Anchors aweigh! Dubrovnik and Croatia

Our first trip to Croatia under the careful watch of Willy back in our first year here was a real highlight. That trip was in the north of the country though and so we had always intended to return to Dubrovnik and the South - which was our latest trip away.

Dubrovnik

Arriving at a reasonable hour on Friday night, we have 2 full days to explore the old town of Dubrovnik. Highlights included:

Walls and Wars walking tour - we spent much of our first hot sunny morning on top of the large stone walls that surround the old town. From the walls we got a great sense of the old town and its key buildings/features. Our guide (a local student) shared the history of the wall (built to repel Venetian invaders) and some insights into life in Dubrovnik during the war of the early 90s. He spoke of the Serbian and Montenegrin solders positioned high on the hill overlooking the town to the south firing rockets with the prime aim of destroying the old town an iconic symbol of its independence and a key centre of tourism. For 9 months the city was completely cut off from the rest of Croatia without its own source of power or water and around 70% of buildings hit or destroyed by shells. The mixture of dull 'old' roof tiles and the 'new' brighter orange tiles testament to the extent of the damage.

Lokrum Island - a 20 minute ferry ride from the old port, Lokrum had been recommended as a great spot to enjoy some time in the sea and soak up some sun. Croatian 'beaches' can either be sandy, rocky/pebbles or low flat coastal rock. In this case our beach fell into the last category - a coastal beach with ladders providing access to the surging sea a short drop down. The water was beautiful and warm (much warmer than we had experienced in Greece a couple of weeks earlier) and our new stripy towels performed well - providing some comfort as we lay on the rocks.

Rocky coastal bars - it didn't take us long to discover the small bars dotted along the coast on the rocks outside the city walls. Their entrance is through small non-descript openings in the historic wall, but once you find them you are treated to incredible views of the sea, sunset, locals and tourist cliff diving and the slightly surreal feeling of being at a bar in such a novel location.

Lopud Island - our second day was spent on Lopud Island which was about an hour and half away by ferry from Dubrovnik. We had a very relaxed day here, crossing over the island on track by foot to a large sandy beach with deck chairs and beautiful swimming. Fresh fish on the grill washed down with some local white wine made for an even more relaxed afternoon.

Fireworks - our stay in Dubrovnik coincided with the opening of their summer festival. That night we noticed a sea of people heading for the old port and naturally we joined them to see what all the excitement was about. We were treated to a spectacular fireworks display against the beautiful backdrop of the Croatian coastline. Strangely we got chatting the the couple next to us, who it turned out were staying in the apartment next to us. The town really filled up for the opening as was evidenced by 'people-jam' at the main gate to the city as the post fireworks exodus ensued.

Korcula Island

After a brief stay in Dubrovnik we took another ferry to Korcula, around 2.5hrs north of Dubrovnik. Tony (our host) ensured that we had an amazing stay here.

Tony and babies - Our accommodation here was a small basic apartment close to Lumbarda and overlooked a beautiful clear inlet. The apartment was run by Tony, a Croatian chef who used to have a restaurant in Belgium. Tony was a fantastic host and went to great lengths to ensure we had a good time. His home cooked meals using local ingredients were sensational - prawn salad, young goats cheese salad, grilled garlic prawns and some fish/potato/tomato dish - Yum! He also took pride in his 'prohibition liqueurs', home made flavoured brandies dished up as a digestive - we tried the pear and rose flavours. While we were there, Tony also had 2 older ladies from England staying with him, visitors for 2-3 weeks every year. Tony referred to the ladies as his 'babies' and we had some hilarious conversations together on the terrace over meals. The 'babies' were very well travelled and seemed to love antipodeans and NZ and we enjoyed there company very much.

Anchors aweigh - a day out in Tony's boat

With diving ruled out due to it being Sunday (go figure?) we decided to take Tony's small boat, with an even smaller motor, out for the day. Equipped with a chilly bin of food and a bottle of wine (Tony wouldn't have it any other way) we set off and had a fantastic time exploring the nearby islands and beaches - stopping close to islands for a swim whenever we fancied it.

It was one of these stops that resulted in a bit of excitement.... We had ventured to the most distant island on the itinerary set by Tony and chucked the anchor over, intent on spending the rest of the day enjoying the sun and swimming. As I put the anchor over the rope suddenly felt very light - which years of anchoring boats told me was not a good sign..... Sure enough, I retrieved the rope and there was no sign of the anchor. Not keen to cut the day short and face Tony, we puttered over to a nearby larger boat - we had seen a guy snorkeling and thought we might borrow his gear. The guy turned out to be Croatian and having communicated the problem was happy for me to set off with his gear on a retrieval mission.

