During the autumn of 1999 my wife and I started to think about how to celebrate the millennium - well, how to escape from the hype surrounding the celebrations in the UK.  The other factor to take into consideration was that as a IT Manager January 1st seemed like a good time to avoid the office - well at least I was confident that we had removed any risk of the Y2K problem from our systems!  In the past we have often spent a couple of winter weeks in the Canaries but this year we thought we should do something different.  As we have been visiting the Elaphite Islands (just north of Dubrovnik) for many years it was an obvious area for us to consider as within reason we knew what to expect (well we thought we did!).  After spending a while browsing the various internet sites checking on what would be open and trying to verify ferry times we decided that a week in Dubrovnik would be a better bet (mainly because the hotels on the Islands were closed and we didn't fancy self catering).  We eventually decided on the Hotel Kompas in Dubrovnik as being suitable for us. The criteria we used were - heating, party on New Years Eve, reasonable standard of room, location in relation to the city and Gruz harbour, facilities in case of bad weather. An email from the Dubrovnik Hotels Group dubrovnikhotels@du.tel.hr confirmed availability but advised us to book early.  At this stage we thought we would be the only people wanting to go to Croatia at New Year - wrong!

A telephone call to Marie at Bond Tours confirmed how wrong we were.  Croatia Airlines flights were nearly fully booked!  We managed to get a flight on Boxing Day with a return on 3 January which involved a long wait at Zagreb homebound.

Sunshine in London, snow in Zagreb
A relaxed flight on an Airbus 320 from Heathrow to Zagreb was rather spoilt by a comedian in the Croatia Airlines catering department who decided that we would all like cold fish fingers and cold vegetables (cauliflower and carrots) for lunch.  Snow and thick cloud at Zagreb airport was a change from the bright sunshine we experienced when leaving London.  Two minutes across the airport terminal and we were ready to board the ATR42 for the flight down to Dubrovnik.  Sandra (my wife) was a little apprehensive about the ATR as the smallest aircraft she had flown on before was a 737.  Soon after take off music started to play through the loud speakers.  At this stage we both burst out laughing as it was the instrumental version of 'I did it my way' which has the lyrics amongst others approximating to 'the end is nigh as I face the final curtain'.

We made it to Dubrovnik with no problems and were promptly collected by the Bond Tours agent and taken to the Hotel.  The journey in the dark was quite impressive as the city was lit up for the celebrations.  Dubrovnik resembled a fairy tale city with the twinkling lights and soft floodlights illuminating the massive protective walls.

Exploring the old city
For the first two days the hotel was very quiet with only about 20 people staying there.  The weather was quite mild, but cloudy with a small amount of rain falling mainly at night.  We spent this time walking and exploring the area.  In the past we have never spent a lot of time in Dubrovnik as we find it too hot to walk around in the summer heat, but during the winter months it is great and the people watchers still sit out at the cafes on the Stradun with their designer sunglasses and the cups of coffee that last for about two hours.

A particular rewarding visit was to the maritime museum were we spent so long that we stayed beyond the closing time without realising.  One notable display referred to a ship which had sunk not to far away from where we live, so I now have the task of attempting to see what information I can get about it here and tying it up with the information in Dubrovnik.  A visit to the Desa Gallery in the Lazareti was well worth it if only to see the wonderful hand made articles such as lace and embroidery produced by the wonderful ladies there. Email: desa@du.tel.hr

The closer we got to New Year's Eve the more people there seemed to be in the hotels, and by New Year's Eve all the hotels in the Dubrovnik area appeared to be full.  We did not see any other English people about, but we were told that there were a few staying at one of the hotels in Babin Kuk and in the Hotel Excelsior.  Guests from Slovenia and Bosnia occupied the majority of the hotels, but all nationalities mixed well and a great time was had by all.  The food at the Hotel Kompas was excellent and the only problem was getting the motivation to do some exercise to make room for more food!

What a great party!
We had been planning to see in the new year with the celebrations that were taking place along the Stradun in the old City, but excess food and alcohol got in the way and we stayed with the hotel celebrations which ran from 1930 in the evening until 0430 the next morning.  The hotel ran various functions on New Years Day including a marathon, a dancing competition and a prize draw.  A good range of prizes were available ranging from various holidays (including one which was for a two day stay in Sarajevo) to a roasted whole suckling pig, complete with a tray to carry it on.  Just how I was going to carry it home if I won it I don't know.  As it turned out we didn't win a prize, but it was great fun and good practice in working with Croatian numbers.

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