The End of the Holiday

Quite a rambling blip!
A good nights sleep and woke around 7. No rush today for breakfast, we took our time getting ready and were down at breakfast around 8:30. Sitting outside at end of September in the beautiful hotel dining area is wonderful.

Started with the coffee with milk large, the plate of fruit and the croissant. I ordered the granola and yogurt again, then today chose scrambled eggs and a focaccia bread with herbs. Some of the stuff is too fancy for us. I was feeling quite full but wanted to try the crepe which was light as a feather. Had another coffee to finish off the ‘breakfast experience’!

Up to pack up then check out for 11. We kept the rucksacks with the hotel while we had a walk around as the bus to Zadar wasn’t till 2. Another warm day we’ve been lucky with the weather. Never needed a jacket or a cardi but not too hot - just pleasant.

We had a lovely walk along the front and there was a couple of luxury yachts moored, along with an interesting one with two funnels like the Waverley. It was from 1957 and looked pretty nice. No large cruise ships come here (thankfully) , it’s avoided the large crowds that empty into Dubrovnik and Split so far. I think it’s a special place it had a nice vibe to it

This pic was taken just next to the beautiful square at the cathedral. Back to hotel for the bags and a short walk to the bus station.

Our bus this time was a Croatian coach company rather than Flix which I was glad of. The Flix in had a very poor air con whereas this was a very comfortable single decker with air con that functioned. It took a couple of detours into little towns on the way to Zadar so was around 20 mins more of a journey. Nothing really to have that added comfort. Much better seats too.

Arrived at the bus station in Zadar which is a few miles out of the old town so we called an Uber to take us to the shore area where we were picked up on Sunday. Had a seat in a restaurant overlooking the sea organ area and S had a beer and I had another coffee. We had a chat about the holiday about how much we enjoyed it all, The great food we had and the friendliness of the Croatians we met.

We had booked our rucksacks into a Bounce store for 5 hours . I like this facility rather than having them on your back for hours while you wait to go to airport .

A good walk again, the water was quite choppy today. By the time it came to 5:30 the massive breakfast had digested and was hungry again. We saw a place near the Bounce store and eyeing up what the people were eating decided to go there. No seats were free so I asked a lady on her own at a four table if she would mind if we joined her. She was happy for us to sit there. A lovely Croatian lady called Nina who had just branched out on her own in marketing and media. She invited us to an event in one of the palaces which was a ‘Festival of Tolerance’ about how people are all the same , all along these lines and she was co- ordinating the media for the event. There was people coming from all over the world and also children to educate them on ‘tolerance’ . We would have gone but of course we were leaving. Our food arrived. It was basically fish and chips but oh man the batter was melt in the mouth and the white fish was chunky and flavoursome. She explained that the owner was a Michelin chef in Europe and noticed when travelling around in his work capacity how places that were focussing on simple dishes done well could be brought to Zadar and not to be wildly expensive. How he goes to the fish market and gets the fish as there are some that advertise as fresh that aren’t. It was a great last meal of the holiday to finish on, and also our chat with a local lady.

We walked down to the Sea Organ for sunset. The sounds or the organ were really loud due to the choppy sea but the sunset was not as good as the two we saw when we stayed in Zadar. It was red but not massive red so there was no clapping the sunset Tonight haha.

Walked back to get our bags, had a seat in another square and then down to the place for the airport bus near the bridge where we stayed at first. As we were waiting there was a guy appeared saying that he would take 7 people for the price of the bus (5€). There were a few that sort of looked at each other so I said that this is the bus price and it’s a good offer and it was a nice comfy merc minivan. In we went and was at the airport in 20 mins.

Zadar airport is tiny so we were through security in no time, then passport stamped and down for a seat to watch some recorded programmes I had.

Flight was half hour late. On we went. There was two free seats in the extra legroom row behind me so I asked the steward if I could move there and I had a very comfortable journey home to edinburgh.

Can’t say the same for the return to Edinburgh. Six flights arrived at 1am. The usual ineptitude of Border force coupled with the lack of machines for the passports. Why having 10 for the size of Edinburgh airport now is madness. I chilled out with some music in my headphones. We arrived home at 2:15 and it was FREEZING!!! It was like winter. I had three hot water bottles and slept with leggings t shirt and socks. OTT? No!