September 8, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
Not a lot happened today.
We sat in our usual spot.
A huge moth committed suicide in front of us.
We did our usual run, swim & lunch.
In the afternoon I got attacked by a butterfly licking my salty body.
We later packed our stuff up & Jackie cooked more pasta for tea.
We watched the cricket in the buff on our balcony.
Song of the Day : The Butterfly Collector by The Jam.
Bonus Song : Moth by PJ Harvey.Read more
Ann Annals
No pictures of you in the buff what a shame surely there would be a good Song for the day!!
September 6, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
After waking up, I could not think about anything else than fretting that someone else would take our sun beds & our spot on the jetty. Panic took over & I rushed down with towels & sarongs & placed them on the sun beds I had moved into position. Feeling relieved, we then went shopping for ingredients for a homemade dinner, before breakfast.
Jackie dropped the large toothpaste lid down the basin plughole & try as we might it won’t come out.
About 9.30am we took up our positions on harbour watch. At 11.30am we both ran the mile or so to Blace Beach, where I got attacked by a ‘smoking’ beagle yapping at my ankle. We also came across a dog on a scooter wearing sunglasses!
After our run back, we had a cooling swim, then retired to our balcony for a liquid lunch. The afternoon couldn’t have been any better. I took my iPad to the jetty & watched England thrash Australia in the T20, whilst Jackie watched a group of naked gay men frolicking on their yacht.
At the conclusion of the cricket, Jackie brought the two ring electric stove out on to the balcony & cooked up a sensational meal of rigatoni pasta with pancetta, onion, red peppers, garlic, tomatoes & of course, chilli.
The night was complete with a Sky movie.
Song of the Day : Run by Snow Patrol.Read more
August 31, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
We both woke up at 2.30am & stayed awake until we got up at 6.15am. I read up on Montenegro our intended destination & everything seemed to be ok for our entry during Covid, despite the country currently having its national elections & disputed results. Russian interference perhaps.
We showered, packed & left at 7.00am, earlier than planned to catch our scheduled 9.30am ferry. It was a single narrow winding 38 mile long road to take us to the other end of the island. I was glad to take it at a leisurely pace, because for most of the way it was a deep drop either side of the road & no barriers. It took a lot of concentration. If we had left the road, the car would definitely have been trashed or worse we were goners. When there wasn’t a deep drop, the road was flanked by sharp jagged rocks waiting to rip the car bodywork open.
We arrived at Sucuraj ferry port at 8.15am unscathed to find a ferry being loaded up. Jackie ran to the ticket office to buy our £12 fare. There were 2 cars in front of us, but only one space left on the ferry, but luckily for us the 2 cars were travelling together & didn’t want to separate, so yet again we were the last car on & just in the nick of time. No sooner were we on & the doors were up & we were off.
35 min later, we docked at Drvenik, back on the mainland. We then drove south for 99 miles down Route 8 heading to Montenegro. We passed through Gradac, ugly Ploce & around the fertile Opuzen region at the mouth of the Neretva river. The route then took us back along the Adriatic coast & into Bosnia & Herzegovina for just 12 miles & through their one & only seaside resort of Neum. With just cursory looks at our passports at both border checkpoints we were soon back into Croatia & chugging down the coast passing Dubrovnik & its old walled city.
At 1105am we arrived at the border with Montenegro. It consisted of 2 border checkpoints with a no mans land area in between.
At the Croatian border checkpoint they scanned our passports & waved us through & out of Croatia . We then drove a couple of hundred yards down the no mans land area to the Montenegrin border checkpoint. The immigration officer took our passports then demanded to see our green card for the car. He pointed at a sign that referred to local car insurance. I handed him our car insurance, but he handed it back with a “Non”. There then followed a stupid conversation with him & colleague. Eventually we ‘sort’ of established that we needed our car registration document & then we would have to get local car insurance to drive our car in Montenegro.
