Adriatic Island Hopping: Split-Jelsa-Kut

Ahoy-

We set sail on the Gloria II on another perfect Croatian september morning, with nothing but blue waters and relaxation in front of us for the next 6 days!

Our first stop was on Brac island, where we dropped anchor in an idyllic cove and did some snorkeling. My God was the water clear. This cove also had a 2 mile hike that took you to monestary built into the cliffside. I was very beautiful, but we didn't consider brining money for admission and Erin wasn't wearing proper attire to get into a church-esque building (i.e. a bikini). Regardless, it was a cool hike that got us sweaty and ready for another dip before taking off toward Bol, and the famous Zlatni Rat beach, which is like a big hook of pebbles jetting out of the mainland. It was pretty crowded and we felt like a little more privacy, so we headed toward the north coast of Hvar island between Jelsa and Vrboska, where there was perfectly still waters and just a couple sunbathers. Following our second dip-stop, we headed to Jelsa, which is a beautiful little village complete with a couple little churches and lots of narrow alleyways between the stone buildings.

We successfully moored up the boat for the first time with minimal trouble, showered at the public beach, and walkted around the town for a bit before having a couple bottles of wine on the boat. After that, we walked to town and saw a concert in the 17th century town square with 9 or so accapella singers who did an amazing job. I literally think we were some of the only tourists there, as it seemed the entire town was there to watch the local men perform. It was definitely a unique experience. After the concert, we grabbed some good dinner on a cool stone terrace and called it a night.

The following morning on our way to Vis island, which is the furthest west island off of Croatia, we encountered what the sea is supposed to be like, with some seriously choppy waves. It was a little stressful getting over, but once we made it to Vis, we tucked around the island to more calm waters...the most beautiful I have seen.

So as any rational person would, we dropped anchor, had a dip and probably the best snorkeling of the trip and made lunch.

After lunch we headed toward Vis town; we knew it might be a little busy, so we arrived early...thank god they had lots of spaces! There were about 70 sail boats that occupied ALL of Vis harbor, which relegated us to the other side of the bay, in Kut, where the water was a bit more unprotected to the winds of that day. At least we got a spot! Below is us docked in front of Kut town, another picture perfect fishing village. The island was acutally frozen in time from the 1800's because it was a British Naval base until 1989, when they finally opened the island to outsiders. It made the ambiance of the island that much more magical.

I then made a call to Oliver Roki, owner of Roki's vineyard, who also hosts parties to his vineyard for AMAZING meals. Oliver, the owner, picked us up in his van next to the Kut police station and drove us to the restaurant. We were the last ones there (there were probably 5 groups of 6 or more people), so he showed us around the property, let us peek at our Peka (traditional way of cooking Croatian food), and gave us a tasting to wet our appetite. The cellar was built way way back when his great great grandfather began to make wine (nobody knows when it was built). The ambiance for the dinner was sooo perfect. We sat outside on his terrace, had a couple bottles of wine and without question, the best meal on the trip. We were licking the bones of the Gunnard we destroyed! Another great day to the trip had filled our memories and our bellies!

PekaGunnard

Gunnard carcus!

Cruising the Croatian Coast - Dubrovnik & Split

The time had finally arrived; Meaghan and Ryan arrived two wednesday's ago already almost a week into their 17 day coverage of europe that would take them from Iceland, to London, to Dublin, to Croatia, and back on a similar path (sans Dublin). After a night of pub crawling and gastro-pubbing and a night of packing and recovering, our flight to Dubrovnik arrived. We came in on an amazing Friday morning, sun blaring and vitamin D abound!
We spent the first day in Dubrovnik, the most beautiful walled city in the world, meandering about the city and climbing around the walls. The city enjoyed its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it was a trading center in the mediterranean. This is when its beautiful walls that protect the city were built, surviving multiple earthquakes that destroyed many of the city's buildings. The buildings are mostly from the late 1600's.

During the Bosnia-Serb conflict, the serbs invaded the town and it was under seige for several months. However, the serbs could not penetrate the city's old walls even in the 1990's, and the young men of the city held off the Serbs until the Croatian army came from Split.

