I missed MORE (more, pronounced as mo-re, means "sea" in Croatian)!!! It was still very hot in the middle of August, and I really wanted to bath in the Adriatic Sea before the summer ends. So, we decided to drive to a beach at Krk Island of Istria (or Istra) peninsula, which is my husband's recommendation.
通常、クロアチアの観光シーズンのピークは７月初めから８月初めまでで、さすがに８月上旬にもなれば道も空いているだろう、と思ってたのですが甘かった・・・！まだまだクロアチアのモーレを目指して近隣諸国から車が大挙して押し寄せてきていました。写真はザグレブの高速入口。Usually, the touristic season in Croatia reaches its peak from the beginning of July and the beginning of August. So, I thought the road should be empty compared to the holiday seasons. But, I was wrong. Even in the mid-August, still many people from Europe came to Croatia aiming at the More.
Unexpectedly, we were caught in traffic :S As you can see on the photo above, we are surrounded by cars from outside Croatia. European car plate states in which country the car is registered (the left blue part). I think, possibly about 80% or could be more of the cars on the road were non-Croatian. I also saw a few cars with British plate and a few bikes with Finnish plate! People do love to travel on roads in Europe. Personally, I think it would be much faster and cheaper to fly, because Europe has many low-cost carriers ad they do have relatively good connections between European countries and also because petrol price is very high. When I told about this to my husband, he answered to me like "but, if you travel by car, you can stop wherever you want when you find interesting places, and you can enjoy beautiful view from the window". For me, as a Japanese, I would like to save time and money (because our lifestyle is very tight with time), but it seems like people here have different opinion...
After about 3 hours drive from Zagreb, we finally reached our final destination, Baška beach. Baška has long beach, about 2km, and it was full of people. There are several hotels and also a big camping spot, and I saw many camping cars there.
バシュカはクロアチアでも有名なリゾート地らしく、レストランやカフェ、お土産屋さんが充実していました。暑いので、道を歩く人も水着のままだったり、かなりリラックスした雰囲気。夜もものすごい人でにぎわっていました。Baška is said to be one of the most popular resorts in Croatia. It seems like that Baška is well developed resort, as there are so many restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops! People are walking on the streets and beach in their swim wear and summer dress, and it has very relaxing atmosphere.
ちなみにクロアチア政府の発表によると、２０１２年１月から７月末までにクロアチアを訪れた外国人は４４０万人にも上るのだそう。クロアチアの人口が６４０万人なので、年間を通したらクロアチア人の人口に届きそうな勢い！
According to the Croatian Government, about 4.4 million people visited Croatia from January 2012 to the end of July! The Croatian population is about 6.5 million, so the number of the annual visitors to Croatia could reach the population in Croatia.
Look at this beautiful beautiful shining sea! :))) The water is a bit cold, but under the strong sun and high temperature outside, it felt really good♬ Although there are lots of people on the beach, the water is relatively clean. I remembered that my Italian friend said that "Croatian beach is much more beautiful than Italian beach although we share the same sea... it's very weird."My husband's answer to it was "because all the trashes are carried to Italy by ocean currents"Σ(ﾟДﾟ)??!!! But, I saw people cleaning the beach, so I think Croatian beaches are clean because people take care of them. On the other hand, when it gets afternoon, there were some trashes floating on the sea, so maybe as my husband says, the current brings trashes from the South to the North... :S Generally, people say if you look for a beach, find one located South of a big city and avoid North of it.
There are some reed parasols on the beach and they added more of "resort atmosphere" to Baška. The price to rent the parasol is 80Kn per day (cash only). They were always occupied, so if you want to get one for you, then you should go to the beach early in the morning or book one a day before. We were lucky to get a parasol for us and enjoyed the blue sky and blue sea under the parasol :)
周りを見渡すとこんがり日焼けした人ばかり。肌の白い人を見ると「あ、ここに着いたばかりなんだ」とすぐに分かる。きっとバシュカに何日も滞在してがんばって日焼けするんだろうな～なんて想像できる。私はというと、シミになるのが嫌だから日焼けはしたくない方なんだけれど、周りを見ているとついつい「ちょっとくらいいいかな～」なんて思ってしまう。でもちょっとどころか、一日ビーチにいたら日焼け止めを塗っていたにも関わらず、ばっちり日焼けしました(>_<)People are so much tanned and I felt so out of place because my skin was so pale that time... In Japan, especially young women don't want to get tanned and getting tanned is not considered as cool like in Western countries. Historically, tanned people were usually farmers or people who work outside, meaning not wealthy people. Wealthy people in old Japan stayed at home and had pale skin. So, I think still this kind of thinking remains and "not tanned" or light tone skin is considered to be more beautiful than tanned skin. So, in Japan, you will see many women holding a sunshade and maybe wearing long gloves in summer!
それにしてもきれな海♡せっかくクロアチアまで来たら、アドリア海でココロをチャージして帰るのもいいかも✿
In krk Island, there are many apartment hotels and sobe (private rooms). But, most of the owners are reluctant to rent one unless you stay there long (like 5 nights, a week). Finding an apartment hotel or sobe just for one night was very very difficult near Baška. So, if you plan to stay for a short time, definitely better to book a hotel or apartment hotel before you go (website).
Anyway, I really really love Croatian beaches and More♡ I was so soothed and healed by this clear blue sky and water. We recharged our batteries and went back to the city (Zagreb) :)
Recharge yourself at the beautiful Adriatic Sea of Croatia!!! ;)
