Lesson to all - dont take an overnight bus unless you either A) you have no choice or B) you are stocked up with Vino and Sleeping pills! Unfortunatly.... this time for us, there was no option B! so after a bumpy 12 hour ride with little sleep, we arrived at the bus station in Split at 4am! Lets just say, we are glad that first impressions of croatia were wrong! we sat at the bus stop for about 4 hours waiting until we could check into our hostel. The bus stop.. or aka the Bums Hangout! was not a great place to be at that hour of the monrning. so we had to stay awake the whole time, or nap in shifts as it was a bit too sketchy to fall asleep without at least one eye open! dawn finally broke, just as one of the booze drenched bums passed out on Hols shoulder! and we couldnt get out of there quicker! there were other normal people doing the same thing as us, so dont panic! they were harmless... but stunk like booze and Cigerettes!
When we finally found our hostel, we checked, and both fell straight into bed! we woke up about 6 hours later at 2pm feeling much more refreshed!
we had a quick look around the place before it was time to get ready to go and meet Ali and Amanda ( our canadian girls) for Amanda's 25th birthday! they met us, and we went to their hostel for wine and met up with a few more of their friends.
we hit a pub at about midnight, by this time amanda was well boozed! we wouldnt expect any less for her birthday! at the pub we had a few more drinks, and the bar tender gave us all a shot for her birthday!
we are still unsure what the hell was in it, but it was the most potent thing i have ever tasted! Nik was straight to the toilet and had to try real hard not to throw it back up!
During the night, the girls had mentioned that they were heading out to an island called Havar the next day! so we decided to join them. so 2am we went home, and got some well earned sleep!
The next day, with slight hangovers (Holly of course, not Nikky) we met the girls at the Ferry and headed over to the island. It was a beautiful hot day... and we spend the day walking around the island, sunbaking and eating some amazing Croatian Risotto! It was a great day, and we heading back to the mainland at about 5pm.
That night the Canadian girls happened to be checking into our same Hostel... and you wouldnt beleive it, but they were in the same room!
we had a quiet night tonight and watched the little rascals.
The next day we all checked out, Ali and Amanda were heading off to explore some other parts of Europe and Hol and Nik decided to go to Dubrovnik for the easter long weekend.
we jumped on the bus and 4 hours later we were in Dubrovnik. we met up with the guys whos house we were staying at. Most of the Croatians have houses that they rent out rooms in! when you jump off the bus, they are all staniding there with signs trying to get you to book with them! we were glad we had already organised ours! when we drove to the house we were soooos stocked. we had the most amazing room, with a balacony and amazing views! Nik reckons its the best accomodation she has ever stayed in! not long had we dumped our bags, but the man that owns the house was back to offer to drive us up to the highest point in Dubrovnik where you can see views over the whole of the city! this was right at the top where the fort is.
The views from the top were absolutly stunning! this city was truly amazing! and he also gave us a lot of information about the history of the place, especially the most recent war in 1991 which saw most of the old city wrecked! You can still see bullet wholes and damge on a lot of the buildings!
we were soooo grateful that we got to see this view!
On the way back down, he told us that he thought all of the shops (upermarkets etc) were closed over the next few days because of Easter! he dropped us of at a pizza shop that was still open. we ordered large pizzas for dinner, and in a bit of a panic about the shops being closed, we stocked up on Booze! we bought so much that they through a couple of beers in on the house, and i am pretty sure they were all talking about us in Croatian and laughing! probably thought we were Alchos!
so we carted all of our booze and Pizza back to the room, and sat on our balcony with a beer and our pizza and watched the sunset! it was sooooooo beautiful!
Next day was Easter Sunday! decided to have a very lazy day, and take advntage of the great balcony, views and sun!
we sunbalked and drank a few beers in the sun for most of the day! Great Easter Sunday!
The family who we were staying with brought us a little basket of eggs for easter! Nik was soooo excited as we hadnt had chocolate in a while! she eagarly crracked it open to find a boiled egg! j hahaha you should of see her face! it was like learning that santa wasnt real for the 1st time!
oh well, we layed in the sun and ate our boiled eggs! then Nik got a message from a friend back in London saying that Lucy (her friend from her work back in London was in Dubrovnik). we text her straight away and organsised to meet up for a drink in the old down!
After about 2 beers and 4 cocktails later.... and of course a good catch up lucy and Ivan, we heading off for Dinner. Nik and Hol dined at a resturant near the water... and had a very interesting seafood risotto! we wernt all that impressed as we had to peel everything! too much work!
Monday came and after an amesome relaxing few days in Croatia we headed on an overnight ferry back to Ancona in Italy! we played cards and tried to get some sleep.
Once we arrived in Ancona, we had another few hours of travel ahead of us on a train to get to our next destination Florence!
