It was now time to move back to Croatia and wander along the coast visiting some of the islands, of which there are 1200. We headed back to Medulin, where we’d anchored on our way up the coast. It was a lovely sheltered spot, easy for provisioning and plus we wanted to polish the boat, it’s not all fun you know, and this was a good place to do it. It would normally be a winter job, but there wasn’t space to get alongside the boat in the marina. It took us a few days to do the polishing, but Cuffysark looked much better once it was finished.
We took the bus into Pula as we had to get some paperwork, form 16A, which is basically registering with the police. Most people visiting Croatia would be unaware of this as the hotel you stay in does it on your behalf. Well, this was easier said than done. The Police Admin Dept had a long discussion about it, eventually a police officer arrived and asked us to follow her, as did the eyes of everyone else in the office. We went round in a circle going from the Police Admin Dept to the Harbourmaster, to Customs and then back to where we started. Eventually they reluctantly gave us the form. People had been fined on exit from Croatia for not having this piece of paper hence the importance. We’ve experienced much bureaucracy on our travels, particularly in Greece and Turkey, where unfortunately there is no consistency as to what the rules are!
Pula has its own mini colosseum which is intact. The Roman amphitheatre has four side towers and is among the world’s six largest surviving arenas. It was built between 27BC and 68AD. I happened to mention to Ian that they had Gladiator shows here, his response was it would be better to see Robbie Williams here. We were researching a bit more history of the arena when what pops up but Robbie is in concert at the arena the following week. “Someone was listening” said Ian, “it’s a scam!” No it wasn’t and we managed to get tickets. The venue was amazing with just 5000 people and so we could actually see Robbie on the stage. Very different to Knebworth! Colin and Maggie came along too and we had pre-concert drinks aboard Serafina. Pretty cool with the Arena in the backdrop.
Our boat was in Medulin and no buses were running later in the evening, so we had to try and get a taxi back after the concert. Sitting in the arena we spotted an English couple that had been on the same bus to Pula as us. So Ian went off to make new friends and how’s your luck they had a taxi booked, so we hopped in with them. An great end to a great day.
From Medulin we decided to take the route between the islands of Losinj and Cres. This entails going through the narrow Kanal Losinjski and has the Osor Swing bridge across it. After much research we decided that it was wide enough for us to get through. The bridge opens twice a day at 9am and 5pm, we opted for the 5pm slot. We arrived a bit early and gradually more and more boats appeared to go through the Kanal. We anchored in a bay just a mile and a half on the other side opposite Nerezine.
As it not unusual, we had to find somewhere to go to hide from the wind. We found a very small secluded bay, Punta Kriza, where we tied back to the rocks and tied to a rock opposite. It was very narrow and shallow but great for us and very picturesque.
We wanted to go the town of Krk (pronounced Kirk) but anchoring there isn’t great so we went to Punat which is a lovely secluded bay and got the bus to Krk from there. The Frankopan Castle is in Krk. Yes, it was another one of those occasions when we got there and discovered it wasn’t open. So yes we should check opening times before we go. So a walk around and up the hill to the Monastery Quarter. Obviously all that exercise made us thirsty and hungry, so a meal and beer on the water front.
Our next stop was Rab, a beautiful town with narrow streets and medieval buildings inside city walls and Ian does like a city wall. The Bell Tower is 26m high and you can climb to the top but we decided against this, Ian’s knees can’t take the strain anymore, well that’s his excuse.
Yet again we have to find a hidey hole away from the wind so we go of to Olib a big bay which Ian didn’t think would be that busy or at least if it was during the day, charter boats would disappear late afternoon. No not today, anyway we found a space in the most turquoise blue coloured water. I counted 32 boats but thankfully plenty of space, unlike some anchorages in the Balearics we’ve been in.
June/July 2023