So, there we were, lying relaxing on a beach, looking at the pristine azure water, listening to the sounds of birds overhead in the pine trees, the distant laughter of children, the occasional splash of a novice frogman surfacing, with not a care in the world...

...apart from the fact that the sun was setting and we had no place to sleep that night.

As we lay back we agreed that we had been a bit too snippy about the place - mainly because we were thrown by the "Radio 1 roadshow", but the part that we had found was pretty beautiful after all, and right behind us was another Hawaiian style bar - but this one was actually quite nice - and the bartender wasn't bothered when I wandered up to get a few drinks in my bikini and ask him if he knew anywhere to stay.  This was when we found out that luckily, the campsite we were in front of also had apartments to rent - usually for around €30-40 which was not bad for us!

The apartments were actually mobile homes - with two separate bedrooms, each with their own very nice en-suite bathroom, and a little kitchen and living room in the middle.  It was tempting, but it was also a lot more expensive than we had thought - €75 for the night, a little bit more than we were planning on spending - plus it was set back in the woods, great if you like shade, but not the waterside apartment that we had set our hearts on.  When we told the lady that we liked it but were really looking for something either a bit cheaper or a bit closer to the sea, she was so helpful, she said that there were a lot of apartments, although most were closer to the centre, but if we liked we could go and have a look and the office was open to 9pm if we wanted to come back.

So off we went, with our backpacks slung over our shoulders and pottering on to find beautiful apartment after beautiful apartment and a little corner shop too.  Unfortunately I do not really know the best way to find a great apartment - not something I've done much of, but I will tell you the way not to find an apartment in Croatia.  Trudging around with a backpack over your shoulder, hair still wet from the sea, desperately in need of a shower, with your legs chafing from the sea water asking anyone you see who owns the apartments and ringing on the doors of the apartments with "Apartment" written on the side of them really isn't much good at about 7.30pm on the night you want to stay there.  So we gave up, went to the corner shop and bought some cookies, little bottles of pear brandy and decided we would do a little Thelma and Louise type drinking, get a room, get a shower and wander back down to the rocky beach and eat some stone baked pizza.

Unfortunately when we got back to the reception and started going through the room charges we found out there was another 152 kuna to be charged for cleaning the room on our departure, plus some other odd local taxes.  The receptionist very kindly took off the extra 30% we would normally be paying for staying less than 3 nights - but all in all the apartment was going to cost us around €100 - and we were not happy.  But this is when you realise you are in Croatia - the receptionist started ringing round for us, she had already tried before, but this time she called one last lady who might be able to help.  We were in luck - she had an apartment in the centre (which we later found out was about 10 minutes walk away) and she was going to come and pick us up, and the room rate €30 for the night - Hoorah!  This is the thing about Croatia, although people will try and sell you things there is no overselling - and they will help you to find what you actually want, whether it is a restaurant, hotel room, or even a boat!!

We arrived at our apartment for the night - a cute little back room - no Apartment sign - no street sign - no road sign - and an older Croatian lady brushing off the veranda for us - she spoke no English, but with our "taxi driver"s help we managed to pay for the room - she was happy for us to pay in the morning, but then we would have had to manage without our interpreter.  Although it wasn't the waterfront apartment we had in mind it was nice to see the less touristy side of Croatia, and meet a little girl who taught us to how to say hello "Bok" ("Hi") although most people tend to say "Dobar dan” (“Hello”).  

Most of all we got to have our much needed showers - although Ellie hadn't quite figured out the hot water so her's was cold!  

When we finally wandered back down to Biograd, round the marina, we realised that it is actually a very pretty little town - and the "Radio 1 roadshow" was part of a big local food fair that happens once a year - we wandered out onto a spit, past local people having an impromptu fish BBQ, saw children doing traditional dances and singing for the crowd, and had a great pizza at one of the many bars on the front.  Most importantly we found the bus station and lots of little bakers for breakfast the next morning.

Despite the lack of street signs we found our apartment really easily, and lay down on a very comfy bed and I conked out while Ellie was still talking to me.

Until about 2am when the cockerel started crowing... and crowing... and crowing.  I had ear plugs so managed to go back to sleep for a bit - but I can tell that normal travel ear plugs are no match for a rooster in full cry!