Christmas in Croatia

Day One - Arrived in Dubrovnik on time this morning a bit tired after driving to Gatwick overnight. Fortunately managed to sleep on the flight which is unusual for me.
Met our tour manager the lovely V at the airport and she remembered me from a holiday I did 3 years ago in Rabac. She takes the honour of been the first TM I have had twice, even gave me a hug, now there is a bonus.


Like what I have seen of the hotel Lero so far nice and clean,
rooms good shower, etc. Just about to get ready for welcome drink and meal so will reserve judgement on the food until later.
Had a walk into the old town for bit of lunch, very impressive, guided tour tomoz so should get some good photos.
Only met a few people so should get chatting with a few others tonight.


Day Two - Thought last nights meal was fine, it was buffet style and a decent choice. I opted for veg soup followed by chicken for my mains.
Slept really well last night, bed is very comfy and of course a couple of beers in the bar helped, well got to be sociable.
Was a leisurely day today as we didn't leave the hotel until 10am for our guided walk around the old town which is an interesting place.








In the afternoon following the walk a few of us went up the local mountain overlooking the town on the cable car. Some stunning views and a nice little cafe where we had lunch. Few of us had a steak sandwich which was good.

Basically just strolled around since before walking back to hotel for an hours chill before getting ready for tonight. A bonus was on the way back got to see the sunset of the Adriatic, was an amazing view.








The evening meal was OK but noticeable that the choices where very similar, same two soups and identical sweets. Mains where different and I went for the goulash.

Day 3 - it was an early start for the 3 hour drive to Mostar in Bosnia, journey was pleasant as got sat with a nice young lady called Gill on the coach and walked around together.

Did have an incident at the border as one lady in our group forgot her passport, not sure how because V our tour manager reminded us all numerous times, some folk just don't listen I suppose. Fortunately the border guards where in a good mood and let us in.
On arrival the devastation caused by the wat of the 1990s was obvious, although they have rebuilt much of it there was still plenty of bomb destroyed ruins and other places riddled with bullet holes.

We had a tour of the city before been taken to a restaurant for an included lunch. Was traditional Bosnian apparently and I enjoyed.

 
Eventually back to the hotel to prepare for the Christmas eve festivities and what a let down the meal was, same starters and sweets added to a very poor choice of mains, lots of the group where not happy to say the least.
We did have some live music in the restaurant after dinner a a bit of singing and dancing. To get the party going V had to pick on someone to drag on the dance floor, yes you guessed, don't know why they pick on the shy ones.
Know people were not happy with the food but that was nothing to how a good few felt when they shut the bar at 10-30pm. Some Christmas eve party that was, few of us did sit in reception while midnight to see chrimmy in properly but not really good enough for a Xmas holiday in my opinion.

Day 4 - The highlight of Xmas day is often the big meal, well not at this hotel, worst meal yet. Once again for the 4th day running we had the same soups as starters and identical desserts. The main course for meal was something called beef which was more fat with cold potato's and carrots, pathetic about sums it up.
Only one lady serving and she was clearing tables as well as getting everyone's drinks, ordered a glass of wine to enjoy with my meal and it turned up when had about finished. Wasn't not even a jug of water on the tables, lots of the group not happy. Certainly nothing resembling Xmas, not even a cracker to pull (Is this really a cristmas holiday as we were led to be be believed).

A few of us are planning to eat out on some of the other nights, would rather pay and get something nice than put up with the sub standard school diners the hotel serves.

Nothing planned to fill our day so couple of us done quite a bit of walking , to the port before lunch and a good long one in some woods this afternoon which ended overlooking some cliffs. Tried to follow a footpath marked on a map only to find it no longer exists, lol.

Later that evening we were supposed to have a light supper but the hotel provided a 2nd meal, believe this was after V had had a word about the meals and peoples complaints, even got free glass of wine courtesy of the hotel. Was some nice Pork and a couple of different sweets but clutching at straws if it was meant to be a major improvement.

Had a few beers on the night, plan was to have an early night but with encouragement from Godrey, Jane, George & Gill got to bed around 1am.

Day 5 -
Sadly hotel food was again mediocre and this nice hotel is been let down by the kitchen and early bar closures in my opinion.
Think tomorrow night a couple of us are gonna eat out at a local restaurant, I know half board is paid for but the food is ruining what should be a good holiday.

Today we visited Montenegro which was interesting first going to Kotar then to Budva, both cracking places although we got a bit of a soaking as we had wind and rain for the first time. Would love to go back and explore on a nice day.
Didn't have my holiday mate Gill with me as she was not feeling too good so took day off , nothing to do with the drinks or late night of course.



 










Day 6 - In the morning we went to cavtat which is a lovely place had a gorgeous chocolate drink, well it was so thick you had to eat it rather than drink. Had a nice walk around the bay before back on the bus.

Next it was wine tasting, went with no great expectations as it was a very small vineyard. However turned out one of the best I've visited, enjoyed and thought they looked after us well.






On returning to Dubrovnik mid afternoon took the opportunity to walk the impressive city walls. Well worth doing but be warned lots of steps to go up and down.
Last night decided to abandon the hotel food and went to a nice restaurant with Gill, Jane and Godfrey. Cracking meal so enjoyed it, was then to a local bar for a few laughs.
Don't think we were the only ones not eating at the hotel, JY really need to look into this as the food can only be described as "school diners before Jamie Oliver".











Day 7 - Bit of a chilling day as weather is wet and windy so cancelled a planned walk. Did go for lunch with a few of the group at the Bosnian restaurant next to the hotel. Was Richards birthday so helped him celebrate.
Last night thought the food in the hotel was slightly better, had some beef and was more variation of veg. They seem to have tried since Xmas diner but still a long way to go. Hope they can get things sorted fo the group following us for new year, I now V was trying to get the message over to hotel management.

Had a few beers and laughs in the hotel bar last night.

So to sum up the holiday in my opinion :-

Negatives - hotel food, hotel bar closing early (especially Xmas eve), no proper Christmas diner just much the same.

Positives - Vlatka our TM, Hotel staff, comfy bed and decent room, hot water, hotel location, Places we visited (well worth it) and of course some of the people I met, made some very nice friends which is always good on a solo group holiday.



One final story was the journey home, we got to Dubrovnik Airport as planned only to find it was closed due to high winds. Our plane had landed at Split and it was eventually announced after hanging around over 2 hours that they would bus us to the plane (a four hour journey).
Was rushed through security at Split and on the plane as the pilots were close to there hours, once in the air we were informed Gatwick was closed and were aiming to land at heathrow and be bussed to Gatwick, later this was to everyones dismay announced this had been changed to Luton.
Eventually hour luck changed and Gatwick reopened and we were one of the first few landing after an earlier incident.
Still we were 7 hours late and many people missed their buses, trains and planes home, fortunately i had already planned to stay over and a couple of others from our group booked the same hotel as had missed their transport. Just got to the pub to enjoy a couple of nice British beers and a lovely mixed grill.