Going on a croatian vacation

After going to the wedding on Saturday night, I managed to get a whole 3 hours sleep (!!!) before it was time to get up again, pack my last few things (well, quite a lot of things because I'd been disorganised) and head off to East Midlands airport. You may have noticed (if you care enough to) that this summer, I haven't been on holiday with my friends. I went to Paris with Laura in early June and then Menorca with my family in July, but me and the Katie's had saved our summer holiday until right at the very end. Which is always quite exciting because by then, everyone has had theirs and you've still got yours to look forward to! Me and Katie didn't want to go to Ibiza for a third year in a row so we decided to look further afield at somewhere none of us had been to before and decided upon Dubrovnik, Croatia. We figured it had a good amount of sun, nightlife and city-break-ness to tick all the boxes and because it was fairly expensive, we opted for 4 nights rather than a full week. So on Sunday we flew out, after the obligatory 6am drinks at the airport, and kept our fingers crossed the whole way that our iPhone weather forecast of rain and storms all week was just a cruel joke...

We were staying at the Clearview Apartments (found on booking.com by big Katie) and we were picked up from the airport by the woman who ran them. The first thing we thought was how pretty everything was! Usually you drive from the airport through some grotty parts of the country, past buildings covered in scaffolding and then arrive at the pretty bay resort. Not in Croatia. Everywhere you look is beautiful and surrounded by the bluest ocean you've ever seen. After a bit of drama getting in to the apartment (the handle on the big suitcase we were sharing snapped off, and it took a tumble down a massive flight of stairs), we were really impressed! We had two bedrooms and a nice big living area but the real highlight was the outside bit. We had 3 terraces on different levels, with the most amazing views! We overlooked the sea and you could see the Old Town from all of our windows. The woman was really helpful as well and talked us through the map, how to get to various places and where some good bars and restaurants were. I don't think we'd have ever made it to the Old Town without her telling us! So we walked down by going down about 400 stairs (little Katie counted) and arrived at the walls. The Old Town is really stunning! It's all blue ocean, green trees, terracotta buildings and quaint narrow side streets. After a little walk down the main street, we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and then headed off in search of the beach. The beach closest to the old town is not the nicest. It's shingle for one, so it really hurts your feet and it's literally tiny. You end up practically sat on the towel of the person next to you! But the weather was gorgeous so we set up there for a few hours and went in the sea, which was honestly lovely; such clear water!

We were told that instead of walking all that way back up the hill, that we could get the bus so after stocking up on the usuals (vodka, fanta, paprika crisps, chocolate chip cookies), we got the bus back. Well, it wasn't very successful as we waited 45 minutes and then we missed our stop and ended up walking probably just as far as if we had walked from the bottom! But we did get to see the sun set so that was nice. Then in a couple of hours, we transformed ourselves from sweaty messes in to girls who were ready for their first night out of the holiday. I wore my purple feather print skirt (which I've had forever) with white frill bralet and usual black lace up holiday shoes. Helpfully, they have Uber in Dubrovnik so we could book taxis easily but even with the taxi, we still had to walk down about a million stairs from the gate to actually reach the main street of the old town (you'll notice a pattern forming). Then when we finally got down there, we picked a wine bar in the square across from the big clock and got the rosés in! It did chuck it down then, but luckily we were under big umbrellas and that was the only time it rained while we were there, so thankfully the iPhone prediction was wrong!

The next morning, we headed back in to the old town to explore it properly. I wore black denim shorts, black and yellow off the shoulder top and gold sandals and we spent the morning meandering down side streets, looking round trinket shops (there was even a Christmas shop!) and visiting a church. As they say, not all those who wander are lost. 

Then after some lunch, we went out to the port to catch the ferry to Lokrum island. No one lives on the island so it's super peaceful and (randomly) full of peacocks and rabbits wandering around. But it was just so pretty! The whole place is a nature reserve with botanical gardens and stunning views. We made our way down to one of the beaches and the beach we'd been to the day before instantly seemed like the softest sand we'd ever been on. This was pure rocks and I think I would've given my left arm for a pair of swimming shoes (well I'd have given my left arm but not the £20 that the shops wanted for them). The whole place was just so pretty though and we managed to get comfy enough to kind-of-sunbathe on one of the big rocks (desperate times). The island also had a few cafes so we went in search of a cocktail. Sometimes you can't help but laugh at the world we live in. By the look of the photos that we took and put on instagram, you would've thought it was the most perfect place to enjoy a cocktail ever. In reality, both the Katie's didn't really like the ones they'd ordered that much and we spent the whole time being surrounded by wasps (little Katie was not amused, as you can see from her face). But we still had a lovely time and were overlooking a big lagoon where some people were cliff diving.

Then we headed back and got ready for night 2. This was my favourite of the outfits I wore as I felt very Croatian and all the stuff was new! I wore white bardot frill top, red leaf print skirt, black lace up sandals and gucci belt, and finished with red curtain tassel earrings and a red lip. You may know by now that me and my friends end up late to everything (it's them more than me) and we knew that restaurants mostly stopped serving food at 11. And yet somehow, we were still running round the streets at half 10, trying to find a restaurant that wasn't ridiculously expensive. I honestly don't know what takes us so long to get out! We ended up at a lovely one covered in fairy lights and enjoyed some pasta and wine before heading off in the direction of Revelin, the main club (and basically only club) in Dubrovnik. And it was so good! You definitely still felt like you were in the old town in there because it's built into what looks like an old castle, and the music was really good in there. They also had dancers and fire performers and we finally headed back to our apartment at 4am.

