Wimbledon

Fans,

The day after we returned from Croatia we went to Day 2 of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in south west London. Doesn't that sound grand. We had applied for tickets in the ballot way back last year and ended up getting tickets for Court 1. We had an excellent line-up, probably better than that on Centre Court for that particular day. We saw Richard Gasquet, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick and Jelena Jankovic, who all won their matches comfortably.

It was a perfect day weather wise - hot and sunny. We arrived around lunch time and sat on "Henman Hill" and ate our packed lunch. The hill was bursting at the seams so we were lucky to find a spot. They have a massive big screen TV in front of the hill so people without Centre Court tickets can still watch what is happening. We also had some strawberries and champagne on the hill...very Wimbledon of us.

After lunch we wandered around the outside courts and saw a few big names in their opening round matches - including Mikhail Youzhny and Ivan Ljubicic. Through a stroke of luck, we happened to spot New Zealand's own Marina Erakovic on Court 18. We stood and watched most of her first set, where she came from 4-1 down to win the set in a tie-break. There were a lot of Kiwis in the crowd supporting her, which was nice. Erakovic eventually lost narrowly in the 3rd round, a fine effort indeed, and she pockets over £28,000 for the tournament.

Then we settled into our seats on Court 1 to watch our line up. Sharapova had caused a bit of a stir with her outfit...again. She wore shorts rather than a skirt and a tuxedo style sleeveless shirt. She also arrived on court wearing a tuxedo style jacket. While not entirely convincing, she disposed of her opponent easily enough.

Andy Roddick's match was very entertaining. He won in straight sets but it certainly wasn't easy. A guy we had never heard of before called Schwank, pushed him hard and the pair had some incredible rallies. It really was good viewing.

Jelena Jankovic looked a lot more assured in her match and cruised to a win. She is Tim's pick for the women's title this year.

We also caught up with Kristen Gunnell and Neena Ullal (from our Russell McVeagh days) - Neena had just got off a flight from New Zealand and wound up at Wimbledon on her first day in the UK! For anyone heading to the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the second week, make sure you try the roast pork sandwiches with hot apple sauce...they are O for awesome.

Marina
Erakovic

Megs on
Henman
Hill










Henman
Hill












Line
umpires -
great
uniforms
















Court 1















Sharapova










Ditto...
in her
shorts












Roddick
serving













Jankovic

Zagreb, Croatia

Monday

On Monday morning we were up bright and early and we flew from Split to Zagreb, Croatia's capital and largest city. It was very hot in Zagreb and suddenly instead of being surrounded by beaches and water, we were surrounded by concrete and glass! Zagreb has a reputation as being a very commercial city with little character and charm. However, the Old Town in the centre of the city is actually very pretty.

We began our brief city tour by wandering through the Strossmayerov trg, a big park that runs from the main train station in the Lower Town up to the Trg Josip Jelacica (the main town square) in the Upper Town. The park was beautiful - an oasis of greenery amongst the medieval style buildings of the Old Town.

We passed through the main town square and saw the statue of Ban Jelacic. Jelacic was a 19th century governor who led Croatian troops in an unsuccessful battle with Hungary in the hope of winning more autonomy for his people. We also had a look inside the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (quite the name for a cathedral). It was very impressive.
From the cathedral, we walked around the Kaptol region of the Upper Town and stopped on Tkalciceva, the liveliest scene for bars and cafes. We stopped at one of the bars for a Coke, mainly to rest our weary legs! We walked down the long pedestranised street of Tkalciceva and past the Dolac fruit and vegetable market on our way to the Croatian Parliament building. If truth be told, the Parliament building was a little disappointing - rather unspectacular. Across from the Parliament is Ban's Palace, now the presidential palace. It too was a little bland. To get to the Parliament and Ban's Palace, we had to pass through the Stone Gate, which was once the eastern gateway to the medieval Gradec town and is now a religious shrine.

We needed to take a break in the shade of the park for an hour or so to escape the heat. We found a good shady spot next to one of the big fountains and cooled off. When our stomachs started rumbling, we went in search of lunch and ended up at a place called Nokturno. Again the food was very good and cheap. We had seen the sights we wanted to see so we filled in the rest of our time having a beer on Tkalciceva before heading back to the airport for our flight to London town.






Fountain in
Stross-
mayerov
trg

Statue of
Ban Jelacic

Cathedral















Bars on
Tkalciceva














Stone
Gate

Croatia's
Parliament











An Old
Town
street










Stross-
mayerov
trg

Hvar, Croatia - Part 2

Saturday

Tim got up early on Saturday and went for a walk around the waterfront. It was around 7.30am and while it was still very warm, the water was completely still and the town was quiet and peaceful. After Megan had arisen, we had a very good buffet breakfast in out hotel. It can be hard to get good hotel breakfast in foreign countries - it is sometimes below average or just really different foods to what we would expect to eat for breakfast, but this was very nice.

