101 (minus 4) Dalmatians

Day 22 (Wednesday) and Day 23 (Thursday)

As the weather is getting cooler now (some days it struggles to get above 30 degrees) we have run out of excuses not to go walking.  After breakfast we headed out of town to St Antony’s Steps.  We climbed all 97 of the steps to the top then spent a pleasant hour or so reading and enjoying the view.  The sound of the cicadas was quite deafening and on our way back down the steps we nearly stood on one.  He started to follow us home and we considered keeping him as a pet and calling him ‘Neil’.

In the evening after dinner we went for another walk around the town and listened to some Dalmatian harmony singers.  By Dalmatian I am of course referring to the area and not the spotty dogs.

The supermarkets here tend not to sell fresh meat so we had to sharpen up our Croatian and go to a butchers.  When it came to our turn Tracey said 'minced beef please' in perfect English. Thankfully, the butcher understood and asked how much.  when we said 250 grams he looked very surprised and we were worried that he would either give us a teaspoon full or half a cow.  Anyway, he then turned round, hacked a piece off the carcass hanging on the wall and shoved it through a mince, job done.

In the evening we went for a walk around the harbour and saw a nice yacht called the Eclipse.  Details here: http://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/details/1044/

It had very powerful lights fitted underneath the hull that lit up the sea, turning it into a kind of aquarium.  We noticed a rather large fish swimming about and it started to draw a small crowd.  Word must have got out because a group of young lads suddenly turned up with a harpoon gun!  At the sight of this the people on board shouted “turn off the lights!”.  Despite the desperate pleas of the young lads they wouldn’t turn them back on again.  I’m not sure if the people on board were worried about the fish or the hull of their yacht being harpooned.

looking up St Antony's Steps

looking down St Antony's Steps

 a photo for Sheila

Exploring MarcoPoloville

Day 21 (Tuesday)

After breakfast it was time to explore our new surroundings.  Our room is situated just outside the old part of Korcula Town.  Korcula Town sits on a tear drop shaped mound and is a well ordered grid of grey stone houses.  It is entered through the Land Gate which is located at the top of a 19^th century flight of stairs.  You can walk through the narrow spine of the town and branch off left or right at any point to get to the sea.

The town could be renamed MarcoPoloville.  You can buy a Marco Polo hat, visit Marco Polo’s house, eat a Marco Polo pizza and wash it down with a Marco Polo cocktail.  You can even sit on Marco Polo’s chair where he once sat and looked out to sea.  I’d be surprised if this was genuine as it’s self-assembly and looks like it was purchased at Ikea.

In the evening, after a bite to eat we went to a café to sit and listen to a couple of singers.  Their singing wasn’t the best but the chap was a great guitarist.

The Land Gate

Korcula Town

View from the Bell Tower of St Marks Cathedral

Video clip of the singers.  Great Guitarist, fast forward through the first 60 seconds!  Sorry about the poor quality of my camera phone.

From 'Hvar to Korcula' with Love

Day 20 (Bank Holiday Monday)

After we packed and were ready to leave we went to say goodbye to Bolto and Mrs Bolto but they weren’t about so we left them a bottle of wine as a thank you for looking after us (well what else do you get a couple who have their own vineyard).

We walked to the bus station to do battle with the Croatian bus network once again.   When the bus arrived it was already full, as it was a little cooler today the world and his wife had decided to take a day trip to Hvar Town.  It was standing room only from Stari Grad to Hvar Town.  The catamaran to Korcula didn’t leave until 6pm so we had a very late and very long lunch to pass the time.

The accommodation in Korcula had been booked through airbnb again and we had arrangements to meet a blonde Russian woman at the harbour called Tatiana who would take us to our room.  When we disembarked from the catamaran I scanned the harbour side and I soon spotted her.  I sidled up to her and said, “Hi, my name’s Whitfield, Mark Whitfield”.  Tatiana replied, “Ah, Mr Whitfield, I’ve been expecting you. Kom viv me for your accomodations”.  I duly followed her through the lanes of Korcula Town and realised after a couple of minutes that I was not James Bond and I’d left Tracey struggling back at the harbour with our cases.

