Candle on the water...

Sorry, that song just came into my head.

March 31, 2008
We caught the bus to Umag, Croatia, and I got another stamp in my passport. Croatia is not yet an EU member, so we had to do a border check. In Umag, we grabbed a taxi to our lighthouse...well, it was "our" lighthouse for a couple nights anyway.

The lighthouse sits just up from a rocky beach. Some kind of tree was in full blossom, and we got to walk by it everytime we left the yard.

We walked forever looking for a grocery store. We had a kitchen in this place, and we wanted to take full advantage of it! Well, unfortunately, we never found a grocery store. We did, however, see beautiful, rural Croatia. Vinyards, trees, and winding roads. It really was a beautiful walk.

Since we couldn't find a store, we opted to eat out at one of the seaside restaurants two minutes walk away. Being in a rather adventurous mood, I decided to try the house specialty: Spaghetti with Crab.

Here I am, expecting spaghetti with crab meat in it, when out comes my spaghetti with PIECES of crab on top. A claw here or there. Parts of torsos scattered about. Oh Sebastian!

Maybe this requires some explanation. I have never ordered crab before. I've seen people eat it and therefore knew it required some cracking and crunching and extra effort. But never before have I taken the plyers in my own hands and broken some poor animal's arm. Ok, crustacian's arm. (Would you consider it an arm?) And all to scrape meat out of it.

It tasted good, but I'm afraid it was a little tramatic. This picture is in no way staged. That's me. Eating my first crab. (Terri really enjoyed the dinner's entertainment.) You should have seen my plate with all the shells after I was done. It looked like a crab masacre. I've decided that I prefer my food to be unrecognizable from the animal it once was. Oh! The little legs, still with little hairs on them...and the pinchers...

I really did like the dish. It was delicious, really.



April 1, 2008
I love being so close to the beach! I lounged on the rocks, listening to music and getting some sun. It was wonderful weather. No rain in sight, which is actually quite amazing. The rain follows us wherever we go.

I took my journal out and wrote. Listened to music. Isn't that the kind of stuff you're supposed to do on the beach? Well, at least if the water is too cold to go swimming in.

Terri disappeared. She was on a quest to find some groceries. Nine or ten hours later, she showed up groceryless. She liked the sights, but her feet weren't altogether happy with her.

Milo, our lighthouse keeper, was so fun! He didn't know English very well, but he was so excited to talk to us. We think he was practicing up for the next guest who was a "famous American writer". Never did figure out who the author was. Milo was sweet and charming. He even gave us a ride back to the bus station on the 2nd, so we didn't have to call for a taxi.

So, how to sum up Croatia? We weren't there as long as I wanted to be, but I'm glad for the time we were. It was so peaceful. No traffic. No massive buildings. No hectic schedules. Just small-town charm at it's best.

Oh, and by the way, we did find the grocery store. As Milo was driving us to the bus station, there it was, not five minutes walk from the lighthouse. If we had turned right instead of left...I wouldn't have had crab. :)