Arrival
We are traveling via Turkish Air from Athens via Istanbul to Dubrovnik We arrive in Istanbul on time in just 1:10 min. But, Istanbul to Dubrovnik is another story. We board on-time but we are then informed that there is a technical issue with the plane that will have to be fixed before we can depart. We taxi out to what I can only liken to an airplane service station somewhere out on the tarmac.
After a while, the pilot tells us that the plane cannot be fixed and we must change planes. Luckily, we are in Istanbul which is the main hub for Turkish Air, so there is a plane available. As we wait to deplane, we email our hotel in Dubrovnik to tell them we are delayed and asking them to contact our driver about our delay.
The plane remains at the “service station” and we board a bus and are taken back to the terminal. The bus driver seems unsure of where we are to go as we sit in a couple of locations. In the first, an airport guy gets on the bus and as Margi and I are in the front row, asks me where we are COMING FROM!! I respond that our plane has died and we are waiting for a new one to GO TO Dubrovnik, but he does not seem to understand me. Finally someone in the rear of the bus comes forward and explains to him (in Turkish, I assume) what is going on. After 20 minutes in the bus, we exit in the RAIN into the terminal where we spend another 20 minutes waiting for our new plane. Finally we board and our flight to Dubrovnik takes 1:38 min but is 2 hours late (around 10:15 PM local time).
Passport control is slow but as we wait, we get a response email from our hotel that assures us that our driver and porter will be there despite the delay. The slowness of passport control means that our wait for our luggage is short. We get our luggage and exit into the main terminal to find our driver with a “Fatcheric” sign. As the driver pays for the parking, we use an ATM to get 1000 KN which is about $150. We exit to the parking lot and find the car (this is a small airport).
The trip to hotel takes about 25 minutes. Our driver, Dani (pronounced Jani), speaks very good English and engages us during our ride. We get to Ploce gate, pay driver 300 KN, and find our porter who takes us to hotel on foot. As Dubrovnik is a walled city, there is no car traffic within the city walls.
Hotel
Fresh Sheets Kathedral, our “hotel”, is actually a Sobe or a converted private residence. There are no actual hotels within the city walls so everyone who stays in old town Dubrovnik, stays in a sobe.
At our sobe, there is no staff on duty 24 hours a day but our porter knows how to get the key from the lock box at ground level and takes us up to the 3rd floor (no elevator which we knew ahead of time) where our room is located. He shows us the layout, we pay him 100 KN, and he leaves. We are a little confused at first, as you enter on the 3rd floor into a hall with a small desk and phone at the end. Then turn to another hall off which are other rooms, a shared bathroom, and a common kitchen. Our room is adjacent to the kitchen and has a private bath within the room (as requested). The owners have left us a plate of cold cuts and cheese and some wine in the kitchen, which is very thoughtful.
As I said, if you want a standard hotel, then you will be outside the city walls and have to either walk or taxi to get to one of the “gates” to the city. We have selected this sobe based on a Rick Steves recommendation and are reasonably pleased. Our room is large enough with a queen sized bed, TV, and WiFi. As I mentioned, there is a bathroom in the room, but it is up a step and TINY. Tiny like you bump your head on the wall mounted water heater when you go to use the toilet. Tiny like you can wash your hands while sitting on the toilet. Tiny like when you drop the soap in the shower, you need to open the shower doors to bend over and pick it up. Did I mention that the bathroom was tiny??
It was also NOT cheap, being almost $300 per night. But as with any real estate, it is location, location, location. Dubrovnik is relatively small and so we are never more than a 10-12 minute walk from our hotel. The place is clean and well maintained, the owners and staff are lovely, and it was quiet.
Day 4 – saturday
Here are some general thoughts about Dubrovnik. Again, everyone speaks basic English. The city is very walkable (no taxi’s or public transportation within the walls) but has been built on two sides of an original canal, so from the center Stradun main street, everything is UP HILL, so there is more climbing than in Athens. But, this is a real fairy tale city. As we entered around 11 pm the first night, we walked down the relatively empty streets with muted light and you felt like you were in a real piece of history. Absolutely lovely.
We get up at 7 AM as we have a private tour scheduled for this morning. We shower, dress and get out for breakfast. Last night the porter has pointed out the sobe recommended restaurant for breakfast, which is open this morning but seems empty and is in the shade, so we go around the corner to find another place that is in the sun (as it is cool and we want to eat outside). Sun exposure is nice but food seems expensive and is certainly mediocre. We go back to the hotel to find the staff who should be there by 8 AM.