He asked where we were staying & for how long. For a moment we thought he was going to let us in, but instead he said drive down the road & turn round to get on the road to exit the Montenegrin border. He refused to give our passports back until we had turned around. So we entered Montenegro & immediately left again. The cheerful (not) immigration officer walked over & handed our passports back. We drove back through no mans land & confused the hell out of the Croatian immigration officer who saw on his records that we had only just left. We didn’t try to explain & luckily he didn’t ask & he let us back into Croatia!
Bugger. That had ruined my itinerary for the next 7 - 10 days.
We drove back to the nearest resort of Cavtat & parked up. We went to a bakery for an iced coffee & jam doughnut each & to take stock of the situation. If we had any plans to stay there in Cavtat we soon dismissed them when we realised most of the tourists were British.
Over our snack we made the decision to head to the Peljesac Peninsular & possibly onto the Island of Korcula. We headed north back up Route 8, past Dubrovnik & finally turned off onto the Peljesac Peninsular. Suddenly the pace of life seemed to slow down & a feeling of calmness descended.
We passed oyster farms in the calm waters & saw a big sign with pictures of the different harbours on the peninsula. We chose to look at Trpanj towards the other end about 30 miles away. We passed through Ston with it’s amazing fortress & city walls, but we were just too fatigued to stop. We will go back.
We arrived at Trpanj, which seemed quite quaint, but the whole appearance of the place was ruined by a huge digger on part of the beach. It would seem that they were building a new beach.
We stopped in a bar for a beer & to carry out further research. We established that it was cheaper to stay in Orebic just 12 miles away, so we booked a place for 3 nights on Booking.com. We then checked out a decent looking beach 6 miles away at Divna (or Divna.....aaa) as it is known because it is a very steep road down to it. The beach looked ok, but dark clouds were looming.
We drove for another 30 minutes to Orebic & to Apartments Two Olive Trees. We were greeted by a little old man who didn’t speak English and worse didn’t seem to be expecting us. We had our 2nd stupid conversation of the day, which was not what we needed after pretty much 11 hours & 250 miles of driving, especially as we were both getting bitten by mossies. Luckily we were rescued by a couple of young Croatian holidaymakers who translated for us. The apartment is nice, but there is no toilet paper. I tried to ask for some, but couldn’t make myself understood!
With thunder & lightning out at sea, we went out & had a meal at Konoba Andiamo on the seafront. I had the recommended wild boar with homemade macaroni, whilst Jackie had a whole grilled Sea Bream with vegetables. It was very nice together with a litre of local wine.
We got home to bed before the wind & rain started lashing down.
Song of the Day : Say Hello, Wave Goodbye by Soft Cell.Read more
September 9, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
On This.
We were both up by 7.00am & were on the road by 8. We arrived at Sobra port 20 minutes later & at 9.00am we departed back to the Peljesac Peninsular. By 9.45am, we were pulling into the car park at Ston. We tried to buy a ticket for the car park, but the machine didn’t like our credit card. I then checked the other cars in the car park & saw that none were displaying tickets. We concluded the ticket machine was bust & we could park for free. Wrong!
Ston is by and large known for three things – its very well preserved town walls, its salt works, and its mussels! We had done the mussels, seen the salt works, now it was the town walls.
The walls are much longer than those of its more famous neighbour, Dubrovnik, at 5km in length. This makes them the longest defensive structure in Europe; they are sometimes referred to as the ‘European Walls of China”. Built in the 14th and 15th centuries as a additional defence for the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and to protect the lucrative salt pans in the area, the walls also consist of three fortresses – Veliki Kastil (in Ston), Korula (Mali Ston) and Prodzvizd Fort – and a number of towers.
With water & sensible footwear, we set off for the entrance to the walls. We paid our 70 kuna each & ascended the wall. We arrived at a tower on a peak of the wall absolutely dripping in sweat. It afforded great views of the town below & the salt works.
We marched back down the wall where near the exit, we were informed we could follow the wall up over the mountain to a village just over a kilometre away. Jackie refused, but I decided to go for it. If nothing else, it would hopefully give me an even better view. I started the climb, but it was steep & very narrow. I got to the 1st tower & ‘bottled it’.
I returned to Jackie & instead we went to the fortress, Veliki Kastil, which was included in our ticket. It was just an empty fortress with a couple of cannons.
