Happy Birthday Mama--From Malta to Venice with the Family Day 12--The Rocks of Dubrovnik and One Rocking Birthday Bash


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Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia
June 21st 2016
Published: June 24th 2016
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A couple of months ago, a friend of Andrew’s had posted on Facebook that he was missing Croatia. The picture he posted was lovely and I went to Google Images and put in Dubrovnik—yep, same place. I thought I could definitely spend a day there. I had been to Dubrovnik once before, in 1978 when I was on a cruise to Greece with the high school football coach and a bunch of International School of Brussels people. Back then it was not Croatia, though, but Yugoslavia. The two things I most remember about that trip was that passport control to get off the ship was scary and that from the port to Dubrovnik town there was a long flight of stairs. I remember we climbed the stairs, looked around the mostly deserted streets and went back to the ship. There may have been more to it than that but that’s what I remember.

This time the ship docked in the new pier and we were taking the Dubrovnik Riviera tour which did sound quite lovely. Our guide, Sanja (which she told us means Dream Girl in Croatian) was very bubbly and spoke excellent English. She told us a little about what we were going to see today. We would start by going to Cavtat, a resort town on the Adriatic and then we would travel into the country to visit an old mill and have a snack and some wine and then return to Dubrovnik the pearl of the Adriatic. Anyone else notice the wine theme? It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere!

Mom, Jack, Julie, Steve, Mark and I were on this tour. Julie and Steve had originally been on another bus but got switched so we were all together. Yay! We started out by driving out of the port and onto a high road overlooking Dubrovnik. We stopped for a photo opportunity. Sanja said, “We stop for five to ten minutes. No, five minutes, is enough.” Which it really was. We got back on the bus and she counted us and then told us she always counts because one time she looked around the vista point and there was no one else there so she told the driver to go on. When they got to the next stop, a couple came up and said they had gotten on the wrong bus and for the last 20 minutes had been with a German speaking tour. So now, even if there is no one on the sidewalk, she still counts. The scenery was really lovely and we got a good look at Dubrovnik with its red tile roofed buildings and massive city wall.

The next stop was Cavat, a resort town on the Dubrovnik Riviera which attracts a lot of visitors, many of them sailing major yachts. I mean MAJOR yachts. The kind of yachts you Google and find. Pretty lovely. The port was very charming and Sanja said people say this is what San Tropez used to look like before it became so popular. There were not many people around but, alas, we could not get a coffee or anything because they only accept kuna and we only had Euros. I finally broke down and got about $100 in Kuna so we had something, but by the time I did that, it was time to get back on the bus.

Next we went up into the countryside and visited an old mill, still working today. We were greeted by women wearing traditional Croatian costumes offering us a glass of grappa, cherry or orange liqueur. They also had trays of candied lemon and orange rinds, dried and candied figs and candied almonds. We wanted to be hospitable so we tried all of the food and then to be even more hospitable, tried several of them a few more times. The lemon rind in particular was really delicious. We went in to the mill and the owner told us how it worked, powered by water and crushing the corn. They mill flour, corn meal and other grains there. After this we walked a little way to a covered patio with picnic tables and trays laden with bread and cheese and ham. The bread was made with flour from the mill we had just visited. A woman in the corner was pouring local white and red wines. Or water, you could have water but why would you have water?

We bought several packages of the orange and lemon rinds and got back on the bus. As soon as we pulled out, she said, “Wilkommen, mine dammen and herren—no no just a little joke.” She was really cute. The trip to Dubrovnik was about 45 minutes and Sajna told us a little about Croatia, about being part of Yugoslavia and then becoming an independent nation, and about the war in the early 90s. One common theme from all of the countries we have visited on this trip is that they have all been occupied by foreigners for most of the last 2500 years. In one area we’d see Byzantine architecture and then Roman architecture and then Venetian architecture. Name that year, name that occupying force. The Venetians were everywhere. That must have been some culture back in their day.

We pulled into Dubrovnik and the first impression was PEOPLE. Lots and lots and lots of PEOPLE! There were tourists and ticket sellers and attraction hawkers and buses and more tourists. It was crazy. Turns out that they have filmed parts of Game of Thrones in Dubrovnik so there are fans of the show who go there to pay homage or walk in the footsteps or something. Not judging, here. I spent much time over 3 years traveling around to see Clay Aiken in concert. Did make some good friends, though, so it was worth it in the end. Jack was not feeling like doing any more walking so he parked himself in a café and the rest of us went off with Sanja who showed us the beautiful old walls, some of the important buildings and then gave us about an hour of free time. We all walked over the touched the nose of Marin Drzic, a Croatian play wright and poet. Apparently that brings you good luck and who couldn’t use some extra luck? Mark and I walked out to the port and took some pictures while drinking in the beauty, and then went into the church on the square. We bought Mark a tie since dinner tonight for Mom’s birthday was shirt and tie. I didn’t think he’d need a shirt and tie so he didn’t bring one. Ooops! There is a shirt we can get him in the boutique but that wasn’t going to open until after we’d left port. Turns out Croatia is the birthplace of the cravat so it was an appropriate souvenir. And we got to use up some of our kuna.

