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The Experience

Horrible and terrible weather awaited us in Split. Worse – the first thing we heard when we got off the ferry was that our accommodation had been double-booked for that evening! What a disaster. They are rather informal with rentals it seems in Croatia – not sure if the agent we booked with was registered or not but her sister ended up taking us to this place about 20 minutes drive out of the city centre. It ended up being two separate flats which was quite good in terms of space but not so much in terms of ease of getting in to town.

But before we even got to that place the driver offered to take us to a place she knew of which was being rented by a relative or something like that. I didn’t see the place but fair to say it was very weird! The four that went in to check the place out said that it was like we were going to be staying in a place where there was already someone living there! And the flat was in a kind of housing estate type area. Very unsafe feeling!

In the end we stayed the one night out of town and the second night in the proper room. Thankfully in both instances we were provided transport … though I don’t know why it was the real estate agent’s sister and her husband! who were doing all the driving around when it should have been the agent herself taking responsibility!

There isn’t a whole lot to see in Split itself (next to the Palace, Cathedral and Squares) so the day we arrived we spent the late afternoon / early evening walking along Riva which is the city promenade and exploring the nearby squares and markets and eating corn!

For the most part the rain stayed away at least but with a storm threatening we decided to make it an early night to make the most of the next day which was spent at ….

Bol! More specifically on what is arguably Croatia’s best and certainly its most well-known breach: Zlatni Rat or Golden Horn.

The journey from Split to Bol is not the easiest. First is the ferry from Split to Brac (which is the island that Bol is a part of), followed by a bus (which is supposed to take 50 minutes but took longer than that) followed by a walk from the town which is supposed to take about 20 minutes but was more like 35. I can tell you though that the walk was very worth it.

When we started our trip out the skies were gray and the rain was falling. But we persevered and prayed that the weather on the island would be different. Arriving at Zlatni Rat it was an improvement somewhat in the sense that the rain had stopped at least but it continued to be overcast. This proved a boon in many ways – we practically had the beach to ourselves and we were able to negotiate a nearly 40% discount on our sunbeds!

Our perseverance paid off as within about an hour of settling in the sky cleared, the sun came out and we got some decent sunbaking in. We were having such a good time that we decided to risk getting the last bus back to what I think was the last ferry leaving Brac!

This was the perfect end to our Croatian holiday … only topped by the fact we had the best views out of our plane window departing the next morning.

Hvar is known for attracting stars and celebrities to its beautiful shores – full of pretty and handsome young things, happening clubs etc. etc. which would make it a natural choice as a destination for us. Heh heh.

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The Experience

Its unfortunate we didn’t really check ferry times etc. until we’d already decided the way we were going to travel because there were no convenient ferries between Dubrovnik and Hvar Town. It would also have been nice to afford one of those decadant yachts to charter to take us there but instead we went with the cheaper option of a speedboat with Dubrovnik Boats! Having no idea what size the boat would be or what the journey would be like we were in pretty high spirits when we boarded.

Unfortunately the sea between Dubrovnik and Hvar was very choppy and with a fairly serious driver (shame we didn’t have Niksa driving us. Niksa was the owner of Dubrovnik Boats and super cute) the trip wasn’t the best one … especially for the two who were a little susceptible to sea sickness! Its amazing that would look like the smallest wave out in the water from on our speedboat became the hugest when we were hitting them at speed. A few times when I was at the front I nearly flew off and I’m sure Nige bruised his tush! It was probably a good hour and 45 minutes or so from Dubrovnik to Korcula … and another two hours from Korcula to Hvar … so sore butts all around.

When we first left Dubrovnik we were hopeful of stopping somewhere seclude for a bit of a swim but because we had to cut our speed in order not to make the ride rougher than it already was we lost a bit of time. Additionally, the boat had a few problems that needed to be fixed when we got to a pit stop at Korcula – though Niksa was nice enough to buy us a round of drinks whilst our driver fixed the boat.

I’m sure Korcula is beautiful in its own right and worth more than the couple of hours we spent there – as it was we didn’t see much, just having time for a quick lunch and a stroll through. When we were having lunch Daryl asked the waitress whether the pizza was big enough to share and she said if someone asked me for a slice of pizza I would kill them. Hilariously she was deadly serious! We just missed the arrival of the President of Croatia in Korcula too … he must have been on the wave behind us ..

Upon arrival in Hvar our first point of business was to seek out the beach! Although it was nearing 5pm by then it was still nice and hot and the sun very strong so it seemed a waste not to make the most of the afternoon. Our closest beach was a hike over a bit of a mountain … well, it felt like one when we came back up the hill later on heh heh.

