Saturday, 10th

Hey!

Sorry for the lack of news, but it starts being a bit hard to keep up. I have a hard time finding hotspots, especially on the Croatian islands where they are not free. And on the other hand i have so much to tell, I cannot really do much more than a raw list of the latest events:

• I met a cool guy in Slovenia, who invited me for a few beers and gave me a lift to the Croatian border.
• I had my passport checked 5 times in half a day in Croatia. Looks like the police does not like backpacks or something.
• On two of those checks I was offered cannabis. I could not work out whether it is a local business or a trick.
• I slept in front of Rijeka on a private beach, with an amazing view (see below).
• I met Tea and her boyfriend at Rijeka. A nice evening with two wonderful people, talking about travels, Croatia, the area, the meaning of life... while eating a good dinner and waiting for my clothes to get clean!
• I slept on a service area dominating a bay that looked like it came from a fairy tale or something.
• I found touristland. Felt a bit like hell, only with more neon lights.
• I discovered a very nice village. The kind that has no-car narrow streets at the top of a hill, with city walls offering that nice view over the shore. It goes by the name of N. Vinodolski.
• I was given a lift to Senj (pronounce "Sen") by a kind german couple.
• There I met Henri-Pierre, a French traveler going to Jerusalem with no money for religious reasons.
• We went to the top of a hill to spend the night near the castle. We were awakened by a storm, and spent 2 hours standing in our underpants under the wooden bridge, trying to avoid water and gusts.
• I lost my visa card in the night, and have been living with the 4 euros I had left for a week.
• We had to spend the next day drying up our stuff, but we managed to found that little piece of paradise, with beach, showers and shelter for the following night.
• We met a nice Swiss couple, who heard us talking about our trips, and insisted on inviting us for a coffee, giving us sandwiches for lunch, and a few bucks.
• I was given a lift to the Rab ferry-boat by a French couple.
• I had an argument with that old Croatian guy, who believed I had stolen something (still did not manage to find out what). Not that easy to have and argument when you have no language the both of you understand.
• I met Martin, a cool German guy spending his holidays sailing along the Croatian shores.
• I was at - though not participated a lot, too much german language for me - an evening at the beach, the hippie kind of way: beers, spliff, nightly swim, guitar...
• Next day we sailed to Lopar to go to a festival. We anchored to avoid the marina fee, then put all our clothes into the dinghy to keep them dry and swam to the shore in the night naked and a bit drunk.
• Next day we sailed to Sahara beach, a wonderful beach featuring crystal clear water, and a very soft slope: about 1 meter deep after 100m. It also happens to be a nudist beach.
• Finally, Martin brought me to the north of the Pag island.
• I met two german guys driving a hippie style bus, the way you like it: the smell of cannabis adding the genuine feel to imitation fur seats.

That's it so far. Unfortunately putting all of this a good text would take me quite some time, and I have other things to do, like finding a place to sleep at, and finding money, because a full week on 4 euros was quite a performance, but it's coming to an end. Anyway, a few photos. I have more but they are not out of the camera yet, I will post them later.

View over Rijeka, from my sleeping bag at Opatija.


Sunset over Rijeka, still from my sleeping bag.


View from the service area, over Bakar.