from the west...: sailing adventures in croatia

from istanbul we flew to croatia where we embarked on the sailing portion of our trip. how many times had i been on a sailboat? zero. pete took sailing lessons on lake merritt in oakland when he was a kid and some classes at university. jenny took sailing classes at university. and someone was willing to give us a boat for seven days?! just kidding...we had a ringer. andrew sailed tall ships around the world for many years and had his own boat until recently. so three captains and a scientist sailed off into the adriatic sea to soak in the beauty and history of the dalmation coast. our official duties were captain (andrew), engineer (pete), public relations (jenny), and steward (me). after a night in romantic trogir (world heritage site #2), we set sail.

the well worn stone streets of trogir

quaint, narrow "streets"

one of the entrances into the walled portion of the city

(note the shape in the alcove above the
entrance - by night it is a neon UNESCO sign)

the boat dock and trogir tower

(our boat is three from the end)

happy hour scenery from our boat

the first stop on our sailing adventure was the town of milna on the island of brac. we were traveling during the shoulder season so milna was very quiet, but quite lovely.

the town of milna

a pretty seaside church

i bet it is cheaper than santa cruz... who needs a roof?!

the stone from the island of brac is quite famous -

it was imported to build the white house in d.c.

our trusty captain

our next stop was the island of hvar in a town called stari grad (world heritage site #3). we went for a nice hike to a vista over the city and had dinner at a small outdoor cafe. the food in croatia is nothing to write about, but the ambiance here was perfect.

stari grad and the stari grad plains

pete, jenny, and andrew from our lookout perch

the town of stari grad was full of cuteness...

our dinner spot in stari grad

our third day of sailing took us to the other side of hvar island. we were told this would be the busiest stops on our island tour. it was definitely more lively than everyplace else so we were happy that it was a slower time of year. the town of hvar lies below an old fortress, so we had a nice opportunity to get a long walk in while we were in town.

our approach to hvar town

dinghy parking in hvar. getting in and out of this

arrangement is always interesting...

more steep, narrow "streets" through the town

the entrance to spanjola fortress. i loved the slanty door

overlooking hvar from spanjola fortress

overlooking hvar town - what a beautiful day!

pete and jenny waiting for andrew and i to stop taking photos

the happy crew

our next stop was the island of vis. on the way there, we stopped for an open sea swim in 80 meters of water. the water was warm and diving off the bow was great fun! pete and i put on masks and snorkeled around for a bit but there was absolutely NOTHING in the water. i am pretty sure that the adriatic sea is blue because it is mostly dead. sad.

we had two days in vis, trading in our sailboat for scooters instead. andrew lost his drivers license before the trip started and pete forgot his on the boat, so jenny and i had to be the "renters" of our two scooters. imagine this scene: melissa driving a wee scooter for the *very first time* away from the very public rental agency with pete on the back. terrifying. i made it down the street, through a stop sign, and up a slight hill before pulling over and making pete drive the rest of the day. (until i had to return it.) we had a lovely day cruising around the island and seeing some quaint villages and beautiful beaches.