Holidays with Meat and Pea!
We haven't been away together for two years (it took that long to recover after Amsterdam) so this holiday was much anticipated. Its also our last trip together before I buggar off to the other side of the world again.
We got off to a good start by drinking wine in the airport and almost missing our flight. We played "I'm thinking of a person, who am I?" on the plane, which lead to us giving Stace a geography lesson about the "ethnic majorities" in the Caribean, which Stacey thought was in Africa.
We made friends with the driver of the shuttle bus from the airport and he let us sit on the very front pull-downs seats. He gave me the microphone to sing along to Whitney Houston and let me announce the stops.
Our hostel was in Pile, 5 minutes away from the old town. Its called Villa Garden but I think Villa Allotment would be better suited. The room was noisy and had no curtains but it was clean and the shower was decent.
Our First Night
We got to the hostel for 7 and were out for just after 8. We had a slap up meal and one of the best steaks I've ever tasted at a fancy restaurant called Dominos. At the end of the meal the waiter brought us traditional Croatian shots, Travarica, a disgustingly strong grappa that nearly made me spew my steak back onto my plate as soon as it made contact with my taste buds.
We went to some bars and sat outside drinking cocktails listenin to the live music, then went in a very smoky, not-very-Irish rock bar where we met some Croatians who got us trying yet another 'traditional' Croatian shot, Medica, which is made from honey and was slightly more palatable.
The Croatians, Senia, a crazy girl that kept flicking her pony tail at us, and her two pals, took us to a club called Capitana and we had an amazing night dancing to rock music. The evening ended with Stacey doing yoga down a little back ally and me bent double with stomach cramps, probably from the traditional poison and all the laughing!
Walking the Walls
After a restful 4 hours sleep we were woken by the hostel owner shouting outside our door and the sun blinding us through the curtainless window. We had a lovely breakfast in the sunshine and a wander around the town. The old town is a big walled city with really narrow streets and terracota roofs. We did the walk of the city walls which had beautiful views of the town and the surrounding coastline. It took most of the afternoon and we took it at a nice chilled pace.
The Night with the CIA Loser Agent
After a lovely sunset meal overlooking the sea we were sat enjoying a quiet drink when a middle aged man called Andy came over and started making small talk and telling us horrendous jokes in a terrible Scottish accent. He was the kind of a guy that gives Americans their bad rep for being annoying self centered idiots. He started showing us his homeland security badge and telling us how to take out a man using two moves. He's going to take Jen to the olympics and she's going to meet Scotland Yard. We'll never know if the badge was real or not but the man was crackers. Two Turkish boys joined us, they were tour guides and told us all about Dubrovnik. We went around a few bars with our new band of merry men and then left them for a quiet drink on our own on our way home. But... there's no such thing as a quiet drink on our own, we attract weirdos like flies to shit. Our quiet drink was disturbed by a lanky Russian with ferret-like features who smelt like sardines. Alex was his name, he owned the bar and merrily kept topping up our glasses with free Amaretto ("Alex present"). His English was about as good as my Russian and he kept telling us his wife was a lesbian and he was gay. Random night.
Lopud
On Monday we got the bus to the port then got on a boat to the island of Lopud. There are over 1000 little islands off the coast of Dubrovnik; Lopud is one of thee bigger ones with a population of 260. Once we got to the island we had to get to the other side, where the beach was. We chose what in hindsight, was not the fastest route. We climbed hundreds of steps up a mountain in the blistering heat. It was worth it though, the view from the top was lovely and there was no one else there. It was really peaceful. It took a while but we finally made it to the beach. The sea was crystal clear and the sand was golden. We spent the day there, had a picnic, and swam in the sea. It was like our own paradise until a swarm of Americans and started running around screaming. We found a much easier route back to the boat through the forrest.
Monday Night
We left the beach with third degree burns and went out for tea to a restaurant that had good food and terrible service. I had cevapcipci, a traditional Croatian dish. It was little kofta-like sausages made from beef. They were very tasty.
Later, we were sat drinking wine outside one of the bars when we saw our Turkish friends again, minus the awful American. The five of us went for drinks and then went dancing to a club called Fuego, a "latino" club that played awful (non-latino) music.
Famous Pants
On our last day we had long leisurely lunch by the port. We ordered far too much food and couldn't finish it. I was wearing my big multi coloured happy pants that I'd worn on the first night. To my surprise, as I crossed the street in front of hundreds of tourists, a pair of knickers fell out of the bottom on my pants! The same ones I had worn on the first night. I must have left them in there and walked around with them in my pants all day! Embarassing.
We took a cable car up a mountain. As we waited, a 30-strong crowd of Asian tourists gathered round me, staring and laughing. I soon realised why, as one cheeky woman asked if she could take a picture of my trousers! Of course, I obliged.
At the top of the mountain Jen fell asleep and Stacey whimpered in the corner in the shade. I went exploring. The views were lovely and it was very peaceful.
It was a gorgeous holiday, I really like Dubrovnik, although I think four days there is enough as its a small place.
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