Travel The World With Maria: Croatia

I'm sorry I have been VERY slack on the blogging since I got to Croatia. Obviously I was having far too much fun! And my computer was playing up.

I landed in Dubrovnik where I caught a shuttle bus into the old town. I had booked myself into a bed and breakfast and the owner of the house kindly came and picked me up form the bus station. When we got home, she showed me my cute little room, then sat me down on the outdoor furniture with an ice cream sundae and a glass of juice to explain the bus schedule to me, and show me what there is to see and do in Dubrovnik! "Have you eaten?" She said, I said no, I hadn't so then she brought me out a whole loaf of bread and some cut meat and cheeses to make a sandwich with! I couldn't have asked for more.

Dubrovnik is a beautiful old seaside town. the old town is enclosed in the city walls, which I walked all the way around, looking over the sea and all the terracotta rooftops. For lunch I had some whole squid grilled in butter and garlic, that was interesting! In the afternoon I went up to the top of the hill on a gondola and looked at some of the damage left from the war in 1990. I also went inside the museum up there that is focused on the war. It's hard to believe that there was war here so recently, bombs were fired directly inside the walls of the old town which is a world heritage site. For dinner I had a traditional Mediterranean BBQ, chicken thigh, 2 types of sausages and steak cooked over an open fire. It was delicious.

The next day I started my journey on with sail Croatia. I boarded my ship, Maestral with 42 other guests all around my age. From Dubrovnik, we sailed to Miljet, Korcula, Hvar, Makarska and Split, over 6 days. It was all beautiful, with crystal clear water neighbored by rocky hills and little towns with terracotta roofs. In Korcula we went to a bar on the top of what looked like a castle, where they send the drinks from the bottom to the top of the bar (the roof) on a rope!

A typical day on the boat, the boat would leave port usually about 6am, before anyone was up. We had breakfast on the go, once we got up and helped ourselves to breakfast in the dining room, meat, cheese, bread, or cereal, and watched the beautiful scenery go by as we ate. We would usually get into our next port around 11 or 12 o'clock and have time to explore a little before we came back to the boat for lunch. Lunch varied every day but was usually very good, and always came with bread, which we dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar... yum!! Then more exploring and usually partying at night on the top floor of the boat where we had a bar, music, disco lights and even a smoke machine and bubble machine! Sometimes we would go into town to a bar or Karaoke. In Makarska we had a pirate party and we all dressed up and partied on our boat before going to a club inside a cave! That was very cool.

Our last stop was split, where we said goodbye to all our new friends. Split has some very historical buildings, like Diocletian's Palace, but also feels more modern and new. Lots of nice restaurants and shopping around the main centre, and a huge market selling bags, souvenirs, hats, crafts, paintings, fruit and vegetables...

From Split, I had an interesting train ride to Germany...