Kayaking into Dubrovnik

I often squint my eyes as we paddle up to old Dalmatian towns and try to imagine how it was to arrive in them from the sea before the surrounding modern development occurred. I found myself screwing up my eyes again as we kayaked towards the walls of Dubrovnik from Lopud. It must have been amazing. Sailors would have spent days and weeks at sea, surrounded either by water or the region’s wooded islands to suddenly, with little warning, come upon the finely crafted but tightly contained settlements of Dubrovnik, Korčula, or Split – bright jewels in the natural landscape.

I also try to imagine what it was like for the men working the walls early in their construction, 500 years ago. What was happening the day they lay a particular stone way down near the base of the walls?

The September cruise ship crowds stared at us from the wall’s walkway high above. Were they happy to be following their umbrella touting guides in their large groups or were they envious of us paddling in the sun upon the calm waters?

We paddled all the way into the old harbor, in front of the old town’s arsenal. And then back out to one of the nearby small bays, where Tim met us to help extract the boats and load them on the van. Exhausted, and nursing the odd muscle strain, we shuffled into town, dropped the bags at the rooms and headed out to dinner at the best place in town – Lokanda Peskarija.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Ferry to Šipan Island, Kayak to Lopud Island

In the morning twilight we sat and cradled our coffees as we waited for the early departure of the ferry to Šipan Island. Šipan is one of the Elafiti Islands, a chain of islands which run between Dubrovnik and the Pelješac Peninsula. These islands once were the summer playgrounds of the Dubrovnik nobles – their large holiday houses amongst their vineyards are still evident today. It’s possible to visit three islands in a day by kayak – they are so close together.

After another coffee in Šipan’s small harbor, we crossed the channel to Lopud Island. Lopud is a tiny island where cars are banned. Ferries from Dubrovnik provide access to the island several times a day and then guests must either walk or use the local golf-carts for transport. The main town is small with several hotels and many apartments, a large Franciscan monastery and the obligatory fort. On the far side of the island is its main attraction – one of the largest sandy beaches in Southern Dalmatia – from which, on a clear day, you can see Dubrovnik. The siren-call of pina coladas under the tiki-hut drew us towards the beach. We cruised passed the old town and around to the other side of island to enjoy the sun, water and cocktails.

Dinner was grilled squid in one of the restaurants a 15-minute walk away back in the old town.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Kayaking to Sobra

We were able to have a sleep-in this morning – but surprisingly this was not due to hangovers thanks to the preservative free wine!

We continued to make our way down the north coast of Mljet towards the town of Sobra, the ferry port of the island. The only other signs of humanity we saw for the day were the cruising yachts.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Boat Ride to Mljet Island, Walk around the Lakes, Kayak to Kozarica

After a breakfast of pancakes topped with homemade jams, eggs from Seka’s chickens and teas made with herbs from her garden, we loaded the kayaks on the transport boat for Mljet Island.

The kayaks were left in the town of Pomena while we took a walk through the National Park, which makes up the western third of the island. The target was the 12^th Century Benedictine monastery of St Mary which sits on a small island in the middle of one of the park’s two lakes. Currently the monastery is under renovation – it was being used as a hotel until 1998 when it was returned to the church. Our lakeside lunch attracted the usual swarms of annoying yet harmless yellowjackets.

After stretching our legs we were in the kayaks again for the paddle from Pomena to Kozarica – halfway along the northern side of Mljet. While usually the southern sides of the Dalmatian Islands are the most spectacular to cruise, the deserted channel between Mljet and Peljesac makes for an enjoyable afternoon sojourn.

Long distance paddling conversations can deal with some ‘deep’ topics – such as “What’s the plural of mongoose – mongeese or mongooses?” Turns out either is acceptable. Why did this question arise? Mljet used to be over-run by snakes. So some bright spark decided the solution was to introduce mongeese to deal with them. The mongooses soon accomplished their assigned task; the island was rid of snakes. However, the little creatures were still hungry so they then also rid the island of all its small bird-life. When we ever learn!

We pulled the kayaks out in the little port and crashed. In the evening, guess what! – More domestic wine on the terrace, with Howard leading the charge.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Kayaking to Trstenik, Dinner with Seka

This day’s paddle was to take us to Trstenik, another small bay along the Pelješac Peninsula. Wine was once again to play its part, as our boats were followed for the day by the hills of the Dingač region.

Dingač is a red wine producing area. They take Dalmatia’s local variety – plavac mali – and blast it with sun on southern facing steep slopes. The area has been declared a cultural monument – so only vines can be planted. In the last two years many hectares of abandoned terraces have been re-established. Prior to the 1920s Croatia produced over 4 times the volume of wine it does today. Then the vines withered due to the arrival of phyloxera. The population of Dalmatia simply had to leave the uneconomical fields – and they disappeared around the world.

Communism also affected the vineyards – grapes only had value for co-op produced table wine – vintners were not able to produce their own fine wines. To produce wine here is a back-breaking task – it is impossible to use any machinery amongst the vines on the hillside – there was no reason to put in the extra effort for better quality grapes.

