Dalmatian Love

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Greetings, once again from the beautiful Island of Hvar. Dave and I ended up staying here a bit longer than planned as we just love this place. Yesterday was my favorite day I¨ve had on Hvar. Dave and I rolled out of bed around 11ish, surprised that we werent more hungover from the 19820340 Croatian beers we drank the night before at a local bar that played every kind of music from hip hop to Celtic music to Salsa to good old "Let¨s Twist Again". Mind you, we may not have been hungover because the beer bottles were the same size as liquor bottles offered in a mini-bar at a Holiday Inn. Despite the miniscule drinks, well, and the fact that deoderant companies really need to up their advertising here in Croatia, it was a pretty solid night. Anyway, we strolled out of bed at 11am and headed down the hill to town to book a rock climbing trip we would be taking later that evening and had been looking forward to since the day before when we saw a sign in the harbour that read "ROCK CLIMBING". We had talked our three new Austrailian friends into joining us for the adventure. When we went to sign up for the trip, we were told we would need to meet back at the Croatia Adventure office at 4:30pm and we would probably return around 10pm. At this news, Dave and my faces lit up. We knew we were in for an adventure. After we signed up for the climb, we headed to the beach to catch a few hours of sea and sun before we needed to get ready for the afternoon activity. Most of the beaches in Croatia are rocky beaches which KILL your feet, but the crystal clear blue water more than makes up for it (for Dave it may be the "naturalist" philosophy when it comes to female bathingsuit tops that distracts from the sharp rocks, but I like the color of the water, myself). After a quick swim, a quick shower, and a quick change we headed back to Croatia Adventure to meet our group and our guides. We had two guides, a male and a female, who's names, of course, I cannot remember (but to my defense, I couldn't pronounce them either). We piles into their two tiny cars and were driven about 20 minutes along the coast. We parked at the end of this long tunnel/cave where we started our 30 minute hike/climb along the water over rocks and cliffs to reach the climb site. We then spent the next 4 hours climbing up sheer wall that hung straight over the sea as then sun set. It was one of the best experiences I have had on this trip. When the sun was finally gone and it was officially dark, we began our 30 minute hike/climb back to the cars. This hike was lit mostly by the moon with a little help from one of our guides' headlamps. We finished the adventure off by walking through that long dark cave/tunnel, in the dark, back to the cars. It was nothing short of amazing.

We were pretty pooped by the time we made it back to our room at 10:30ish. Both fully satisfied, we made a little dinner and called it a night.

Tomorrow we are leaving Hvar and heading to the mainland. We will take a ferry (yes, another Goddamn ferry) to Split. From Split we will take a bus to the area of the Plitvice Lakes. The lakes are supposed to be huge and the same color as the ocean. They are surrounded by dense woods which are all part of a larger national park. The whole thing is supposed to be absolutely breathtaking. I cannot wait.

On Wednesday evening we will take an overnight train to Salzburg where we will meet my sister and her husband for the Salzburg Opera Festival. I am so looking forward to this as a) I cannot wait to see my sister and b) she has been going to this festival for years and I have heard so much about it. I am really looking forward to the experience (and the family time)!

Before I sign off, just a small note: in case you didn't realize, you can make comments on the blog or send messages. It's always nice to get some feedback or just hear from all of you while we are so far away from home. The messages I HAVE recieved have been so welcomed and appreciated...so keep them coming!

We miss you all!!!

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