We then wandered down to the main harbour and caught a water taxi out to the Pakleni Islands, just off the coast of Hvar. We had been told that these islands (particularly Jerolim and Stipanska) had beautiful beaches and that they would be much less crowded. This was true. We spent the morning lying on the beach at Stipanska. There were hardly any people around and the water was perfect. We paddled in the shallow water, which came up to our knees, and could see our feet so clearly it was like there was no water at all.

A short water taxi ride back to Hvar saw us return to Cafe Pjaca for lunch. This time Megan had the burger, which really was quality and Tim had a club sandwich - equally solid. After lunch, we returned to the little bay near our hotel for more lazy sunbathing and paddling in the water. It was a pretty popular spot! Some more Croatian beer on our hotel room balcony followed before we headed into town for dinner at a restaurant called Hannibal. Tim had grilled fish and Megan had seafood pasta (Croatia is famous for its seafood). They also have excellent ice cream and gelato in Hvar, so we got ice cream on the way home.

Sunday

We were woken at 4.30am by a group of extremely loud, drunken Aussies skinny-dipping in the water right outside our window. Rather humorous in hindsight but not so fun at the time. We managed to get back to sleep once they left. Breakfast in the hotel was solid again and then we explored the Old Town some more. We think Sunday was the hottest day of the whole week, so it didn't take us long to find our way to the beach. This time we walked around past the other side of the main harbour to the next bay around, which has the impressive looking Amfora resort. We enjoyed another relaxing day on the sun chairs and cooling off in the water. Unfortunately we did turn a little pink, despite loads of sunscreen.

In the evening we caught the ferry from Hvar to Split and then caught a bus to a town just outside of Split, called Trogir, which is close to the Split airport. Trogir was a beautiful little village and we would have liked to have had a look around, but we arrived late on Sunday night and we had another early start on Monday, so we checked in to the Villa Jidro (which was really nice - two thumbs up) and went straight to bed.








Our little
bay










Our hotel:
Dalmacija Hvar
Villa Hotel

























Our bay
again











Megs at
Stipanska












Clear water
at Stipanska



























Exploring
Hvar
















Main
square















Megs in
Hvar

Hvar, Croatia - Part 1

Friday

It was an early start on Friday as we caught the 5am bus from Dubrovnik up the Croatian coast to Split. The bus ride was 4 and a half hours, but was actually fairly painless. We both managed to get a bit of sleep, but when we were awake, the scenery was stunning. The coastal road actually crosses the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina for around 20 minutes before crossing back into Croatia. At each checkpoint we had to produce our passports for a stern looking official who boarded our bus - sadly no bonus stamp in the passport. We must say that the public transport in Croatia is top class. Every bus, ferry and shuttle we caught left and arrived on time, was clean and comfortable, had good service and was very cheap. It really puts New Zealand's public transport to shame.

Aside from maximising our time in Hvar, the other benefit of travelling so early in the day was that it wasn't quite as hot. By the time we arrived in Split, it was 33 degrees at 9.30am, so we were glad not to be travelling in the middle of the day. Split is Croatia's second largest city and it is the main pick-up and drop-off point for most of the ferries that run between Croatia's many islands. We got the 11am ferry to Hvar and arrived there at 12.30pm. Again, the ride was very pleasant with spectacular scenery the whole way.

On our short taxi ride from the ferry terminal to Hvar Town, the driver explained that we had chosen a great time to visit Hvar. The weather was nice without being too hot and we had avoided the peak tourist season of late July-August, when the small town is invaded by 12,000 tourists, 10,000 of whom are Italian! The driver noted that the Italians can be very noisy...

We checked in to our hotel, the Dalmacija Hvar Villa Hotel, which was very nice and in the best location possible, just on the edge of the main harbour, so very close to the town, but not right in the middle of the crowds and noise! Just along from the hotel was a little bay where we spent quite a bit of time lying in the sun and cooling off in the water during our stay.

After settling in, we walked into the town centre. Hvar Town is such a beautiful place. There is a large open square in the middle of town full of cafes, bars, restaurants and souvenir shops, and there is a beautiful old church at the far end of the square. The main harbour is small and packed with boats; along one side of it there are about 6-8 super yachts docked at any given time. Tres impressive.

We stopped for lunch at Cafe Pjaca in the main square. Tim had a burger and fries, which was fantastic and Megan had a salmon sandwich which didn't quite live up to her expectations, but the cafe was very nice. After lunch we explored the rest of the town centre, which reminded us a bit of parts of Athens and Santorini, where there are literally dozens and dozens of tiny narrow streets that run off one another like a maze. It's impressive how many streets and houses/buildings they fit into such a small town. No quarter-acre backyards in Hvar Town!

