Thx for reading my ops - all comments welcome. Haven't written in ages, must do a big redraft on som...
Thx for reading my ops - all comments welcome. Haven't written in ages, must do a big redraft on some typos & fuzzy logic in my earlier ops! I’m Irish, living in Argentina & working as a translator (DE-EN). I try to get on site every wk & peruse reviews.
Member since:16.06.2001
Reviews:47
Members who trust:32
No, it's not a dangerous place and there aren't snipers waiting in the bushes!
Phew, I'm glad I've gotten that out of the way before I launch into this review! As part of a recent European driving holiday my Significant Other and I headed to the coast of Croatia, to the seaside town of Porec. We drove down from Munich through Ljubljana in Slovenia and then on to Porec in Croatia, a trip of around 5 hours, so not too far to travel. To say we didn't know what to expect would have been an understatement! Would we be driving through a countryside strewn with burnt out houses and in the aftermath of the war would there be widespread poverty and the crime that results from this situation?
I'm glad to say, in the case of Porec at least, the answer was a resounding no. It is a seaside holiday resort, simply thronging with tourists, mostly Italians and Germans. Accomodation is very reasonable - we stayed in a 3 star hotel with a swimming pool, gym facilities and evening cabaret (who needs Pontins, eh?!) for a little over £20 each (the price is inclusive of breakfast). Food is very reasonable, and the menus are normally based on Italian dishes. As can be expected, fish is definitely a firm favourite on the menus of this town.
The weather was fantastic, above 35 degrees Celsius every day and not a cloud in the sky for the 4 days we were there (mid-July). The sea is crystal clear, an amazing blue-green colour, and though I'm not a swimmer I'm assured the sea temperature would normally be above 20 degrees during the summer. About a 10 minutes drive before Porec is the town of Novigrad, and as we drove through there we saw plenty of windsurfing going on and the wonderful paragliding.
A must for visitors is one of the many boat trips offered. We went for a day trip on a big pirate ship - taking about 100 people onboard. We set off from Porec at 9:30, and sailed down to the nearest main town of Rovinj. There we had a bit of a look around and had our dinner. After that we sailed to Red Island, a small island off the coast, for 2 hours sunbathing and swimming in the most beautiful setting. Then it was homewards via the Lim Fjord, a beautiful fjord with a nature reserve. We arrived back in Porec at 5:30, our tans wonderfullly topped off from our sailing, and only 160 Croatian Kuna lighter (about £14 pounds - price includes dinner).
The locals are quite friendly, not quite as enthusiastic as the Italians, but willing to help. Most speak a number of languages, usually Croatian, Italian, German and English. Most fair-skinned tourists are from Germany however, and the locals speak much better German than English. It became easier for us to speak to the locals in German, as they would often revert to German anyway, even if we had begun conversations in English! The local wares are mainly very cheap Ralph Lauren bags, Gucci sunglasses and for some reason chess sets! The police are very visible and we didn't notice any evidence of crime or pick-pocketing, nor did we hear any anecdotal evidence to suggest there was much targeting of tourists.
Just one thing to bear in mind - the nightlife isn't great. There is just one nightclub and from what I heard it's more like a lapdancing club. It's more of a family spot - definitely not an Ibiza!
And of course the most important info of all - there is a local internet cafe for anyone who can't stay away from Ciao for too long!
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A good and exhaustive opinion of a beautiful country although I have to point out that the region you visited (Istria) had no fighting during the war which affected Slavonia, the Krajina, some of Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. On my recent trip to Dubrovnik I would say that there was compared to the UK very very little fear of crime.
Clare_1 01.10.2001 13:04
Went to Zagreb two years ago - like you, no evidence of war, they only had it for 10 days supposedly! Wonderful place but did you have the experience of being given food supposedly complementary but then if you eat it they add it onto your bill???? Made our meals twice the price we were expecting until we worked out what had happened. Thanks. Clare
faithbuck 25.09.2001 16:58
Thanks for an enticing op - I'd never considered going until now!
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Advantages: A stupendous nature. only! SO MANY CIGARETTES IN LESS! Disadvantages: so many kms afoot but they don't feel him that to the reentry in the hotel!
the-crazy-brother 25.07.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of General: Croatia
Advantages: fewer tourists and 'lager louts' Virtually no crime. beautiful country Disadvantages: may be a slight language problem-some natices are fluent in english but a lot speak german better, and of course their own language.
Luce_16 15.01.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of General: Croatia
Jul 25th, 2001
very helpful by (93%):
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