Delighted by Dubrovnik

The flight across Europe gave wonderful views of the fields of France and the majestic Alps followed by the beautiful shoreline of the Adriatic. As we descended towards Croatia, the turquoise ocean water outlining the rugged coast gave us a taste of what we were going to experience for the next 3 weeks. Dubrovnik is pretty amazing to fly into at sunset with the scattered village lights dotting the coastline. Dubrovnik itself (population 47,000 - smaller than Maple Ridge) is truly perched on a steep hillside with houses clinging to the rocky shore. Last year, there were over 100,000 tourists in Dubrovnik just in August so you can see why tourism is Croatia’s main industry. It did seem like most of the 100,000 were there at the same time as we were this year.

We forsook the expensive taxi ride for a local bus and had a 25 minute jaunt into town. It should be noted that Mom’s bargaining again saved over $25 which is 16 in ice cream cone language (this would be spent on the creamy Croatian ice cream very quickly). The bus dropped us on the far side of the old city but the troops managed the 15 minute walk right through the Placa of Old Town to our apartment with amazing resilience fully laden with heavy packs. The Placa is full of energy and it is definitely the place that people like to dress up and be seen as we felt very out of place in our 30 hour old clothes with backpacks on (this was in juxtaposition to the women in 5-inch heels strolling on the arms of their GQ boyfriends). We could not have chosen a better place to stay as our one bedroom apartment had a beautiful view looking right at the Old Town walls and out over the ocean. Hotels are quite expensive for a family of 5 in Croatia so most of our accommodation will probably be in private apartments. They are advertised all over as Sobe or Zimmers or Apartmani. People even stand on the street pointing you in to their rooms. We had booked Lux apartments on the internet and Sinsula met us right away. Needless to say, we were blown away by our location and the apartment (laundry in the room which is a rarity and luxury for those who travel - sometimes preparation does really pay off!!). We set out to explore the Old City that night as we began what turned out to be one of our more difficult travel transitions in terms of getting our body clocks on local time. We figure it took nearly 3 days to get in step as we found ourselves either up all night or not able to keep our eyes open during the day.

A bit of a geography and history lesson (ie. skip this section if you are not so inclined) is in order so that we can set a context for where we are traveling with you for the next few weeks. For those who don’t know, Croatia is situated on the opposite side of the Adriatic from Italy and really is a coastal country apart from the one section that runs inland 300 km towards Zagreb, the capital and past to the eastern border. The uniqueness of Croatia lies in its diversity. Situated between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea, Croatia provides visitors with the opportunity to ski in the winter and swim during the summer months, all within driving distance. With its 1,185 islands, islets and reefs, it is the most diverse coast on the Mediterranean. The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became an lndependent Communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. The tourist rich region of Croatia became more and more Serbian run with money being funneled back to Serbia controlled areas. The ethnic tensions continued to mount and Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. It took four years, however, of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slovenia was returned to Croatia in 1998. As we walked about the city walls of Dubrovnik with its breathtaking views, we are reminded that this amazing place was under attack and siege less than 17 years ago. Over 2/3 of the buildings in the old town were damaged from mortar shells. The restoration has been phenomenal as you can tell from the pictures of the roof-tops. Historical note: The former Yugoslavia is now divided into 6 separate countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

Sydney did a great project on Dubrovnik so we have been following her lead. Walking through the Placa in Old Town is wonderful as it induces a huge mind shift for these anglo-centric North Americans getting used to all of the different languages that are spoken (English is probably 1%). It is a fun and eery feeling when you have no idea what is going on around you. We are currently traveling through Croatia with 60% of the European community so all our friends can stop asking us Why Croatia? It was not the secret we thought it was.

Our days were spent acclimatizing and exploring. Day one we were up at 12pm, went out and got some breakie (something that resembled a pizza pocket), walked a bit and then went back to the room. Matt and Dad couldn’t stay awake and slept most of the day while the girls were in their happy place on the beach just below our room (Marla having purchased an air mattress was in floatie heaven). Up at the crack of 6pm, Matt and Trevor joined ladies at Tobasco for dinner,. Recommended locally, this turned out to be an awesome place where we ate 2 nights. Jumbo pizza along with fantastic lasagna had the troops cheering. We laughed and laughed till our bellies hurt around the dinner table that was situated outside under a large canopy of vines overlooking the back of the Dubrovnik walls. This triggered memories of so many of the far away places that Marla and Trevor had dined in during past travels so nostalgia was reigning supreme as we finally got into travel mode. It is very interesting that we both were reminded that there is a big adjustment period when you get out on the road. Months of expectations and anticipation are met with homesickness and fatigue in the early stages. The internet has certainly quelled a lot of these feelings but they still exist. A great place to stay that is easy to get around has made this a wonderful start to our travels this time.

One of our days we spent the afternoon taking a 50 minute ferry ride to Lopud Island. The claim to fame of this island is that it has one of the only sandy beaches in this area. Much of the coast is rocky and rugged and the beaches that do exist are made of small pebbles (very smooth and pretty but not as nice as sand). Upon landing in the beautiful seaside village on Lopud, you trek for ½ an hour over the hill in the mid-point of the island. This was much easier on our way back at 6pm than it was during the mid-day heat at 2pm. The sand and wonderful warm water were a great place to spend the afternoon. The next day we had the luxury of renting a car (our mode of transportation for the next 16 days). Rental cars are in short supply as I think all 100,000 of the other tourists right now seem to be on the road with us. We found a local gem mentioned in an English newspaper so we spent our 3rd afternoon driving 20 minutes north to Orasac and turning down a little one lane road that plummeted from the cliffs to the beach. What unfolded before us was a beach known only to locals that was quaint and perfect for a Connor afternoon. It had a cement jetty where we parked ourselves and proceeded to jump off till we were exhausted. Unfolding before us was a classic game of pick-up water polo. There are water polo nets set up everywhere there is a beach in Croatia and the guys that dropped in on this Friday afternoon were no slouches. Digression: In our little reading up on Croatia, they are a pretty amazing nation in terms of the world class quality of their athletes (remember, there are only 4.5 million people in Croatia). They have in the past sported some incredible soccer, tennis, basketball and water polo players to name a few.
Back on track: This little beach culture turned out to be a fantastic place to unwind and we headed back to our final night in Dubrovnik for a seafood dinner on the wall overlooking the harbour (WOW!). Sight seeing in Dubrovnik was more than the structures. People and boat watching abounded. There is a plethora of incredibly well dressed, skinny and beautiful Europeans (not that Trevor was looking). Marla’s theory seems to be holding up in that 80% of them seem to prefer smoking over eating and we have had family debates over this health trade-off. We were also constantly entertained but the coming and going of a myriad of massive luxury yachts and cruise ships. Our personal favourite was a 150 ft. yacht registered in the Cayman Islands to a wealthy American (this we got from 2 of 17 full-time crew members ferrying passengers to the shore). The kids were very impressed with the jet skis as they were loaded from a side compartment in the back.

We noted earlier that tourism is Croatia’s main industry. The second major industry in Croatia appears to be the marketing of parking spots. You cannot park anywhere in within 3 km of the Old Town without paying $2 per hour between 7am and 12am. The Connors are not the only people that find this a bit apprehensible so I was not alone in parking above the highway and walking the 20 minutes back to our hotel. The walk is actually a ¼ Grouse Grind albeit downhill. But what goes down, must come back up. Hey, $30 is $30 so call us cheap and let us climb along with ½ of the other tourista (it sure was a lot easier going down)!!! Our time in Dubrovnik was certainly special but we are ready now to head out of town and see a bit more of the culture that makes Croatia unique.

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