Jess and I arrived in the walled city at 5pm, the day before the actual start date of the island hopping tour. We'd booked into a B&B called Villa Banana for the night: the owners were great, meeting us at the airport with our names on a sign and driving us through the narrow streets to the hostel. There, we met up with Charlie and Beth, who had arrived earlier in the morning, and discovered we'd been given the best room at the top of the house, complete with pretty balcony and amazing views over the town, the port and the sea.

View from our B&B balcony

Our balcony

As we were leaving Villa Banana in search of dinner, we bumped into another guy who, it turned out, would be boarding the same boat as us the next day. We soaked up the atmosphere of the old town as we scouted for an affordable restaurant. Many of them are located down impossibly narrow alleyways, making great use of space, but they were so dark and dingy we were reluctant to eat at them...that is, until we finally realised that, with sunglasses off, they weren't so dark after all. We picked a decent looking alleyway and tucked into a traditional Croatian dish, cevapi (or cevapci, or cevapcici, we never found out which was the 'official' spelling).

After dinner, we sat by the waterfront as it got dark, watching the colourful characters (and parrots) passing by. We moved back to the B&B to make the most of our lovely balcony and our last night on dry land, where we witnessed an incredible lightning storm out at sea while hoping we wouldn't find ourselves caught in a sea storm over the next week.

Cevapi

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Our friendly B&B owners gave us a lift to the port where we were set to board our boat and home over the next week, the Plomin. There were 26 of us on the boat altogether, the majority being Australians, with a scattering of Brits and a couple of Canadians. We also learned we'd be sailing alongside the Plomin's sister boat, the Ika, which meant even more people to meet. We were also pretty pleased to discover that we'd been upgraded (free) from below-deck shared bathroom cabins to above-deck ensuite cabins.

At about 1pm we set sail, heading towards the quiet Island of Mljet. We got a taste of daily boat life when we stopped in a cove for a swim in the sea - we just weren't prepared for it being quite as cold! Luckily, it was the coldest of all our swim stops!

First swim stop

Croatian flag on our boat, the Plomin

View from our boat

Our first night was a 'quiet' one on the boat ('quiet' in booze-cruise language roughly translating as 'litre-cocktail-drinking-races'...yes, turns out it was pretty much a booze cruise) featuring a fantastic BBQ made by the crew. We had an 'early' night.

written by  lucy3119 on July 2, 2011 from Dubrovnik, Croatia
from the travel blog: Sailing Croatia
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There was time for a swim in the lake - much warmer than the sea! - before heading back to the boat via an ice cream stall. It was the first of MANY MANY ice-creams consumed at all hours of the day and night throughout the trip (Beth's mantra became "let's eat ice cream"...we even found a hat at a market with those very words printed on it!).

Mljet monastery

Swimming in the lake

We set sail again for Korcula, described as a mini Dubrovnik, but we had to wait a frustrating hour or two before we were allowed to dock. We had to dock alongside other boats in size order, larger boats by the shore and smaller boats attached to each other, extending out into the water. So if you're the fourth, fifth or even sixth boat into port (which we sometimes were) our trip to shore involved passing through various other boats (trying to jump the gaps between boats is tricky enough when sober, let alone after a few drinks!)

Korcula from the boat

Our fleet

After finally docking, Charlie, Jess, Beth and I explored the old town in the short hour we had left before dinner. It's definitely a pretty place once you get within the old walls. We saw a sign for the famous Moreska, the traditional sword dance of Korcula, and the origins of Morris Dancing! We also spotted Marco Polo's supposed birthplace.

Moreska, Korcula's traditional dance

Cannons at Korcula

We started to suspect that our tour operator's reasons for choosing certain islands were based around the quality of the bars there, as we were taken to Massimo, a cocktail bar on the roof of a turret. The location was impressive, but we were packed into the tiny space like sardines and were expected to have one drink, then leave. I accidentally ordered a cocktail with a mound of cream on top...it was delicious, though. We were all proud of Jess who, despite being scared of heights, still managed to make it up and down the tower. After watching the sun set from our turret, we headed for pizza in a nice open square, followed by a night at Dos Locos, a pretty average bar and club.

Pizza in Korcula

Massimo cocktail bar, Korcula

Night in Korcula

Vis

Vis

Fortress in Vis

We spent the night on the boat, 'bonding' with the group over Ring of Fire and various other bizarre drinking games ("I'm a viking, I'm a viking, I'm a viking!"). At about midnight, a group of us started to get hungry, so we wandered back onland for ice-cream, calzoni and impromptu Beatles impressions, while dodging stones thrown at us by a couple of locals lurking on a rooftop.

Midnight ice cream/Abbey Road mash up

We hoped our captain was right as we sat aboard the rocking boat, playing endless card games to distract ourselves from the seasickness taking hold. Eventually, I succumbed and had to go and lie down.

