Hotel Indijan Orebic

My girlfriend and I decided to travel around Italy and Croatia for six weeks in our uni holidays. We decided having a week sailing through through islands with a bunch of strangers would be the perfect way to break up the trip. We didn't realise what we were in for. We hopped on the boat in Split and nervously sat around having the initial small talk with the other 30 or so people on the boat. We were soon served lunch and things started to ...

... see the town of Orebic. The waters and islands are everything they look like on the postcards, the water is very clear and the area is very lush and green with various fruit trees growing everywhere. Lemons, olives, mandarines and pomogranates are in abundance although not quite ripe as yet. Orebic is a little resort town that was probably at one time a small fishing village something like Puerto Vallarta. Our hotel is a 2 star so we won't ...

... pottering around the trails on the bike I realise the island is simply stunning and something quite special. I am surrounded by water and other islands (between each tiny boats bob along) on one side, and high hills on the other. Yellow butterfiels seem to dizzyly flit everyhwere, almost crashing into my moving spokes and then flitting away at the last minute. Very large metallic looking bugs, as hard as macadamia nuts keep bumping into me, but their shells ...

... On the hill overlooking the old town, a few hours hike up into the sun, the endless curve of blue spreading out below, I found the shattered remains of what must have been the most picturesque spot on the Croatian coast, looking as it did straight down on the old town, and across the new town, to the islands and horizon beyond. But closer at hand, the legacy; collapsed trenches, tangles of rusting barbed wire, spent bullet casings in great piles; a gondola ...

... that you walk around, I was a bit disappointed I had heard so many nice things about Dubrovnik. There are lots of restaurants, a movie theater, and churches. There is a poster that displays the roofs and buildings that have been bombed. The next day, I did a day trip to Lokrum with one of my roommates, taking a water taxi for 35k. There is a fort, a little lagoon, lots of peacocks, a restaurant, and a nudie beach! It was nice to have a ...

... too, and I love salt but it's even a bit much for me. But, no fat folks. The Croatians all seem hardy and quite attractive. The ladies all seem a size 2 and wear stylish boots and big sunglasses. The men are pretty macho and dress with care too. But smoking is everywhere here, airports, buses etc. Time to buy my tickets, sorry no pics yet. It hasn't been an option thus far.

... mountain pass we looked down and saw a harbor town nestled in the crevice of a two ominous cliffs. Excited with curiosity we vowed to try going back to this town to explore it. With the hiss of the air breaks the bus pulled into the harbor and we headed to the phone to confirm our lodging plans. The tour guy was obliging and picked us up at the harbor and we drove out to the edge of town in a struggling, luggage-filled Ford Fiesta ...

... once we got to Dubrovnik having missed out on eggs, toast, tea, cheese and ham. Touché, Suzy. Touché. As usual, we disembarked into the shrieks of "sobe! sobe!" from the old women and their cardbaord signs. We chose an old guy, mainly because he was less brutal than his counterparts and had a sign around his neck saying he was recommended by the Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet says "jump" and we say "how high") but it worked in our favour because it ...

... Like bus stations everywhere, one answer quickly presented itself in the form of several offers to bed down at this or that small apartment which was located (as every budget level sleeping establishment is, if local touts are to be believed) just a short 5 minute walk from the station. The interesting thing about the touts in Pula and the rooms they had on offer was that the entire system was run by local grandmothers. These dottering old women ply the bus and train stations ...

... old fashion kitchen sink washing, I start to lean out the bedroom window and hang my clothes to dry. I have all hung, except my panties which I am trying to hang 4 at a time, so they aren't so obvious, blowing in the wind. That's when it all starts to happen. My bedroom window, top floor, at the top of the hill, is eye to eye level with the western wall, about 40ft away. When one of my beloved guide comes around the corner, with a #32 sign and a heavy German accent, gets all chipper ...