recently, i learned that a friend i met in dubrovnik, croatia passed away. though i can't do our trip justice via blog, i still dedicate this story to him.note: i began this story shortly after our trip but i just finished it today, july 7.
here we go.
who thinks of going to croatia for vacatia? for many years it was on my list, the dalmation coast and dubrovnik. my besties and i did a good amount of research on how to get to the adriatic islands off the southern coast of croatia to enjoy the outta this world spectacular views of the dalmatian coast in perfect 80 degree weather. preferably from a hugeass yacht. with goodlooking crew.
well 5 years ago it proved to be too costly to get there: a layover in frankfurt, followed by one in vienna and a boatride from there down the coast through the adriatic. blah blah blah. it seemed too convoluted so we scrapped the idea for the time [to have an equally complicated trip to spain instead].
i still can't tell you how to get to the islands, because i didn't make it to the islands this time either. it's not the season, november. but when a girlfriend organized the trip, it only took me minutes to say da, da, da [yes, yes, yes]. learn something here, people.
so, off to dubrovnik, the old city. thanksgiving-ish. site-seeing and enjoying a city not too many on this side of the atlantic know much about.
it's not easy to get here to the big city either, by the way. though dubrovnik has its own international airport, we flew from dulles to paris, from paris to zagreb (the capitol of croatia), from zagreb to dubrovnik. approximately 17 hours total. easy breezy.
old dubrovnik from the outside looks like an enormous fortress. your driver drops you outside the colossal walls of the ancient city and it's not at all indicative of how really big it is inside them. you then drag your sickly overpacked luggage over the drawbridge through the massive gates, and over its uneven marble cobblestone streets. not quite home yet, you carry those bags up some 100 steps which look charming and all but they're supersteep. well, whatev, never hurts to get a workout in.
we opted to stay in an apartment since we'll be city girls this trip. i.e. no beach time. as you know, normally i'm a girl who likes to stay in a hotel with all the amenities, only occassionally exploring villas and private apartments. for this time of year and in this city, an apartment is perfect. it's mildly chilly in the month of november (50-60 degrees). we're sightseers here this week.
our apartment, it's very european of course. charismatic, old, tidy, two-storied. the spiral staircase adds to the charm except when the luggage is involved. we must've looked like buffoons dragging all those bags through the city. funny now. not as funny that day.
i'm hungry and need a cocktail like it's my job. i'm happy to take full blame for the executive resto decision, "captain's restaurant". elvis, the proprietor, is pleading with us to eat at his restaurant. he's missing many of his teeth, his shirt is open, revealing a gold chain and he's promising a free bottle of wine with our dinner. using every last drop of his charm to entice us, he later turned into quite an annoying ogre.
you know i don't give a rat's ass about free but he was the only proprietor asking for our patronage so we fell for it. note: avoid these places, friends.
we ordered a platter of seafood including grilled octopus, shrimp, mussels. seafood [canned clam] risotto. prosciutto. our free bottle of wine came as well. we thought the glass smelled like dead fish. but i'm pretty sure it was the free wine that was fish scented. the food was well below average and that's being generous.
onward, in search of what to do next, as the three of us were waiting on two others, who were stuck in germany. we were so tired and wanted to get to bed when alas, we stumbled upon a wine bar, d'vino. and as you know, this girl doesn't pass up a wine bar.
d'vino is tended by a rather attractive croatian, frano, and wouldn't you know, owned by a young canadian ex-pat. how happy we are that they can help us with our wine selections. and cameron does. we were served some lovely croatian wines here and had a night that would linger on until the rest of our party made it in from germany and a few other stops, and a bus ride, perhaps a ferry. they were real happy to find us at this sweet spot.
the highlight here, besides the wine of course, and meeting a couple of new gents to chat with, was cameron's beagle, emma. emma is the mascot, maitre d' and busboy (as she's anxiously awaiting any crumb that may drop). cameron says she's not that social, however she warms up to these three dog-owners rather quickly and i taught her high-five and shake before the night was up.
heading back to our apartment, more than slightly inebriated, we find that our apartment is situated in an alleyway nestled between 5 bars. yep, innocent looking doors by daylight turned into open doors leading to bars full of young croatian men by night.remember the hot guy on ER? croatian. and most of the gentlemen here look much the same.
only two of us ventured into our neighborbars. i'm sorry to report that i was one of them because i was in no condition by this point to be doing so. both in appearance and my conduct after several glasses/bottles of wine. we hobbled around with some newfound friends though until they took us to a bar with a 20 kuna cover. enough was enough. i'm quite sure i had one eye closed to maintain proper balance.
i woke up feeling like someone was taking a hammer to my head. before you feel sorry for me though, one of us girls was sick - food poisoning no doubt from elvis' joint.
after a shower and as i start to get ready, i too am troubled with the same affliction and find myself hugging the porcelain god of croatian cuisine as well. sorry to be gross. be careful of what you eat out there people. and i have an iron stomach. mostly.
only a minor speedbump though and we head out for the day of exploring within the walls of our city and out. up the road a few blocks, just outside the city we happen upon the excelsior hotel where we hope to find a fabulous view of the adriatic sea - and an absurd sunset from their vast terrace.
we find here that you can get more standard fare: the [later we determine] indespensible club sandwich and french fries. sometimes that's what you need [when the cuisine doesn't meet your expectations]. the hotel is really a ghost town. we're out of season like linen and white shoes.back inside the walls of the old city we found another wine bar - they're all the rage since cameron opened d'vino, these wine bars. it was empty except for us and our tranny bartender who from all accounts looked like a fairly attractive woman but sounded like a man. or a barking seal.
a late night dinner and a lot more pulled together, we went up to the hilton. hey, don't judge, people. all the local resto menus looked exactly the same. while i don't like to hate on anyone's cuisine, we found the food to be not so good. and these girls needed a decent meal. we were really happy with the hilton - not to mention it's a really lovely hotel [though not on the beach]. they had 13 guests.
side note: we even tried a pizza joint one night. doused with hot sauce the pizza was edible. but the wine they gave us there undrinkable. oh, we're supposed to add water to the wine, according to proprietor. have you ever heard of such a thing? perhaps you can see why our favorite wine bar was so crucial. croatia is a wine-growing nation. i unreservedly suggest you take advantage of the wine bars and hotels however, and don't necessarily trust the mom and pops places for wine recs.
by boat. we drive along the coast until we stop at a tiny fishing village. situated here is an adorable cafe. we indulge in another coffee at the base of these green and gray mountains on a crisp morning. we're told by malden that michael douglas and catherine zeta-jones are contemplating buying property here. we coffee'd for a bit then back in the van. an hour-long wind to the top of the mountain, 2522m. for a ham sandwich. we're told by malden that we can't miss what everyone travels to the top for, a cured pork sandwich and a glass of honey wine. along the lonely road we stop and photograph the the unspoiled beauty of the valley below. and the cows in the road. the ham sandwich is nothing to write about but the sweet cafe we enjoyed it in and the conversation with malden made up for it.
back at the bottom of the mountain we meandered through the town of budva, the other touristy spot of shops and eats. we met a dog there too, we called him monty, who followed us through the streets as we shopped and joined us for dinner and wine. i did not enjoy leaving that scruffy dog behind.
the following day we spent on top of the wall of the old city, back in dubrovnik, which was a fantastic idea and cost about 8 kuna. you can enjoy the complete view of orange-tiled rooftops in a couple of hours, walking along the tops of the walls. today, it's stunning. and you wouldn't know just by looking that in 1991 this old city was besieged by serb forces for 7 months and heavily damaged by shelling. it has been fully restored. 
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