To escape the heat, we grabbed our togs and headed for the little bay near out hotel. You can hire sun chairs at every beach, which are crucial as a stony beach is not the best to lie on (there's not a lot of sand on Croatian beaches!). We caught some rays on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and then grabbed a few beers from the supermarket and sat on our balcony sipping on those, taking in the brilliant views. Croatian beer is very nice - they have a couple of good ones called Ozujsko and Karlovacko. Then we sampled some cocktails at a nice bar on the waterfront, looking out to the super yachts, before moving on to Pizza Kogo for dinner.

Friday night happened to be the night that Croatia played Turkey in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. Croatia had stormed through the group stage and were firm favourites to progress to the semi-finals. Every restaurant had set up a TV outside so its customers would not miss a minute of the action. Literally every man and his dog from Hvar were decked out in Croatian football shirts, hats, scarves, flags, etc. From three-year olds to senior citizens, men, women and children and even a dog were wearing their team's colours. Tim felt left out and needed a sunhat with a brim, so joined in the fun by buying a Croatian hat!

The match was pretty even (0-0 at full time) and despite not playing well, Croatia took the lead with three minutes left to play in extra-time. The entire town erupted in celebration. The locals lit flares, set off fireworks and a waiter at Pizza Kogo even bashed his serving tray against the footpath to make some more noise. Sadly, while these celebrations went on, sneaky old Turkey snatched an equaliser with about 10 seconds to go in extra-time. This sent the match to a penalty shoot-out, which Croatia lost miserably. However, within a few minutes the Croats were smiling, laughing and ordering another drink. They were proud of their team's achievements despite the loss. Kiwis could learn a lot from the Croats...

We were pretty exhausted after our early start and being out in the sun all day, so we called it a day.








Off the coast
of Split











Hvar Town















Main Square











Restaurants
in main
square













Church in
main square
















Megs and
ice cream















Tim by
harbour












Hvar Town
main harbour













Football
time at
Pizza Kogo











The new
hat












Goal
cele-
brations

Dubrovnik, Croatia

On Wednesday morning, we made our way (rather slowly in Tim's case) from our hotel down to the main train station in Zurich. We stopped to marvel at the enormous (and very life-like) statues of several of the big stars taking part on Euro 2008. A short train ride later we were at Zurich airport to fly to Dubrovnik, Croatia, via the capital Zagreb.

Dubrovnik is Croatia's third largest city and sits on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, near the southern tip of Croatia. The area was first inhabited around the 7th century by refugees who had fled from Epidaurum. They chose the location due to its natural defences - it is surrounded by a steep cliff on one side and the sea on the other side. The early inhabitants began building defence walls from limestone and by the 14th century, the city had been completely enclosed with thick stone walls, with just one entrance from the side of Pile. Those stone walls have been preserved until today and enclose the Old Town.

The city of Dubrovnik has spread beyond the walls of the Old Town out to the Lapad Peninsula to the west, where our hotel, the Hotel Dubrovnik, was situated. The street our hotel was on was full of new hotels, restaurants and shops and led directly to the beach at Lapad Bay. Luckily our hotel was wedged between a very nice restaurant, where we had lunch and drinks, and an ice cream parlour, which we tried out later in the afternoon. Both were superb. It was hot in Dubrovnik, so plenty of drinks and ice creams were required!

After exploring the area, we sat on the beach at Lapad Bay and watched the sun sink down behind the islands off in the distance. Later that night we had dinner at a pizza restaurant, also on our street. The food in Croatia was generally very good and cheap too. Actually, most things were cheap - a half litre of beer cost around £1.30 in most bars!

On Thursday morning we got up early and caught a bus into the Old Town. For a small fee, we walked around the Old Town on top of the fortress walls, which allowed us spectacular views down to the Old Town in the middle and out to the sea on the other side. Once down from the wall-tops, we explored the Old Town, weaving our way through the tiny streets of marble cobble stones. By late morning, it was super hot, so we stopped for an ice cream down by the harbour and then made our way out of the Old Town and caught a bus back to the Lapad Peninsula. We grabbed our beach gear and walked 15 minutes to the northern side of the peninsula to Copacabana Beach.

The beach was great. The water at the Croatian beaches is amazingly clear - you can easily see the sea floor as well as the tiny fish swimming in the shallow water. We had lunch at the beach-side cafe and lay on the beach for the rest of the day, getting some well overdue sun. Megan had a swim, although the water still a tad cold for Tim!

In the evening we sat by the beach at Lapad Bay near our hotel and had a couple of drinks while the sun set on another stunning day. One oddity about Dubrovnik was that it was swarming with little kids. There were literally 3-4 kids for every adult and we were possibly the only people there who didn't have kids...although nobody could tell, as we were surrounded by them everywhere we went. After dinner we had an early-ish night, as we had a 5am bus to catch the following day!







Megan at
Lapad Bay











Cocktails
in the
evening












Dubrovnik's
Old Town

















Stone wall
around Old
Town









Houses in
the Old Town


























Tim on
the wall












Bear - old
harbour











Megan by
the harbour














Centre of
Dubrovnik











Copa-
cabana
Beach