Well, airbnb have come up trumps this time (thanks Craig).  The room is immaculate and all the fixtures and fittings are of a very high quality (they must have some money these Russians).  Tatiana lives in Korcula for 3 months of the year but mainly lives in St Petersburg.

I have to pause here to apologise to my dear friend Cris, ‘Sorry Cris, I didn’t know she was Russian until after I’d booked and paid for the room’.

Tatiana said she would now go and get the ‘secret communications password’ for us.  Great I thought, maybe I am James Bond.  When she returned I realised she was only talking about the passphrase for the wifi.

We went for a quick walk around Korcula Town (the supposed birthplace of Marco Polo) but it was already dark so we couldn’t see much.  Anyway, I have to go now as I need to sweep the rooms for bugs, report to M, contact Felix and meet Q for my consignment of gadgets.  Well, you only live twice you know!

a salad in Hvar Town

 catamaran to Korcula

Our room (sorry, no pants)

Fireworks, fish and fuzzy chops

Day 18 (Saturday) – continued…

Just before we settled down to our evening meal of chicken stew Mrs Bolto knocked on the door with a plate of battered fish that she had just cooked.  This made a perfect starter for us.

We were further entertained by a parade down in the harbour followed by a firework display to celebrate the annual swimming marathon.

Day 19 (Sunday)

Went to the beach in the afternoon and about 4pm the weather suddenly changed.  Some people had left their lilos unattended so those of us left on the beach spent our time running after them and securing them as best we could.  The Croatians seemed a bit concerned about the weather but to us it was like a hot, windy day on Boscombe beach.

We’re leaving Hvar island tomorrow on the catamaran to go to Korcula island for 5 nights then on to Dubrovnik.  This puts us about a week behind our original schedule but as we don’t really have a schedule…

thought I'd have a go at growing a beard

all going swimmingly

Day 17 (Friday)

Got up late today to spend another day on the beach.  When we got back Bolto welcomed us with a chilled glass of white wine (you don’t get that service in a 5 star hotel!).  He explained that he has his own little vineyard back home in Zagreb along with various fruit trees.  We told him that we enjoyed the fish and he started off to get another batch before we managed to convince him that we really didn’t need any more.  He had a glass of wine with us but he knocked it back quickly because he had things to do and people to see.

Day 18 (Saturday)

Yes, you’ve guessed it – another day on the beach.  It was preceded by a morning at the harbour watching the Stari Grad swimming marathon.  Open water swimmers from all over the world were racing over 16 km around the bay.  They started at 8am and finished about 4 hours later.  A German chap won the race and he didn’t even look out of breath.

German chap 1 just beats German chap 2

a wreath for the winner

the winner

Hvar got views for you

Day 16 (Thursday)

Today we decided to go on a day trip to Hvar Town, the capital of Hvar island.  This would be a sort of rehearsal for Monday when we leave Hvar Town port for the island of Korcula.

The Croatian bus system is still a bit of a mystery to us.  We boarded the bus at Stari Grad and managed to get a seat and assumed it would take us directly to Hvar Town.  However, Croatian bus drivers seem to work on the principle of 130% occupancy so we stopped at Stari Grad port to see how many more we could shoehorn in.

Hvar Town is another Croatian town full of medieval alleys overlooked by ancient stone houses.  Unfortunately it really was just too hot to do a great deal of exploring so we soaked up the atmosphere around the harbour.  Tracey is still having trouble with the currency and nearly bought a bracelet which she thought was £18 but it turned out to be £180.  Apparently it was very nice though.

The return bus journey was much quieter so to spice things up a bit the driver made us all get off at Stari Grad port and get onto another bus for no apparent reason.

