by Helen | Apr 19, 2017 | Lifestyle
Our last cause for confusion centred around the Croatian banking system, which admittedly is getting a little less confusing as we just keep returning to the bank. We’re sure that one day all will slot into place and we’ll be glad of the multiple bank accounts we seem to be acquiring. But banking has led – inadvertently – to another area of confusion. The numbering of houses and addresses, in general.
Croatian addresses don’t seem to follow any kind of pattern. We’re used to odd numbers on one side of a road and even numbers on the other, and that the numbers follow sequentially. Or, the house has a name, which is recognised as being part of the address and mail will arrive at that named house. We’re used to moving into a property that has a pre-designated address. I know you can choose a name for your house, but NEVER have I heard of choosing a number. Until we arrived in the Land of Confusion.
Early on in the house buying process, we established the address of the property, with the people selling. It was number 63. Of course it was – the seller, over a few bottles of wine in a lovely local restaurant they took us to, even regaled us with a little ditty about the house, which he said he often sung. “Pici 63”. So, of course our house was number 63. How could it not be? It did seem a bit strange that not one of the official house purchase documents, mentioned this bit of the address, and we did question it. To be told, that in Croatia, it is the PLOT number which is important, our plots being 59/1 & 56 – and which were clearly marked on all documents.
So, at least we knew we had bought the right house. But we still needed a postal address and so merrily set about sorting everything to be sent to/registered at number 63. Insurance, Royal Mail redirects from the UK, the address we gave to the bank, so that they could send our PIN numbers. We even went to the local police to register ourselves as now being the owners of number 63 – thankfully, with hindsight, we needed more documentation, because we now have discovered we are not number 63 at all!
We thought our postman was just being a bit tardy with our post – we knew we were due some, as a friend was forwarding it from the UK, but it just wasn’t arriving in our bright yellow post box. Until the local builder arrived one morning with a big parcel of mail, which had been delivered to…Number 63. But we’re 63, we said. The previous owner even made up a song about the house being number 63. No, you’re not, he said. You’re 64. And that house there (the one in front of us) is also 64. But 64B. And the one over there is also 64. But 64C. And the restaurant is also 64… Ah, we thought, we might have the hang of this – the restaurant must be 64A. No, he said, the restaurant is 64C. So the same as the house, we asked? Yes, he replied. We opened our post with a glass of wine each.
When we next met up with Marin – who shall henceforth be referred to as our Croatian saviour as he is a lawyer and translator and now generally helps us when we get overly confused – he looked into the address issue for us. And yes, indeed we are Number 64. Just 64. No letter. But, he advised, if we fancied changing it, we could. Yep, that’s right folks, you can almost make up your own address! As much as we liked the idea of going back to number 12, having brought with us our number plate from West Didsbury, we felt that explaining this to the number of authorities we were now going to have to contact to change our address from 63 to 64, would be a step too far… (And don’t be thinking that the numbers of houses run sequentially – no, they do not. In the village we have 57, 59, 60 etc – absolutely no idea where the houses numbered below 57 are, however. Perhaps they are the #abandonedhousesofistria, I’ve started instagramming, but that’s a blog for another day).
So, we now have to embark on the process of trying to get lots of Croatian people to understand that yes, we have a bought a house but no, we don’t actually know for certain what its address is… #tricky
by Helen | Apr 17, 2017 | Italy, Travel
A double header of an Italian trip meant that we could visit Florence and Pisa in one trip. We travelled independently and so our schedule was very flexible. The main stay was in Florence, with a train journey to Pisa. At just over an hour and less than €15 for return tickets, it was well worth the journey. Standard tickets on Italian trains generally are a great deal – uncrowded carriages, plenty of trains, usually bang on time and clean. For just a little bit more you can travel the equivalent of first class – although not all routes/companies offer this option on all journeys. However, well worth it if you can book first class.
