Aussies on board and a mid life need met!

The sun did come out for Dubrovnik, a beautiful medieval walled city but oh the people! 3 cruise ships were along side for the day - that's 12,000 people on top of those staying there - and its still low season! We did however manage to find a nice quiet and somewhat unusual anchorage for a sea going boat. A couple of miles up the river upon which Dubrovnik was built - we could have been on the Norfolk broads. With both bow and stern anchors out we snuggled up to to the reeds for the night.








We are used to having dolphins playing under the bows but a duck is a first!

From Dubrovnik we got into the first of hundreds of Croatian islands, the reason this area is such a popular cruising area for charter boats. Hilly, rocky and very green (yes we know why!) coming out of gin clear water.


Our trusty steeds got the push this year. We hardly used the bikes last year because Italy was so hilly. As the Adriatic and Greece are very much the same we splashed out on a pair of electric bikes. We tied up alongside on the little island of Lopud and set of for lunch. guess what? The rain was back and it was COLD! Note Melanies gloves, the sunglasses are to keep the rain out of her eyes!






Our next island was Mljet where we picked up our Aussie friends Chris and Katherine.



As promised they did bring the sunshine and after a day cycling on Mljet we had a pleasant sail to Korkula.







Like much of the Croatian islands and coast, Korkula has been home to many races and nationalities. Greek colonists settled here, later it was part of the Roman empire. The Venetians also controlled the island at different times over several centuries. In the 15th and 16th centuries the island was heavily fortified against attacks by the Turks and pirates. Even the Brits stuck their finger in the pie for just 2 years in 1813 after which it became part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Croatia has a turbulent history!

The heavily fortified main town, also called  Korkula, is very attractive. It is also a tourist magnet. We learned our lesson from Dubrovnik and did our sight seeing first thing in the morning to beat the crowds!



Although the rain has stopped it is still cold, this is not the garb you expect to need in the Med!












Next was the most westerly island of Vis. Melanie has a secret yearning for speed and Vis was to fulfil a mid life crisis need - they rented scooters on the island!


Tentatively at first Melanie took control of this mean machine and before long was roaring ( well, as much as 50cc's will roar) round the country lanes.











She then put the husband on the back and headed for lunch!

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