Croatia September 2009

We've been in Europe 2.5 weeks, in Florence 4 days, and we're just getting the first two weeks in Croatia published because this is the first day that hasn't been blue skies and Paul cannot bear to spend any time indoors when the sun shines. For those of you who prefer a high-level, here's the executive summary:
. Croatia has some really beautiful old historic places, with amazing fortifying stone walls.
. We saw only a few, but the islands are fantastic, both historic and resort-ful.
. Croatia ended up with one of the longest, most breathtaking coastlines we've seen, with stony mountains running right along the coast.
. Prices are about half what they are in major US or EU cities.
. The food is really good, especially grilled sea food. Spectacular oysters in Ston.

Following are lots of details, for those who have plenty of time.

Dubrovnik
A short 19 hours and 4 legs after departing San Francisco, we arrived in Dubrovnik September 16th, and were most delighted when our luggage was delivered early the following morning, We’d anticipated this eventuality and carried sundries, undies, meds and computer. Our apartment rental hosts (found via the home exchange web site) Pero and Rachael, met our plane, spoke fluent Croatian to the nice Lost Luggage Lady, then gave us a quick orientation of old town Dubrovnik (Wow!).

Our first two days we visited every church, synagogue and museum in old town; the pictures of the 120 young men who lost their lives defending Dubrovnik from the Serbs gave us a more visceral understanding of the tragedies of the 1991-1992 Serbian invasion. Then we climbed the hills (especially nice at sunset) to view the amazing fortification walls and forts from above with pink skies and the blue Adriatic sea beyond.




















Third day a boat trip to three islands with a freshly grilled fish picnic and barely enough time to hike to an ancient fort at the top of one island,














then to scamper back down for a quick dip in the refreshing Adriatic.

We met people from many parts of the world, most noisily eight (8) Texans who shared the objective of getting drunk 11 days in a row. Free wine on the boat and bar visits on each island helped them to once again achieve their goal. I overheard one say that Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate, but decided it best to leave him in his ignorance.

On the other hand, we met a quiet, just retired, family doctor from Canada who wondered why the US is making such a big deal about universal health care. He and Paul had a rousing time agreeing on every point. On the third hand, the Croatians seem to be a gentle civilized people who love one another and speak in gentle tones, but never ask me (Danice) to compare them to the Italians with their joy for life.

The fourth day we hung around Dubrovniks old port like old timers, ate lots of grilled squids, mussels, etc., watched swimmers and divers, and then just before sunset took a long walk atop the town’s fortified walls, rebuilt after the bombings of 1992. Great time of day - not too hot, beautiful light, great views down across the town and out to sea. Then beers at Buza II, a bar on the rocks high above the Adriatic that played good Joe Cocker blues and provided an incredible view of the sunset at sea. Or perhaps the sea at sunset?




















Montenegro
Monday we picked up a rental car and drove south to Kotor, on an incredible Montenegro bay, Surrounded by mountains it is a beautiful place. The huge glassy smooth bay is well protected due to a bottleneck opening that was easily defended throughout history.



Kotor was one of many cities under the control of Venice during their turn at power in the Mediterranean. Guidebooks indicated much of the architecture was in the Venetian style, but they mostly just looked old.








For us the most interesting sight was the great wall making it’s way over 700 feet up the mountain. One can walk the wall, but on this hot day we skipped the experience. We saved ourselves, as it turned out, for a better wall to come in Ston.

















On the way back to Dubrovnik we stopped at a little town, Perast, right on the bay. Very charming and the view was gorgeous. A town that was very prosperous until the plague hit it in the 14th century.















The fall was most evident in the partly finished church, financed by a Venetian who apparently
lost his fortune as a result of the plague and left town.

















Up the Dalmatian Coast
Next day we drove north along an amazing coast to Ston on the Peljesac peninsula, where we climbed and walked a huge wonderful wall, then rewarded ourselves with a lunch of the best raw oysters ever, scampi and octopus salad.














We drove further up the peninsula, following a slow moving truck through the narrow, twisting mountain roads,nervously arriving just in time to catch the ferry to Korcula.

