This is the unedited version according to Karen and Geoff – the publishers accept no responsibility for any defamation or inaccurate reporting. Read on…..
Well what can we say…We had a fantastic time….It was so nice to be met by Grant & Karol, looking tanned, chilled & happy, needless to say looking 10 years younger as well !!
Croatia was beautiful, having never been before it was a lovely introduction to this beautiful country flying into Dubrovnik over some of the most beautiful islands we have seen. It was greener than we expected and it was fantastically hot. Grant & Karol took us back to our new home for the next 7 days, this lovely caravan on what we were to discover was a very nice site…Having never had a caravan holiday we were not sure what to expect. ….. but it turned out to be really good fun. We made up our bed for the next 7 days in the lounge part of the caravan…we normally sleep in a King Size Bed, so looking at this little compact space was interesting; having said that we found the bed really comfy. We couldn’t stop laughing as we had no option but to cuddle up to each other ..in the heat ..and every time Geoff turned over he bumped something ….I was a bit worried about the nightly trip to the toilet & shower block, but I actually didn’t make that many and when I did, I did what the locals do and just went in my night clothes….
Our week took the form of a leisurely breakfast most mornings, sat outside in the sun, tea, toast, cereal, yoghurt & fruit & fresh orange juice – perfect. Lunch consisted of some lovely local cheese & ham, tomatoes, salad and local fresh bread, accompanied with a nice cold beer, or juice…plenty of water as well. I kept saying to Karol that this is how life should be…some days we were still eating breakfast at 10.30 !!
We explored Dubrovnik by foot and did some of the touristy things, like climbing the fabulous walls of the Old Town and taking a trip in the cable car to see some of the most stunning views of this beautiful city. It was hot so we had to treat ourselves to some local ice cream – I love coconut, the boys had mango & Karol had vanilla…it was really tasty. It seemed wherever we went there were steps – lots of them ! Tourists – Japanese – lots of them too !!
We were lucky to have the use of the nearby hotel’s pool which was amazing and a welcome spot to cool down in the days heat. The views from this location were amazing and we saw & heard several of the large cruise ships coming and going (to Geoff’s delight !!). I admit I did have a quick power nap on the first day …we had been up since 4am….but was caught on camera !!
The boys were in their element as Geoff had taken out a couple of items Grant had requested…you have never seen anyone so happy as Grant when we gave him his lovely pop out sink & his remote control…!! His smile went from one ear to the other…he wanted to wash up that night to christen his new toy and he also ran into the caravan to see if the remote worked – It did – HAPPY DAYS !! We had a couple of BBQ’s as well with Grant’s newest Gadget, a mini BBQ which Karol had bought him for his birthday.
It was whilst we were having an evening meal that I heard ‘THE RUSTLE ‘ – and saw ‘THE SNAKE’. Karol and I jumped up and didn’t know where to run to … it was a bit frightening, the rest of the evening we kept looking for it. There are two things I can’t handle, snakes & rats. But as Karol found out from reception, it wasn’t a snake it was a lizard without legs that eats snakes !!!
A couple of highlights for Geoff and I had to be the little bit of paradise Grant & Karol had been told about where we had the fish lunch next to the greenest sea. It was so peaceful…the lavender was flowering and bees were buzzing….it was truly beautiful. We had to swim, it was amazing. The other highlight was visiting Cavtat; it was so beautiful we went twice. The first time was for a walk and I had another coconut ice cream…. the yachts there were beautiful, another photo opportunity for Geoff. We were so tired that we plonked ourselves down in a bar overlooking this beautiful harbour and had a few glasses of wine and some tapas and just chilled & people watched…we also went back for our last night …and took the 40 minute boat trip which was great. We had a wonderful meal in one of the grill bars again overlooking the harbour, with a very nice bottle or two of chilled pink wine….Yes guys ..Grant drank pink !!
Geoff and I could see that Grant & Karol are really enjoying their Europe adventure. They are such a team and are so organised. Stavros (the caravan) has everything they need, everything has a place and everyone has a job…and things run well. They are so looking forward to the rest of their trip and meeting more interesting people (apart from us that is).
Thank you Mr & Mrs Ellis, it was so nice to be with you for a week in this lovely country …to see so many things and to have so much fun…enjoy the rest of your trip… xxx