Kayaking around Dubrovnik

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Bog everyone (thats pronounced Baug although nobody actually says hello in Croatia they just wait for you to buy something so it was really hard to learn the pronounciation. In fact the Croatian are always eager to speak English and so I've found it hard to speak or learn much Croatian but i have been trying and always at the least say thanks in Croatian - Hvala).
I had a look at my last blog and because I was in a hurry when i wrote it the time that i spent in Split was really rushed so I've extended that section if anybody can be bothered re-reading it. I've already responded to some e-mails however internet access is quite expensive here so responses will probably be slow coming. However i haven't forgotten about anyone i need to respond to, and if i have time i'll also write quick e-mails to those of you i haven't heard from in a while.
The last time i wrote i was heading off to see Covjek-Pauk 3 (Spiderman 3) with Gus, Claudia, Ellie and Nath. It was actually a great experience seeing a movie like this in a Croatian cinema. Because the cinema was mostly made up a families who couldn't be bothered reading the subtitles whenever there was an emotional, dialogue heavy scene the entire audience would stop watching the movie and chat amongst themselves. Then when the movie returned to an action scene they would all watch excitedly until the next dialogue scene when they could continue their conversation. It also seemed like the audiences were having extreme reactions to the movie, oohs, aahs and at one moment there was a jumping part and someone yelped. However after we left the cinema that all those noises had been coming from Gus!! I liked the movie (it was harmless escapist fun) but only Ellie agreed with me and the rest didn't like it, although Claudia thought number 2 was a really good film and it was by far the worst of the three! My favourite scene (no spoilers) was when Spiderman is running along the top of a building to save the day and the music is soaring and he goes running right past the American flag (very dramatic, very patriotic, very corny!). The other great bit is when Spidey goes a little bit naughty and changes his appearance to suit his new attitude - so he goes Emo!! All of a sudden he has make-up on and he pulls his hair across his much paler face. He looked identical to the lead singer of My Chemical Romance. Anyway we were all really tired that night from not doing anything and so sat around in the courtyard (no rain at this point) for a while and then headed up to bed to read. It was a bit wierd because there was a woman who was clearly in her 70s or 80s staying in our room. Overall it was actually a really fun day despite (or perhaps because of) the rain.
The next day Claudia and Gus left with Danelle on the bus for Dubrovnik early in the morning. Nath, Ellie and I headed to the Black Cat for the breakfast again and took it easy around split for a couple of hours (it was still raining). I went and bought a ferry ticket to Hvar Island and then watched as Nath struggled to change a piercing in his lip (it was near excriutiating to watch as he struggled to get a tiny ball to close a ring through his lip and every time he would slip it would make him bleed. In the end Ellie and I had had enough of the pain and headed to the internet cafe and were joined eventually by Nath who had gotten the ring in. I left them there and headed to the pier to catch my ferry. Unfortunately the ticket seller had told me the wrong number dock, and when i got on i asked if we were heading to Hvar and was told that we were. The boat was due to leave at 2pm so about 2:20 i started to get worried that i was on the wrong boat, and so i asked again and was told we were going to Hvar. We didn't leave till 3pm and the trip to Hvar is only supposed to take an hour so after an hour and 20 minutes of travelling i started to get nervous about where i was going (a lot of ferries go to Italy) but luckily we eventually arrived on Hvar and it turned out that i had gotten on the slower car ferry! Hvar was very pretty but the weather still wasn't great. After dumping my stuff at the hostel i walked around the town a while and then headed up to the Venetian fortress which overlooked the town. I was orginally going to spend 2 nights in Hvar, then a night in Korcula and then on to Dubrovnik, however i had already done all the best non beach sites in the couple of hours that i was in Hvar and so even if it didn't rain i knew that it wouldn't be beach weather. So i decided to head straight to Dubrovnik rather than going through the islands. This meant i had to leave the hostel at 7:20 am to catch the 8:15 ferry on the other side of the island which went all the way to Dubrovnik. So my time on Hvar Island was short but hopefully i'll go back sometime.
The ferry the next day (5th May) headed all the way from Hvar to Korcula and then to Dubrovnik. The weather was grey with patches of blue but dry. The trip was very pretty and it took me 7 hours to arrive in Dubrovnik. I was picked up by the guy in charge of the hostel (who spoke little English which made for a difficult conversation on the trip to the hostel).
I was in the same room as an Australian guy (Dave) who was relieved to see me as we were the only two people in the entire hostel. We headed down to the amazing old town which is enclosed by an amazing wall. We headed to a bar called Fresh which had the good drink offers between 7 and 8pm (21 kuna for two drinks or 60 kuna for a beer tower!). 10 kuna is about 1 pound. So anyway we were sitting drinking and two guys from the Split hostel walked in (an Aussie and American). We chatted with them for while and then i looked up at the bar and noticed Danelle (Nel from now on) standing there, and then i looked closer and saw she was standing with Gus and Claudia. That was pretty exciting and cool (in the end Fresh became almost a Split Hostel reunion) and we spent some time drinking and chatting away. The only problem was that Dave is kind of very similar to Tim (for those of you who know Tim). In the sense that he says lots of pretty insulting things that he thinks are funny but can actually really insult people if you don't know them. So i spent a lot of time telling Nel to count to 10 everytime Dave said anything sexist (he doesn't mean it like it sounds so telling him to stop really doesn't work - and it bothered me about as much as it bothered Nel!). Then we headed to a nearby restaurant which was pricey but really nice. Gus and I split a seafood platter between us with was covered i mussels (which Gus didn't like so i got to eat nearly on them) and small prawns and some smoked fish and other yum seafood. And then we headed back to our respective homes. The next morning Claudia and Gus left early so i haven't seen them again.