If your prime reason for visiting Pisa is the Leaning Tower, and you’re arrived by train, it’s an easy 20 minute walk along Via Roma, almost in a straight line across the river. We visited in late October and this was a great time to do this trip – far fewer tourists than in the height of summer, and sufficiently chilly enough to be able to be quite wrapped up without melting. The lack of tourists was the main thing for us though, as it meant we weren’t jostling with crowds and trying to avoid people taking the very obvious photo with the Leaning Tower in the background.
the leaning tower & cathedral
If you want to know about the tower and its history, this is quite a good summary. The Torre Pendente really does live up to its name – I definitely hadn’t expected such a lean. The 58m-high tower, which is officially the Duomo’s campanile (bell tower), took almost 200 years to build, but was already listing when it was unveiled in 1372. Over time, the tilt, caused by a layer of weak subsoil, steadily worsened until it was finally halted by a major stabilisation project in the 1990s. It’s now said to be about 4 degrees on a lean, from the vertical.
Access to the Leaning Tower is limited to 45 people at a time, and it’s probably good to know, that for safety reasons, children under eight are not allowed in/up, and children between 8-18 can climb the Tower, but only with an accompanying adult. To avoid disappointment, book in advance online or go straight to a ticket office when you arrive in Pisa to book a slot for later in the day. Visits last 35 minutes and involve a steep climb up 251 occasionally slippery steps. All bags, handbags included, must be stored at the free left-luggage desk next to the central ticket office – cameras are about the only thing you can take up. You need a good head for heights and not think about how easy it could be fall over the edge…
The Leaning Tower is actually the campanile of the cathedral, a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli. It’s architecture is quite unusual in that the interior is reminiscent of an Islamic mosque, thanks to the use of raised arches, the alternating bands of black and white marble, and the unusual elliptical dome. The entrance to the Cathedral is free, but you still need to collect a ticket and book a specific time. 90 people are allowed to enter every 30 minutes, and when there’re too many people, they only let you in if you buy the ticket for the Baptistry or the Cemetery (to the rear of the cathedral).
the baptistery
The Battistero di San Giovanni is the largest Baptistery in the world. You can visit the white 12th century building from the outside for free and from the inside for an entrance fee. It is famous for its acoustics, and if you time your visit right, you will experience, every half an hour, a guardian comes in to intonate a few notes, to shows just how well the sound resonates around the space.
A bird’s eye view of the lean on the Tower.
Our top tips, from when we visited, would include :
- try and go out of season
- leave the under eights at home (or the hotel) if you want to climb the tower
- wear trainers as you’ll do a lot of walking
- make sure you have charger packs for your phone as there are a lot of photo opportunities
- combine Pisa with a trip to Florence
- use the good Italian rail network
by Helen | Apr 10, 2017 | Italy, Travel
Our trip to Florence was pretty whistle-stop as we also wanted to tie in Pisa, and we only had a few days. So, every time we return to Italy, if we are in the region (or thereabouts) of Florence, if we’re in a car, we intend to revisit. It’s not happened again yet, as there are just too many places we want to see, but it will, as we know we definitely didn’t see everything. We also didn’t stay in the best hotel or find great places to eat – and I think this has coloured our perception of Florence. So, we need to put it right. And hopefully, sooner rather than later.
The name of the hotel escapes me – such was its impression on us – but what I do remember, is that it was located very close to Piazza del Duomo. A fantastic location, BUT we also stayed when a morning market was held and which started being set up at about 2am. The shouting and noise of trolleys being pulled to and fro over cobbles was just unbelievable. So bad, that we requested a room change, so lost our view of the Duomo but did manage to get some sleep – as the market seemed to be a regular occurrence. So, there you go – you may want a room with a view in Florence, but unless your room has super sound proofing, you’ll also get a room with lots of noise.
However, even with little sleep, you can’t fail but to be completely blown away by the pink and green marble duomo. Inside it is beautiful, but sometimes you can be a bit overwhelmed with the interiors of Italian churches and cathedrals – I know that I always miss so much, and it’s only when I read up on something afterwards, I wish I’d either taken more notice or known before what treasures could be viewed. With Florence, I kind of felt the same way with the interior, but the exterior could definitely not be ignored.
Formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence was begun in 1296 in a Gothic style, and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.
