Travel report Croatia – Cosmopolit4x4

today, am 11.08 we leave Slovenia and go to Croatia. The Slovenian customs officer is – like really all Slovenes – very nice and once again enthusiastic about Henriette. The Croatian officer, on the other hand, doesn't move a face and controls us completely without emotion – on, This may indeed be something ?? We want to go straight to the capital Zagreb, until then it will only be a short one 30 Kilometer. The outskirts are not particularly nice, here you can still see the long Soviet era. It also turns out to be quite difficult, to find a parking space for our Henriette – above all, all the parking machines don't seem to be working. We ask ourselves and finally there is a place at a school – because there are currently holidays, we can stand in the shade here for free. We make our way to the center on foot – it's really not very far. It actually gets pretty pretty here – the cathedral is very impressive, next to it the lively market square, the colorful St. Mark's Church and the stone gate – We like all of that very much. It's very hot today, A stroll through town is exhausting for the dogs anyway – and that in this heat – but the two do a great job.

After the strenuous sightseeing, we are looking for a relaxed parking space at Lake Jarun. This is a great free time- and sports park right at the gates of the capital. Here you can for 10,– Overnight admission – lt. According to the porter, we are allowed to stay here for a week. First of all, you bathe extensively in the lake, then there is a delicious beer and hamburger in the beach cafe. Everyone is satisfied 🙂

One day in the big city is enough for us, after coffee we head north. There is really not much tourism here, we drive through very pretty landscapes – wavy mountains, beautiful winding roads and nice villages. Our goal today: Trakoscan Castle just before the Slovenian border. Trakoscan was created in 13. Century built, It got its present appearance in 19. century. At the foot of the castle there is a very large lake and a lovely park. A beautiful promenade leads around the lake – according to the taste of both of our gentlemen. So today is a real dog day: Running, swim, sniff …..

After a quick Nescafe, the journey continues into round 50 Kilometers away from Varazdin. Our GPS somehow has problems with this corner and suddenly we end up in a border control: we are actually almost back in Slovenia. The two officers make us polite (but very determined !!) attentive to it, that we are not allowed to continue here and ask ourselves, what we are transporting in the Henriette ?? You would like to see the interior, But then decide for it at short notice, that they let us drive without further control. (have probably discovered, that we 2 Have dogs in the car !!).

In the evening we stand by the Drava (old acquaintances from Maribor) and share the nice place with thousands of anglers. Unfortunately it is very noisy here at night, Cars drive all night and we hear dogs barking all the time. As it turns out, we parked next to the second largest animal shelter in Croatia, here are around 500 Dogs accommodated – we immediately feel sorry for the poor fellows.

After breakfast we go out, to see the little town of Varazdin. We are very pleasantly surprised, the village has a lot to offer: a beautiful old town with listed mansions, one of the oldest town halls in Europe, many churches, generous seats, a lot of hustle and bustle, lots of creative stores, nice restaurants and cafes, cobbled streets and the famous Stari Grad fortress. We leisurely stroll through the alleys and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere.

After a stroll through town, we all need refreshment: here it has today (Friday, the 13.08) round again 32 City. Thanks to our parking space app, you will find a secluded spot on the Drava, here we can swim extensively, sunbathe and let us all go well. Only a few friendly anglers come by, we talk a few words together, everything is relaxed. Actually, it is not allowed at all in Croatia, to stand freely with the mobile home, but in this lonely area that's not a problem at all.

After a refreshing morning swim, we drive around 100 Kilometers further to the bank of the Sava. In between we still have to reload provisions, There is a yawning emptiness in our refrigerator. There is also a great one here, lonely place, As in the other places, there are only a few anglers out and about.

Today it is really incredibly hot – On the short piece of sand up to the water your feet will burn immediately – even Quappo howls, as he walks the short distance into the water. One can only endure this here, by jumping into the river every half hour and otherwise avoiding any additional movement if possible. In the afternoon we pack up our stuff and drive to the next river bank – this time a new river: the Cup

The place is beautiful, but like everywhere there is a catch here too: there are brakes here – mainly dog brakes – after half an hour our security system looks like a crumble cake !! They both tell us right after dinner “Good night ” and disappear into your dog cave in the car. We enjoy the beautiful starry sky a little longer, then we too flee from the pests.

The Kupa has – in contrast to the other rivers – a really strong current, so you really have to do something here while swimming. After the morning refreshment, Henriette makes her way further south. On the way we drive through quite poor villages, Time seems to be standing still here. We remember, that a caregiver, who looked after my mom at the time, came from around here – we can imagine that now !

Our way leads us through the town of Karlovac and we spontaneously decide, to make a little stop here. Karlovac lies on four rivers, namely at the Kupa, Crown (!!!!), Dobra und Mreznica, therefore there are many parks and numerous bathing areas here. Certainly there used to be a very beautiful old town here – but large parts of it were in the “Homeland War” Badly damaged by Serbian artillery fire – so there is still a lot to be done here.

After this small cultural program we are looking for a place with access to water – this time we find a small lake, den Sabljaki Lake, where we can park our Henriette perfectly. The road there is quite narrow and adventurous (we take a few branches with us again :)), but Hans-Peter masters the route with ease.

To 33 Degrees there is cooling tonight: it's raining and the temperature is up when you get up 17 Degrees dropped – we slept wonderfully. We spend the day reading, take a long walk along the lake and play a game in the evening.

Because we like the place so much, let's just stay here one more night. The next night is not that relaxed though: an abandoned dog barks for hours – from time to time he seems to be sitting right in front of our car. In the morning (it's Wednesday, the 18.08.) we are pretty worn out, only the activity program helps: Morning round with the dogs, Swimming in the lake and breakfast – we are already fit again !! The sun is shining again and the temperatures are rising to pleasant ones 25 City – Perfect !!

