Tuesday evening we arrived in Dubrovnik after a 2 hr plane ride to Split and 4 hr bus ride down the coast. The route along the shore was quite windy and often times you were right up along the cliffs. A lot of people live in houses that are basically an extension of the hill. The beaches are made more of pebbles or just cement platforms with ladders dropping directly down into the water.
Once we reached the old part of the city, we found our apartment for the week and settled in. The rooms we stayed in were really nice and close to the old fortress as well as the Adriatic Sea. There was also a terrace where we could sit and eat. I was super hungry so rushed everyone to a restaurant called Pubo that our landlord recomended. It was the first time anyone had any Croatian food and we all enjoyed it along with a bottle of red wine. I had my favorite...Gnocchi! Except it was made in more of red wine vinegrette sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Wednesday morning we all slept in late but were back to the old city by 11 am ready to start our day. We walked around the entire perimeter along the city walls...which were often times fairly high up with low railings. All the stairs and the height was definitely worth the views and the 70 kruna that it cost. For lunch we ate at a restaurant called Arsenal that was by the marina. Afterwards we did a little shopping (of course I bought some things), then went back to our apartment, changed and went to the beach for a little while.
The water is at first cold...reminded me of the Pacific Ocean, but it got warmer as you treaded water. Unfortunately we noticed that a storm was coming so we quickly got out and reached home just as it started to pour. It got really windy that evening, but a warm wind so we were able to go out for a little while again for a bite to eat and some drinks at a local bar with bathtubs for seats.
Thursday was our day designated for relaxing so after sleeping in again we went to the beach for a few hours and laid out in the sun. There were some locals swimming and we asked them if there was a restaurant that they could recommend to us and so we there for a late lunch/early dinner. Then we got some snacks and a bottle each of red and white wine and enjoyed an evening in of reading and playing Hearts...Cleo lost miserably. :P
Yesterday we had to pack up everything and leave to catch a bus to Split by 2:15 pm, but we managed to go to the beach one more time briefly and then eat some lunch on a terrace overlooking the sea and the old city. We reached Split just before 7 pm and walked past the old palace to reach our hostel for the night. The receptionist recommended a wonderful place for dinner called Fife, which was both delicious and cheap.
There we meant a nice older couple from Montreal who we were sharing a table with. They had come back to Croatia for the 4th time since 1989 and had discovered in 2007 that the husband's father was from this little tiny village up in the mountains in Croatia. Their story was like a movie as the wife said...they had only a copy of the birth certificate of the father and had been directed from Split to a registrar in a small town an hour away. Once there the lady pulled out one of their oldest books of records (covered in dust) and was able to pull out an exact copy of the birth certificate.
From there they were directed further up the mountains to a little village of 100 families. They tried to talk to the first person they saw, an old lady not wanting to talk to them until they pulled out an old family photo. All of a sudden she got very interested and put them in a car and drove to a man's house who turend out to be best friends with the husband's father's cousin (the man in the photo). Together they all then drove to another person's house (imagine old elderly lady all in a black along with a black shawl on her head)...she ended up having the exact same photo on top of photos of the husband's siblings when they were younger.
Anyways it was a very interesting story and the couple was just so excited to reconnect with some lost relatives and was willing to tell the story to anyone that would listen (including another boy on our table that just drove 400 km to see his girlfriend - a waitress at that restaurant we were eating at - before driving back at 4 am in the morning to get back in time for work.)
So, now we are at the airport at Split waiting for our place to Basel, Switzerland after having woken up at 4:30 am though we barely slept since the streets were noisy with people and the room hot and stuffy.
Once we reached the old part of the city, we found our apartment for the week and settled in. The rooms we stayed in were really nice and close to the old fortress as well as the Adriatic Sea. There was also a terrace where we could sit and eat. I was super hungry so rushed everyone to a restaurant called Pubo that our landlord recomended. It was the first time anyone had any Croatian food and we all enjoyed it along with a bottle of red wine. I had my favorite...Gnocchi! Except it was made in more of red wine vinegrette sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Wednesday morning we all slept in late but were back to the old city by 11 am ready to start our day. We walked around the entire perimeter along the city walls...which were often times fairly high up with low railings. All the stairs and the height was definitely worth the views and the 70 kruna that it cost. For lunch we ate at a restaurant called Arsenal that was by the marina. Afterwards we did a little shopping (of course I bought some things), then went back to our apartment, changed and went to the beach for a little while.
The water is at first cold...reminded me of the Pacific Ocean, but it got warmer as you treaded water. Unfortunately we noticed that a storm was coming so we quickly got out and reached home just as it started to pour. It got really windy that evening, but a warm wind so we were able to go out for a little while again for a bite to eat and some drinks at a local bar with bathtubs for seats.
Thursday was our day designated for relaxing so after sleeping in again we went to the beach for a few hours and laid out in the sun. There were some locals swimming and we asked them if there was a restaurant that they could recommend to us and so we there for a late lunch/early dinner. Then we got some snacks and a bottle each of red and white wine and enjoyed an evening in of reading and playing Hearts...Cleo lost miserably. :P
Yesterday we had to pack up everything and leave to catch a bus to Split by 2:15 pm, but we managed to go to the beach one more time briefly and then eat some lunch on a terrace overlooking the sea and the old city. We reached Split just before 7 pm and walked past the old palace to reach our hostel for the night. The receptionist recommended a wonderful place for dinner called Fife, which was both delicious and cheap.
There we meant a nice older couple from Montreal who we were sharing a table with. They had come back to Croatia for the 4th time since 1989 and had discovered in 2007 that the husband's father was from this little tiny village up in the mountains in Croatia. Their story was like a movie as the wife said...they had only a copy of the birth certificate of the father and had been directed from Split to a registrar in a small town an hour away. Once there the lady pulled out one of their oldest books of records (covered in dust) and was able to pull out an exact copy of the birth certificate.
From there they were directed further up the mountains to a little village of 100 families. They tried to talk to the first person they saw, an old lady not wanting to talk to them until they pulled out an old family photo. All of a sudden she got very interested and put them in a car and drove to a man's house who turend out to be best friends with the husband's father's cousin (the man in the photo). Together they all then drove to another person's house (imagine old elderly lady all in a black along with a black shawl on her head)...she ended up having the exact same photo on top of photos of the husband's siblings when they were younger.
Anyways it was a very interesting story and the couple was just so excited to reconnect with some lost relatives and was willing to tell the story to anyone that would listen (including another boy on our table that just drove 400 km to see his girlfriend - a waitress at that restaurant we were eating at - before driving back at 4 am in the morning to get back in time for work.)
So, now we are at the airport at Split waiting for our place to Basel, Switzerland after having woken up at 4:30 am though we barely slept since the streets were noisy with people and the room hot and stuffy.
