DAY 40

Saturday 20 August 2011

We liked tiny Camp Michael, but decided to move on. By 6:30 AM the temperature was already climbing. Dian walked into town and found a little bakery. We had a quick breakfast of fresh croissants and kefir and continued our drive down the Dalmatian Coast.

 The siren call of the cool Adriatic was irresistible. Five times we stopped for a revitalizing dip in the cool waters (it also alleviated some BO problems).

We explored some small villages along the way. A lot has changed since Tito and Communism released their grip in 1989 but they still had the feel of the old fishing villages centuries ago.  We stopped at a tourist office in one, and they offered us a taste from three different bottles of homemade liquers (now THAT’S the kind of tourist information we like). One was Raki, the local version of White Lightning. In another seaside village, Charles drove down a narrow lane, based on a point of his European driving philosophy that was proven false: if a car fits, you can drive there. Dian did a great job backing out under pressure with all the locals staring. Only a few towels were run over (why no one said “You can’t drive here” was a testament to the Croatian live-and-let-live philosophy). By the way, have we mentioned that everyone assumes we’re German because of the plates on our car, and in cases like these we don’t correct them.

We pulled over right next to the water in a cove and decided to spend the night. We splurged with dinner out at the only restaurant in Marina and were told after a delicious meal of seafood risotto and spaghetti that it was safe and we were allowed to stay where we were for the night. We met our “neighbors,” a wonderful German-Croatian couple and their daughter, Elizabeth. Christian and Shelly invited us in for a beer and Dian went in the ocean one final time in its inky blackness.

And also a dip at night

Charles sacrificed his ears and music sensibilities for the sake of Internet access, at the local beach bar with high decibel pounding Eurotrash.

Our view from where we would be sleeping

We kept our air vents on the roof open which was fine to bring the temperature down a few degreees, but unfortunately this roadside turnoff was a place where people pulled in and often smoked a cigarette or two. Ugh.