The famous Baptistery bronze doors, known as The Gates of Paradise, in front of the cathedral were actually made by the winner of a citywide competition in 1401. Before the dome itself was constructed, a committee in Florence held a competition to decorate the east doors of the baptistery, giving each contestant the same materials and amount of bronze, allowing them to submit their ideas within the guidelines. The two finalists were young 23-year-olds Fillippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, who were both trained metalworkers and goldsmiths. Ultimately, Ghiberti won, due to the judges favouring his classical style. Michelangelo commented that the doors seemed like the gates of paradise, thereby giving them the name by which they are now known.
Obviously, a highlight of any Florence visit, has got to be the Statue of David. The original sculpture is in the Accademia Gallery of Florence, with the second copy of the David being located in Piazza della Signoria (Duomo Square), just opposite the Palazzo Vecchio. Of course, not having done my homework properly, I was quite surprised to see David in the square, open to the elements. Until I realised that to see the real thing, we needed to get our early morning slot booked at the Accademia. Which we did – and once again, we were utterly blown away by the statue.
After the Duomo and Accademia, on such a short visit to Florence, we were a bit over-full of art, but still wanted to experience the Uffizi Galleries. However, when we got there, we couldn’t face another gallery, and so experienced it from the outside – still mightily impressive!
The late October weather did take a turn for the worse and we had drizzle and fog, meaning that shots of the famous red tiled roofs, weren’t quite as vibrant as they could have been. Definitely, another reason to return.
by Helen | Apr 9, 2017 | Lifestyle
You know when things go really smoothly and you get lulled into a false sense of security, that this is how it will always be? Well, that happened to us very recently…
We had arranged with the people we’d bought the house from, that while everything else they had left in the house could be removed, we’d keep the kitchen white goods until we were able to replace. They would then go to family in Rijeka. All great – we were able to cook after a fashion (one electric ring on an otherwise gas cooker, but no gas canister), we’d had the dishwasher serviced and it was working great (a bonus as the kitchen tap needed to be replaced and we had no running water) and the washing machine was about to take its first load. We’d had a text from the brother of the woman who sold us the house – we’d got to know the family quite well by now – and he was going to come over to the house to “help” us. This had all been discussed previously and we were grateful of the offered help, as quite a lot of heavy things still needed moving etc.
He arrived, with a friend and white van, as the dishwasher was whirring away. And that was when it all went a bit pear-shaped. He hadn’t understood that the white goods were to stay until replaced – he had heard the term “white goods” and thought they were to be removed. Now. With his friend who he was paying to do the removal with him. In England, we would have reacted very differently, but already the Croatian attitude of mañana, mañana, mañana was beginning to permeate. Lack of language, of the depth necessary to negotiate the white goods being left, and the fact that we were going to replace them anyway, meant a dishwash switched off mid-cycle and a fridge and freezer being emptied. We had experienced the friendliest heist, ever! So, with a depleted kitchen and fast defrosting food, we had only one answer – buy the white goods we needed!
We’d hired a Fiat Doblo, so figured we could at least fit a fridge and cooker in the back, get them fitted and go back the next day for the dishwasher and washing machine. A good plan, we thought to ourselves as we set off on the trip to Pula, in the south. We’d discovered Pevec a few days before – a heady shopper’s paradise mix of B&Q, Habitat, IKEA and any major electrical store. It even has a restaurant and a bar. A hair salon is the only thing missing to make it quite perfect. As well as the white goods, we spotted a very natty sofa bed which we agreed we’d get at a later date. So, oven (all electric too – the one thing we were told we’d never get in Croatia!) and fridge and dishwasher ordered and paid for and off we went, to the collection point. We knew that we’d only get one thing in the car by this point, so we figured we’d take the oven and have the other two delivered. Cue much Esperanto style discussion as we tried to arrange delivery in English, Croatian and Italian. However, we got there – and even agreed that the the oven should be delivered too, even though it meant another two days of no white goods. We decided to kill two birds with one stone, and as were paying for delivery, decided to go for the washing machine and sofa bed too, as we’d be just be returning at a later date.
