Blogs from Croatia, Europe - page 157

Our boat to Dubrovnick left at 9 am and the journey from Cavtat took about an hour with a stop at another resort area. The old city of Dubrovnik was packed with tourists. Every major center seems to have tour buses and tour guides escorting groups. Dubrovnik probably had more tourists packed into a small area than anywhere we have been. This is a very old city which has been bombed on many occasions and a lot of money has been spent to restore the area. It seems most buildings on the main level are either restaurants or shops. Lots of vendors everywhere - many just bring a table and set up wherever there is space. The upper levels are rental apartments and regular residents. It is amazing to think that people actually live here. Our ... read more

Today we travelled down the Croation coast and skirted the perimeter of Dubrovnick to reach our destination - Cavtat - another small seaside town. Less tourists here. Along the way we drove through a delta area and stopped to pick up some local mandarin oranges and a bottle of the local wine ($5). We have a small apartment looking over part of the town. Like many of these towns there are stairs everywhere and you see very few overweight people. It is not unusual to find sets of stiars numbering 150 or more. This is a very old town with Roman walls dating back to the 1st Century. The seaside contained fewer very large boats and was the sight of about 15 restaurants and a small tourist market. Tomorrow we plan to take a boat to ... read more

Nach ein paar durchaus angefuellten Exkursionstagen hier mal ein kleiner Zwischenbericht. Nach meinem letzten Blogeintrag hat zunaechst mal alles etwas seltsame Zuege angenommen... Ich hab erstmal noch ein wenig Zeit totgeschlagen, unter anderem mit einem Bier bei 12 Grad im Bistro Slavija. Um 12 rum bin ich dann ins Hostel gegangen, hatte mich ja schon sehr auf Tina, Ivan und Filip gefreut. Nun waren dort nur Tina und Filip, haben sich auch gefreut mich zu sehen. Allerdings sah zumindest Tina mehr als ungut aus. Die Frage warum hat sich gemeinsam mit der Frage, wo Ivan ist beantwortet: Im Knast. 2 Tage zuvor hatte es einen Prozess gegen einen Freund von Ivan gegeben, der bei nem Spiel von "Roter Stern" scheiss gebaut hatte. Nun wollte es der Zufall, dass das Gesetz gegen die Stoerung von Sportveranstaltungen zum ... read more

Today we took a break from visiting cities and travelled to Krka National Park. On entering the park you transfer to a bus which takes you to the major falls which are very picturesque. Many small streams spread out over a large area which come together at an impressive waterfall. The trip down the mountainside is interesting when two buses meet on a switchback road barely wide enough for 2 cars and no guardrails. We also joined a 4 hour boat tour which took us to an island which was home to a very well maintained active monastery complete with brown robed monks. The skipper was a real character who welcomed us on board with a glass of the local moonshine. They sell this stuff at the side of the road as you drive around Croatia. ... read more

11/9 TRAVEL DAY TO ROME Left Venice today and headed to Rome - just for the night - fly to Croatia in the morning 12/9 FLIGHT TO CROATIA Left Rome and flew to Croatia arriving at 7pm, got a taxi to my hostel and crashed for the night. 13/9 Left the hostel at 10am this morning and headed to the port to find my boat for the 8 day Croatia Sailing. I checked in and found my boat the ISTOK, was a bit disappointed as it was much smaller than the others but we had a smaller group. I put my bags on board and went for a wander around the market stalls on the harbour. We boarded the boat at 12pm and were introduced to everyone and the crew. There were lots of couples and ... read more