Hooked on Classics

Yes, it's been a while since I updated our blog about our little voyage - it's been very busy and the limited wifi we've had just hasn't been up to it.   So please enjoy tonight's little and brief update!

Hvar was a beautiful island (well the little bit that we saw) and we used our short time there to relax and admire the view.  Walking along the waterfront was like the Darling Harbour Boat Show but for even richer people.  We couldn't agree on which watercraft were more appealing but both admired the fancy rigging which had mains'ls stored INSIDE the mast!  And I thought roller reefing was flash!

The colour of the water is glorious! 

Another Venetian Lion marking his territory in Hvar.  This one was unearthed during excavations and now lives on the side of the hotel we stayed in. 

Matt bought me this lovely top in Split.  Oh the lunch?  We shared the seafood plate for one and STILL couldn't finish it!

Morning came too soon (but not as soon as the day before as each morning's ferry gets a little later) and we were off to Korcula.  We  had booked via booking.com and had a room with fridge, air-con, and private bathroom (the one non-negotiable) in the middle of the old town.  There was one big cultural attraction I wanted to visit along with strolling around the old town, the Marco Polo museum, despite the arguments about Marco Polo's origins (see for example this interesting article, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212682113000140).  Guess what?  It was closed because of technical difficulties!  Dear me, that left us nothing to do but explore the small town and drink cocktails on top of a tower.

Marco Polo's alleged childhood home.  This has apparently only been alleged since about 1920.

The next day (Saturday) saw us catching a ferry to Dubrovnik.  We'd read that Korcula was like a mini-Dubrovnik.  It is not.  Korcula is a small island and fascinating in its own right - but the scales are so incredibly different!  Korcula we walked around in 20 or 30 minutes.  Dubrovnik took us more than three hours to walk the walls alone! 

The Cats are the bosses in Croatia!  Get off my lounging table so you can eat? Furrrgedaboudit!

I was chuffed at booking an "apartment" in Dubrovnik (well good sized hotel room plus kitchenette) and carefully preserved our leftover dinner for another occasion.  I was really glad I did because the next day was HUGE - we walked all round the walls including all 1080 stairs. We went to the Maritime Museum. We went to Buza Bar where I swam off the rocks. And then we found a self service laundry and got ourselves some clean clothes. You can imagine I was looking forward to re-heating those leftovers and collapsing with a glass of wine (once the several flights of stairs to said apartment had been conquered). Well we had the wine - but the dinner was cold.
There was a stove top as promised in the advertising - and absolutely NOTHING to cook with. Not a frypan or griddle plate, saucepan or even a cake tin!

We bought the Dubrovnik Card and think we well and truly got our money's worth - not only did it cover museums and the walls + the fort, it offered 10% off at a great range of restaurants AND bus tickets.




Next stop -  Italy via ferry