Villa Lada Orebic

... anchor for a swim, which is where the attached photo was taken. This process of waking up sailing down the coast, followed by a swim, sun baking, lunch, drinking, swim, drinking games, dinner in the local port and clubbing became to routine for the week. A great way to spend a week. By the end of the trip all 30 people on the boat were good mates, (with dark tans and wild stories). Definitely a must do trip, would definitely do it again. <br>

... Celina including lots of yummy feta cheese. The regions is well know for it's olive oil and wine, however the olives are non existent on the menu and the wine is pretty bad out of the tap. Thank goodness for the cherry and peach brandy at the all inclusive bar. Dinner pulls out all the stops and busts out all the traditional european meat heavy dishes, pork, beef, gulash, lots of potatoes and yes lots of veggies for Celina. Right across ...

... me free wine which tastes like the home made stuff my dad used to make from next doors rose petals when I was a boy. It is sweet and strong and tastes super. I tuck into a juicy sea bass swimming in garlic and served with wads of spinach. Ivor advises me to come back but not in July or August. He explains the the idillic quiet island I am seeing today is transformed overnight in crowded hideous place. "Come back in September" he suggests. And maybe I just will...

... Having done so I can only conclude that Odysseus must have had a penchant for over-priced seafood and rude, money-hungry locals. The deepwater harbours of Mljet meant that it was a major yacht-stop. There was no room for a lonely backpacker-type. There were no backpacker types. There were, however, rolling green hills and lakes that were actually inlets from the sea, Mljet being the most oddly formed and convoluted of islands. So there was prettiness, and ...

... bus on which the stunning scenery (despite the drizzly rain and overcast clouds) along the coast on the way to Dubrovnik and catching the car ferry whilst still on the bus to cross to the mainland made sure that l would not get any more sleep that day- it was all just too beautiful to sleep through! It was a strange ferry trip as you couldn't see the water, only the mountains and it looked and felt like we were just spinning around the water. We landed on terreferma again and ...

... There were quite a few paniced moments during the 7 hour drive yesterday. The coast is just as pretty as I had hoped. Pictures of the Croatian coast are actually what drew me to want to come here around 3 years ago, so it was great to see what I had been dreaming of these last few years. Bright blue water, steep cliffs, and old old towns with red tile roofs. Today we are exploring the "old town" part ...

... only get 2. My boys and I also got to test drive my new Speedos.2 Collette met a local friend and immediately pirated his inflatable raft and water tube. They spent a good hour trying to hurt/play with each other and the other father and me bid our time by reprimanding our respective kid each time they tried to do some inappropriate act to the other. With a hefty throw the other kid sent a stick whizzing by Collette's head. The ...

... had before me according to google.com, that southern Croatia to Greece is practically unheard of, despite not actually being that far. There were hundreds of ways, most expensive and time consuming, through Italy, or through Montenegro and Albania (which was a nice idea but the train and bus systems didn't seem particularly reliable when crossing borders, a frustrating result of the Balkan wars) or through Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia. The latter ...

... the old granny and reminded us that it was time to start sloughing off un-needed items from our heavy packs, we discovered how lucky we had been to have given our business to this particular lady. Pula, it turns out, is something of a one trick pony, but this old woman's apartment was only a few blocks away from the the very center of the action - the Roman amphitheater for which Pula is (or at least could be) famous. After we settled ourselves in to what was clearly the ...

The only positive to not sleeping, was that the views along the coast were stunning. I was able to watch the sun come up, glistening on the Adriatic, lighting each little green island we passed in the distance. My night bus pulled into Dubrovnik around 6:45 in the morning. To say that I was tired and cranky would be an understatement. Anyway, I had found a single room on the internet that I was really looking forward to napping in. The instructions were to call for a pick up upon ...