Whenever we look to booking holidays, Croatia has been cropping up on our list for the last few years. I, however have resisted the idea till now. The civil war that raged in Croatia in the early 90s has left me with bitter memories. The war atrocities, human tragedies, war crimes committed by leaders like Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, are my first thoughts when Croatia is mentioned. Googling the details, I find that the war resulted in the collapse of 25% of the economy, tens of thousands of the population, mostly civilians were killed and half a million were displaced to become refugees. However the country has moved on since NATO got involved in 1995 and brought an end to the war. Now it is a thriving economy and tourism is one of their main incomes.
One of my new colleagues is from Croatia and Victor showed me pictures of his hometown when I told him that I was planning to visit. Seeing the pictures of the beautiful beaches, I realised how wrong I was and have been looking forward to my holiday since then.
The pick up cab arrived early in the morning. Too early actually. Three am to be precise as the flight was just before seven in the morning. So we hardly slept last night. Kumar annan and Prasanna are once again joining us for this week’s break. We meet up at the airport. The flight time was two and a half hours. As the plane descended to land at Pula airport, I caught a glimpse of the group of islands just off the coast. With clear blue skies and shimmering seas, the sight of the Brijuni Islands was breathtaking. According to our travel itinerary, we will be visiting these islands on the last day of our trip.
We were met by our guide at the airport and after a bit of a wait for the rest of the group to join us we were on our way to the hotel. The hotel didn’t look that impressive from the outside, but once inside, it had a lovely feel. It is walking distance from the beach and you can walk along the beach to reach the marina and the Old Town, which is what we did today. After a relaxed late lunch consisting of mixed grill and salad washed down with a generous amount of draught beer, we were back to our happy selfs. On the walk back, the sea looked very tempting, but it’s been a very long day and I decided to give it a miss.
A shower and rest later, it was time for dinner. The buffet food was lovely, can’t say the same about the wine which was included with the meal, but no one was complaining. We’ve had a lovely day. The band playing in the background added a nostalgic touch, with songs from the past. Que sera sera, Country roads and Boney M’s, One way ticket. Perfect. Tomorrow we get picked up at nine for a day of sightseeing. With temperatures in the high twenties we are sure to have a lovely day again and I can’t wait.