The water in Croatia is just so beautiful – incredibly crystal clear though freakin’ cold. When Roopa was tentatively getting into the water this little boy, kind of reminded me of Jungle Boy he was so brown, must have thought she was a total wuss and was splashing her furiously. It was hilarious. Later he and Roopa actually had a stare down over ice cream …

Whilst splashing around I found that some people had been very industrious underwater …

and I couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment!

We stayed in Hvar two nights but because of our late-ish arrival on the first day and our early start on the third day we only really had one day to explore … or as it turns out … relax … in Hvar.

Hvar really attracts those rolling in money if any of the luxury yachts lining the main strip of Hvar Town is any indication. Draw-dropping just for their opulence we were very very tempted to try and jump on one … but for the risk of running into body guards. Heh heh.

One of the attractions in Hvar is the night-life so our first night we got all dolled up ready for a big night out partying at Carpe Diem which is arguably the biggest and most well-known of the clubs on the island. Our plan was to hop on to one of their boats which would take us out to one of the nearby island for an all night party … however, as we walked by the club after dinner we were put off by the youth of those lining up outside. And it was less lining up and more mobbing the front gate! Instead we ended up having our own little party accompanied by music on an iphone broadcast via a mug! on our terrace back at our unit – and I dare say we had a pretty great time!

On our one full day in Hvar we decided to have a very relaxed cooked breakfast in followed by lazing on the beach. I love Croatian beaches and the fact they don’t have sand but pebbles. Although sometimes the pebbles / rocks were a bit rough and we kept tripping and scratching ourselves on them they’re really good at keeping the water clear and there are no pesky sand bits in awkward places at the end!

The beach bars are very cool in Hvar. And we found the hottest guy there! Turns out he was Aussie!

The perfect day was followed up by some very fresh seafood cooked by Nige. It was so lovely – the sea air, the gorgeous food, great company.

It’s a shame we only had a short time in Hvar as it is an absolutely stunning town!

The first leg of our Croatia trip was the fair city of Dubrovnik. Photos photos photos

We arrived in steamy Dubrovnik after a fairly uneventful few hours ride on EasyJet. We’d all had to get up very early to catch our AM flight with some of us, including me!, having only got a couple of hours sleep the night before … sometimes with flights like these you wonder if its not better just to stay up all night! So, we may have been a little bit subdued when we landed. However as soon as we caught our first sight of the Adriatic you couldn’t stop us going crazy. Suddenly all the cameras were out and random shots being taken from our van out the window even though blatantly none of them were going to be worth a penny!

The Experience

We were staying in the old town of Dubrovnik to be close to the action. This UNESCO World Heritage sight surrounded by the majestic city-walls and paved in gleaming cobblestones was utterly charming. Strangely, despite not being a huge area geographically, it never felt like it was overwhelmed with tourists. Our apartment was, whilst old, perfectly located (close to the action but still tucked away) and huge (three bedrooms, two bathrooms including one bathroom which had two sinks and a separate bath and shower, a giant lounge and kitchen) so we were sorted!

Day 1 in Dubrovnik was basically: arrive at airport, arrive at apartment, go out for lunch, go sit on the beach (no s*x allowed though – heh heh), troop back to the apartment to get refreshed around sun down and troop out again for dinner. Nothing too stressful there!

For dinner we ended up at this restaurant (Lokran), as recommended in a guide book, by the harbour. We joined the queue at the perfect moment as we didn’t end up waiting long at all. Not long after we sat down the queue was quite massive. The menu was very simple – so simple they didn’t do chips! I think we all fell in love with the fact our waitress was so honest with us, and of course she was very attractive in the way many Croatians are! She told us that their restaurant didn’t do anything particularly special with their food but they were popular only because they’d been recommended in a guide book! I did feel a bit sorry for Roops, being the lone vegetarian and having as her only option cheese!, whilst we all pigged out on massive pots of squid ink risotto and giant plates of fried fish!

Following the advice from our waiter at lunch the day before, Day 2 involved us heading out of the old town and away from the tourists to hunt down one of the local watering holes. I say watering hole as it wasn’t exactly a beach we found. It was journey well worth it as we not only got some nice hilltop views but we found a little intimate place to relax away from tourists. Don’t you love how I try to pretend I’m not a tourist myself …

At the watering hole we entertained ourselves with floating stars, jumping off rocks, handstands, making friends with sausage dogs called Bruno (he was the cutest thing – he even went swimming, with his own life jacket!) – the usual water shenigans.

… the only negative was that we’d pitched up on to an area which apparently had been “bagsed” by this lady who didn’t even turn up until a couple of hours after we’d been there who, in a passive aggressive manner, showed her discontent. Lucky her timing coincided with our having to leave to embark on what turned out to be a Sea-Kayak-Journey-From-Hell!