It was now only 11am, but we decided to return to Konoba Dardin for an early lunch. Jackie had an octopus salad & I, a plate of Dalmatian Poscuitto ham with a beer each. It was very pleasant.
We then returned to the car to find a parking ticket on our windscreen for 90 kuna (about £11). We hunted for the ticket attendant to argue the toss, but he was nowhere to be found. I also noticed that we were the only car with a parking ticket & no one was displaying any proof of payment. “Is it only because we are British?” We will either email them a complaint or just ignore it & not pay, probably the latter.
We then drove the length of the Peljesac Peninsular, back to Orebić & 20 minutes after arriving we were on the ferry to the Island of Korcula. I had planned to catch a ferry in 4 days time from Korcula to Split. We enquired at the ticket office & learnt that the only ferry for this departed from the other end of the island at 6.00am & 6.00pm. We need to have a rethink!
We drove down into Ston old town & decided we would cycle over on another day. We then drove to Lumbarda & located our accommodation for the next 4 nights Stone House Gregov. We were met by the owners , Ivo & Vanja. Ivo was ultra enthusiastic. He helped us with all our bags, then showed us around. It is a strange set up with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, but a shared kitchen, living room & balcony. We are the only ones staying so we had the choice of rooms.
Ivo insisted that we sit down & have a drink of his wife’s homemade limoncello & another stronger liquor. Then Ivo started telling us about himself - he fought in the Balkan war, was stationed in Zagreb, but didn’t kill anyone. He loves everyone. He gave up alcohol on his 1st day of the war to keep a clear head & hasn’t touched it since. He did however smoke 60 cigarettes a day, but has since given up. He eats mainly fruit & vegetables & only small fish. To be fair, he does look fit for his 77 years.
It then started to get a bit weird, he told us we were his family, his kids. He told that he was a positive person, grateful for life & he didn’t care about money or computers. During this conversation, we agreed to buy a bottle of lemoncello, the other liquor, plus a bottle of homemade red & white wine. We also agreed to rent his motorboat for a day. A good salesman for someone who doesn’t care about money!
He then helped me take the bikes off the car & park it up down the road. It was during this process that I discovered that I had a flat tyre on my bike, which must be sabotage, because it was fine when I last used it. He also told me the best restaurant to go to.
Ivo returned to the apartment with me & continued to wax lyrical. It felt like a sermon & after every sentence, he would say, “You understand?” Giving you no real option other than to say “Yes”. He kept referring to what a wonderful stress free life he had & no need for money, which clearly meant he was obsessed with the stuff.
He also talked about all his other guests who were repeat customers & loved him. He showed us trees at the front of the property that allegedly cured a sick woman who sat under it for a week. Really!
When he finally left us we were knackered. He didn’t ask us anything about ourselves other than we were English & he told us it rains a lot in the UK & it has a lot of crime, unlike Korcula.
We compared him to some type of Evangelist or Cult Leader. Jackie likened him to Jim Jones, which prompted us to watch a documentary about the 1978 Jonestown Murder-suicide massacre. Jones ordered and likely coerced a mass suicide and mass murder of 918 commune members, 304 of them children, almost all by cyanide-poisoned Flavor Aid. What was in the lemoncello?
Funnily enough, neither of us felt hungry and I had a stomach ache, but we decided to go to the restaurant Ivo had recommended. At Kinobo Marco Polo we shared a pizza & a coleslaw salad, which was nice, but we could only eat just over half of it.
Before the pizza arrived the waitress came out with 4 piping hot complimentary doughnuts & a plate of tuna pate. That famous phrase uttered by Johnny Craddock sprang to mind!
Song of the Day - White Coats by New Model Army.Read more
September 1, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Despite our tiredness, we still managed to wake up at 2.30am & not get back to sleep again. I was able to catch up on my blogs & start planning the next leg of our trip. I also discovered that there was a sandy beach right under our nose - just a short walk from where we were staying.
