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Oh, yes, very beautiful, but the water is FREEZING...I you take a dip, you come out PURPLE and we are nearing May....and all the beaches up north (Costa Brava, French Riviera, Croatia are FAR COLDER.
The beaches in Croatia are gorgeous, and not at all cold, great for swimming.
Try to swim there in from late october onwards. If you want to go to the beach in Europe from late october onwards (not using a neoprene swimsuit), you need to take a plane to Canary Islands.
Is Italy or Portugal famous for beaches? Usually I just hear of Spain, France, Croatia and Greece for beaches.
The Europeans (or otherwise), among us....have you, or people you know, ever talked about going specifically to Italy or Portugal just for the beaches?
Italy absolutely has famous beaches. Amalfi Coast, Lido di Jesolo, the entire coastline of Sardinia (some will claim it's the best in all of Europe), I could go on and on. However, foreign tourists tend to go to Italy to look at old buildings and stuff. It's Italians themselves who go to the beaches of Italy. That might be why you haven't heard much about Italian beaches.
I think the whole infatuation with the beach is a northern European thing as well. Southern Europeans take it for granted, but Northern Europeans will take a holiday just to laze on the beach all day in the sun.
Italians in the northeast (where I live) clog the highways every summer on their way to Croatia.
Croatia was actually somewhat of an adventurous destination until late, very cheap, but has since become popular with normal tourists and has raised in price, but probably not nearly to the level of Italy.
Germans, Italians, and other westerners were going down to Croatia back in the 1970s (and probably earlier) when it was still Yugoslavia, and they never stopped doing so. Not even the Balkan War kept the Germans away, at least from the Istrian Peninsula (which was a safe distance from the fighting). I guess Americans are late to the party?
Oh, yes, very beautiful, but the water is FREEZING...I you take a dip, you come out PURPLE and we are nearing May....and all the beaches up north (Costa Brava, French Riviera, Croatia are FAR COLDER.
The Gulf of Trieste has the coldest water in all the Mediterranean. But then just down the way in Istria (Croatia) it's comparatively toasty.
The Adriatic is almost exactly as you describe the Caribbean, except replace crystal blue for green. At least, on the Dalmatian side. I hear the Italian side is dirty which would explain all the Italian tourists we ran into in Croatia. I swam out to where the water depth was at least the length of a football field and I could make out every detail right down to the ocean floor. This was on the island of Drvenik Mali:
The Istrian Peninsula (far northwestern Croatia, above Dalmatia) has even clearer and warmer water from what I'm told. I've been there many times and the water is indeed clear and warm, but I've been wanting to go down to Dalmatia because I'm crazy about islands.
Germans, Italians, and other westerners were going down to Croatia back in the 1970s (and probably earlier) when it was still Yugoslavia, and they never stopped doing so. Not even the Balkan War kept the Germans away, at least from the Istrian Peninsula (which was a safe distance from the fighting). I guess Americans are late to the party?
Americans usually have few days off, and they take their holidays when they can, so many can't match their holidays with July, August and September (if lucky enough). Most Americans and Canadians have tropical beaches at two or three hours, real tropical beaches. In Europe, we have tropical beaches 8 to 12 hours away (I don't count as tropical Canary Islands, Cabo Verde or the Red Sea).
Why would they want to visit a remote and cold beach from 8 to 14 houras away by plane? If they visit Croatia, they don't do it because beaches but to visit cities like Spalatto. Zagreb, taste the lamb and walk througout the old city. Apart, during the summer (July and August) beaches here are congested with loud people, sunday drivers, old ladies that take possesion of their parcel of sand to plant their umbrella like if they were at Iwo Jima, not nice. Now, September, is nice, and when kids enter school and loud tourist go back to their countries, beaches are a marvel.
Why would they want to visit a remote and cold beach from 8 to 14 houras away by plane?
I'm from California. It's downright toasty by my standards! Comparable to Hawaii, per my own subjective experiences. People see California beaches in the movies and don't realize that even in the summer it's 75 degrees F in the air and at least 10 degrees colder than that in the water. Whereas in Italy it's actually hotter at the beach than it is inland. Quite the other way around in California: we go to the beach to cool off!
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Spalatto.
Are you part of the Italian community in Croatia? Names are a funny thing in this part of the world (Trst, Gorica, Koper, Umag, Rovinj, etc.).
Italy absolutely has famous beaches. Amalfi Coast, Lido di Jesolo, the entire coastline of Sardinia (some will claim it's the best in all of Europe), I could go on and on. However, foreign tourists tend to go to Italy to look at old buildings and stuff. It's Italians themselves who go to the beaches of Italy. That might be why you haven't heard much about Italian beaches.
I'm glad Italy avoided what happened in Costa del Sol. It would have been a shame. The Amalfi Coast is simply fascinating.
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