Rovinj - Week 7

Our northernmost and last stop along the Croatian coast is Rovinj.  We finally found the small town we have been looking for—population of just 15,000, in the heart of a wine region and very Italian (we are just 166 miles from Venice which you can see on a clear day from the church bell tower.  Laid back, quiet, yet full of energy from mostly European visitors—this place is a must for your trip to Croatia.  In fact, I think you could rent a place for a month here, explore the region, take an overnight to Venice and be very happy.  Rovinj is located on the Istrian peninsula.  Istrians think of themselves as different from the rest of Croatia, in part because they have been ruled by so many nations.  In fact, our tour guide mentioned that his grandmother was born, lived and died in the same house in one of the Istrian hill towns.  Yet she “lived” in 4 different countries: Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia and now Croatia.  Istrians have learned to ignore who is in power and just do their own thing.  

We spent our first full day here touring the Old Town of Rovinj, buying a few groceries, and taking a swim.  Yes, our new AirBnB has a swimming pool (see listing at website “Rovinj Apartment with Big Balcony and 2 Pools).  As part of our tour of the city, Roger sacrificed himself by climbing the bell tower (192 steps up and another 192 down) of the signature church and took several great shots of town.

The following day, we took a wine and food tour (naturally).  We feel that the local foods and wines really speak to the culture of a region.  Our driver picked us up and drove us to 3 small wineries, 2 of which were in the countryside.  We loved it.  We tasted 5 wines at each stop, learned about each wine from the owners, and ate from beautiful platters of food (primarily salamis, cheeses, olives, olive oil, bread, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, dried fruit and nuts).  Our friendly guide, Alan, knew a lot about wines and shared stories of his childhood in one of the hill towns. He also made an observation about Americans (he had lived in the U.S. for many years): he said “Americans live to work. We here in Istria work to live.”  We thought that was a telling remark about our two cultures.  Fortunately, there were many miles (and time) between each winery when we could metabolize the wines.  Istrian wines feature the Malvasia (white) and Teran (red) grapes.  We returned home grateful for the driver and not eager for more food that evening.  Quite a day!

 

   

We took a couple of days to visit the nearby small coastal towns of Porec and Pula by bus.  Porec is a few miles north of Rovinj, about the same size, with a medieval Old Town.  It has a 5th century church that had Roman, Byzantine and Catholic features that were added over time…and it had a bell tower that both of us climbed.  It too would be great to stay for a month.  We had a fish dinner for two (that Roger has been yearning for since we’ve been here) that was huge—two whole fish, a fish fillet, tiny octopi, sardines, shrimp, squid, mussels all atop a bed of spinach/potato mixture.  Roger loved everything.   I was a little pickier.

 

  

Pula, in contrast, is a larger community with huge cranes (to unload shipping containers) on an offshore island totally destroying the ambiance of its beautiful coastal setting.  They shine different color lights on the cranes at night in an effort to make them palatable, but it doesn’t work.  Pula did have one feature that attracted us: A Roman amphitheater, the 6th largest in the world and one of the best-preserved.  You could easily imagine yourself among the other 25,000 people watching gladiators fight one another.  In fact, they have a reenactment a couple of times a week…so you don’t have to imagine at all.  This venue also hosts a film festival starting on July 16.

Near Pula (a short bus ride to the tiny coastal community of Fazana) is Brijuni National Park, an archipelago of 14 islands just offshore.  A quick ferry ride took us to the main island where we spent several hours touring the sites.  This was the summer residence of Marshal Tito, the leader of communist Yugoslavia.  There is a commemorative museum of Tito’s life.  Most people our age remember Yugoslavia as a member of the Soviet Bloc.  It most decidedly was not.  Local armies forced the Nazis out of the country and made their war hero Tito its leader.  He actually formed a Bloc of non-aligned nations, including India, Egypt and 120 other countries.  Interesting man!  He also created a zoo with all the animals given to him by foreign dignitaries.  Remnants of the zoo remain today—a lonely elephant, zebras, Istrian donkeys, pheasants, emus, one llama, and exotic birds.  The zoo also rehabs injured sea turtles.  We took the ferry back to Fazana, took a swim in the Adriatic (sadly, our last as we are moving inland next) and bused back to our AirBnB—another interesting day.  

It was a busy 8 days in Rovinj.  Lots of great meals, ice cream, walks, and sightseeing.  This is our favorite place so far.

Zadar - Week 6

Every journey has its high points and its lows.  Zadar was both for us.  