We walked down a main street, looking for the rest of our group. Finally caught up to them and Mom said she wanted to go check on Jack but first she wanted to look in one more little shop. Thy have very old pharmacy (called The Old Pharmacy) in Dubrovnik which Sajna said had world famous homemade creams that was made locally. The Old Pharmacy was right across from where we were standing so Mark and I went there to get some cream and when we came back, no family. I tell you, this group, like herding squirrels. Mark and I walked up to the square where we had been dropped off and were to once again meet the bus but no Jack. Regent was running a shuttle bus service so we figured he had gotten on one of those and gone back to the ship (we were right.) About that time the Regent bus for the kayaking trip pulled up and Katie and Liz hopped off and Mom appeared and she hopped on. Net loss: Zero.

We went back down the old town just inside the gate and got an ice cream. (Yuck. The kind of gelato that is made from a mix.) and Julie bought my remaining kuna to buy ice cream for her family and a shot glass. Then it really was time to go. Got on the bus and shuttled back to the ship. A beautiful city and beautiful country and Sanja really did help us have a dream day.

Mark and I came back to the room, he read and I worked on the blog. I’m always about 2 days behind but that’s not too bad. Even with the amount of alcohol being consumed, I think I’m still pretty much keeping up. Pictures help, though, gotta admit. For Mom’s birthday, we had decided to write tribute letters to her since she had specifically requested no gifts. I wrote mine, Mark wrote his and then we started getting ready for dinner. The shops opened at 5 so we went and got him his shirt. We had a $900 shipboard credit that we had spent $23.95 of and needed to get that spent. Mark’s shirt helped but didn’t wipe out the rest of the credit by a long shot. We decided to do some of our shopping then. Julie had said that Maui Jim sunglasses were the best and one of the stores had Maui Jims. I picked out a pair and then thought, “Why not get a pair for Mom since the lady in Corfu told her she needed better sunglasses.” So that’s what we did. We also got a couple of Regent Seven Seas Navigator shirts but we STILL hadn’t spent the whole thing. We’d put a hurt on it, though. Went back upstairs, I emailed our letters and Andrew and Erika’s letters to myself and then went down the the internet café to print them out. I tried and tried and tried to get them to load and finally clicked yes to loading the message in html. It actually worked. I printed Mark’s letter, Andrew’s letter, Erika’s letter and then opened part 1 of my letter which, at 119 mb was too big to go in one file. Got that opened and opened the second part. Went to copy and paste the second part and could not. THEY HAVE SHUT PASTING DOWN ON THESE COMPUTERS! WHAT??? Fine, I’ll print it in two pages. This took 35 minutes. 35 minutes to print 5 pages. I told the guy who runs that place that I am an IT trainer, that he does a great job and if I were him, I’d shoot myself in the head. I popped back upstairs, quickly got dressed, grabbed my purse and got to the stairs in time for the family picture. Thank God for Liz. With Liz around, we’re never likely to be the last to arrive! (She has a lot of other benefits, too, but that is one of them.)

We found a crew member to take our picture, and I am assuming he did a wonderful job since none of us have seen the pictures yet. The last picture we all put on the sunglasses that said, “Birthday: Undercover” on one side and “Libby’s 80. But who’s Libby?” on the other. Who knew that everyone on the ship would not only know who Libby was but also that she was celebrating her 80th birthday? From the moment we stepped on board, she started telling people, “We’re here to celebrate my 80th birthday,” and then watch their reaction. No one can believe it. We then went up to Galileo’s and started the real celebration. She read her letters and opened her gifts and we all had a lot of fun. Dinner was at Prime 7 (you’re only allowed 2 dinners at Prime 7 so we chose wisely—Michael’s birthday and Mom’s birthday.) I ordered just the branzino which was lovely. Sara Katherine had clam chowder with a side of clam chowder. A couple Mom had met, Keith and Rob, bought two bottles of champagne and sent them over—so sweet! Earlier in the cruise they left balloons and a card on her door. Julie had brought Happy 80th Birthday napkins and had brought those to Galileo’s earlier so they could be used with our drinks. She also had a sign that she put on Mom’s door that said “80 is 27 in Celsius.” When they brought her birthday cake out, it had a topper that said, “80 and Fabulous!” Now THAT’S a true statement!

After dinner, we went to the show lounge because they were having karaoke. I sang Walking After Midnight but Mom missed it so I sang Crazy. Did a better on on Walking After Midnight but she was happy so that’s all that matters. Then we all hung out until about midnight—celebrated the whole day through.

Tomorrow we dock at 10 and the excursion does not leave until 2:15 so we will have a bit of a lie-in. After all of the celebration and fun today, we’re going to need it!

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