We arrived in Hvar to calmer waters and sunnier skies, and set out to visit yet another fortress. This one, at least, was an official historical site. Once again, there were some stunning views of Croatia's trademark red roofs from the battlements. Afterwards, to recover from our trek, we sat down but were soon interrupted by a pack of probably stray puppies. We escaped back to the boat.

Straddling cannons in Hvar

The evening was one of the most fun, with a seafood dinner followed by a night at Kiva Bar. I wasn't too optimistic about the tiny, normal-looking bar, but the atmosphere and the music was great. We spent the night jumping up and down to some decent music and burning off the ice-cream calories of the past few days.

Night out in Hvar

After dinner, we had to head to the markets to hunt down accessories for our pirate party the next evening. I'm not really a fan of markets on holiday, firstly because they all seem to sell exactly the same thing, but mainly because shopping is one of those things (along with watching TV, surfing the internet and worrying about what I look like in public) that I spend way too much time doing at home and therefore like to avoid at all costs while on holiday.

Again, I think our tour operator's only reason for coming to Makarska might have been Club Deep, a club located in a cave that we spent maybe twenty minutes at (just enough time for a dance-off) before realising that the music was terrible and we'd much rather sit out by the sea and chill.

Outside Club Deep

Our guide Carla told us about a nice lightHouse in the area, so we - Brits and Canadians again - walked the coastal path in search of it. Half way there, we discovered some huge webs made by equally huge spiders, which made some of us a little bit more jumpy after that. At one point, I spotted a huge insect on Jess's back, screamed "WHAT IS THAT??" causing Jess to perform what I can only describe as 'the bug dance'.
Panic over, we arrived at the lightHouse, only to find out it was just...a House. With a light on top. We made our way back to town, where a combination of E-numbers and tiredness turned Beth, Kira and I into hysterical wrecks as we suddenly found the unintentional innuendos of the Croatian language hilarious.

We had a captain's dinner - risotto and pancetta - on the boat that night, followed by a trip to the Island's only bar (with music by 'DJ Blizzard') for our pirate party. We met up with the Ika, the other boat, for a fun night, but thanks to Croatia's unhealthy acceptance of smoking indoors we were eventually smoked out of the club and back to the boat.

Pirate night

Luckily we were out of Omis pretty quickly, and on our way to Split. We squeezed in one last sunbathing session and one last swim stop: Beth and I FINALLY worked up the courage to jump from the second level of the boat...but not the top!

We got into Split in the afternoon and a few of us joined our guide Carla on a tour of the old town, which for some reason also included a trip to a launderette and a juice bar run by Australians. On a recommendation we ate huge meatballs with mash at a buffet restaurant, where I accidentally ordered lemonade which was, basically, lemon squeezed into water.

After joining up with the Canadians again, we spotted a couple of Roman soldiers hanging out in the pretty square of the old Dioclesian's Palace, and of course had to get a picture taken with them. We also came across a huge stage where a group of performers were rehearsing Croatian singing for some kind of musical show.

Split balcony

Split

Gargoyles in Split

Show in Split

In the evening we were taken to a backpacker's bar, but as the atmosphere wasn't so great - or cultural! - we Brits and Canadians headed off in search of other entertainment. We found it in the form of a couple of musicians playing and singing live music - mostly old hits - in the square of the Diocletian's Palace: surrounded by old pillars, it was a great atmosphere. As we sat down at the front we got a shout-out from the singers straight away - "WHERE YOU FROM?"..possibly because we were the only members of the audience showing much enthusiasm. At one point, a drunk tourist in a cowboy hat tripped over and nose-dived into us. And we wonder why tourists get such a bad name sometimes...

Last night in Split

Live music in Split

Romans in Split

We were now on our own to explore Split. We left Beth and Charlie and the Canadians to check into their hostels (only Jess and I would be leaving Croatia that day) and met up with them later in the old town square. We decided today we'd conquer the old bell Tower, but when we got inside and discovered just how open and shaky the metal stairs were, some of our group had to turn around. The view at the top was stunning, though, and worth a bit of danger.

Belltower

View from the belltower

In the afternoon, some of us climbed the bajillion steps up to a public park where, having almost passed out with heat exhaustion, we took in the great views and then sat and chilled for an hour.

Then, it was time for me and Jess to say goodbye to the Canadians and Charlie and Beth. We spent way too long at the airport, discovered an army of Australians from our tour heading for Milan, and I bought a ridiculously overpriced can of Coke only to pour most of it down my front. We wondered how long it would take before our bodies realised we weren't on a boat anymore, and the ground stopped moving beneath our feet.

...Almost a week later, whenever I think about Croatia, the ground starts to sway all over again.

written by  lucy3119 on July 9, 2011 from Split, Croatia
from the travel blog: Sailing Croatia
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