After yet another lazy morning fortified by our beloved Armenian fruit/nut combos (if you can’t tell yet, we’re not exactly morning people), we headed off in search of adventure… specifically, we’d seen a barber that did “hair tattoos” in town, and Grant was more than delighted by the opportunity to satisfy a childhood dream of shaving lightening bolts into the side of his head!
Alas – we found out it was a dye job, not a shave, and so we opted not to have him get the wildest hairdo of his life. Lame, I know, but it was just too much – trust us.
After the aborted head shaving, we grabbed a quick bite and then hopped back into the VW Golf and cruised down the Dalmatian coast. While we could have taken the A1 main freeway and shaved ~45 minutes off our drive, we opted for the route along the coast as it had more scenic views.
Along the way, we stopped at a small town called Brela to hop into the Adriatic. We’d been seeing small inlets and coves for over and hour and a half, and could no longer resist. Plus, the backdrop of gorgeous mountains and pine forests was not to be denied! We hopped in for a quick dip, but we could not linger!
After our Brela stop, we were squeezed for time, and so instead of stopping for a formal lunch we decided to grab the fixings for adult lunchables and eat on the way. In said stop was the proof as to why this drive was amazing – even the grocery store parking lot had great views!
Little known fact: Croatia is actually not politically continuous! To drive from Split to Dubrovnik, you actually need to cross a small strip of Bosnia-Herzegovina and pass through both an entry and exit station on the highway!
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows! About 30 minutes from Dubrovnik we were hit by a freak rainstorm that not only pelted down rain, but hail as well! Driving became fairly precarious as we couldn’t see the road/cliff side ahead of us. Fortunately, we were able to drive through it quickly – it seems storms are fairly condensed here. Then it was on to Dubrovnik!
When we finally arrived, we found ourselves staying in a old building in the heart of the old city. The apartment was 3 story, with a room on each story, making it interesting as we traversed from entryway/bathroom, to kitchen, to bedroom floor by floor. However, we were too pooped to care, and ultimately settled in for the evening as we had a big day of exploration ahead of us.
-J & G