Meanwhile, Michelle tied up to the back of his boat and was treated to a meal of raw sea urchin (which he had just got from the sea) washed down with local red wine. Nice for some! After an hour or so, I finally found the anchor and my hard work was rewarded by a glass of our friendly Croatian's wine (the urchin having all been eaten already!?). This small interaction was typical of our many great experiences meeting friendly locals along the way.

With anchor safely reattached and enjoyed a beautiful day in the lee of the island before a slightly slow and wet putter home into a slightly blustery breeze - but that is a story for another day.

Coming hot on the heals of some great recent holidays, Croatia had big shoes to fill. We had a fantastic holiday here. Added to our earlier holiday - our experience in Croatia will be very memorable and, for us, it probably tops the Greek islands as a holiday destination.

A morning coffee - Willy styles

It's all Greek to us......

Hot on the heals of Portugal it was time to pack the bags again and head for warmer weather. This time the destination was Greece – Athens, Santorini and Naxos for 9 days.

Athens

After arriving late on Friday night we had the weekend to explore Athens. We took it pretty easy here (as we did everywhere actually) and with beautiful hot days you would not want to have been trying to squeeze too much in.



Of course we took the time to explore the Acropolis and the various ruins which can be found in the surrounding area. The Acropolis is quite spectacular – sitting on a craggy rock outcrop overlooking the city. Our hotel had a roof top garden bar which also offered spectacular views of the site which is lit up at night. We also really enjoyed exploring the grounds of the Ancient Agora (market) which sits on the flat below the Acropolis.



We also spent some time on the coast in one of the marina areas which are dotted along it – Mikrolimano, took the cable car up Lykavittos Hill for an amazing view of the city and the surrounding region and enjoyed many beautiful meals. The stand out eating experience was probably at ‘To Steki tou llia’ a small local taverna in a residential street where we sat outside enjoying the balmy evening weather and a large serving of BBQ’d lamb chops and a nice red wine. Yum.

Santorini

After an early start we navigated our way to Piraeus – the main port for ferries which service the Greek Islands. The port was very busy – many huge ferries being loaded with hordes of travellers dragging bags, while cars and trucks were being loaded next to them.



After a 6 hour journey calling at various barren Greek islands along the way we arrived at Santorini. Santorini is reputedly the most spectacular of the islands, with its steep cliffs running down to crystal clear water - the result of massive eruption many years ago. After disembarking from the ferry we were driven slowly up the road which zigzags up the cliff to the island above.



As well as being spectacular geographically, Santorini is also a ‘picture postcard’ Greek Island, with its white terraced houses perched perilously on the cliff-top overlooking the sea below (of which our accommodation in Firostefani was one).

We wasted no time here and equipped with our trusty quad bike (25 euro for 24hrs) we set off exploring the island. First we headed the southern coast where the best beaches are located. We spent some time swimming and sunning on Perissa Beach – a nice beach lined with trendy cafes/bars and restaurants. After a beautiful fresh fish meal in a small port West of Perissa we made our way to Red Beach – a stunning beach a short walk around the rocky coastline. More sunning and swimming here in water which was crystal clear, although a bit nippy! Finally – after a wrong turn which took us to the highest point of the island (where it was just us and the goats) we raced to the far north of the island to try and catch the world famous sunset in Oia – which we did. It was great fun exploring the island – dotted with white churches, vineyards and rocky beaches it is undeniably a picturesque place.

The following day we went out to the islands in the bay off Santorini for a day of diving. We did two dives – one along a sheer wall which dropped from 12m to 300m, and other in a shallow bay where a small cruiser lay upright on the seabed after being accidentally sunk while moored here. The visibility on both dives was spectacular, and while not a spectacular as our Red Sea diving, it was nevertheless well worth doing.

Our accommodation was in Firostefani which was a very nice spot to be based. Firo (the main commercial centre) was a short walk away along a coastal path. Firo can however be a bit hectic during the day with cruise ships delivering 1000s of tourists daily – on a bad day there can be up to 15 cruise ships stopping at Santorini, so it was nice to be a bit out of the way of all of that activity but still in walking distance of lots of eating options. When we weren’t exploring, plenty of time was spent reading by the pool and looking out over the Mediterranean below.

Naxos

Before we knew it we were on the slow ferry to Naxos, a couple of hours north of Santorini. Naxos is a larger island than Santorini and while it is less well known to tourists, its fertile soil and abundance of white marble stone mean it has always been an important island for the Greeks.



Small cars (rather than quad bikes) seemed to be the vehicle of choice and we spent the next 2 days exploring the island in our Fun Car!



The first day was spent exploring inland areas and villages. Highlights were a pottery workshop off the main road were we had a bit of a spend up, Halki – a quaint village with some designer art/pottery stores, Panagia Drosiani – one of the oldest and most revered churches in Greece with small cavelike chapels, Dimitras Temple (where ancient Greeks once worships the Gods of Fertility) and the ‘kouros’ - huge half finished marble statues found abandoned in ancient marble quarries.

