Two Weeks In Heaven

CROATIA

PLAT & DUBROVNIK

At last I had finally escaped Kuwait and started my Croatian adventure. It began on my birthday which seems appropriate as I was finally going to be able to have some beer. Although it really wasn't the easiest of journeys as I needed to pass through 4 different countries; United Emirates, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, before I actually arrived in Croatia. But that's just me being a cheap traveller and the cheapest flights are normally the longest routes. Mind you when I hit Montenegro I didn't mind at all. The Adriatic coast greeted me so cheerfully. Clear and blue and beautiful. Funny thing about having not left Kuwait for 10 months is that I hadn't realised how dulled my senses had become. Kuwait's dust, bland, dull, brown, barren, putrid smelling character had lulled me into a forgetful coma. I forgot how beautiful the world can be. Croatia was full of colour and lovely lively smells and clean fresh air. I felt amazing.

My first stop was a small little place called Plat which is about 15 minutes south of the city Dubrovnik. Here I spent about 5 days with my friend Conor who flew over from Dublin. Since this was my first break in a year we pretty much spent the time laying in the sun, drinking beer, eating and relaxing in paradise......

The view from the hotel room in plat...was tough waking up to this everyday.


The pool I spent a few hours lounging around



Conor, relaxed...how are those sales going again mate?


Sun set at beer o'clock



After a few days of pretty much nothing Conor and I decided to head into Dubrovnik and have a look around the old town. Wow, Other than the thousands of American and Australian tourists the place was pretty cool, so much history and stories behind the enormous stone walls, not to mention a million steps :)




A few of the walled city of old town Dubrovnik.

Inside the walled city where the changing of the guards was taking place.

A view of the main street, taken from the top of the wall. We were able to walk around the entire city on top of the wall like guards 100's of years ago.

Part of the city outside the walls.

I loved the old stone houses....

View of the old city from the highest point of the wall, the watch tower.

I was looking for Pirate ships...

Conor, having kittens over the fact I was standing on a ledge very high up...

The guillotine Con's head was going into if he kept complaining how hot it was hahahaha bloody Irish...Just kidding!

Not really the maiden in distress on the top of the castle tower but hey I was still waiting for my knight in shinning armour.

Ali looking down an Ally

Ali sitting in an old ally deciding a no against those steps.

ha, a sun burnt Irishman...you don't see that everyday.

Another Sunset another beer :)

After a very relaxing time chilling with Conor he had to return to the grindstone in chilly Dublin and I decided where and what to do next. I had thoughts of going north, south, to the Islands. So many options and no idea. So instead i decided to stay in Dubrovnik for two more nights and chill for a bit longer before I planned my next move. So I moved slightly north to Lapad bay.

The start of the cliff walk from the bay

The bay and beach where I contemplated life and the next few days ahead

After getting off the beach I walked around the cliff and watched the sailing boats.

What can I say we don't have flowers like this in Kuwait...

This is what happens when you drink on your own.... after 5 or so beers your wondering how the hell that bird can sit on the very top of a pine tree and not fall off?? Life's little questions hey!

The beautiful Adriatic Sea

MLJET ISLAND

After two days of pretty much nothing but beer and sun by my self in Dubrovnik I decided I would jump on a ferry and go check out one of the Islands of Croatia. Mljet is only about an hour and a half from Dubrovnik and is famous for its lakes, I also found out that when you translate Mljet in to English it actually means "Island of much walking", Because by golly did I do some walking!

Bridge into Dubrovnik taken from the ferry.

Harbour in Mljet.

I arrived in the harbour only to find out the lakes and the accommodation is on the other side of the island..and do they have a transportation system to get you over to the other side? No! All I was told that it was 4km that way. So with my pack on my back off i went. Thinking yeah no drama, they just didn't tell me it was fucking up hill!

Mljet Harbour. From the first Hill I climbed, was worth it just for the view.

Thankfully though a laundry car came along and offered me a lift to the other side as well as a room for the night. The driver knew someone with a room available so who was I to say no especially since no one really spoke any English, ha I was just happy to get a ride. Once I got settled on the "Happening" side of the Island I dumped my bag and decided a walk around the lake would do me good. And I stress the word AROUND!

Sitting at the edge of the lake,

The water was so clear.....

Blue sky, blue water, green trees...no dust!!! Happy girl!

A view of the lake from the top of hill...yes another hill.

Look at this!!! Beautiful!

So off I go wondering AROUND this lake, took in the beauty of it, smelt the pine trees, enjoyed the sunshine and walked and walked being amazed by how clean and fresh everthing seemed. I think I hiked for about 2 and a half hours before I realised....... You can't actually walk around the lake! There is a small inlet which runs in from the ocean, which stops you from going any further. I did contemplate swimming across it but was worried I would lose my camera and not be able to bring you these pics. So I turned around and walked the 2 and half hours back...haha I know I'm and idiot even on holidays!

The track i walked twice...

Just a dude waiting for his ship to come in.

When I finally got back I decided after a days walking I deserved a drink. So off to have a wine and watch the sunset....

Sunset Mljet Island

The view I had while having dinner that night.

The next morning I decided I would head back to the main land and after asking a few people about how to actually get off the Island I was told I would have to go back to the harbour I started from. Again there was no bus so on goes the back pack again and off I set on foot. This time however I actually walked the 4km up and down hills!

