Off the Couch and On the Road

The real question is, how many words can you use to describe beautiful seaside towns of stone, with narrow traffic-free alleys and endless steps? Beautiful churches and pebbly beaches? Because I think I have run out. As Positano and Dubrovnik were all of the above, so was the island of Hvar. And yet it didn’t make it any less spectacular or unique.

I left Dubrovnik very carefully, so as not to wake MAPOTP (successfully, thank christ) and spent seven hours on another ferry, just as it started raining, which was fortunate timing. In seven hours I updated my itinerary, budget and created a three-year plan with timings and action points – the group sitting next to me discussed where they would most like to travel and why, and how many years they had been living on less than $10 a day (‘When I left Boston in 1964 with $400 in my pocket….’). I was so dissappointed in my lack of creativity and adventure. But no matter, they won’t have a fantastic credit rating, right? Right?

Hvar was stunning, as expected, and the weather hot and sunny, which wasn’t considering the weather in Dubrovnik. I only had two days on the island and spent those walking along the promenade playing a game called ‘which of these ridiculously massive yachts would I buy if I won the lottery?’, swimming and sunbaking.

A continuation of ‘Sarah’s chilled out summer holiday’, really.

-Sarah

PS. Nobody seems to know where I am so I thought I would clarify. I am in Croatia. In Split. I know, the above says I am in Hvar, but it’s slightly delayed, kind of like episodes of ‘Friends’ used to be before they realised we could download them anyway so they may as well put them to air the same time as the US. Ok, so not exactly like that. But kinda. Get me?

There are moments in your life when your heart drops to your feet and you are nothing less than terrified. The last time this happened was in Positano when I witnessed a man in lime green speedos with a gut worthy of a triple bypass wrapped around his waist.

But this time, this time was waking from a blissful, earplugged slumber to sit up and see a middle aged Irish woman staring at me. Apparently waiting for me to wake up because she could not figure out how to turn the shower on. Seriously. Ok, so the tap wasn’t round, and you had to push instead of turn. But she had managed to get herself halfway around the world.

Anyway, after I had regained my pulse and after too many unecessary words (there is a sign in a hotel in Vietnam stating “Silence is a dignity”, I felt she needed a copy) I needed to get out, so caught a ferry to Cavtat, a mainland town about 10km south of Dubrovnik, and spent the day reading, walking, swimming and drinking cappuccinos. Admittedly, there wasn’t much to do or see in Cavtat, but a quiet town was just what I needed.

-Sarah

The following morning I spent on the grey, pebbly beach and the afternoon back in Old Town, before deciding I would have to visit the islands if I was to spend a week here, there not being much else to do in Dubrovnik.

Lokrum Island, a small national park just off the coast near Old Town, was cheap enough to get to and seemed the logical coice, so I spent a day walking the endless walking tracks around the island, not seeing another tourist for hours. There were Lyrebirds everywhere with fantastic views off the coast, and another fort that was meant to be the highlight but in reality was just more stone steps (albeit really old stone steps).

I then went home. To the most annoying person on the planet. Seriously. I can’t remember her name (because I can never remember anyone’s name) but she was from Ireland and She. Would. Not. Shut. Up.

A typical conversation went something like this:

Most annoying person on the planet (MAPOTP): Oooh isn’t this place lovely how long have you been here how long are you staying are you enjoying it I’m from Ireland and I’m soo excited to be here…

Me: Um, well…

MAPOTP: Oooh, because I was thinking of eating out but do you know when it gets dark and is it safe and where have you been and isn’t it jut lovely and where are you from and I’m soo excited to be here…

Me: Well, I’m from…

MAPOTP: Oooh, because I just think it’s lovely don’t you and have you been to the islands are you with friends is the shower nice and when do you leave because ooh I’m so excited to be here…

And so on. I ended up eating out, with dessert and two cappuccinos, to avoid going home to face her. Which worked, because she went to sleep pretty early, which I can understand, talking that much must be exhausting. But just in case even sleep couldn’t stop her, I wore my earplugs. You never know.

-Sarah

Although it was warm, it wasn’t nice enough for the beach on my first day in Dubrovnik, so I settled into tourist mode and caught the bus from my leafy suburb of Lapad into Old Town.

Old Town (is that a song?) is the tourist mecca of Dubrovnik, with modern shops, cafes, churches and galleries enclosed within a stone wall surrounding the perimeter of the city. I spent most of the morning wandering the narrow alleyways and climbed the city walls (more steps) which overlooked the harbour and surrounding islands – an amazing view. There were various forts built into the walls that had survived the earthquake of 1666 and the bombings of 1991, but I didn’t think climbing another 10m would increase the quality of the view, so I didn’t go (much to the horror of the American tourist couples when I explained why I wasn’t going up).

It was a beautiful city, but the real highlight was finding a bookstore that sold books in english. I am sure you can imagine how excited I was. I had been reading so much in Europe that buying books was costing me only slightly less than my accomodation. Which totally wasn’t in the budget. And because I didn’t want to leave novels that someone had painstakingly spent years writing to some dodgy backpacker who would absentmindedly flick through them before leaving them on a bus seat in Prague – I was sending them all back to Australia. Which also wasn’t in the budget.

But nevertheless I hapily stocked up and sent off another package home!

God I am going to be so broke.

-Sarah

It turned out that quite a few of us from the hostel were travelling to Croatia on the same day, so with the abundant lack of signage, unhelpful staff and transport delays that makes Italy so wonderful, we all travelled ‘Amazing Race’ style on buses, trains and ferries across the country, arriving 24 hours later to a very overcast and cold coastal town of Dubrovnik (coincidentally, they live in Cronulla. Small world).

I had barely managed 2 hours sleep on the ferry, laying on orange carpet surrounding the dance floor in the bar area, having paid for deck (read: cheapest) seats which we weren’t brave enough to sit on for ten hours crossing the Adriatic Ocean at night. There were sleeping, snoring bodies everywhere but plenty of room to stretch out on a piece of floor and practise my moves on the dancefloor while everyone was sleeping. (Joking! Seriously! Ok, so I did a bit of a wiggle but that’s it).

On arrival, the group separated and I found my hostel with such little difficulty it was amazing. Everyone spoke English and were so helpful and friendly, one shop owner even left his shop unattended to walk to me to the front door of the villa so I ‘wouldn’t get lost’ (Oh, how well he knew me even by then).

By the time I had a nap in my villa which I had all to myself, summer had decided to return and I walked across the road and onto the beach for some lunch, the peninsula of which reminded me a bit of Manly – lots of restaurants along a beautiful promenade, obviously catered to tourists but forgiven for being so lovely. I visited the supermarket later that afternoon and stocked up on food which I ate while watching terrible sitcoms (has anyone pulled ‘Joey’ off the air yet? Seriously, it needs to happen) in my villa. That I had all to myself. All to myself. Just wanted to make sure you were clear on that.

-Sarah