How to achieve maximum relaxation in one week and then lose it in just one day? Go sailing to Croatia and come back to Barcelona. If you want to keep the relaxing effect, don't come back...
After that sleepless Friday night over a week ago, Diana and I set out to conquer the Croatian waters. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far as we were confronted with a different type of water on our way already - steady rain and dark gray skies welcomed us at our stopover in Vienna. Our initial plans to use the waiting time to venture into the city literally fell through; instead, we hung out at the Lufthansa lounge, went bikini shopping, had some food and continued to hang out at the lounge.
Our flight to Split in a small prop airliner was a real adventure - the poor thing got shaken like crazy in the thunderstorms that we were flying through, the girl in front of us started to puke her lungs out, shortly before landing the plane had to turn around as the winds were too strong, and only half an hour later we could finally fly back through impressive winds and land in Split - under pouring rain. Impossible to start our sailing trip in these conditions. So the group decided to stay on mainland that night and go for dinner in Split instead - delicious dinner. With black risotto, filled zucchini, meat and fish and Croatian red wine.
The next morning, the sun came out and we made our way to the boat - a 43 foot sailing boat called Himalaya. Our crew: the marineros Matko, Diana, Marcelle from Brazil, Camile (a friend of hers from Rio), Nick from Canada and Dan from the US. Plus our Croatian skipper Marko, the capitán! After loading all luggage and groceries on board we lifted the anchor and started motoring towards the island of Vis.
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Some time into the trip, the clouds thickened again, the temperatures dropped considerably and the waves intensified. As I hadn't really packed for bad weather and started to get cold, I decided to go under deck to take a nap - and slept through a real storm, apparently complete with fog, high waves and lashing rain. Damn, I would have loved to see that.
By the time I woke up we had reached Vis and anchored in the small harbor. Due to the weather we spent the rest of the day under the harbor restaurant's porch and watched the waves splashing over the water front. At night, we headed up into the hills to have dinner at Roki's - a restaurant run by a cricket player that serves delicious food traditionally prepared under metal bells.
The next day, the rain had stopped but it was still cold and cloudy. Against all odds, Nick and I decided to start the day with a swim in the harbor - truly "refreshing". Later on, we left for Hvar - yet as Hvar is one of the busiest party towns and another storm was said to hit soon, the harbor was full until the last spot and we had to head for a marina across the bay. Marko, Marcelle and Camile cooked dinner on the boat, we enjoyed the marina's cold showers and took a water taxi back into town to hit Hvar's famous nightlife. Nice, even though not as lively as usual due to the weather conditions - which, by the way, were said to be the worst in seven years. At least we can say our sailing experience in Dalmatia will have been very different from most others'.
The following days, the storm fronts moved on and gave way to occasional sun rays, later even followed by real sunshine! So while motoring and sailing on to Korcula and Mjlet, we got to spend some time sunbathing on deck, swimming and snorkeling in beautiful bays, hanging out on our pink air mattress and playing volleyball on the beach. On Thursday night, we reached Dubrovnik and spent the evening in town. Our last evening as Team Croatia as Marcelle, Camile, Nick and Dan had to take a plane back to Barcelona on Friday morning. Matko, Diana and I stayed on the boat with Marko who had to transfer it to our starting point. So we left Dubrovnik on Friday afternoon and motored the 16 hours back to Split, with a sole night stop in Hvar. Very relaxed time - watching the water and the coastline, the islands we passed, an amazing sunset and and even more amazing moon and starry sky. Perfect end to a perfect week.
Back in Split, Matko showed Diana and I around the beautiful old town, we did some sightseeing and ended our trip as it began - with rain. That we eventually fled by entering a bar and working our way through their cocktail menu with promising names like Screaming Orgasm and Slippery Nipples. Who would say no to that?
And now we are back in Barcelona, with cozy 34°C and glaring sunshine. We had a little Team Croatia reunion on Monday night and went to the opening of the Sala Montjuic open air cinema festival, watching The Departed and continuing our week-long food orgy with a copious picnic on the lawn. Other than that, Barcelona has welcomed us back with plenty of work - in the form of e-mails and a number of issues to solve at school. How much I wish I could trade the sticky heat and long to-do-list for the carefree breeze of the sailing boat...
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