In search of fresh fish for dinner

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Our desire since arriving on the Adriactic coast is to buy some fresh fish to cook ourselves for dinner.But we are thinking that the Adriactic might just be fished out as we have been unable to find a fish shop since we left Dubrovnik.So we plan to give the local market a tryout this morning and see whether our faith might be restored.
We don't plan to do anything else but some local walking to see how the locals live and take in the vistas as we head down the hill from the apartment we are staying in.
With nothing to rush for we slept in and had a late breakfast and with the bonus of the internet we listen to Newstalk ZB talkback and Larry Williams.So we are up to date with all the current stories breaking back home including the bodies under the floor in a house in Christchurch.A grisly find and it seems things may develop further as the Police search the house even more.
It was 10.30am before we were ready to walk the 3 or 4 km to the market and already the sun was warming the atmosphere up.Predictations are for another day of 30c plus!!
Our apartment is on the ground floor of a 3 story building so we just have glimpes of the sea from our small balcony.So the walk down the hill opened up more of the view out over the bay to islands off the coast.
There is a footpath only in small stages of the road towards town and it is a matter of watching the oncoming traffic and dodging the cars that look like they are getting too close to the edge of the road where we are walking.
Fortunately we found a walkway which was a shortcut to the centre of the town so we took it to get away from the traffic only to find that there were more motorcyclists using the walkway than pedestrians.At least the motorcycles don't go as fast as the cars did on the road.
The island we are staying on is joined to the mainland by a short bridge about 50 metres long and the market is on the the maionland side.
There are a large number of stall selling clothing,jewellery etc and also a separate area selling fruit and veges but NO FISH!!
We wandered on a bit further away from the market stall and the smell of fish wafted to our nostrils.Was this what we were after or was it someone preparing fish for their lunchtime restaurant menu??
At last,a small area of a couple of stalls selling fresh fish!!We were obviously a bit late in the morning in getting there but one of the stalls still had a selection of whole fish.
We chose one that the woman manning the stall cleaned for us and took the scales off.She was very taken back when Gretchen asked her to cut the head of the fish off as she doesn't like the idea of cooking fish with the damn thing looking back at her!!!But no the woman wouldn't do that any in broken English she gave Gretchen the way the fish should be cooked.
So we brought the fish head and all!!
We also brought fresh vegetables and a lettuce to have with the fish tonight although without a frypan or grill Gretchen wasn't sure just how she was going to cook it.
On the way back to our apartment we walked through the old town which was a maze of alleyways and is a UNESCO protected site.Berthed at the small wharf area in front of the old town was a multi million dollar super yacht named Casino Royale.It was flying a NZ flag among others and we guessed that there must a Kiwi or two on the crew.
We headed back up the walkway again dodging the motorcyclists and back out onto the main road.By now the temperature in the absence of any breeze must have been exceeding 30C and we had come out without any water!!
By the time we walked up the hill to our apartment we were parched and we both gulped down water to rehydrate.
Lunch followed with a cold beer to revive us further.We planned to go down to the beach but decided that that would wait until the heat had gone out of the day a bit in the late afternoon.A rest on the bed resulted in a nap for both of us!!Gosh,this is a stressful life!!!
We walked down to the beach and Gretchen took a dip in the clear blue,warm water while I tried to keep my eyes averted from the topless bathers(women)nearby.
The owner of the apartment block offered to BBQ our fish and at the appointed time of 7.30pm we took the fish up to the BBQ and he cooked it perfectly for us.
The local cats including the strays that live up behind the apartment block all gathered around as the fish was being BBQ'd and when we went back to eat it one of the cats followed us back.Well anyone that knows us knows that we have a weak spot for cats and the skiiny stray probably had his best meal for weeks from the skin and bits stuck to bones that we couldn't be bothered in picking off for ourselves.
We hadn't done a lot today BUT we did find a fresh fish for dinner.

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[Rin]

Croatian cats
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