Doing Dubrovnik
We have a 10:00 pick up this morning which would make it
seem like we have a lot of time, but any job will expand to fill the amount of
time allotted. We do have plenty of time
to get our acts together, fix a little breakfast, get packed up and be ready to
go when Antonia knocks on our door to settle the bill. We chat for a while (did we mention she is
chatty?), pay up and lug our suitcases down the three flights and three blocks
to the closest car park area. There we
meet Tomo our driver for today. Tomo
is a strapping young fellow, an athletic 6’3” but we’re more interested in his
nice big BMW.
Hugs with Antonia, John and Tomo in the front and the
Princess in the back and we’re off. We’ve heard the drive described as one of
the ten best in the world. We conclude
that may be a bit of a stretch but it is scenic with an ever-changing
landscape. John is happy to be
sight-seeing rather than driving. There
are mountains all the way and a big-time downpour early in the trip. We
wouldn’t know how to behave without some rain in our lives. Between peaks is a fertile flat valley that
is lined for many miles with oranges, tangerines, olives, grapes and other
sundry plant products and hundreds of little stands selling fresh fruits and
veggies. There are also a couple small
commercial operations that look like they might be distribution companies
moving crops to bigger markets. There is
no way they can sell it all from these stands.
John and Tomo chat away in the front seat while Mary
becomes an expert in eastern Adriatic geography. Tomo was a professional water polo player
signing his first contract at age 15 and moving quickly to Croatia’s first
division. OK, we know what you’re
thinking. First division water
polo? Look up Croatia’s Olympic water
polo results and it might make more sense.
He retired a year ago at the age of 25.
He said 8 hours a day in the pool or gym, 7 days a week for 10 months a
year for ten years will wear you down.
Anyway he is a pleasant guy with good Croatian stories and he is kind
enough to make a couple stops for photos along the way.
About halfway to Dubrovnik we have a 10 km stretch of the
highway that passes through Bosnia-Herzegovina.
When they divied up Yugoslavia after the war here, apparently B-H wanted
a piece of sea access and this is it. We
pass through customs on one end and then do it again 10 minutes later
re-entering Croatia. Check another
country off our to-do list. Too bad they
didn’t stamp the passports. Coming out
of the continuing mountains down into Dubrovnik is pretty spectacular. This city sits back in a little bay and while
not as big as Split, apparently has a long history as a sea power.
Tomo knows his ropes whipping around the harbor area and
never misses a beat pulling right up to our hotel. We were probably a pretty undemanding fare
for him with few stops, no bathroom breaks and no meal breaks. We would have overpaid for this 3-1/2 hour
trip if this was all, but of course he now has to drive all the way back empty
with another set of tolls and many liters of petrol. No, we’re not going to mention how much this
little splurge costs, but if we had two really good seats for a Wild game….
Out hotel here is the Kazbek and it’s pretty fancy. It was a deal on Expedia.com with good
TripAdvisor ratings. This is the end of
their season and the hotel actually closes after next weekend so that explains
the fancy rate. For once we’re not in
the “old city” but rather on a peninsula near the ship harbor. Our hostess, “Jenny,” gives us the Dubrovnik
spiel with maps and transportation info.
She also directs us up the street to a little spot for lunch – a little pizza
and salad washed down with a beer.
We’ve been cooped up until now and we need to stretch out a
little bit. There is a pedestrian
walkway around our peninsula and we think we can walk the whole thing. The path starts through tropical foliage
pretty well populated with restaurants, bars and fancy hotels. This is certainly unlike anything we have
seen in Croatia so far reminding us of upscale parts of Florida or
California. This isn’t necessarily why
you would come to Europe but after almost 6 weeks of old stuff it feels pretty
good to us. The extended path now
follows a ledge along the water which will be on our left as we circle
clockwise. There are fewer hospitality
stops now and a bit more nature. The
whole thing turns out to be about 4-1/2 miles which is enough stretching out.
It is warm with blue skies.
Time to grab our kindles and hang out at the pool for a while. That’s correct, a pool and even more
interesting, we have an elevator. We’re
in the lap of luxury. After our usual
late afternoon break we choose to eat at the hotel restaurant. We are the only ones there when we arrive so
we also enjoy private dining. This gives
us a chance to chat with our server and compare notes about the seasonality of
our businesses. She and her husband take
a couple months off starting in 10 days and then they start to get their game
faces back on for a March start up.
The chef is maintaining his game. We get a complimentary anchovy salad
appetizer and a decanted bottle of Croatian red. John has a sautéed bream sitting on top squid
ink polenta which is sitting on top of a nice marinara sauce. Mary has grilled tuna with grilled vegetables
and we get an extra side of veggies to maintain our great health. Bummer, someone else has come in for
dinner—so much for private dining. The
food is excellent.
After dinner we take one more stroll along the harbor
enjoying a beautiful night. Into the old
city tomorrow and away from West Palm Beach.
What did we learn today?
Mary has always been right that the ultimate luxury is to have a car and
driver.
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