Around 9.00am, we left the apartment & popped up the road to a bakery to get breakfast, then headed to the beach & found our spot. On the empty beach we had our breakfast, a cheese & an apple pastry, which were nothing to write home about. Damn, I just have!
We then commenced operation sunbathe. The first visitors to join us were more elderly swimmers arriving for a quick dip, then as they left, the beach started to fill up with Croatian families & the odd couple like us!
At lunch we walked up to a very quiet bar above us, which initially we weren’t sure if it was even open. We soon found out it was & why it was quiet. It was because the big fat bar owner was too lazy to come over to our table & serve us or even acknowledge our presence at his bar. Instead after reading instructions at the bottom of the drinks list on the table, we had to go up to the bar to buy his overpriced beer. The view however was terrific.
After lunch we returned to our spot on the beach until we lost the sun behind the pine trees around 4.00pm, then hauled our still sandy bodies home. Back at the apartment, tiny pieces of shingle kept materialising from every orifice & scattering all over the floor & bed. It will be back to a pebble beach tomorrow.
We chilled out for the remainder of the day. I tried to get Zoom Lolly Lilo out of the car boot without taking the bikes & bike rack off. I failed & worst still discovered that our car won’t now lock. Jackie’s research on the internet has diagnosed it as a faulty sensor. That’s handy!
After watching the start of the 3rd & final T20 match against Pakistan, we went out to dinner at Konoba Karako along the seafront. Jackie had beefsteak with garlic & parsley, whilst I, as a second choice had the Dalmatian Vegetable Platter. We ended up sharing the two dinners & it was excellent.
We returned home in time to see the end of the cricket, which ended in a disappointing defeat for England.
Song of the Day : Car Trouble (Parts 1 & 2) by Adam & The Ants.Read more
September 2, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We both had an overdue cracking sleep & got up at 6.30 & 7.30am respectively, then had cereal for breakfast.
Jackie had decided that she was going to ring her ‘friend’ Tim at the Citroen Garage in Crawley to see if he could offer a solution to our car lock problem. Before doing so we returned to our car to check it once more. It still wasn’t locking, but we also tried to open the boot & discovered that it was slightly ajar after my efforts to open it yesterday. We managed to close the boot still with 2 bikes & the carrier on it & lo and behold the car now locks!
Our 2nd bit of luck was we found an ATM that didn’t charge us for withdrawals & thirdly we found a homemade wine shop & bought 3 litres of white. We then hit the pebbly beach directly at the bottom of our road for a pleasant morning in the mid 20s centigrade.
At lunchtime, we strolled along the prom & found a nice little seafront restaurant called Piazzetta & shared a pepperoni Pizzella & a couple of beers. Over lunch we looked at our options to getting home. It is a real logistical nightmare. Most countries don’t want us visiting because we have been holidaying in Croatia. As it stands we will have to pay to get a Covid test to enter Italy & hope that it is negative. God knows what happens if either of us tests positive!
We agreed to review our options again in about 10 days time when we are back in northern Croatia.
The afternoon was back to the beach & we were surprised to see our hosts having a swim, who I might add are not Jackie favourite people. What has incensed Jackie is that on top of ‘toiletpapergate’, she has read on the reviews on Booking.com that our hosts have provided other guests with complimentary wine, beer & grapes upon arrival. We have had zilch. I can see a negative review coming on.
At 5.00pm we left the beach, removed the bikes from the rack & repacked the boot. Jackie then gave me an action man haircut back at the apartment.
After a couple of glasses of our homemade wine, we went back to Konoba Andiamo. The waiter was a star & gave us the reserved sea view table. Jackie had the homemade macaroni with seafood & I with beef. During dinner an orange glow appeared behind the mountain, then the rising moon appeared, reflecting upon the sea. I failed to take a decent photo to aptly appreciate it’s beauty.
It was a very decent meal & the waiter gave us a complimentary nightcap of grappa, but he insisted on necking one with us with a “Cheers”. After paying our bill, the waiter bizarrely, but in a gesture of friendship held out his hand to shake it. I shook it, then sanitised.
We didn’t last much longer this evening.
