Making New Friends and Enjoying Yoga in the Sunshine: Croatia Part 1
As it was an early morning flight and I hate early mornings I thought I’d treat myself to “AirPortr” This is a service where your suitcase is collected the night before the flight, checked in for you and the next time you see it is on the luggage carousel at your destination which for me was Pula in Istria.
Except
It didn’t arrive!!!!!!
Everyone was waiting for me and wondering what was happening while I filled out forms and was told it would arrive the next day.
So we all met at the airport and explored Pula together in the heat. The Arena in Pula is a Colosseum and is the second largest in the world after Rome. The old town is small and easily explored on foot. We stopped for a lovely lunch and toasted one another with Prosecco.
Sasha met us at 4pm with her very yogic dog Mirco and drove us to the villa. There were exclamations of “Isn’t this lovely! Well done Ally! And the pool is not very warm!”
Karolina, our chef for the week had prepared lovely snacks for our arrival with Schnapps.
It arrived!!!!!! via Zagreb and Zadar at 4pm delivered to our accommodation the next day. I didn’t realise how happy I would be to see my suitcase with all the posters of inspirational words that I wanted to share with the group and little presents that I’d bought for our closing circle and obviously to change my clothes.
We were 10 women aged between 45 and 73….. and 7 of us are members of YHET. They all knew me but didn’t know one another. I had been concerned about whether personalities would all get on for a week. However, very soon I realised that this lovely group of women were really enjoying one another’s company and how lovely it is to meet new people particularly as one ages and the opportunities become less.
2 yogis had injuries to their shoulders and in true YHET style they were well supported by the rest of the group. We practised using props and chairs just as we do at our weekends.
We had yoga every morning at 8.30 am outside in our extensive grounds. Jane shared some Pilates with us some mornings. Karolina prepared brunch for us at 10. We had some days relaxing and others when we were tourists. We visited Rovinj – a large beautiful touristy town by the sea. We went wine tasting and wine buying and we visited Brijuni national park where we visited the Tito museum while spending a relaxing day. Sasha expertly guided us through the week with a wonderful sense of humour. We had another session at about 4.30 most afternoons and I shared a Words and Music session. We had the most amazing massages from Annika who was a natural healer and was able to release trauma for a couple of our yogis.
By the middle of the week the talk was all about coming back next year and Sasha was suggesting another villa on the island of Brac. That plan is nearly finalised and will be ready to book soon. I think this was when I relaxed a little as I began to realise that my dream had not only materialised but was successful.
Jane wrote me a lovely review which I am happy to share……
Ally, your knowledge and wisdom, kindness and care for others and intuitively knowing their needs, created more than a yoga retreat in an idyllic location. It created new friendships and wonderful memories to treasure forever. Heartfelt thanks 🙏
Pop back next week to find out what happens in Part 2…..