Croatia on the rocks

To the amusement of the other guest on our row of 3 seats on the plane, Nina and I manage to fall asleep before taking off and barely wake up until after we landed (no vodka this time). However in the fleeting moments that I did open my eyes I did see the Dalmatian coast in all its glory, islands, mountains the lot, and it is gorgeous from the air.

We touched down into what is possible the most efficient airport ever and within 10 minutes of hitting terra firma we had our bags and we were waiting for our pre-arranged hostel transfer. I had actually managed to give the wrong time by about an hour but they had checked my flight details and were waiting for us. We informed that we would actually be staying within the city walls. We thought this was great and sat back relaxed for a 30 minute transfer along windy mountain roads.

One problem about the walled city however is that it is totally pedestrianised. This meant that we were ditched at the gates with a map with a sketchy blue biro route drawn on it and a set of keys with a number 2 on it. Kyara (our hostel manager I guess) then told us we would be unable to check in until 12 noon. Given that it was 8:20 and we had barely slept more than an hour in the past 36 hours we were a little gutted but at the same time thought this would be the case anyway.

After walking (the type of walk where you don't lift your feet, look up or talk) about 15 minutes, on shiny marble pavements and up shiny uneven steps (hundreds of them) we found our hostel and dumped our bag packs and attempted to find somewhere to chill. After a while we found a net café and spent 2 hours in there. Following that we went and grabbed a bite to eat (desperately trying to kill as much time as possible) and got attacked by wasps. Luckily Nina's a smoker and the poor little mites soon got too dozy to really bother us any more. Eventually at 12:30 we headed back to the hostel to find that our room was still a complete state. Just as we were about to crash anyway a lovely Croatian lady came up to clean (fumigate) our room. We shuffled out the way and sat on the steps to wait. Within 20 minutes the place looked brand new and finally we could get some kip.

Croatia had not really been on our list of must sees but as my parents were there on holiday for a week we thought it would be great to meet them for lunch (sounded cool to meet up for lunch on the Dalmatian coast). Safe to say on our first day we were far too knackered to do the parent thing (if you met my dad you'd understand) so had a quiet meal before sleeping some more after making arrangements to meet up the following day in Lapad where my parents were staying.

The following day we got the bus to Lapad. We had been promised beaches and relaxation so we were quite looking forward to this. After missing the bus stop to get off at and then as the bus looped back on itself only just spotting my mum frantically waving from the correct stop we alighted and did the customary hand shakes and hugs before heading down to the 'beach'.

We headed down to the shore line not to be greeted by golden sands and the Adriatic but rather craggy rocks with little bathing areas some naturally made, some cemented in place. Still it was the sea and I was going in. Nina had also been longing for this but then confessed to having a fear of the sea (apparently more of rocks) and that she would rather just sunbathe. Well I wasn't having that and so egged her on in an almost bullysom fashion to get it in and damn well enjoy it, explaining that there was nothing to be scared off. Shortly after I managed to shin a rock on my way out. Safe to say it hurt like hell, bled a fare bit and little did I know it was already busy getting infected (lovely).

We spent a good four or five hours just chilling by the 'beach' before making arrangements to meet for food later that evening and head back to our respective dwellings - ours being the Dubrovnik Youth Service Hostel and the parents being the Grand Hotel Park (we took at peak at this and left thoroughly jealous, of the facilities, the bed and the awesome Adriatic view).

Dinner was fun and it doubled up as a birthday celebration for my good self. One thing that I can recommend is the sea food in Croatia. My mum and I shared a seafood platter and it was amazing. Food in general is relatively cheap but the cost of the wine soon boosts the price up.

Having already been in Dubrovnik 2 of the 4 days we were staying we felt on our 3rd day we should get out there and see a bit of the old town. This we did by taking a walk around the city walls (in the rain). This is well worth while doing as it offers many different views over the town and cost line. However I would recommend you avoid it if you have a rapidly swelling leg, or shoes that turn in to ice skates in the rain (Nina!).

I would have to be honest and say that we did not do too much else in Croatia. However one thing that you quickly notice is how amazingly well this country is doing for a place that was totally war torn a little over 15 years ago. (On that point you do have to wonder what the reasoning was behind building a fortification right at the bottom of a mountain, a fault exploited by the opposing forces who at one stage shelled Dubrovnik constantly day and night only allowing one 15 minute let up).

Nina was slight miffed as to why when the renovated, repaired and patched up Dubrovnik they used such slippery stones, but in truth apart from the slipping hazard it does leave a really nice clean touch to the city. Dubrovnik is somewhere to come if you want to eat good food and relax, however if you were looking for sand and more to do generally you would be better off heading more towards Split. We did enjoy our time here but had to agree it was our least favourite destination so far, possibly because it was so different from the cities we have and are planning to visit. It came across very touristy and you did have to look hard to find a touch of the real Croatia, still it was great to see the old folks.