Day 44 (Monday) Venice to Crikvenica

You just never cease to be amazed in this travelling gig. The most incredible scenery and day's travel unknowingly awaited us when we sadly left Venice (in the rain) this morning - poor old Venice looked quite miserable as we headed (200metres) to the railway station from our lovely hotel and our wonderful breakfast host and master coffee maker Ranaldo (self-proclaimed "The Michaelangelo of coffee")

Train journey (2 hrs) from Venice to Trieste was quite interesting - more beautiful flat farmland, irrigation canals, grapes, corn etc and cute Italian farmhouses and vilages - and another area of marble quarries and cutting plants. Very fertile all the way - the Italian rural production must be (should be?) huge.

Arrived in Trieste on time and had a bit of trouble tracking down the "maggiore" car-hire office. Two unpleasant surprises - "No we don't have any GPS and no we don't have any maps" This is car-hire Italian style. Also had car full of food scraps, paper, someone's hat!!! Found a nice shop in the station where I purchased a good road map of Croatia and then we set off following the car-hire fellow's direction "Croatia is that way" Fortunately we navigated our way out of trieste without getting lost (Yeah!!!!)  and eventually went through Croatian passport control (no problem) so we knew we were on track.

This is the MOST amazing country. The road system is unbelievable. We travelled on a superb motorway nearly all afternoon and never had another vehicle closer than about 100 metres. Massive viaducts across fijord-like inlets, high mountain ranges, through tunnels, one of which must have been 4-5 km long, past beautiful little villages, forests, green farmland - it is just the most picturesque place. We went down the West coast, then across through the Istra Peninsula and again down spectacular coastline to the village of Crickvenica where we are  staying in a beautiful new hotel (The Grand) with everything that opens and shuts, Very friendly and helpful manager - learning a bit of Croatian - which is not easy!!!

Only problem occurred when we arrived at a toll point (what do you do???) but the system is that you just get a ticket at first then pay whenenever you exit - that was about 8 euro after about 2 hrs travelling!

Interesting introduction to Croatian dining tonight. Went down to the local "Domino's" restaurant - ordered the chef's special - Turkey and mushrooms plus soup plus the usual red house wine, but the neighbouring group got going and their behaviour was terrible - no one else in the restaurant could hear themselves talk - hope that isn't an indication of what's instore! Food was beautiful though and we got a free schnapps at the end (compensation???)

Off to Split driving down the Dalmatian coast tomorrow. We have a Fiat "500" diesel which must be the ugliest car ever built - inside and out - but is OK to drive and doesn't use too much fuel (definitely not turbocharged though!!!)

Cheers all

trivia: We had a first at breakfasts in Venice - Coffee flavoured yoghurt!!! Sounds terrible (especially on cornflakes and muesli) but was actually OK. Only the Italians would come up with that idea!

Pictures:
* the famous Ranaldo - the "Michaelangelo of coffees"
*The Island of Krk (correct spelling) - from our hotel balcony - weather is actually fine here but just looks a bit crook.
*how many taps does a shower need??? - not sure what they're all for!