Cres is a wonderfully beautiful place, I’m convinced once again that Croatian sea coast is one of the best in Europe. Matjaž, Janis, Dasha (my 20 year old new friend from Russia, whom I invited to spend 1 week in Slovenia after our 3 days staying in Italy :) and me spend a night on the beach close to Lubenice. We needed to hick down the hill to come to this deserted beach, there we met a hippie from Germany – Illias, who decided to live his life with as little money as possible.

Sunset, starry sky, bonfire, guitar, songs and an empty beach in a cozy bay with little caves… that was a cool night. But next morning a lot of tourists came by boat there, so for us it was a sign to leave this nice place. We had to hike the hill: 1 hour up in the middle of the day, I didn’t have a lot of hopes that we would survive but by my surprise we did it! :-)

The main destination was Bale, quite “wild” resort with camping, in the past the place was well known as a hippie place. The water in Adriatic sea is nice, warm and clean, but the coast is the worst I’ve stepped on. Almost each of us damaged feet a bit. So it would be smart to take some special shoes next time. We came to Bale around 3 a.m. and slept on the beach.

In the afternoon, not to stuck at one site we made trip to amazing venetian Rovinj and almost roman – Pula. Next day we saw another resort – Poreč and a small village Vižinada, which was pretty much destroyed just for the Hollywood movie about World War II – “Kelly’s Heroes” with Clint Eastwood. Also we visited a nice town Motovun, which is located on the high hill in the middle of nothing. :) The trip was finished with a good cheap dinner in Buje. The travel lasted 48 hours, the funny thing is that we came to Škofja Loka at night, exactly at the same time when we left it for Bale. :)

I love Croatian sea coast and towns situated near by. They are colorful, jolly and romantic at the same time. They remind me Venice a lot, and there is no wonder in it, because Croatian Istria had been belonged to Venetian Republic during a few centuries.

I stayed in Slovenia during this winter holidays. But as I like places I haven’t seen before I was very glad to travel to Zagreb! The plan was to go there with Matjaž’s friends (6 guys and 2 girls). But girls decided to come to Zagreb one day later. So on the Croatian border we had a situation like six Slovenian guys over 30 years old and one Ukrainian girl are crossing the border in one big van for spending New Year night in Zagreb. The situation seemed a bit funny if you are aware of the reputation of Ukrainian girls in Slovenia… :-/

Zagreb
I just liked Zagreb. During the 31st of December the weather was sunny, the town was overcrowded and it seemed that there was more fun in Zagreb than in Ljubljana.

We walked all day long, I saw almost everything that I planned to see. I would like to mention some facts about Zagreb and Croatia that I didn’t know before:

• the tie (Kravata) was invented by Croats;
• the symbol of Zagreb is the heart;
• there is one pharmacy (close to the Stone Gate) which has been constantly working since XIV century;
• the grandson of Dante Alighieri used to work in this pharmacy;
• food portions at the restaurants are so big – it would be better to order just one kind of meal;
• there is Richard Bere in one “artistic” flat in Zagreb. It’s a huge plush bear with whom I spent two nights.

New Year night
Almost all “members of our New Year team” decided to stay in the flat. Only Matjaž, Cene and me went to the main square of Zagreb to celebrate New Year there. Of course we left the flat a bit late and of course we were in a hurry all the way. In the tram we met one nice Croatian couple from Pula (now I only remember the name of the girl – Petra). We continued our “trip” with them… but we didn’t reach the square until midnight despite the fact that we even ran. He-he, I remember that we opened champagne in the middle of one street close to the city center.

After all we came to the main square – Trg bana Jelačiča where was playing an old famous Croatian “punk” band – Prljavo Kazaliste (Dirty Theater).

During the 1st of January the weather was really nasty, Zagreb was empty… and the best idea which crossed our minds was to go to the cemetery, which is quite popular among tourists. I can say that this graveyard reminded me museum under the open sky… so if you have a possibility – go there and have a look. :)

Silba
The weather was really nice there, but anyway the island was a bit empty. They say that in the season there are a lot of people there, but during the late autumn/winter – only 200 or so. Nevertheless island was full of cats, they were not afraid of people at all, some of them were even screaming to make us touch them :) Judging by people I met I can say that the looks of Croatian people reminded me more Serbs than Slovenians.

There is a nice legend about one tower on Silba. It says that the tower was built by one man for his beloved before he left island for some long trip on the sea. His beloved was supposed to wait him, but this trip took too long time, and woman got married another guy. Many years later, when the man returned from his trip he saw a beautiful little girl (she was a daughter of his beloved) and said “if the mother couldn’t wait for me, I’ll get married her daughter”, so he decided to wait until girl will become older. The full story is here.

Zadar
In this port-town we walked on the last day of our trip. And I really liked the town. There is a cool thing about this place. In the end of the embankment you can hear nice sounds which are made by the sea through special holes. Listen to them here.

Smiljan village
We also wanted to go to museum of Nikola Tesla’s home, but unfortunately it was closed.

Then we took a road to Slovenia via AMAZING Croatian sea-coast! One of the best view I ever seen. I should say that I really prefer Croatia to Greece (I don’t know why my compatriots do opposite). Croatia has wonderful sky, which I could watch infinitely.

I have to come back to Croatia and to Rijeka, I saw this cool town just from above and I loved it.