‘ Delayed vacation at its most joyous’: our three- month road trip to Croatia

How far would you travel to avoid flying and how long would it take you to fully embrace the concept of delayed vacation? In my case, it was 3, 167 yards over three days. I’ve wanted to travel on foot to Croatia for almost ten years and to get the most out of the experience as possible. The plan was to slow down and discover new things rather than rocket down the road for workout exercises. Before my husband and I were out of France and bouncing along Belgium’s bumpy roads, it appeared we had barely rolled off Le Shuttle ( the name Eurotunnel reverted to last spring ). After a six- hours drive, Germany’s oldest city, Trier, made a nice over stop, the rebuilt gothic Hauptmarkt square bathed in soon afternoon sunlight. The Mosel beverage area produces some very usable rosés, according to its summer pop-up bar. Germany proved to be one of those areas where I had to keep taking papers while returning and exploring, and the evening we spent in Munich made me wonder why I had never been there before. The meals shops and kiosks on Viktualienmarkt made me really hungry, not only Marienplatz and its neo-gothic new city hall. More than remain in the ancient city, we picked a hotel in Werksviertel, a dozen S- Bahn stops ahead. This former industrial area is now full of container bars, sleek hotels ( including ours, the Adina, which has a fabulous roof terrace ), concert venues and a huge ferris wheel. Chiemsee, the first of many the following day, was another wonderful surprise, with its clear water coming from the autobahn to Austria. How on earth have I not heard of this area and may I please come back? asked the largest lake in Bavaria. record. Our arrival into the snappily named Friuli, Venezia, Giulia region of Italy coincided well with noon. We found a restaurant in Tarvisio where sandwiches came smothered with regional San Daniele sausage in an effort to avoid a bad motorway meal. Afterwards, in Udine, we watched a beautiful Renaissance city awake from its afternoon nap and come alive with the nighttime passeggiata. An aperitivo in Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, a wander under Piazza la Libertà’s pilasters, and a meal of pasta alle vongole is what you want after a five- hours drive. I was making more plans the following morning when we arrived in Trieste and stopped for lunch surrounded by Habsburg regular and had our first view of the Adriatic. I was nearly sorry as we whiz through Slovenia and eventually Croatia during our European interlude because it was so delightful. My goal was my parents ‘ region of Lika, in the west of the country, above Zadar, but for once I was n’t visiting the interior area where my family came from. With the exception of Plitvice Lakes national park and its surroundings, I lamented how much of this stunning territory is being overlooked in Croatia’s tourism growth when writing my Croatia travel, My Family and Another Enemies, in 2022. My intention this time was to explore Lika’s western half, where tourism has more of a foothold. View image in fullscreenIt’s easy to find a bucolic bolthole in Lika’s karst mountain landscape of forests, rivers and lakes. A wooden cottage outside the village of Peru was discovered by an online trawl. The cottage, named IV- AN after its amiable owner from nearby Gospi, was surrounded by forests and farmland. The only sounds were birdsong, crickets and, come evening, sizzling meats on the barbecue. My new obsession, the Merlin Bird ID app, picked up the calls of nuthatches, nightingales, owls and shrikes. The lane behind led to Grabovača cave park, whose Samograd cave had been on my must- see list. Unfortunately, I was recovering from a knee injury and could n’t tackle the slippery steps. The same applies to other outdoor pursuits, such as kayaking and rafting on the Gacka Rivers and Lake Kruica, mountain biking, quad biking, and even plain old hiking. But Lika has other tricks up its sleeve. One of the most captivating is in the village of Kuterevo, about 45 minutes ‘ drive from our cottage. The Bear Refuge has been providing for orphaned brown bears that are kept in large enclosures and whose mothers have been killed or who have been rescued from illegal zoos since 2002. It’s free to enter, but volunteer wardens are happy to take donations. When it’s hot, the bears lurk in the shade, but on this rainy morning they were all ambling about. Bruno, who left an illegal zoo in 2019, was the most moving, and he still keeps pacing the animals around him. View image in fullscreenAside from Plitvice, Lika’s other claim to fame is the birthplace of the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, whose small town of Smiljan has created a mini-industrie. You do n’t need to be a science nerd to enjoy the Tesla coil demonstration, the movie about the inventor’s life, or the exhibits in the home where he was born, next to the parish church where Tesla’s father was parish priest, in 1765. Smiljan is only three miles from Lika’s county seat, Gospić, and its Lika Museum, housed in an attractive 18th- century building. A really good art gallery with an exhibition of early 20th-century photographs is located among the medieval artefacts and Habsburg furniture. Those photos had me spellbound: my paternal grandfather was Gospić’s railway stationmaster briefly, until his untimely death in 1933, and this gave me a glimpse into his world. skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWestern Lika’s other major town is Otočac, in the Gacka valley, the focus of much of the area’s outdoor pursuits. The majority of the River Gacka is below ground, but what can be seen in this broad valley is serenely beautiful, shaded by trees, and full of brown trout. If I could n’t go kayaking, I could at least find a riverside restaurant. Bistro Ribi and Bumerang were particularly good, and we got two whole grilled trout for €12. Only a few miles apart, two of the three main sources that feed into the Gacka are wonderful little watery worlds. Old, restored mill houses ( one of which is still milling flour ) form a bridge across the mini rapids at Majerovo Vrilo, where the clear water lay still and blue, with reeds and lily pads adding green accents to match the forested hills in the distance. I envied the people who lived on their waterside terraces as a few wooden houses with views over this picturesque location. It was a similar sight at Tonkovićevo Vrilo, where more of this sparkling water was burbling under wooden bridges. It was enjoyable to see hikers, cyclists, anglers, and kayakers enjoying this vast landscape in a region with still visible signs of war and young people who are losing their youth to immigration. And one young man was there to keep Lika’s spirit flowing, literally. Ivan Vlainić, 31, is bucking the trend for leaving the countryside, having moved from Zagreb to become the fifth generation to run the family brandy business, Stilanova Lika. During a tasting of his smooth brandies in the restored family home outside of Peru, he said,” More young people like me have realized that we can make a living here.” However, we soon decided to leave Lika for Venice and to meander along the Istrian coast back to Italy. Our straightforward one-star hotel on Italy’s Lake Iseo that night amazed us with its five-star view of the sun setting on Monte Isola. Our road trip was completed by a few days spent in the French Alps and a final night spent in Burgundy. My brain was a jumble of languages, my phone overflowing with photos. It was slow travel at its most joyous, and worth the wait. Le Shuttle provided the travel from Folkestone to Calais ( crossings starting at £87 each way ). Seven nights ‘ self- catering at IV- AN cost £600. Self-catering apartments at the Munich Adina Apartment Hotel start at €152 per night. Hotel Allegria in Udine has doubles from €139 B&amp, B. Mary Novakovich’s My Family and Other Enemies: Life and Travels in Croatia’s Hinterland ( Bradt Travel Guides, £9.99 ) is available from guardianbookshop.com