The Lows: During the 2-½ hour bus ride from Split to Zadar my stomach became queasy.  Once we arrived at our AirBnB and had a light dinner, it was worse.  By bedtime and through the night, diarrhea really hit. I, of course, thought I was going to die.  Roger assured me I would be okay…eventually.  We wasted the entire next day with me tired, weak and on clear liquids.  Okay, that was the “low.”  As you can tell, Roger was right: I did survive to write another blog.  

The Highs are many:  Zadar is a very special place…maybe that’s because Rick Steves doesn’t mention it in his Croatia book. In contrast to the other towns we have visited, it has fewer tourists and is a functioning city of about 75,000.  Like the others, Zadar has an Old Town on a peninsula with narrow stone lanes, lots of restaurants and cafes and souvenir shops.  Outside Old Town, Croats go about their everyday lives little affected by the burgeoning tourism industry.  No cruise ships until our 4th day there, and it was a small one.  The terrain is different from the other cities too.  Zadar is on the flat with room for lovely parks and promenades.  On one part of the promenade, an artist has created a “sea organ” (see holes in the concrete in the 2 pictures below). This instrument plays music by way of waves (more waves, different notes) and tubes in the concrete steps.  It really does sound like an organ.  Nearby the sea organ is the “Greeting to the Sun,” a large circle of solar panels in the concrete that power a light show at night—quite a sight.  Adults and children walk over the panels watching the show.  One evening we took the barkajoli, a traditional Zadar row boat, from outside Old Town to the Old Town peninsula to watch the sunset, said to be the most beautiful in the world.  Indeed, it was gorgeous—but no “green flash” (for those of you who see “green flashes” as the sun sinks into the water).  We strolled to The Greeting to the Sun and listened to the sea organ.  A very romantic evening.

One evening, we enjoyed a wine and food pairing dinner with 8 other visitors, including a yacht chef, 3 U.S. Air Force women currently stationed in Germany and a young couple (he a hydrolic engineer (which he had to explain to me) and she a grad student taking a course in Rome on Renaissance and Baroque art.  Outstanding food and wine, excellent conversation.  One of the best “food” tours we have experienced.  

Croatia is becoming known for its wines.  They are winning awards at international tastings.  Hundreds of varieties of grapes are grown here.  Over 120 are indigenous to the area.  Plavac mali is the most common red grape we have tasted in Dalmatia; and Posip is a common white.  Of course, the wines made from these grapes vary according to the soils in which they are grown and the tweaks of the winemakers.  We have had fun exploring all the unique flavors while at the same time learning about the Croatian people.

The highlight of our trip to Zadar was a visit to Plitvice National Park, known for its 90 waterfalls and 16 clear, turquoise lakes (think Lake Louise). The waterfalls are formed when algae splashed with the river water captures calcium carbonate crystals and over time builds up as rock (kind of like stalagmites in caves).  The park is a wonder.  While it was crowded, it was well worth seeing.  Don’t miss it if you visit Croatia.  Five hours in the park is really not enough.  Were we to do this trip again, we would spend a couple of nights at a nearby hotel, get up early in the morning and walk the boardwalks before the tour buses arrived.

The AirBnB was the best yet.  (Check out the pictures on Airbnb.com for Zadar “The Park Apartment with The Garden). In a quiet residential area adjacent to a park.  Nice sitting area in the garden outside apartment.  No stairs except at the threshold.  Very modern and clean inside.  Comfortable bed. Netflix.  A washer.  We did not suffer.  We left Zadar thinking we could have stayed longer…maybe just one week in Split and 2+ weeks in Zadar in retrospect. But you don’t know until you’ve been here.  When we made our plans for Croatia (after several years of no traveling due to covid), I forgot our normal “prime directive”: go to small, out-of-the-way places.  I’ll remember next time.

Split - A Time to Slow Down (Even Further) - Weeks 4 and 5

Greetings, trip followers!

Our next 2 weeks were in Split, the 2nd largest city in Croatia.  It’s on the coast and highly influenced by the Adriatic.  Our AirBnB was about 30 minutes on foot from the ferry dock.  Unfortunately, Roger’s faithful “maps.me” app sent us the long way around, but we arrived safely and met our host.  The AirBnB was larger than our last one—a two-bedroom instead of a studio.  The online pictures made it look better than it actually was (an old realtor’s trick), but it served our purposes well.

