Kayla asked today why do you do the blog, does anyone read it? The response was that we will have it as a memory for us to look back on in many years to come. This is also the reason so many photos are placed on Facebook. After our trip in 2011, our car was broken into at the cemetery and the camera was stolen with ALL our photos/videos. Luckily the photos were saved onto the laptop as we went as well as some being posted to Facebook. We regretted not uploading all the videos as they are gone forever. So this time, there will be no loss of memories.
Zamalin - Tribunj
We have reached the halfway point in our journey and we have found our routine and have planned ahead so we can have some quiet time along with sight seeing. We are trying to make the most of what time we have although even upon reflection, there is never enough time.
Since our arrival in Croatia it has been a mixture of busy sight seeing and catching up with family. Having the car has been a god send as the buses this time of the year run even more less frequently than they did the first time we visited in Summer 2011. The road rules here have been interesting as the gps in the car tells us to go a certain speed, the road signs say a different speed and the speed of the other cars fluctuate daily in the same location. The road signs have been good however they can come a little too late sometimes. At a 'give-way' intersection in Zadar there was no sign at all, we were to notice the faded triangle on the road and give way to the right although usually it is left. The traffic lights are okay although if you are at the front of the line, then unless you have a passenger, it is impossible to see the lights as they are right above you. The gps has been brilliant with only trying to take us the more complicated way a few times and only once down a road that was undergoing major reconstruction. A new road sign that wasn't here last time, or we didn't notice, was the wild boar signs near Tribunj. Apparently boars have become a problem for people walking at night in the bush so the signs are popping up. A bit like kangaroo signs, but uglier and scarier.
BEWARE! Wild Boar Ahead!
Smoking is one of the most obvious things the children do not like about Europe. There is no 'anti-smoking' messages here (Italy and Croatia) and there is no differentiation as to where and when they can or can not smoke. However, it has taught the children to be tolerant and we have tried hard to manoeuvre upwind or in an area that doesn't have smokers (which are few and far between) . So if you are a smoker, this is paradise as you can smoke in restaurants, cafes, bus stations, you name it, you pretty much can. We were told last night at a restaurant that you are not suppose to smoke inside, but this is obviously not being enforced by any stretch of the imagination.
The food has been terrific although a little hard on the wallet. The restaurants here tend to only deal with cash so the plan we had to use only cash for daily purchases has been changed, so the credit card is used when shopping and the cash is used when there isn't card.
Being able to revisit some places has been great, we really feel like we were only here yesterday and it wasn't 3 years ago. The children are making connections to things they remember and it has been good revision. We have been able to go to other parts of the towns and then recap on places we visited last time such as museums and churches without having to go in them which can be time consuming and expensive. Split was a perfect example as we went there and spent time looking at the Roman palace and the museum, this time we were able to explore more of the old city and seeing much more than last time.
This is the main square in Split where the Caesar would speak to the masses from his palace when ruled by Romans.
The lovely Luisa.
Split was also great as we had the time to meet the children's Croatian teacher Luisa. Luisa teaches the children via Skype so it was wonderful for them to meet with her so when they return home they actually can communicate with her better as she was just a face on the screen before with no personal connection. The children didn't use a lot of Croatian with her however they are taking note of more and more this trip and are having conversations with Fran to try and make sense of the language. Their favourite word this trip has been 'svakidan' which means 'everyday' as they think it sounds rude. Typical.
The weather has been amazing and the locals have been saying that it was a terrible Summer with local flooding causing damage locally. The roads around the town have been covered with soil that has been swept away in the flood on the 11/9/2014. You can see some of the damage in a video clip of a neighbouring town - Vodice http://vimeo.com/105851734 and this one is the flooding in Tribunj, our town.
So we have spent some time helping Baba and Didi repair the road near our house so we can park the car on the field as we are unable to park at the house as planned water connection has commenced and therefore they have dug up the road to the house.
Filling in the holes of the road leading to the field.
The digger wrecking the road for the water pipes.
Why we can not park at the house. If we had a bike???
So our plans from now on, we have 3 weeks to go. We have booked an apartment for 2 nights in Dubrovnik so we will be heading down on the super fast freeway Wednesday and return on Friday. Again, we plan to soak up the atmosphere and experience as much of Dubrovnik as possible. We then have one more week in Tribunj before we set off to Zagreb, Vienna, Salzburg and finally Munich where we leave our wonderful car and head home. The locals say the warm weather if here to stay until the 27th of October which is perfect as that is departure day from Tribunj. Now to see if the money holds out until then!
The car in it's own personal carpark (Filed) with a view - Kricina.
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