Views of Hvar.........

Hvar Town citadel (or Spanjola)

Hvar Town

 Hvar Town

 Hvar Town harbour

 Hvar Town Square

 Hvar Town port

There's something fishy going on

Day 14 (Tuesday – continued)

…Tracey ran into the bathroom to get dressed and I hastily put on my shorts and opened the door where I found Mrs Bolto holding a bag of fish!

It would appear that what Bolto was trying to tell us was that his wife would bring us some fish and show us how to cook it.  Mrs Bolto entered the apartment and proceeded to give me instructions.  Now, I’m not very good at receiving cooking instructions in English but in Croatian I’m completely hopeless.  Mrs Bolto then disappeared and returned with flour and oil by which time Tracey had reappeared and was able to receive further instructions on how to prepare and cook the 10 sardines and 2 other larger fish (not yet identified but which require gutting).

We are looking forward to tomorrow’s supper with some trepidation.  Thankfully, the rest of the night remained quiet and we did receive an early morning call to go fishing.

Day 15 (Wednesday)

The day began with a trip to the market for some salad to go with the fish and we spent the rest of the day on the beach psyching ourselves up for the evening’s entertainment.

The fish were gutted, prepared and cooked and they tasted lovely.  Please see before and after photos below.

The fish (before cooking)

The fish (after cooking)

Stari Grad

Stari Grad

 A Stari Grad alley way

 Another Stari Grad alley way

Stari Grad harbour

Stari Grad

A Bolto out of the Blue

Day 14 (Tuesday)

It was very hot this morning so we decided to delay exploring the town until later on in the morning when it would be even hotter and spent rather longer than we should have done over our morning coffee.

Stari Grad is Hvar's second city.  It's full of little side streets and alleyways to explore.  The 16th century poet Petar Hektorovic used to live and work here.  His most famous work is "Fishing and Fisherman's Conversations" the first work of autobiographical realism in Croatian literature.  He seemed like a nice chap or wanted the poor to be treated with  bit of dignity.  We wondered who was because our ferry to and from Vis was named after him.

Having explored the town we set off to spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach then left our sunbathing early to do some laundry as we had noticed that people were avoiding us.

When Tracey was hanging out the washing to dry, Bolto's wife seemed most disturbed by the sight of our smalls draped over the front garden wall.  She went to her apartment and re-appeared with a clothes dryer for us - how kind.

As Tracey had been washing all afternoon I decided to treat her to a meal out.  After our meal we went for a walk along the harbour side (Riva) and noticed a chap waving frantically at us, It was Bolto and Mrs Bolto.  We told him that we had just had a lovely meal of fish once we had remembered what fish was in French.  At the sound of the word 'poisson' Mrs Bolto dug her husband in the ribs and jabbered something to him.  Bolto then proceeded to translate everything she had said from Croatian into French so that we could understand (not).  We all ended up nodding and saying 'tres bon'.

Now we think we've agreed to one of the following:

• A night of fishing with Bolto
• An evening fish supper with Bolto and Mrs Bolto at their apartment
• An evening fish supper at our apartment for Bolto and Mrs Bolto
• or anything else fish related.

We returned to our apartment and got ready for bed when there was a knock at the door...

A Bolthole with Bolto

Day 13 (Monday)

The catamaran from Bol to Jelsa on Hvar Island didn’t leave until 17:30 so we stored our luggage with reception and went to read by the sea.

As mentioned earlier the accommodation in Brac was over budget so the accommodation in Hvar will have to be under budget.  The website airbnb.com was recommended to us by Tracey’s brother.  As Craig knows a lot about the internet and even more about money saving we decided to give it a go.

Airbnb is slightly different to other booking type websites in that the apartment/room owner doesn’t have to pay to advertise, a small fee is added for the guest to pay to airbnb.  This means that more private owners are attracted to the site and the room prices are lower.

