Nudie Beach, here we (Liz, actually) come!

Sunday was dedicated to hitting the beach. We began our day with crazy good pastries from a little bakery called Niko, around the corner from our sobe. Those ladies could crank out such good sugary yumminess we went there EVERY morning we were in Dubrovnik (with the exception of the day I was wishing for death due to outrageous hangover, more on that later). With sugar and caffeine contents high, we went to the Old Port to catch a little water taxi to Lokrum Island. It’s an uninhabited little island about a 5 minute boat ride from the Old Town. This is where the Nude Beach is located; yes, we went. Having experienced such things in the south of France during my post college European extravaganza, I had no real need to go; however, Liz still had a box (pardon the pun) to check. So, we walked to the end of the island and out onto the rocks that constituted the area dedicated to the “naturalists”. Desiring a touch of privacy, Liz wanted to walk around until she found a relatively isolated spot to get into her birthday suit, count to 100, dress, and go to the clothed beach. I decided to just wait where I was for her to take care of business. Apparently, they take the whole you HAVE to be naked thing very seriously. I was told by 2 people to either strip or beat it. Seriously? I gotta say, it was a very odd experience. The first man who explained the rules was about 75, bare-assed-naked, and wearing ORANGE CROCS. I was torn between laughing out loud, crying, and running away. I also couldn’t look the man in the face and sure as hell didn’t want to look at him anywhere else; most awkward! So as I was standing there waiting for Liz and trying not to look at anyone’s “privacies”, I began to wonder about the academics of sunbathing in the nude. Most of the people out there had visible tan lines, meaning their “special” places were not accustomed to the sun’s rays. Especially for the mens on the beach, what are the implications of putting SPF on wee willy winkie? And more importantly, what are the implications of NOT putting SPF on it and burning the sucker. Gooooodamn, that would hurt (or so I imagine).

Lokrum Island

I've been thrown out of bars, classes, and churches. But being tossed off a nude beach is a first for me.

With the nude thing taken care of, we went to the regular part of the island and found some flat rocks right by the water to hang out on. Swimming, eating watermelon, drinking beers, and reading for hours in the sun equals FABULOUS! Once the sun dropped behind the trees it was time for some post-beach drinks. There was a super cute bar set up just above the boat dock in the shade of the trees. They served drinks, snacks, and had a guy playing guitar; big surprise we hung out there for a while. We even had our first Croatian brandy there; Croats are known for their brandies and liquors as well as their wines. I was a bit nervous about it, but after a little sip it was decided that it was NOT so naas-tee

the ladder needed to get in and out of the water

swimming in the Adriatic

Whaaaahaaahaaaaaa. . . he's my boyfriend. That is so naas-tee.

my view from the rock I was laying on. Very nice!

the trail down to the rocks and sea

after beach beers

Croatian brandy, not so naas-tee!

After getting cleaned up and prettified, we headed over Gil’s for a sundowner. This place sits over the Old Harbor and is very posh and chic. The prices match! It’s a beautiful view and a gorgeously designed bar & restaurant. One drink later, its time for food. Dinner that night was OUTSTANDING. We went to a place up the stairs in Prijeko called Wanda. It’s run by a couple who actually ran a restaurant in Los Angeles and have brought back the slickness of serving that type of clientele and blended it with Croatian style. The food was delicious; I had a fettuccine with chicken in a light creamy tomato sauce and Liz had tortellini in a similar sauce. I think her tortellini is best I’ve ever had in my life. The salads were also huge, fresh, and delicious. The staff was extremely nice and the owner offered us a complementary after dinner drink. You’re not going to believe it when I say this, but, we declined. I know, I know, it’s disappointing but we were stuffed to the gills. No worries though, we are going to make up for this about 10 times over in the next two nights.

Gil's for sundowners

the restaurant at Gils'

Back to Dubrovnik

After another relaxing 2 hour ferry ride with the exact same perfect deck seating as on the way over, we got back to Dubrovnik and returned to the same Sobe where we spent the first night. We also figured out how to lower the temp on the AC. . . . icy is nicey, especially after climbing the city walls around Old Town Dubrovnik. The view was gorgeous, but man was it hot! And slippery! Those beautiful cream colored stones are lovely to look at but one misstep and your going down. It’s just a matter of time until one of us ends up on our asses. The walk around the walls was also interesting from the perspective of the war in the early 1990’s. About 2/3 of the roofs in the Old Town were damaged and had to be replaced. You can easily see which ones are new and which ones escaped harm due to the color of the terra cotta; bright orange is new. Amazing!

waiting in Korcula's harbor for the ferry back to Dubrovnik

city walls

old versus new - easy to see where the damage occured

a street sign with shelling damage

looking a of the guard towers on the city walls

a bar outside the city walls with a great swimming spot

on top of the city walls with Lokrum Island in the background

church bell tower

the city from the walls

the courtyard inside the Rector's Palace

St. Blaise (Vlaho) on top of the church

Sponza Palace housing the Memorial room of Dubrovnik Defenders, a picture memorial to the men who died defending Dubrovnik from the Serbs as well a photos of Dubrovnik under seige. Very moving.

