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.