it makes it pretty easy if you show up without a reservation. Dubrovnik was the only place we actually did have a reservation, hence the sign. Our apartment was a cute upstairs one bedroom, 3 bed, kitchen and bathroom all to ourselves. Dolores welcomed us to her families property with juice and cookies. My love for Croatia started immediately. We were about a 10 minute bus ride into Old Town, and it was already late afternoon (after flying Athens to Milan, Milan to Rome, Rome to Dubrovnik, we weren´t filled with energy) so we decided to walk down to the beach and find a place to eat dinner. Croatia has a lot of mountains and many of the beaches are rocky or even unaccessible, but the ones you can get to are in small coves so the water is very calm and clear and it feels more private since it´s not a long stretch of beach. We walked to the other side of the cove and passed a woman selling tickets for boat tours. It was an all day tour, stopping at three islands with lunch and drinks included. We were pretty keen on this idea, but decided to discuss over dinner. The next day we relaxed on one of the small beaches before heading into Old Town. The bus ride into town was amazing. It was right along a cliff overlooking the water, the islands, and eventually a birds eye view of Old Town, which is right on the water surrounded be castle walls. We had a few mishaps in Old Town that may or may not include a man telling us off for petting his dog and taking pictures with it, and a 10 year old boy giving us the finger. Here is a short explanation of what went down: There was a beautiful yellow lab cruising around with no collar so we thought it was a stray. He was really friendly so 
Jackie was petting him and Jonathan was taking photos. He reminded me of the dog I grew up with so clearly I wanted a photo as well, but when I crouched down next to the dog a man came up to me and said, ` don´t touch the dog!´ I asked why not? He said `because it is my dog,´ oops, so I said I didn´t know that it was his dog and he responded with, `you can take photos but do not touch him, you know, it is a bit over the top!´ Really? I would think the opposite. He doesn´t mind if we follow the dog around snapping photos, but petting a dog is over the top? We saw him later about 50 meters away from the dog just waiting for someone else to yell at, crazy man. So then there was the little kid. We were getting into the more residential part of Old Town and saw these two boys playing soccer. The younger boy scored a goal, so the three of us started clapping as we walked by. The older boy, probably 10, started to say something in Croatian but he didn´t have the friendliest look on his face. I said to Jackie and Jonathan, `I wonder if what he was saying was mean?´and at that moment 
he gave us the charming middle finger. I had my camera in my hand, so I held it up and he gladley flipped us off again. Old Town was beautiful, with restaurants built into the cliffs, a really nice nice harbor and the historic castle walls. In the harbor we found more people selling tickets for boat tours. They were all offering basically the same thing, but we found a lady who gave us a discount because she said we look like students. Jackie is 29, Jonathan is 24, we are all finished with college, but I guess since I look like I´m 12 we were able to fool her. So, departure was at 10:30am the next morning and we were ready for some boating and some islands. The first island was small and we only had 45 minutes to check it out. We cooled off a bit in the water and then walked around a little before heading to the next island. our fresh fish lunch was served on the way and the wine pitchers were handed out :) The second island was bigger so we intended on exploring a little more, that didn´t happen. While going for a swim, we met another yellow lab and approached with caution. We found out her name is Meya and she is the social island dog. We ran around with her for a while and ended up at another swimming beach with a small slide. I don´t think kids should have all the fun, so we joined the 8 year olds, why not? We met these two little girls, ages 6 and 8 who can speak English, Croatian, Spanish, Catalan and French. Their mom is Candadian and their dad is Croatian. I tried to use some of my Spanish on her, but she had me beat. Even the way they spoke was really intelligent for their age. When we were leaving, we told their mom that was the most intelligent conversation we have had on this trip. She just laughed. Back on the boat for more vino and the third island. There were about 25 people on the boat, mostly older couples, but by the third island we made friends with a group of late 20 somethings from Romania. We entertained ourselves by 
flipping and diving off the end of the dock, again not managing to explore any of the island. After a fantastic day, we were dropped off back at the harbor and had to catch the bus back to our apartment. After every bus but ours (#10) went by, and Jonathan was falling asleep/passing out, we finally saw #10 approaching. Just our luck, it went right by us! Whyyy? I will never know. We ended up walking down to a food stand, since our fish and salad lunch 6 hours ago wasn´t really sticking to our ribs. We saw an entire parking lot of buses, one with #10 glowing in the window so we raced over to make sure we made it. So after over an hour waiting for bus#10, watching it fly by us, getting food, finding bus #10 just sitting in a parking lot, we were home and asleep by 10pm. Give me a break, it was a long day!The next day we went to the bus station to start heading north. We heard of a port town, Dvrenik, that would be a good jumping off point to the island Hvar. We bought bus tickets and had about 2 hours to wait. We had our bags with us so we just sat at the bus station. We ended up talking to some Australians, Rich and Will, who said Dvrenik actually had really bad connections to Hvar and that getting a bus to the island Korćula first was better. So we discussed a bit, looked at our current tickets and realized our bus had left 30 minutes ago. Such idiots. We thought it left at 1:30, but it left at 1, so we were sitting right there in the bus terminal a
