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| On the ferry |
After spending over a week traveling with my parents and five days of sightseeing in Vienna, we badly needed a trip to relax from those trips. We chose Losinj, an island located about two hours from Rijeka. Getting there required driving over a large bridge from the mainland to the island of Krk. From Krk Island, we took a ferry to Cres Island, and then we drove across a very narrow channel (dredged in the time of the Romans) to Losinj.
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| Path to the beach |
Our hotel, the Hotel Aurora, was slightly more luxurious than what we're accustomed to, but after all, we went there to relax and it came highly recommended. Apparently, the greater Losinj population also thought it was a great place for relaxation, since it was the official Losinj Prom location. That evening, we saw all sorts of fancy girls walking uneasily in high heels, most carrying a single long-stemmed rose, and we saw uncomfortable boys in tuxes. Lucy and Georgie were fascinated.
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| Lunch above the beach |
We arrived too early for check-in, so we walked down to the restaurant on the beach. The hotel property was located on a tiny little bay with the cleanest, most turquoise waters we've seen yet. The area was just stunning. Adam and I got to enjoy our wine and grilled fish while the kids combed the beach and got their feet wet just below our patio. We took the kids to the indoor saltwater pool complex, which also had a kid pool and two massive hottubs. Then we took advantage of the Losinj "lungomare", which stretched for miles along the rocky karst coastline. One of the reasons why this area is so striking, is because of all the conifer forests along the water. But it wasn't always like that. In 1886, a Croatian named Professor Ambroz Haracic, a teacher at a local school, spearheaded an effort to afforest Losinj (he also documented how much healthier the Losinj climate is than neighboring areas which prompted the Austrians to vacation here). Over 300,000 black pines and Alepo pine trees were planted. Those trees took off and spread vigorously into the abandoned (due to a blight) vineyards. But they are not a native species.
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| Salt harvest |
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| Losinj, Croatia |
The next morning, after the huge breakfast (including a crepe buffet!), we took the kids to these massive slanting rocks along the bay for homeschooling. The kids alternated between doing their math and fishing for these little crabs that lived in these holes in the rocks. We did see several swimmers, but the water is still really really cold. We could have stayed there for hours, but we eventually took a longer walk along the lungomare, aiming for a pizzeria Adam scouted out on his morning jog. On our walk, Jonah thought he saw something like plastic sparkling on the rocks, but it turned out to be salt. Knowing my fondness for salt, he called me over, and I managed to find a baggie in my purse, and with the kids, we harvested about an ounce of pure white flaky sea salt from the Losinj coastline.
Coming home, we mistimed the ferry, but they let us on the boat and the ferry was actually pulling away from the dock within 30 seconds of our parking. We drove through some rain, but the sun was also shining directly on the white bora-blown coastal hills of Krk. The combination of early evening slanting sun and overcast skies made the hills look like they were snow-covered. My camera couldn't capture how striking it looked, but we enjoyed the tricks the sun played on the scenery on the ride home very much.
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| Losinj, Croatia |
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| Losinj, Croatia |
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| Homeschooling |
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| From our hotel room |
