Dubrovnik to Mljet

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Hope you can see the photos on the various entries, I have had a look and can see them on the blog but others cannot. Pls let me know if you cannot. You do need to wait a bit for them to load, otherwise they just look grey.

After much discussion we decided to miss out on seeing Ston and go to Mljet, otherwise we would not have enough time to go to the big lake and see the monastery. We arrived at Polace about 7pm and tied up to a restaurant, yes you guessed it we were gong to have to enjoy more Croatian cooking! Almost before we had docked the waitress was there with the menu checking on what we would like. We decided on lamb under the bell which, although it would take 2.5 hrs would be worth the wait. In the interim we ordered a couple of plates of Croatian delicious ham, cheese, meats etc. which was delivered to the boat, as I had missed my footing on the steps while trying to put Clem's towel in his room and had fallen down the stairs, landing on my back and pulled the "I am too shocked to get off the boat" card, and we made our own gin and tonics on board. Each day I come out in different bruises on various parts of my anatomy.Glad I have so much padding as nothing was broken!



Our waitress was very effervescent and ebullient, gregarious with a great sense of humour. Our chef was born in Canada and came to Croatia when eight when his father returned. He spent a lot of time travelling between Canada and Croatia so I suspect his mother stayed behind. He was a perfectionist and it took closer to three hours before dinner was ready, it was still not really to his satisfaction but I mentioned that Jane was hungry and he kept popping his head out to check on her! It was about ten before we ate.



Early in the morning i went for a walk and came across Anna, a local identity and her house guest Maria. Anna was taking Maria to see a Roman basilica and invited me along. Her and Maria's english was rudimentary but we managed. Anna has a small plot of land and a goat. On the way Anna collected water for her home from the local spring and showed us how to collect the carob tree seed pods to chew for a snack. They taste a bit like cheese. The seeds always weighs .2gram each and according to Anna are the international measure for weighing diamonds (should they be carobs not carats!!!!!!). Anna also collected olives while Maria and I photographed the basilica. I noticed later in the day that Anna had a stall selling herb infused olives and olive oil.



We caught the bus to the Big Lake and a ferry to the monastery. Excepting Jane and Clem who decided to bike up the hill and over the island. Jane left Clem behind on the way up the hill and met us at the ferry at Pristaniste. She decide to wait for Clem and when he had not arrived after some minutes she rode back to Polace in case he had returned to the boat or died along the way(!). He was not in sight so she decided he was not dead and came across to the monastery and met us there. It transpired that he had ridden to Pomena then met us at the small lake, yes the small lake. He then rode to the point and rode back to Polace with Jane. He did about 35 Kms in all.



Again the history of Croatia outguns anything we have in terms of white history in Australia. With respect to Aboriginal history there is still no built history in Australia that comes close. The benedictine monastery on the island of at Mary in the Big Lake is worth the visit. There are a number of smaller churches to be found on the walk around the island that are still used by believers to leave messages asking for god's intervention in various earthly matters.



We decided that for dinner we would stay at the same mooring as the waitress had been so great. She was not there!However her replacement was of the same ilk and had a boyfriend in Australia so diner ws again fantastic, but no lamb under the bell. All dishes were ready quickly consumed and we toddled off to bed to be kept awake by noisy neighbours until about 4.30am. As we had an early start to Hvar in the morning this was not appreciated!

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