September 8th, BIG Travel, Small Places

Traveling Big, Seeking Small

There are so many ways you change over four months of travel. Some are permanent, some fleeting and some....last a bit before you fall back into your 'normal' life, I am guessing.

One of the most unique things about BIG (long and lengthy) travel is how over time you seek smaller and smaller places, with less and less tourists, until you find you are seeking a tiny town, on a tiny beach, with only a lone beach bar. Perhaps it is because you can't do museums and metros for 120 days straight, you don't want to gain twenty pounds from one star Michelins, and you no longer feel like a tourist, so why be with so many.

And so we have reached the point in our journey, 100 days in, where although we are this moment ferrying into Split, Croatia, we will drive our car off the ferry

and immediately head west to find some small village with a b and b, a simple konoba for dinner and hopefully a deserted beach. For the first time, we have no hotel and no plans. 

In my mind, I am remembering The Aquarium Beach Bar in Grenada and Jimmie's in St. Lucia, hoping to stumble upon a Croatian replica with a wood fire burning and a fishing line hanging in the sea, catching a fresh sea bass. 

We alight from the ferry and we look around at this city that most travelers stop in for at least half a day. We look at each other and know we want to hit the road, in search of the perfect isolated place. On the way, we pull into Trogir, here since the 3rd century, full of boats and through the Unesco arched gate, marble buildings, cafes, shops. It is beautiful, but too big. 

We ask at the TI for a small place up the coast, with a beach and are directed to Primosten, a village we never heard of, about an hour north. We reinforce ourselves with two Ratler Grapefruit beers, still in search of small.

Before we get to Primosten, we see a sign pointing to the Hotel Life, in very high design graphics, in a no name town on the water. We hang a right and follow the narrow road lined with low stone walls for a kilometer or more and voila, the Life Hotel.

Four star, new, pool, restaurant but alas only the expensive suites are left, too rich for our budget today. 

We hit Primosten which has a great beach but only one three star hotel with what would certainly be slightly smelly, musty rooms  or your choice of crappy accommodations in private homes, pass. We backtrack to a small marina town, Rogoznica, and after a few villas that are full, and with some help from the internet, we find a place. It is facing the sea with a small swim spot, nestled amongst other villas and private homes. The cars in the parking lot are from Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia, the room is quite decent with a super clean and modern bathroom. 

We say yes to one night and hop in our suits to swim, and find, right on this tiny cove, a beach bar serving lemon Radlers and espresso. No fish here, so dinner is a twenty minute walk through the harbor, over the petite causeway and onto the island filled with boat and boaters and waterfront restaurants.

We find the recommended Antonijas, orders the fish plate for two, yet again, and wrap up with the quintessential seashore treat, an ice cream cone on the way home. 

We learn that seaside towns all over the world have much in common. Walking home, past the strollers in blue and white stripes, the boaters sitting on their decks with bottles of wine, we figure, it is not the smallest place but we are getting closer.