As all of this was happening, a very nice couple, who had just bought some palettes of beautiful tiles, drove off with their purchases and behind us, a huge articulated delivery lorry waited patiently for us to drive off. And, although we were leaving empty-handed, despite our high hopes for a car full of white goods, we were happy that two days later, we’d be fully kitted out again. Off we set – although we didn’t get too far, as there was the most horrendous crunching and scraping sound from underneath the car. Panicked staff ran from all directions, and the lorry driver was out of his truck and down on his knees, flapping his arms for us to STOP! The lovely couple, who had bought the lovely tiles, had only gone and left a few palettes of tiles, which they couldn’t fit into their car, right in front of ours. And, because the Doblo has a high front, we couldn’t see them and so had driven straight over them, dragging mangled tiles under the car…
Again, we’d have dealt with all very differently back in England, but it’s difficult to argue the toss about the rights and wrongs of smashed tiles and who is responsible, when you’ve really only got as far as pleasantries in Croatian. The lorry driver was a super-hero however – he rescued all of the intact tiles and the sorry pile of smashed ceramics wasn’t quite as bad as the noise would have suggested. Luckily, also, tiles in Croatia, even very beautiful, design-ery, tiles are quite inexpensive and so we just replaced a couple of boxes. As the lorry guy said, “Sometimes shit just happens…”
All’s well that ends well though, and two days later, our delivery guys arrived at the house and we were the owners of shiny new white goods and a very big sofa bed. Plus, buying household goods out here, is so much less expensive than back in the UK – these purchases in England would have left us wincing at the cost, but not so here. So, although the experience started because of a language misunderstanding, followed by a potential nightmare with tiles and a hire car (which was, unbelievably unscathed), it all worked out rather well in the end…
by Helen | Apr 8, 2017 | Lifestyle
After two days of drowning in boxes and bubblewrap, we finally carved out a tiny corner of normality in the living room – unpacking and putting together our sofa was a joy, as was having some cosy candlelight. This may look very lovely (above), but careful photographing did hide the scenes of utter chaos out of shot. Still, being able to put our feet up has never felt so good.
It didn’t seem like it at the time (and it is only five weeks ago), but we did actually manage to make things pretty ship-shape fairly quickly. It’ll take a lot longer to get everything just right, especially as we have building work planned, but at least we can sort of live quite normally at the moment. Here’s a little retrospective of how things have come on, starting from the pre-power wash in the front garden and the first home for the trees from Didsbury…
On 3rd March, our first proper night in the house, we were delighted to rustle up an improvised dinner – veg soup and parmesan – on the one electric ring we could working on the hob. Candle light kept us warm as we had no way of lighting the wood burner we’d inherited, until logs arrived a few days later. and we had no idea where heaters and adapter plugs might be, in all of the boxes which had arrived.
The 6th March was a very big day – the day we finally got a delivery of logs. Sourcing logs back in England was easy-peasy but we had to work it all out here. Thankfully, we did something right and we were so happy to see the tractor roll up with our logs, sufficient to hopefully see us through to autumn. Our beautiful Dovre stove, however, is still sitting forlornly, uninstalled, in the corner – the flue is proving tricky to source as Croatian stoves are apparently very different to stoves we can buy in the UK. They are generally very traditional here – our builder was genuinely quite baffled and bemused by the design of Dovre. And then he saw the box of Flamers…
After a week of really, really cold temperatures, the house was beginning to thaw as we kept the fire burning and the candles lit – and suddenly we realised that we when we talked we were no longer seeing our breath. A good day!
Because the house hadn’t been in lived for a long time, it really did need lots of initial TLC – and even though we will be having building work done, we just had to get some rooms to feel like “home”. The small downstairs bathroom had always been earmarked as one to be ripped out, but once we’d scrubbed it down, replaced the shower head and toilet seat, white washed it all and started to get our belongings in, we quickly realised that this bathroom will be a god-send when we have guests. So, it’s staying, but will be ripped out and completely renovated.
