Barcelona

June 13

After the spending some time in Dubrovnik and traveling all afternoon, Jeffrey and I decided to head toward one of the oldest watering holes in Barcelona to help change gears from laid back island time to this happening Spanish city. 

After our pre-dinner drinks, we headed toward Biblicatala for dinner. It was a tapas restaurant recommended to us by our Airbnb host. We continued with the flow and recommendations and went for all the recommended tapas by our server... and it was all delicious! 

June 14

After a big day, we decided to catch up on some beauty rest and slept in some. We headed to lunch by the harbor and caught up with a walking tour in the afternoon. 

While the walking tours can be considered less adventurous, we also like to hear more about what we are looking at and some of the history of the city while we are there. 

This is a funny christmas thing, where the farmer is always giving back to the earth... by pooping. I couldn't resist taking the picture!

 

After learning some about the city, we worked up quite an appetite. Lucky for us, there was a food festival going on at 'The taste of La Romba'

After re-fueling the body, we headed back to the beach for the sunset. 

The Christopher Columbus status. 

June 15

We started the day by wondering around a market off of La Romba. 

The colors and smells were amazing... we couldn't pass up the opportunity to sample some of these fruits either!

The markets are a great way to get a feel of the local foods available and to almost picture yourself living and working in a city. 

We couldn't be too healthy... we were on holiday after all, 

so we stopped to rest and get some churros and chocolate:) 

We had booked a paella cooking class in the afternoon. 

Our host (Marta) opened up her home to us and tough us the secret in making mouth watering paella. 

So it turns out the secret is in the sofria veggies and the fish broth

Jeffrey's job was to add pepper throughout the cooking process

After waiting around and smelling this cook, we were starving and it was one of the best paella's we have ever had!

After our cooking class, we decided to explore the local neighborhood a little more and ended up grabbing a pint at a micro brewery. We also checked out a Gin bar (Bobby Gin) that had interesting cocktails. After trying new things, we both realized that we actually like and enjoy gin every once in awhile :) 

June 16

And no trip to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the Sagrada Familia.

Construction for this church began in 1882 and it is still ongoing.

I had no idea how colorful or breathtaking this place was going to be. We have been to a lot of different chapels, cathedrals and churches over the past 2 years and this by far was the most unique. It was much more modern than I ever thought it would given it was started over 100 years ago. 

No detail was left unturned. I could go on and on about how each tower has its own meaning, and how ground breaking the design is... but we just enjoyed looking and taking in the views while there. 

To continue the Gaudi theme, we went to a park that had several other pieces inspired by him. 

and yes it was hot walking around! haha

To help cool off and re-fuel the body and mind, we headed back toward the middle of town for lunch.

We ended up grabbing some tapas and stopping in a micro-brewery. After all the walking around and the heat, we decided to go and see a movie. The movie of the summer was Jurassic World, so we decided to sit back and relax and watch some dinosaurs.  It was the perfect way to wrap up our time in Barcelona and get geared up for the next stop on our world tour... Greece!

Sailing Croatia... undeniably beautiful!

After 2 great days in Split, we knew the trip was only going to get better with more great experiences in Croatia.

Day 3 - June 6 in Croatia was Jeffrey's birthday and our first day on the sail boat. What a fabulous way to kick off a birthday!

So a little about our boat and sailing adventures. We were on a 20 foot sail boat for 7 days, 6 nights. We had one captain and 7 other sailers with us. We were the only couple on the boat and everyone else was from all over the world... Australia, Germany, NYC, Toronto, and Switzerland. The agenda for the week was basically sail during the day, stop for a swim, sail some more then stop at a different island each day for dinner and/or an excursion. 

We loved our Captain! He was born and raised in Croatia and was the lead of the captains for Croatia with G Adventures.

We were on cloud 9 sailing to our first island, Brac. Brac is known for their limestone. In fact, the limestone that was used for the White House came from Brac. Once we docked, we had a paddle boat to transport us from the sail boat to the shore. Talk about a little change in pace from the London Tube :) a much welcomed change where time really slows down.

The island is basically down to a handful of locals during the winter, but in the summertime it gets busier. However, as you can see from the picture it is still not a big town.... but beautiful!

Given the captain is local, he has been able to build connections all over the place and took us to dinner at a local family's home. This family made us a traditional meal with lamb over the fire, potatoes cooked under a bowl covered in ashes and they made their own cheese and wine.

