Saturday 6 July 2024
Why Croatia?
Because it is there! and this time the idea was Debbie’s.
She suggested it because she had heard so many wonderful things from friends who have visited. After looking at all the other places we could reasonably get to for two weeks and flying Qantas, the only serious contender was Chile and Easter Island, but we will have to save that for another day.
The Republic of Croatia is on the Adriatic Sea, has a population of about 3.9 million, is mostly Christian and a parliamentary democracy. They have had some strife in the last decades, between the war in the 1990’s and then an earthquake in December 2020. But despite the concern some people have, Croatia is an enchanting, safe and thriving developed country.
We are off on another adventure, and once again, you can come along for the ride!
Using QFF points to upgrade to Premium Economy.
If you know me at all you will know I have a hobby of maximizing points to get the most out of every airline trip. We had a long SYD-PER, PER-ROME combination flight ahead of us but opted to see if we could be upgraded for 26,100 Qantas FF points each. At most, this converts to $261 dollars each. Why wouldn’t we!
I’m sure most people would consider it a bargain for 26 hours of flying compared to the thousands it could have costs to book PE in the first place. The seats were much wider, with more leg room, food nicer, and we used the larger and less busy business class bathooms.
First stop: Rome
Our flights meant that we had a few stops along the way. 5 hours in Sydney where we caught up with family and then 8 hours in Rome. This was enough time to leave the airport and see something the Italian metrolpolis. Both Debbie and I have been to Rome before so we opted for a side trip to the coast.
Rome Airport is located in Fiumicino, which is about 1 hours walk frmto the ‘beach’. We decided as we often do to challenge ourselves to get around by shanks pony. Google said that we could.
It was hot and we were tired: Lunch
The Uber dropped us along the canal and we wandered down it admiring the seafood restaurants and the working boat yards. Our legs were recovering from 25 hours in the air and the walk was doing them good. There were many fancy eateries, but we opted for one that looked like it suited the locals. Four slices of pizza and two beers for E 11.
It took a little bit of help from google translate to work out that we had pointed at pizza escargo – so snails it was!
We headed off to the the end of the pier, groaning over our distended tummys. We might have had a case of the EBTB’s!
The waterfront was a working port and we saw a wide range of steel and wooden fishing boats.
The Beach!
In Australia, we are spoiled for beaches, so we were not overly impressed with this seaside attraction. The sand was a mix of black and hot, and the general feeling noisy and busy.
Most of the waterfront is ‘private beaches’ where the restaurant that owns the land in front controls access to the beach and charges people. There was a small entrance at the far end for the ‘free beach’.
I dipped my toes in the water, warm enough, but now I had sandpaper glued to my feet for the next stage of our walk. The weather was hovering around 29/30C so our bodies were struggling to adjust.
Getting ready for the next stage
With a few hours before our 6pm flight to Zagreb, we headed back to the airport to check-in. Croatian Airlines has only a few planes (16) and limited flights out of Rome each day. We were soon to discover just how small the airline really was!
Debbie – don’t get on!
And so as we leave Italy to start our real adventure in Croatia, we have a final look at the coastal district of Fiumicino from the air.
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