The kayak adventure was supposed to be a relaxed enjoyable sunset tour from the Old Town, along the coast a bit before turning and heading around Lokrum Island, in our little kayaks. The first half actually went very well – though we did spend an enormous amount of energy playing around trying to get ahead of each other by pushing off each other’s boats. Su Yin and I were in one boat, the Comello’s, Nige and Cath, in another and the “married couple” Roops and Daryl in the last. Su Yin and I would try to launch sneak attacks on Roops and Daryl especially but apparently they could always hear us coming because of our giggles!

We had a break about halfway through to stop off at a cave where we were supplied with some snorkels for exploring. I must admit it was nice to swim from out of the cave towards the horizon to watch the sun start to come down. Not much to see under the water though even with our snorkels.

Once we started the other half of the loop to head back circumstances got horrible quite quickly! After we waited for the cruiser to get past us … the wind took a turn and we were suddenly caught in a combination of rips and crazy winds. We were practically going backwards or at best sidewards only! So many times Su Yin and I came close to crashing into the coastal rock wall. We were way exhausted trying to fight and eventually we were one of the first, though certainly not the last, boat to be towed back in. Never one to waste an opportunity I used that opportunity to take some snaps of the sunset …

Its fair to say that the end of Day 2 saw us pretty much passed out in bed from our exertion, after a massive dinner.

Day 3 in Dubrovnik was a trip to the island of Mljet. About an hour and a half out of Dubrovnik on a fast catamaran this beautiful island is dominated by a whole lot of forest. One of the best options for getting around the island, if you’re game, is to hire a bike. This was kind of a scary proposition for us since it had been years since most of us had been on one. We were all fine for the first half of the trip … but the second half was a bit of a disaster with Cath taking a major spill and Daryl breaking his bike chain! I’m seeing a sort of pattern to the “second half” of our adventures!

Be warned if you take the bike option – one of the first challenges you’ll face is a massive slope. This was quite good and I welcomed the opportunity to work out our bottom half having worked out our upper bodies so hard on the kayak the day before although I couldn’t help but wonder … weren’t we in Croatia for an idyllic holiday??!! Still, I think we all enjoyed it and it made us appreciate our later sunbathing by the lake a lot more!

Apart form the mishaps on the bike the day was a lovely one though again the work out meant we had plenty of appetite that evening. When we got back to Dubrovnik we hit what was to become our favourite restaurant in Dubrovnik with huge portions (which we didn’t realise we’d get), tasty food and a fantastic waitress. We couldn’t really ask for more, Vesna was a total darling!

Our exertions with the kayak and bike must have stimulated our energy levels somehow and with the extra motivation of working off our giant meal we ended the day by hitting a local club. We were hoping for some hot salsa … unfortunately all we got were a lot of teeny boppers! I swear most of them were about 16 years old – certainly their maturity seemed at that level jumping around on the tables, chairs and up on stage. After some near crashes with people tumbling off tables we decided to get out of there. Man … feeling my age much!

Day 4 in Dubrovnik was Roop’s birthday so we decided to walk down to the Exelcisor Hotel for a posh meal. We ran into the manager on the way to trying to find the restaurant and had the funniest conversation with her. She mentioned the fact that she thought many tourists still thought that Croatias eat their young! And she didn’t think too highly of the Russians and their new money either!

Lunch was lovely – seafood was fresh and our desserts were lovely and a delight. The Croatians, or those in Dubrovnik at least, love their crème caramels so that was the order of our stay in Croatia. Yummo!

The city walls around the Old Town in Dubrovnik are its most prominent and well-known feature so after lunch Su Yin and I took a walk around the 2km wall whilst the others headed to the beach. We got some fantastic vistas up on the wall and seeing the tiling of the red roof against the background of the blue sky was cool. We sort of timed our finish on the wall at sunset too before running down to meet the others at one of the Buzas. Buza, meaning “hole”, is a hole-in-the-wall café bar nestled in the southern walls of the city. An interesting venue for drinks it was certainly popular with both tourists and locals alike, a nicer place you won’t find to watch the sun going down.

For the last 9-10 days I have experienced the joy and wonder of beautiful Croatia. Visiting three cities (Dubrovnik, Hvar, and Split) spread far apart in less than two weeks and giving them a good go certainly had us pushed to our limits but despite some travel hiccups and accommodation uncertainty we came back glowing with our lovely tans and re-invigorated by our mostly idyllic days spent eating, sleeping, swimming, and napping, with a few boat rides and kayak and bike ride adventures thrown in for good measure.

Tips

There are a couple of few to keep in mind when travelling in Croatia, especially during the peak of summer: