Croatia has some of the most beautiful beaches!!!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Today is beach day #1. There are quite a few beaches to choose from so we started close. Lapad beach was only a 5 minute walk from our place and there were vendors and shops on the way. We had to get beach gear (towel, mat , hat and sunglasses) and then we were off. The view from the beach was again, beautiful! However, the beach was not what I had expected...it was really rocky and there wasn’t any sand for you to lay out on...it was gravel. We were glad that we bought the bamboo mats to lie on. The water was really nice though and since it was quite a hot day, it was good to have a cold dip in the ocean. The sun really took a toll on us and again we had a pretty quiet night. We had leftovers from the night before as our mussel pasta turned out to be a lot of food. We met our new roommates too and shared a few drinks with them. Matt and Sarah, a couple from Bristol and very cool people! Heather skyped with her family for a while and ran into Brigita who had only half of the laundry to return that night. We thought, yup, that’s fine...well guess who’s half was done? Heather got all of her clothes back, washed, dried and folded while she still had over a week’s worth of underwear left. Good thing tomorrow is a beach day...I may still have to sink wash a pair for the rest of tomorrow. 

Thursday, August 5, 2010
Beach day #2! We decided to head to the north shore today and go to the Copacabana beach. It is quite the hotspot for locals and tourists alike. It was really, really rocky here and the ocean floor didn’t clear to sand at all. It was much nicer to lay on the “beach” here though. It was like a concrete flat beach instead of loose gravel. It was quite hot at the beach and we were worried about burning so we took shade in the afternoon. We had a light lunch on the beach before heading back to the apartment. We are definitely getting our exercise while in Dubrovnik. The apartment is on top of a hill and the only way to get up is to text Nickolai (we are mobile-less), to take the bus (kind of a waste if we aren’t coming in from old town), or walk which has you in a sweat by the time you reach the top. We chose the latter most days and even when we have taken the bus back, we stop at the supermarket at the bottom of the hill for something or other. We got back to the apartment, had a drink or two with our roommates, showered and went into the old town. It was our first time going to the old town and wanted to check out a spot Brigita recommended to eat at. On the water and reasonably priced! We had seafood risotto and seafood pizza that we shared between the two of us and it was great! We were definitely not disappointed. By the time dinner was over, it was quite dark so we decided to save our adventuring in the old town for another day. We headed back, again sat on the balcony for a few drinks (or bottles) and retired to bed. This is definitely a change in pace from our on the go party lifestyle but we are really appreciating the break.