It can go on like this: we continue towards the coast (by the way, today is the 18.08.). The route leads through a beautiful landscape and we can't get enough of the forests, Lakes and small villages. We stop at the lake Bajer Jezero and march a big round.

We don't really like the place to stay overnight. So we drive a few more kilometers and come over a bumpy stretch to a wonderful place to stay: we have a wonderful view and see the sea for the first time on this trip – just magical. There are a few other campers here with us (mostly young people, who are traveling with the VW bus), but there is enough space for everyone on this plateau. We enjoy a cheesy sunset

The next day starts just as nicely, like the day before ended: we have a great view of our next destination – the island of Krk, the sun is shining from the cloudless sky and the temperatures are rising to glorious 28 City. We reach the island via the large and free bridge.

There seems to be a lot going on here, a huge number of mobile homes and caravans are coming towards us, But there are also a lot of tourists with us to Krk. There is said to be a gas trader in the village of Malinka, of the gas bottles – that is our first goal. We can find the dealer without any problems, unfortunately the gate is locked and there is no one to be seen far and wide. Only a dog mom comes behind the fence with her 6 Puppies out – they're too cuddly.

At some point after the dial tone, a Croatian announcement will be made to the telephone number given – we are at a loss. A married couple from Switzerland are standing with us at the gate, they have the same problem. We decide, until 13.00 Wait a.m. and make a coffee first. At some point we have the glorious idea, to write an SMS – and lo and behold, we will get an answer immediately: the boss is in 20 Minutes there !! Then everything will go smoothly and we can tackle the next project: to make an appointment with the vet in Krk. Frodo is supposed to have his blood drawn here, to carry out the rabies titer determination a second time. The titer values at our veterinarian in Germany were too low. And without this titer determination, we are no longer allowed to enter the EU from a third country like Albania- that would be pretty stupid !!!! After this point has also been processed successfully, let's go looking for a campsite. Here in Krk we don't dare to stand free during the season, The prohibition signs are everywhere and we have read, that the police are handing out heavy fines. In the village itself, the places are very narrow and full, so we drive a few kilometers to Punat to a naturist campsite. We plan to do this on our last visit to Croatia 4 Years ago and we liked it very much back then. However, it was the postseason back then, now in August everything is jam-packed here. We will spend a couple of days here, since we have to wait for the laboratory result from the blood test – so a few days of absolute laziness are the order of the day.

Friday, the 20.08. Frodo's blood is drawn from the Croatian vet – the big one is tormented a bit, because the doctor does not hit the vein properly – we are producing a violent blood bath in practice. After the stress, we all have to really recover first: on the weekend is healed, slept, People watching and there are some nice ones, new contacts. In the heat we can only run a lap with the dogs in the morning and in the evening, otherwise the gentlemen lie lethargic under Henriette.

On Tuesdays we get the message from the vet, that we have to come back to practice again, to take another blood sample. I ask for, why that has to be: the vet put the blood in the wrong tube, that was criticized by the laboratory. Also, do the same procedure again: by taxi to Krk, Blood sample and then back to the campsite. Now we're going to have to stay here a few days longer – there are truly worse places to wait 🙂

Our dogs meet like-minded people: Frieda, a very pretty Ridgeback girl, our quappo is in love right away.

So, now it is 14 Days become, that we stayed here at the campsite. !! On Friday, the 03.09. we finally get in touch, that the laboratory results of Frodo's blood test are there !!! We pack our things immediately, drive by the vet, to the 3 to pick up the passport stamped, Refuel again and then let's get off the island. We continue south along the beautiful coast. Our navigation system suddenly lets us turn towards the mountains – we are confused, but the track turns out to be very nice. Shortly before Gospic we find a perfect parking space on the Lika river: the dogs can really romp again, jump around, run and bathe. Quappo looks like an aardvark (the water is very muddy), but everyone is happy. At night we only hear the crickets chirping, otherwise it's totally quiet. The next morning the neighboring dogs come by (we believe, it's Heinrich and Hilde), they are curious, what kind of buddies have come.

After a hearty breakfast, continue to the Krka National Park. In Skradin we see a sign at the entrance to the village “Free Parking” – said, done we park Henriette nicely there. We hardly got out of the car, a young girl comes and would like to 80 Collect kuna as parking fees. We are confused and ask questions: there, free parking is only available for visitors to the restaurant (we don't see any restaurant here) ???

Fortunately, we're in vacation mode and don't feel like discussing – in addition, this is an absolute tourist highlight of Croatia – that's how we pay the fee. We stroll through the lively Skradin and after several inquiries we find the right way to the park. After a walk of around 4 Kilometers we reach the waterfalls. It goes over bridges, Wooden walkways and gravel paths over the emerald green, clear water – simply idyllic and beautiful. You can go back by boat, but we decide, just to walk the way again. To 3,5 Hours we come exhausted, but happy to return to our Henriette. Now only 8 Kilometers to the next parking space in Lozovac – We have hard earned the beer today.

There is a really nice RV park here, perfect for the night. Well rested and fit, we continue to Split on Sundays. As with any big city, the journey is rather sobering: ugly skyscrapers, Auto repair shops, Tire dealer, rubbish ………..

Thanks to our app, we are heading for a perfect parking space near the center. After a short walk we come directly to Diocletian's Palace – the heart of Split. The Roman Emperor built this palace in 4. It was built in the 19th century as a retirement home – not bad, to spend his retirement life.

Made it from the heat, We are happy about the many impressions and crowds, to be able to drive out of town again. The search for a nice place to stay is very difficult and we keep driving – until we suddenly stand on the border with Bosnia. All right then, let's go to the next country 🙂