Once in a while, God smiles on you and gives you a day
you'll never forget.  Today was definitely one of
them.  Read on ...

I woke up early in the morning to head to the market
in the old part of Dubrovnik.  Seeking fruits for
breakfast, I stroll across all the vendors as they
call me to try their produce.  Familiar with market
atmospheres throughout my life, I ask for the price
per weight and make sure I get the appropriate price. 


I leave with a bag full of fruits that I'm not too
familiar with: odd, elongated grapes; a fruit that
looks like a small apricot, but has meat similar to a
date; and a string of fresh figs interlaced with
leaves - it looks so nice that I actually don't want
to eat them. All the fruits are freshly picked from
the vendors' gardens, as I have seen many of the
fruit-bearing trees in the region already.  On the
side, one of the vendors invites me to try his
homemade brandy, or grappa.... strong stuff.  Kills
everything in my stomach and makes a good substitute
for Pepto Bismol.

I decide to take a trip to some of the nearby islands,
as I wanted to from the start.  I arrange to go with a
tour to three of the Elafiti islands, although I would
have preferred to have taken the tour to Mjlet island,
a national park, but the tour only runs on Mondays.

Before the tour starts though, I take a beautiful
morning stroll along the walls of Dubrovnik.  Along
the way, I see the entire old town beneath me,
including views of beautiful gardens, backyards,
people's lovely rooftop terraces, and of course, the
calm, azure waters of the Adriatic.  The walk is
intimidating at times, with the barrier on the wall
below the height of my knees at times.  The sheer drop
off the wall is over 100 meters at some points!

The tour boat arrives and takes me to Lopud island.  I
wander around the small town there.  It's really nice
because like in Dubrovnik, there are no cars.  The
population is around 200 on the island, and the people
there live really simple lives, tending meticulously
to their gardens and relaxing the days away. 

The tour is a great deal though.  For around $30 Cdn.,
I spend the day hopping across three islands as well
as have a Croatian red snapper lunch.

But I said this day was really special, right?

On the second island, it looks more or less like
Lopud, so I skip the main touristed area and wander
deep into the island.  I encounter an abandoned house
with the door broken.  I can see barrels inside.  I
snap a few photographs and venture in for more shots.

I see a stairway.

I decide to ascend it, walking carefully on the sides
as I worry they may collapse.  As I get to the second
floor, it gets dark.  I turn on my flashlight and see
shelves of sticky cups, old rusted cookware, flasks of
miscellaneous liquids, seashells, etc.  

I enter the dining room, see the dining set is still
there, with many more items scattered across it.  I
take more photographs of the china cabinet, the
wardrobe, and a very old photograph of a couple on the
wall.  

It's a mess, but my curiosity beckons me to explore
more.

I ascend the next set of stairs to the attic.  I see
an old stove, baskets scattered all over the ground,
some chests, and dried corn and dusty towels hanging
from the ceiling.  

It's a photographer's paradise.  I easily blow away my
film, but my hands are shaking from excitement.  I
pull out my tripod to stabilize.  My tour boat would
be leaving in 2 minutes, so I set up a few more shots
before unwillingly dashing out the house with
questions all over my head.

As I leave the island and talk to people, I realize
what a creepy experience I was in.  I hope my
photographs may clue me in to why the house was
abandoned so hastily.  The items were so old and the
house looks so much unlike the neighbouring houses
that I doubt it was abandoned from the recent war.

I left the island feeling a slight depression from the
experience, but the day was not to end there.  Read on
...

We arrive ont he island of Korlocep.  I brought my
swim shorts and goggles since there is a beach there. 
The air temperature isn't the greatest, but I swore I
would swim here.  I look at the map of Korlocep and
see that there is a beach on the far side, again, away
from the closer sandy tourist beach.  This far beach
is not a beach at all, but a rocky area, with a ladder
to climb right into the water.

I put my goggles on and dive.  I am transported into
another world.

It's like an undersea documentary.

I swim through huge schools containing hundreds of
small tropical fish that part slightly around you only
when you are within inches to them.  And there are
colourful fish, REALLY colourful fish.  I followed one
around that was bright blue, yellow, and orange.  The
sun comes out and I can see so far across the water
and right to the bottom.  I wish I had a snorkel, but
I am able to hold my breath for a minute... well, with
the excitement, I could only hold my breath for half
that time.  

It's so beautiful down there.  The water is really
warm.  I dive deep to the bottom where I brush my
hands with all the various plant life.  They feel so
soft.  I fetch some shells and a starfish to look at,
before tossing it back in later.

Unfortunately, I had to leave as the tour ends,
although I could have spent the day just swimming...
it leaves me with a taste of the Croatian islands
though, and the desire to return and see them all
slowly and fully.

As the day ends, I seek out some of the famous
Croatian seafood I've been hearing about.  I end up in
a quaint outdoor restaurant in a quieter plaza of
Dubrovnik.  Here I savour small fried fish, calimari,
squid ink risotto (yes it stains), and mussels, for a
very decent price.

One more thing while I'm on the topic of food.  It
seems the Croatians have the Italians beat on their
own food.  Croatian pizza and their version of Gelato,
Sladole, is so much better!

And another point - I mistakenly thought the islands
were free from the war, but apparently, there are
landmines there too.  It didn't matter though, as I
never wandered off a beaten path.  I recommend you do
the same if you travel here to Croatia too.  It's such
a shame though, that areas of this beautiful country
are restricted by an unfortunate war.