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Published: September 15th 2008
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Our hostel
That was a the the top of a very steep hill -not fun with backpacks! Hello faithful blog readers!
The flight from Barcelona was chilling! Bone chilling! They actually simulate dry ice seeping from the ceiling (if would have been neat if it were a music video, however, in reality it was no fun). Needless to say, we froze. This was soon forgotten when we stepped off the plane and felt the beautiful sun and instantly started sweating. We entered the airport and quickly noticed everyone was lining up for the ATM, so we joined in (yes, we are sheep). This was the first time we would use a currency other then Euro, very exciting. We headed for the tourist information booth, surprising us both that it was closed. We both realized this was not typical Europe and we were on our own. Outside the airport we were bombarded by taxi drivers, promising us the cheapest and fastest transportation to the town center. We took one look at each other and headed to the bus stop and joined the other backpackers lined up. The taxi drivers would not be so easily discouraged. They approached us again one at a time, each giving their best sales pitch. One women even went as far as to lie
to us and tell us that the bus did not exist. Ewa getting frustrated found a cute local nearby (trust Ewa) who confirmed the bus would be coming any minute. And so it did.
We arrived in the city center and both decided we were ready to start experiencing Croatia, and would rather walk to our hostel then catch a second bus. It started off with a beautiful stroll along the sea wall and turned into a pure uphill, 90 degree angle, hike. Followed by five flights of stairs up to our hostel. Our hostel mother met us at the door with open arms and a shot of the local liquor (both wishing she was instead offering a cold bottle of water; not wanting to be rude we shot it down before we thought too much about it).
To the beach! We threw our packs down and were out the door. How lovely the beach was. We dined, we strolled, we took it in. And in the end we found our future summer home (see picture). That night we were both exhausted and declined our fellow hostel mates to go out on the town (we blogged instead).
We woke the next day feeling refreshed and this time fully committed to the beach. The water was so warm we forgave the rocky beach (yes small pebbles - the kind that hurt your feat when you step on them) for not being sand. After our one hour swim we laid down in the rocks to dry and finally tan (Don't worry Mom we had on plenty of sun screen). Ahhh soo nice! We soon took note of two young men that passed us once too many times... Jill eventually got up to use the washroom and on the way back was stopped by surprise surprise , the two lost men. One of them had one thing on his mind, to meet the 'other gorgeous blonde'. Jill laughing to herself led the way back to our spot. Long story short, we learnt one of them had a boat and the other was the beach manager (translation -we would get to go boating to some of the islands and would have free use of the lawn chairs and umbrellas). Ewa being the official planner scheduled them in for an evening cocktail after supper. After saying goodbye we headed for our hostel
only to be stopped by one of our hostel mates requesting to have dinner with us. He made us the most fantastic seafood pasta where we learnt he was an Australian student attending Stanford this fall. We said thank you and went to get ready for our evening plans. And what an evening it was. Beach, wine, live Croatian band, and a motorcycle ride to top it off. All in all it was an excellent introduction to the Croatian lifestyle. (Also not to be forgotten, this was where we learnt that climbing the historic Mountain Srd for an amazing view of the city was not such a good idea. Apparently due to the civil war having been only 15 years prior there are still land mines that have not yet been detonated. But 'if you stick to the main path you should be alright'. Jill was having none of it. Ewelina quickly overcame this minor setback and began strategizing other ways to get a perfect view of the city).
The next day we returned to the city center to see some of the sites (perhaps feeling a little guilty for slacking off the previous day). First on Ewa's list
was the Old Town. We walked down Stradun (which is the main street) and along the city walls. It was picturesque! The water was a clear shade of aqua and we had an amazing view of the nearby islands. We took a local ferry to the closest island called Lokrum, home to a monastery, botanical gardens (where Ewa chased a peacock trying to get a picture of it spreading its feathers -you will see in the pictures she did not succeed) , fort, and of course an amazing view. Later we cooled off with a swim in the Adriatic Sea off the rocky island point. We returned to Dubrovnik where we strolled through the Fortress of Lovrijenac, which has an inscription at the entrance that reads "Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditur Auro" - "Freedom is not to be sold for all the treasures in the world". We left the city center to return to the beach and take advantage of our new found unlimited access to the beach chairs. Later we returned to our hostel where our hostel mates insisted we join them for a night on town. Fortunately they had brought along some local Croatians to show us
a good time. A good time was had by all, ending with (of course) an evening dip in the sea and plans for the next day.
The next day we awoke and were getting ready to go boating when we were 'reminded' that the field trip to Bosnia that we had signed up for three days prior was happening in 30mins. We had signed up to go on Friday (which did not happen due to a lack of interest) and apparently that meant we would still be committed to go 3 days later. Thinking to ourselves, boating through the Croatian Islands definitely sounded a lot better then a $150 dollar trip to war torn Bosnia that included three hours in the car, many Gypsies, a bridge, and a lunch of 3 oysters and lamb on a spit. Our hostel did not agree. We learnt we had signed in blood and in order for the hostel to 'cover their costs' they needed five individuals and we would have to pay regardless of if we went or not. This was not acceptable to them and it was irrelavant that Jill's cold had gotten a lot worse and she was not prepared
Ewa enjoying the Croatian sun
Waiting for the boat to one of the island. to sit in a car for six hours. The hostel employee (also the son of the owners) did not care. Ewa tried to explain how things work in Canada and 'the cost of doing business' seeing as Jill was quite ill anyways. As you can imagine this did not go over very well for both parties. The son continued to raise his voice and Ewa finding his reasoning completely unreasonable laughed. In the end the Bosnia trip left without us, and we spent the day with two locals.
First we drove to Cavtat, where we were treated to the most amazing local seafood lunch accompanied with Croatian wine. After lunch we went to cool off in the sea, where we took in the famous hotels visisted by many of our favorite celebreties. Next was a boat tour to the Island of Lopud, where we got to lay on a sandy beach at last (and work on our tan). Very beautiful!
We spent our last day in Croatia just 'taking it in.' We both knew we would be returning someday, hopefully, with some of our family and friends. The overnight ferry arrived at 11pm to take us away to
new adventures that were awaiting.
Love you all!
PS The uploading of photos is sadly not working on this hostels computer so hopefully you can hold off until we reach our next destination where we will revise and republish with photos.
P.P.S. Well we managed to get a few pictures on but do not worry there are still more to come
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Elnaz
non-member comment
Keep on having fun!!!
I love it! two hot blondies, high heels, cute dresses, and huge backpacks!!! you guys look like you're having such fun!!!! Jill i miss ya! Ewa, you're Chaco's are great! i swear your feet will love them soon!!!