I had heard Croatia was beautiful. I was a bit skeptical, as I have seen many beautiful places. I really didn't believe the hype that it could meet my expectations. But the reality was that Croatia surpassed my expectations before I even landed.
From the airplane, it was like looking down at a map - coastline and islands (1185 to be exact) surrounded by this intensely serious blue water. It looked unreal from the air - unlike anything I have ever seen.
Flying into the Dubrovnik airport, we flew low over the old walled city of Dubrovnik and it's majesty literally took my breath away. There is not a better word than stunning to describe it. I felt like it couldn't get better than what I saw from the air. Again, I was wrong. Even on the bus ride from the airport, ever turn seemed to give way to an even more beautiful vista. I sat in awe staring out the window hoping the €5 bus ride would never end.
Alas it did and when I got out of the bus in Dubronvik's walled Old Town, I realized that a lot of other people (and cruise ships companies= understand it's beauty. Old Town was literally wall to wall with people. It felt almost like the shopping mall at xmas time, expect at the mall, people are hustling and bustling. In Dubrovnik, the cruise ship tourists are meandering and stopping to take photos at every turn. (If you cant beat 'em, join 'em - see below as we got snap happy throughout our time in Dubrovnik too)
After some harrying logistics that involved froggering past tour groups and a bait-and-switch of our apartment (unbeknownst to me) the stars aligned and I stumbled upon my friends Peggy and Nancy who had arrived earlier in the day. Peggy had born the brunt of the bait-and-switch as she was the first to arrive, and I'm not even sure how Nancy found the new apartment, but it was a calamity of sorts because Nancy's luggage had decided to spend some more time in Germany.
We finally got the logistics all sorted (well except Nancy's luggage which showed up 3 days later), we set about exploring Dubrovnik. Again, every little nook and cranny showed a new view that seemed unbelievably better than the last. We explored in this manner the next day too and discovered a little cove where we managed to secure a private table and do some sunbathing on the rocks. Luckily we got there before the crowds (see below).
Several days later, our next stop on the Croatian Coast was the island of Hvar. From Dubrovnik, we traveled 4 hours by bus , 2 hours by ferry, and another 30 minutes by bus to arrive. But arrive we did. Hvar Town is this gorgeous medieval town with stone streets that converge on the main square that butts up against the Adriatic Sea. Our first impression was 11pm when we went out with a group from the hostel and I can't believe I am describing a medieval town this way, but it was basking in it's own sexiness. The old town was illuminated in a soft light that made the cafes, the people and the yachts seem even more sexy that they already were. We had hit our groove and danced and flirted all night, perhaps basking in our own sexiness.
The next day, we made our way down to the Hula Hula Beach Club and REALLY hit our stride. We lounged on beach chairs on the rocks and swam in crystal clear water all afternoon. Around 5pm, the party moved over to the main bar area where there was a DJ with live saxophone and vocals. The mingling was great, and we were surrounded by beautiful, well traveled, successful people who work hard and party harder. Over pitchers of margaritas and bottles of pink champagne, we quickly made friends with boys willing to pick up the tab(s).
(Jenn - this is the John Galliano that I fell in love with before I knew who made it. I bargained HARD to get the price down on this bathing suit)
If you arent traveling by boat, the routine on Hvar is to lay around in the sun all day, make an afternoon party at a beach club like Hula Hula, then shower and eat dinner, then make the nighttime party at a club like Carpe Diem. We followed this routine for a few days with little variation. The one day we introduced variation was when I asked our eccentric hostel owner Luka (sing along: My name is Luka, I live on the second floor...) for a nearby island recommendation. His recommendation was excellent - Jerelim Bay beach which is a budget-friendly $6 boat ride away from Hvar Town with secluded beaches, clear crisp water, and huge bean bag beach chairs. The only downside? Luka recommended us a nudist beach.
Despite the nude beach surprise, Nancy, Peggy and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Hvar, and really felt like had to force ourselves to leave the island, but we all left with enough good memories that we hope to come back (and more importantly, hope to convince all of our friends to come next August!).
I got a pretty bad cold from the "routine" on Hvar, so I laid low in our next town of Zadar. Zadar was Peggy's first hostel experience and I think she got through it unscathed. We had an excellent hostel location, right on the marina and across from the beach. But except for the interrogation I did on the poor receptionist about the Yugoslavian War (see next blog entry), the only thing I did was lay in bed and hack. At one point, I pulled it together enough to be social in the courtyard bar, and some girl said to me, "Did you see that poor girl in room 504? She is so sick and just laying in bed all day sneezing and coughing." I admitted it was me, surprised she didnt notice my cup of tea at the bar, or the pile of dirty tissus in my lap, and she asked, "Why arent you leaving?" Apparently she didnt know that when I was leaving, it was to go to the party island of Pag with Nancy.
Nancy had went ahead to Pag to scope out lodging and let me recover and unfortunately Peggy had to leave to go back home. So I arrived alone on the island of Pag and it looked like the moon. Pag is composed of sheer cliffs of limestone that tumble into the sea. There are more sheep than people on the island and it is known for Pag cheese. Pag cheese is especially strong and flavorful due to the sheep's climate and diet that is saturated with sea dust, salt and water from the gusting winds from the sea onto the cliffs.
Oh the spareness of the island and the tales of the sheep are so whimsical and romantic until you get to Zrce beach. Zrce is known as Croatia's Ibiza. It is a thumping alive series of beachside clubs that operate 24-7 and feel like a tailgate, amusement party and music festival all at once. There is bungee jumping, insane costumes like a Borat green one-peice, and the most serious professional clubbers I have ever seen in my life.
Whereas Hvar clubs were about mingling, Pag clubs are about dancing, Dancing, DANCING. I will admit I was a bit intimidated by the insane partying, and wished I could channel Jimmy Wang and his house music flare to fit in, but it was a stretch. Nancy and I prayed for Pitbull, and kept chasing free drinks after we gave up on our smuggling alcohol. At one point after my bag cleared the bouncer check (bc I was peeling an orange and didnt have a spare hand free, so how could he expect me to open the bag with sticky hands? If you think that is bad, you should see how I boss around Immigration officials about which page to stamp in my passport. I swear one day I am going to get deported. But I digress). So after I get through, Nancy throw's her bag over the fence to me when the bouncer turned his back and told me to run. Now, this is because we thought that the alcohol was in her bag. It was in my bag.
That is completely beside the point, though, because just hours earlier, Nancy and her new English friends told me horror stories about the bouncers from the night before. The first story was a bouncer slapping a drunk kid so that he passed out, fell back on the curb and split his head open. When he was giving a statement to the police, they just lauged at him. The other story was from Nancy's friend himself, when he ordered a round of drinks around 6am but decided they were too expensive and walked away. Oh no he didnt. Immediately he was surrounded by bouncers and got punched square in the jaw. The boys recounted how they managed to pull wads of money out of their pocket WHILE getting punched. I was apprehensive about sneaking in alcohol, but Nancy persuaded me. No wonder that girl works in Sales.
But this is a blog entry about the Coast, and not bad decisions, so I will wrap it up for god's sake
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