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The first ice cream under palm trees tastes really good.
From the Riva, the large promenade between the ferry port and the old town, we look out over the gleaming Mediterranean Sea, an angler with a trident tries to catch an octopus in the harbor basin, we find a bench with palm frond shadows and we feel guilty.
“Like intruders,” says the daughter.
"Or cheat," says the son-in-law.
And when the ice cream falls from the waffle in front of the Golden Gate for the grandson, we look at each other guiltily: We are leaving traces.
We didn't do anything that was forbidden, at all.
We stayed within the framework of all regulations.
We were traveling taking all precautionary measures, and only because it could not be postponed: An urgent and now times cross-border family matter had to be settled, plus this meeting in Croatia in a 1700-year-old coastal town on the Adriatic.
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Not a vacation, mind you, just a short get-together that inevitably combines the unavoidable with the pleasant.
The sun sparkles on the water like on vacation, the air smells of vacation, the café terraces look like vacation and we feel like we're in a forbidden land.
As if we shouldn't actually be here at all, “as if it wasn't right,” says the grandmother and shortly afterwards she is caught by the daughter running into the first shoe shop where she speaks very softly.
A heavenly break from Corona
The vague feeling of guilt can quickly be overwhelmed by the charm of the city; it only occasionally scurries over the small Bačvice beach, where grandchildren plow the sand while adults watch the men playing in the shallow water, like volleyball but with tennis ball : Picigin, it says in the travel guide, is a local specialty.
Bačvice Beach is small, but it is enough to make you feel like you're on holiday
Source: Getty Images / Gonzalo Azumendi
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You have to work with what you have, in the case of the medieval townspeople it was Diocletian's palace.
The Roman emperor had erected a colossal retirement home here, into which ordinary people moved in centuries later.
They began to build their houses within the ancient walls, and today's city center emerged from the palace.
That's how people do it, they set themselves up, and an upgrade is never difficult, you get used to more comfort, beauty and freedom straight away.
That was true of the settlers who set up in Diocletian's colonnaded halls.
And it applies to us, who we shake off all self-consciousness on the second day, no longer feel like traitors to those plagued by homeschooling and curfew in the contaminated homeland.
Even the mask requirement, which also applies here in the south, does not prevent us from feeling carefree, finally safe and free again, as if it were all over.
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Which of course it is not, as the last day shows, which leads us to an area of apartment blocks and arterial roads, to the health center, where you have to take the test for the flight home - and the queue cannot be overlooked.
Soon after our visit, this will be considered a high-risk area.
For us, however, the few days were like a break from Corona, a heavenly respite.
Where have we actually been?
The place is called like a classic Eis am Stil - Capri isn't.
These countries allow entry without a test or quarantine
The summer vacation is getting closer and the vaccinations in Germany are finally gaining momentum.
Can some soon wander into the distance while others have to stay at home?
Source: WELT / Leonie von Randow and Andrea Ohms