Making what was a grubby bathroom into something we actually wanted to use, has really spurred us on, and we’ve made progress with one of the bedrooms and the bathroom upstairs. The bedroom will become a guest bedroom in time and the bathroom – which is really small and very oddly laid out – will be knocked through to make an en-suite in our room. We’ll then have the main bathroom moved into the third bedroom, meaning guests will hopefully have a much more pleasant bathing experience. More of these changes, though in subsequent blogs.
Outside the house, as spring has definitely arrived, we’ve been digging and planting. We’re complete and utter amateurs compared to the villagers who have been tackling the surrounding fields with gusto, but we do think our potted flowers and lanterns look very pretty…
The acquisition of a power washer too, has started to make a huge difference to the front of the house. Previously, the steps were black with dirt and mud – now they blend in with the gorgeous stone walls…
Six weeks in and we feel we’ve made some progress. However, as the days begin to warm up and the sun shines, we have a feeling that this progress, if we’re not careful, may slow up. So, it’s just as well our first visitors arrive a month today. Nothing like a visit to get DIY-ing…
by Helen | Mar 17, 2017 | Renovation
This room, above, when we viewed for the first time in July 2016, was something of a mess. Two sets of bunk beds, random shelving, dishevelled bedding, bare plaster walls, bare floor boards – all in all, pretty dismal. BUT, with a beautiful soaring ceiling, original beams which could be made beautiful and a view out over what could be the front garden, and beyond to fields and woods, we figured this could be a pretty special room. Eventually. But definitely not when we viewed.
Fast forward to March 2017 and we’d gone with our guts, bought the house and had moved in. All of our belongings arrived on a huge lorry at the start of March, but we still needed furniture for the two guest bedrooms. And, as we’d decided to initially carve out Bedroom Two as a cosy and comfortable hideaway, whilst we were renovating, we had get furniture and furnishings sorted quickly. A trip over to IKEA in Zagreb did the trick – at time. we didn’t know how close we were to Trieste where there’s an IKEA and we were months away from discovering great stores like Jysk, so Zagreb it was. It was all a bit weird to be honest, as, like you’ve expect, the layout was just so familiar and so we could have been in the Ashton-under-Lyne, or Warrington store. But, no, we were in the Croatian capital, trying to furnish a room.
Anyway, we did it and a week later, everything was delivered from IKEA. IT was flat pack chaos, as obviously nothing could be unpacked and built, before we had painted the room. So, this was where we started, whilst living around boxes in the living room.
The decision had been taken early on that all walls in the house would initially be painted white, so that we had a real blank canvas and could get a feel for the house, when it felt light, bright and clean. So, armed with rollers and paint, we set about tackling those awful walls in Bedroom Two. We had plans for the woodwork, but that was going to have to be left to another day, as we just needed to create a room we could escape to.
The internal decor of the house was very traditional and not to our taste at all. Every light fitting was removed and replaced. Rather than overhead lights, most rooms had wall lights, with the most horrendous opaque glass horrendous. These were immediately skipped when we sourced some amazing shades which had been rescued from a Communist era office block in Zagreb. Very cool! The bed we had bought was large – comfort and size were top priorities – so we didn’t want bedside tables cluttering up the room, but we still wanted good lighting. These industrial style wall lights, from IKEA, were just perfect. A beautiful anthracite colour, with that gorgeous retro cabling. All ready to be wall mounted on either side of the bed – when it was built.
We pushed the boat out a little with the bed. A kingsize divan, which was just so comfy when we tested it in store. It definitely wasn’t the cheapest, but we knew that we had a good few months ahead of us of discomfort, so wanted to be sure that at the end of the day, we could just sink into a bed and fall asleep. It was put together fairly quickly and we were delighted with how sturdy it looked.
I can remember taking the photo below and feeling such a sense of achievement. Within days of us arriving in our new home, in a different country, we’d navigated purchasing everything we needed in a new capital city and were on track to having our first completed room. And, just look at those walls – brilliant white and so, so clean. Beautiful.
Next up was manoeuvering the very thick, substantial and therefore heavy, mattress, up the wooden stairs. After a lot of heaving and getting it around corners and through doorways, it was eventually in Bedroom Two, on the new bed and ready to be dressed. A big day!
