I never really did holidays like this, but I could certainly get ‘used’ to them. I was very aware of the fact that the concept of time seemed to change here and now and I appreciated the peaceful easy feeling it gave me. Robin has a talent of finding his way everywhere, though with my total lack of that ability I have to admit I’m easily impressed when it comes to orientation. Still, after not having been to Poreč for a while, he managed to take us to this coast swiftly.
I love beaches. And I couldn’t wait to get into the water. The clean and almost calm water in this sort of lagoon of the Adriatic Sea. The water was cool and perfect for this nice warm day. And we were the only ones who seemed to think so, as the rest of the shore was empty! We quickly discovered the water was also very salty, which resulted in making it so easy to swim it felt like flying. While discussing how salt molecules make water more dense and therefore even heavier, I concluded I was a mermaid. It’s great Robin studied chemistry too by the way – he helped me a lot. But for now we were enjoying this. Best. Swim. Ever.
Later that day we had a late lunch, while a big group of birds seem to dance for us in the sky. We made plans for Thursday, which would already be our last full day here. And since we enjoyed the ‘little sister’ of the Mediterranean Sea so much, we decided to check it out in Novigrad. We swam until the water below us was about four meters deep and we could still easily see the bottom – it was awesome. Robin said it’s a pleasure to see how much I enjoy simple things. We again had a late lunch, with an ocean view and hardly any tourists, before we went out to meet a few people.
That same morning I was already introduced to Dragiza and the Croatian friendliness. Dragiza looks after Robin’s house and greeted me like an old friend with hugs and kisses too. She only speaks Croatian. Robin a mixture of Danish, German and English. So it was rather interesting to see them communicate. We were meeting another friend of Robin’s, Sofie, for dinner. Sofie speaks his languages and is just as friendly as the Croats. We picked her up from another friend’s place, Yusuf, where it turned out we were invited to his girlfriend Maria’s birthday too! I was amazed by the welcoming atmosphere and how they made sure they got my Dutch name right.
Maria had made chestnut pie with cream and rum and Yusuf put a pan on the fire with water and salvia leafs, making tea for everyone. We saw the Sun set from their living room. Then the three of us drove back to Motovun as we’d go out for dinner there. Although it was actually four of us, as Sofie was babysitting Monte, a shepherd dog who was welcome in the restaurant too. When we came in, a group of friends around Ranko, another friend of Robin’s, pulled a table towards theirs and that is how we shared our dinner. Ranko pretended to dislike Dutch people and Renata was a teacher too.
I loved meeting them and I loved getting to know the local customs of Croatia. Friday we did the trip in reverse and Robin and I shared a plane from Venice to Dusseldorf, where we both went home to different countries. It was a great holiday, with good conversations and pretty views. After being reunited with Janey, I was thinking while walking her in the Dutch autumn cold, it may be a small world, but there are very many stunning places in it, after all.
