Cliffandger Grand Tour

Taran_Las said:
@cliffandger That piano was used on one of Tom Jones' hits.:rolleyes:​
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I got it too! You can be quite the wag Phil!

Well we are now at Camping Serena - thanks to @JockandRita 's recommendation, and it really is a lovely site. We arrived here following no dramas, snow related mishaps, or sat nav disasters. The pitch is right by the sea, and the walk into Novigrad was beautiful.

On our wander into town we found that it's a very sporty place, with the local football club complete with pristine pitch, on one side of the path and a tennis camp with 9 clay courts, every one of which was being very energetically used, on the other. The spectactors seemed to be really enjoying the matches, lounging on sun beds and comfy chairs, drinking beer and cocktails.... Bit like sports matches back home really...

We walked back to the van, and sat outside in the sun, and I picked up the guide book. Whilst idly flicking through the pages, wondering where our next stop would be, OMG!!!! Vodnjan!!!! St Blaise's Church!!!! Now you all know what comes next - religious relics or what - read on and wish you were in my shoes.....:

'The mummies are in a curtained off area behind the main alter. In the dim lighting, the complete bodies of the Saints Nikolosa Bursa, Giovanni Olini and Leon Bembo resemble wooden dolls in their glass cases'.

That would have been enough to satisfy my relic appetite, but look what else is on offer:

'Assorted body parts of three other Saints complete the display. As you examine the skin, hair and fingernails of these long dead people, a tape in English narrates their life stories. Considered to be Europe's best preserved mummy, the body of St Nikolosa is said to emit a 32m bioenergy circle that had caused 50 miraculous healings'.

You may think that would be enough religious relic excitement for a lifetime let alone a day - but there is MORE!!!! If you can stand the excitement ( and I have to say I was swooning at this point...) read on:

'Move on to the Sacristy. Here there are HUNDREDS of relics belonging to 150 different Saints, including the casket with St Mary of Egypt's TONGUE!!! ' - the upper case text is my own, for some unknown reason the guide book didn't feel the need to emphasise the wonder of its narrative!

I go to bed a happy girl, knowing that tomorrow will be a Gooooood day!:)
 
Oh, in my excitement, I forgot to say - this is the view from our pitch...

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I fear a few body parts featuring in the next post or two.:rolleyes:
I'll make sure I'm not eating when I next look.:)

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Well, it's the first chance I've had to post as Camping Oliva in Rabac was a little economical with the truth when it came to wifi coverage in the camp - there should have been 80-100% coverage and there was none! It was a lovely, spacious site though, in a beautiful bay with pitches right on the seashore.

We cycled around the bay this afternoon and walked back after dinner this evening. There are bars, restaurants and cafes all the way round with sladoledarnas (ice cream parlours), konobas (rustic restaurants serving local peasant type dishes) and the obligatory souvenir and Blanc du Nile clothes shops!

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But I know you are all waiting to hear what else we did before we got to the campsite...... Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.......

We found Vodnjan quite easily but to get to the car park we had to drive through the old town (well we didn't HAVE to but that was the way the sat nav took us, and who are we to argue.....), and after squeezing through wing mirror touching alleyways, we eventually found the car park.

It had a shiny new ticket machine which we couldn't get to work, so while we were standing there trying to decipher the instructions, a very nice man wandered out of the park and tried to explain that it was 4 kunas an hour (40p). While he was repeating this over and over again we'de sussed that as the display was showing 8.00am the following day (Monday) it was probably free as it was Sunday.

We tried to explain this, but he must have thought that we didn't have any kunas and got out the requisite number from his pocket and put them in the machine! Needless to say he didn't get a ticket and the machine only gave him 20 kunas back! He was about to put even more money in when we said no, no, no we are just visiting the church quickly, thanked him for his help and scuttled off!

We walked up into the ancient town, and there was the church in front of us - huge, with a separate bell tower as is the way here. I tried hard to contain my excitement, but ended up virtually running to the door.... which was closed - and locked!!!!

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In despair I walked around it to see if there was another entrance, but there was none. To say I was gutted would be an understatement. We were walking across the square back to the van when I suggested we at least stop in the little cafe for a coffee. 'I don't want none of that 'two mouthfuls' rubbish' (can't you just hear him saying it Dawn? @Mousy) OK says I, I'll ask for big cups. Which I did. 'Two big cups of coffee please' I gestured. The nice lady looked at me a bit strangely, but as this is nothing unusual any more on this tour, we sat down and waited for the two big cups to come. Which they did. They were big - but what was in them? Two mouthfuls of coffee sitting in the bottom of each one! He was not happy.....