The next day was by far my favourite! I wore printed shorts and orange frill neckline top and we went for some brunch before we walked round to the port for a day trip we'd booked. It was one we were sold while we were there; we hadn't actually booked or organised anything before we went! We set off by speed boat as a group of 16 for a day of island hopping. Our first stop was the island of Kolocep, where we anchored down to explore the blue cave. I always love snorkelling and the Katie's hadn't tried it before so we had good fun there (although me and little Katie both got our snorkel, and head, stuck while trying to get in and out the cave because the ceiling was low). Then we got the boat round to the other side of the island for 3 more caves, where we saw plenty of fish and tiny crabs and then the drinking began! Included in the price of the ticket was a sandwich plus unlimited drinks and they were pretty generous with the unlimited! Although somehow the wasps were still haunting us, even in the middle of the ocean and it seems they like white wine almost as much as I do. The woman was so generous with the wine in fact, that when we got to our next stop, the island of Lopud, she just gave us a litre bottle when we asked for a drink to take with us! Which went down very nicely while we stopped for the next 2 hours on the only sandy beach in Dubrovnik (which was beautiful and very welcome after the painful feet of the 2 days before). We'd also got chatting to a few of the people on the boat, an american couple in particular, and so we had a fun afternoon impersonating eachother's accents and learning more about places that everyone had been to before! It was actually a very multi-cultural boat; us from England, a couple from America, a guy from Scotland, two guys from South Africa, a few girls from Paris, a young couple from Germany and an older couple from Spain! I don't want to say that the litre of wine and what happened next were at all linked, but when we got back on the boat, I fell onto it rather than climbed on to it (and really hurt my foot in the process). Completely unrelated I'm sure! Our next stop was to enjoy some more drinks and watch the sun set (it was a really beautiful sunset over there) and then we went back to Lokrum island to see the caves there before returning to the old town, with much wilder hair than when we left!

Amazingly, we got ready pretty quickly (despite all the wine plus our usual personalities). I had worn my leopard print bikini in the day and I stuck with the leopard print theme at night in leopard print denim skirt with black lace bodysuit and black lace up sandals. We couldn't deal with the last minute stress of trying to find a restaurant before time ran out so we just went to a fast food place and I got chicken tacos. When they arrived, they were basically bigger than my face! I only managed one and about 2 bites of the second before admitting defeat but they were very nice all the same. Along with the main club in Dubrovnik, there's also a beach club called Banje so we decided to go there and see what it was like. It was a gorgeous set up with white chairs, swinging seats and a nice cocktail menu but it was definitely lacking in atmosphere! There were only a few people there, although it was nice to be on the beach!

The next day, we soaked up as much sun as possible with a full beach day back at the one closest to the Old Town. I wore my palm leaf print bikini from pretty little thing and we came prepared this time with flip flops to walk to and from the sea in. We didn't venture too far for lunch and ended up at a cliff side restaurant with amazing views, just up the road from the beach. It also made a big difference on price to be just outside the old town because it was a lot cheaper than places we'd been to at night. Big Katie (she's not big, the other one's just little) got mussels (I tried one for the first time and it was okay) and fries and me and little Katie shared a cheese and meat platter which was lovely! Then we book-ended the day with another few hours on the beach, before getting an ice cream to walk back with; I chose cherry and vanilla flavour.

For the first time, maybe ever, we were out early! We managed to make it out for golden hour, just as the sun was setting. I always save a white outfit until last when I'm hopefully the most tanned, so I wore this white and palm leaf print plunging playsuit with the usual shoes. As you can see, I finished with all the highlighter, which really popped in the sunset! We were really wanting a nice steak but most restaurants were charging like 250 kuna (like £30+) and we didn't want one that badly, but then we stumbled across a restaurant that were only charging the equivalent of £20 and were offering a free drink too so we went there and had a lovely meal! The food was amazing and we shared a bottle of wine before heading off in search of a bar somewhere else. We found one right next to jazz bar (complete with band) where they did cheap (well cheap for Croatia) prosecco so we stayed there for a couple of hours until the table next to us, who had been singing a Croatian song very loudly about 47 times over, eventually made us want to rip our own ears off and we headed to the club. Revelin was just as good as it had been before, with fire jugglers and dancers on stilts, and we kept laughing to ourselves that we were bumping in to the same random strangers over and over again!

The next day, we were up bright and early to pack up and somehow drag our now-handle-less-suitcase all the way up a load of stairs. To travel home, I wore orange striped culottes and white crochet bardot top with converse and had one last outfit photo on our beautiful terrace before waving goodbye to beautiful Croatia. To add insult to injury, it was raining when we got home (obviously) but we've literally had the best time. We've seen the most beautiful views, we've tried new things, we've all been to a new country, we've walked 35 miles in 5 days (mostly up and down hill), we've semi-worked out the kuna currency, we've drank a LOT of wine, we've danced, swam and snorkelled, and we've laughed until we've cried and our belly's have hurt. Thanks to both the Katie's for such an amazing holiday, I wish we could do it all over again!