View Pula to Locarno in a larger map 28 June 2012: Well, what a day yesterday turned out to be. With a good plan of driving a few miles up the coast we set off and arrived at Rovinj for coffee and a walk-about. This proved to be a beautiful town in a scenic setting.

We wandered around in the heat, admiring the now familiar marble cobbled streets and network of small alleyways. Then off to Porec, much of the same but not quite so pretty. We had high expectations but were disappointed with the west coast of Istria since leaving Pula, it seemed much more commercialised and we saw Go Karting, Aquariums, Paintball, Dinosaur Parks and Water Parks advertised on roadside placards here and there. Not enough that it spoiled the area but the first time we came across anything like it in Croatia. The first campsite we tried had a place about 2.5m by 4m along side a huge grey monolith of a motorhome. We passed on this and headed for the next choice. Anywhere in the 2 ‘B’ areas we were told. Well, they turned out to be fairly full of permanent residents (aka trailer trash) and the best shady spot was between the rubbish bins and an okay looking family with a dog on a leash. Our hearts sank at the thought of this being our last memory of Croatia so we moved on in search of something better. 1km down the road we found a family run site and bagged one of a few spots right next to the sea! (€20 per night including wi-fi) The only other price to pay was that we were just in hearing distance of a local bar that played electronic thumping music from 0800 to 0100. We decided that this was a price worth paying for a couple of nights and spent the next 2 days swimming, chilling and planning our escape and the following night in the bar sipping cocktails and watching the Italy/Germany football match. If you can’t beat them, join them! 30 June 2012: Yesterday we had another very hot, long drive from Novigrad, Croatia to revisit Peschiera del Garda, Italy. Oh, for air-conditioning! We chose a huge camping spot complete with its own water supply and drainage, in sight of the lake and only €16 per night (but an additional €3 for a measly 1 hour wi-fi). We walked into the attractive town for dinner and checked out ferry trips on the lake for the following day. The lake in full swing:

Well, the following day came with even higher temperatures and ridiculous humidity so we decided to forget the all day ferry trip and to continue our search for a more civilised climate. This brought us back to Lake Maggiore but just outside Locarno this time, which is at the top of the lake and in the Swiss section. It was still hot but less humid and more bearable, objective achieved! Also, there was a very nice swimming pool and good free wi-fi but as luck would have it, Virgin Media were doing some maintenance and the email was not accessible (even though they said it was so sorry if you were waiting to hear from us).