I go up the two flights of stairs to meet Lena, a staff person while Margi waits in a not open restaurant right outside the door to Fresh Sheets Kathedral. Lena gives me an update on our room, like no cleaning unless we request it, new towels only if we request them, and don’t turn off the hot water heater on the wall switch if we want hot water. She also goes over a map of the old city pointing out restaurants, bars, places of interest. She also describes our guide, Bo (Bozidar Jukic), as late 30’s, tall, bearded, and typically dressed in black.
After my short tutorial with Lena, I walk back down to the street level at about 8:30 and immediately spot Bo waiting near the entrance. I introduce myself and Margi, as he and Margi have been just feet apart for a few minutes. He wondered if she was Mrs Fatcheric but decided not to ask cuz she looked to young based on emails we had exchanged. He is a gregarious, handsome guy who speaks perfect English, even though he has never been to the US. He is knowledgeable and overall great. He owns a small company that does tours in and around Dubrovnik. He was born in Dubrovnik around the time that Tito fell and was about 10 yo during the 9 month siege of Dubrovnik when there was no water, electricity, or security about what might eventually happen to the people. During this siege in 1991, the city was hit by approximately 3000 shells.
First we take a short walk to a point on the water front by the main port entrance (not cruise ships which dock miles away).
He gives us a review of Dubrovnik history. He explains Dubrovnik’s interesting position between the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople and the city state of Venice and how Dubrovnik was able to maintain itself between these two competing powers. After we walk out the Ploce Gate to a tourist office where I buy a 1 day Dubrovnik Card for Margi and I.
Along the way, Bo stops to point out significant sites and more history. He gives us a choice of doing our tour by walking the city wall or by walking through the town. I am leaning toward doing the wall with him but Margi wants to do the town, and she turns out to be 100% correct.
From the Ploce Gate, we head back toward Stratun but turn right and go up to Prijeko Street which is one street up from Stradun on the inland side. This street is lined with restaurants, which are just starting to come alive. We meet a friend of Bo’s whose birthday is today, so we all wish him a happy birthday – LOL.
As we walk, Bo explains the original grid layout of the city, the plumbing, the water supply, etc. He takes us by the Synagogue in Dubrovnik which is from the 15th century. Dubrovnik was accepting Jews when other Catholic countries were expelling them.
We go through the Franciscan Monastery and Museum next. The place is getting packed with tour groups but we are able to enjoy the furniture, jewelry, and pharmacy inside. We then go to the Pile Gate end of Stradun by the Onofrio’s Fountain which is fed by an aqueduct designed and built by Onofrio de la Cava of Naples.
We walk down toward our sobe to the Rector’s Palace and Museum. Bo guides us through the Museum, describing the artifacts as we pass through. Outside the Rector’s Palace, Bo goes over the post war (1991) Croatia and how the country relied too heavily on tourism (20% of GDP) and not enough on manufacturing. Our 3 hour tour is over and we are just around the corner from our hotel. We pay Bo for the tour (100 Euros) and a Wine Lover’s Tour we have schedule with his company for Monday afternoon (190 Euros). We thank him for the great tour. If anyone is interested, here is his info (Bozidar Jukic, Insider Holidays d.o.o., www.insiderholidays.eu, info@insiderholidays.eu).
After we leave Bo, we go just a short way to the restaurant that is just outside the door of Fresh Sheets. We sit and have a Coke Lite and beer and discuss the plan for the rest of our day. (this restaurant pisses me off when we leave as it is cash only!! We do not stop their again.) Both Bo and Lena have suggested we use this very beautiful day for outside activities as the weather in the coming days is less favorable. Bo has also suggested that we might want to cancel our private car to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro on Tuesday and instead just enjoy the city itself. He pointed out that the border crossing can take as long as 2 hours and he also feels that often tourists feel the need to check off things on their “list” rather than enjoying their vacation.
As we are sitting there, Lena comes out of Fresh Sheets. She confirms our dinner reservation for tonight at Restaurant Panorama on Mt Srd and we ask her to cancel our car to Bay of Kotor. She agrees and then walks off to speak with Bo, who has come by. We have decided to go to Lokrum, an island near Dubrovnik and then do the city wall walk around 6 PM. We will then leave directly from the wall walk to a taxi to our dinner restaurant.
We walk over to the boat dock about 20 minutes before it is scheduled to leave. We learn that our one day Dubrovnik Card does not entitle us to a discount (only 2 & 5 days ones), so we pay the full 300 KN for the ferry. We are in the front of the line, so when the boat loading begins, we are able to get a seat in the bow. The boat gets full and we have a brief conversation with a couple from California (who was wearing a Pebble Beach golf hat). They are here on a tour and have the afternoon free.
