We arrived in beautiful Dubrovnik after our brief stoppover in Stuttgart (good pretzels and schnitzel and a high proportion of he-shes) and were rapt to feel the warm evening air. Our apartment was gorgeous, overlooking the sea with a balcony to boot. Our hosts were lovely, especially the mother who couldn't speak a word of English but we got by with smiles and the thumbs up. Excited by the warm air, we went straight from our apartment to the nearest cocktail bar to sample the "Dubrovnik" which was a lethal mix of local grappas, quelle introduction!! The place was empty, the streets lined with tables and chairs spilling out from the restaurants but all empty like a ghost town, we vowed to return in high season to see the place rocking...
We had done some practical shopping in Stuttgart and purchased some speedos, goggles and caps so that we could get some exercise and what better place to try out our sexy new swimmers than on the Dalmatian coast... complete with our all-but private beach! We even spotted a Dalmatian damatian, not bad!!
We were accosted by a cruise vendor and lacking better options, jumped aboard our "Kate" bound for 3 islands off the coast of Dubrovnik.... our cruise promised a chef, captain, fish picnic and unlimited drinks (including softdrink and home-made Croatian wine and brandy), what more could we ask for? Well the chef, captain and producer of the wine and brandy were all packaged neatly together as Marco, our ruddy-nosed tour guide (who by the end of the trip was too sloshed to man the boat!). The weather was abysmal, needless to say we donned the speedos at the first port and swam some laps, warming ourselves later with some Marco specials. Ange tried to steer us home but to no avail as the brandy and fanta had taken over so a poor unassuming German woman took the helm and steered us into port under the drunken Captain's directions.
The rest of our time in Dubrovnik was spent exploring the beautiful old walled city, eating some fantastic seafood, the highlight of which was Adriatic squid at Dondo Maroje, the owner of which told us some harrowing tales of the war.
We set sail on our ferry toward the island of Hvar where we were promised (thank you not very much Lonely Planet) AMAZING nightlife... again the tourist season was over but we found our own fun, naturally! We spent some time fishing with some local fishermen, exploring islands and drinking in local restaurants with hospitable Dalmatians.
Marts' brother met us in Hvar which was a blast, he amused us with tales of his European adventures... we all hit the town after being kicked out of our hotel for our raucous laughter. We fortutiously met up with some Englishmen who were over in Croatia for a regatta. The next day we all went sailing on their 50ft racing yacht around the islands of Hvar enjoying the wonderful cuisine of our resident chef Niels and the flowing jokes of the rest of the crew. We carried on well into the evening and made ourselves some great friends. The next day we farewelled Marts' brother who we were to rendezvous with in Italy, and carried on with our new friends to Split.
We sailed to another perfect Dalmatian island for lunch (thanks Niels). Ange was hoisted up the mast on a harness and then out on the jib, over the ocean for much of the trip while Marts nursed her hangover on the sail bags! We farewelled our new found friends and boarded our ferry destined for Italy where our next adventure was waiting to begin...
