Camping at the Coast

We returned yesterday from a camping trip to Zadar, which is on the coast of Croatia. It was a short 3 day trip for the Memorial weekend. We pitched our tent within walking distance of the beach, under a canopy of pine trees. One of my favorite things about camping, tent camping in particular, is the sound of nature as I lay inside the tent. Birds singing and the wind gently blowing are two of the most awesome sounds I have ever heard. I felt so contented and at peace as Clara and I rested on the air mattress in the afternoon, listening to the breeze as it gently ruffled our tent, and the birds calling to one another above us.

When we got home, I was extremely thankful for the "luxuries" that a house provides. A bathroom, a kitchen, a refrigerator, a soft bed, air conditioning.... We found out when we arrived at the campground that there were no picnic tables provided. We had to do our cooking over our campstove squatting on the ground above it. There were no fire pits either, so no campfire could be made.

The day that we departed, we woke at 6 am to the sounds of rain pattering on our tent roof. And it lasted until 11:00, all through our pack-up procedure. It was a miserable experience, but quite common in our camping history, as ~D~ was prone to lament and remind us.

We drove through the interesting town of Zadar, which was actually conquered by the Romans at the end of the 3rd century BC. When the Roman Empire split, Zadar became the capital of Byzantine Dalmatia and retained this status until the end of WWI.
Zadar suffered badly in the break-up of former Yugoslavia. The city was shelled by Serbian forces from 1991 to 1993, cutting the city off from both Zagreb and the surrounding region. Much was destroyed and the city's safety remained precarious until the Yugoslav war ended in 1995.

But today, it is a beautiful, peaceful town.



I think it has taken longer for me to find Croatia's beauty. We lived in Sweden for 18 months and found it breathtaking nearly every day we were there. If you find the wildness of Alaska beautiful, you understand something of the beauty of Sweden. Sweden is unpolluted, and abounds with natural lakes, pine forests, and crisp, clean Nordic air. Even in the city of Stockholm, I had the feeling that the countryside was never far away.



Croatia has been much different, and due to those differences, harder for me to truly appreciate. I love it most when we are out of the city and I can see the lay of the land, instead of the concrete buildings or the city buses or the obnoxious mopeds. Our trip to the coast was a refreshing change of atmosphere. I know people are flocking by the thousands now to see the Croatian coast... it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.



It surely is a beautiful place.