Journey: Omišalj to Zadar, Croatia
Distance: 227 km
Campsite for the night: Falkensteiner Premium Camping Zadar
YouTube link: Day 13

Emma started the driving today, which was quite lucky, because we hit some very winding roads quite quickly that had sheer drops on the driver’s side and I’m a little height sensitive. But otherwise, it was a lovely drive, the first half spent winding up through the mountains to the interior of Croatia and then a very fast motorway to the edge of Zadar.

The only issue with driving in Croatia is the speed limits; and that’s not ever knowing what they are. When we entered Croatia, it had a sign with the limits on that matched the other countries we’ve driven through, but whereas everywhere else has been quite consistent with applying their speed limits, Croatia has taken a more arbitrary approach. When driving on main roads, the speed limit should be 90 kph but every now and again, a random speed limit sign appears with a new limit (possibly because of a hazard like bends) but it never seems to end. Google maps doesn’t help because it spits out equally random limits to add to the confusion. At one point I was driving on the motorway, which should be 130 kph, but kept changing to 80, 100 or 110, and google told me it was 30!

Finally we arrived at the site we’d chosen for Zadar and after the disappointment of the previous site, we booked on for just one night initially. But after a quick wander around, we decided we would stay three nights. It was another big site, but just had a completely different feel and the sea and coastline was 100% the Croatia we love. We also got a bargain with the ACSI card, with the pitch at about half the advertised price.

After a late lunch, we finally got our first swim in the sea! Despite having got a lot braver about swimming in cold water — we last swam in the sea in the UK in October — we were both wusses about going in, but it was lovely once we did.

We then cycled into Zadar, which was a few miles away for dinner at Zadar’s only vegan restaurant: The Botanist. The route in was very quiet and we bimbled along the sea front. It was situated overlooking the sea in a shady garden area. I had a gnochi dish, which was delicious — it even had brussels sprouts, which are probably my favourite veg — and a fancy cocktail that included foam (something I avoid normally because of the egg whites). Emma had the filet mignon and an aperol spritz, the only cocktail she truly enjoys unless it’s like a milkshake. The only downside was they’d run out of tiramisu cake. Worse still, when we’d asked the waitress what dessert she recommend, she’d said the tiramisu cake, so we’d ordered that (and to be honest, we’d already eyed it up online). She then came out and said they’d run out, so we asked what the next best dessert was but she kept banging on about tiramisu so we chose the lemon tart (which was still very enjoyable).

As we left the restaurant, the sun was setting, so we took some pretty pictures and enjoyed the view.

We had eyed up a craft beer bar that we wanted to try on the way back, which was wittily named Deja Brew. However, there were no seats outside and inside it stank of smoke; it was like visiting a pub from 20 years ago and it looked quite miserable indeed, so we cycled back to the campsite and drank tea instead!