We made our booking with a chap called Neven who accepted our booking for his apartment in Stari Grad and emailed back to say that we should text his mate Bolto before we arrived so that he could show us to our apartment – what could possibly go wrong?  We texted Bolto when we left Bol and received no reply.  When we got to Jelsa on Hvar Island we got a taxi to Stari Grad and still had no reply.  On arrival at Stari Grad we phoned Bolto and discovered that he could not speak English.  By using a combination of French, German and Italian we arranged to meet at the tourist office in 5 minutes.

While waiting at the tourist office a guy smiled at me and I assumed he was Bolto so I began to follow him shouting ‘Hi Bolto’.  After a little while his smile turned to a frown and I realised my mistake.

True to his word Bolto soon arrived and we managed to converse in French as our French was better than his English (I never thought I’d say that!).  He drove us to our apartment which is just a short way from the town centre.  It’s certainly not palatial or grand but at £42 a night in August you can’t complain.

As we are in money saving mode this week we went to the supermarket and bought the ingredientsfor a pasta sauce with spaghetti and exceedingly nice it was too.  Our first impressions of Stari Grad are good and we look forward to exploring more tomorrow.

The catamaran

A visit to Roland

Day 12 (Sunday)

Well after an interesting nights sleep (for some anyway) we began the day with breakfast on the terrace before setting off to explore the little town of Bol.  Again it is situated around a small harbour with narrow streets leading up the hill.  The backdrop of mountains is spectacular and adds a sense of drama.  Apparently the limestone from the surrounding area is particularly prized and was used in the building of the Diocletian Palace in Split (see earlier posts) and the White House in Washington amongst others.  We could tell you which ones but we have packed the guidebook and it is not easily accessible at the moment.

We decided to talk a walk along the sea front to visit the famous Zlatni Rat beach at the tip of the peninsular (photo to follow) which changes shape every year depending on the wind direction but is essentially a finger of white shingle stretching out into the sea.

As you might imagine it was quite busy on a Sunday in August and the walk down into the sea meant climbing over towels, children and sunbeds but was definitely worth the effort as the water was crystal clear and very blue.  We have not seen this many people for a while.  The walk along to the beach is tree lined and hugs the seashore so was really pleasant and we resisted the urge to get on the little train that takes you back into town deciding that the walk was better for us.

We returned to the Mendula Restaurant again tonight as we had enjoyed our meal so much last night.  After a delicious fish platter, a pint of Croatian beer and a complimentary tipple (honey grappa for Mark and Limoncello for Tracey) we headed back with every intention of doing our packing for tomorrows departure to Hvar but got side tracked by a cheesy film on Doma TV which starred Tim Allen and Chevy Chase in some kind of sci-fi spoof which was strangely addictive so the packing will have to wait until the morning.

Zlatni Rat beach

Bol Harbour

 View from our hotel room

Four Hills and a Funeral

Day 11 (Saturday)

As is tradition we started with breakfast from the bakery in Komiza.  A cherry strudel thing for me and frankfurter in a bread roll thing for Tracey.  It was then time to go back to our room, pick up our luggage and sharpen our elbows for the bus trip to Vis Town.

Arriving at the bus stop in plenty of time meant that we could put our luggage in the boot of the bus and our chances of not sitting in the stairwell increased dramatically.  The bus driver let us all on and we started to be roasted alive in the bus.  It got so bad that even the Croatians started shouting to the driver to turn on the air con.  The driver replied that is was on (at least that’s what I think he said).  Once the bus started to move the air con did start working and our lives were saved.

