Croatia - Hvar Island

Today we traveled to Hvar. We took a bus from Dubrovnik, which took 4.5 hours. It was extremely scenic but a bit warm on the bus. Once in Split, we enjoyed a nice refreshing drink, then boarded the fast catamaran to the island of Hvar. We had a dip in the pool and then a nice but slow dinner. Having eaten octopus for 2 courses, Daniel has challenged me (Dave) to a battle. He is determined to crush me.
(the background on this is that Daniel's favorite animal is the octopus. He is very mad at us for eating them. The challenge and agreement, is that every time we order it, he gets to have one wrestle match per order. Dave is up to 3, I'm at 1 or 2 - but he says he'll go easy on me. You should see his mad face every time we order it. I've tried to whisper my order, but he stills catches it).

Hvar feels very special. It has a small port with loads of gorgeous sail boats and nice restaurants and the vibe is very quaint and sophisticated - a bit different than we had expected - a nice pleasant surprise. The island has a reputation of being a party island, so we were thinking like a small version of Ibiza. Either we did not find that part of the island, or it's just nothing like that. We could definitely spend more time here, but tomorrow we are off to Vis, for some real off-the-beaten-track adventures. A little more pool time is in order though, since they closed it down around 7, just as Daniel was getting going.

Croatia - Dubrovnik , our first day

We've arrived in Dubrovnik and made ourselves stay awake until now. Too tired to write much - it's gorgeous - here is proof :)

day 19: our last day

Today, for our last day, we went to see one more really lovely temple. Tanah Lot was built in the 15th century on the sea. You can only reach it at low tide, we were there at high tide, so it's out in the ocean.

And Dave got one last surf sesson in...

day 18: candidasa to canggu

Today we drove to Canggu and found a very special place to stay for our last night.

We all played in the pool for a while, enjoyed a late afternoon snack, and then Daniel and I sat on the beach while Dave surfed a bit. This hotel has a small area in front with some bales and some beach chairs. We made art drawings and shared our drawing things with a cute, naked, 3 year old little girl. She was shy at first, but we knew she wanted to paint with us, finally…she came over to make her parents some artwork.

For dinner, we took a stroll down the beach, in the dark, with the little girl and her parents, and ate at a place that will grill you any fish you want. You just walk up, point to the pieces of fish or kabob you want on the grill and then they bring you a ton of delicious fish to your table. We sat with our new friends, had a nice conversation, while their 3 year old played with Daniel. The couple was from Germany and it turns out he is a professional hockey player who has been in 2 olympics. The crowd at the restaurant was all locals, since it’s very far off the beaten path, not too many tourists know it’s there.

Last night was our last night here. Dave and I sat on the balcony while Daniel slept and enjoyed listening to the waves and talking about what a great vacation this has been.

day 17 : tirta gangga and amed

Today we visited a beautiful water temple, Tirta Gangga. We walked across a series of stones, and a few moments later, it was completely filled with school children. We arrived just in time!

And then we drove up to a wonderful area called Amed. We wish we had known how cool this area was, because it would be a lovely place to stay for a few nights. There is a lot of diving here and snorkeling. Now that we have a little snorkeler... we were able to go out only about 15 feet from shore to see a ship wreck from WWII. Daniel wanted to call grandpa tonight, since he is such a history buff. He said today's adventure was his favorite thus far.

candidasa photos

day 16: tenganan and goa lawah

we started out the day with a beautiful yummy breakfast at Alila. This hotel has gorgeous serene grounds, a big sweeping lawn, sprinkled with palm trees, and my favorite pool so far. After breakfast we all sat on our balcony, enjoying the view, and looking up a new (and less expensive) place to stay in this town for 2 more nights because there is a lot to see in east bali. Then we took a little swim in my favorite pool and moved on to a new hotel, which is also gorgeous in it’s own way. This one is very lush, also quiet, small and pretty. Then we toured 2 places in the afternoon: a 1000 year old traditional village called tengganan, and the bat cave ‘Goa Lawah’.

tenganan village

daniel’s take: well, it was really fun finding the entrances. The entrance to the town looked cool , pretty. It was like a castle, with a wall around it, with a little opening door. One opening in front. Instead of a moat, it was a town. It was cool to see the way they new types of games, and what was really cool was that I’m not sure if it was like other towns too, instead of soccer balls, they used coconuts. It was brown and hollow. It was cool to see a new way to knit (weave).

Dave: my favorite part of the village was watching Daniel share his toys and pencils and stuff with all the other kids. And I also liked watching 2 of the kids fly kites. And I loved watching the woman carve the scenes on the palm fronds, which was the first paper they ever used.

Goa Lawah (the bat cave)

daniel’s take: The bat cave was really cool and fun. I made daddy go up as close as you were allowed to - half a foot before they let you go in further, but he really was freaked out. The cave led all the way to besikah (17 km away) and mommy made a joke asking him if he wasnted to take that route to go to the besikah temple. I’m sure you know this, but if you don’t, my dad hates bats and we were suggesting he go 50 meters in a cave with 2 million bats. At 6:30 , 2 million bats swarm out of the cave to go find food. We were making a joke, on our way out, about coming back at 6:20 to see them all swarm out. I knew he was kidding. I wanted to ask if I could buy the cave in live in there, carve the rocks and bring some mattresses and pillows.

Dave: this was just terrifying. I will never go and watch 2 million bats fly out at night. Daniel says, “oh yes you will. “

day 15: Lombok to Bali

Today we left Lombok on the local $3 ferry to Bali….interesting! since our flight was cancelled, and we had decided to go to Candidasa, taking the ferry was a good idea. It comes right into a town 5 minutes from Candidasa. But you get what you pay for with a $3 , 4 hour long, ferry ride.

Tonight we had dinner at our hotel, dave and I tried a traditional east bali ceremonial meal, it was a little bit of everything and was quite delicious. Most esp the meat in the banana leaf, and the home made coconut pistachio ice cream.

wedding photos

day 14: gili islands

today was one of the best days yet! we took a small outrigger to the gili islands. we relaxed in a small bale on the beach for a bit. ate a terrific lunch. and daniel learned how to snorkel! our guide showed him and within minutes, he was snorkeling. what a fast learner.

day 13: wedding day

What an interesting experience! I’m not even sure where to start, I think videos and photos are necessary to capture the essence of the day.

The day started with everyone getting all dressed up our wedding attire. All the women wore fancy silk saris, woven with gold threads and the tops were colorful semi-transparent sequined blouses. We each had our hair done, and most of us had makeup done as well. The men all wore 2 layers of saris under a black coat, and a small scarf head piece. Michael and Maryam were in the most regal attire with a giant gold 4 pound head-dress in Maryam’s hair, and a sword on Michael’s back. I must say I was very impressed with everyone’s patience while other’s got dressed…all in the searing heat (well searing for us westerners…it was probably cool to an Indonesian). Daniel was a champ, again, I’m most impressed with his ability to adapt to all these new places.

More to come ….

day 12: Lombok

Dave and Steve went to the other side of the island for some great surfing. A number of people went to 2 villages, which I would have loved to show Daniel but he really needed a simple chill pool day. And that’s exactly what we did…all…day…long. I think, accept for lunch, we were in the pool for 8 hours!!! The greatest part of being in the pool all day is that Daniel is now so much more comfortable in the water, most especially because he got a swim lesson from Dave Frank, who used to teach kids how to swim in a previous job.