Sunday, May 31, 2015

Land's End to John O'Groats

It's been a while since this was updated! I've been busy doing lots of fun stuff, including trips to Peru, Vietnam/Cambodia, Malta, Bruges, Rome, too much nice food to mention, becoming a Godmother and looking forward to becoming an Auntie!

In less than 2 weeks I'm hoping to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats. It's quite possibly a slightly crazy thing to be trying (and certainly to be using annual leave for) and as ever the actual decision to go ahead and do it and planning have all been a little last minute. I've set up a new blog to make it easier for people to find out what we're up to...https://nooneeversaiditwouldbeeasy.wordpress.com.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Fresh* Sheets Kathedral Bed & Breakfast, Dubrovnik, May 2014

As ever the trip to Dubrovnik was slightly last minute. After deciding on Dubrovnik as a destination I'd  headed to Tripadvisor but had been a little bit disappointed with the hotel options I'd come up with. Then one of the multiple pop-ups you seem to end up with after such searches was list of accommodations options on Booking.com which included B&Bs and mentioned a B&B called Fresh Sheets Kathedral. It looked promising in terms of the boxes I was looking to tick. I managed to find it on Tripadvisor and the reviews were so good I really wanted to see what it was all about.

It turned out to live up to my high expectations in every way possible. From the first efficient contact by e-mail to the numerous small touches during our stay this is a great B&B. It's located in a building that is being rented from the Vatican, it is on the 3rd floor (which I knew about in advance but still insisted on bringing close to the maximum airline luggage allowance). The rooms and communal spaces have all been decorated impeccably.

We were welcomed by Sanja with bread/olives/meats/cheese/wine and some really useful information about good restaurants/things to do. Being Game of Thrones fans we also had lots of fun talking to Sanja and Jon about the filming of the series. Breakfast was stunning every morning, but it was even more special than usual on my birthday when it included chocolate and sparkling wine (I really shouldn't have been surprised I put on weight over the holiday!)

Here are a few more reasons why Fresh Sheets Bed and Breakfast is the perfect place to stay in Dubrovnik:
-It is right in the middle of the Old Town, obviously this convenient in lots of ways but it also means you get the chance to experience the old town without so many tourists: either during an early morning jog (yes I really did go for a jog because I was eating so much food) or walking back after a night out.
-There are way too many restaurants to choose from, all within a 10 minute walk.
-Breakfast was one of the best I’ve had at any other hotel or bed and breakfasts (hence the need to go for a jog).

-I have a bit of a thing about noise so I was a little bit concerned about staying in the middle of such a busy place, but once the windows were closed the only noise you could occasionally here were church bells.
-Compared to a hotel you get the personal touches that make for a much more memorable stay.

What could be behind the door?
The welcome reception (there were meats, cheese and olives but they were eaten before I thought of taking a photo)
Comfortable beds, great decor
View from our window
View from the kitchen window
Breakfast spread + a couple of birthday treats
Here are a few tips for a trip to Dubrovnik:
1. On the outward journey ry to get a seat on the left hand side of the plane, that way you should get a pretty impressive view of the Old Town as you fly in.
2. Get the airport shuttle bus, you can buy a ticket form the counter inside and then wait by the sign just outside the terminal. It really couldn’t be much easier, we didn’t have to wait too long for it to leave, it took about 30 minutes and stopped just outside the Old Town (taxi prices generally seemed a little excessive).
3. Seriously consider staying at least 1-2 nights in the Old Town, it's not often that you'll get the chance to stay in a UNESCO World Heritage site. If at all possible stay at Fresh Sheets B&B!



Saturday, May 31, 2014

D'Vino wine bar, Dubrovnik, 15th May 2014

This was a really nice little place just off the main street in the Old Town. It serves a wide range of Croatian wines by the glass, but also offers the chance to try 3 small glasses of red or white wines. I tried 3 white whites, and although they were all very drinkable I then chose a large glass of the Crvik wine I'd found at a restaurant a couple of nights earlier.

To soak up a bit of the alcohol we also shared an platter of meats, cheese, bread and olives-perfect!

"Tasting" wines 
Platter of yumminess

http://www.dvino.net/index.html

Restaurant Amfora, Dubrovnik, 14th May 2014

Restaurant Amfora is a little way out of the Old Town, and although we had to take a taxi to get there and back I'd say it was worth it. Inside was stylish as they didn't have the charms of the Old Town to entice a captive audience the fact that it was essentially full on a Wednesday evening must say something about their food.