The ferry crossing back to Split was uneventful and then on to the catamaran to the town of Bol on the island of Brac.  We had booked accommodation at the Villa Giardino:

http://www.dalmacija.net/bol/villagiardino/

This is the first place we have booked ‘on the go’.  It’s a bit above budget but we’ll try and save on the next one ;-)

We were told that it was just up the hill from the harbour.  After walking up four different hills we finally found it!  The owner (Christine) took pity on us and furnished us with a glass of homemade lemonade – delicious.  Christine recommended the restaurant Mendula for our evening meal which was further up the hill (well, at least it was downhill on the way back).  The meal was great and we finished with complimentary liquors.  A grappa for me and something that tasted of pear drops for Tracey.  I’m not sure what was in it but Tracey certainly had some bizarre dreams as a result.  I won’t go into too much detail but it included a funeral, Inspector Lewis and time travel.

The internet connection here is still really slow so I’m afraid there are no photos.

Goodbye Vis and thanks for all the fish

Day 10 (Friday)

Sadly toady is our last full day on Vis as we island hop tomorrow to Brac, via Split.  We have become very fond of Komiza and its many charms over the last week.  The Rough Guide describes Komiza as achingly beautiful and we would definitely agree.  It was the perfect introduction to Croatian island life and we have tried very hard to immerse ourselves in it.

We walked to the beach this morning having stopped in the square for our morning coffee and bakery visit first and our trip the fruit market to buy peaches.  If we eat any more peaches we are going to start looking like them but they are truly delicious and make the perfect picnic lunch for the beach.  We spent the day reading and swimming as you would expect before returning to Villa Nonna to pack before heading out for our supper.

We have made a new friend of the Bosnian waiter in Pizzeria Charly despite our faux pas earlier in the week when we assumed he was Croatian.  Bosnia were playing Wales in a friendly football match on Wednesday evening and they won 2:0  so we were able to congratulate him which he was delighted about. 

There is currently much competition to see who can read the most books during the trip and the scores so far are:

Tracey   4             Mark     1

Mark claims that this is because he has to update the blog, look for our next accommodation each night and that I read chick lit but naturally I would beg to differ.

Remind me again why we felt it necessary to bring quite as much as we did……I am sure this bag is getting fuller every time I re-pack it.

Komiza harbour at night

Visiting Vis Town in Vis

Day 9 (Thursday)

Happy Birthday Bro!

We hopped on the local bus to visit the only other town on the island, imaginatively called Vis Town.  This is the main ferry port and one of the reasons for visiting was to buy ferry tickets (from a woman on the edge of a breakdown) for our return journey to Split on Saturday (Subota).  I hasten to add the cause of her nervous breakdown was nothing to do with us.

In this heat we have found that it is good to take regular rests and in between these rests it is good practice to take it slow and easy.  This normally involves prolonged periods in waterside cafes observing rich people or their staff parking their yachts and hoping that someone would fall in.  No luck as yet.

Vis Town

I wouldn't worry if I owned this!

 Time for a rest

P.S.  Good News!  The 'Why Worry' yacht is for sale, a snip at 17.75 million euros. 

http://www.boatinternational.com/yacht-sales/31241/why-worry-for-sale

Anchovy pasty - really?

Day 8 (Wednesday)

A repeat of day 6 really.  Breakfast consisted of komiska pogaca which is a sort of anchovy and tomato pasty – jolly nice.  Apparently this is a speciality on Vis so it would have been rude to leave without trying it.  Sorry, no photos as we had eaten them before we remembered to take a picture.

We welcomed the news from home that Margaret and Arthur’s twin grandchildren, Max & Elliot have been born.  Congratulations to all.

After another day on the beach we had a very nice pizza and managed to insult the waiter by calling him Croatian when he was in fact Bosnian.  You have to be careful in these here parts!  There was also a procession of some holy relic or other around the town as the local people celebrated the feast of the Virgin (Assumption Day).

Komiza harbour

Grotta Azura

Day 7 (Tuesday)

Today we booked ourselves on a day long boat trip to see the Blue Cave on the islet of Bisevo.  It has been a tourist attraction since the 1880s, when a minor Viennese painter, Eugen Von Ransonnet-Villet, dynamited the entrance to the cave to widen it for boat access.  Quite what a minor Viennese painter was doing with dynamite I don’t know.