It has such amazing history and the beautiful orange roofs and massive walls seem like they are out of a fairy tale. We walked the walls (counter-clockwise of course, thanks Slick Rick Steves) under the hot sun and afterwards, made it to Buza I, which is a tiki bar and scattered chairs placed between the western-most wall and the water, on a few rocky ledges. We had our first of many Ozjusko's and then jumped in the water at the foot of the bar. Not a bad start for this vacation! For dinner we ate at the old port seafood stop called Lokanda Peskarija, went to a shishi club called Gil's (no need to go unless you are somebody SUPER cool) and then to a 15th century fortress hosting a nightclub. Rick Steves talked of a young crowd, but we felt like we were babysitting highschoolers. Since we paid admission, we made ourselves have fun and actually ended up having a great time dancing and making some underage (i.e. 18) friends while we were at it:-)

The next morning, we had a cup of coffee with our Sobe proprieter, Pero, who runs Villa Ragusa. There should be no other option when staying here, as we paid €30 per couple to stay in the heart of the old town...which is unheard of in Dubrovnik. Pero even dropped us at the car rental place, from which we were off to Split to get our boat!

On the coastal drive that makes Hwy 1 up the Northern Cali coast seem like playing house with your sister, we stopped in Ston, a cool little village with the second longest fortification wall in the world after the great wall of China, which we found pretty impressive. The walls were erected to protect its salt mines from being pirated (see far left of photo below). During the 1500's, salt was more valuable than silver.After arriving in Split to a minor (nearly major) boat complication, we got everything worked out, and walked into Split to enjoy a pizza for dinner and cruise Diocletian's Palace, which dates back to the 300's when the former Roman emperor built it as his retirement home. It was eventually taken over by the town and today the 1700 year old palace is still integrated into the city, with cafe's and banks still tenants in the palace. It was a very unique experience as if this was in the US, it'd be a national monument, but here, its just the local hangout where as Slick Rick would put it, teenagers lick ice cream off eachothers faces:-) We set sail tomorrow!

Cordoba/Malaga/Preigo de Cordoba, Spain

If Granada was hot, then Cordoba is the sun.

We woke up early the morning after our amazing dinner and wind-down in Granada to more cloudless weather. We hit the open road, winding our way around beautiful backroads, through more and more (and more and more) olive trees...my God, we must have seen 10 million of them during the week, that's probably accurate. The drive was great because we would occasionally turn a corner to see a beautiful whitewashed village as such:

Our stop on the way to Cordoba was Preigo de Cordoba (sounds like you are welcome Cordoba). We stopped at the grocery store and grabbed a picnic and had a nice little lunch between a medevil castle and a public fountain (probably 20th century...oh well). Afterwards, we found the real treat of this village/town. The old town was stark white walls and there must have been a city ordinance that required residents to plant hydrangas outside their doors. Very beautiful; the end of the old town brought you too an amazing vista that reminded me of the picnic our French group had between Mirepoint and Toulouse in 2001....oh the memories.

After lunch we said Prego to Preigo and hit the olive trail to Cordoba. I am not sure why, but I have always had a fasination with the Mesquite in Cordoba, formerly a church, converted into a mosque during the Moorish occupancy, and now re-converted back into a catholic church...it is a beautiful mix of Moorish and Christian styles, a true blending of cultures. The hundreds of arches were amazing and were from several different eras including the Byzantine empire (a long time ago), roman times, Moorish times, and the renaissance. They did a great job making the different sized columns uniform.

Here is your blending of cultures...

Right away, I understood why I wanted to visit. Super cool!!!

Since it was a million and three degrees (it was 40 celcius, which is around 105), we took of from Cordoba after wandering around the old town a bit more and made our way close to the airport, which happens to be on the Costa del Soul in Malaga. We stopped, stripped, and swam for about 3 hours before our flight! Erin's first swim in the Med (and topless-optional beach) was a sucess! It was amazing to be back in the Medeterranean after all this time (not including my early April swim in Cadaques (north of Barcelona) with Erin and Linsey in 2005). It was yet again, a terrific conclusion to an amazing bank holiday weekend

Granada, Spain

After the smooth 2 hour drive from Seville to Granada and impeccable navigation through the restricted driving zones of the old town, we made it to our hotel, Casa Morisca, located at the base of the back entry of the Alhambra, the famous Moorish palace constructed by Sultan Mohammed IV among others, and dates back to the 700’s.

We arrived to an extremely hot day (all amplified because we live in Dublin, where it is forbidden to break 70 degrees, even in August), but managed okay, thanks to an amazing tapas bar that still holds the tradition of giving customers their first tapa free with a drink order (beers there are €1.40, or like $62.50;-). They also have fortified wine that made for a stiff glass of sangria at 2pm. Bodegas Castaneda. This place is a must if in Granada. Remember not to bring your camera, I almost got decapitated with a butcher knife for taking these photos.