I asked (for the duration of this thread for 'asked' please read 'gestured') the lady sat opposite - will the church be open today? I think she said 'No - it is Sunday, you stupid woman - everything is closed. Well it would be wouldn't it...... So we drank up, paid up (10 kunas = £1) and started to walk back to the van.

What happened next I like to think was a miracle wrought by St Nikolosa himself - who should be walking up the road but the Priest himself! (Cliff said he was just walking back from his lunch - the man has no soul). I had made sure we were dressed appropriately, after reading he had expelled 6000 tourists for inappropriate dress, but was a bit worried when he glanced at my knobbly knees below my very long shorts - luckily they were OK because he said, the church is open, please come in!

We followed him in and made a show of looking at the stained glass windows, but after a couple of minutes I spotted the curtains behind the alter..... I couldn't pretend any longer and we walked over to him at his desk and asked to see the mummies. 'Do you want to see just the mummies or the Sacristy as well?' With 150 religious relics shown in the Sacristy - what do you think....... We paid our 150 kunas and he took us behind the curtain .......

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Five glass coffins - three holding the complete bodies of the Saints, one holding the back of another and one more holding the left foot of another! It was amazing! They have all survived with no embalming and no special temperature control. The last one had seen better days and seemed to be about 7 foot tall under his robes, which seemed strange as the other two were less than 5ft in length!

The skin had come away from their toes and you could see the toenail exposed for a couple of inches, which looked a bit weird, but they still had hair and skin covering their heads and hands! The Priest told us not to take photos and then went out to put the English taped narration on. They all seemed to meet a violent end, as most Saints do. After taking a good look at the Saints, the tape ended and the Priest came in to take us to the Sacristy.

He told us that there were more relics here, in his church than in Rome - and looking around at all the jars, I could quite believe him. The stars of the show were right there in the first glass case - a thorn from The Crown, a piece of wood from The Cross - and the jaw and tongue from St Mary of Egypt!

There was so much to see, Saints leg bones, jaws, hair, finger nails, they had it all in that church - it made you wonder why it was there and not in the Vatican.......

After looking at every single jar and trying to work out what was in it, we said thank you to the Priest and walked back to the van.

That truly was, up to now, the highlight of the holiday!

That all happened yesterday and we are now in Camping Krk, another one of @JockandRita 's recommendations - and another good one it is too. They moved off today on their way to Split. We hope to catch up with them at some stage!

On the way here we drove through Lovran and Opatija, lovely towns with beautiful faded Belle Epoque villas lining the streets. During the Austro-Hungarian period, the towns were the holiday home of the Viennese elite. I don't think it was them that planted great slabs of concrete every where along the coast, I can't understand why its done - maybe they overestimate the amount of concrete needed in their mixer lorries and just dump what they don't use on their way home!

The view from our pitch today.....
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Anyway, we are hopefully staying on this pitch, on this site for a couple of days, so will post again soon!
 
Ger and Cliff you made my day ! I have laughed out loud at your adventures! You truely have a wonderful expressive gift with language!
The laughter stopped abruptly when I saw the "relics" how could such a lovely lady get so excited at dead bodies!!!:Eeek:
I will overlook that foible !
But seriously love your blog !!relics and all ,thank you so much!!:Grin:
 
cliffandger said:
They moved off today on their way to Split. We hope to catch up with them at some stage!
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Had we known you were arriving today, we would have stopped another night. We are settled in at Camping Stobrec, Split............eventually. Because the Motorway isn't complete from Rijeka to Split, you'll have a very interesting mountainous journey for a fair bit, if coming down this way. The tolls for a Class 3 (us) were 262 Kuna (£27), but the road was excellent.................when we eventually got on.

Great blog by the way Geraldine.................until the piccies of the residents. :rofl:

Cheers for now,

Jock & Rita. :)
 
Ger, keep the updates coming, I'm loving them.

@cliffandger
 
I had completely forgotten you were going to look for dead bodies and damned if I wasn't eating a late tea when I started reading this and then got put right off my sandwich.:(
I joked about it earlier and your miracle may have worked for you but it didn't do me any favours.:unsure:

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Great news Ger, we need never gate crash a funeral in search of relics again as you've just found a life times worth in there!