We caught a boat over to Bisevo and there we waited for a smaller boat to take us into the cave.  The cave is beautiful, water filtered light shines in through a submerged side entrance bathing the whole cave in a shimmering blue light.

There was much clambering over wildly bobbing boats to reach the quayside and miraculously neither of us or anyone else fell in.  After the visit to the Blue Cave we got back onto the boat for a trip around the island ending up at a beautiful sandy cove where we spent the rest of the day doing what now comes naturally, swimming, reading and relaxing.

We returned to Komiza harbour at about 5.30pm and had time for a quick nap, well we had had a busy day, before showering and going out for some supper.  For those of you of a nervous disposition, look away now.

 Tonight’s supper was chosen from a chiller full of fish and our waiter described them to us in such detail that it almost felt like we should have named before they were cooked.  Anyway, they were delicious even though I still could not tell you what they were.

Entering the Blue Cave

 Inside the Blue Cave

 Beach on Islet of Bisevo

Don't make an enemy of an anenome

Day 5 (Sunday) (Mark)

Having arrived on Vis last evening and checked in to our apartment, ‘Citrus’ in Villa Nonna http://www.villa-nonna.com we were ready to explore the small town of Komiza.  It is very picturesque with a beautiful harbour.

Exploring the town didn’t take long so we set off for the beach.  We didn’t stop at the first beach we found as it was rather busy instead we went past an old tuna canning factory and walked down a gravel track to find a beach to ourselves.  Unfortunately, after a few minutes splashing around I managed to put my hand on a sea urchin which was rather painful.  Spent the rest of the day reading on the beach.

Day 6 (Monday)

See Day 6 (without the sea urchin incident as we found a nicer beach)

Time to Split to Vis

Day 4 – Split to Vis

After another croissant breakfast we went to explore more of the town and found a nice café to relax and do a bit of people watching.  However, it wasn’t the people walking past but a family of four from the UK who provided the entertainment.  The waiter brought them the bill and they tried to pay in euros.  The waiter (quite reasonably) said he could accept euro notes but not coins and the change would have to be in Croatian Kuna.  The family were incensed and refused to back down.  I went over to offer to exchange some of their euros for some of my Kuna but the father demanded to know who I was.  At this point I decided he neither wanted nor deserved my help.

The family left without paying and a couple next to us congratulated me on my attempt at diplomacy but we all decided that they were beyond help and we would both leave the waiter a large tip by way of apology for our fellow countrymen’s behaviour.

After this excitement it was time to board our ferry for the 2.5 hour trip to Vis Island.  When we arrived at Vis Town we needed to catch a bus to Komica on the other side of the island.

The bus was already full to bursting point and there was certainly no room for our luggage.  This didn’t seem to bother the driver and he told us to climb aboard and make ourselves comfortable in the footwell.  We then spent an interesting 20 minutes driving up a mountain another hair raising 10 minutes coming back down the other side (see photos below).

We found our accommodation and we will spend the next 7 nights here exploring the island at the ‘islets’ around including the Blue Cave. 

A diabetics nightmare!

Swedish Health Muffins

Day 3 – Swedish Health Muffins (Mark and Tracey)

After a breakfast of honey croissants from the nearby bakery (40p each) and figs from the market (£1 per punnet) we explored more of the old town of Split.  Essentially this centres around the Diocletian Palace that was built by the Emperor Diocletian as his retirement villa.  Although the upper part of the villa is now in ruins the basements remain intact and replicate the floor plan of the upper areas exactly.  We spent a happy hour wondering around in the basements before surfacing again to explore more of the narrow winding streets surrounding the palace.  As we have yet to acclimatise to the heat we eventually succumbed and found a tree shaded café from which to cool down and people watch for a while as is traditional.