Our old friend Seka welcomed us to their house. From the sea, their vineyards and olives groves, and her small garden, her family is basically self-sufficient. After walking through the vineyards we sat down to a 4-course fish meal and their domestic red wine. Seka’s son Niki mentioned that two months before they had been sitting down to a similar meal when there was a knock at the door. He had answered it to find Mike Grgić standing there. Mike is a well known Croatian expat, Napa Valley wine-maker – owner of Grgich Hills Estate Winery. He occasionally visits his homeland, and keeps a large villa on the edge of Trstenik. Mike said he had come into possession of some of Niki’s wine and had liked it so much that he had come to tell the family how good it was. Mike then turned around and walked back up the hill. This gesture was the best praise their wine could receive.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Kayaking from Korčula to Podobuce

The kayaks were launched from in front of the old walls, and we headed across the channel towards the Pelješac Peninsula. The calm waters we were crossing were teeming in history. Most importantly, in 1298 the Battle of Korčula was fought between the Venetians and the Genoese. As the smoke settled the Venetian war galley supplied by the islanders from Korčula had be captured and the men aboard taken prisoner. The captain of this vessel was none other than Marco Polo. Marco spent several years in a cell, and it was during this time he dictated his travels.

The day’s short paddle brought us to the hidden bay of Podobuce. The benefit of kayaks is we can visit bays that even the yachties bypass. Podobuce has a small sheltered pebble beach tucked in and surrounded by the mountains of the peninsula.

Lunch was taken on the terrace of our guest house. (As this was a small tour and the Falkuša was able to be used for other activities we weren’t camping on this trip but using pensions along the way.) Following an afternoon walk and swims, the evening was spent eating fish and making a start on the wine bought the previous day – it was weighing down our kayaks.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Meeting in Dubrovnik, Seafood Lunch in Mali Ston and Discovering the Wines of Korčula

Howard, the Conservative Canuck, his daughter Sarah, as well as Mike and Lynn Springer joined us in September for a Korčula to Dubrovnik Kayak Expedition.

The night before in a great little Bosnian food restaurant in Dubrovnik – the Taj Mahal - conversation turned to issues regarding the upcoming America and Canadian elections – Howard is an organizer for the Conservatives north of the border and Mike works within the Washington Beltway in the GAO office. Sarah and Lynn sat patiently as both boys had their turns on the soapbox. As mentioned previously, it is difficult to find good value for money restaurants in Dubrovnik, but Taj Mahal is worth further research.

In the morning we drove north to Mali Ston for an early lunch on the waterfront at our perennial favorite nosherie, Kapetenova Kuča. The oysters and other shellfish, black risotto and grilled squid satisfied everyone’s hunger. It also served as an introduction to the local wines – we enjoyed a couple of bottles of Čara’s Marco Polo Pošip.

The trip to Orebič and the short ferry across to Korčula Island was enough time to give our livers a rest before we visited two further wineries – our friends, the Cebalo’s, in Lumbarda, renown for their Grk and Vinarja Krajančić in Čara, where we tasted their excellent Pošip and semi-sweet Pošip. Grk and Pošip are both white wines indigenous to Korčula Island.

The large lunch had left us full enough that dinner in Korčula Town was just small plates of pasta, eaten before we climbed the ladder to the best cocktail bar terrace in Croatia – on top of one of the medieval defenses’ towers. Korčula has been described as Little Dubrovnik for the old towers and battlements that surround it. In the 19^th Century the Austrians removed large sections of the walls so the annoying locals wouldn’t use them as a base to start an uprising.

These days passive environmental design is all the rage. The builders of Korčula also used their knowledge of the local winds to layout the town so that the streets were protected from the winter’s cold bura, but allowed the summer’s refreshing afternoon maestral to waft through.

Up on the terrace we met up with Cameron Hewitt, Rick Steves’ writer for his Slovenia and Croatia guide book, and his wife, passing through on one of the RS tours. Also we had a talk to the flotilla captain from Nielson, a large English flotilla sailing and RYA-registered training company, who told us due to the greed of the Lumbarda Council they would no longer be operating in Croatia in 2009. It appears Croatia is continuing to shoot itself in the foot in regards to high-end tourism.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.

Tuesday, 1st July

Arrival in Split

The Vis and Hvar Islands Kayak Adventure starts in the evening of the first day – not with getting into the boats but a stroll through the 1 700 year old ruins of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s retirement palace. Eventhough Deanna, Gabe, Tove, May-Lill, Jodie, Warwick (call me ‘Waz’) and Fred were all coming from different directions at different times, and with Tim and me still on Vis Island organizing the falkuša and kayaks, Jules was somehow able to get everyone in the correct place for a walk with Maja, our knowledgeable guide.

Diocletian was known for several things – as reformer (of the Roman legal, financial, administrative and military systems), as a persecutor (of Christians) and as a constructor. The biggest baths in Rome (over 30 000 sqm) were built by him – though he never visited them – and he built of 20 000sqm of palace just for himself on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. It only took 10 years to build (completed in 305), but anything is possible when you have 20 000 slaves working for you. And only 2 000 were killed during construction! Its good to be the king! The palace forms the centre of Split old town and locals still live amongst its ancient stones.

The irony is that when the Christians inhabited the palace after 640, they turfed Diocletian’s bones out of his mausoleum and turned it into the Cathedral of Sveti Duje (Saint Dominus).

After the tour, dinner was taken at Konoba Maslina – a good-value, hidden-away restaurant.

(Thanks to Deanna and Gabe for these pictures. For all the pictures of the kayak tour – click here.)