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Published: July 21st 2008
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After a long, cold winter Nicola and I decided to treat ourselves with a holiday to somewhere warm. We were tossing up between Croatia and Greece, and ended up going for Croatia because owe found better flights, by better I really mean cheaper. Once we’d book our flights we had to decide on which travel company we were going to use. Thankfully we chose Busabout because they were amazing.
The only hitch with our flight was that it was at a ridiculously early time and we also had to make our way to the airport via bus and then train. So by the time we were seated on the plane we were both knackered, I fell straight asleep not even waking up for take off! Thankfully the plane was on time into Split because we didn’t have long before our boat was due to depart. On the bus ride from the airport to the port we were surrounded by some of the most annoying people I have ever seen, Nic and I were both thinking ‘oh sh*t they’re gonna be on the boat with us’. The worst was a South African girl who’d been living in London and had tried
to ditch her native accent, so she had this really whiny hybrid accent. She kept punching her boyfriend Richard and saying things like “Riiiiichard get me my jacket I’m cold, Riiiiiiiichard wipe my bum”. We’ll not quite the last bit, but she might has well of.
Thankfully at the port they boarded another boat. We rocked up to ours, the ‘Mlini’ and liked the look of it. Some last minute cleaning was being undertaken so we went and sat up on the deck in the glorious sunshine with a bunch of similarly pale people. When the cleaning had been finished we got allocated our cabins, Nic and I were surprised to find a toilet and shower in our room as we had not booked an ensuite cabin. We started scheming and chucked our stuff all around the room thinking that someone was going to come and tell us to move but then see our stuff sprawled out and say “oh, you’ve unpacked, well don’t bother”. Ten minutes later we all gathered and met our four Croatian crew members and our guide Grant who gave us a brief introduction. This included that we’d been upgraded to a ship where everyone
got ensuites as it was early in the season - Nic and I had to laugh. Grant was an Australian who was chilled out and informed us that nothing was compulsory on the trip and that if you wanted to participate in the activities planned then that was up to you. I think everyone liked his style. I think there’s nothing worse than a guide that looks like they’ve just drunk 25 red bulls and want to hump your leg like an excited dog.
After our initiation it was time to set off towards Markaska and also time for lunch. We knew the food was going to be kick ass as soon as we sat down for lunch, there was a huge bowl of soup which I thought was lunch so had seconds, but then Joseph our trusty kitchen hand/bar man/comedian bought out Spaghetti Bolognaise. Wow was I full. On top of that we had a shot of Croatian firewater and learnt that Zivjeli was cheers. I probably should have learnt what the words holy sh*t were in Croatian too because that shot almost blew my head off.
A spot of sun lounging and gazing at the coast
(Mountains that drop straight into the sea) was done before Nic and I knew we needed a kip to recharge the batteries. An hour or so later we awoke and were pulling into the bay where Markaska sits. It is a smallish town with an impressive mountain range as the backdrop. Grant took us for a small initiation walk and then it was free time before dinner. Nic and I walked all over the show and saw two weddings - the wedding party sings raucously and swing large Croatian flags before they enter the church. We also saw a motorbike expo, we thought it was strange that there were so many motorbikes until we arrived at a park where they were all congregated. They were performing a strange game where they had to drive as slow as possible over a short distance, check out the photo of the guy with the cup of beer in his mouth which he was sipping as he partook in this weird game. Some of these guys must have brought along their kids because there were a couple of girls aged about ten that were flying around on these mini motorbikes, it looked like fun.
Next we stumbled upon a group of men playing a game that was a cross between lawn bowls and petanque so we watched that until we eyed a guy checking his fishing net, we strolled over and had a gander at that too, he didn’t catch anything but it was nice to just relax and chill out in such a peaceful place.
Because the main street of Markaska is along the shore we were docked right alongside it. So whilst having a shower before going out I watched a band out of the bathroom porthole. Hopefully they weren’t watching me shower. For dinner the whole group, 22 of us including Grant the guide, went to a nearby restaurant. It was reasonably priced and good food. Just so you know the local currency is called the Kuna and there are around 9 Kunas to a pound or about 3 Kunas to a NZ dollar. Only Ami a Canadian girl was brave enough to order Gypsy Spit off the menu, I was at a different table but I think it was a giant skewered kebab. Our table was good value because a few of them had spent the afternoon at a
bar and were rather merry. Chris an Aussie guy had us in stitches. But I think he was a tad pissed off when someone who will remain nameless (cough cough Michelle) put tomato sauce in his pancake while he was in the men’s room. Everyone seemed to be getting on and there was a good mix of races (12 Aussies, 4 Americans, 3 Canadians, 2 Kiwis and 1 Brit).
The natural thing to do after dinner was to find a bar so we found one that was playing good tunes and rocked on in. Within no time Tamara and Michelle were dancing which bought a few more onto the d-floor. I started talking to Scott an Aussie guy and realized he was a fellow Arsenal fan. Half an hour later after talking about the mighty Gunners I went to buy another beer. It was supposed to be a twist top but didn’t open so the barman used his bottle opener. I was drinking it talking to Nicola when I realised there was something in the back of my throat, I couldn’t cough it up so had to swallow it. It was then that I realised that there was a
big chunk of glass missing from the neck of my bottle. Yum, I had swallowed a nice big bit of glass. Luckily when Scott had the same problem later on I warned him to check the neck of his bottle before he drunk and sure enough there was a big chip out of his too, so I think he went for a vodka orange instead. By this stage the music was pumping and everyone was dancing, Rishi (an American surgeon) was busting out moves left right and centre. The funniest part was the bar staff man-handling there way through the bar. We thought it was just the bar staff but learnt that the Croatians don’t really say excuse me they just pick you up and move you. I suppose that’s one advantage of being 7 foot tall. Seriously they are tall people. It was weird to have smoking in bars again too, people would light up and you’d think is someone going to arrest them? Nic and I had been a little apprehensive to see how we'd be on a boat for a week especially when it came to sleeping. I can tell you we slept like logs that night.
(Note: I’ve just learnt how to add panoramic photos to my blog so the photos along the top of the page are ones I’ve taken)
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Zoran
non-member comment
Wunderschön
mir gefällt es sehr gut... schöne ausblicke, und wenn man auf der riviera von makarska ist , spürt man wie es vielleicht in der Paradise sein wird... Danke www.istrien.info !