I started with deep fried courgette flowers filled with cheese (obviously the healthy because they are part of the courgette plant). For my main course I had sea bream, with prawns and mussels. Recognising that we may have put a little weight on over the course of the holiday we decided to share a dessert of chocolate fondant that had a perfect gooey centre.

Deep fried courgette flowers
Sea bream, prawns and mussels 
Chocolate fondant

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amfora-Mediterranean-Grill-Pasta/137977956245703

War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik, 14th May 2014

We'd been keeping a pretty close eye on the weather forecast and were trying to save a couple of museums that we wanted to visit for the "rainy day" that we knew inevitably would come.

I guess I'm glad it did rain, because if it hadn't we may never have visited War photo Limited and that would have been a shame. Although the museum has had exhibitions relating to the Yugoslav wars and still has a small collection of those photos currently the main exhibition is photographs by Narcisco Contreras from the war in Syria.


I think with 24 hour news on the TV to a certain extent we can become a little bit desnsitised to "graphic images". So I was a little bit surprised at how much of an affect some of these photos had. This could have been because we were in quiet rooms and forced to take in the pictures rather than them just being on the TV in the background, or maybe it was partly because of the skill of the photographer. 

I was reminded of something the first world war poet Wilfred Owen said:
"Above all I am not concerned with Poetry.
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity."

There is certainly pity in these photos.

http://www.warphotoltd.com/?

Restaurant Kopun, Dubrovnik, 13th May 2014


A capon is a rooster that has been castrated, apparently the effect of castration is to make the meat more tender. As this was their speciality even though there were other things on the menu we decided to try a couple of different recipes, one served with an orange sauce the other with a mushroom sauce. They were both nice although I think I'd made the mistake of filling up too much with my starter which was a substantial (and very tasty) dish of vegetable risotto. We also made a mistake with dessert, we should have realised that the fact that the "Chocolate sauce with truffle" dessert was so high meant that it would contain real live (or previously live) truffles. Now I get that truffles are a delicacy, and I'm just about coming round to the fact that they can add something to savoury dishes but I really didn't feel that they added anything to what would otherwise have been a nice choclatey dessert!

There was one really nice touch early on in the evening: they didn’t have the wine we’d ordered, rather than just giving us the wine list again or bringing an alternative the waiter let us try 3 of the white wines they did have and said they’d even discount the most expensive one. We ended up going for a Crvik white wine which was the best wine I had all holiday. I think this really highlighted my feelings that you can have problems at any restaurant but the mark of a good restaurant (and one that you want to go back to) is how they deal with problems.

We were lucky that the rain stayed away and we were able to sit on the terrace in the very pleasant surroundings of a quiet square opposite the Jesuit church of St Ignatius, at the top of a set of Baroque steps that was modelled on the Spanish Steps. 

Vegetable risotto with a bit of cheese
Capon with an orange sauce and gnocchi

My favourite wine
Chocolate sauce and truffle 

Dubrovnik's "Spanish Steps"
http://www.restaurantkopun.com/index.html

Dubrovnik Cable Car, 12th May 2014

There are essentially two options to get to the top of Mount Srdj: walk or get the cable car. I liked the idea of walking but I also wanted to see what the cable car was all about so we decided to get the cable car up and walk down (which was definitely a good decision). We didn't have to queue for long to buy tickets or get on the cable car, but I can imagine that it might get quite busy during peak season.

The cable car gets you up there pretty quickly, probably a bit too quickly to be able to take any decent photos. Once you get to the top there are a number of viewing points, a restaurant and a museum about the war of independence situated in the fort. 

If you can tear yourself away from the spectacular views of the Old Town and Adriatic Sea then the view of the other side of the mountain is impressive in a baron landscape kind of way.

We’d read that there was a walkway liked the idea of walking down and having more of an opportunity to take in the views. The only problem was we really struggled to find the path! After walking round the restaurant complex (peering over the edge trying to work out where the path we could see would start) and the museum building, we finally found the start of the path (to the left of the museum I think). The path wasn’t signposted but there was a sign that pretty much said it’s not our responsibility if you fall and die.


We began our descent and it definitely gave lots more chances for photos. I’d certainly recommend sensible footwear (ie trainers or walking boots) I was wearing what are usually very comfortable walking sandals but the path has been "built" out of stones that quite big and pointy.

View and the orange cable car, Lokrum in the top left corner
The other side of the mountain
Fort Imperial  
Peering over the edge
View on the way down