Song of the Day : New Moon Rising by Wolfmother.Read more
September 3, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We got up around 8.00am & Jackie went to book our next apartment for 3 nights that we had already chosen the previous evening. We couldn’t find it, presumably someone else had booked it. I was not too happy, because Jackie had persuaded me to wait until the morning to book it. Instead we chose one that we hadn’t been so keen on.
We packed & paid our money in return for our passports that had been held to ransom, then said our goodbyes to Mr & Mrs Happy.
We threw everything in the car & I turned the ignition key. The engine started but the radio (we think) started to emit a continuous loud beeping sound. We turned the engine on & off, studied the manual & trawled the internet, but we couldn’t find anything to explain what it was or more importantly how to make it stop. Jackie was for the second time just about to ring her friend’ Tim, when I started the engine a final time & the beeping was miraculously no more, but there was a strong smell of petrol.
We rolled out of Orebić & started to climb up a mountain. The fuel gauge read that we had 348 miles in the tank, but within a few minutes I noticed in horror that it had gone down to 261 miles. I knew that it was just that we were driving our heavy car up steep climbs in 3rd gear, but I couldn’t help fearing that we had a fuel leak. We pulled over at a stunning viewpoint to check. We didn’t appear to have.
At 10.45am, we arrived at the small port of Prapratno to catch the midday scheduled ferry to the Island of Mljet. We waited for a foreign miserable couple to buy their ticket, then we bought ours & discovered that the ferry wasn’t sailing until 1.00pm.
We had an hour & a half to kill, so we drove to Ston to sus out the castle & wall & make sure it was open on Sunday when we would be next passing through. It will be. We had a stroll around the delightful ancient town. We then found a restaurant offering a taster plate of 3 local oysters & a glass of white wine for 40 kuna (£5). When in Rome & all that.... We sat down & Jackie ordered said starter plate, whilst I ordered just a beer. Jackie’s oysters came with 5 chunky slices of the freshest bread that I helped her with. It was a very pleasant interlude, nearly ruined by the parking attendant in the car park who was 2 cars away from noticing that our ticket had expired.
We drove back to Prapratno & looked down on the beach that looked amazing. It turned out to be better from a distance. We saw that Mr & Mrs Miserable were sunbathing on it. We returned to the port & waited for our ferry sat in the dock.
The ferry departed about a quarter full, including Mr & Mrs M who spent the whole 35 minute journey posing for photographs. Jackie hates them because they are about our age & think they are ‘trendy’. I didn’t know that was a crime!
Otherwise it was a very relaxing crossing on a mirror like sea. Upon arrival at the port of Sobra, we drove south for 12 miles to our 2nd choice new home, Apartments Franka Saplunara in Saplunara. Our apartment is below a supermarket & above a restaurant of the same name. It sounds hideous, but it turns out the view from our balcony is to die for.
The little old lady who we found in the restaurant & showed us to our apartment didn’t speak a word of English, but she laughed a lot & seemed very jolly which made everything ok. And we now have toilet paper!
We were just getting our bags in when who should be being shown into the apartment next to us, but Mr & Mrs M. Unbelievable. They ended up moving to the next apartment along, I don’t know why.
We packed our beach bags & set off for Plaza Blace (Blace Beach) a 20 minute walk from us along a coastal path. Blace Beach is a large sandy beach in the shape of a lagoon. It looked pretty, but was too quiet for Jackie. We found a suitable spot & we got ready for a cooling dip. I put on my swimmers & it was at this point that Jackie realised that she had left her bikini on the bed back at the apartment.
I went for a long wade in the shallow warm water that failed to reach my waist, whilst Jackie watched from the shore in her bra & pants, like a naughty schoolgirl who had forgotten her P.E. kit. When I returned, Jackie told me she had conveniently been bitten 3 times & wanted to go back.
She had the last laugh, when I fell ‘arse over tit’ into the wet sand whilst trying to get dressed. It was utterly embarrassing, particularly because I ended up demolishing one of the wooden ‘sculptures’ next to us.
We walked back to our apartment, via the upstairs supermarket for refreshments. We then sat on our balcony with a glass of beer & watched (spied with our binoculars) the catamarans arriving in our bay for the evening.