About the 3k mark after climbing up a hill.

When I did finally reach the harbour I was told the boat did not leave until 5pm that afternoon and since it was only about 11am I decided what else could I do but lay in the sun. So I found a little cove dumped my bag stripped my gear off and enjoyed some more beautiful sunshine.

Check out how clear that water is!!!

me going brown... (when I got back to Kuwait all the kids I work with thought I had chicken pox as all my freckles came up from being so sun drenched. Arab kids don't know what freckles are took me awhile to get them to understand I had not had a serious bout of the pox lol)

CAVTAT

After getting off the "island of much walking" all i wanted to do was rest my weary feet. So i grabbed a bus south to a small town called Cavtat. Here I found a cute little apartment on the water front so I wouldn't have to walk up any steps or hills. My friend Robb who works and lives most of the time in a lovely little town called Baghdad was meeting me there the following day to take some R&R from that hell hole. He would have been there earlier but due to circumstances that "No body knows" he had to wait a nice 30 hours before the freaking plane arrived. Any way he made it eventually and we had fantastic 5 days which included some solid beer drinking!

Baghdad Robb relaxing with a beer at a little bar that we found hanging off a small cliff in Cavtat.

Bugger me if I can remember the names of the guys we ended up drinking with but they owned the bar...man what a life!

A boat cruises pass as we continue sipping beer...

Our cool little apartment above this restaurant.

MONTENEGRO
The next morning we decided to hire a car and head down the coast to Montenegro. The worlds newest country. (Was once part of Serbia which in turn was once part of Yugoslavia). Any way we took off along a spectacular drive which included ocean views, massive mountains, and my favourite..tunnels!

Looking across the bay to Tivat.

Robb on the Rocks!

The Drive up the mountain.

The view from the top....wow!

Our first stop was the Resort town of Budva. Which I think actually sounds more like a beer than a town, so of course the first thing we did when we arrived was sit by the beach and have a few beers. Budva, like Dubrovnik, has an old town surrounded by a huge stone wall. Although its not as big as the old town in Dubrovnik we did find out its very easy to lose someone in there after a few beers and a bottle of wine.

The old town walls.

Full moon rising over the ocean

The next day we headed further south to the most southern town in Montenegro, Ulcinj. The area is quite famous for its 12km of sandy beach that stretches all the way to Albania. I think also to because it's so far south towards Albania its so rediculously cheap. We nearly fell over our selves when we were told the most expensive bottle of wine available was 5 Euro! You can eat a two course meal and have 6 beers for a fantastic price of 25 Euro. It was crazy. The people were also really friendly and when we walked into a bar that had no vodka they decided to give us their local spirit which is drunk straight out of a shot glass. It tasted a little like tequila and a bit like ouzo but far better than the crap you drink in Kuwait so one is not going to complain.

Robb having a beer on the 12km beach.

The beach bar Miami

The beach attracts a lot of Albanian and Serbian tourists.

From our hotel room looking down towards Albania.



Again the next morning we headed off from Ulincj, this time back towards Croatia.

coming up to a tunnel through the mountain.

Cruising past the town of Bar which sits at the base of a mountain.

We made our way back to Dubrovnik for the night as Robb was to fly out the following morning and I had to make my way to Belgrade. After a long drive back we were both rather thirsty when arriving. I would not recommend going for 6 or 8 beers before trying to find accomodation but if your after a laugh well then go for it as this is what we did. We did find the statues of the two dogs and the little old lady that had a room for us in the end but this was after i nearly peed my pants at the state we were in trying to find the place. My god it was funny! But I guess you just had to be there! It was just so good for us both to be out of the Middle East and actually enjoy some normality for a change. All in all though we had a fab few days, touring, drinking and laughing at rediculously cheap wine and over priced car parks!!

BELGRADE

My last stop was in Belgrade Serbia. I am kind of disappointed I didn't allow my self more time to have a look around as it seemed like a really funky and unique city. But as it was I had a night to have a quick look about and then flew out the next morning. Was difficult to really get a feel for the place but I liked it, think a walking tour or something would be the way to go as there seemed to be a lot of monuments and history I just didn't know about. Regardless though I was lucky enough to get some rain while I was there. There was a really cool breeze about as well, which was nice to have before heading back to the desert.

The Republic Square, shopping, drinking, eating spots.

I think this shot would have been beautiful in the day the flowers and grass were so colourful

Another shot of Trg Republike

I am sure there is a Statue of a guy on a horse in every European City..

Just a random street in Belgrade.

So now I am back in Kuwait and utterly depressed. I swear to god I almost cried when I arrived in Dubai, even told the customs guy I hated this place. However my contract does not end until September so a few more weeks here in the desert and then I think my plan will be to head back to Europe. I am not to sure where or what or how just yet but after two weeks in Croatia I just want to go back to a life of what for me is normality. I had such a wonderful time, thank you to Conor for helping me adjust to the outside world again on the first few days. And thanks to Robb for a fantastic and funny tour of Montenegro. I really had an awesome time and really do not want to be back at work dealing with the stupidity we deal with every day here. But enshallah I will be out of here in a few months! Don't worry folks I will keep you posted!