Jasmine wins Sea Urchin revenge

On Saturday Jasmine and I went on an inflatable slide in the sea. We also found a pier to jump off but we had to wear sea shoes so that we didn't stand on the sea urchins that were on the rocks. 

That evening we caught a bus to the town of Korčula. It was really pretty just like a mini Dubrovnik. While we were there, mum and dad paid for tickets for the boat to our next island which is called Mljet. This took ages so Jasmine and I played on the computer in the tourist office. 

We had a nice meal in Korčula Town and they had some really nice gift shops where I bought a crab necklace and bracelet.

On Sunday we hired kayaks for the day and used them to go to 3 different islands we started at 10 o'clock in the morning and didn't finish until 7 o'clock at night! On the first island we had some lunch which was like a burger and chips, Croatian style! We also found another pier to jump off (see some of the photos below). Some of the beaches on this island were really quiet and there weren't many people around. Unfortunately this meant that we kayaked passed a couple who were sunbathing naked. Yukkk!

We then paddled to a different island. It was really pretty. There was a monastery built on the island and there were wild deer that came so close to you that you could feed them from your hand. 

We met a Croatian family on the beach who had a massive basket full of sea urchins. One of the ladies was breaking them open with a special tool. Jasmine got her revenge for treading on one of the sea urchins as she ate one! She said it tasted disgusting but mummy quite liked it!

As the sun was setting, we paddled back to our apartment (after buying some refreshments for the evening). We'd been kayaking for 9 hours and were very tired but it had been a great day. 

Russian tourists do nothing to dispel the stereotype

By Jasmine

We were getting ready for our taxi to arrive to take us to the bus station. One arrived so we got on with all our stuff then as we pulled away, we realised that the taxi we had actually booked had just parked behind us. Whoops! 

We got to the station bit early and had to wait in the 'air-conditioned' waiting room. As we got onto the coach, me, mum and Bella went to get a seat whilst dad put the suitcases away. We got a seat towards the back of the coach but after a while people were moving around. We realised that everybody had been told to sit in the right number seats so we had to move and we had to find the seat number on our tickets. However, the people that were sat in our seats wouldn't move and wouldn't show us their tickets to prove they had the right seats. This meant that we had to stand up (and another eight people at the back) for the three hour journey. The people that refused move had their tickets checked by the driver on the bus and it turned out that they had not reserved the seats correctly at all and they had no seats reserved.  Still they wouldn't move! 

After a lot of standing up and about two hours on the coach we had to park on the side of the road because of fires in Croatia blocking our way. We waited nearly two hours for the firemen and fire planes to put it out. When we finally got back onto the coach, mum politely asked the Russians whether they would now move so that we could take the second half of the journey on the seats. Still they refused to move and this is when dad got angry and stepped in and started shouting at the Russian man "it was your mistake". 

The whole group was so arrogant that I made a poem about them. See the picture below:

Today we explored some of Korcula island. After about 15 minutes of walking, we found a peaceful beach. Isabella and I rushed in to the sea with mum and dad shortly behind us. The water felt really refreshing when it was actually 27°.  When we got tired we started to get out. As I was walking out of the sea, I thought I'd hit my toe on a rock. I carried on walking to mum who was in front and said "I've hurt my foot, ouch!" Then I sat down and had a look.  There several spikes of a sea urchin stuck in my foot! It really hurt. 

Luckily there was a nurse on the beach so she tried helping but only managed to get out one of the spikes. So dad ran back to the apartment (which was 2 miles away) in his flip-flops to get some tweezers and Savlon. When he returned, my foot wasn't as painful but we still tried  to get the spikes out which looks like a big splinters.

Waiting in the bus station:

Standing on the coach (rude Russians to left of mum):

The fires had decimated the country side:

The amazing view from the short boat journey from mainland Croatia to Korçula:

Perfect timing as the sun set on the extended journey:

Dad quickly walked into the small town to get some things before the shop closed at 9 and took these pictures:

Dubrovnik

We flew from Gatwick (massive exhale) to Dubrovnik on Monday afternoon. The flight was a pleasant 2.5 hours with Monarch Airlines. We took a taxi to complete our journey. We stayed in Anmar Apartments about a 10 minute walk from the Old Town. The taxi cost 250 Kuna. The apartment was very nice and ideally located. 

We were immediately struck by the heat in Dubrovnik. The old town inside the castle walls is amazing. However, in the height of the summer the heat is stifling. We went to a beach to swim and escape the heat. This was very crowded and there was little shade. In truth, we are looking forward to the next leg of our journey, Korçula, where we can unwind a little and hopefully visit quieter beaches.

On our last evening in Dubrovnik, we went in the famous cable car. We went all the way up to the top of a mountain which had shops and sights to see. The sights were amazing and worth it. Especially as we timed it so that the sun was setting on our way down

We walked back into the old town and had a drink. There were a lot of flying birds around which were entertaining. When we had finished a delicious milkshake (and a couple of beers for dad) we walked back to our apmartment and relaxed.

Dubrovnik is nice but really hot.

By Isabella Bidwell