Our adventure on the Adriatic coast continues. Our last day in Makarska, we still had great weather. I can’t get enough of being thankful for this great weather and temperatures that are following us everywhere. We spent the morning at the beach, at a new location that has better entrance into the water and more shade. A little bit of swimming, laying on the beach, playing cards, having coffee and lunch. Still thinking of those days I get a feeling of relaxation.
Our van picked us up around five and it took us just under five hours to get to Sarajevo around 10 PM. We had just over an hour to feed and play with our bird, repack, eat and get to the next bus tour at midnight. Mom was anxious to make sure we are not late, so we showed up half an hour earlier in front of the (zemaljski) Museum. There were already few people there and the bus that was still closed, but the guide was not there. Everyone was checking out the best seats in the bus since it was going to be a long ride. Our guide, Miss Fata, finally showed up nine minutes before midnight after we were all starting to wonder if that will ever happen. She told us to wait to get in until she calls out the names. To our total surprise, she called to other two ladies and mom and I to sit in first front seats at the top in the bus – the best seats. She explained that we reserved those seats before hand, and they usually reserve those seats for people who have motion sickness, some heart conditions or are pregnant. We quickly walked between the people who already started to argue, still not realizing how we fit in that category. We concluded it must be all the phone calls we made before the trip and asked for good seats that scored us the front row. It was really great, the view and the leg room is much better in the front, especially because the bus was older and the road for the most part is windy.
We were hoping to fall asleep soon so we can be somewhat fresh tomorrow. However, next to us were sitting two ladies who didn’t travel much, and from all emotions and maybe fear of driving so high up on the curvy road, were talking the entire time. And talking loud. They weren’t just chatting, but were commenting on every single thing they see: a lovely pasture, one way street sign, name of each village we pass, long tunnel, high bridge, ….
We tried to tell them few times to keep it down in a very nice way, but I don’t think we were able to sleep for more than couple of hours. It was so nice when by morning they finally fell asleep a bit. :)
I don’t think I knew how long the ride was going to be. We went through northern Bosnia, crossed the border somewhere after Jajce, through Lika, and saw the sea on the mountain before Rijeka. We arrived to Opatija on the coast around 11.30 am, after almost 12 hours in the bus. Opatija is a small town, but is full of hotels in beautiful buildings of an old style. We only had an hour to sight sea on our own, so mom asked few people where the main square with certain hotels is, since she visited there long time ago. We walked on our own, not with the group. We also found a great pastry shop and got some lunch there. The weather was great (but we didn’t expect anything else:))
After another hour or two more on the bus, we arrived to our hotel in Baderna, 12 km from Porec. It was so great to take a shower and change, but we only had one hour before continuing onto our afternoon tour of Porec.
Porec is a fairly small city with 13,000 people including the suburbs. They live solely off of tourism, so during winter it is like a ghost town. We saw the theatre, the remains of the city walls, and the Eufrasian Basilica from the 6th century. Unlike our bus guide, the girls who was giving us the tour in Porec, Petra, was absolutely great. She was very knowledgeable, personable and professional. She also had a cute accent that is a mix of Dalmatian and Italian, which just made it more interesting to listen to her. We then had another hour to spend on our won before our bus ride back to hotel at 6.15 pm. Mom and I spent it trying to find a nice café next to the water but we didn’t find any. We figure we’ll make our own coffee later in the room, since we brought an electric pot. We then craved for a cherry ice cream on a stick, but again we couldn’t find that kind. We finally settled for a couple of scoops of cherry ice cream in a place closest to the marina. This lack of places to enjoy eating and drinking by the water left an unlikable picture of Porec in my mind.
In our room, we took the chairs from the room out onto the balcony and had the coffee there. The room view was out toward some green pastures and few other houses in the distance, but it was still a peaceful scenery. The dinner was great and the program with a magician as well. We were finally in bed by midnight, and it couldn’t come any sooner.
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