The Palace Hvar Hotel

... overtakes you on bends and also crosses onto your side of the road going around the sharp bends on steep mountain roads.. including massive trucks. It was enough to keep anyone awake. We were heading for Elba but it seemed like a long drive. Tricked myself though but first aiming for Lake Tramiseno, then siena and then before we knew it we were at Piombino and about to board the ferry to Elba Island...

The docking of the boat was around 6am, which is when we got up..we managed to get ready by 6.30am and headed out to the buffet breakfast. I can't say I was terribly filled with enthusiam, well..for much. A culmination of uncomfortable beds for 3 days, a sore back and just generally tired. I had bacon and egg on toast with some yoghurt. Dan had an egg and bacon sandwich and a few other bits. We sat in the Aquamarine lounge and waited for our call to ...

Off to the beach today, that is pretty much all there is to do in Ancona. Beautiful day though. 30min bus ride to get to the beach. The water was amazing, bright blue with white pebbles.

Got a little burnt! Everyone at the beach was so tanned!!!! even the babies!!!

... beside us. We finally realised the water was actually being thrown at us, some old lady was abusing us out of her window. Finally got into the hostel, The lady at the desk didnt speak one word of english so when she spoke in italian we just nodded and agreed.

Hal xx

From Dubrovnik we took a bus up the Croatian coastline to Split where we immediately jumped on a ferry out to the island of Hvar. The island has become a bit trendy these days, with celebrities, sailors, and yachtsmen frequenting the island, especially now in the high season. The marina was pretty impressive. not quite Nantucket, more sailboats than yachts, but clearly some money on the island.

As in Dubrovnik, when ...

... to hear lots of Greek around once more!

On board the ferry we received the balm of air-conditioning, and our afternoon and evening was spent eating - reading - playing games (Paul won everything...) - reading - eating - and watching a lively thunderstorm to the north. Finally, we retired to the clammy heat of the van rather late for us and - despite our grave doubts as to the feasibility of the plan - achieved our aim of sleep.

... and the three of us drove to the nearby town of Pula. Pula was much bigger and proved to be a hell of a place to find a park. Once we landed our bird known as "Karl" we walked around and took snaps of the ancient Roman architecture scattered throughout the town. Our favourite was the colloseum-like ampitheatre (the 5th biggest in the world). Situated by the sea, the huge stadium proved to be one of our favourite sights that we'd seen in Europe. When we returned to CFRG we had ...

... old Lisa had emailed during the week, the lady at reception wanted to come to NZ so took our booking even though it wasn't for the minimum of 7 days! When we arrived there was handshakes all round and the lady who took the booking sending her apologies but will come to our campsite tomorrow to meet us???? I wonder what that is all about, will keep you updated! One of the best things here is they have wireless access (although only at ...

We arrived in the early afternoon to the beautiful Island of Hvar. We knew of a place to stay but finding it would prove to be difficult. It seems that all places that rent rooms on this island just have a sign saying rooms and not which particular one they might be. It makes it hard to find a particular place. We wandered the city and thought we would ask in a hotel. Turns out that hotels are closed at this time of year due to lack of tourists. I cant really ...

... out the door after a few phone calls and led around the corner to another guesthouse, this one owned by an old couple. Luckily, the view from this place was even more amazing, and the people just as nice. Ella and Alex got the balcony, but tara and i had a fridge. Hmmmm. Anyways...woke up early and caught a taxi boat to a secluded beach on a virtually uninhabited island of Hvar. There was a million to choose ...