Orlando's Column with St. Blaise's Church behind it

stained glass window of St. Blaise's Church

Pile Gate leading into the Old Town

the city walls from outside the town

St. Vlaho (protector of Dubrovnik) over the Pile Gate, notice he is holding a model of the city

So what are two girls to do when they’ve spent an hours walking/sliding around a wall city in the blazing Adriatic sun? Get drinks of course! We headed back to the street our sobe was on, lined with pizza and spaghetti joints; it was literally possible to walk 10 feet out our front door and sit down at a restaurant. We chose Barracuda’s that sat at an intersection of one of the larger streets, Od Puca, better people watching that way. As has been the theme of our time in Croatia, this place took cash only, so AFTER we ordered our beers this fact became evident. One would think we would learn our cash vs. credit lesson after finding the perfect Konavoske puce, (a gorgeous gold filigree style button that hangs on a gold chain), in Korcula, only to discover the jewelry shop took cash only. Maybe the intense consumption of alcohol was impacting our mental functioning? Naaaaaaah! Anyway, a trip to the ATM later we had more Ozujsko beers and pizzas.

Not being nearly “refreshed” enough, we found a very cool café, Caffe Bar Nonenivia, beside the Cathedral; it had loads of cushioned wicker adirondack chairs with foot stools looking onto the square. Excellent for people watching under the watchful eye of the saints on top of the Cathedral. We spent quite some time sipping on mojitos, gin & tonics, and beers while laughing at people almost busting their asses on the super slick stones of Old Town. It was hysterical to watch girls all dressed up in their sky high heels try to navigate stone worn to a high luster; in flip flops it was dicey, in heels it was just stupidity! The Dubrovnik Music Festival began the day we arrived here, so there were tons of people wandering around to hear the different musicians set up in various corners of town. With all this activity, the people watching (ok, making fun of) was at its best!

Drinks and people watching under the gaze of saints. Yikes!

Korcula Day 2. . . I have fallen in love and I’m prepared to cheat.

After having approximately one week to think about this emotional betrayal on my part, I have come to the conclusion that I am prepared to publicly address my infidelity. As everyone is disgustingly aware, I have a long standing love affair with Italia, well I have strayed. Croatia has romanced me off my feet and I feel my love for Italy slowly being replaced by this Adriatic nation. In fact, if I can whore myself out enough to scrape together the resources to spend yet a third summer overseas, I may very well find myself kicking it in Korcula/Dubrovnik. This place really has almost everything Italy offers me plus some other treats. Almost everyone here speaks Italian, excellent English, and of course Croatian. Its clean in unprecedented ways, the people are over the top friendly, the sun shines all the time, its on the beach, its laid back, its way cheaper because they are not on the Euro yet, the vino is DELICIOUS, and they do have much of the same Italian foods. Really? Do I need to say more? Ok, I will.

Our second day in Korcula was epic; although that was not really the plan. We decided to rent bikes and ride to a little beach village, Lumbarda, about 3 miles away at the end of a little road. Well, apparently 3 miles in Korcula is actually about 100 miles in my world. It was damn far, but a pretty ride through forests and along coves. We got to the beach and it was perfect, a little café serving cheap and delicious beers right beside the very empty beach. We partook of both beers and beach, until “the group” arrived. About 75 kids between the ages 8-12 rolled in and took over. As it turns out the group is a peace initiative started by a woman from Hawaii, named Bambi (no I’m not making that shit up, its her name). She brings volunteers from the US to run camps for very poor kids from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The purpose of the camp is to help teach these kids that the hatred from the Balkan Wars of the 1990s can be overcome. They never discuss the war, unless a kid specifically brings it up, but they do ethics, morals, and humanitarian activities. Almost all of these kids were orphaned by their parents who were too poor after the conflict to care for them. The people we met that day were incredibly giving and inspiring. I’m hoping to get some of my students involved as volunteers next year. I also decided through my beer induced haze that I needed to move to Hawaii and teach at Bambi’s school, Punahou Academy, obviously it’s the name that caught my extremely immature attention. I know I promised to try to keep it more sophisticated this year, but really?

This is where it all began

Perfect peace when we got to Lumbarda

Perhaps the best photo I've taken this entire trip!

The invasion of the kids

our 8,000th Ozujsko

So after about 8000 tasty Ozujsko beers, no food, swimming, and getting sun burns, Liz and I had to ride our bikes back to Korcula town. Sober, this was a mess, especially because my bike was not healthy and would only operate in 1 gear. That made bigass hills fun. Drunk, this was anyone's game. Liz took the lead and I swear to god she almost ran into a kid sitting in a chair and then actually did run right over his flip flop (thankfully it wasn’t on his foot). The ride home went much quicker, I can only assume because we were bombed. Once we returned the bikes, a miracle in itself, we were starving. There was a great little pizza place in the middle of the square in front of St. Mark’s Cathedral; we housed 2 Hawaii pizzas. I’m not really sure if the pizza was so damn good because it was just so damn good or because we were so damn drunk, but it gets recorded as one of the best pizzas I’ve eaten; and I’ve eaten a load of pizza! As Liz would later quote from Animal House, “fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life,” we fully disagreed and decided that our day of all of the above was AWESOME!!!

