more to discover while also having the feeling not to miss out on too much should you decide not to take a trip every day.
To summarize: Croatia has become one of our comfy holiday destinations for a relaxing time.
There are other reasons for Croatia: great landscape, stable summer weather, perfect place for our favorite activities (kayaking, snorkeling, sight seeing, excellent food, sunbathing, cycling, trekking,…) and reach (via car) as we have decided not to fly if not necessary in order to ‚save‘ CO2.
This time, we wanted to go where we have been before but try some new camp sites.
Lošinj
Camp site near Nerezine and Osor: Lopari Camping
https://losinia.hr/en/campsites-apartments/lopari-camping-resort-pitches
The first week was really to start relaxing and there were some smaller obstacles preventing us from doing just that. One of which was the wind. We even had to partially dismantle and change the position of our tent as it wasn’t possible to sit outside at all. Our air bed got damaged probably during this event and Frank spent one day traveling and buying a new one, using the ferry over to Krk and the bridge to Rijeka and all the way back. Another problem we couldn’t recall we ever had to this extent: dogs. Especially the smaller ones not educated, barking at everyone and everything. We never had that before. Kids? Yes. Dogs? Some, but not as many, and definitely not so many where owners were absolutely helpless! Not even sure why dog owners even bother saying ‚no‘ after the dog barks if it hasn’t any effect. Have they never seen Cesar Milan in action or our German Martin Rütter? So kids were not the noise problem this time, but small, barking dogs.
Lopari is in general a nice camp site, but Kovacine will stay our number one on the Islands Cres/ Lošinj. Reason: location. Kovacine is in walking distance to the city Cres and short drive to several nice beaches. Osor and Nerezine are a bit too small to properly go shopping and the cut Mali Lošinj and the beaches near that larger city need a longer drive, plus many can only be reached after a longer walk/ hike (although snorkeling is excellent). The advantage of Lopari is the ground/ soil is better suited for tents, we didn’t even need the drill we brought with us, and it is in general smaller/ less touristic. It also has a nice restaurant.
Due to a recommendation of one of the other campers, we found a tiny private bay (max 2 people) which was protected from the wind and calm, plus in walking distance from the camp site and a beach bar with nice food.
We didn’t take our own kayak with us, and were a bit lazy during the first week. We didn’t visit Beli and the griffon vultures, or went to many different beaches, but we visited Cres, Osor, Nerezine and went to one of our highlights from the past: the restaurant Bukaleta with the typical lamb meals. Snorkeling in the south is excellent and the view - although more and more industry is built in the area- is stunning.
The Konoba Mare in Osor with its 4 course menus (traditional) and accompanying wine was a spontaneous decision and absolutely fantastic. We chose the meat version, so mostly lamb, but in all variations and the wine was carefully chosen to work with the meals.
https://www.konobamare.com
Vransko Jezero
Camp site: https://www.vranalake.hr/en
The second week we spent in Pakostane. Although it’s not very far in kilometers, it takes a while to get there: ferry to Krk, bridge to the mainland, ocean road with many curves and mountain road with serpentines to get over the Velebit mountain area, and then a bit more on the freeway.
Why this area? Location! There are so many possibilities and even this year we haven’t made use of everything. See our last visit to the area of Pakoštane…
We probably need to come back again to also do the Paklenica national park where the Winnetou movies were made and rafting on Zrmanja.
The camp site at the big lake with proximity to the sea was my idea to have a calmer place than larger camp sites that are more popular around most tourists. And it’s true: there were many other campers with tents, even singles and many couples without kids. Many with less equipment compared to us. Probably as the site doesn’t have any activities or program specifically for kids. No water park, no swimming pool… It was also a completely different atmosphere, with many trees and lots of different birds as we were in the national park. Disadvantage: no restaurant as this was renovated during the pandemic and has not yet been reopened.
However: the first two days were the best as afterwards, we had 2 dogs with pink cushy beds as neighbors: Amy and Massimo. Massimo wanted to protect his space by barking and all the human beings he saw, Heard or smelled, and many people went past him to get to the washrooms. And another day or two later, we had a new dog joining the concert (never heard his name, just ‚Nein’ and ‚Aus’) who just barked out of fun - not at people, but every time he wanted something or saw a bird (there were many birds…) or another dog started barking. Great… I was lucky to have thought of my noise cancelling headphones but they are not a complete help as they usually cancel steady noise, not voice. Still, this was a big relief and I didn’t need to continue to use my Ohropax earplugs that I usually wear at night.
Our highlights in this region were the lake itself, with stunning sunrises, the birds, the clear water, the view. Then, mountain biking around the lake (was my first time and I had to get into the groove a while, but it was a fantastic tour in retrospect), snorkeling and sunsets at the beach (between Pakostane and Drage), Konoba Galija in Pakostane with a fish plate that offers a great variety.
https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g1190821-d7226255-Reviews-Restaurant_Galija-Pakostane_Zadar_County_Dalmatia.html
Kayaking on the lake was a bit boring. The lake is just too large and you are not allowed to go near the shore to protect the birds. I also got sick with a cold and felt not great during the last days, therefore we cancelled our plan to go to Zadar, which I like a LOT. So that was a miss, but I have nice memories from last time. One other spontaneous idea was to go to the restaurant Maskovica Han, which is also a hotel. The atmosphere is really special! The food ok, best was the wine and the Baklava.
https://www.maskovicahan.hr/en/vrana-lake-restaurant
Traveling back we stayed one night in Graz, another city I like loads. We stayed at hotel Weitzer (https://hotelweitzer.com/en/ ) and had dinner at the Steirer (https://www.der-steirer.at/en/)- both highly recommended. We didn’t take longer to explore the city, need to go back some time and spend there longer. Some impressions we collected last time…
I checked upcoming events and saw that the band Granada was about to play the day we left. There are several Austrian bands at the moment worth listening to, Granada is one. Maybe next time..
Overall a fantastic holiday with all the activities we like and excellent food and wine with some ‚buts‘. Anyway, the buts help looking forward to going back and enjoy home.
