The European Club

Over the summer, I have played a lot less golf than I envisioned, mostly because of the over-priced green fees and the inaccessability to any courses while not having a car. However, David, Joe, and myself got a 4 round ticket at the European club, a links course on the Irish sea. It is heavily discounted on a per-round basis from the €180 you'd pay for a single round, so we went for it.
Tiger Woods holds the course record at a 67, to give you an idea of the difficulty, and Paddy Harrington (who won two majors this summer) won the Irish PGA championship at a -1 for the three round tourney. We played the following day from the same tees as the Irish pros, which was actually my best of the four rounds, I think I shot a 93.

It is a beautiful course about 45 minutes south of Dublin in Britta's Bay in Wicklow. Probably the most beautiful setting combined with the most difficult course I have played. The two times I broke 100 (out of four) would usually drive me to put (slam) down the clubs, but in this case, it just caused me to shake my head with a smile. The European club got the best of me alright, with its massive pot bunkers lined with railroad ties that invade the narrow fairways, which is a better option that the knee high thickets that define the rough...but they were four unforgettable rounds!

L(ondon)SAT

A couple months back, when Erin was between jobs out here, she made the move and decided to apply to take the LSATs in case she ever wanted to do law school (something that always fit in with her degree in Poli Sci and career interests). Good idea I thought...even better idea given the fact the test is only offered in London and that meant a weekend trip is in front of us!!!

We arrived to a city we wish Dublin was more reminiscent of; tons of character in each neighborhood, affordable restaurants, a variety of beer options (YES), and lots and lots of cultural to do's! Not to say Dublin doesn't have (a little of) this, but London is exploding with energy.

I arrived in late Friday, meeting Erin at an old pub by our friend Rob's place, who graciously let us stay at his place this weekend while he was away in Ukraine (jealous). After a hand-pumped house bitter, we went to a romantic little french restaurant where we might as well have been in the 7th district a Paris. The food was about a 7, but the atmosphere was great! Erin and I don't really go out for food in Dublin (not worth the €23 an entree for average food), so this was a treat that didn't disappoint!

The next morning, we wandered towards notting hill via Hyde Park, taking the route Linsey took from the tube to her flat when she studied in London a little while back. This walkway should bring back the memories. We made it over to a pub near St. Pauls and Erin's testing site for lunch, allowing Erin to brush-up before the exam.

I dropped her off at the exam at Ironmongers Hall, which is the old trade guild established in the 1300's. The building isn't quite that old, but it was featured in Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire if you buffs can recognise below.

While in the test, I took the opportunity to explore the British Museum. I never realized that the British pillaged so many Egyptian and Greek artifacts. Nor did I realise that half of the Parthenon was in London! It was amazing to see so many egyptian artifacts that date from 1400 BC to 3100 BC. Very cool! The British Museum was followed by a little tour of several historic pubs of London, starting with the pub that exclusively sells the oldest brewed beer in London. If it expands, you'll notice this brewry began in 1639.
I then grabbed my next pint at the Seven Stars, which dates to 1609 and hasn't really been remodeled since. It had so much character and the bartender even let me sample all its hand-pumped cask beers.

The third, the Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, had its latest renovation in 1667 and was very quaint. This was my least favorite as the old part was packed and I was relegated to a St. Joseph-style (but much nicer and better beer - no icehouse on tab) garage-esque part of the bar (also packed). The ambiance was great and I have no regrets, however.

I then picked Erin up and we rushed to grab a quick cornish pasty for dinner and a half pint, and it was off to Spamalot, a broadway musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail that had as laughing all night! A ticket to the play at £15 was cheaper than a bus into the city on the Gatwick Express (£16.90) and about the same as a round trip bus ride to Windsor (£12.50). It was a great bargain and lots of fun. On our way home, we grabbed a pint at the Churchill Arms, a colorful bar littererd with pots and pans on the inside, and flower baskets on the outside. The following morning, whilst lashing rain, we headed off to Windsor, to see the famous castle of the Royal Family. After a longer than expected bus ride, we got in and toured the amazing (and amazingly huge) castle, which sprawls across the city.

Afterwards, it was a pasty for lunch and a walk down to Eton College, founded in the late 1400's....a very old and historic school.

It was then off to London and then to the airport, a successful weekend from many standpoints!!

Adriatic Island Hopping Finale: St. Klement-Hvar Town-Stari Grad

With only two nights left on our week at sea, the horizon was near and we began to get depressed that this amazing trip is coming to a conclusion. As we woke up in St. Klement, you walk to the back of the boat and see 15 feet to the bottom of the sea as if we are floating the water was so clear. We had a short hike on the island before pulling up the anchor and making way to Hvar. We left at about 12:30 to get there in attempt to get a mooring spot along the promanade. This would not be so however, as for some reason the most busy harbor we made it to during the week had some of the fewest mooring spots. We quickly gave up on getting a spot and instead took one of the mooring lines on the other side of the harbor. While we had to dingy into the promanade, the commanding views of the city were great. Also, despite the traffic in the harbor, the water was some of the clearest of the week, we could jump in the water without hesitating. We got settled, helped an english couple with a bum propeller get moored up, then had some pizza in the historic square of Hvar, dating from the 1500s. The city was definitely more touristy then the others we visited, but it was still beautiful, with old buildings, churches, and lots of history. We walked around for a while, took a nap on the boat (Erin was especially cute), and then had some cheese, bread, and wine for dinner. We had more wine than needed, which got the girls into the dancing mood when we made it back to land for the evening. After dancing on the promenade for 15 minutes at one bar, we went to the imfamous Carpe Diem, which was a cool bar in a great location (like all bars we went to this week), but definitely not worth all the international hype it gets. Afterwards we made it to our second fortress night club of the trip, which was an awesome club with a great setting perched on top of the harbor of Hvar town. There was even a swimming pool that people were dancing in. It was almost a cancun-style party in a 13th century fortress, definitely a unique experience and it was nice to have people our age, unlike our Rick Steve's recommended Dubrovnik spot filled with kids nearly half our age (depressing).