We got a tour of the grounds, including the cellar with the cheese.
(Bad picture of me, but look at all that cheese :)

Our captain was able to organize a little birthday cake for Jeffrey too. It was a great chocolate cake and perfect surprise for Jeffrey!

Looking back on the trip, this ended up being one of our favorite meals! 

June 7

After all the festivities of Jeffrey's birthday and our first day sailing, we all had a pretty quiet morning and voted to head toward a quiet cove for the rest of the day and evening.  

We were blessed with sun and warm weather every day of our trip. 

There were clear blue skies and ocean blue water to enjoy. 
Life doesn't get much better than this!

We all got to help out the skipper at times and learned more about sailing along the way. After a bit of swimming the Skipper made lunch for us. He cooked up his special of beef steak and gnocchi. We had some fun with mini swimming olympics and surprisingly I got 2nd place! We had to swim to a bouey and back.... doesn't sound or look hard but once in holiday mode it can be hard to get motivated again!  After a relaxing day, the captain brought out his cocktail to sip with our cheese and fruit plate. 

June 8

Havr is known for all the partying! We set sail early in the morning to get to the island around 8am. We all bee-lined for some real coffee and and then headed up the hill toward the fortress for these awesome views. You could see the whole island...breath taking!

After the hike to the top, we headed back down to the bottom for brunch at one of the hip beach bars and morning cocktails :) 

After brunch, we set sail for Kocula. This is one of the other 3 major ports, given it is halfway between the 2 major ones, Split and Dubrovnik. This was also the first place we were able to take some real showers in the port... the small things in life!

The group split up for dinner and then we all regrouped back for dinner. Jeffrey and I had a delicious dinner with fantastic views of the harbor. 

June 9

After a night out on the town, we headed back out in the morning for some food and to wonder around some more. 

We climbed a tower for some great views... coming from the girl scared of heights, it was totally worth it too!

After wondering around a bit, we headed back to the boat to head toward the 'mainland' peninsula for the evening. This part of Croatia is known for their wine.... so it only seems reasonable to go on a wine tour.

There were great views coming into the harbor and along the way up to the vineyards. 

Soooo pretty!

The Dingak is grape varietal for what the region is known for. It is grown off the side of the mountain. The grapes themselves are not grown up vines or on wires, rather they are close to the ground so they do not get to much of the hot sun. The region's climate also provides for higher alcohol content than typically in wine. 

Some cool views from the first winery visit. 

It was the largest of the 3 wineries we visited. 

Jeffrey enjoying himself and the wine!

The second winery was much smaller but the quality was really good. 

We got a bottle from here to celebrate Jeffrey's next birthday with. 

I couldn't get over these beautiful views!

The last place we visited was pretty awesome with some great wines as well. 

The bottles and labels were much more modern to reflect the younger generation that had just taken over the winery. 

It is hard to pick a favorite when all 3 were really good!

June 10

After a day of indulgence, it was time to be a little active and get the blood pumping.... 

no better place to do it than one of the largest national parks of the country!

We headed off to the town of Polace in the National Park on the island of Mijet. 

We saw the natural salt lakes and enjoyed some active time.

After a great day enjoying the outdoors,

we were ready to freshen up and hungry for a hot meal. 

We had lamb and octopus, prepared in the traditional way, and some delicious wine was flowing!

June 11

After an eventful evening, we got up for coffee and breakfast and set sail toward Sipan.

We stopped along the way for a nice swimming spot. There were a few other huge boats with helicopter pads and all, but it was perfect to cool off from the warm sun. 

We cooked burritos on the boat and saw one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen in my life. 

We played cards and just relaxed for the evening! 

June 12

This was our last full day on the boat. 

We headed toward a sandy beach and our skipper in the sand!

After some fun in the sun, we set sail again to our final destination, Dubrovnik. 

We had dinner in the harbor and celebrated Thomas's Birthday. Jeffrey and I hung out and took it pretty easy, while everyone else went into town to carry on the party. We enjoyed our nap cap by the pool and called it a night! haha 

June 13

We had a few hours in the morning to wonder around the city of Dubrovnik. 

We got breakfast in the old town and soaked up the views with walks down alleys to take us back in time. Then it was off to the airport and we were off to Barcelona! 

So to recap... this was a sailing trip of a lifetime! Croatia is a beautiful country, has TONS to offer, and is not overly crowded with tourist yet. We loved every minute and were looking forward to what the rest of the trip had to offer.