Monsena - Croatia

Steve Doer's trip report

In August 2000 Steve posted this to the uk.rec.naturist news group.

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Greetings to all on u.r.n. from an Internet Café in Rovinj, Istra, Croatia. Weather's pretty hot: its was 36 degrees on Thursday and seems to have been at least that hot since then.

I seem to be one of only about a dozen Brits at Monsena at the moment. (I am here through Peng.) There are hundreds of Germans (some of whom may, in fact, be Austrian), quite a few Italians, and some who seem to be speaking local languages, either Croats or Slovenians I think. They obviously get some Czechs as well as that is one of the languages in the dinner menu.

There's a long stretch of 'beach' (actually a mixture of flattish rocks and concreted areas for sunbathing), but access to the sea is a bit difficult unless you have the plastic shoes that everybody seems to wear. Unfortunately, when I tried to buy some they didn't have any in my size! There is a jetty or mole in the marina from which one can access the sea and another, smaller jetty, both with ladders (but one can jump in anyway). There is also a smallish pool, mainly for children (but that hasn't stopped me using it); it has an impressive-looking water-slide (which I haven't used).

It's really great to be naked most of the day (breakfast and dinner are clothing-compulsory) and surrounded by other naked people. I have begun to realize that I haven't really been a proper practicing naturist for some time. Fine though Bristol Gardens is, it's not quite like a true naturist environment - for a start there are no children (this has taken some getting used to) and most of the time it's mainly male, with the occasional female visitor causing a frisson of interest among the male patrons. Here one is surrounded by men, women, and children, and it has taken a couple of days to get out of the habit of looking at the more attractive women in - shall we say - a prurient way! It's good to feel I am becoming a naturist again.

For the benefit of future visitors to Monsena, I am posting this from the Cafe bar "AURORA" at Prolaz M. Maretic 8 (near the Elektroistra building, which is what I asked the taxi driver for). One hour's Internet access is 30 kuna (2.50 GBP).

I'll now send some e-mails and then start reading recent posts to u.r.n. Whether I have time to post to any threads remains to be seen.

Steve (in Croatia)