Dubrovnik - Week 2

We started week 2 with an enjoyable 45-minute ferry ride from Cavtat to Dubrovnik. The ferry landed in the Old Port in Old Town (the walled portion of the city which is pedestrian-only).  We wandered our way through the City Gate and across the draw bridge, looking for the street where our AirBnB was located.  We arrived to find a steep stairway of 132 steps where the street should have been. We decided to take the “long way” around, rolling our luggage uphill along the roads to avoid the steps, easier on our luggage and ourselves.  

Waiting for the ferry to Dubrovnik

Frana Cala - street to our AirBnB

We settled into our one-bedroom AirBnB which has a gorgeous view of the Adriatic and Old Town, and then walked back downhill to Old Town for dinner.  Roger’s meal (shown in the pictures below) is typical here—sautéed fish and a mix of a spinach-like vegetable and potatoes.  What is not so typical is that he got to choose his fish from a platter of 4 freshly-caught fish.  All the restaurants have outdoor seating, often down a shady (in a good sense), narrow path…very romantic.  Of course, there are no cars in Old Town, so narrow paths are the rule.  Over dinner, we chatted with an interesting couple (about our age) from Kentucky.  He is a pediatric neurologist and his wife of just one year had worked in pharmaceuticals. They had met online during covid.  We discussed the outrageous cost of drugs in the U.S., concluding that things have to change. After dinner, the two of us hit the ice cream shop for a little dessert.

View from the patio of our AirBnB

Kitchen of our AirBnB

Our first meal in Dubrovnik

We signed up for a Food and Wine Tour to acquaint ourselves with the local cuisine.  It was so much fun!  Our guide, Ana, regaled us with tales of Old Town.  For instance, she explained that young women used to sit on their balconies with small egg-sized pouches of fragrant liquid and drop them over the edge as a favored suitor walked by. If the fellow didn’t particularly like the woman, he ran away.  She talked about the 1990s war when Croatia fought for its independence from Yugoslavia. Dubrovnik was under siege for several of those years, water and food cut off from its people. The Old Town residents survived with underground cisterns that held rainwater and stored grain.  Of course, the tour also included food and wine!  We visited 4 restaurants, each serving us a plate of food and a glass of wine.  Roger and I took a different wine each time and then shared allowing us to taste both the reds and whites. They do make a good red: Plavic Mali from the Peljesac peninsula just north of Dubrovnik.  It may not be sold in the States due to small production.

Food Tour

Our second restaurant stop on the tour

One day we took a bus to the “new” Dubrovnik, to the north of Old Town.  Many Croatians who used to live in Old Town got tired of the crowds, converted their Old Town homes to vacation rentals, and moved to the newer section of this city.  It is a peninsula with a lovely pedestrian promenade encircling it.  There are frequent sets of steps down to the rocky shore for sunbathing and swimming—all open to the public.  While the edges of the peninsula are becoming touristy, the interior is filled with homes of the locals.  A different tourist seems to be attracted here—ones who come for the beach, the restaurants and a longer stay.  We read for an hour or so in a bar on the promenade shaded by big pines and other trees and then hopped a bus back to our place. We are thinking of returning to this area before we leave Dubrovnik for another aperol spritzer (aperol, champagne and soda) and a swim.

One of the new hotels in the new Dubrovnik

Path around the peninsula

Croatia has more than 1,000 islands along its coastline. One day we took a boat tour to 3 of these islands to snorkel in limestone sea caves and enjoy the sandy beaches (sand is a rare commodity here, most beaches are rocky—bring your water shoes!).  We explored the beautiful caves, enjoyed lunch on the beach and soaked up way too much sun!  We met a wonderful group of people—Vietnamese newlyweds from Connecticut (a med student and her nurse husband), a young couple from Taiwan, a young couple from the Canary Islands (who were patient with us as we spoke to them in our very poor Spanish), and a young American woman currently living in Budapest while she works on part 2 of Dunes.  She assured us that this second part of the movie will have a satisfying ending.  Oh yes, there was also the handsome Croatian boat captain who asked if we would tell the Spanish couple that he wanted their help to get a job in the Canaries. He didn’t speak Spanish and they didn’t speak English.  We mentioned his request to the Spanish couple who just laughed.

Blue Cave

On our island snorkeling tour

Another day, we ferried over to Lokrum Island nature reserve just 15 minutes off the coast of Old Town.  We walked a trail around the island, took a swim, read and enjoyed watching the peacocks chase people with food in their hands.  In the 1300s during the plague, people were quarantined 40 days on this island prior to being allowed to enter the city.  (There are no records of any of them complaining about this restrictions.)  Evidently, this is where the term “quarantine” arose…from the 40-day period in the Venetian language.  It was found to be a highly successful method of containing the plague.  Some of you who know Roger well will not be surprised when I say that we “bush-whacked” our way across the nature reserve back to the ferry using his “maps.me” program.  There was a perfectly good path, but no….we had to follow his maps.me program…and get lost.

Lokrum Island Nature Preserve

A pesky peacock

Lastly, we walked the wall surrounding Old Town.  We are keeping up with Roger’s goal of 10,000 steps (or 5 miles a day) a day.  Sometimes we double that. 

Old Town with Lokrum Island in distance

Old Town Wall

Old Port into Old Town

View from the Wall

Inside Old Town

In sum, it has been a whirlwind week in Dubrovnik.  The weather is humid and warm (mid-80s). We return from our activities each day all sweaty and hot (remember the 132 steps we have to climb to get back home!).  But we are loving it.  We notice that most of the travelers here are younger than us—they handle the stairs better.  But then Roger reminds me that most people are younger than us.  Hmmm!

A surprise fireworks show over Old Town from our patio

Our last morning in Dubrovnik