We needed several “down” days to handle a few issues like washing clothes, writing the blog, basically a sanity break from all the new stimuli.  Also, the soles of both of my Chacos split and I was in imminent danger of tripping (again) on the cobblestone streets or stairs.  We found a repair shop (easier said than done, let me say) and dropped them off.  Next, the shoelace of Roger’s Keens broke.  If we thought finding a shoe repair place was hard, finding a set of shoelaces was even harder.  We were directed this way and that with no luck.  Finally someone suggested the open air farmer’s market where we found a man at one of the booths who pulled a pair of white shoelaces from his pocket.  (Why he was walking around with a pair of long white shoelaces in his pocket is still a mystery.). Since Roger was desperate for the shoelace, we grabbed them and paid the $6 he asked.  Only minutes later, we found another booth that specialized in shoelaces of many colors and lengths for only $1 a pair.  Live and learn!

In addition to our days of “relaxation” as described above, we also experienced the following highlights:

1.  A tour of Diocletian’s Palace which Rick Steves claims is the only must-see sight in Split.  Located at the heart of Split, this walled “Palace” was the retirement home of Roman Emperor Diocletian.  Trust me, he knew how to live.  Originally it had large open spaces—gardens and courtyards—within the walls.  Now those spaces are filled with houses and stores.  We shared our visit to the Palace with literally hundreds of cruise ship passengers and other tourists like ourselves.  On one day during our stay in Split, there were 3 enormous passenger ships disgorging tourists to see the city.  Split has only 178,000 residents and the central area, far fewer.  The city doesn’t do a good job of handling an extra 12,000 to 15,000 on any given day.  We enjoyed the tour of the Palace, but not the crowds.

2.  A boat ride to Trogir, a small island just 12 miles northwest of Split where we spent the day.  Trogir is  a walled city with charming lanes and a few noteworthy sites.  For us, it was a pleasant way to spend a day away from the crowds and to have a great set-price lunch.  We did discover something in Trogir that we will remember for the rest of our lives: iced coffee, European style.  Maybe some of you have had this treat yourselves, but we hadn’t.  It’s made with cold coffee and milk, topped with 2 scoops of ice cream and whipping cream.  Wow! It’s good.  

3.  On Roger’s birthday, we took a 1-1/2 hour bus ride to Krka (pronounced Kurka) National Park.  In an effort to avoid the tourists who arrive by bus daily about 10 am and leave about 3 pm, we decided to stay overnight and see some of the Park when the tourists weren’t around, first thing in the morning or after 3 pm.  We entered the Park by boat from the charming village of Skradin where we left the bus.  (NOTE: This is the place to stay if you enjoy small villages without heavy tourist influence!). It was so nice to be back to nature.  The Park was relatively crowded when we got there, so we hopped a Park bus out of the canyon to the Park hotel, left our luggage and and planned to return after 3 pm.  We swam at the hotel pool until the 3 pm check-in, checked in, and then returned to the Park. We walked the boardwalk nearly alone through beautiful waterfalls for the next few hours.  That evening, we had a lovely birthday dinner on the terrace overlooking the pool.  The next morning, we took a boat excursion to another part of the Park to see gorgeous intact wetlands, bird life and an island monastery that has been functioning since the 1400s.  It was a great birthday celebration!

4.  At Fletcher’s (a dear friend from Kayenta) suggestion, we viewed the Mestrovic Gallery not far from our AirBnB.  Mestrovic was Croatian and became a famous sculptor during the early 1900s, some believe on a par with Rodin.  He was extremely prolific and the Gallery contained many of his pieces.  

5.  We had a personal (with emphasis on the personal) wine tasting in Kastel Kambelovac, a small community just north of Split. Roger still grins about this. We found that a 3-car train ran between Split and the wine region.  I suspect the train is used primarily by commuters and shoppers who don’t want to take a car into Split.  So we hopped aboard.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t understand the conductor when he announced the stations, so we got off one stop before we had planned.  It was very hot and humid that day—in the mid- to high-80s.  But we had no choice but to walk to the winery.  We arrived early for the tasting, but the host let us start early.  We were shown to their tasting room—just the two of us—where we were plied with 5 generous servings of wine and a huge charcuterie of meats, cheese, tomatoes, olives, bread, sardines, tuna pate, and olive oil.  So nice!  We made it to the return train just in time—our designated driver.  Since Split was the “end of the line,” we got off where we were supposed to, although Roger had to wake me up.

6.  On one of our walks home along an unexplored lane, we found ourselves climbing—there seemed to be no way to get back to the AirBnB without reversing our steps.  We eventually climbed to the crest of the hill high above our AirBnB.  The hill was part of Marjan Park.  Our ascent into the Park was unintentional, of course.  I had planned to take the tourist train up the hill.  Hundreds and hundreds of steps later, we arrived a the top—nice view, beautiful pines.  It is lovely to have a park in the middle of a town.  Another day, we walked around the base of the peninsula Park for a swim in the ocean. 

