Croatia | holiday | living - All about Croatia

Sunday morning at 05:45 we left the camp together with 10 other kayakers and went direction Venice, after a 1 ½ hour drive we arrived in Venice where we easily found the parking spaces (just after the bridge), which Georgia hat recommend us on the info meeting the day before.

At 07.45 we all had offloaded and prepared our kayaks and were ready to go. From the point where we entered the water there was about 30-40 min paddling to the regatta starting point the Piazza Saint Marco.

Shane and I had of course signed up for the regatta, but we did not yet get our starting number, so we had to go to the official information office to pick it up, typical Italian they of course had moved this, so after being directed to several wrong places we finally managed to find it and get our number. Shortly before 09:00 we were gathered with the rest of the group directly in from of the Piazza Saint Marco, waiting for the starting signal.

Precisely at 09:00 a canon shot was fired and 1600 registered and x number of unregistered vessels started moving, Amazing!! All kind of different vessels like Dragon boats, kayaks, rowing boats, Gondola , start paddling and rowing at the same time.

Before the race I had my serious doubts if I would be able to paddle more then am few km, but as It was so interesting to see all the boats and people dressed up for the race, I did not notice how far we were actually going, so when we stopped for a break at a sand pier, I was assuming we had paddled 4-5 km, I turned out that we actually at that point of time already went 12 km, and the island not far in front of us was Burana, the turning point, so I really started believing I could actually finish the race.

In Burana (I nice city with lots of colourful houses) we went down the main Canal in the centre of the city, here there was “supply ships” distributing bananas, water and fanta for the paddlers. Many participants actually stopped here for real lunch in one of the restaurants, or had lunch on the boat, but as I said to Shane “I already manage to get out of the kayak once without falling in the water, so I didn’t feel like wanting to push my luck again”.

After Burano the hardest part of the race came, 6-8 km on open water with few “milestones”, so I had to take several breaks, so Shain had to do the hard work him selves, but eventually we managed to pass this part also and enter into the city Murano (famous for its glass production), from here one the tower on the Marcus church became bigger and bigger which was very good for the motivation.

As we reach the races bottleneck, a small canal in the city part Cannaregio, I was already totally full, so we had to fight our way through as you can see on our Video, but after around 20 minutes we manage to pass the bridge causing the bottleneck and headed on towards Kanal Grande. The last part of the race was easy, all along Kanal Grande and on the bridges there was people encouraging us shouting Forza Forza when we past by, which of course gave plenty of motivation to keep going.

At around 14:00 we passed the finish line in front of the Piazza Saint Marco and got our medal and diploma, after crossing we paddle back to where our cars was parked, so at 14:45 after 7 hours in a Kayak we finally had solid ground under our feet again. Of course I had pain especially in my arms, but the feeling have actually manage the 30 km was every pain worth, so for sure would recommend also newbie’s like me to try something like this, I definitely will do it again.

Our fotos from Vogalonga

Here is some usefull links for Vogalonga and for kayak holiday in general

The camp which we stayed in - Capalonga

The organizer of the Bibione kayak week - Bibionekayak

Kayak holiday in Croatia - lifejacketadventures

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Next weekend we will go to Venice with our Australian friends, Shane and Julie and there kids Aklei and Roklan, to participate in the 34 Vogalonga regatta, for rowing boat and Kayaks.

For me it is going to be a big challenge to finish the 30 km route, as I never sad in a Kayak before, but Shane who is a Kayak expert has been so kind to get a double kayak for me and him, so I have chance to rest if necessary.

We will leave Split Friday at noon and have to reach our Italian camp destination Capalonga Camping/Tourist Village at around 19.00 in the evening, Saturday we will go and have look at the surrounding area and prepare our selves for the race Sunday.

When we are back I will let you know if I managed to finish the race in one peace.

Her you can read about Vogalonga

If like Kayaking maybe you should check Shane and Julie’s homepage and see the kayak tours they are doing here in Croatia www.lifejacketadventures.com

The Franciscan parish of St. James, in the village of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, became known in Herzegovina and the world because of six young people who claim to have seen visions of Our Lady. One of the nearby hills, called Crnica, has another hill attached to it, called Podbrdo (“sub” or “under hill”), and the village of Bijakovici is at the base of this hill. Podbrdo is the locale of the apparitions that are alleged to have started on June 24, 1981. Another hill, on the other side of Crnica, was called Sipovac until 1933, when the parishioners built a large cross on it to mark and honor 1,900 years since the death of the Lord. The name of the hill was then changed to Krizevac (“Cross Mountain”).

Since then, people from the parish and from the surrounding areas have gathered there every year on the first Sunday after the feast of the Birth of Mary to celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross. The Franciscans, who came to the area in the fourteenth century as missionaries, preserved the Catholic Faith in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Holy See gave them the responsibility of being in this very difficult region under Turkish-Muslim rule from 1478 to 1878.

It was a time of many tough trials and much suffering. Hard work in this small, dry land - in its vineyards and tobacco fields - constant struggle in good times and bad -has taught the villagers persistence in their ways and their goals. Unfounded optimism has never carried them away, nor has pessimism impaired their zeal for life. Emerging from this varied and rather hidden history, Medjugorje has become a destination for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. In this part of Bosnia and Hercegovina (Hercegovina) mostly lives (Christians) Croatian inhabitants.

Me and my family visit that place so many times and every time we coming back home with some new experience. During the years I saw “sunshine game“, I attended at apparitions and I meet visionaries Ivan Dragičević and Ivanka Ivanković .They are so dear and nice people with families. Ivan married with Loreen Murphy 1994 in Boston, MA USA. They have three children. He still receives daily apparitions. Our lady has asked him to pray especially for priests and the youth. Ivanka was first who saw Our Lady on June 24, 1981.

Our Lady confessed to Ivanka the 10th secret and told her that she would have an apparition once a year on the anniversary of the apparitions. Ivanka live in small part of Medjugorje with family. If you going to Medugorje like tourist you will be relaxed with peace which is everywhere, but if you are going like worshippers your experienced will be much more. From Split to Medjugorje you have two –three hours with car or around four hours with bus.For further information or any help regarding travel there just contact me.

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