Sorry the coffee isn't up to scratch. The lakes look lovely, warm enough to swim in?

Safe travels
 
cliffandger said:
we sat down and waited for the two big cups to come. Which they did. They were big - but what was in them? Two mouthfuls of coffee sitting in the bottom of each one! He was not happy.....
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Rita feels the same about the coffee, so I always try to remember to order a large cup, and a small jug of hot water, as she doesn't like strong coffee.

BTW Ger & Cliff, we can also recommend Camping Stobrec, (ACSI @ €17 until 31/05) with good clean facilities, and a bus to Split about every half hour outside the entrance, which we shall be catching this morning. @Forestboy recommended it to us when we were in the planning stage for this trip.

Stay safe. (y)

Jock & Rita. :)
 
cliffandger said:
We've moved onto Salzburg and are staying at Camping Nord Sam.
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We stayed at Camping Nord Sam a couple of years ago. It's a nice easy ride into the city centre isn't it?
We cycled along the Salzach river to Hallein to the Salt mines and back, quite a long ride but brilliant pathways on both sides of river.

Safe travels,

Rob
 
JockandRita said:
Rita feels the same about the coffee, so I always try to remember to order a large cup, and a small jug of hot water, as she doesn't like strong coffee.

BTW Ger & Cliff, we can also recommend Camping Stobrec, (ACSI @ €17 until 31/05) with good clean facilities, and a bus to Split about every half hour outside the entrance, which we shall be catching this morning. @Forestboy recommended it to us when we were in the planning stage for this trip.

Stay safe. (y)

Jock & Rita. :)
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Hey Jock are you enjoying Croatia
Wish we were there instead of staring at mist n rain and debating if we should put the heating on.

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Forestboy said:
Hey Jock are you enjoying Croatia
Wish we were there instead of staring at mist n rain and debating if we should put the heating on.
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Oh absolutely Rory, and thanks for recommending it as a holiday destination. We are sat here on our pitch looking out across the water toward the marina. Although we liked Italy and Garda, we much prefer Croatia, but I'm sure @cliffandger will be able to do it more justice with their travel blog.

Go on Rory, splash out and put the heating on mate. :rofl: We'll be thinking of you when winding the awning out to shade from the sun. ;)

BTW, down your way in September.........or sooner.

TTFN,

Jock & Rita. :)
 
Rob e Lee said:
We stayed at Camping Nord Sam a couple of years ago. It's a nice easy ride into the city centre isn't it?
We cycled along the Salzach river to Hallein to the Salt mines and back, quite a long ride but brilliant pathways on both sides of river.

Safe travels,

Rob
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I went to the salt mines in 1971 on a school trip - did you have to wear the silly hat? If we go back that way we might pay it a visit. (y)
 
JockandRita said:
Rita feels the same about the coffee, so I always try to remember to order a large cup, and a small jug of hot water, as she doesn't like strong coffee.

BTW Ger & Cliff, we can also recommend Camping Stobrec, (ACSI @ €17 until 31/05) with good clean facilities, and a bus to Split about every half hour outside the entrance, which we shall be catching this morning. @Forestboy recommended it to us when we were in the planning stage for this trip.

Stay safe. (y)

Jock & Rita. :)
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We both like really strong coffee Jock, but lots of it! Thanks for the recommendation - it will be our next stop - cloudy here with forecast to rain - as said in previous threads about our holiday weather - the sun shines on the righteous - Cliff obviously isn't righteous - and I am unrighteous by association! :crying:
 
cliffandger said:
the sun shines on the righteous - Cliff obviously isn't righteous - and I am unrighteous by association! :crying:
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You'll be in good company then as it's overcast and damp..................so I can't be very righteous either :LOL: ...................but it is trying to brighten up. (y)

Hope to see you both sometime soon,

Jock & Rita. :)
 
Well the weather isn't playing ball today either - overcast, but still warm, so we walked into Krk this morning. A pretty little harbour village with plenty of bars, konobas and sladoledarnas. After walking the length of the harbour and wandering up into town, we went to the konoba mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide book - The Konoba Nono - for lunch. Fried Squid and chips (one shared between two) with two beers, for 120 kuna (£12). It was delicious.

The girl that served us thanked us for coming in and gave us a drink on the house - she said it was made from grapes....Well if rocket fuel was made from grapes, then that was it.... We've been given Lemoncello or Kumquat liquor after an evening meal in Greece, but rocket fuel after a Squid lunch in Croatia is a completely different kettle of fish! I can't remember walking home, but I'm sure we got back in double quick time!