The whole bed was wrapped in a grey fabric cover, so when new bedding was purchased (including a soft, new duvet – bliss) grey was the obvious choice. We also managed to locate some artwork from the hundreds of boxes, piled up around the house, so that the room started to have a little bit of personality.
This may not seem to much of an achievement to anyone else, but I think we really did smash the creation of a gorgeous new bedroom, within two weeks of arriving in Istria. And although things will certainly develop as we
by Helen | Mar 4, 2017 | Lifestyle
So, three months after we signed all of the legal documents for The House in the solictors’ office in Rijeka, we found ourselves, on 1st March 2017, heading from our stop-over in Zagreb, to the village of Zrenj in Istria. A very good friend of ours had helped us to organise the transportation of all of our belongings – we were working on round about 10th March for everything to arrive, but a text, as we were driving over, confirmed that the lorry had left Manchester and would be with us on Thursday 2nd March. The VERY NEXT DAY! Hurrah! All of our goods were going to be with us much sooner – so we had a house to prepare.
Not having been lived in at all for over 18 months, it was FREEZING. So freezing, we could see our breath when we talked, but after a celebratory drink, we had rooms to clear of cobwebs and accumulated dust before the lorry arrived.
I can honestly say we’ve never been as cold as we were the first few nights in the house. The only heating option we had was an inherited woodburner, but no logs – and no knowledge of where to get them from. As all heaters we owned were on a lorry travelling across Europe, we initially relied on wearing multiple layers, candles and tealights ( I knew you could never have too many) and getting great use out of all of the hygge-style blankets and throws I had been accumulating. Cleaning down such a big house – as had become clear as all of the furniture, save for the bed, had been taken away – definitely kept us warm too.
We had thought that the process of getting all of our belongings out to a small part of north west Croatia would be tricky. Certainly, all of the companies who quoted, who specialise in overseas removals, made it sound that way. However, the way we managed to do it – having a friend who owns a furniture & interiors company and who has guys who do regular trips to the continent – really took out all of the stress. We couldn’t quite believe it, when almost to the exact ETA, the lorry rolled up the road. With our lives in the back…
It’s quite amazing to see absolutely everything you own – apart from what we could carry in luggage – being loaded off in front of your eyes. Everything – including four large bamboo trees and five bay trees, all brought over from West Didsbury.
We had the crazy idea that everything would neatly go into its appointed room and that we would unpack in an orderly fashion. How naive! Things were offloaded very quickly and we soon gave up trying place things in the right rooms. It was cold and damp and we all just wanted everything off the lorry as quickly as possible. And pretty soon, the very bare, empty house, started to fill up…
Three hours later, that was it. The lorry was off and we were left looking at hundreds of packing boxes and wrapped furniture, not quite sure where to begin making sense of it all. Luckily, our new neighbour Marino, was on hand to help lift and shift. We also had a visit from Stella, the new owner of the restaurant literally on our doorstep, with a welcoming bottle of wine – and the even more welcoming news that the restaurant was open, for the first time, that very evening. However, before we could even think about eating, we had the mountain of boxes to tackle and the task of trying to create something resembling a home…
(With heartfelt thanks also to our amazing friend, Paul – without him, we would probably still be awaiting our furniture!)
by Helen | Feb 1, 2017 | Lifestyle
Fast forward a couple of months from the last blog, and Monday 5th December, saw us sitting in a solicitors’ office in Riejka, with the sellers, signing paperwork & taking possession of the keys to the house…
Just five months after seeing it online for the very first time, the house was ours! The whole process from start to finish was actually quite stress-free – especially when compared to the selling of our house in Didsbury, which was quite another story. The purchase of the house was slightly less complicated than it could have been because we were in the fortunate position of being cash buyers.
