Dubrovnik - "you just missed it"

"You should have been here 2 days ago", "you're a week too late", "you should see this place in summer" and similar statements were heard everywhere we went in Dubrovnik. 2 days before we arrived there were some crazy storms. They brought a cold change with them. After a 5 hour bus ride from Split, we arrived in Dubrovnik with bikinis and bathers at the ready expecting to jump into the fabled crystal clear waters of the Adriatic. (Well, at the risk of giving away too many secrets my bathers were actually very ugly but practical budgie smugglers - very Euro but even Europeans have caught on and unless you look like David Bekham or perhaps Ronaldo, you really have no place wearing them).

Needless to say we got it all wrong. It was FREEZING with a capital F, R, E... you get the gist.

The city itself was rather amazing. Historic and beautiful. Right on the sea atop craggy cliffs and a massive wall surrounding it to keep out all those pesky invaders of which there were very many. From Romans to Venetians, Ottomans to Hungarians, they all wanted a piece of strategic Dubrovnik. But the city has managed to stay intact and be rebuilt time after time even after the most recent fighting from 91-95.

A view up the coast to the walled old city

Clauds on the main drag of Dubrovnik's old city

Just one of the pics in my "obsession with bougainvillea" range (and always thinking of you bots when I see it)

We managed to have a great time despite the weather thanks to the fact that we met a fab Aussie couple (Dave and Jane) from Melbourne who were on their honeymoon. The weather sucked for them even more! One day when the sun came out and we temporarily forgot that it was winter, we got together for a few beers on the rocks just outside the walls of the old city and we even swam. The water was still a very delicious 23C so it was practically as warm in as it was out. Soon we had gathered a bit of a crowd together of great folks including Julie from the ferry adventure and after a few more beers we decided to all head to one of the many great eating places in the cute little laneways that branch off from the main drag of the old city. Great company and decent food.

The view from the old city back toward a fortefied monastary

"What's down there?"

Proof that we swam - the water was actually still a great temp

Our perfect spot at the "bouzza" in the sun with Dave, Jane, Tim and then others...

Our motley crue - we all went out for dinner together soon after we took this pic

After being completely spoiled by the incredibly friendly Italians with their "ciao" and their warm "bon giorno" the contrast of the Croatians was quite marked. I'm sure they're all lovely people deep down but they sure as hell haven't quite learnt how to show it publicly just yet. Very direct and very hard to extract a smile even for me. I tried and tried and had some great success but only with people under 30. The older generation just didn't want a bar of it. Even Dave who's father is originally Croatian found it a challenge to get a smile. But in reality I do tend to exaggerate just a touch and we met some very nice and helpful people - especially in Split.

Clauds and I also went to a nearby island and had a lazy meander around it. Really relaxed and chilled and very gorgeous with a very cool grotto. Again we had better than average weather and when in the sun we actually got rather hot and could forget our cold weather blues for a time.

On the boat to Lokrum Island

Dubrovnik Harbour (from the boat)

The grotto on Lokrum Island

Apparently Dubrovnik is incredible when it's hot. A week earlier and we would have enjoyed average temperature of 25C instead of 13C. Nevertheless we had a great time and met some great people.

To see all our pics so far, go here. There are some from Split & Tel Aviv but we haven't had a chance to write about them just yet.

A crazy boat ride to Croatia

After an awesome time in Italy we planned to catch an overnight boat to Split on the Dalmation coast of Croatia. That in itself turned out to be a crazy adventure....

Our train connections were timed to perfection and the impressive punctuality of the Italian train system didn't let us down. But our own incompetence did...

Me doing what I do best on any long journey

We somehow managed to board a train (from the correct platform) heading for Bologna! All our planning went out the window! With our ferry leaving at 8:30pm we were told (on arriving at the ferry port) that we couldn't board without our tickets that we needed to get from a ticket office 2km away. It culminated in me waiting with a Yank (Julie) for a taxi while Clauds waited with all the bags. When the taxi still hadn't arrived by 8:15 I was pretty sure we'd missed the boat (pardon the pun)!

