Week 34: Roman around Croatia!

Apr 25, 2022
4 min read

Our stops this week:

3 nights at Arena Stoja Campsite
4 nights at Arena Medulin Campsite

We've stayed at 4 different campsites since we arrived in Croatia and so far they've all been great, well aside from the Easter weekend 'take-over' and even then the campsite wasn't the problem.

Whilst we've enjoyed all of the campsites and the different areas that we've stayed in so far, I especially look forward to travel days when we pack up the van and venture on to find a new place to stay and explore. I enjoy all of it from working out where to go, how to get there, where to stop along the way and this may shock a few people but... I even enjoy stopping at a supermarket to restock out supplies. It's probably just because I don't understand what everyone else is saying but it seems much less hectic than supermarkets at home, way less people, always easy to park... and the best bit is working out what everything is, whilst we've picked up a handful of Croatian words, the language is so different to anything else we know there is virtually no chance of guessing what's inside a tin or packet without a picture on it!

So, it was great to start the week with a travel day! On Monday morning we packed up and left Vrsar and made our way down to the relatively 'big' city of Pula! On the way to Pula we stopped off to see the Lim Fjord and have a walk. I was hoping we'd see more of the Fjord but the track we walked down disappeared into thick woods, so we only got a glimpse of the fjord from the top but it was well worth stopping.

Lim Fjord

Pula was an ancient Roman settlement and an important defensive and trading city over the centuries, so at various times it was inevitably conquered by most empires and armies that you can think of, this has left the city with some incredible architecture and influences from all across Europe. We visited a few of the main sites, including one of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres, a hill-top Castle and an underground network of tunnels that run through the hills and connect various parts of the city.

Where's Wally... can you spot Yvette at the amphitheatre?

The tunnels have been used for various things over the years: munitions store, a hospital, an emergency shelter and now an impressive tourist attraction.

The campsite is on an island but just a few kilometres outside of Pula, making for an easy bike ride into town and a great place to take in the views and relax.

Bear having a drink at the campsite dog bar and some views of the campsite from across the water.

After a couple of days in Pula we moved on to Medulin, a much smaller coastal town on the southern tip of Istria. Whilst the town is really just a row of cafes, restaurants and bars along the front of the marina, it has a really relaxed holiday feel. The campsite here is absolutely vast and virtually empty, most of the facilities were still shut down for the off-season, so the handful of other campers had all gathered along the same stretch of waterfront opposite a little island (which is also part of the campsite but not for dogs)... we choose a pitch a few minutes walk away from the 'crowd' but as usual it didn't take long for a neighbour to turn up... we seem to have some sort of magnetic attraction to other camper vans! We can park in the far corner of a deserted field or carpark and most times, we'll come back to find another van or Moho parked up alongside us!

All those empty pitches!!!! But they wanted to be close to us...

Because the campsite was so quiet we were allowed to choose a premium pitch for the price of a basic pitch... all the pitches are virtually identical you just tend to get a little more space and a nicer view in the premium ones. In Croatia it seems to be quite a big difference in price, usually about 10 euros extra per night for a premium pitch, so we took the opportunity to get nice and close to the water!

We had some mixed weather in Medulin with quite a few heavy showers and waves pounding the beach, at one point in the middle of the night I thought I could hear the waves crashing into the side of the van... maybe that's why we got the special offer!!!

Views of the campsite in Medulin... and some more photos of Bear, including one of him eating some bamboo!

During the sunny spells we headed out for some walks and bike rides along the coast and found more beautiful bays and coves. It feels like Croatia has an endless coastline (and we've only just got started)... but the great thing is you only need to travel a few miles and the coast feels and looks really different.