Croatia Days 8-10: Sipan

I left you in my last post on our Croatian holiday, in Split, ready to depart. We left our luxurious apartment reluctantly to catch the bus to Dubrovnik. The journey took around 3 or 4 hours, I forget which. Be warned, that if you are staying in Split and fancy taking a day trip to Dubrovnik, you must bring your passport as you have to pass through Bosnia Herzegovina to reach it. The reason for this is Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline on the Adriatic Sea and by international laws, they must have right of passage to the sea. Our only real experience of Bosnia, apart from passport checks at two borders, was the 20minute stop at which we bought ice-creams. Here's the view from the restaurant. Arriving in Dubrovnik, again the bus terminus and the port were in the same place. We managed, very smugly, to catch a boat almost instantly to our destination, the Elaphiti/Elifi island of Šipan. The boat calls first at Lopud, an island without cars and some boats call at Kolocep. We had a super journey on the boat- it was an open-sided boat, much nicer than the catamaran from Split.

I chose to read all the way there. The three musketeers was getting gripping! Arriving at Sipan at Suđurađ our accommodation was our most basic of the trip, very cheap on Air BnB, it was what is called Sobe- essentially, rooms. Our room unfortunately wasn't what we expected- it turned out to be single bunkbeds and a single bed. It was however, clean and though basic, had everything we needed. There was a shared kitchen which was not very well maintained by the other residents. The location was super though. Literally, a 10 second walk from the boat. It is above a bar though which was fine for me as I am a genius at not noticing noises (except snoring and squirrels doing Donald Duck impressions) when I am going to sleep, but CBC was kept awake till 3am on Monday night, which is Sipan's party night. If you want to get away from the tourist cliches and traps, Sipan is for you. There's just the one small grocery shop (bread has to be ordered from the mainland) and then one small souvenir shop, two restaurants on the port and a little walk along, is the hotel with a restaurant and an amazing restaurant.


We met our host, Tiofel and then walked to his recommended restaurant, Tre Sestre (The three sisters). This was really the most perfect setting. Imagine an open veranda looking out over the port, vines groaning under the weight of grapes above you, and the sweetest, most kind and welcoming man and his wife who cook the most delicious and inexpensive fare. They do some regional specialities too. Luckily, we told them that we'd be coming back tomorrow to try their 'Lamb under the bell' at which point they told us it has to be ordered the day before as it takes 5 hours to cook.


 After this, we headed to the beach. I say beach. It is a tiny shingly bit on the side of the port. Despite the fact many boats come here, the water is crystal clear, and there is a pleasant part sectioned off for swimmers without fear of boats. I do recommend wearing aqua shoes though-it's really hard to walk on the stones.
 

 We had a glorious time and I mentioned to Chris that we were enjoying the golden hour. He wasn't sure what I meant and I quoted Sophie in the Sticks who talked about that golden hour around sunset where everything is bathed in a golden hue or beauty.
In the evening, we played boules in the port with our own rules which was fun.

Our second day in Sipan was a bit of waste in how late we woke. CBC had had so little sleep after the party down in the bar,we didn't get out the place till 12pm. We had decided to do some sea-kayaking which is a hugely popular activity in Croatia, particularly on the island and actually, it was viewing a kayaking/biking holiday on Groupon staying in the Elaphiti island themselves that first put me on the track of Croatia this year.

 Alas, I was too worried about getting my camera wet, so no actual journey pictures. We hired our kayaks from the souvenir shop. A very reasonable 80Kn for half a day (5 hours) per canoe. I've been kayaking on the river Wye on many occasions, enjoyed and been fairly successful at it but I wasn't prepared for how hard it is kayaking on the sea. We decided try turning left out of the port and trying to go round the island that way. The waves constantly rock you and I never felt secure when not paddling so quickly became tired. CBC was constantly ahead of me and I was always playing catch-up. It was hard to stop and take a drink so I was really glad when a tiny cove appeared with a minute
bar and restaurant.
 
If you've read Terry Pratchett books at all, you will know about wandering shops, shops that vanish when you want to return magical items you've bought there once. Well, I felt this bar was a bit like that, we couldn't seem to find it on the way back! It was such a sweet little place, run by a family, who had their relations visiting. I honestly have no idea how they make a living- how do people know about it? The island only has a population of 500 and it's not exactly easy to find from the port surely.
Anyway, they provided an excellent, much needed drink to two parched kayakers and respite from an unrelenting and oppressive sun. I was already tired by this point, but we decided to continue, thinking we might be able to find a nice place to swim.

 Eventually, we realised we'd have to turn back and it was at this point that I discovered how incredibly difficult it was to go against the current/waves or whatever it was, the other way. We just didn't seem to make much progress, no matter how hard we paddled. Finally, at the point of wanting to cry and give-up (ok, I did do that), we got nearer to the port. That in some sense was worse.CBC tried to help me by coming alongside of me and holding the canoes so I could have a rest, but that unpleasant bobbling-up-and-down from the waves just made me feel insecure. As we came closer towards the port, CBC landed and I was still a bit further out. To my horror, my coming in coincided with the Jadrolinja liner/boat coming in with the day's visitors! I was terrified coming alongside this boat carrying hundreds of people and a few yachts too and was at melt-down-point by the time I clambered like a baby-deer into CBC's waiting arms crying with relief.

 For the rest of that day, we had some rest after cooking some pasta and passata until it was time to return to Tre Sestre for our Lamb-under-the-bell. And oh,what a treat!

Lamb, Octopus or goat under the bell does what it says on the tin and is prepared under an iron bell, over open fire or cinder. It is an ancient tool for food preparation and apparently widely spread along the Croatian coast. It was the most exquisite, wonderful, melt-in-the-mouth meal, so full of flavour- lamb shanks,potatoes, vegetables and there was loads left. The restaurant had several other people who had ordered their something-under-the-bell too. I'd really recommend visiting Sipan just for that restaurant. It highlighted what I noticed about the Croatian people.How friendly and appreciative they are of visitors and tourists and how kind and helpful they are.

 Our next day, we decided to take a trip to the nearby island of Lopud and that in itself was an epic adventure, hence why I've split this into two posts!  More anon.

x

Over to you: have you ever sea-kayaked?