Goodbye Croatia…Finally!

Long before the end of our second month’s stay at the seaside cottage on Krk Island, we had already decided not to re-up. Instead, we would travel south to visit Split and Dubrovnik, then leave Croatia altogether and head back to France. Those plans didn’t quite work out.

We originally renewed our stay at the cottage for the second month on the 29th of December. We did this because at the time travel in Croatia had been curtailed, limited only to your home county. Those rules had been in place for a couple of weeks and so we thought we really didn’t have a choice but to stay another month.

The many moods outside the bedroom window of our cottage.

Around noon on the 29th, just after we had paid up, a massive earthquake hit central Croatia killing seven people, destroying homes and leaving nearby villages in rubble. So that first responders and family could reach the devastated area, the travel ban was lifted.

In hindsight, I regret staying that second month in the seaside cottage. Steven feels differently, as he was working on a couple of creative projects that he really enjoyed. I, on the other hand, languished. From a weather perspective, Croatia is not a great place to spend the dead of winter, and being on the coast is even worse. Our days were grey and windy, often with pouring rain.

Dreary with a chance of dreary.

Why didn’t we cancel and leave when the travel restrictions were lifted? Well first, it would mean forfeiting a chunk of money, and when we applied for temporary residency, we gave them the resort address as our place of residence. Not long after we had been granted that status, the police showed up at the resort office to verify the information given. It indicated to us they take the process very seriously.

Second, Bijou was in no shape to travel. The installation seal on the Fiamma fan we had put in last fall was not holding up to the torrents of rain we were experiencing and it was leaking like a sieve. That portion of the roof was covered in trash bags until we could find a fix. Also, after returning from a grocery shopping trip during a windy, sideways downpour, I accidentally backed Bijou into a metal rod in the parking lot, poking a hole on her back upper cap. So there was that, now temporarily covered in white Eternabond also needing repair.

Steven does an expert patch job with tape and shopping bags!
Offending metal rod, the damage and Steven’s temporary patch job.

We could have traveled a bit, like visiting Split and Dubrovnik, but again, the weather was no different in Dalmatia than on Krk Island. And frankly, the longer we stayed, the less I felt inclined to do much of anything. I was well and truly in a funk, so, thank god for Netflix, right? Since we’ve been traveling I rarely watch television, but I made it through a bunch of shows I’ve been wanting to watch. Still, it’s terrible for my well-being to essentially watch TV all day. It didn’t take long before I knew a third month at the cottage wasn’t in the cards, no matter what. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Rain or shine, dem kitties demanded to be fed (and it worked).
On the upside, we had nearby access to a few grocery stores. Tommy, Konzum and Plodine are grocery stores and are nearly identical. You would not know which one you were in if all the signage was removed. BIPA is like Ulta and a mini-Target rolled into one. Not pictured is Tedi, the Croatian Michaels and where we got all our Christmas decos. We left it all behind in the cottage for anyone who wanted it.

It was time to turn our attention to getting the necessary repairs done on Bijou, which in a pandemic winter was not easy. RV repair shops on Krk Island were non-existent, but boat repair is a big thing. I would have never even thought of going this route if not for Chris and Catherine from The World is Our Lobster. They also had a couple of punctures to their motorhome, Hector, and wrote about finding repairs at a marina. (Aside from helpful hints, the Lobster’s blog is one of my favorites – smart, funny and timeless. Chris and Catherine traveled in their beloved motorhome Hector for four years to every country in Europe and their blog is well worth a read!)

Steven began his search for boat repair and sure enough, we found a fab place about 18 kilometers away. We originally arranged for them to repair the leaking fan, but while we were there the guy said he could fix the hole. He made it clear that they are not a paint shop and so the repair would likely not match Bijou’s original paint job. We had to think about that for a while, but in the end, we went for it. The alternative would have been to get insurance involved, make the repair and paint the whole end cap. We would have paid our deductible, our premiums would likely go up, and who knows how long we might have been displaced from our home for the repairs to happen. Forget that!

The guy was right, the fix doesn’t match. But it’s close enough and we are super happy with the repair. Both repairs, the hole and the leaking fan, cost about 130 euro. Can’t beat that with a stick, right?

Now this is a nice patch job…not a perfect match but good enough.

By the time the repairs were done we had about 10 days before we hit the road. We were hearing rumblings of a third lockdown in France. Our friends Brad and Oksana had already escaped the dreary Croatian winter for the sunnier parts of France and they were keeping abreast of the coming changes. As the rumblings got louder, we made the decision to skip Split and Dubrovnik and instead head north out of Croatia and back to France. Our goal was to get there before any lockdown went into effect.