Having had great success with Michelle’s recommendation for somewhere to eat on Wednesday night we again followed her recommendation to visit a traditional Croatian restaurant for supper.  This took a while to find as the Riva (promenade) was closed for a ticketed ‘rave’ later that night which meant another wander through the narrow streets of the old town to reach the restaurant called Fife but it was definitely worth the effort.  There was a queue to get in which we thought must be a good sign and just as Michelle had described the restaurant was set out in family style with shared tables.  A space was quickly found for us and we joined a Norwegian couple who live in Trondheim.  To our shame we cannot remember their names but they were lovely and we shared conversation with them while we ate our meals. The husband was particularly interested in football but we soon reached the limit of our combined knowledge even though Mark tried his best to explain who Paolo d’Cannio was.

Next we were joined by a young Australian couple on their way back to Australia from having been in the UK for 2 years.  We tried to pretend we are still hip and trendy and asked them if they knew who was performing at the ‘rave’.  Matt informed us that it was someone who used to be in a group called ‘Swedish Health Muffins’.  We were somewhat surprised by this and sought further clarification only to discover that it was in fact  group called Swedish House Mafia.  How foolish (and old!) are we.  Our supper of grilled fish, squid and vegetables completed we bade them a fond farewell and headed back so the safety of our room in case we got caught up in the reveling.

Rubbing the Bishop's toe for luck

View of Split from the port

An Appointment with the Emperor

Day 2  (Mark)

After bus, train, plane then bus again we arrived in Split at 10:30.  With map in hand we confidently strode off in the direction of our first night’s accommodation.  What should have been a 10 minute walk turned into a 40 minute tour of central Split in 30 degree heat.  We must have looked very lost as a couple of Croatians took pity on us and tried to give us directions.

Our apartment (the grandly named Emperor’s Suites) was No. 11 Trumbulac.  We found Trumbulac OK and No. 10 and No. 12 but No.  11 was nowhere to be seen.  After a few blind alleys we stumbled into someone’s back yard and said ‘number eleven?’  Unfortunately they didn’t speak any English and I didn’t have enough fingers to explain what we were looking for.  Eventually, by pointing at house numbers, we made a breakthrough and we followed him at great speed to No. 11 where we met our first landlady – Michelle.

Michelle obviously loves her city and wasted no time telling us about the Diocletian Palace and which restaurants to go to.  She advised us to go to the Palace first as the Emperor welcomes the tourists at midday.  We didn’t want to disappoint her (or him) and walked through an even hotter Split for our appointment.  It turns out that there were lots of other tourists in the city as he didn’t have time to greet us personally.  Click on ‘Photos’ (above) for some pictures of the Emperor.

Our apartment 

Note to self - avoid taking photos of rooms with large mirrors while wearing underpants!

Apologies to earlier viewers but I had to increase my followers somehow.

Ready to Split to Split

Day 1 (or minus 1 depending on your point of view)

After two years of planning and saving we are almost ready to begin our new adventure.  We only have a few jobs left on the list and then we are ready to go.  For two such risk adverse people I cannot quite believe that we are going to do this but we are both very excited and looking forward to it very much.  Sleep was hard to come by last night and we both feel like children on Christmas Eve.

Mark is just having a minor crisis with the lawn mower as it seems to know that we are going away and is making all sorts of peculiar noises.  I suspect that another trip to Homebase is imminent. 

The next major challenge will be to see if we can fit everything we think we will need into our bags and rucksacks and still be able to lift them let alone ensure we are within the baggage limit.  The notion of travelling light is rather an alien concept and who knew that we would need so many adapters and chargers for all the technology we apparently cannot do without.

We are travelling up to Gatwick by train tonight for our flight with EasyJet to Split at 0610 tomorrow morning.  Split is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Croatia and building is believed to have been started by the Romans in 298 AD.  It is also a great place from which to explore the islands of Vis, Hvar and Brac which we fully intend to take advantage of. 

Anyway more later as the packing will not do itself!