Dinner was in the restaurant below, where we met the owners of the apartments who apologised for not being home when we arrived & leaving her mum in charge. Jackie had calamari, whilst I had a mixed meat plate. It was nice, but not exceptional.
Song of the Day : (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding.Read more
September 4, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
We started our active day with a breakfast of champions - muesli, banana & nectarines. We then headed out with our swimming togs for a day in Mljet National Park.
We drove the single road entire length (27 miles) of Mljet to the small harbour town of Polace to purchase our entrance tickets to the park. Whilst Jackie got out to get the tickets, I waited with the car on a very narrow road until suddenly there was a thump at the back. A woman driver had tried to squeeze past & had hit my bike with her wing mirror & driven on without stopping. Luckily no damage was caused.
With our entrance tickets purchased at 125 kuna (£15) each, we drove through the hilly village of Govedari (by mistake) then arrived at the National Park car park. We unloaded our cycles & set off for a leisurely pedal around Veliko Jezero, better known as the large lake. It was idyllic.
The salt water lake was bright blue & crystal clear. The path followed the large lake around the entire circumference (about 11kms) & there was next to no-one else about. We stopped for one or two (hundred) photos & to read the interesting information signs.
During the ride we stopped for some sustenance in the form of fruit we had brought with us & Jackie uttered the immortal line “I think I’ve squashed my plums”. Not something you expect to hear from your wife during a bike ride!
We then followed the path around the Malo Jezero (small lake) until it petered out about half way round & we were forced to turn round. We returned to Mali most, the small bridge that connected the 2 lakes, where we took a free solar powered ferry across the large lake to St. Mary’s Islet with it’s 12th century Benedictine monastery & St. Mary’s Church. Both were abandoned by the monks in the 19th century. Jackie lit a candle for her mum. It was a pleasant respite from a day in the saddle.
An hour and a half later, we were returned to our bikes & we cycled the opposite way around Veliko Jezero until we found our very own secluded spot for a swim in the lake. Jackie already had her bikini on underneath, whereas I had to change. We had our refreshing swim then started to change back into our clothes. It was at this point that Jackie realised that she had made another wardrobe error. She had only packed 2 bikini tops, but no bottoms. Jackie had to go commando for the rest of the day!
It was gone 3pm when we returned to the car. Jackie was not just knickerless, but also bleeding from a gash to her leg. A stone had been thrown up from her front tyre. We loaded up & drove back to the apartment to chill on our balcony. Sadly there were very few boats in our cove tonight to spy on.
For dinner we walked downstairs. Jackie had grilled sardines, whilst I had a very disappointing spaghetti bolognese. Over dinner we chatted with the owner who 10 years ago had spent time in Whitby & Blackpool. We persuaded him to let us take his sun beds to the beach tomorrow.
The miserable foreign couple, we have now identified as being French, shared a beer & a salad.
After a wine on our balcony, whilst watching England snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Australia in the T20, we called it an early night.
Song of the Day : Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen.Read more
September 5, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Woke up this morning to find a massive super yacht moored up in our cove. It was side on, so we couldn’t read it’s name, but using my detective skills, I googled the identification number VP-CPB of it’s helicopter, which told me it was a ship now called Andromeda, owned by a Russian billionaire (which turned out to be wrong!)
Later on the super yacht drifted around & identified itself to us as Ulysses, a 116 metre vessel owned by New Zealand billionaire, Graeme Hart. Hart is the richest person in Australasia, with a net worth of $8.6 billion. More money than sense.
Hart bought 2 super yachts, which are actually expedition vessels from Norwegian company Kleven. Apparently Kleven told him that he had to buy 2 of the vessels if he wanted them to his exacting specifications. Why not, they only cost $275 million each.
Hart later sold the 1st one, now Andromeda to the Russian billionaire, Yuri Milner, who had early investment in tech companies, including 8% of Facebook & 5% of Twitter (I wasn’t so wrong after all).