The next day we spent on Naxos’ beautiful beaches – firstly on a small secluded beach near Mikri Vigla and later on the larger more populated Plaka beach – where full nudity seemed to be the look of choice for most – however we went with a more conservative approach.



Special mention has to be made of our accommodation here – Hotel Grotta - where the staff where incredibly friendly and were never short of some good tips or eating recommendations, not to mention the breakfasts!


Naxos had a totally different feel to that of Santorini. It was far more laid back and didn’t suffer from the passengers brought by visiting cruise ships. While we don’t regret for a minute including Santorini on our itinerary, it was nice to have experienced Naxos, which felt a bit more like a ‘real’ Greek island experience.

All in all a nice holiday – the only thing which underwhelmed us was the wine!

Off the beaten track - Douro Valley and Porto

As most of you know, Michelle normally plans our holidays, but in moment of rashness, I decided I would plan a trip. When reality of what this entailed dawned on me, I did what any shrewd traveller would do - outsource the planning. So that is how we found ourselves embarking on a week long self guided walk in the Douro Valley in the North East of Portugal.

For those of you who want the abridged version - we had a fantastic week, kicking off exploring Porto and its Port Houses and then meandering on foot through the vineyards, olive groves, hills and valleys in the heart of the Douro Valley, while soaking up the Portuguese sun. Magic!

Porto - Getting our Port education

Our trip started in the city of Porto - perched on the coast in the North of Portugal where the Douro river reaches the sea. It is home to the historic Port houses, who are based on the other side of the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, the place where regulation once stipulated all Port must pass through for bottling and aging.

We had a very leisurely weekend here and wasted no time in up-skilling ourselves on this town's most famous attribute - Port. In fact, Michelle had purchased her first bottle of port within an hour of our arrival.

While here we visited both Grahams and Taylors and from tours and tastings developed our understanding of the distinction between the Vintages ports, LBVs, Tawnys and also the history of this famous wine.

It wasn't all about the Port though (well it sort of was actually), we also explored the historic centre, enjoyed tapas by the beach in the nearby coastal area of Foz and a beautiful meal at the Bull & Bear restaurant (not a English pub as its name might suggest, rather one of Porto's finest restaurants).

The train into the heart of the Douro

The starting point of our walk was Vesuvio, a tiny settlement in the far north of the Douro valley not far from the Spanish border. We took a train from Porto to Vesuvio and the journey itself was one of the highlights. The old train weaved its way along the banks of the Douro and at times it felt like you would reach out the window and touch the water (although this is not encouraged!).

View from the train window

We were the only people to get off in Vesuvio - at what could not really be described as a train station, rather a small shelter in the middle of nowhere on the bank of the river at the foot of Quinta do Vesuvio - one of Graham's most prestigious vineyards.

View from our window

After an anxious wait (our hotel forgot about us!) we were put in a small dinghy and taken across the river to our accommodation. There was very little English spoken here but our hosts were very hospitable and treated us to a meal of BBQ lamb which was incredible and superb local red wine to wash it down.

Let the walking begin - Day 2

Thankfully we were eased into the walking with just 11.4km of flat or downhill ground to cover on the first real day. We walked along a dirt track with the river (teeming with fish) on one side and steep terraced vineyards and olive groves on the other. We were spared an incredibly steep walk up to the top of the valley ridge by getting a lift and then took an ancient roman track back through cork trees and more vineyards and olive groves as it circled back to our lodging.

The panoramic views of the Douro were breath-taking and it was a great introduction to the region. It was just us and the lizards as we wandered along the dusty tracks as I constantly reminded Michelle..... "not many tourists make it this far into the Douro Valley". We ended the day with a real sense of excitement of what lay ahead of us over the coming days.

At the end of the day we took the train back to Pinhao - the centre of the port trade in the Douro and were then driven high up on the ridge to Casal de Loivos - a small village overlooking Pinhao and the Douro valley. Our accommodation here was a complete contrast to the night before - we were greeted by Richard a butler like Portuguese chap who spoke impeccable English complete with toffy accent (although he did throw in a "You shit me well" here and there!?). We were staying in a house owned by the same family since 1658 and who make their own award winning table wines from the vines around the house (http://www.casadecasaldeloivos.com/uk/casa.html). The view from this property has been rated as the 6th best in the world (by BBC) and as we sat by the pool enjoying a white port and tonic it was hard to disagree.

Dinner that night was also a contrast to the previous night - this time sitting around a large dining table with the other guests being entertained by the owner (who kept planting seeds in our mind about giving up the walk and staying with him for the balance of our trip!).