7.  Finally, near the end of our stay, we took a 3-island boat excursion.  One stop was in a bay with a sunken ship that you could snorkel over.  (I think the ship was old and the residents sunk it for a tourist attraction.) Another was at “blue lagoon” where we had lunch and swam in the water.  The water there was clear and the aqua color gorgeous.  Last, we stopped at a small village to poke around.  We had fun.  Met a couple from Belgium who regaled us with stories of the beer produced there (which according to them far exceeded German beers) as well as their takes on Great Britain leaving the European Union among other political topics.  Nice people, good day.

All in all, it was a quiet 2 weeks in Split.  We did a few touristy things, but often just did what we do at home.  Each evening about 7 as the sun begins to set and the temperatures cool, all of Split comes for a stroll on the promenade along the water.  It’s a nice way to end a day.  We enjoyed our stay in Split, but the crowds of people are hard for us after covid.  We are ready to move on.

Mljet & Korcula Islands - Week 3

As our time in Dubrovnik drew to an end, we hopped a bus from Old Town to the new port to catch a ferry to Mljet Island.  It was a quick 1-½ hour trip with comfortable seating. Though Mljet (muhl-YET) Island is one of Dalmatia’s largest, it is sparsely inhabited and undeveloped, covered with oak and pine forests and is home to Mljet Island National Park—the reason for our visit.  Rick Steves suggests a day trip to the Park. We think it is worthy of an overnight or two.  There are two adjoining saltwater lakes: Great Lake and Small Lake (connected at a bridge) to walk around, a boat trip to an island in Great Lake, kayaking, scuba diving, biking, swimming in the lakes or in the Adriatic.

We arrived at the Hotel about 4 pm, checked in and found that the buffet dinner wouldn’t start until 7.  Not wanting to miss this day’s 10,000 steps, Roger calculated that we had just enough time to buy a Park pass and walk around Small Lake before dinner.  We walked up the street from the Hotel, then up and over concrete stairs into the Park—nothing in Croatia comes without stairs!  We found the path and wound our way around Small Lake.  The pine smells, the bird calls and lack of people were delicious after our time in Dubrovnik.  We completed the day with a glass of local white wine and a lovely buffet dinner on the terrace overlooking the water.

 

The ferry docks where the boats are anchored.  

As you can see, the hotel (above the yachts) is just steps away.

Small Lake with Great Lake in the distance.

    A map of Mljet National Park with the 2 salt-water lakes.

Ominous clouds greeted us on day 2.

We hoped to do the 5-mile walk around Great Lake, take a boat to the island in the middle, and maybe do some biking or kayaking the following day.  But fate had something different in mind.  We awoke to a threatening sky and within an hour, rain and thunder.  Our check-out time was 10 am, but our ferry didn’t leave until 2 pm.  Fortunately the kind Hotel receptionist allowed us to stay in our room until the ferry arrived.  We talked, read and watched the rain soak into the dry land.  The Croatian coast is nearly as dry as SW Utah—people here were delighted with the storm.  About an hour before we caught the ferry, the rain stopped.  Roger took the opportunity for a quick jump into the Adriatic.  It was a little chilly for me. We left on the ferry, a little disappointed that we were not able to see much of the Park.  

Our next island destination was Korcula (pronounced KOR chula) about an hour away.  The ferry rides have been pleasant…I sometimes get seasick, but the catamarans have been very stable and the sea gentle.

Our lodging in Korcula was within the Old Town walls—very exciting.  Our AirBnB host gave us photos to guide us through the warren of paths.  First, we lugged the baggage up the stairs (of course!) through the gate into Old Town, turned left at the 2nd right and we were there.  Our place here was fantastic.  The host provided us with milk, eggs, bread, coffee, oranges, a liter of homemade strawberry water, cookies, cereal, tea, sliced ham and cheese, plus all the condiments.  Oh, my…we were set for the week!  

Steps into Old Town

Looking out the Old Town gate

Our place is the pink building on the right.

It doesn’t look so great from the outside, but 40 steps up later…

Here is the kitchen and dining area

And the bedroom.  Everything we needed for the 4 days.