We didn't get much sleep that night as the club took us till 4:30am, and we were up at 8:30am, waking up to a beautiful sunrise over the renaissance city. We had a quick cappuccino, got a few more essentials for lunch and set sail to the other side of Hvar island, to Stari Grad (it was either Stari Grad or Vbroska, but Erin beat me in paper, rock scissors, so it was SG). We stopped in an idilyic cove that was full of sunbathers (mostly nude, but we were immune to those particular sight). The ladies made a terrific lunch while Ryan and I explored on land for a couple minutes, and we enjoyed our final cove swim of the trip in the most calm waters of the trip, we didn't even need to drop anchor if need be...and we are at sea!?!?

After the lunch, swim, and such, we headed to Stari Grad, the oldest of the stone villages we moored during the trip, dating to the 1300's, but some of the foundations of the current city buildings were built on roman ruins, as this was a roman outpost 1800 years ago.

We walked around the city for a while, taking in the scerenity of the narrow cobblestone walkways (to narrow to call streets) surrounded by quaint stone cottages and buildings. After a few games of cards and finishing the last of the Croatian butterscotch liquor we bought in Jelsa, we headed to Emeritas for dinner, an old hermitage on the outskirts of town whose chapel is still in use today....as the wine cellar (only house wine served here). We had an amazing meat tray, followed by a mediocore fish tray, walked home for the championship of the weeklong cribbage tourney (Ryan beat Erin in a landslide - hard to accept still), and Ryan and I finished the last bottle of wine on the trip; we purchased most of our wine on the trip based on the existance of a donkey on the lablel or not. When in Croatia, go donkey label or go home!!!

The next morning we had one last dip in the Adriatic surrounded by killer bees before we returned the boat to learn that we had to purchase an unusual souvenier during the week....our anchor that we allegedly bent during the week. Too bad for the low-cost european airlines luggage restrictions, because that would've fit well above Meaghan and Ryan's fireplace back home!

It was definitley a trip of a lifetime and might be our last time to pretend to live the high life yachting the adriatic in seach of Buoey Boy and Bridgette. Maybe next time we'll see them at Carpe Diem:-)

Adriatic Island Hopping Part 2: Kut-Vis-St. Klement

Ahhh yes...another day, another Ozujsko!!!

The night in Kut was a little rough on us, we woke up still swaying from the previous night. After breakfast, which consists of a cappuccino and using the restaurants facilities (as we wanted to use the pump flush in the boat toilet as little as possible). We then moved our boat across the harbor from Kut to Vis town in expectation of a more peaceful night (continue reading for actual night sleep). Once the boat was parked and all was settled, we grabbed some fruit and rented scooters at a local shop and hit the road to explore Vis for the day.

The scooters were awesome and we had great views all over the island.

Our first stop was Stiniva bay, an absolutely remarkable bay that is kindof like an hour glass, a strenuous walk down a cliff takes you to the white pebble beach with amazing clear water. One of the coolest spots this side of Koh Yao in Thailand.

We snorkeled and swam for a couple hours before re-boarding our scooters to Komiza on the other side of the island. Komiza is another beautiful town on Vis island that is frozen in the 1700s, one of the most amazing little stone villages we have ever seen. We walked around, grabbed some ice cream and then headed for Darko's.

On the way, we pulled over to see how the grapes were growing for this falls harvest. Looks like the 2008 vintage will be lovely!

Darko's was raved about on a couple websites I found when researching for the trip. It is literally a meal on his grape vine covered terrace, where EVERYTHING is homemade and local. The only thing not from the island is the fish! We started with some homemade appertifs, which got things off on the right foot. We had octopus for a starter, then seafood pasta, and for our main we had three different kinds of fish (forget the name) and calamari. It was all really good, but definitely not as good as Roki's (not nearly) and priced higher. We were shocked when we got the bill (€7 cookies (x2) for desert is shocking). It was all in all a great experience, but the price was a bit of a set back. Choose Roki's if deciding between the two. There is Darko in the background; he'd love Adamo of Montepulciano

That night we made it back to the boat and had a few bottles of wine over some cards and conversation with some Sweedish guys in the boat next to us. The boat on the other side of us as I mentioned earlier, was massive and the engine pumped fumes right into our porthole, it made us dizzy and gave huge headaches, but tis life at sea. After Ryan got done yelling at them, it made us feel a bit better, however, this night of sleep was not as good as expected, despite the calm seas.

The next morning we hit the seas early and found an amazing little cove to swim in and have lunch. Good snorkeling as well. It was a great day cap for Vis as we said goodbye to a most amazing island with even more amazing waters.

We crossed back over towards the coast to the Pakleni islands, which is just off the coast of Hvar and parked our boat in an amazing inlet on St. Klement. After getting our boat anchored (the hardest thing to do on the trip), we settled in and found probably my favorite part of the trip, Novak beach bar, literally a tiki hut set into the rocks in the bay, complete with bamboo bar, tree seating, and pure relaxation. We had a couple cold ones, enjoyed the sunset, and played cards all while soaking in complete tranquility. Ryan fell asleep in the tree he was sitting in at one point.

It was a great bar, but the relaxation quickly left us when we found our boat had shifted quite a bit while we were enjoying the scenery. Right at sunset, I jumped in and we got things figured out. After dinner on the boat and a glass of wine, relaxation set back in and we had a better night of sleep in the bay (albeit a little paranoid as we kept thinking the boat was moving).

Onto Hvar island - take two.

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!