We are in Croatia!

Friday 20 September

We have just arrived in Motovun after the hairiest drive: the last bit to our B&B, Villa Borgo. I thought My Friend would have a heart attack - the cobbled road wound through narrow streets - sqeeezing past houses, cars and whatever else - sooooo close. I had my mirror turned in and it was still amazing. Sooooo steep and no way to go back. This is where we stopped - a restaurant directly in front of us and no obvious way forward.

It would have been impossible to reverse. And when we DID stop to check that we weren't scraping the car on any walls, it was nearly impossible to do a hill start as it was so steep and the tyres were slipping on the shiny cobblestones. These photos (not our car) might give you some idea how narrow and steep it is:

Very off-off-off piste.

I found a plaque in the town later to Formula 1 driver Andretti who came from here; he'd have only learned accuracy and cornering here (certainly not how to drive fast!).

Thankfully, when My Friend stopped - because we seriously didn't think we could go any further (and we most certainly couldn't go BACK!) - I got out and to my enormous relief found that we had stopped exactly outside our B&B!!

This is a picture of My Friend returning with our receptionist who drove the car out and parked it for us!!! She said NO-ONE drives up this road (even the locals!). They have NEVER seen a foreigner do this. They are amazed.

Thank goodness we have a better car (picked up an hour or so ago in Poreč) - a VW Polo. Much better gear box and SMALLER than the Salwa we had in Slovenia which would definitely not have got through.

< p>They are absolutely so wonderful here. Even a welcome drink (which I asked if it was alcoholic - I needed it!). We are enjoying this now on the balcony looking out over the most amaaaaaazing views.

Earlier (much earlier), we had early breakfast at Divača and left as per schedule at 8 a.m. to drive to Koper on the coast where we were to drop off the car. The freeway went via 2 tunnels and we were in by 8.30 a.m. (30 kms).

We dropped off the bike as arranged, found the bus station and stored the bags in a locker; then drove back to il centro (big Italian influence here) and dropped off the (Slovenian) car.

They say Koper is a bit ordinary but we found it to be quite a nice port city.

We enjoyed a leisurely hour or so along the waterfront before walking back to the bus station (quite a long walk!) for the bus across the border into Croatia. Walked past (guess??) Harvey Norman on the way!

Quite warm today (23 deg C) - lovely day.

We managed to get seats on the righthand side and so we had views all the way to Poreč on the coast (about 80 kms). We stopped in Piran and Portorož along the way - all beautiful coastal towns (but this is tourist-mania!! - expensive shops, restaurants, top hotels, plus the usual cheap razzamatazz, heaps of people, blah blah blah!).

We had our passports checked on the bus at border control by policija at Sečovlje despite Croatia joining the EU on 1 July.

I have to say, catching this bus was a big stress for me today in terms of planning because there was only the ONE bus going from Slovenia to Croatia and the advice had been to NOT take a car across the border because this would invalidate the insurance.

In Poreč we picked up such a nice car (thankfully small!) and, before departing, we had a walk around; had the most expensive coffee yet on this holiday; and visited the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica. It has been damaged, altered and added to over time of course; but it is most renown for its mosaics dating from the 6th century and considered among the finest examples of Byzantine art in the world.

Walked up to the bell tower for the beautiful views.

It is very beautiful here but millions of tourists! The cobbles are so polished (worn??), they glisten!

Drove up from the coast and then inland; and had our picnic lunch in a small village along the way.

Then to this beautiful town of Motovun high up in the Istrian hills.

And we have spent the rest of the day sitting (and recovering from our driving ordeal getting here!); and looking at the views.

My Friend has been entertained watching hang-gliders go soaring off right in front of him; having drinks; and walking around the castle parapets.

Basically, this has been a BIG day for photos.

Dinner was at the highly regarded Mondo Konoba. White truffles are just in season now (today is the 5th day of the very short season) and we both had lovely courses - again accompanied by the good local Teran wine. This is our waiter shaving the white truffles over the meal at the table. I had a wonderful home-made ravioli in white truffle sauce.