After lunch, we fought the 105 degree heat and climed up the old town to catch great views of white washed buildings, churches, and a great vista of the Alhambra before heading to the Cathedral in Granada before our Alhambra tour.

After the views of the alahambra, we travelled back down for some ice cream, and a tour of the Catedral (and Capilla Real), which is a beatuiful, MASSIVE church (not quite like the Catedral in Seville, but big) that is a stark white, like all the buildings in Andalucia.

Make sure when buying tickets in advance for the Alhambra, you choose whether you want the morning or afternoon; but beyond that, the tickets specify an entry time to the main palace. I of course didn’t spot this small detail and we had to repurchase tickets (not cheap) to see the palace. It was worth it though, with amazing carvings, arches, and history. The audio guide is worth it (note you can share one with your misses). The pics speak for themselves, what a beautiful place!

The architechure in the complex was stunning, the detailed carvings were the best we have seen in Moorish architecture, and we've seen the best in the last 10 months. Call me uncle Mo.

After making our way back down the hill (BIG HILL), a rinser, and a footrub, we set off for dinner and found this amazing place that has spectacular views of the Alhambra at night….wow!! The name is Carmen de Verde Luna. But first, my Granadese girlfriends...

The food was good too. They cooled you off when you arrive with a complitary martini slushy. We ordered the tasting menu, which was €25 each, but no joke, included basically the whole menu (bread, 6 appetisers, salad, 4 main courses, and desert. Our dinner was accompanied by a couple half liters of house white, which was great with an ice cube on this warm evening. I can't even describe the feeling, an amazing dinner combined with a top 20 view; spectacular spectular!

It was an amazing final dinner of the trip and a great prelude to the views of the Alhambra at night. It was off to Cordoba the following morning for the last (almost) leg of our long weekend.

Seville, Spain

We arrived in Malaga airport around noon on Friday, hopped in the car, and were within seconds lost. They didn’t provide us a map, but thanks to the time out Seville guide, it provided a vague, but detailed enough map to get us on our way to Seville, via Ronda. We made it to Ronda pretty unscathed, driving through the Sierra Nevada national park, passing amazing olive trees, mountains, and vistas. Ronda was a nice stop, a picturesque Peubles Blanos (white village) situated on either side of a 400+ foot gourge….really beautiful. Following Ronda, it was back to the poorly labelled roads, so we didn’t quite find the second town we wanted to see on the way. No bother though, Seville was awaiting. From the second we arrived in Seville, we were hooked. Amazing architechure, beautiful weather (hot but dry…okay, a little too hot), amazing food and night life. After the strolling around Plaza Espana and having our first tapas order written in chalk on the bar in front of us at Los Columns, we were home!

After our first tapas bar, it was on to the next, then the next, and then another. We did our first night of tapas crawling in the Barrio Santa Cruz, where we stayed at Puerto de Seville Hotel, which is very affordable and highly recommended. We were out pretty late that night, nothing a greasy churro didn’t solve the next morning, before making our way to the Real Alcazar, a beautiful depiction of Moorish architecture built in the 13th century, and formally home to Ferdinand and Isabella after the Spanish Requisition. The building itself was absolutely amazing, better than most Moorish architecture in Marrakech even.

After the Real Alcazar, we had a bite for lunch and then wandered towards the river and toured the plaza del toros, a gorgeous bull fighting ring. We unfortunately didn’t see a fight, but the arena was beautiful with striking colors. We picked up a cool poster that will hopefully go up in our house in the Minny when we move back.

After the Toros, we went to the Seville Cathedral, which was built around a former mosque tower (which the Spanish put a peak on the standard Arabic flat-topped tower (see our Marrakech post for an example). The church was great and also had remains of Chirstopher Columbus, proved by DNA tests in 1996. The church was absolutely massive, the ceilings were super high throughout the church and there were countless separate rooms and chapels. The church is said to be more volumous than St. Peter’s (I think we’ll have to go back to Rome and see for ourselves).

We went to the Centro area of the town that night and went to a couple more great tapas places (one was a gastronomic delight called Bar Europa, the other called Los Bodegas was packed with locals and lots of fun). Seville treated us very very well, it’d be worth a trip from the states to visit. The next morning it was off to Granada!