nd missed our bus. We exchanged our tickets for Korćula, lost 10% on the first ticket since we missed it, and waited another hour and a half for the next bus. We met 8 more Aussies on the way, 4 guys (all friends), 4 girls (all friends). I am slowly turning into an Australian. When we arrived in Korćula, there were the swarms of people asking if we needed accommodation so the 13 of us got 3 apartments in the same building. We all made dinner in our own kitchens and ate together on the terrace, ahhh. It was really fun to have new people to hang out with. We played drinking games, got the police called on us and decided to wait until the next night to go out. The next day we rented two boats, 6 in one and 7 in the other. We would drive around for a while, stop and anchor so we could jump in for a swim, and then docked somewhere for lunch. Some people were doing back flips off the dock and while I am a master at front flips, I have never done a back flip. With some encouragement and two cameras on me, making it much easier of course, I attempted and completed my first back flip. Good fun! The wind picked up in the afternoon and we were going against the wind to get back. Our boat was tiny so every wave made a huge splash in the boat and we were getting drenched. We all looked like wet dogs by the time we got back. The last place we anchored I was too cold to swim so I just relaxed on the front of the boat while the boys dove into the water attemping to catch cans of beer. We strolled back to the apartment which was a beautiful walk along the
sea, and got ready for dinner. Half the group cooked again, but the other 7 of us went out to dinner. After dinner we were off to find a bar. One thing I really like about the bars here is that everyone can stand out front on the sidewalks or alley ways with their drinks. So if the bar is packed, you can just stand outside which I like better because I don´t feel like I am being covered in cigarette smoke. The bars close around 2am and everyone heads to the one club in town. We danced a bit but decided to head back after about an hour. I think it was for the better because our ferry to Hvar was at 6am, so we packed our bags, slept for about 30 minutes and then it was back down to the harbor to catch our ferry annnnd back to sleep. The 4 Aussie friends (Jake, James, Rory and Chien) joined Jackie, Jonathan and I and an hour and a half later and we were in Hvar with more signs in our faces for rooms and apartments. All of us were a bit tired, why? oh, I don´t know..so the indecisiveness was in full force. Jackie went with someone to check out a place and James went with another. They both came back with an `eh´ but in the meantime we found another lady who seemed to have the best location. Chien went to look at it and came right back, while it took Jackie and James about 25 minutes. We crawled up the hill (the whole island is hills) and went back to sleep until 2pm. Well, Jackie, Jonathan and I woke up at 2, the guys slept until 6pm! We got some lunch, sat at the beach for a while and planned an excellent taco dinner. The guy
s met another Australian guy in Dubrovnik, probably 40something, who lives in Estonia and vacations in Croatia quite a bit. We ran into him in Hvar and he told us about a good bar/club called Carpe Diem, so after cooking up some good food at our apartment, we went down to the bar. I feel like in every place I´ve gone I have had an off night and an on night. This night was an off night. I just wasn´t in the mood to drink and party, but sleep sounded fantastic so that is what I did. The next day we took a water taxi out to a good swimming island, or so we were told. (Funny concept - we are on an island, Hvar, but people take water taxis out to other islands to swim, but we are already on an island!) Anyway, what I was saying about being told about the good swimming beach is that when we approached the dock all we could see was three naked men. We decided to walk to the other side of the island, but there was an entire colony of them! We tried to put the blinders on, and lasted about 2 hours, but e
nough was enough already. If anyone gets the Seinfeld quote, good job :) So, that night was an on night for me and we had a little pre-party at our place before going out. And by pre party i mean Jonathan and I challenging Jake and Chien to a shot-off. Sounded like a good idea at the time.. It´s been really fun and a change of pace getting our own apartments. It wouldn´t be as much fun if there were only two or three people, but we had seven so it was great. We had a good night out, but I was dreading the next day. I was leaving the group :( I had been with Jackie and Jonathan for 2 weeks and it was time to say goodbye. They walked me down to the ferry and we all shed a little tear together. I am going to see Jackie again in London and I might see Jonathan at Oktoberfest, so I think I´ll be okay. I took a ferry to Split and then caught a 5 hour bus to Zagreb where I had to change buses, except there weren´t any connecting buses, so they told me to go to the train station. They gave me HORRIBLE directions, but I finally found it and the last train to Ljubljana was leaving in 10 minutes. I made it and I´m here! Slovenia is beautiful and green, but it has been raining :( I guess I can´t have perfect weather for my entire trip. I will save Slovenia for next time because it´s bed time and I´m taking a bus to Budapest tomorrow. I love what I´m doing and I'm am excited for tomorrow and the next day and the next..
