Croatia, to be insured, or not to be

Okay so we didn't follow the plan.

We get to the border and as it's the first border we're not able to drive straight through (there are actually people manning this border, so there's a line of vehicles waiting to cross through) I jump out and enquire at a small office exchanging money as to whether it's possible to obtain vehicle insurance. Despite the language barrier, the advice I get is that, no this woman does not believe it is possible to buy short term vehicle insurance. Bugger.

As we sit in the line and wait for our passports and whatever other documents they may request of us (insurance green card?) fierce to-ing and fro-ing over what to do ensues. Given that it does not seem likely that we can buy temporary third-party insurance, should be double check by asking the official who checks our passports? But by doing so we would probably alert them to the fact that we don't have insurance for Croatia, whereby they would presumably decline us entry. So it's either ask and be prepared to drive away if the answer is no, or not ask and see what documents we have to present. Going through without insurance is risky. You do not want to know the NZ$ equivalent for how much money we have tied up in Betty. What if we prang her? What if someone else prangs her? What if she gets broken into? What if she gets stolen? What to do, what to do.

What would you do?

It's our turn at the booth and the official asks for our passports, we hand all three over. They're inspected and stamped by the Hungarian official. They ask us to open Betty up. We duly comply. They wave us through. We drive forward several metres. The Croatian official asks for our passport and again we hand them over. They're inspected and stamped by the Croatian official.

We drive out of the border control, en-route to the Croatian coast, with nervous smiles on our faces.

We drive through what turns out to be quite a hilly interior with forestry and farming villages, heading south-east to the coast. We had intended to drive 350 odd kilometres from Budapest to Zagreb, Croatia's capital. But after buying a map, we see that there are a number of campsites all along the coast, and only a few inland. So we decide to make as much ground as we can today towards Split. We cover the best part of another 350km, through the hills, tunnels and countryside dotted with orange roofed villages.

I can see the sea!

Eventually we arrive at the island of Pag, connected to the mainland by road and a hundred and something kilometres north of Split. After an uneventful night at the first campground we came to on the road along the island, we hit the road again to get to Split. Coming down over the hill into Split, the coast and town look beautiful (though the apartment blocks on the outskirts of the town are stupefyingly ugly). After a massive grocery shop we manage to negotiate the streets and find a park in the maniacal town where I walk into the information centre to find out where the closest campground to town is. After being pointed in the right direction and managing to follow the directions, we find the campground, book in and pick a spot just up from the beach. After setting up camp we spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the ocean, playing a spot of Frisbee in the water.

The following day we make our way into town by bus and head up Marjan Hill, a park area to the west of the town for the views.

Back down in town we walk along the quay where mussels are growing against the wall just beneath our feet. We grab big slices of pizza from little cafes on the street for lunch. After heading through the fish market, we explore the streets of the Diocletian's Palace, which started life as an emperor's retirement palace in 293AD. Subsequent centuries saw the residents of the city adapt the space of the palace for their needs and today the residents live, work and shop inside the walls of the ancient palace complex. Wicked huh? The streets were quite cool, all very narrow.

After refuelling on an enormous chocolate lamington (first I've seen since leaving NZ!) and a crocodile made of almond icing in the fabulous bakeries dotted about the old town we suss out the ferry system to Hvar for the next day and head home to cool off at the beach!

The next day we're back in town around half 9 or so, and join the line for the mid-morning catamaran sailing to Hvar. We're about a dozen people or so from the front of the line when a sign goes up to announce the tickets for the catamaran sailing have sold out. Never mind, there's a car ferry going at the same time, it just means getting a bus from the ferry terminal on Hvar to the township so we get tickets for that sailing instead. We nip up the street before our sailing goes and grab more bakery goods (including a delicious fruit tart) and a Brit paper to catch up on what's been happening in the world since we left!

On board the ferry, there's a deck up top which we head up to. There is a distinct lack of seating! I get a seat and sweat it out in the heat alongside everyone else who has a bead on in the intense heat! We move down to the next deck which is slightly less exposed to the hot, hot sun and settle in with my book. The journey is slow, hot and tiring. By the end I'm lying on the deck on a towel trying to sleep to escape sea sickness, which is probably largely induced by the heat and the fumes of the old ferry. Much to my relief we pull into the port on the island and pile onto a bus to make the twisty turning 20 minute trip to Hvar township. Not pleasant for a person who suffers from motion sickness!

Into Hvar town and glad to be off the boat and bus! The heat is unbelievable so after some quick snaps of the town centre and sniffing in the wafts of lavender being sold at heaps of craft stalls, we make for the coast for a swim. I'd say 'beach' but what lay between the land and the sea does not deserve to be called a beach. Hvar, it would seem, has become known for its nightlife, because its beaches are not up to much. The coast is rocky, difficult to negotiate, and once in the water, is slippery and peppered with sea urchins! At the coast the boys swam for ages, snorkelling and so on. I got in, got out and read my book in the sunshine for ages.

We walk back into town and take more snaps of the beautiful town centre with its old buildings and churches right on the port. Little fishing boats sit alongside luxury yachts in port. Water taxi's shuttle the rich and beautiful about, whilst boys sit on the edge of the port and fish for little fish to catch bigger fish with. We have a beer to cool off and the boys go for another dip.

We grab some takeaways for tea and get the bus back to the port. The ferry ride home is better, cooler anyway and coming into Split late at night, the town looks beautiful all lit up.