But somehow a miracle took place and when I knocked on the deserted ticket office window, a very nice Italian girl happened to be working late. She immediately called the ferry and told them to wait. After a fast taxi ride back, we made it by 8:40 and the ferry load of passengers had indeed waited. Phew!!!

Arriving in Croatia - we almost didn't make it!

The ferry ride itself was a little rough since storms had been raging for the last 2 days in much of the Mediterranean. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a 4 berth cabin so after a great dinner, we went off to bed to read our books in luxury and slept the sleep of the exhausted but very lucky. The shores of Split awaited on the other side.

PS - no pics of Claud or the ferry. We need to remember to get the camera out more often! Oops.

Our Pics So Far

So we've finally managed to upload some pics! Here's a link to the slide show.

We're in Dubrovnik now on the beautiful Dalmation Coast of Croatia. Gorgeous but cold!

Here are also a couple to get you going...

Amalfi Heaven

After a very early start for us (we left home at 8am) we finally arrived in Amalfi Heaven!

The journey wasn't without it's dramas starting with the stereotypical male / female difference of opinion. I was sure I could find the airport without a map and Clauds insisted we should get one. After missing the turn off by this much <--> and a quick detour back to the hotel to ask for directions, it turns out we were both right...We also accidentally sat in 1st class (oops) and got kicked out by a train conductor that you just wouldn't want to fuck with. Even pulling out the pregnancy card didn't work and we were relegated to a surprisingly comfortable 2nd class ride.

3 hours later we arrived in magnificent Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast. All the postcards and pictures we'd seen still didn't prepare us for how gorgeous this coastal town is! With magnificent Mediteranean buildings built into the ocean cliffs, cobblestone roads, stunning views and cute little restaurants everywhere this place is truly magical!! We bumped into a couple of Aussies (the 1st ones we've seen) and they gave us a secret tip about a great hotel that has an older section to it. So the room is very acceptible for our needs but the rest of the place is nothing short of majestic! A 200 year old palace built on a cliff with grand high-ceiling rooms and a spectacular balcony overlooking the sea (where the included breakfast is served) and with its own private jetty and pool where we spent this morning on chaise lounge, occasionally dipping in to the crystal clear water.

Europa Palace Grand Hotel - view from the water

We ended up having dinner with the 2 Aussies (Bell & Julian) last night at a very cute little ristorante in a little laneway. Great food, fun conversation and a great start to this leg of our travels. After a couple of beers with two newlywed Irish couples at the only bar Julian and I could find open, it was time for bed. Was sleeping in this morning when Claud put my hand on her little tummy. The Greenbean was extremely active, moving and kicking for ages! Such an amazing feeling to know there's a little one in there already who's already naughty!

Sardinian paradise!

Hey guys, well I have to be honest, we are having the most magnifico, stupendo, bellisimo, amazingo time!(i know, not an italian word, but I reckon they seem to chuck 'o' on the ends of words alot, so I thought Id try it outo :) We defo do that a bit when trying out different words here in Italy, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!

Old city of Alghero

Anyways, after a wonderful day and night in Rome, we flew Ryanair to meet Lisa and Toby. Well, after being spoilt by Aussie beaches, we weren't quite prepared for the beauty of the beaches in Sardinia, the water a beautiful turquoise, the surrounding areas so rugged and remote. After initially spending a night in Alghero we drove to Costa Smerelda, windy road but amazing views! Being off peak season, we often had the beaches virtually to ourselves, and though off peak, the weather was abolutely peak! Beautiful sunny days, blue skies, heaven!

Gorgeous beach on the Costa Smerelda

We also visited 'Porto Cuervo', definitely a place for the rich and famous, crazy with expensive yachts and expensive women in peak season / the man at our hotel told us we could find 'Prada for the baby', so to be honest, that's why we went there. Amazing how he knew that's all I've ever wanted for our baby! Knew me so well!

I managed to get talking to an apparently 'very importante man' in the mafia one morning over breakfast, and through broken Italian, definitely managed to get him and his clan on our good side! Sopranos eat your heart out!

