Croatia~ since 1991

Dubrovnik! We have arrived on a busy holiday weekend and we love it.

Our amazing accomodation we found in a travel book that Steve’s cousin Daniel and his wife Beccy gave us for our birthdays !

Bless us father we are staying in the nunnery!  True story~ Fresh Sheets Kathedral is part of the Catholic Church and we are paying rent to the Vatican !!!

Antonio met us at the Ploce gates here in the old town Dubrovnik and carted our bags to our boutique Guesthouse… And then carried them up 60 stairs where Alex met us in the communal kitchen, which was quite warm.

‘Welcome! sit near the fan’  she says ….. I could feel the wongster’s brain ticking over, while I was silently saying a little prayer ~ ‘please god let there be aircon in our room’ . Alex  had a lovely light snack of meats, cheeses, bread and olives and a cool jug of water and lemon for us, while she rattled off some ideas about the beautiful old town. She wrote on a map that she gave us. Alex like me is left handed and as she wrote very neatly upside down on the map Steve was gobsmacked and even i was impressed.

Alex has recommended a few places and the usual Buva Bar etc, anyway we decided to start with an Alex’s recommendation to visit a photographic exhibition on “under siege Dubrovnik 1991 ” by ‘Peter Northall’ . Showing photos of the beautiful Dubrovnik as it was during the war in 1991, and the damage it received. We also saw other photographers work from the Middle East and other conflict zones over the last 25 years~powerful stuff!!!

Alex also suggested after the heavy duty exhibition on war in the world, that we de brief at D’vino wine bar almost next door to the exhibition and that they do cheese plates AND wine tasting…. In a wine bar who knew !!!

Steve needs to pee and goes to the bathroom , the toilet door says m/f  so Steve saw the urinal in the first door and so he used it . Then he heard a toilet flush behind the 2nd door …on know, a poor girl went to come out …. She wasn’t expecting to see a man at the urinal and neither was the wongster so the girl waited for him to pee and then they exchanged phone numbers …. Kidding !  We all had a laugh and in fact when I went to the loo, I noticed there is a little window in the female toilet to see if it’s safe to leave !!!! One of those holiday moments …. in fact a few of the bathrooms in Dubrovnik are kinda shared.

We went to the Buva bar which is the hole in the wall bar …. We were disappointed very crowded which I’m sure didn’t help and neither did the smell from the portal loos. oo! The view of the bar from the walls is amazing and I can see the appeal for the young ones jumping off the rocks . Any way enough about toilets there are so many other beautiful cave bars here and I guess we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Our view at dinner last night at a Croation Restaurant called Kopun, where we ate a 19th century style traditional meal of castrated rooster! How do you castrate a rooster??? An amazing meal that was served with porcini mushrooms and gnocchi – seriously yummy food.

The restaurant was in a courtyard with this stunning church on the other side and guess what there was a wedding !!! We will go to anything…… They came out of the church singing and waving flags and then- believe it or not they let off flares in the Croatian colours…… Kinda felt sorry for the bridal couple they must have smelt like cracker night all night !

Ah Dubrovnik we are loving you ! Overcast. And rainy this morning kept everyone in cafes and hotels but not us. We enjoyed the light rain (our first in 2 weeks) in 29 degrees and went shopping !

And step climbing and filled our water bottles without the crowds, however the crowds returned as soon as the sun came out and we left the beautiful walled city and headed for Coral Bay, a fairly new development in the Babin Kuk area about a 20 minute taxi ride out .

We hired the usual deck chairs to avoid sitting on stones, and lay in the warm sun for an hour and a half before we continued our scenic walk around the peninsula. Another taxi ride back and it’s a bit cooler so we braved the crowds and strong winds and headed up the steep steps and joined the throng and masses on the famous world heritage listed walls of the ancient city of Dubrovnik ! Talk about high, and the actual walled paths in places are quite low….. I was glad to have a hand rail and Mr Wong to support me as the camera was actually moving in the wind.

The walls are about 2.5 kilometers long and just amazing, we walked it fairly consistently in just over an hour dodging other tourists with cameras and some walking their dogs!!

Amyway we are now showered dressed and ready for our next dinner. Luckily Mrs Wong went shopping today in her favorite European store Desigual – she may have new shoes and a new t shirt and a gorgeous new necklace! Anyway I’m very busy now  my deconstructed PocoLoco Cosmo cocktail has just arrived.

Till next time Mrs Wong and the baggage shopping carrier !