Author: mc4119

Quick thought.. If you are under 30 and looking for a wild time, get your happy ass to Hvar Croatia. At 5 this morning, Heyyyy Baby I wanna know if you’ll be my girl, was still being sung in various languages. And then they all jumped on the ferry for the next island. Smart plan to keep that party moving, I do not envy them their headaches.

We push on to our next island too. Tough day for me as the fun is in the morning, the work, the ride, is in the afternoon. I like to get the work out of the way early. But as my complaint is that I am forced to jump on a sailboat and cruise the Adriatic for 3 hours, I think I will hush!
Talk to you later.

Continue reading “Cruising..”

Good morning Tuesday and let’s hope it is not as tough a ride as Monday. Never dawned on me as we rode down the hill into the quiet town of Dol on Sunday night…that we would have to ride UP to leave. And up and up and up we rode yesterday to the other side of the island of Brac to pick up our boat again. Yes, I had to briefly use gear 31, but it felt good to hop off briefly. And yes it felt good to fly down the backside of the island.

Once in Bol, (haha, not to be confused with Dol), I plunked my big tired butt into the Adriatic and it felt great.

The rest of the day was a grand reward. We sailed from Brac island to Hvar but not before swimming in a gorgeous cove and eating fresh fish and vegetables. Amazing!! I need to hit the lottery and do this everyday.

We pulled into Hvar amidst a sea of yachts and yet everyone turned to look, our boat is beautiful and lovingly maintained by the captain/owner. She is truly yar.

The hotel for the next few nights is a 180 from the last place, very sleek, modern. And the town of Hvar is anything but sleepy. It is young, hip, and has that crazy Russian mob money feel to it.

We ate again as a group last night at a restaurant owned by a young couple, one of those places where you are walking down a lane and thinking where is this place, and then suddenly twinkling lights strung in the trees, oh here we are..

Great meal and hilarious conversation. I sat with a group of Canadian doctors and the one guide from Slovenia. The guide told “you won’t believe this” stories from her travels and the docs told hilarious “I can top that” stories of crazy patients.

Great end to a hard fought day of cycling.

Gotta run, today calls, will post pictures as I can, connectivity has made that a bit of a challenge.

During our briefing yesterday, the leaders described the bikes with 32 gears. 30 on the bike, the 31st is your feet, the 32nd is when you say the hell with this and get the van to pick you up.
My goal is small, avoid 31 and 32, so if I had to choose between taking a picture and making it up a hill, I pedaled on, but here are a few..

Met my group this morning, Sunday. Wasn’t sure what to expect as I knew it was mostly couples and families traveling together, only 1 other woman traveling solo like me. All is well, groups from CT, IL, CA, Fl, and Toronto.
We left Split by boat headed for Brac island, that alone was lovely, dolphins surfacing as though they were paid to be there.
We got off the boat and prepped for just shy of 30 miles. I thought, hmmm, I can do this in my sleep. Hahaha, throw in some crazy climbs and a pretty serious sun, 30 miles starts to feel a lot longer.
We stopped at a country restaurant that is owned my father and son; we ate nothing that did nothing not come from their backyard, whether meat, vegetable, or fruit…divine. But I needed a nap, not more hills. Made it through and arrived in Dol. Lovely lovely town with sleepy feel.
And tonight we sleep and eat in a home from the 15th century…held by the same family!!! The matriarch welcomed us.
I feel like I was on a movie set all day. Amazing vistas, blue water, sleepy towns with beautiful people sunning themselves on rocks. Think retro 1950, Sophia Loren….
Attaching pictures, but I need sleep, tomorrow comes soon and mileage and hills are doubled.
Put Croatia on your bucket list, it is amazing!

a few pictures before I go..

So here’s the thing about travel, and actually a blog, as maybe 3-4 people are reading this and 1 of them is probably my mother… I know people want to see pictures, but I really groove on the people.

Promise some pictures.

Today I chatted with Brits from the midlands (will have to google “Midlands” later), ended up walking with a lovely couple from Taiwan, the husband studied Statistics at Michigan State and was very funny about UMichigan vs Michigan State, and then a Croatian mother, daughter, both in 2 piece suits looking amazing, gave me guidance on the where and what of swimming from the rocky shores. How grand is that?  If I had stopped, for pictures, maybe the experience is different.

And now I’m having an afternoon libation at an outdoor bar where the bartender wants to be anywhere but here, but he understands that I do not want a tourist drink, just a bit o’ hooch in a glass with fresh squeezed oj, nothing from the gun, and moreso a big side or water…with ice!

Hotel is perfect, tidy room, well located, charming staff who all speak English and get my sense of humor.

Last night I was exhausted and hungry and if you have ever travelled anywhere you know that combo is deadly. The hotel gave me a great recommendation…and I never found it. Split Croatia is a series of little alleys and unnamed streets. I ended up at what I’m sure is a dive but they served me a whack of chicken and a big glass of water so I consider it a success. And when I found my way back to the hotel, a chocolate on the pillow. Don’t even like chocolate and it made me happy.

Time for more people watching.

Beautiful morning in Munich and no joke, the airport is gorgeous! Great outdoor courtyard which I will be enjoying for a few hours as my mad dash to catch an earlier connection to Split yielded no results.

Worse places to be than Munich on an end of summer day.

As I plunked my stuff down I looked up and saw this sign…how fun is that!!

So just a quick note to let you know I am alive, next time we talk it will be from Croatia!!