Was so awesome hanging with Lees and Tobes, wonderful beach days spent together and no short supply of bread, pizza and pasta eaten at night with mostly gorgeous, friendly waiters bending over backward for us. No place for atkins diets here in Italy / Oh my gosh, the gelati!!

Anyway, time in Sardinia was abolutely wonderful and after that we headed back to Rome where we caught many a bus n train to the amalfi coast. Guy's about to write about our time here now, but I have to tell you today we spent half the morning with his hand to my tummy feeling what can only be described as an Olympic butterfly swimmer in the making / the bubby is kicking well and hard and we are abolutely loving every minute of it!!

Till next post...lots of love to you all!
(oh, photos are on their way)

Guy here - I've attached a couple from the internet to give you an idea of what we're having to contend with - poor us! Promise we'll get our own happening at some stage.

Rome wasn't built in a day!

...so what hope would we ever have of seeing it in one?

After two grueling flights separated by an hour stop in Bangkok, we finally touched down in Rome. Well I guess I say grueling mainly because that's what's expected and probably because that was Claudia's experience of them. I, on the other hand, rather enjoyed them. I got to watch two movies on the first leg and slept for 9 hours on the second. Are earplugs possibly the best invention ever? The Thai massage we each got in Bangkok must've done the trick - for me anyway. Despite the lack of sleep Clauds held up pretty well anyway.

When we arrived in Rome it was hot and humid and it immediately occurred to us there is a reason why so many people pre-book their first night's stay. We ended up stuffing around at the airport trying to figure out where to go having done a sum total of zero seconds of research. We realised how reliant we've become on the internet and not having it on tap was rather frustrating. Nevertheless we figured it all out and we found an area we wanted to hang - Campo De Fiori in the heart of Rome. We got dropped there by a reasonably priced shuttle bus and then found a decent and reasonable hotel with the only downside being the 8 flights of stairs that we need to negotiate every time.

So we're in a very gorgeous, historic part of Rome with little cobble-stoned laneways, cafes, ristarontes everywhere and piazzas with great markets teaming with people. It's like the Italy in movies. And the first thing that strikes us is how stylish everyone looks! The men all looking like they've stepped out of GQ magazine and the women straight from Vogue. Made the good ole tracki dacks we arrived in look pretty bogan I can tell you.

We're off to Sardinia tomorrow. This post was mainly designed to let you know that we've arrived safely and all is goin well so far. The whole adventure is still ahead of us and I can tell you the memories of work are starting to fade already. I've promised Claudia that I'll switch off completely and you never know - I might just keep my word!

Arrivederci!!!

p.s the pics are not mine! They're 'borrowed' from the internet so you get the picture. I'm nt technical enough to figure it all out that quickly!

Stupid o'clock and counting!

So I'm sitting here at stupid o'clock in the morning creating this blog. Possibly not the most productive or effective use of my time but I've never been accused  of being overly sensible and I'm not about to start now!

2:30am and me being decidedly un-sensible - surprise!

Especially considering that my gorgeous wife (who currently feels anything but gorgeous) and I are about to embark on another trip of a lifetime! Sure, it's ONLY 6 weeks and it's ONLY Europe, but how many people are as lucky as this?

It's only really now that it's hit me that we're actually going. The last few weeks have been absolutely nuts to say the least! With Claudia feeling pregnatiously crook with with what is sure to be the naughtiest baby to ever crawl the face of the earth (if its parents are anything to go by) and with me getting all the last minute worky things out of the way, there's hardly been a moment to plan this amazing adventure.

So in true Guy & Claudia fashion, we'll be flying by the seats of our pants (and maternity skirt hastily modified by my clever mum). So if you want to keep up with what's going on, "follow" this blog so we can keep you up to date. That way we won't have to be constantly apologising for sending group emails or more likely, not sending any at all. In fact, you never know, this might just be the first and last post! But I hope not. I might even get super-fancy on yo ass and put some pics or vids up (technology and botheredness permitting)!

Catch you all on da flip side!