Croatia, July 2010

Europe has this great system called the Schengen agreement, whereby most people of western countries can hang around in Europe for 90 days each year. We've already been in these Schengen countries for ooohhh 60-odd days, so we have been forced to come to Eastern Europe for the rest of our time before we fly to Canada. Forced might be too harsh a word.
We flew from London to Split, Croatia where half of Europe also seems to go for holidays. Phill was here four years ago, when Croatia was still that exotic place that was a little bit out there. It is now ridiculously accessible, with cheap flights from England, package tours from all over Europe and those inescapable Sail Croatia tours full of amazingly tanned young people.
We decided to do the country by ourselves as our budget (still surprisingly good after six months) still has to stretch another two months. We had three nights in Split, staying with Zoran - private accommodation is the norm, with most houses and apartment blocks with 'rooms/zimmer/sober/camere' signs out the front. A private room with a bathroom cost about $50 for us both, which was cheaper than the youth hostels.
From Split we went north to Zadar, then back down to Primosten and all the way down to Dubrovnik.
We are here smack bang in the middle of school holidays, and who wouldn't want to come to Eastern Europe for some sun? The scenery is lovely, the water crystal clear. Pity about all the people though. And these people - you can smell the skin cancer on them! We would be cowering in the tiny patches of shade provided by the stunted trees around the beach, while people young and old would have all their bits out getting a tan. The constellations of moles on some of these people...I would diagnose skin cancer with no qualms.
Primosten was without a doubt the highlight of Croatia - and not only because a special little boy turned 23. Phill was here four years ago and wanted to come back to spend his birthday here. It's a smaller town away from the main tourist destinations, but still packed with Croatian families having some beach time. The marina had some massive boats (we put a couple on lay by) and the restaurants were pretty good. It's nice to be able to afford a restaurant meal on a marina, looking at ridiculously wealthy people on their boats and yachts.
From Primosten we had a pretty terrible 7-hour bus ride to Dubrovnik. The view was spectacular, following the coast road through little villages with immense views of the archipelago. The air conditioning was shit and the traffic was horrendous, but we got there.
Dubrovnik is an amazing city with loads of history. It was bombed by the Serbians only 20 years ago - people our age would remember, and people older than us fought. The old town is alley after alley, and alley cat after alley cat. The restaurants and bars make for great people watching.
We stayed in private accommodation with the cutest 79-year-old, 5foot nothing lady, who said we were 'super touristic' which I'm sure means cool backpackers in Croatian. We were a 15 minute walk from the old town, and about 5 minutes from the harbour and all the ridiculously big boats, including a mega mega cruise ship. We stayed in DB for four nights, hoping to meet up with some friends also in town. We kept sharp eyes out for them, but the hordes of travellers and tourists blocked our views. We found a delightful cliff side swimming spot with shade cloth 'for locals only' and spent some lovely hours reading and diving in the crystal clear water under the sheer cliffs.