nd missed our bus. We exchanged our tickets for Korćula, lost 10% on the first ticket since we missed it, and waited another hour and a half for the next bus. We met 8 more Aussies on the way, 4 guys (all friends), 4 girls (all friends). I am slowly turning into an Australian. When we arrived in Korćula, there were the swarms of people asking if we needed accommodation so the 13 of us got 3 apartments in the same building. We all made dinner in our own kitchens and ate together on the terrace, ahhh. It was really fun to have new people to hang out with. We played drinking games, got the police called on us and decided to wait until the next night to go out. The next day we rented two boats, 6 in one and 7 in the other. We would drive around for a while, stop and anchor so we could jump in for a swim, and then docked somewhere for lunch. Some people were doing back flips off the dock and while I am a master at front flips, I have never done a back flip. With some encouragement and two cameras on me, making it much easier of course, I attempted and completed my first back flip. Good fun! The wind picked up in the afternoon and we were going against the wind to get back. Our boat was tiny so every wave made a huge splash in the boat and we were getting drenched. We all looked like wet dogs by the time we got back. The last place we anchored I was too cold to swim so I just relaxed on the front of the boat while the boys dove into the water attemping to catch cans of beer. We strolled back to the apartment which was a beautiful walk along the
sea, and got ready for dinner. Half the group cooked again, but the other 7 of us went out to dinner. After dinner we were off to find a bar. One thing I really like about the bars here is that everyone can stand out front on the sidewalks or alley ways with their drinks. So if the bar is packed, you can just stand outside which I like better because I don´t feel like I am being covered in cigarette smoke. The bars close around 2am and everyone heads to the one club in town. We danced a bit but decided to head back after about an hour. I think it was for the better because our ferry to Hvar was at 6am, so we packed our bags, slept for about 30 minutes and then it was back down to the harbor to catch our ferry annnnd back to sleep. The 4 Aussie friends (Jake, James, Rory and Chien) joined Jackie, Jonathan and I and an hour and a half later and we were in Hvar with more signs in our faces for rooms and apartments. All of us were a bit tired, why? oh, I don´t know..so the indecisiveness was in full force. Jackie went with someone to check out a place and James went with another. They both came back with an `eh´ but in the meantime we found another lady who seemed to have the best location. Chien went to look at it and came right back, while it took Jackie and James about 25 minutes. We crawled up the hill (the whole island is hills) and went back to sleep until 2pm. Well, Jackie, Jonathan and I woke up at 2, the guys slept until 6pm! We got some lunch, sat at the beach for a while and planned an excellent taco dinner. The guy
s met another Australian guy in Dubrovnik, probably 40something, who lives in Estonia and vacations in Croatia quite a bit. We ran into him in Hvar and he told us about a good bar/club called Carpe Diem, so after cooking up some good food at our apartment, we went down to the bar. I feel like in every place I´ve gone I have had an off night and an on night. This night was an off night. I just wasn´t in the mood to drink and party, but sleep sounded fantastic so that is what I did. The next day we took a water taxi out to a good swimming island, or so we were told. (Funny concept - we are on an island, Hvar, but people take water taxis out to other islands to swim, but we are already on an island!) Anyway, what I was saying about being told about the good swimming beach is that when we approached the dock all we could see was three naked men. We decided to walk to the other side of the island, but there was an entire colony of them! We tried to put the blinders on, and lasted about 2 hours, but e
nough was enough already. If anyone gets the Seinfeld quote, good job :) So, that night was an on night for me and we had a little pre-party at our place before going out. And by pre party i mean Jonathan and I challenging Jake and Chien to a shot-off. Sounded like a good idea at the time.. It´s been really fun and a change of pace getting our own apartments. It wouldn´t be as much fun if there were only two or three people, but we had seven so it was great. We had a good night out, but I was dreading the next day. I was leaving the group :( I had been with Jackie and Jonathan for 2 weeks and it was time to say goodbye. They walked me down to the ferry and we all shed a little tear together. I am going to see Jackie again in London and I might see Jonathan at Oktoberfest, so I think I´ll be okay. I took a ferry to Split and then caught a 5 hour bus to Zagreb where I had to change buses, except there weren´t any connecting buses, so they told me to go to the train station. They gave me HORRIBLE directions, but I finally found it and the last train to Ljubljana was leaving in 10 minutes. I made it and I´m here! Slovenia is beautiful and green, but it has been raining :( I guess I can´t have perfect weather for my entire trip. I will save Slovenia for next time because it´s bed time and I´m taking a bus to Budapest tomorrow. I love what I´m doing and I'm am excited for tomorrow and the next day and the next..
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