Macs with Packs: Sirocco Breezes on the Croatian Islands

Welcome back!

We have begun the next phase of our trip - our little sojourn along the Croatian Islands. We're going to be here for a few weeks, but we'll be ducking out at one stage to catch up with the cousins in Greece.

The three of us, John, myself and Bruce the Bike, arrived in Dubrovnik. We carted Bruce up the narrow stairs to our hotel room and John assembled him in the room. It was a bit squishy having three of us in a room for two but we managed!

We had been in Dubrovnik last year with the kids so we just visited our favourite places plus one or two new ones. Of course we had to walk the city walls again. This is such an awesome thing to do. I just love the mass of orange-tiled roofs.

Last time we stayed in an apartment that was accessed by seemingly hundreds of steep stairs up a hill so this time we thought we'd stay really close to the main drag. Big mistake. It was the weekend and they had house music playing in the square right near us til late each night. Luckily the double glazing in our room was very good!

We noticed that Dubrovnik seems to be even more crowded than we remembered. We took a walking tour one day and asked about this. The guide said that on one day in August last year, 20,000 tourists came into Dubrovnik - just from cruise ships! So you can add plenty more that arrived by other means. Omg - it must have been a nightmare!

We caught the gondola up to a mountain above Dubrovnik. The views were sensational! We could see right across to the first island we'd be going to as well as the stunning old city.

It was really hot but for some reason we still didn't get around to having a swim. The food here was amazing but Croatia is so expensive after the cheaper countries we've been in for so long. We're paying close to the same prices as home here, although Dubrovnik is apparently the most expensive place in Croatia. I sure hope it gets cheaper soon!

At last it was time to catch our ferry to Mljet, (pronounced Mil-yet) our first island. John rode Bruce to the ferry while I took the bags in a taxi. The ferry ride was fun. We found our apartment and it was fabulous! It was clean, spacious and had a small balcony. It even had a clothes line and pegs! We get exited about things like this, hehe.

Our first full day on the island was a truly wonderful day. The island is partly covered by a National Park. The thing to do here is to walk or ride around some beautiful lakes in the park. There are plenty of bikes for hire so I hired one and John and I rode around the big lake. I was hesitant at first because I don't enjoy long-distance bike riding much but it was fantastic!

The road wasn't difficult. When we got hot we would just find a nice place to stop and we'd go for a swim! Yes - we finally got in the water! The water was crystal clear and we shared a pair of swimming goggles and checked out all the fish underwater.

It was really hot here but riding in wet swimming gear kept us cool. We stopped for lunch at a lakeside cafe and I had the best grilled vegies, straight out the garden. They were fantastic! John said his freshly caught fish was one of the best he's ever tasted. Nearby, butterflies went crazy over some flowering lavender.

That night we had a wonderful meal in a restaurant next to the water while the sun set, followed soon after by a crescent moon. What a perfect day!

The next couple of mornings I went for lovely walks while John went for bike rides. We have to get up early to do this as it's really starting to get hot now. We were told the sirocco winds are here which bring hot air up from the south.

The ferry to our next island didn't leave until early the next evening so we packed our bags, left them with our apartment owner, and hired a car to explore the island. After our last car rental experience where we had a big argument over one scratch on the car, this rental company was a breath of fresh air when they told us not to worry about scratches!

I drove for a change and we set off. The roads weren't busy and it was fairly easy driving. After about 15 minutes, a car was coming in the other direction and there was a rock on the road on my side. I misjudged the width of the car wheels and ran over the rock. There was a huge bang as the rock shattered and blew the tyre! The tyre was completely stuffed. The lovely car hire people came out and replaced the tyre but we had to pay for a new one. I'm getting very scared to hire another car!

Anyway, we did have a lovely drive. We found a gorgeous little fishing village with one solitary restaurant and had lunch on the water there.

Our main target though was this cave that you can swim into. It's supposed to be amazing. We slogged 30 minutes down the side of a hill in the stinking heat to get to it only to find that the wind had made the water really rough and it wasn't swimmable unless you really knew what you were doing. A local couple did it ok but a tourist tried and got cuts all over his chest from the sharp rocks. Apparently the water's usually as smooth as glass. We sadly just watched for a while then slogged back up the hill again in a puddle of sweat.

Our apartment owner was a lovely guy. He worked at a restaurant as well and kept shouting John free coffees.

We only had three days in Mljet but it was such a wonderful place. There were heaps of yachts there - I think all the Croatian islands are popular stopovers for the yachties. There are also week-long tourist cruises from Split to Dubrovnik on small cruise ships which stop at many islands along the way and bring quite a few people to Mljet. Its a lovely green island, dominated by the National Park which suits us just fine!

Even the place to wait for the next ferry is very pleasant!