ADRIATIC ASSAULT

  Korcula Town, Korcula, Croatia
Sunday, June 15, 2008

Buongiorno, Zdravo and Dober Dan everyone,

PICTURE PERFECT

Apologies again for taking so long between updates. This time our excuse isn't lack of time or access to a reliable internet connection, rather the persuasive call of sunshine, crystal clear waters and glorious days of doing-nothingness.

We'd be lying if we said the past few weeks have been hectic ones. In fact, after four months of hard yakka (in holiday terms at least), we've been glad to finally put the brakes on, shift our minds into neutral and cruise along at a leisurely speed.

The last update saw us leaving the dramas of Morocco behind on May 31 and making our way east to Venice, Italy.

GOING, GOING, GONDOLA

VENETIAN DREAM
Venice was merely a teaser, spending just three nights in the canalled city before skipping over to Slovenia. However, those three nights were wonderful, and worth every Euro we blew on accommodation while we were there. Venice is an enchanting city. Built on 117 islands, with 150 canals and 400 bridges, it's the perfect place to get lost in. We spent our days strolling the tiny, cobblestone alleys, slurping gelato and stopping on bridges to watch gondolas glide beneath us.

IN VENICE AND FABULOUS DAH-LING

Official sightseeing duties were kept at a minimum, just visiting the pigeon-packed Piazza San Marco and it's star attraction the Basilica San Marco, originally built to house the remains of St Mark. Legend says his body was stolen from Alexandria in Egypt, smuggled to Venice in a barrel of pork and now rests in peace under the altar!

THE RIALTO BRIDGE

We traversed many bridges during our three-day stay, including the famous Rialto Bridge, jam-packed with tourists and hawkers selling their wares, and took a vaporetti (water taxi) through the city's main "street" the Grand Canal. At night we scoffed pasta and chilled red wine and took respite from Italy's overwhelming heat in our lovely air-conditioned hotel room. It was just what we needed.

LOOK...I'M IN VENICE!

Highlights:
Getting lost.

Finding a website where we can download new release movies for free (legally, of course) and watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in bed with pizza.

Securing the all important accommodation at Wombats Hostel for Oktoberfest after anxiously waiting all year for the bookings to open.

THE DRAGON BRIDGE, LJUBLJANA

EASTERN PARADISE
On June 3, we made our way to Slovenia, bringing our total countries so far on this trip to an even dozen. We travelled west by train to Trieste on the Italian/Slovenian border, then made the rest of the journey to Ljubljana by bus. Supposedly founded by Jason and the Golden-Fleece stealing Argonauts, Ljubliana was a surprisingly modern town, set on the banks of the Ljubjanica River. We spent three nights here, taking advantage of a few rainy days to enjoy some much needed R&R.

We had originally planned to spend longer in Ljubljana but, on advice from an Englishman we met on a bus in Italy, we decided to deviate from our schedule and head to nearby Bled instead.

THE LAKE, CASTLE AND ISLAND WITH THE CHURCH

At this point, we are tempted to tell you that Bled was a terrible place, that we hated every minute we were there and advise you never to go. The truth is, it was so incredible that we almost don't want to share it with anyone so it's stays that way forever.

With it's medieval castle perched on a cliff, overlooking a tiny while chapel on an island in the middle of a sparkling blue lake, we could hardly believe Bled was real.

PICNICKING..BLED STYLE

On our first day there, we tackled the trek through the forest and up the mountain to the castle with an Aussie girl, Lucy, who we had shared a room with in Ljubljana and who we discovered was also staying at the same hostel we were in Bled. Afterwards, we made the first of many trips around the lake, taking hours to walk the 6km as we were stopping every few minutes to "ohhh" and "ahhh" at the marvellous scenery and take hundreds of pictures of the same thing, just from a slightly different angle.

BIKING...BLED STYLE

So impressed were we, we did it again every day for the next three days, though on bikes we hired for free from the hostel. We stopped for picnics on the shore and watched as a wedding party arrived on the island in the middle of the lake and a brave groom carry his wife-to-be up the steep steps leading to the chapel (apparently it's good luck if he makes it all the way to the top of the steps without dropping her).

FEEDING THE SWANS

One day, during our regular circuit of the lake, we stopped on the shore for a well-deserved ice-cream. We had fed a family of swans and watched as a mother duck took her ducklings for a walk, when suddenly a rainbow stretched across the sky, from the castle on the cliff to the island in the middle of the lake. "Could this be any more perfect?" asked Chris, just as a little bird landed on Caroline's knee. She hand-fed it a piece of her ice-cream cone and it flew off. We know it sounds corny, but it was a weird, magical moment and, just like Bled itself, seemingly straight from a fairytale.

SWANS, DUCKLINGS, A LAKE...AND GEORGE BUSH

And, as we all know boys and girls, every fairytale has a big, bad, nasty monster.

A few days before we were due to leave, we heard that George Dubya Bush, was to be visiting Slovenia while we were there as part of some EU conference. And sure enough, Bled was on his itinerary.

Way to spoil the serenity.

BEST. PLACE. EVER.

The police came to the hostel to suss out if any "people of interest" may be lurking in the common room. What, left-wing, war-opposing, Bush-haters in a backpacker's hostel? Surely not?

As it turns out, we never did get to see Bush, and on June 10 left Slovenia, content the fairytale had a happy ending.

THE GREAT AUSSIE BBQ AND THE GREAT AUSSIE BOGAN

Highlights:
Bled: The lake, the island, the chapel, the swans, the ducks, the rainbow, the little bird that landed on Caroline's knee. Everything.

