Our last week of Miloš’ vacation was spent in his hometown of Crikvenica, Croatia.
It’s all the way up the coastline, just a little below Rijeka. Click here to see a map.
Also, just a little helpful pronunciation help: the plain letter “C” is pronounced with a TS sound – just like the sound in PIZZA! So let’s say it together: “tsreek-ven-eet-sah.”
We took a bus from Split that Sunday and had a very long and uncomfortable trip back to Crikvenica.
It took all day.
The bus’ air conditioner was not especially strong, and our seats were on the side that got all the sunlight. Lots of sweating ensued as we tried to get comfortable and get some sleep.
We eventually made it back, and Miloš’ mom picked us up at the bus station.
We were actually going to be staying with my friend Sonja. She’s my roomie in Vienna, but her family also happens to have a house in Selce, which is part of the Crikvenica area.
Miloš’ mom drove us over to her house, and we got ourselves settled in. It was so awesome to see Sonja again! She is a really great friend! 🙂
One of the best parts of being in Miloš’ hometown was that we were able to get around everywhere with his scooter – it made everything SO much easier. Plus, the scooter’s just plain fun!
Crikvenica Beaches
There are a lot of beaches here. A LOT!
Several times, we went to the one main sandy beach in town.
A bunch of times we played picigin in the shallow area of the sand beach. Basically, you just hit this little ball back and forth – sort of like volleyball style – without letting it fall in the water.
I kind of suck at it.
Although we had a few good volleys going there a couple times, most of the time I just couldn’t jump high enough or far enough to hit it.
The rest of the time we just played around in the water, or laid out snuggled on our towels.
We also went to the nude beach below Selce.
A few times we went to the nude beach on Kačjak.
I’d say my favorite is that really pretty cove beach out on Kačjak (minus the creeper perv, of course).
At the cove on Kačjak, we had a nice spot to sit on the rock cluster that is out in the water just a bit. From there you can just look out to sea while feeling the breeze blow across your face. And jump off into the crystal clear waters.
We also liked to walk the path up on Kačjak, since this peninsula is set up high on cliffs that look out on the water. There are fabulous views all over the place.
One of our trips out to Kačjak was to try to capture some shots for the “My Best Summer Moment” contest that the Coca-Cola Facebook page was running.
Alas, we didn’t get squat from the contest. But we had a fun time taking the pics.
I even wore the cute Coke shoes that Miloš got me for a few of the shots!
There are not many people out there that you could consider bigger Coke fans than myself. *As I take another sip of my Coke…*
I’m still working on a big Coke photo slide show of Miloš and I drinking Cokes all around the world that’s set to music. Hopefully, I’ll get it to the Coke people at some point – hey, you never know what could happen!
But for now, here are some of my Coke pics.
Crikvenica Dining
Twice that week, we went to our favorite restaurant in Crikvenica: Burin.
We had gone a bunch of times back in the off-season while I was there, before Miloš had to leave for the ship.
The food there is SO GOOD, plus the customer service can’t be beat.
We also tried out a restaurant called Zrinski.
We had wanted to check it out in the off-season as well, but they are closed up during that time of year.
We came here for our last-night dinner, and it was great. We had a lovely table on the patio in the corner. The menu was really impressive as well.
For lunches, we mostly grabbed a quick meal at a little snack stand near the beach called 55.
They have really excellent french fries – seriously good. I think most days I just had french fries for lunch.
Miloš usually got a cheeseburger or a pressed turkey sandwich.
Crikvenica Nightlife
Every night, we went out to the bars and pubs in Crikvenica.
We drank, we danced, we sang, we made some new interesting memories… 😉
It was fun hanging out with Miloš’ friends and getting to know people better. Each group we hung out with made me feel really welcome.
Most nights Miloš and I headed home as the sun started to rise. A few times, we stopped to enjoy the dawn on a bench by the sea.