We had done lots of research and it seemed that a mortgage was going to be a difficult thing to get quickly, not being Croatian nationals, so we discounted that straight away. We knew that if timing was right, we had sufficient equity in our UK property to make a cash purchase – but the wheels grind very slowly in the UK, and we had to act quickly. Especially as another purchaser had come along and made an offer on our dream property. A bridging loan was secured from some very generous and dear friends and we were on our way! If buying in Croatia is something you might want to investigate, here’s how we’ve done it so far…
- Our purchase was through private sellers, who were actually based in the UK, the house having been their family holiday home. This helped massively as we were able to communicate directly with them, cutting out any agencies (and subsequent agency fees)
- Our offer, of the asking price, was accepted immediately – but it was quite soon after Brexit, when the pound was fluctuating. However, we agreed with the sellers that the price accepted would be fixed in sterling – meaning that once we had agreed, it didn’t matter in terms of the house price, what the pound did
- We paid a 10% deposit to the sellers, backed up by an agreement, written by our UK solicitor, and signed by both parties. If we pulled out, subsequent to signing, we’d forfeit the deposit, if they pulled out, we’d get the deposit back. Again, no fees to any external agencies (except the cost of the agreement)
- We applied for our Osobni Identifikacijski Broj (OIB), the personal identification numbers needed to do any kind of financial transaction in Croatia. We visited the Ministry of Finance Tax Office in Umag, completed the application forms, presented our passports and within 10 minutes had the very important documents, which would enable us to purchase the house
- We met with the sellers and solicitors to complete the purchase. We had also employed the services of a legal translator so everything was read in Croatian and English – this is definitely something we would recommend, as we now have all legal documents in both languages. The process was very straightforward – but be aware that in Croatia, cash is often king. Something we were not entirely aware of! The legal fees (approx 2% of the purchase price) were payable on the day and in cash. Yes, even the legal system likes cash over cards!
- The final piece of the jigsaw was ensuring that the tax office agreed with the price we had paid – documents were sent off on our behalf, and we have just recently been advised that all is in order and that the final tax bill has been approved. In Croatia, this is usually 5% of the purchase price and you have 45 days from the date of approval to pay this sum.
So, all done & dusted – especially now that the sale of our Didsbury house has gone through and all of our belongings are packed up and in storage. We’re currently in a transition phase, living in a friend’s apartment in West Didsbury and getting everything into place for the next trip out to Istria, next week…
by Helen | Dec 15, 2016 | Italy, Travel
Bergamo, located west of Milan, in the region of Lombardy, is beautiful. Often overlooked for the more glitzy (and possibly more brash) Milan, it has everything. There is the lower, more modern town (Citta Bassa) – although, as well as your retail therapy kicks, you can still soak up the history of the town. Wide thoroughfares are home to a host of familiar shops and stores – Benetton, Zara, Coin etc – as well as churches, grand residences now converted into boutique style hotels, theatres, museums, elaborate government buildings, and many, many coffee shops, bars and restaurants. Like many Italian towns, it also has a fortified upper town, Citta Alta, reached either by a very pleasant walk uphill or by the easier Funicular, which is great if you want expansive views of Bergamo and way, way beyond, to the snowy peaks further north.
Citta Alta is a walled town in its own rights – more than 4kms of walls, built by the Venetians. A couple of days of leisurely strolling and you’ll be familiar with Piazza Vecchia, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, next to it the Cappella Colleoni, and next to it, The Baptistry. You’ll walk through the impressive entrance to Citta Alta at some point – Porta San Giacomo. You’ll also inevitably walk along the main cobbled thoroughfare – Via Bartolomeo Colleoni, from Piazza Vecchia to the arch which takes you to Piazza della Cittadella and beyond to the next funicular, up to the upper upper part of Bergamo – San Vigilio.
But, you also need to take the time to look up and look around you – because as well as the more obvious beautiful sights, you’ll start to see some real hidden treasures…
Hope you’ll agree that Bergamo is pretty special – and if you’ve not been before, that maybe we’ve inspired you to investigate it, especially as it’s the perfect destination for a weekend break. Previously, we used to catch a later afternoon flight out on a Friday from Manchester and return early evening Sunday. The airport is only about 6kms from the city, so you can really squeeze out every single minute!
by Helen | Dec 7, 2016 | Lifestyle
So, on Monday 5th December 2016, *this* happened. Meaning, it’s now all very real, indeed…
