Monday 7th October 2024

Buzet to Lovran

Today was essentially our last walk in the mountains as we finished by the sea and walk a coastal concrete path tomorrow to finish the Istrian part of our journey.

The same great breakfast was on offer, but unfortunately shared it with a rude and self indulgent Indian businessman who treated the staff disgracefully. I guess I lowered myself when I called him a pompous p…k and told his associate to teach him some manners.

I managed to console the staff and confirm they were doing a wonderful job and to ignore his comments.

Sadly breakfast left a sour taste in my mouth.

We packed up, lugged our bags downstairs for 3 flights and tossed them into the back of the transporter. Still trying to work out why bags are feeling heavier.

Then off we went down the one-way cobbled street squeezing past buildings and all of the small sedans parked at crazy angles to maximise space utilisation. There is no room for a local to have a people mover up in these top of the hill castle towns.

We headed off on a very windy highway to start with and then along an expressway( won’t ever complain about Sydney tolls again) before finding a snakes and ladders route to the top of the hill in the National Park at 1500 metres, with an amazing view down to and along the Croatian coast and over the island of Krk.

The walk started pretty serenely through some beech and fir forests on a wide track, above the clouds. Within about 10 minutes we saw two other hikers, who inevitably ended up the only humans we saw during the entire forest part of the walk. In fact other than them and a few birds the only other living thing we passed was a wild Shetland pony

With detailed walking notes and a myriad of directional signs navigation was pretty good- essentially read the book and look for the red dots.

Strangely for a walk that was described as flowing down through the forest, we spent most of first 30 minutes going up, until we reached a memorial for where partisan fighters had established a hospital during the war.

It turned out to be the turning point in elevation and signage as we levelled off through thick forest on very faint trails. Vasco with notes and old faithful GPS in hand and me as forward scout managed to keep us going in the right direction and downhill.

The track underfoot was pretty tough, with steep rocky patches ready to twist the ankle of the unwatchful and slippery to boot. We both managed to stay upright.

The thing about walking up here is the silence, as often the only thing you can hear is the beat of your heart. It’s a great place to clear the headspace.

We came across an amazing little country retreat on one of the rare patches of flat ground. It was a beautiful little hut with everything a city slicker could want- BBQ, hot water, outside dining, woodshed and even TV.

Started off again on some stony tracks which followed stone walls for quite a way- what reason they were there is anyone’s guess.

The trail got a bit steeper and there were some skinny paths with pretty severe drop offs, so not much time to look up and take in the view. As the track levelled a little after about 2.5 hours we got our first view of the sea.

Down some very steep rocky steps and out of the forest we came to our first bit of civilisation a town called Lovranska Draga. The first real flat spot for lunch was the local Bocce centre with what looked like its own bar and betting ring. Lunch was interspersed with an impromptu game of bocce using prickly Chestnut husks.

We thought that might have ended the steep part, but we’re wrong on several counts.

After a little geographical misadventure, resulting in us doing a lap of the town, the route took us uphill for more than a kilometre , albeit on a tarmac lane with great views of sea, mountains we had trodden and the old terraces of this once rural area.

There was a lovely hotel where you could lunch and soak in the view.

From there it was all downhill, geographically and physically. The trail essentially traversed the mountainside on old Roman footpaths, often between peoples houses. The houses were a mixture of old, renovated and brand new villas, the latter more often than not with pools. No matter what age they enjoyed amazing views in all directions.

Looking at all of this construction work, the lack of many old cars and the number of people with growing families, the economy is going pretty well.

Strangely we came across an abandoned school on the edge of the suburbs.

The Roman stairs turned into steep roads and concrete paths , winding between houses who all had a dog to welcome or ward you off. There was no lessening in the view and stops to take it in across all directions was frequent. It also gave the leg muscles a chance to stop twitching.

Then the miracle, flat ground and a road that stopped at the seaside. We had arrived in Lovran which is one end of the Croatian Riviera. What a quaint town with amazing grand villas, a coastal path that led to hotels , cafes and beaches which were mainly accessed by stairs.
Things were looking up with only 700 metres to go to our apartment.

Hotel was quite modern and run by the most helpful owner ever. Got the full Cook’s tour and finally found the comfort of a spacious 2 bedroom apartment, with balcony.

So some 6 hours after starting we finally had a chance to take off the boots, sit on the veranda and reflect on an amazing day and trip overall.

After a couple of hours testing we went to dinner, both doing great impressions of John Cleese’s Minister for Funny Walks. We enjoyed another great seafood meal and unlike us topped it off with a celebratory dessert- nothing like a semifredo and or a lava cake.

The one thing that has amused us here is the music. It’s a collection from the 40’s through to the 90’s all sung in English. The saving grace is you can sing along.

It was a similar wander home to finish with a slug of sticky wine and go to bed knowing – no boots, no map, no GPS, no notes and no sore muscles tomorrow.