Trstenik, Croatia
Peljesac Peninsula
10:00 AM
We've already been 'round to our favorite cafe for a morning cappuccino and bathroom break. The same gentlemen who were gathered outside the market sitting on Karlovacko crates drinking beer of the same name last night are now gathered at the cafe having their morning espresso and cigarette. All of the bathrooms here seem to have their paper products supplied by Kimberly Clark.
waiting for the cappuccino to work its magic
11:30 AM
a park bench overlooking Trstenik
We walked past the pumice pebble beach, up the hill to the Grgich vineyards for a morning wine tasting. We had to ring the doorbell on the large marble building perched on a wooded point overlooking the village, and a somewhat sour looking younger woman reluctantly answered the door. We were given samples of each wine produced locally - a Plavac Mali (red- zinfandel's grandpappy) and the Plovic (white), both named after the grape from which they were squeezed and both delicious. I purchased a bottle of each, as did Catherine. On the walls of the tasting room were more than 20 articles about the life and times of Mike Grgich - google him.
The view from our bench
There was a perfect turquoise sandy cover just downhill on the opposite side of the vineyard - the same cove in which we tried to anchor last night - where we went for a swim. The shoreline was pebbly and littered with plastic bottles and variousmis -matched sandals that had washed to shore. For some reason, this trash did not detract from my peaceful swim experience. Dunes, Mona, and Daryl met us in the cove, having motored the dinghy past a full german around the point from the still docked boats.
a nice swimming spot
It's really a lovely, lazy day. The air has that strong, sweet, dry evergreen scent that is mixed with sea air as most other places along the coast. I want to stay here forever, but we have an afternoon of sailing ahead of us.
One thing - the name of the restaurant last night was "Feral", the humor of which was not lost on me given the high population of stray cats.
7:00 PM
Okuklje, Mljet
post cocktail competition
Mona and I are sitting on the edge of the wooden dock looking into the tide pool swinging our feet. Maja has put a Bob Marley CD on their radio. Three Little Birds is playing. It's warm. I'm buzzed. Mladen just dove under the dock and pulled up a starfish and a sea slug for us poke.
We took a dip off the bow of the boat here in the harbor after docking because the heat was nearing unbearable, once out of the nice sea breeze. I did a half belly flop off the rails, but then had a rather nice dog paddle between the nine stern-to docked boats packed rail to rail along the crusty wooden pier.
8:00 PM
Okuklje is the smallest village we've visited to date. It's in a very quiet, protected cove on the southern tip of the island of Mljet. I've heard the locals "keep in in the village", if you know what I mean.
There was a cocktail competition tonight and a certain other American boat made something with gin AND champagne - my two favorite things (I made a lovely concoction of rum, cherry juice, red wine, and a squeeze of lemon and coined it "the pink clam") . I'm trashed. We're sitting at a really nice restaurant ~100 ft above our quiet cove. I should be making intelligent conversation, but instead I'm trying to sober up over a strong pre-meal cappuccino. I think I'll skip the wine this meal.
Ours is the red one with the lemon wheel
The cove is calm, with a rock mass in the center marked by a red staff. There isn't a lot going on here, just some monks singing on the radio and busted down stone buildings with red roofs. I'm going to pass my book around the table for messages from my dinner companions.
the view from our table at the restaurant
Joe: Dinner in the shadow of pristine, wooded and green mountains. We are dining on scampi domaci, with a sweet pine fragrance in the air and pineapple palm and vino vines.
Tracy: Wonderful trip!! Tons of sun & humidity not often seen in Seattle, which is fine (humidity). Great wine (beer stronger & darker in Seattle). Beautiful turquoise water!! Can't believe no Dr. Pepper here ! :)
Daryl: It's been a great trip but approaching being too long. I'm looking forward to my own bed and seeing our pets.
Chris: I must apologize for my behavior - though the White Pearl does share 1/16 of the blame for tonight due to the copious amounts of rum in the cherry concoction. Nevertheless, flipping the bird at dinner was inexcusable. I will remember Abby for her clever comments and Joe for his love of life.
Katherine: Croatia is lovely. I wish for another trip back to see more besides the southern (Dalmatian) coast. Enjoy the Grgich wine. It will remind me of a very special trip.
Dunes: A great trip always results in good phrases. The term that I will take back with me this time is the "full German". I'll have to explain to everyone how this term came about but it just won't be as funny to them as it is to us. The flotilla was awesome and out travels in Montenegro were great. Thanks for joining us!
Ramona: So glad you two could join us on our big adventure!! We'll have to do another trip in 8 years! Ok...so, maybe sooner...Besides, we now have an expert mountain road driver whose skills will certainly be needed again at some point in time. How about NewZealand next??
10:35 PM
Aboard the White Pearl
Hmmm...dinner tonight was ok. Just ok. As in the food was just ok. The location and atmosphere was superb. We had a prix fix meal for a whopping 200kn pp. We were originally going to cook as a group of Americans, but the boat mooring fee that would have been charged had we not eaten at the restaurant proved to be just the excuse the other boat was looking for to get out of cooking, so we caved as well and then Mona and Dunes followed suit. We hiked almost the entire perimeter of the cove to our "group meal" restaurant - the Maestral, named after our favorite wind. On the walk over, we were shown a tree that grows carob pods. We climbed a few stairs to the fourth floor to our open air dining room and feasted upon scampi bourazza (yummy, but honestly, scampi are total pains in the asses - ranking right up along crawdads as things that take the most work for the least amount of food).
Another friggin' cat
Miscellaneous Notes:
- We've been getting up just about every day by 7:30AM and going to bed anywhere between 10:00 and 12:30. It's a good schedule for me.
- We saw a school of dolphins today while sailing. Four of them surfaced close to our boat. I didn't take their picture.
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