The "Great Aussie BBQ" - complete with snags and tomato sauce that we organised at the hostel in Bled.

Discovering the Slovenian national drink - blueberry liqueur. The real blueberries at the bottom of the bottle sure have a kick.

GIVES NEW MEANING TO "I COULD EAT A HORSE"

Things we learned in...Slovenia:
The Slovenian national dish is horse though, as open minded as we are, we couldn't stomach a horse burger from "Red 'n' Hot Horse" in Ljubljana.

To take the road less travelled. We knew nothing about this tiny country before we arrived and headed there on a whim. It turned out to be a highlight of our trip so far.

The world really can be a beautiful place.

BEAUTIFUL HVAR

CROATIAN PARTY
On June 10 we travelled by train south from Slovenia to Split in Croatia, our jump off point for 10 days of island-hopping. Our first port of call was Hvar Island. Catching a ferry the next morning, we again bumped into Lucy from Slovenia and began to think she may well be stalking us.

HVARLING A GOOD TIME IN HVAR

Hvar is a great little seaside town, famous for it's small, rocky beaches and marbled paved, traffic-free promenade, stretching around a glistening aqua blue harbour housing hundreds of bobbing boats. We had our own little self-contained apartment in a pensione (rooms rented out in a family home) so we really settled in, cooking proper meals (with real vegetables) for the first time in months (since Paris we had basically survived on tuna rolls, ham rolls, salami rolls and the occasional salad.

THAT'S NOT A BEER...THIS IS A BEER

It rained for a few days while we were there, so we hibernated, watching American sitcoms and, to Caroline's delight, Grey's Anatomy - all in English! At night, we had beers and watched the Euro Cup, wondering if the rain would have stopped by the next morning (though secretly hoping it hadn't as it meant we could spend another day in our trackies, lounging about, without feeling guilty).

CAROLINE SWIMMING - NOT CHRIS

On our last day, we did venture out for a swim in the beautiful crystal clear waters. Well, Caroline did, Chris just sat on the beach with a beer and watched.

Z: "I LEFT MY PANTS AT THE ONE LOVE PARTY, BRO"

After four days, we took another ferry to the nearby island of Korcula (pronounced Korchoola) where we had decided to spend a couple of nights before sailing to Dubrovnik. However, when we arrived our plans went out the window as we were inducted into the madness that is One Love Hostel, run by "Z", a fervent South African who had been on Big Brother a few years back, and his Swedish sidekick Christian.

THE VIEW FROM OUR DORM WINDOW IN KORCULA

We stayed up late drinking buckets of alcohol (literally, buckets) and dressing up for theme nights to earn free shots of hideous Croatian alcohol. Then spent the next day sleeping in late and lounging in the bar, hungover, watching movies and eating hot chips, before doing it all again.

We did leave the hostel every now and then, mostly for food, and once to see the town. But mostly we just slothed about or, as we prefer to put it, gaining strength for the hectic couple of weeks of sightseeing that was to come.

ISLAND-HOPPING IN CROATIA

On June 19 we travelled back to Split to catch the overnight ferry to Ancona, on the east coast of Italy. Our tight budget only allowed us to purchase seats, rather than a cabin with beds, but we managed to find a comfy couch in the bar where we were able to have a few beers, watch the football, then curl up and get some sleep. However, we were slightly concerned that the majority of our fellow passengers were nuns, monks and Jesus t-shirt wearing religious types. All night, people around us were clutching at rosary beads as they absolved their sins in temporary confessionals, while others took communion at mass on the top deck. We wondered if we had hopped on a boat bound for the Vatican by mistake and that we would wake with the sign of the cross burned into our forehead by some over-zealous Christian. But alas, we docked at Ancona the next morning unscathed, and made our way to Florence to begin our assault on Italy.

But that's another story. One that won't be too far away - we promise!

PERFECT CROATIAN SUNSET

Highlights:
Downing shots of Pelinkovac at the bar with Z and Christian at One Love Hostel.

Watching a perfect sunset over the Harbour in Korcula Town.

Floating in the warm waters of the Adriatic.

A DALMATIAN...ON THE DALMATIAN COAST

Things we learned in...Croatia:
Your travel agent might not tell you, but if you fork out $1200 on Eurail passes, they need to be validated within six months of purchase, otherwise they become invalid and your $1200 goes down the drain.

Watching Dirty Dancing doesn't strip you of your masculinity.

Life is all about "keeping the dream alive, bro". (Thanks Z!)





P.S.
Johnny: Happy Birthday for yesterday, dude.

Ian: Hope you are enjoying your holiday home to the Motherland. Not sure if we will catch you, but we'll be arriving around August 16 if you're around?

Auntie Ange: We heard you were heading home when Ian gets back - perhaps you feel like shouting a couple of dirty backpackers a pint?

Soph: Congrats on the new job! You'll knock 'em dead.

Simon P: Hope the knuckles are healing dude - that will teach you to get in a fight with the pavement.



ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
We are both happy and healthy and still not homesick (though of course we miss both our mums very much). Chris is in need of a haircut, but has lost 20kgs on his "Six Beers a Day" diet. He's looking forward to putting it all back on at Oktoberfest in September. Caroline is also in need of a haircut...and a pedicure and a manicure and massage and facial. She hasn't lost any weight despite alternating beer with vodka every second day. Although one of the highlights of this trip has been sampling so many new cuisines, we'd both give Chris' left testicle for a Bondi Burger and a Toohey's Extra Dry.

I'M TOO SEXY FOR...VENICE