Before moving back into Bijou we cleaned and reorganized her completely. We even put down her original carpets, which were brand new and had stayed folded up in the bay. Even with double floors, our feet get chilly when it is cold outside. We didn’t think we would like them, but it turns out they are fab and we are keeping them inside for now! Maybe in the summer we will change our minds, but maybe not!

The new carpet makes Bijou nice and cozy.

Every day we moved a few loads of stuff from the cottage to Bijou, then spent time putting it all away. I began cooking lots of food for the fridge and freezer. We weren’t sure where we’d stay as we traveled, so we wanted to be prepared. When the day came to leave, we just grabbed last minute items and hit the road!

France didn’t go into lockdown as we thought it might, but they did introduce new testing requirements in order to enter the country. Of course, in true French fashion their decrees left us with more questions than answers. Those arriving by “road transport” did not have to have a PCR test, only those arriving at seaports and airports. But, did “road transport” mean truckers transporting goods, or everyone, like, say, motorhomers? No one seemed to know.

We called our local clinic in Krk and were told they do offer PCR testing, which is what is usually required at borders and it would take 48 hours for the results. The cost was about 120 euros each. We were leaving on a Thursday and planned to be in France by Friday afternoon, so that wasn’t going to work for us. We finally said… well, nevermind what we said. We hit the road without a test. What’s the worst that could happen to us? We had plenty of food and drink, plenty of fuel, basically everything we needed should we somehow be turned away from the border and need to find a testing facility.

This was a good decision, as it turned out. We checked out of Croatia and into the Schengen zone at the Slovenian border, both of which were just a passport check and in the case of Slovenia, confirmation from us that we were just passing through. We entered Italy and were waved through by the border guards. No tests required so far.

We spent the night at an aire in Verona. We would like to spend more time in Verona, but this was not that time. We had 36 hours to transit Italy and get into France. Plus, when we arrived in Verona, Steven took the opportunity to visit an Apple store and buy a new iPad. We were up and out early the next morning and at 11:15 a.m. we crossed into France with no welcome committee whatsoever. In fact, we never saw a police or immigration car until we came to the toll booths. I guess they could have pulled us over at that time if they wanted to, but it was surely not the manpower needed to check PCR tests.

We spent the night in Verona at this little aire all by ourselves.

Believe me, if we had spent over 200 euros for those tests i would have stopped and walked those results over to those officers. Not really, but I would have been furious at the expense of it all. It is the expense of the PCR tests that ultimately made us decide to head back to France rather than travel further south from Croatia into Montenegro, Albania and so on. Not only is it expensive, the rules change so often it is difficult to keep up with what the requirements are to travel into any given country. We felt as though we had well and truly hit a wall with regard to traveling further south.

Navigating our way out of Croatia, then Slovenia and Italy and then past the non-existent French border!

So here we are in the south of France, hunkered down at a lovely marina. There is still no full lockdown, but there are plenty of closures and rules. More on that next time.


Next up: Back in France!


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20 Comments

  1. Chris Barry

    Existing is available. Travel is a challenge in thesailboat cruising world too. Lots of closed islands. Or extended quarantine required. Oof! Grenada had an outbreak but we are back to No covid again! Yea!

    1. 2chouters

      I was barely existing that last month in Croatia and I sure am happy to be out! You’ve been in Grenada for a while now, I hope things start opening up for you soon! Hugs to you and Nancy!

  2. Laurie

    I can imagine your smile of relief as you hit the road again. Long-term parking in poor weather was always my very least form of full-timing! That last photo gave me a jolt of happiness… on the road again, I just can’t wait… la de da de da…

    1. 2chouters

      I know you know exactly how it feels to hit the road after a long stay! I was happier the minute we moved back into Bijou. Once we were across the borders, I was like WUHOO! 🙂 If all goes well, we’ll be moving a bit more in the coming weeks. But who really knows, everything could change in an instant!

      1. Catherine Wolfe

        Wow, your adventures continue! The repair looks well fine. Houston is prepping for a real winter storm predicted Monday and Tuesday with temps in the teens and single digits F. We got our second shots Monday and had a rough time Tuesday and mine carried into Wednesday. I saw the forecast today and quickly called our electrician / handyman. He’s coming tomorrow to drain our irrigation system and check our pipes under the house, as our 86 year old home is pier and beam. From the sounds I’ve heard throughout today, all the neighborhood cats are hanging out under our house. We’ll see if Russell relents and feeds them because of the extraordinary weather. Please be safe and hugs to both of y’all!

