Ocean is still nice

The road back to the coast had a bit of repetition, but driving over the mountains still provided some stunning views. Croatia doesn't seem to be a particularly densely populated country, to the point of being able to stand at the side of the road and seeing no evidence of civilisation through the gigantic Valley in front. I mean, yes, we have this in Australia too, but with us it's not as green.

One thing which you do notice occasionally as well are the abandoned houses with bullet holes through the walls, and these act as a kind of painful reminder about some of the past that this place went through in the not too distant past. And for a while we mostly accepted them as abandoned buildings that happened to be visible on the way, but this acceptance kind of shattered when you could see similar buildings in the middle of the city. I'm kind of glad Croatia joined the EU, and hopefully this gives the citizens some more security as well.

But on a more cheerful note again, the ocean is back in full swing. Bright green and blue colours, not as calm as it was last time (by which I mean, dead calm compared to any ocean), and in Zadar, also not quite as clean. But this didn't remotely stop the [insert large number] tourists from jumping right in. Some are even swimming fairly close to where the boats were storming past. We however simply enjoyed the view while the sea blew through some pipes, making weird noises. Apparently the ocean is trying to tell us something, but I just don't know what.

Zadar seems to be a little more set out for tourists, and welcoming them as such. Big dock for a cruise ship to roll in, lots of signs that forgot to include the local language, people who constantly ask you whether you're looking for a place to eat, etc. It's not particularly bad yet as there doesn't seem to be a huge amount under of tourists yet, but I don't want to see what this place turns into when the big waves start rolling in.

Tomorrow we have to drive back to where this whole croatian adventure began, and then jump on a plane in the evening. That still means 150km of road along the coast, combined with an unlimited number of stops.