holidays 2012 - day 13: a short swim & a long drive

it's sunny but very windy on our last morning. we have breakfast in front of our tent ...

michi honey


... listening to the waves, wondering if it will get warm enough to go for a swim before we hit the road back to austria.

after we have taken the tent down and put most things away, we go down to the beach, soak up some sun, play a few games ...

happy feet


... and eventually decide to take a dip. the water is rather on the cool side ... nothing like the previous year. but as the wind dies down and the sun grows stronger, we are fine and actually take another swim before heading for the showers.

we're off at 1 pm, have a quick lunch and an ice cream in tisno proper.

heinrich hearts ice cream


then we are off towards the highway. familiar sights along the road. the last glimpses of the sea make me a little sad ... but we've had such a great holiday, and croatia isn't all that far, it is very likely we will be back some time.

we leave croatia around 5.30 - hello slovenia! onward ... and hello again, austria! we stop at heinz's mom's for the night - 500 km from tisno. and this is where our 2012 holiday ends.

it did me a world of good - not being connected to most of the rest of the world for a while ... no phone calls, no facebook, no emails. much as i am online at home, i really don't miss all that when i am travelling for a couple of weeks. it's part of recreation for me. :)

photos of day 13

holidays 2012 - day 12: three countries in one day

so it's goodbye to žabljak and durmitor - in the rain. grey curtains drawn before the stunning panorama. jelena is the only one home, and she doesn't charge us for breakfast nor the countless teas and coffees! i'm really sorry to have to leave - what a nice time we've had here, and what a beautiful area it is! of course we stock up on some more pastry in town ...

durmitor in the rain


so we drive towards rastovac in quite heavy rain, stop for a hot drink in an umbrella-friendly place ...

the parasol protectorate? (for alexia tarabotti fans)


... and then look for the road towards the bosnian border near krstac. we drive back and forth a few times and cannot find the turnoff. that should tell us something. or it might have been better to just give up and take a different road. but - just then we find the turnoff. the rain lets up eventually. beautiful scenery: hills, mountains, red and yellow and green foliage, burnt trees, barely any settlements, entertaining traffic signs ...

zorro was here!



cow with square udder



greased lightning


... relaxed cattle ...

your road? my arse!


... and the occasional garbage dump:

another road, another sofa


and so we leave montenegro. drive down the street to the bosnian border post. hand over our passports. the guard disappears in the house. comes back. says "there's a problem for you." that isn't quite what we want to hear. "this crossing is only for local people, people who live here." argh. why on earth? not a chance? no, sorry. we are not experienced in bribery, so ... we turn around and enter montenegro once again. the border guard doesn't even stop us, he just raises the barrier. sigh. we lose about two hours driving to krstac and back, the only good thing is that i get to spend more time in montenegro! :)

we take the road to trebinje, and this time they let us leave montenegro AND enter bosnia and hercegovina. doviđenja!

not a hint of rain here, instead blue sky and a few fluffy clouds. the scenery is gorgeous - mountains, a lovely river, rusty bridges, and then, when we come around a bend - a view of the sea, dark blue and dazzling in the sunlight!

the sea! the sea!


another border crossing, this time into croatia. we stop for a drink and some fresh mandarins in opuzen at the beginning of the neretva delta, where the fruit vendor immediately cries out "falco!" when he sees our austrian number plate.

we make our way to the highway and on to split and šibenik. our destination is tisno on the island of murter, where we spent a few days last year. we know we'll be arriving late, therefore it will be nice to be in a familiar place. it's 7:30 and nearly dark by the time we get there. we set up the tent one last time and head into the little town's centre for some delicious dinner. yummy calamari! the night is actually quite cool - what a difference to last year, when we barely needed a blanket in the tent! still, we don't quite feel this way:

grim face


photos of day 12