We arrived Korcula in time for dinner at a restaurant recommended by our host.  It was a few doors away on a terrace overlooking the water.  Kathy had baked spinach and cheese cannelloni and Roger had fish.  We also ordered a liter of local white wine.  Korcula is known for its Grk (pronounced Gurk) and posip white wines, so we treated ourselves.  All of this was especially memorable and fun because the storm we left in Mljet Island found us just as we were finishing dinner.  Our waitress came by and shook her head.  “It looks like rain is coming,” she said to us.  “What happens then?” I asked noticing how full the terrace was becoming.  “We move inside,” she said.  But inside was a space of only about 10x12 feet.  An interesting challenge, I thought, as more people were seated for dinner.  Imagine, twelve tables of us chatting happily under large umbrellas (which we were told were sun umbrellas) for the shade…all of us happily eating excellent meals.  Suddenly the rain starts…at first it is just a little.  Our waitress explains that the “sun” umbrellas would protect us for 15 minutes before they started leaking.  The minutes pass.  Roger and I leisurely finish our meals. Others are just getting started.  Guests and waitstaff nudge the tables closer together to avoid the drops from the umbrella edges.  The rain picks up. Drops start to fall through the umbrellas.  The waitress removes our dinner plates (now empty).  We grab our liter of wine (now only a ¼ remains) and rush inside the restaurant.  We are the first.  We find a small table.  We didn’t think there was enough space inside, but we all squeezed in as if it was all planned.  Lively conversations and laughter followed.  We stumbled home on the cobbled path, very happy after all that wine that we lived just a few doors away.  It was a delightful end to a great day.

We spent the next morning exploring Old Town.  For centuries it was one of the most important outposts of the Venetian Republic.  It retains much of it’s Venetian influence.  It is laid out in the shape of a fish skeleton.  There is one path down the middle of the walled town and smaller lanes branching off in both directions like ribs on a fishbone.  We walked each lane, peeking into the tourist stores, looking at restaurant menus to see what we could afford and what looked good and just getting the lay of the land.  

One of small lanes off the main path through Old Town

We returned to our AirBnB to wash laundry (yes, it had a small washing machine), hang it out (many people hang it out the windows, but we had a rack inside for drying), and to overcome our computer problems.  We definitely had to be in the right frame of mind to do that.  In the end, we were successful.  I now have access to Google, to our blog, to our banks, to our regular email, etc. all of which we had been unable to access at one time or another since our arrival.  What a good feeling to be reconnected with the world!  (Says the woman who never carries her phone with her!)

The next day, we took a small group wine tour.  There were 6 couples.  We visited 3 wineries and toured a large part of the island.  We met a very interesting couple—we think maybe in their late 50s—from Florida.  They sold their Florida home, all their possessions, and were traveling around the world.  This kind of life decision always fascinates Roger and me.  They usually stay in a place for at least a month so that they feel like a part of the community…they learn how to live in a foreign place.  They make plans for the next destination and perhaps one or two more.  They are just “bumping along.”  They have no set itinerary, but plan to meet with friends from the States along the way.  Lovely people, lovely conversation…made the wine tasting all the better.  We tasted the red Plavic Mali and white Posip wines along with many others at the 3 stops plus honey, cherry liquor, dessert wines, and local cheeses.  Another lovely day.

One of the stops on our tour.

The last wine stop

An isolated beach on our wine route.

If you sailed the Adriatic, you would find tiny harbors,

beaches and turquoise water everywhere.

Vineyards on Korcula

One day we hiked around Korcula harbor to a “water park” and series of beaches.  The walk took us along the coast, past beautiful homes, around a little harbor and then to a roped-off swimming area (roped off from the boat traffic).  We never found the “water park” which according to the road sign had a slide, etc.  We did find a beautiful campground right on the water with lots of trailers and campers.  We continued our walk on an unpaved path that extended around a peninsula, found an isolated spot and jumped into the cool water.  It felt great after working up a sweat on the walk.  We looked through a large grocery store (well-located near the campers) and a nice hotel (largely populated by Croatians, I think) and finally we split a beer at a beachside cafe.

Our last morning on Korcula, we took pictures and sat for an hour or so watching people.  A cormorant kept diving and surfacing near us.  In the crystal clear water, we could clearly see the bird chase its prey under water.  It corraled the fish onto the rocks near where we sat and then tried to catch it.  Several times, the fish jumped back into the water and hopped along the surface to escape.  Finally, the bird caught its breakfast…almost like a PBS special right within our view.  

The cormorant…okay not a good shot, but you get the idea.

Our perch to watch the cormorant and people.

It is Tuesday.  Time to move on.  I will miss Korcula.  We hop the ferry to Split where we will be for 2 weeks.

The ferry to Split

 

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