That Time I Did a 28-Day European Bus Tour — Part 9 (Slovenia Caves and Pag, Croatia)
This article will cover Days 16–18 of the tour
Here is a link to Part 8 of my story, in case you haven’t read it:
On the morning of Day 16, we departed Venice and crossed the border to Slovenia. We drove through the countryside (which was green and picturesque, like in most European countries that we visited) and eventually stopped to see Postojna Cave.
As you can see, it was quite a large cave. It is also one of Slovenia’s most visited tourist attractions. It was worth seeing but that being said, I will show you later what my favourite parts of Slovenia were.
When we were done, we got back on the bus. We would have stopped somewhere for lunch, but I don’t remember exactly where, as I wasn’t leading the tour and I didn’t know my way around. It’s interesting looking at where I went on a map (like on Google Maps) and thinking “Oh, so that’s where I went”. For example, when we stayed at Avignon, France, I had no idea where in France Avignon was at the time (and that’s just one of many examples because I hadn’t thoroughly researched it beforehand).
I vaguely remember seeing “Hip Hop” petrol (gas) stations around this part of Europe. Yes, I thought it was amusing. No, I didn’t see any rappers. I don’t know what it translates to in the local language but it clearly means something different.
Also, if I recall, petrol was expensive in most of Europe. However, it is well known that petrol is expensive in Europe, because it is highly taxed. However, Europeans also tend to drive smaller cars and not drive as much as Americans or Australians. But that’s another conversation.
We drove along the coastline in order to reach an island called Pag (often referred to as Pag Island) in Croatia. We would have reached it sometime in the afternoon.
Interestingly, Croatia had just joined the EU when we went there (and no, I wasn’t really aware of that at the time). However, we still had to do ID checks when crossing the border. If I recall, the only other place we had to do this was crossing the border between the UK and France. We did not have to do this anywhere else because of the Schengen Agreement.
Also, Croatia used a different currency than most of Europe. They had their own currency called the Kuna (although Wikipedia tells me that they will replace it with the Euro this year). This meant that while I was there, I would have to withdraw some local currency, which I did. Not everything was cashless in Europe in 2013. I’m not sure what it’s like today, but I’ve heard that they still use cash more than my home country does. I don’t often pay for things in cash these days.
I can also confirm that on these tours that when paying them (for things you need to pay for, like optional activities) they prefer you to pay them in cash. Although I haven’t done such a tour in about five years, so I’m not sure how much things have changed. Basically, you couldn’t go completely cashless.
Of the countries I visited, Britain had the pound, Switzerland had the Franc, Croatia had the Kuna and the Czech Republic had the Crown (which will also become the Euro eventually). But every other country we went to used the Euro.
So we arrived at the place where we were staying and if I recall, it did feel a little like a resort. I haven’t been to Ibiza (and I don’t plan to go) but I guess it was a little like that, except that it was in Croatia and not as well known as Ibiza (yet). There were clubs that opened at midnight (yes, that’s right), there were restaurants and bars, places to get ice cream and gelato (easy to find in Europe) and whatever else you wanted.
This wasn’t a place to explore and check out all the tourist attractions (because there weren’t many). But this was a good thing for us, because this was meant to be our “downtime”. After spending two nights in most places, we would now spend three nights here.
If your idea of a holiday is to lie on a beach, eat, drink and not do much then you would probably really like Pag. I don’t mind doing that but for me, that would get old after a few days. But this allowed us to relax, which we did.
I remember that beer was very cheap here. Cheaper than Coke if I recall. Pity I wasn’t a beer drinker back then. Also, as you can see in the pictures, there were beaches but no sand, like in Nice.
We hung around here for three nights and enjoyed our stay. We ate, drank and enjoyed the sunshine and partied at the club until late.
Then on Day 19, we departed for Ljubljana, Slovenia, where we would stay for one night, before heading on to the Austrian Alps.
To be continued…
