prevlaka, cavtat, and dubravka oh my

day 7. on our last full day in croatia, we really wanted to set some time aside to enjoy the villa.. but first we decided to head to prevlaka, it ended up being less interesting as we first thought.. but it was interesting getting there, since we hit a 1 lane, but two way roadway.. luckily we only came upon oncoming traffic once.. and they were locals so they knew correct protocol.. and proceeded to back into the grass on the side of the road.


signs of war.. the old fort at the tip of the peninsula.


quickly after we headed to cavtat to explore and grab lunch..


then headed back to the villa to lounge by the pool...

hole in the wall.

day 6. we had a few goals left for dubrovnik... find the beach, and find buza 1 and 2. buza literally translates to hole in the wall. so within the city walls there were 2 small holes cut out where you could walk through and sit out on the rocks for a cool drink and a nice view of the adriatic.

the beach turned out to be a bit disappointing..since it was a rocky beach.. which just didn't seem comfortable... so we headed back within the city walls to find the hole in the walls.



soon after we found buza 1. and walked through a small opening with the following written on the walls..





after we enjoyed a drink and soaked in the view, we went and found buza 2 which ended up not being as nice, so we wandered the town a bit more before heading back to the villa for dinner..

the city wall.

day 5. me, T, and his mom made our way to the old town to walk the city wall which surrounds the old town. it was built to protect the city during times of war. the views from the wall were simply amazing, overlooking the rooftops of the old town and the adriatic. here are a few of my favorite shots.









a walk around the city walls takes approximately an hour, and right when we were near the end of the wall it began to sprinkle.. then pour. we had to quickly make our way down and hide for a bit in a cafe for an afternoon cappuccino.



soon after the rain cleared and we found a place to enjoy an early dinner...
croatia has surprisingly good beer. beer that even i drank! we accompanied the beer with some fried fishes, mussels, and squid ink risotto




then we headed back to the villa for the night.

an 8 hour tour.

day 4 can be described in one word, amazing. we chartered a sailboat for the day which included a crew of 2 to take us around the elaphite islands. this was by far my favorite day of the entire trip... just sailing around in the adriatic sea.. it was relaxing and just fantastic. the day started out a bit chilly and overcast...




but eventually the sun came out and T's mom even took a quick swim in the adriatic sea, despite the frigid water temperatures. and i was able to soak in some sun on deck.



while sailing around we saw these fishermen, who happened to own the restaurant we were headed to for lunch on the island of sipan... once we ported we noticed they had also arrived and were pulling out their catches.


seafood platter... can't get any fresher!


for the whole trip so far we had been using the engine, because of the lack of wind... but the captain decided to pull out the sails momentarily so we could experience it.



more on flickr.

old town dubrovnik

day 3. after a late start, we made our way to the old town part of dubrovnik. the old town is surrounded by a protective wall, no cars can drive in and there are only a few entrances to walk through. we explored rather quickly, after walking down the stairs of one of the entrances. the old town is definitely a tourist stop, but it's not overly packed... yet.




after briefly walking around, we decided to do our main goal... finding a a place to enjoy lunch. we decided to pick a place in the old harbor recommended by the timeout guide.


grilled squids. looked delicious, but could've been tastier.


seafood risotto. not italian risotto, but still pretty good.

after lunch we stopped by a local grocery store and headed back to the villa to bbq for dinner.
(also be sure to check flickr for more photos)

the villa.

upon arriving, we met up with a guide from the agency that we rented the villa from. he was going to take us to the villa or more like lead us.. since we rented cars. previously when we all decided on this villa, it seemed to have all the essentials, plus a gorgeous swimming pool. the only thing was that it was approximately 25 minutes away from the main town dubrovnik. once we began on our way we drove to the small town of gruda, then began going further in, and up higher and higher a mountain to dubravka. it seemed endless... how far were we going.. how were we going to remember how to get down the mountain.. eventually we arrived. and the villa did not disappoint.. though the distance at first did.. we were at one of villas closest to the top of the mountain. it ended up being maybe a 40 min drive to the main town from the villa. not because the distance was so far, but driving down the mountain at slow speeds as well as the two-way roadway. after getting used to the drive, we really appreciated the contrast in scenery from being in dubrovnik to being in such a remote area.

dobar dan!

day 2. all of us took a flight from gatwick airport, destination: dubrovnik, croatia.
before we left, whenever i told people we were going to croatia, about 75% thought it was the weirdest destination possible.. because for many the first thought that pops into their head when they hear croatia.. is war torn country. true, but it's been years since then, and i had heard many stories of how beautiful it is.. so i was intrigued, and really pushed for it as a location for the trip. plus, T's mom wanted to do a relaxing group trip, and since none of us had been there i thought it would be a great place to experience together.



after arrival, we had some issues with our rental car. BUDGET FAIL. they had all the large rental car agency's at the airport, hertz, avis, enterprise, etc. all with multiple people manning their booths. but of course the budget rent a car desk was empty. go figure. good thing we didn't have to pay upfront. luckily we just as easily rented a car from someone else. and headed to the villa (more on the villa later). after settling down at the villa we went to dinner a local restaurant in the konavle area famous for it's exquisite location and history called konavoski dvori as suggested by the villa owner. as we walked in me and T immediately noticed that everyone in the restaurant seemed to be locals, and was staring at us. we assumed they don't get many tourists at that restaurant.. let alone asian ones. after that bit of uncomfortableness, we got seated and had a pretty good first meal in croatia.



i ordered the local ham (like prosciutto) and the local favorite octopus salad ( i almost ate all of it before i remembered to snap this photo)