101 Dalmatians

Here's a map of the islands we went to on this leg of the trip:

As mentioned before, we're on a small boat (14 cabins) for 7 days going between the islands of Croatia. Here's what it looks like:

The coast of Croatia is called Dalmatia collectively but no one on the boat knows why it's called that.... maybe because the coast of Croatia is dotted with 1700+ islands, some of which look like this:

The amazingly blue and clear Adriatic sea is a nice break from visiting cities. The water is on the chilly side for us, but after sitting in the scorching sun for a while it feels so refreshing, especially that first moment when you jump into the water.

The days quickly settled into a routine: breakfast at 8am (they're strict about their meal times - if you miss it you get yelled at!) as the boat pulls out of the marina and heads to another island, then sit on the deck under the sun and enjoy the view of the blue Adriatic and islands that dot the coast. Here's the view from my perspective:

Ashok relaxing on the boat (sitting in the shade because he doesn't need a tan):

Shortly before lunch the boat drops anchor somewhere so there's time for a refreshing swim. More swimming or a nap in the afternoon until about 4pm when the boat heads into town and docks for the night, in time for us to walk around and explore the old town. Yes, life is tough.

Other than 2 Canadian girls and 2 German couples, the rest of the people on our boat are Croatians so we got a good taste of the local culture - one of the things we love about traveling. We found out from the locals that the way to drink white wine in Dalmatia is to mix equal parts water and wine and then add ice. The drink is called Bevanda. Just imagine trying to do that back in the States and the looks you'd get! One sip of the local wine and we knew why it is necessary to add water... it's really strong and not that good so adding water to dilute it makes it easier to drink (tastes even better with sparkling water).

Being here also makes me realize how prudish North Americans are. Not sure if it's all Europe but the women here think nothing of taking their tops off as they lay under the sun. As the week went on and people got more comfortable with each other the number of topless women (all in their 20's) and the times they're topless went up (sorry no pictures). Ashok's definitely enjoying this cruise.

The funny thing is one of the Canadian women swam really far away from the water to take her top off for a little while just so she can say she went topless in Europe. She told us this on our last night as we were sitting on the top deck drinking whiskey. Later that night we ran into the Croatians who insisted that we try the local liquor (a hazelnut drink called Orahovica) and then out to the disco with them. This was, of all places, on the tiny little island of Sipan where it takes about 15 minutes to walk thru the harbor but the best times happen when it's unplanned.

Some interesting tidbits:

Apparently in Croatia you don't want to park where you're not supposed to. Instead of giving out tickets, here's their version of a tow truck:

The picture is a bit dark but the truck is basically picking up the entire car and moving it. Alternatively, you could avoid getting towed by getting a big car.

As I mentioned before, looking for free wi-fi somehow became a past time. In general you can't tell if there's free wi-fi or not, but in this case it was pretty obvious:

We jumped in but the wireless card on the MAC is too weak so it didn't work for us.

Here's a little info on each of the islands we went to:
Mljet (pronounced Millet): Mljet is a national park with two lakes in the middle of the island, and a small island in the middle of the lake. There's a bridge where the two lakes meet where Orson Welles use to sit on for hours. The current under the bridge carries you from one lake to the other. There are lots of nice hikes but we're not nature people so we probably could have saved the park admission fee and spent the afternoon on the beach along the coast instead.

Hvar (pronounced Hevar): is apparently where the rich and famous visit. There are lots of nice yachts docked in the harbor, and everyone walking around was dressed up in some hip outfit (EVERY woman was wearing some dress or skirt). Ashok and I felt very under-dressed in our shorts and tank tops. There's a nice old town and a fort at the top of the hill to add to the charm. The fort has a great panoramic view of the town.

Makarska: is a coastal town, not an island. After Hvar this seems a lot more casual as you see the normal shorts and t-shirt tourists (we fit in better here). It's pretty but not as much compared to the other islands. Ashok did get some good shots of these kids at swimming practice:

(Ashok is making sure I note that I copied his shot)

Korcula (Korchula): the small old town is at the tip of the island and is one of the most picturesque of all. It's also Marco Polo's birthplace. Here's a view of the sea from the Marco Polo House.

Sipan (Shipan): One of the Elifiti islands, a group of islands near Dubrovnik. It's the smallest village of all the places we stopped at... I think because we were on the non-touristy side of the island so it's still a sleepy town.

This has been a great week and we're going to miss the cool Adriatic and the beautiful scenery. I think we may have to go on a round-the-world's-beaches trip next.... maybe on a one of those yachts we saw this week (yeah right!).