Croatia, 2018

I am sitting at Mare’s Beach Bar, under a dappled shade, chilled Somersby cider (blueberry flavour) in hand, cicadas chirruping, Croatian music playing over the speakers and calm blue ocean stretching across to the undulating hills of distant islands. We are near the town of Okrug Gornji on an island-like peninsula close to Split, which is connected to the mainland by the medieval historic town of Trogir.

We arrived on Saturday, 7 July, and after various delays (my luggage mislaid by the airline and our hire car proving unsatisfactory), we took a taxi to our apartment. Later, my parents arrived to spend the first week with us. On Sunday, we found a nice shaded spot to swim. With temperatures of around 30 degrees C, the cool water is a welcome respite. Unfortunately, I managed to stand on a sea urchin and am left with embedded spines in my foot, some of which I haven’t been able to remove.

On Monday, we visited Trogir, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which dates back to the 3rd century BC. It was founded by Greek colonists (‘trogis’ means ‘goat’) and ruled by Romans, Venetians, Austrians and French, before becoming part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, then Yugoslavia and finally Croatia (since 1991). We had lunch at an Illyrian restaurant called Teutas and ice cream at Bellas. Some of the remaining buildings date back to the 1550s and worn donkey-cart tracks are still visible in the narrow cobbled streets.

On Saturday, we did a semi-submarine trip around the bay. Although there were fewer fish than expected and – as with the 3 island tour – no tour guide commentary, it was nevertheless nice to have a window into another world. My parents’ flight left early evening, after which we went to Lidl and Kaufland in search of vegan groceries.