St Davids

The day after returning from Croatia, I went on yet another holiday; this time a family holiday to a cottage by the coast in St Davids, West Wales. St Davids is a special place for me as we used to come here every year with my whole family, staying in caravans on the cliffs near Porthclais harbour. This part of Pembrokeshire must be one of the most beautiful areas in the country.

Whitesands Bay (view from back garden)

As you will see from the photos, we were very lucky with the weather. It was a very relaxing holiday, much needed after all my hard work on the CELTA course! Evenings were spent watching the sunset over the bay, glass of wine in hand, of course!

Glorious sunsets

One night, we watched a thick fog roll in off the sea. Eventually we were unable to see past the wall around the garden. The fog seemed to deaden any noise, so it seemed very eerie!

Sea fog

The cottage overlooked Whitesands Bay, one of the best beaches in Wales. Sadly, the sea was far too cold to risk taking a dip! I say a cottage, it was really quite a big house with 4 en-suite bedrooms and a massive kitchen. It was dated in style, but very clean and well equipped. Ben seemed to enjoy lieing outside and soaking up the spring sunshine!

Whitesands Bay

Ben

Mum and I went for a walk along the coastal path to St Justinian's Lifeboat station. The spring flowers were out in full bloom.

Pembrokeshire coastal path

(our cottage is the house on the right)

St Justinians Lifeboat Station
I also got the chance to catch up with my friend Suzanne, who lives in North Pembrokeshire, who I hadn't seen for over a year. We met for lunch on one of the hottest days of the year and ate salad in the beer garden of the Farmers Arms pub in town. We then walked down to the cathedral and Bishops' Palace. Although St Davids is only the size of a small town, it is officially a city (the smallest city in the UK) due to it's cathedral named (founded by?) for the patron saint of Wales. The Bishops Palace lies next to the cathedral, but is now in ruins.

St Davids Cathedral and Bishops' Palace

Brac

On our last day in Croatia, we took the ferry to one of the many islands off the coast of Croatia called Brac. The harbour was at a(nother) very pretty town called Supetar.

Supetar

We browsed around for an hour and walked out to the mausoleum along the coast, then caught the bus across the island to Bol.

Mausoleum

From Bol we walked to Zlatni Rat, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (and that's not just my opinion). We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach and then spent the afternoon sunbathing and paddling. I wanted to stay there for ever!

View while eating lunch

Zlatni Rat Beach

The sea looked so clear

Caroline braving a paddle

On the ferry back, we met a guy from London who sells holiday homes in Croatia. We got chatting and (once he had quickly sussed that there was no point in giving us a sales pitch) offered us a lift to the airport the next morning which was very nice of him and if you ever want to buy a holiday home in Croatia (I definitely plan to one day!), I will give you his details!

Beautiful sunset on the ferry ride back

Arriving back in Split

I was sad to have to leave Croatia; I would love to work and live there one day, but teaching jobs and fairly few and far between. The only downside (and this is a small gripe) was that the food was pretty bland, everywhere seemed to serve pasta and pizza. Maybe the restaurants here cater mainly for the day tripper/cruise ship crowd, but I'd have loved to have found some traditionally Croatian food on the menus. However, that won't put me off and I'll have to hunt harder next time, maybe they're just as elusive as that Macdonalds (we never did find it!). I'm sure I'll visit again and hopefully stay longer next time.

Trogir

The weather was much better the next day and we took a bus to Trogir, a UN World Heritage site, a few miles up the coast from Split (after unsuccesfully hunting for a MacDonalds for breakfast as we were both craving a McMuffin - and still am). Trogir recently stood in for Venice (with a bit of CGI) on Dr Who, so it may look a little familiar! We walked around the little alleys, shopped for souvenirs, then had a late lunch at a restaurant on the sea front before returning to Split. We then walked down to the beach area, about 20 minutes walk from the city centre and had a couple of beers overlooking the sea.

Trogir

Alleyways and courtyards in Trogir