Moments before almost killing a kid and maiming a flip flop

We made it back after too many beers. It was not a guaranteed outcome. . .

St. Mark's Cathedral

Square where we ate damn fine pizza.

Korcula!

Liz and I got up early and took the packed smelly bus (seriously people, deodorant ain’t that expensive) to the Jadrolinija Ferry dock in Dubrovnik. We booked deck seats for the 2-3 hour trip to the island of Korcula; it was spectacular. These car ferries are really like small cruise ships, with cabins, a restaurant, bar, and outdoor café. Nice! We totally scored the best chairs on the upper deck right against the railing of the back of the ship. For the entire trip we sailed right up the Dalmatian coast passing gorgeous scenery. Of course, we got tans, had a cappuccino, and yummy delicious beers. I even had my personal space royally violated by a German woman who did not see a problem putting the back of her chair right up against the back of mine, so we could bump heads when I sat back down. Seriously??? Eventually, I made my needs clear and she backed away. Nuff said!

Sailing along the Dalmatian Coast

Croatian flag

Sweeeet!

Arriving in Korcula

When we got to Korcula, which is like a miniature Dubrovnik, we figured Edita, the woman whose sobe we were staying in would meet us at the dock; that didn’t happen. I was supposed to text her and let her know what ferry we were coming in on; however, my stupid adapter is for Italy and not Croatia or the rest of Europe apparently, so my cell battery died. We emailed her, but as she informed us later, “pfft I don’t check email that often”. Ok, whatever. We had a map of where her joint was so we started walking off. As we realized we needed to head through the old town gate and were walking in that direction, I heard someone call my name. A freaky thing when you are on a tiny ass Croatian island. Lo and behold, Edita spotted us, somehow, and rocks up to take us to our sobe. That place kicked ass: super clean, perfect location, ridiculous view when you poked your head out the window and looked right, and air conditioning that made you wish for a nice wooly sweater. Edita was equally impressive. She got her degree in London, so had mastered all of the sarcastic nuances of the English language and used them well. She was a riot. When she heard the Italian adapter story she made sure to let us know we didn’t “organize” ourselves very well, but then she took us to the lady next door’s house to see if she could help us. When that failed she showed us where a hardware store was that should fix us right up when they opened after siesta. I’m telling you, the people of Croatia are quality people, Edita at the top of the list. She even asked some Canadians who checked in after us if they had the proper adapter and could we borrow it for the night. Excellent! In the meantime, we found what we needed at an internet store; however, Liz blew two of them out with her hairdryer. I was blownout when they just kept exchanging them for us. That would NEVER happen in Italy. The Canadian family is worth a mention as well. They were from Victoria and were traveling for a month. Their 10 year old son told me his most memorable experience in Rome was watching a seagull attack, kill, and eat a pigeon at the Trevi Fountain. I guess Rome is different for all people, GROSS!

Edita, we loved her!


Looking our of our sobe window

Main gate to the old town of Korcula Town

After dropping off our stuff in the sobe, and finding the adapter we headed out for lunch. We went down the stairs to the right of our sobe and found a seawall loaded with restaurants. Since credit cards are not something many places take and the menus were all the same, we chose the one that did take visa and parked it by the water. The view was silly pretty. Lunch was good: spaghetti with pineapple and red sauce (sounds odd but was shitgodamn good), cheese, mussels, salad, bread, and no shock here. . . a litre of wine! Properly lubricated we then wandered around the tiny Old Town of Korcula town. We found the alleged house of Marco Polo’s family (he was from here), went into the cathedral where I took forbidden photos, and checked out all the views from the town walls.

Lunch on the sea wall. Perfetto!

Cutest dog ever. Liz pulled burrs out of his fur.

Inside St. Mark's Cathedral

That's just funny.

Alleged home of Marco Polo.

If it isn't confirmed to be his house, I'm not sweating to climb the tower.

Me with Marco Polo and Ghengis Khan

Because the whole 2 days was marked by a game of what else? Marco (Liz). . . . Polo (me)

Bell tower of the cathedral

Our first dinner in Korcula was most excellent. It was at a place called Adio Mare on a terrace right next to Marco Polo’s house (which by the way may or may not be the actual house of Marco Polo, um ok!). The food was excellent, shrimp risotto, beef marinated in Prosecco and slow cooked with prunes, mixed grilled veggies, and of course a liter of fine fine Croatian white wine. Oh, and our waiter was equally as tasty!! Killer first day in Korcula.

Ajvar for Liz's husband Fred. Its delicious!

Flickr Pictures

I'm getting all the pictures from the summer, so far, uploaded onto Flickr. If you're interested, use the link on the left to find the sets from this year :-)