I wondered, like most of us, when I used to see those desktop wallpapers. Where on earth do they have such pristine beaches? I wondered till I landed in country of desktop wallpapers. Croatia.
For most of the people, tourism in Croatia starts and stops in the world heritage city of Dubrovnik, which for sure is the best Croatia has to offer. But there is more to Croatia than just one heritage city. Much more. Because, if you’re planning your vacations from Munich in Germany, to go to Dubrovnik you should either have a lot of time (about 12-16 hrs one way by road) or a lot of money (flight return tickets cost about € 250). We had neither.
So we decided for city of Rijeka, a port city on the coast line of Croatia. Why did we choose Rijeka? A return bus ticket from Munich costs €87. The journey is overnight both ways. And when you are sleeping, do you really care how many kilometres the bus has covered? Neither did we. We left Munich on Friday evening and landed at Rijeka bus station early in the morning. To our surprise, the hostel we booked allows check in only after 11 am. But they allowed us to keep our luggage in the lockers, which had no locks.
We kept our luggage in the lockers, passports in our pockets, camera around our neck, irritated by this pointless check in time of the hostel, we ventured into the very early morning of Rijeka. Non allowance of check in actually turned out to be blessing in disguise. The sun rising from the unknown corner of the sea was a breathtaking view. The silhouettes of the big cranes on the port with the clear blue sky in the backdrop made our first desktop wallpaper shot. A small town of Rijeka can be easily traversed on foot. There are very few defined places of tourist interest, like an 1800 years old Roman Arch which was a gateway to the city in ancient times. But a stroll in the by lanes of a city which is still to let go its past and bracing the future with both hands, is an experience you’ll not regret.
By the time it was time to check in into the hostel, we had seen almost everything there was to be seen in Rijeka and also made one of the wisest decisions of the entire trip, to hire a car. If you have a valid international driving licence, hiring a car is, by far, the best mode of transport. We checked in, got ready, hired a car and set off. To Rovinj, a beach city some 100 km from Rijeka. Rovinj, an island had the kind of beaches I had never seen before, the pebbles beach. So don’t prepare yourself for those sand castles at the beach. It’s a straight forward deal, come to beach, get into the waters. No kidding on the shores. We took the deal. When we had enough salt in our eyes, we got out of the water and headed to Porec, a city where we were to find a lot of shots for our desktop wallpapers. Its easily one of the most picturesque cities I’ve ever visited. It’s the place your childhood paintings are made of. Sky-blue waters, water blue skies, green shores and a castle ending halfway in the water. Those wallpapers are real. Believe me.
It was getting late and the rains were preparing to play one-upmanship with the sea. We decided to leave. And the way it rained on way back, I am sure, rains must have given the sea tough fight in the game.
Next day, we thought to go to Rab, the island that’s supposed to have longest, sandiest and most romantic beaches around. But the journey involved a 90 minutes ride in a ferry ship which pretty much put us off, as we had to return the car by mid day. And 5 guys on most romantic beach didn’t sound too exciting proposition anyway. So we decided for the island of KRK, that’s connected to the mainland by roads. They say it is a 2 hrs drive. But it’s a drive of a lifetime. Lush green mountains on one side, heavenly blue water on other and you in between. Whoever said that in life, journey is more important and beautiful than the destination, must have been a regular traveller on these roads. If you have time, KRK can be adventures outing. There are cave diving, scuba diving, private yachts for rent, a whole day trip into the sea and many other options. But we had only one option. Enrich our collection of desktop wallpapers in the small, beautiful island and get back to Rijeka and return the car before they decide to charge us for rent of an additional day.
We did that, just in time. It was about 1pm and our return bus was starting at around 6pm. We found out that there was another beach close by. We had nothing better to do. We got into the local public transport bus and reached Porcini. “God..! Is this a sea?” The water was cleaner than that in the swimming pool of Munich’s Olympia Park. Most of us couldn’t resist and dived in without worrying that there was no change of cloth as our luggage was still safe in the lock less lockers of our hostel. Mingling with water, clicking pictures or just sitting at the shore watching that motor boat on the horizon leaving a white trail in crystal blue waters... you can be in the dreamland for an eternity. The dream was broken by the ticking clock. We had to get our bus.
That was our last tryst with Croatia’s transparent sea beaches.