We spent the morning with our binoculars watching the comings & goings on Ulysses. It has a crew of 48 persons & every single toy you could ever imagine. We counted that they had about 10 additional boats including one that was a triple decker. The guests numbered about 8 & half of them were young children.
It was weird to see that the entire crew wore masks for the entire time they were out on deck & they shadowed the guests everywhere as if they were blind or too fragile to fall over. If a guest got wet, they had two staff holding towels out for them. I don’t know why wouldn’t do!
After breakfast we moved our OP to the beach & acquired 2 free sun beds that we had negotiated with the owner the previous evening.
Around 11.00am, I went for a run to Blace Beach & to photo Ulysses from a different perspective. The driftwood sculpture I had accidentally demolished was still demolished. Returning to our beach, Jackie & I had a discussion that we probably wanted to stay in Saplunara a bit longer.
Over a beer & salami & cheese sandwich at lunch, we both agreed that we would definitely like to stay longer after weighing up the pros and cons. It was the view from our balcony that was the clincher. It was further cemented when we moved our sun beds to the concrete jetty & spent the afternoon watching the boat goings on in the cove. It wasn’t for the prudish though, because it seems that most ‘boaties’ like to have a swim then strip off above board in full view of everyone else.
At 6.00pm we retired to our balcony & I had the added bonus of discovering the England v Iceland football match had just kicked off. Much to Jackie’s delight! It turned out to be a good result, but a poor performance.
At the conclusion of the game, we went down to dinner & negotiated a cheaper deal than Booking.com to keep our apartment for another 3 nights. We then had a fantastic meal of chicken & pork skewers with Ajvar (a roasted red pepper sauce) chips & vegetables. The restaurant has redeemed itself. We were given a large bowl of complimentary sweet grapes to finish off.
During dinner, Ulysses silently departed.
Song of the Day : Ship of Fools by World partyRead more
September 10, 2020 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
I had a dreadful night sleep, kept getting attacked by a mosquito 🦟. One of the downsides of not having air conditioning.
I still wasn’t feeling fantastic, so we pottered about on our balcony making the most of no one else being here.
During the morning, I returned to our car to locate my spare inner tube. I ended up emptying the whole boot & turning the car interior upside down, but I couldn’t find it for love or money. Whilst doing so I met Ivo who told me he had been working on his smallholding since 5am & was now going for a swim.
When I returned to the apartment, I found Jackie sunbathing on the concrete dock & Ivo having a swim. Jackie told me that Ivo had dropped the bombshell that his Ukrainian ‘friend’ was arriving on Friday. Not good news.
Ivo had talked about him the previous evening saying that he lived in the Crimea & had both a Ukrainian & a Russian passport. He is allegedly a businessman who has a business video call every morning at 9.00am. Great.
Later during the morning, Ivo brought down a glass of homemade orangecella & another of carob. The orangecella was lovely. Ivo hung around for awhile, but probably got the message that we weren’t interested in chatting.
Before lunch Jackie insisted on having another look for the inner tube & found it immediately tucked in a corner in the boot. She didn’t mention it again. We had a homemade cheese & ham toastie for lunch, then resumed sunbathing on the deck. It was very peaceful & pleasant, but it wouldn’t be the same if we have to share it.
When the sun was going down, I changed my inner tube, then got ready to go out. We were both feeling much better so we decided to try Konoba Skafetin which just a half a mile walk away. It was THE Tripadvisor top rated restaurant out of 242 on Korcula Island.
We turned up without a reservation, but were lucky enough to get the last remaining table. Jackie order the seafood pasta, which arrived in a bag & contained prawns, mussels, whelks & razor clams all in sauce with penne. I had the meat of the day which turned out to be pork in a Chinese sauce with vegetables. Both dishes were excellent & fairly reasonable priced.
The day ended with a couple of snifters on the balcony.
Song of the Day : Nothing Ever Happens by Del Amitri.Read more
You might also know this place by the following names:
Dubrovačko-Neretvanska Županija, Dubrovacko-Neretvanska Zupanija, Dubrovnik - Neretva, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Raguseo-Narentana, 두브로브니크네레트바 주
Photo @Max Sydow