Sunday, May 18th, 2008: Today is our free day, no school, no tours, no lectures….free to enjoy Dubrovnik at our leisure and do what we choose. Most of us chose to take an island boat tour.
The tour, for 52 euro, included boat ride to 3 islands (of the 1,158 off the Croatian coast), lunch and wine…..quite the bargain….and because there were enough of us going, 17 total, we got our own boat!
At 9:45 our guide showed up with a shuttle bus and we piled in and headed for the harbor just on the other side of the hill from the hotel. We pulled up to the harbor, jumped out and jumped on the Maria, our boat for the day. Interestingly, the captain built the boat by hand and it was very nicely done, the perfect size for cursing the islands for the day.
Our first stop was Kolocep, a decent size island just to the north of the hotel. As we got off the boat we noticed a palm-frawn covered bar just off the dock. A few of the crew saddled up for a couple drinks, while the rest of us wondered along the harbor to the sand beach in the middle. We tested the water out, but made sure not to go too deep as the water was full of sea urchins and those would surely not feel great on our bare feet. We decided to move along and found a path leading away from the water back to some houses. We ended up coming across a farm with a cherry tree hanging out across the path. We stopped and picked a few and they tasted fantastic. We decided to head back to the bar and grab a couple beers before heading back onto the boat for the next island.
Our island crawl, next took us to Sipan, an island known for its great wine. We hopped off the boat and found the nearest bar, a little place on a platform on the water. We ordered a few beers, some wine and some snacks and toasted to good health and drank up and enjoyed the views and company, even our tour guide joined us. In return for us buying his drinks he arranged a deal for us to buy bottles of wine at a discount. Many of us chose to purchase a bottle or two or three…..I decided against it. We took a walk around the harbor area, took notice of the old architecture, especially the tile shingles which we were told were made by the women of island from laying clay on their thighs to mold it and then laying it out to dry in the sun. So it could also be inferred the attractiveness of the women in the house by looking at the width of the shingles. After finishing our walk, we jumped/stumbled with help, back onto the boat and shoved off for our next stop, Lopud.
Lopud had the most to offer out of the three islands. Not only was it the largest of the three, but it housed a couple old churches, a big garden, and more restaurants/shops. As part of our tour fee, we were given lunch and wine at a restaurant on Lopud. Upon arriving at the restaurant we were greeted with a shot of Rakija, the local spirit – a plum brandy, a traditional way of greeting and welcoming guests into your home or establishment. Burning subsided, we took a seat at the tables overlooking the water and anxiously awaited lunch. It became apparent that we were all about to be served whole cooked fish, scales, head and all, so the vegetarians and non-fish eaters of the group (myself included of course) spoke to the waiter and they kindly agreed to prepare a different meal for us, which turned out to be some chicken in mushroom sauce and fench fries. It was very good, as was the wine, and the fish eaters appeared to really enjoy the fresh fish.
After lunch, a few members decided to go for a swim and went back to the boat and were allowed access to the roof to dive off of into the water. Those not wanting to risk the chilly water walked up the road a little to the ice cream shop and purchased some scoops of the local flavors. From here I decided to break from the group, as I decided it might be nice to have some alone time for the first time on the trip. I walked up the path a ways and found an old house that had been converted to a small church. I went in and paid my respects and noticed a sign referring to a fisherman whose house this used to be along with the house next door that was in much worse shape. I decided to venture next door and found the remains of the home….it was pretty cool, all that remained were the stone walls and some fish hooks and a very over grown yard. After exploring for a little bit, I moved on down the road and came across the entrance to the gardens. It was amazing, as I spent the next hour or so exploring the paths, views and solitude it provided. By the time I had finished exploring it was time to get back on the boat and head back to our harbor.
The ride back, most everyone was exhausted from a long day of drinking and exploring, and all were looking for a nice relaxing ride, but Mother Nature intervened and it became pretty windy and the ride home became one of heavy rocking back and forth with water spraying over from the sides, but everyone made it back safe without any problems.
After a long day, we decided to grab an early dinner and call it an early night. Many of the students decided to head up to the park behind the hotel and dine at a restaurant there, per the recommendation of the front desk. But Trina, Jenn and I, wanting to break away from the group for a bit, decided to explore the coastal walk which was home to a few restaurants along the rocky shoreline. The walk was great and we stopped here and there for various photo opportunities. When we reached the end, where it met up with the main streets, we sat down at one of the restaurants on the water and enjoyed some drinks and some mozzarella as the rest of the food was rather expensive….around 100 kuna for pasta….UGH! After our drinks and appetizer we headed back to the hotel as it began to sprinkle, luckily the path was pretty well covered by trees overhead.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to just grab a bite at the hotel as we had enjoyed the food the night before and it is reasonably priced for the area. We ended up running into our professor in the restaurant and he joined us for dinner. The girls and I all decided we should have one last drink before calling it a night, so after eating our dinner, we decided upon flaming Lamborghini’s, don’t ask me what it contained, just know it involved several steps. First they divided the shot into two and the waitress lit one on fire as she instructed us to quickly insert a straw into the bottom and start drinking, as we neared the end of the shot they poured the rest into the glass and we continued drinking….all in all it was an ok shot, more entertaining then tasteful.
With that we called it a night and went to bed. Monday would be our last real day in Dubrovnik before journeying on to Athens and we wanted to be well rested for it.
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