With about 800 memories in camera and countless in minds, we boarded the bus to leave behind the country of beautiful islands, pristine beaches and desktop wallpapers.
For most of the people, tourism in Croatia starts and stops in the world heritage city of Dubrovnik, which for sure is the best Croatia has to offer. But there is more to Croatia than just one heritage city. Much more. Because, if you’re planning your vacations from Munich in Germany, to go to Dubrovnik you should either have a lot of time (about 12-16 hrs one way by road) or a lot of money (flight return tickets cost about € 250). We had neither.
So we decided for city of Rijeka, a port city on the coast line of Croatia. Why did we choose Rijeka? A return bus ticket from Munich costs €87. The journey is overnight both ways. And when you are sleeping, do you really care how many kilometres the bus has covered? Neither did we. We left Munich on Friday evening and landed at Rijeka bus station early in the morning. To our surprise, the hostel we booked allows check in only after 11 am. But they allowed us to keep our luggage in the lockers, which had no locks.
We kept our luggage in the lockers, passports in our pockets, camera around our neck, irritated by this pointless check in time of the hostel, we ventured into the very early morning of Rijeka. Non allowance of check in actually turned out to be blessing in disguise. The sun rising from the unknown corner of the sea was a breathtaking view. The silhouettes of the big cranes on the port with the clear blue sky in the backdrop made our first desktop wallpaper shot. A small town of Rijeka can be easily traversed on foot. There are very few defined places of tourist interest, like an 1800 years old Roman Arch which was a gateway to the city in ancient times. But a stroll in the by lanes of a city which is still to let go its past and bracing the future with both hands, is an experience you’ll not regret.
By the time it was time to check in into the hostel, we had seen almost everything there was to be seen in Rijeka and also made one of the wisest decisions of the entire trip, to hire a car. If you have a valid international driving licence, hiring a car is, by far, the best mode of transport. We checked in, got ready, hired a car and set off. To Rovinj, a beach city some 100 km from Rijeka. Rovinj, an island had the kind of beaches I had never seen before, the pebbles beach. So don’t prepare yourself for those sand castles at the beach. It’s a straight forward deal, come to beach, get into the waters. No kidding on the shores. We took the deal. When we had enough salt in our eyes, we got out of the water and headed to Porec, a city where we were to find a lot of shots for our desktop wallpapers. Its easily one of the most picturesque cities I’ve ever visited. It’s the place your childhood paintings are made of. Sky-blue waters, water blue skies, green shores and a castle ending halfway in the water. Those wallpapers are real. Believe me.
It was getting late and the rains were preparing to play one-upmanship with the sea. We decided to leave. And the way it rained on way back, I am sure, rains must have given the sea tough fight in the game.
Next day, we thought to go to Rab, the island that’s supposed to have longest, sandiest and most romantic beaches around. But the journey involved a 90 minutes ride in a ferry ship which pretty much put us off, as we had to return the car by mid day. And 5 guys on most romantic beach didn’t sound too exciting proposition anyway. So we decided for the island of KRK, that’s connected to the mainland by roads. They say it is a 2 hrs drive. But it’s a drive of a lifetime. Lush green mountains on one side, heavenly blue water on other and you in between. Whoever said that in life, journey is more important and beautiful than the destination, must have been a regular traveller on these roads. If you have time, KRK can be adventures outing. There are cave diving, scuba diving, private yachts for rent, a whole day trip into the sea and many other options. But we had only one option. Enrich our collection of desktop wallpapers in the small, beautiful island and get back to Rijeka and return the car before they decide to charge us for rent of an additional day.
We did that, just in time. It was about 1pm and our return bus was starting at around 6pm. We found out that there was another beach close by. We had nothing better to do. We got into the local public transport bus and reached Porcini. “God..! Is this a sea?” The water was cleaner than that in the swimming pool of Munich’s Olympia Park. Most of us couldn’t resist and dived in without worrying that there was no change of cloth as our luggage was still safe in the lock less lockers of our hostel. Mingling with water, clicking pictures or just sitting at the shore watching that motor boat on the horizon leaving a white trail in crystal blue waters... you can be in the dreamland for an eternity. The dream was broken by the ticking clock. We had to get our bus.
That was our last tryst with Croatia’s transparent sea beaches.
With about 800 memories in camera and countless in minds, we boarded the bus to leave behind the country of beautiful islands, pristine beaches and desktop wallpapers.
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