SENJ & RIJEKA

This second time was right in the heart of peak tourist season. Accommodation was pricey, almost entirely outside of our budget, and it meant we definitely couldn’t visit the main tourist cities. Instead it forced us to look outside the box, and into smaller, off the grid places to settle down for a week of sunshine and swimming.

That week was blissful. We didn’t do much at all. Each day we’d hike up mountains to reach the local supermarket, buy fresh produce to cook healthy lunches and dinners. By mid afternoon we’d hit the beach, diving straight into the icy cold waters to escape the immense summer heat. I’d lie in the sun on the soft pebbles, watching the drips of water quickly dry in the sun. Our skin turned brown (well Martin’s skin, mine just sort of looked less translucent) and our hair was curly with the salt. It was just what we needed to recover from our stomach bugs from Turkey.

Senj is tiny, there’s not much to do but walk around town, swim in the ocean and relax at home. We watched our favourite tv shows on my laptop, and just took some much needed r&r time to rest our bodies.

When the week quickly came to an end. We jumped back on the bus and headed back towards Rijeka. We had two nights booked at another airbnb before our flight out to the UK. Rijeka is much bigger than Senj, a little city with a bustling centre and more beautiful beaches. Our airbnb was a home this time, and we were staying in the vintage themed guest bedroom decked out with a super nintendo that Martin was pretty excited about.

We were staying quite far out of the centre, and on our first day we hiked over an hour to reach the ocean, stopping to pick deliciously ripe figs from wild trees. The beach was so busy! Honestly at first I was worried we wouldn’t be able to find space for our towels. We squeezed in between the European tourists and enjoyed an afternoon of soaking in the sunshine. As dusk was approaching I swam out far into the ocean, it was dark and deep and I turned around to look back at the shore. I could see the curvature of the land, each nook where people were diving from cliffs and splashing in the water. I could see the sun almost slipping below the horizon. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be feeling everything, to be this tiny little speck bobbing in the big blue witnessing the incredible sunset on this side of the world.

Two short but wonderful nights we spent in Rijeka, swimming, roaming around town, catching a movie at the cinema. Quickly it was over, and we were leaving again. Our month of Schengen dodging was over and we were heading back to our home away from home, in Oban Scotland. To be welcomed back with open arms to our cosy little hostel, Backpackers Plus. It was exciting to be going back, we both missed Scotland terribly. Among a few familiar faces would be many new friends to meet, for the volunteer team at Backpackers Plus was constantly changing. We knew some of our old friends were waiting for us and we were nervous to be joining a completely new group of workers. Little did we know we were about to have some of the best fun of our entire trip. We said our goodbyes to beautiful Croatia and hit the road again.