Villas inside and out

It is strange to think that Croatia does not belong to Europe - at least not in the European Union terms - when everything else could remind you of the Greek Islands or the south of Italy.

I am talking about its coastal towns - and in terms of architecture and landscape only. For example the places around the southern extreme of Istria: the Kamenjak Peninsula.

The most convenient way to get there is flying to Pula - a modest airport where only Ryanair and Thomson Airlines operate seasonal flights from the UK.

The airfield is only a six kilometre drive, through a sunburned landscape of vineyards and white rocks, to the city with the same name.

With its Roman amphitheatre, an important harbour and deteriorated buildings that evoke the opulence of former Venetian and Austro-Hungarian rules, Pula is a town worth visiting before moving on to Pomer, our next destination.

A small village near to the popular tourist resort Medulin, Pomer seems preserved in time, living a present anchored a couple of decades ago. The extremely quiet group of villas with big patios and allotments, where a couple of good fish restaurants can be found, ends in a lagoon. From there, the waterways open up slowly to the open sea through many twists and turns of land covered by a thick layer of pines.

The colours might deceive you to think you are in a high mountain lake. But the suffocating heat and the smell of ripe pomegranates, figs and grapes, will tell you another story: the one of the Adriatic sea.

The landscape changes dramatically when going further south and properly entering into the protected area of Lower Kamenjak, which you reach after paying 24 kuna if driving a car.

After the checkpoint there is an arid dusty maze of dirt roads. Now, regardless of the route you choose, the reward would be equally gratifying, as every way takes you to a beach of unpaired beauty in this nature reserve.

One of them is Lampajina, in the south west, where laminated white rocks offer a natural solarium by the turquoise waters of the sea. There is also a spot where locals dive into the sea from a seven metre high rock platform and where, if you feel brave, can join them.

Another is the Portic: a narrow bay with anchored yachts where one can sunbathe on the pine needle covered floor.

Only to name a couple, since the 30 km long coastline of the cape is dotted with numerous inlets, miniature beaches and the most hidden areas. A myriad of choices in this wild and unspoiled corner of the European continent.