The next day Dave and I walked around the Dubrovnik old town for a while and then he left via Dubrovnik airport to London, leaving me completely alone in the hostel. I should probably mention that whilst the day was warm it was overcast. Anyway i spent the rest of the day exploring the streets of Dubrovnik (and then with fingers crossed that it would be open on a Sunday) I headed to Fresh nightclub. Luckily it was open and the Aussie and US guys (its really bad but i can't remember their names) were in there. I spent a lot of time chatting them, and drinking and talking to lots of other people (the entire place was full of travellers and even on a Sunday it was packed). Anyway the two guys mentioned that they were going on a kayaking tour and invited me along. I headed home about midnight with a promise to meet them again the next day.
The next day i woke up, went outside and was blown away by how beautiful the day was. With a smile across my face i headed out and furiously walked around the city again appreciating how much more beautiful everything was when it was sunny. I met the guys at 11:30 and managed to wrangle myself a spot in the tour. They were two person kayaks so i ended up with a girl from Mexico city called Adriana, who was really nice but quite small. So i was kinda stressed that we were going to get left behind but we actually did really well (the tour leader even said we looked professional at one point :-) ). We paddled around Lokrum island (just near Dubrovnik) and then headed to a secluded and rocky beach for a while. And then from there we paddled back - the whole thing took around 2 and a half hours and was an awesome experience. It wasn't cheap (230 kuna) but i think it was reasonable for the experience. As i was walking though old town about 10 minutes later i ran into Nel who recommended a great seafood place that wasn't too expensive. We parted ways, but about 10 minutes later, came to keep me company and have a couple of drinks. I ate a massive plate of mussels (only 40 kuna) and then we planned on heading to the beach together but just as we were about to leave we heard a massive thunder clap and then it began to rain. At the same time as the thunder started Nel let out a mournful moan which made me laugh so hard. Anyway the rain actually didn't last long but whilst the weather got nice again it wasn't quite so nice. We headed to the beach again and ran into 4 Aussies from the Split hostel who had a dog that had been following them. The dog prompting chased their rugby ball into the water making one of them go in to get it (it wasn't very warm at this point of the day) and then dug a hole right in the middle of the group showering every in sand! Eventually Nel and I parted company with a plan to meet at Fresh for happy hour (original idea!!). We actually ended up having a really big night (lots of beer and vodka), and got along really well so we decided to meet up the next day (I got tired at one point so stopped drinking but Nel kept drinking and definately regretted it the next day).
I got up the next morning (Canadian James from the Zadar hostel had arrived at the hostel the night before but i didn't actually see him until that night because i was barely ever at the hostel) and walked outside to a even more beautiful day than the previous one. I walked around the city walls which was really impressive and then met Nel at 1 for lunch. We headed to the same place and ordered a seafood risotto and grilled squid. I also acccidentally ordered a latte which i've never had before but actually quite liked. The meal was so nice and really filling. The squid were really different and whilst i wouldn't necessarily order them again i did actually really enjoy them. The risotto was less exciting but really good still.
We then decided to head over to Lokrum island which was a 15 minute boat ride. The weather was amazing and the water was so clear that you could see all the fish. The ticket from the ferry meant that you got to go into an exhibition for free but as we walked in i heard Nel go "what the...". The entire exhibition (which if you arrived on a different boat you had to pay 15 kuna to get in - almost Aus$4) was a crappy fake wood drawing around the entire room and a bunch of string along the roof representing cobwebs. If we'd paid we think we would have asked for our money back. We then saw a male peacock with feathers out trying to attract a mate who was not remotely interested (although we think she liked the attention). We then passed a well which accordingly to our map was meant to be extrordinarily beautiful - it wasn't. I went swimming for a while in the water, and then Nel went in but got freaked out by a massive slug thing that looked like seafood but was swimming. We then considered walking up Paradise walk to the fortress at the top. But paradise walk went straight up and we couldn't even see the top so we decided that no fortress was worth that climb and re-christened the walk - the excrutiating pain walk. When then count the 6pm ferry back and were both really tired so decided to have the night off from Fresh. I bought a new book and headed back to discover people in the hostel!!!! James from the Zadar hostel and an Aussie (i just realised i never asked the name of - but she won't know mine so i'll just ask) were sitting in there. James had made too much spaghetti so he gave us some and then just chatted for a while and played some poker for peanuts (literally we played for peanuts!!). And then i got an early night and came here just because i wanted to get this done or it'll be hell if i leave it too long. I'm meeting Nel to go to the beach at 3pm (in about a hour - i've had a pretty lazy day today) and the Aussie girl is gonna come out with us tonight. The guy who runs the booking service for the hostel is going to call me when my letter from work arrives so tomorrow i'm backtracking to Korcula island for at least a night and if the weather holds out i'll head for Hvar again as well. The original plan was to head to Greece fairly quickly but i love Croatia so much that i think i'm gonna use most of my time here and only have a few days in Greece (I'll just have to go back - if i enjoy the small time that i have there i might go back in September after i finish work).

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Photos

Me and Claudia.
She looks so happy and I look so sleazy!

Comments

[Connie YOUR GREEK FRIEND]

GO TO GREECE
COME ON ALEX GO TO GREECE!!! Its like the best country and you will really really enjoy it!!! As soon as I saw this blog i was like OMG, im gonna have to say something NOW. So yer, up to you really but go to Greece for a bit. Watch out for the island they call the Pink Island, its the gay one lol...not Lesbos but!!! Greece is sunnier and the people are pretty grand too. Maybe I should refer you to my relatives they can give u a place to stay!!! lol...just kidding..they cant speak english!!

[Carl Williams]

Rumour has it you should head for Greece, or certain people wont be happy