Do you think we are lost? Day 3

We awoke to another perfect day - blue, cloudless skies (as it turns out, each day would be the same in this respect). Day 3 was about a 12km walk - scheduled for 4 hours but we blitzed it (less stops for photos perhaps?). Our route ascended very gradually along mainly dirt tracks through plots of wild cherry trees (yum!), through small settlements (where we acquired a stray dog who joined us for about an hour of the walk) and across yet more areas of vineyards (this time rolling terrain, rather than steep terraced hillsides) before ending in the town of Alijo.

For while there we did have some concerns we were lost and the maps and compass out, but as it turned out we were on the right route all the way. Thankfully, this was the only time we felt a bit lost and was a good reminder to pay attention - a tough ask when there was so much to see around you!

Alijo was the largest town we stayed in - in fact the only place that really felt anything like a town. We rewarded ourselves with a glass of chilled red wine and bag of crisps at Martin's Cafe on the way into town (the bill: EUR2.20... cheap cheap!). The afternoon was spent relaxing, complete with a visit to a local wine museum where we tasted the Moscatel aperitif grown from the white grapes through which we had walked that day.

Stuck in traffic - Day 4

Favaios

We got an earlish start this day - with 16kms ahead of us. The first point of interest on the walk was the beautiful nearby village of Favaios. After exploring this cute village we headed out of town before stumbling upon an abandoned Quinta. Exploring the Quinta was quite surreal. A once grand manor house and buildings used on a vineyard, now derelict and overgrown (although still surrounded by a working vineyard).

Abandoned Quinta

We continued our walk passing workers in the vines, tending to the new growth - stopping as we passed to wave, pose for photos and (we think) encourage us to join them to help out!? We resisted the temptation to join them.

We sheltered from the peak heat of the day at a tiny local cafe in the middle of nowhere. The owners produced two chilled handles of red wine - they were enormous (I reckon close to 300mls!) for the grand sum of EUR1 each. Having slowly worked our way through these we set off up hill in the heat - unsure that our lunchtime refreshment would serve us well for the balance of the day!?

It was this day when we met our only fellow walker - and got stuck behind her for a short while. She was a local woman carrying a bottle of water on her head as we assume she made her way from one village to her own.

About 5 hours after setting off we arrived at our destination in the tiny settlement of Vilarinho de Sao Romao (north of Pinhao). Our accommodation that night was once again stunning (http://www.casadevilarinho.com/) - a restored manor house, complete with its own semi-functioning chapel built in 1462. After lounging by the pool and another tasty meal, we slept very soundly indeed.

The big day. Day 5

The walk this day was the toughest - but great fun. We covered 17kms (opting out of an optional transfer) and even though we had an early start, towards the end of the day the temperature was well into the 30s.

Our route took us through Provesende, the oldest settlement in the region and a world heritage site partly due to its abandoned manor houses, testament to its former glory. The church in the centre of the town had incredible gothic interior and music was being played over a PA system across town - our visit coinciding with a festival it seemed.

From here we had steep climb until we reached the highest peak in the region. Up there it was just us and a sole fireman manning the fire watchtower - positioned here to take advantage of 360 degree view of the region. Following a slow and rocky descent through fields of flowering lavender we arrived at Chanceleiros - which would be our home for the next two nights.

By this stage of the week the days were getting incredibly hot. Even the dogs took the opportunity to cool off in the pool before we enjoyed dinner looking out over the Douro river once again.

The taper. Day 6

With the temperature hitting 25 degrees by 9am we were thankful that today's walking constituted a 5km walk down the road followed by a winery visit at one of the Port houses Casa de la Rosa (most well known for its table wines).

Pinhao Station

After exploring Pinhao we also had a memorable visit to Quinta do Panascal (the flagship estate for the Fonseca Port label - part of the Taylors family of wines). Here our visit coincided with a visit by a large Portuguese family event. We were befriended by one of the family and he generously gave us a glass of the 1985 Vintage port he had just purchased for EUR120?! Just one of many examples of the friendly and generous nature of the Portuguese we met along the way. They could not do enough for us.

By the afternoon it was 34 degrees in the shade and thus the only sensible thing to do was relax in the shade by the pool, jumping in to cool off from time to time. The chef decided it was too hot to cook inside, so we were treated to an incredible meal of BBQ meats which we enjoyed on the al fresco terrace under old olive trees. A magic end to the trip.

This holiday will be one of our most memorable in Europe (and I'm not just saying that because I 'organised it'). We would thoroughly recommend the company we booked this through - InnTravel. (http://www.inntravel.co.uk/walking/guides/PO_douro.htm). We will always remember the incredible scenery and views, amazing food and wines, unique and exceptional accomodation, experiencing this rustic region steeped in history - and most of all the friendly and hospitable people we met along the way.