        1. 2chouters

          Geez, I just got a text from Mom saying they were in a deep freeze! Y’all be careful and for goodness sakes, stay home! So glad you got the vax, but sorry you struggled with it. We are being safe!

  3. Colibaba’s

    We feel your pain of being stuck in one place too long. After being on the move for the last 10 years we are now into month 11 of being stationary with only one short move in that time. Nice job on the fiberglass repair!
    Safe travels and stay healthy!

    1. 2chouters

      Pretty good job for under a hundred bucks, right? We were very happy to get it taken care of rather than wait until we got back to France and the repairs became a bigger deal. I mean, Bijou is 13 years old so she can go without a fancy fix in some cases! I cannot wait for this COVID thing to be neutralized to the point that we can really travel again. I know you are missing your desert fix and all your friends in Q!

  4. Wow…I think that repair is awesome! Sure can’t beat the price! Covid numbers are dropping fast over here, so keep your chin up…but stay safe. We are crossing our fingers that we can get the vaccine before we leave Florida this spring!

    1. 2chouters

      Wow, fingers crossed you are able to get the vax before you head north! We have no idea when we might get it. Things are pretty slow here and we’re not even in the health system nor are we set up with a doctor. We’re going to look into that in the next few weeks. Yeah, how about that cheapie repair! 🙂

  5. So glad your escape was successful!! I am beyond ready to hit the road as well. Getting our Spring/Summer reservations completed might have made it worse :-)) Our weather forecast is the opposite of yours in Croatia and just as depressing as we need the water so badly. Love your cute kitties, they’ll miss you!
    While the pandemic has given you unprecedented access to crowd free locations, I can’t imagine navigating multiple countries and languages and rules and procedures 🙁 At least your repairs went well and you’re safely back in France.
    Here’s to having happy back in your life – a marina sounds like a great start!

    1. 2chouters

      If you’re making reservations you must be heading to the PNW? Or perhaps the east coast? Where ever you go, I know you will be so happy to have those big wheels rolling! I’m excited for you!

    1. 2chouters

      The guy who fixed it said if we didn’t like it, he had a guy who could make us a sticker to put there to cover it up. I though that was a pretty clever idea! In the end, though, we though it looked fine!

  6. We’re staying put in Florida until things open up and we can travel the way we really want to. But oh boy, do I ever feel stuck some days, so I understand exactly how you were feeling! I know it’s mostly in my mind because lots of people live in one place and never travel and are just fine. But apparently, that’s not my nature.

    I love the kitties and the variation in their coloring. That middle one is polka-dotted!! We just got adopted by a starving four-month-old kitten who followed me home. We swore we wouldn’t get another pet until we stopped traveling fulltime, but Magnolia obviously had other ideas for us. :-))

    1. 2chouters

      Oh, a new kitty! I love it! If any of these kitties has shown the slightest bit of interest in us other than as a food source, we might have scooped it up, but these guys were as feral as they come! I’m especially sorry we didn’t get to Split and Dubrovnik, they were high on my list. But oh well. Maybe another time. I hope things get better soon and you can get on the road with little Magnolia!

  7. Hi guys

    Late to the party as ever… Hope you’re enjoying France and life’s treating you a little better. The weather makes a huge difference to my mental health and Andalusia has gifted us another good winter of sunshine. I’m very grateful.

    Quick question: how did the Dometic leak? Was the seal around the base not fully watertight or did the unit itself let water in somehow?

    Cheers, Jay

    1. 2chouters

      Life is so much better in France. We thought about heading your way, but regional rules kept us guessing, so we stayed put in France. I am so attracted to your avocados. 🙂 I completely understand how lockdown, the unknown and location can affect mental health. As much as I looked forward to Croatia, and will again some day, I felt jailed. I was so happy to be rolling!

      The fan, a Fiamma, was apparently not sealed properly. Keep in mind, we were talking with a Croatian boat guy, who spoke fair English. He noted that our installation did not have the proper sealant, and as we understood, no gasket? (“You always need a gasket!,” said he.) He removed the entire fan, installed a gasket and whatever else, and POOF!, no more leaks! If you are thinking of a fan, do it. We love it.

      1. Thanks for the reply – sounds like the unit itself is performing well – cool (literally). France is a beautiful country, I’d be happy to have the run of the place and the weather should start to gradually improve now. Happy travels guys, cheers, Jay

    2. 2chouters

      And yes, I did originally refer to our fan as Dometic, but I looked again and it was Fiamma. 🙂 We changed it in the original copy, thanks for inadvertently pointing that out.

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