Cliff decided to do a bit of fishing off the rocks this afternoon - chicken for tea it is then! I wasn't idle either.....
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On the way here - if your going to have a chimney - have a big 'un!
Fred Dibner's idea of heaven!
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Everything has a pink tone when the sun is setting - just beautiful.
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On the way home from the restaurant last night.
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Croatias nuclear deterrent......
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@Popeye - you forgot to take the advert down when you sold your boat..
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Don't quite know what she signifies, but I think she's been rubbed for luck a few times......

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We are moving on to Split tomorrow to meet up with Jock and Rita, where we will hopefully be sitting, chilling in glorious sunshine, so zbogom for now!

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Lovely photos and blog thanks again ! No relics today! Phew!
Did the locals appreciate you playing your uke to the fish?!
Safe travels and give our best to Jock and Rita!
 
Anthea M said:
Lovely photos and blog thanks again ! No relics today! Phew!
Did the locals appreciate you playing your uke to the fish?!
Safe travels and give our best to Jock and Rita!
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I don't know whether the locals appreciated it Anthea, but Cliff reckoned I scared the fish away.....:( as I said yesterday, the man has no soul....
 
Just connected to Wifi and read the sad news about Eddie. We also had message conversations with him when we were looking at Frankia MHs and he was very helpful with a wealth of knowledge about German and Euro Motorhome sales sites. He'll be sadly missed on the Forum.

Well we've been in Split for two days now and the sun is shining at last. We had a lovely evening with @JockandRita last night and travelled into Split with them this morning on the bus. Just as we went our separate ways (I refuse to use the pun - when we split up in Split.....) the rain started to come down and within a few minutes it was absolutely peeing down! We ran to the Basement Halls of the Diocletian Palace, where there was shelter and some stalls to look around! While we were there the rain came down heavier and heavier outside and all of a sudden it started to come up through the manholes in the ground!
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The halls were packed and people started to panic, so we made for higher ground and waited for the rain to ease up enough for us to run back to the bus stop to get home again! There was no enjoyment in walking around the city in that weather and so deciding that we could visit again on the way back up from Dubrovnik I'm ashamed to say that after a very short visit - we split Split!

We arrived back at the site safely - I have to admit to not being very brave when it comes to catching buses abroad - getting to the city is fine, but I'm never sure of where we get off on the way home...... Anyway when we got back we saw an upturned brolly outside Jock and Rita's van, and correctly assumed that they had split Split early too!

Sitting in the van catching up on emails and a little black 'red' squirrel came onto our pitch! I've never seen a red squirrel at home, but I think if Tufty had been black - this was his doppelganger!

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Cliff stood outside the van and threw a cashew nut down, he came up and sniffed at it, but turned his nose up!

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He must have come back and taken it though, as it's disappeared!

Now sitting in the sun listening to Radio 2 - life is once again good!

Heading off to Dubrovnik in the morning - Jock says it's going to be a nice day tomorrow - and he hasn't failed us yet! :)

Will continue posting tomorrow - I have to say I'm very impressed with the ACSI sites in Croatia - every one we have been to have offered wifi for free, and with the Motorhome Wifi Booster we've been able to get it in the van every time! Long may it continue - if they can promise it for free Europe wide I might be persuaded to vote 'in'....;)
 
Thank you for all your posts and pictures looks like you are having a great time. Love the relics:pop: It rained in Crete last night too and been very hot but cloudy today. Hope the sun shines for us all tomorrow. :sun:
 
Ger, that picture of Cliff in long trousers nearly bought a tear to my eye....your supposed to be on your hollibobs.
it's been 23 degrees in Wales today, Martins been sat in his study working in his underpants!

Glad you are having a good time though and hope some sun comes your way. Remind Cliff I think you can get rabies from squirrels.

Safe travels xx
 
Mousy said:
Ger, that picture of Cliff in long trousers nearly bought a tear to my eye....your supposed to be on your hollibobs.
it's been 23 degrees in Wales today, Martins been sat in his study working in his underpants!

Glad you are having a good time though and hope some sun comes your way. Remind Cliff I think you can get rabies from squirrels.

Safe travels xx
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Eek:Eeek: For underpants and double :Eeek:Eek for rabies info!!
 
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