It is a beautiful island town jutting out on a peninsula (this geography, much like Dubrovnik‘s made it easy to defend).




















There were, regrettably, the dreaded cruise ships, but the cruisees go back to the boat for dinner so we had the island in a pleasant off season mode at night.

Two ferries back to the mainland














and we found a wonderful beach town, Brela, further up the coast. One of the things that makes Brela so physically attractive is how the trees c0me right down to the water. We had a great room just off the beach so decided to invest in more sunscreen and stay another night.

The Adriatic is warm and inviting, with island mountain vistas across the way, the town had good restaurants, our local bar had great domestic brandy, there were just enough people parading the beach walk, and the sun really knows how to set.














We spent one night in Split, to see (heck live in) Diocletian’s Palace, built as his retirement home by the Roman Emperor of the same name around 305.














When we arrived late morning all the cafes were mobbed with young people. This party continued until the middle of the afternoon, when (we guessed) they went to lunch. The original outer walls are still pretty much intact and provide the back wall to businesses and homes now occupying the palace.

It was great to see the town after the tour groups had left. At night the atmospherics are terrific. The lighting is subtle. The din of all the out door cafes and restaurants is more of a hum. Drinking the local brandy in the small courtyard of our local bar, the warm summer breezes, the low buzz of the conversation, the ancient walls created a total atmospheric hit. The real entertainment at the café was a beautiful young woman hosting what seemed to be a promotional party for Beck’s beer. She was flitting around in some of the longest thin legs, tightest jeans, highest heels, flowing blond hair and an off one shoulder Beck’s black tee shirt. Paul almost had a heart attack when we were first sitting down and she asked him to join the party. He turned her down, and she may never get over it.





Next day we pushed North along a coastline that makes us want to throw rocks at Big Sur. We stopped to see a beautiful Gothic and Venetian cathedral in Sibenik,
















with a huge statue of the architect out front… I’m sure (my ex) Patrick deserves but has not yet received such tribute,
Heading on north along the coast; however, our new GPS we call Gertie led us terribly astray. We told Gertie no toll roads to keep us along the coast, so she routed us up a long peninsula which apparently requires a ferry ride, with no regard for schedules, to rejoin the mainland. We discovered the error and were so angry over the time lost, which could impact our sunset drive, that we turned her off for the remainder of the day, hoping by the next day she would be chastised. This "time-out" apparently worked.

in Karlobad we found a nice lady, Nada, sitting on the highway corner advertising a Sobe in her house for $40/nite. An OK place, so we took it and still made it to the waterfront in time for sunset.














Then to a Pizzeria for a grilled squid dinner.

Here we explain what we understand about Sobes. These are rooms or apartments in private homes - sort of. They can range from a single room with shared bath to an apartment with kitchen, living room, etc. What makes them particularly attractive to the retired traveled is their price. Staying in the old town in Korcula was $50, in Diocletian’s Palace $90, staying right on the beach in Brela was $70. By contrast a hotel room in the middle of old town in Rovinj was $200. Of course, we never would consider a shared bath.

Croatia’s Istria Peninsula
On up the coast towards Opatija on the beautiful Istria peninsula… Gertie the GPS proved her value getting us into and right back out of an overcrowded resort, casino, port city. Carrying sufficient fruit we were not desperate for a touristy lunch. We held out for authentic food in Pazin.



















This was like visiting the large port cities in Italy, then finally going inland to the hill towns; well not that good, but like that. We spent the night in Motovun, a very lovely hill town with spectacular views.


































Paul watched the only channel we got, a terrible Snypes/Harrelson/Lopez action drama about the NY subway police; terribly implausible and badly written, but hey it was in English.

Toured more hill towns, then on to Rovinj or Rovigno as the Italians call it (the Italians essentially controlled the peninsula until 1945 when Tito and the Slavs took control, and in retribution for their oppression under the ethnic Italians caused a mass exodus of the Italians).













v
So close to Italy we can smell the garlic, but not there yet. Sept 30th we take a 7:00AM Ferry to Venice, then the train to Florence.