The trip to Lokrum takes only about 15 minutes. It is around 1 PM so we decide that our first stop will be a restaurant to have lunch. As we walk up from the dock, we find an outdoor cafe that is along the walk path in a wooded area. We aren’t sure what other places there will be, so we stop and take a table. Margi has a Greek salad and coke lite and I have a sardine sandwich and wine.
While sitting there, multiple peacocks (male and female) walk past on the walking paths and walk inside the seating area. They are beautiful but basically scrounging for things to eat. We drop a few bread crumbs which they spot immediately and we get some real closeup pictures. Lunch is 264 KN.
After lunch, we continue walking up to the Monastery. We find a/the Game of Thrones throne and I get a few quick pics of Margi sitting on it.
We then walk through a large open grass area where there are more peacocks and lots and lots of rabbits.
We walk to the salt water pond and see some crazy people swimming (crazy because it is like 60 degrees which is not warm enough for swimming, IMHO). We wander on paths through the wooded areas and enjoy the scenery and the day. Eventually, we wind our way back to the dock and wait about 20 minutes for the ferry. This time we have to sit inside as we are far back in the line. Once back in Dubrovnik, we take the short walk back to Fresh Sheets and take a rest.
At about 4:30 PM, we go back out to find the Cliff Bar that has been recommended by Lena. This requires some hunting and a walk up toward the sea side of Dubrovnik. After a few false starts, we go through a small passageway and find the bar literally on the rocks outside the city walls overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The place is packed but we find an unoccupied table on a ledge but with no chairs. So I get one chair and an employee gets another and voila, we have a perfect spot. There are no waiters, so you have to go to the central outside small bar and get your drinks. I get us two Prosecco’s and later a third. We sit, drink, and enjoy the view of things from ferries down to two person rental canoes go by. We also see someone down below fishing, or maybe just feeding the fish as we never saw him catch anything.
At about 6 PM we leave for our wall walk. This is covered by our 24 hour Dubrovnik Card, but you are only allowed to enter once. So, we find the entrance near the Ploce Gate, which Rick Steves recommended because it means you take the steepest parts first. The climb of steps and inclines are strenuous; Margi counts about 300 steps to the highest point which is on the far back corner (Fort Minceta). From there, we get a great view of the city and also of the sea. After some rest at this high point, we continue on the journey all around the city wall. We walk down to the low point near the Pile Gate and then back up to the wall along the sea front. In the end, it takes us about an hour to complete the trip around the wall. Check that one off – LOL. Wall walk pics.
It is about 7:15 PM as we leave the wall and go to the taxi stand just outside the Ploce Gate. We have 8 PM reservations at Restaurant Panorama on Mt Srd but we aren’t sure how long the taxi will take, so we decide to grab a cab immediately. (We had to take a cab because the cable car to Mr Srd was recently shutdown by the town due to some tax issue!!) Trip is only 15 minutes with the last few kilometers basically a single lane road. We find the restaurant entrance but we are early and our table is not ready. At first they cannot find our reservation until Margi spots it under “Jerome”. I had made the reservation weeks ago via email and was even informed later about the cable car “outage”.
We enjoy the view for a few minutes and use the facilities until our table is ready, just a few minutes after 8 PM. We have a table outside on the edge of the steep overlooking Dubrovnik. It is cool, but they have both overhead heaters and blankets at each table. The view is great and other than slightly cool, the night is crystal clear. We have lucked out on dinner as the next few days have rain predicted.
Margi has pasta (what else with a maiden name of Valentino) with a lamb ragu and I have sea bass on top of shellfish. Food is EXCELLENT. As seems to be my tendency recently, I am talking more with my hands and before dinner arrives manage to spill my wine on the table but don’t hit Margi, so I survive. They efficiently remake the table and replace the wine. I, of course, tell them that we are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. They are suitably impressed. LOL
I am a little concerned about getting a taxi back to Dubrovnik. The server checks and says that there are taxi’s waiting. So, we pay and walk to the taxi stand. 15 minutes ride includes a pitch from the driver for side trips outside of Dubrovnik. As he drives, the screen in the front seat plays a video of where he could take us. We politely take his card, but we have already arranged for our Mostar trip. We are back at Ploce Gate, walk back to our hotel, have some wine, and watch some TV. There are lots of US shows in English with Croatian subtitles.
Day 5 – Sunday
We wake around 7:00 AM, shower, shave, etc and go out to breakfast at Gradska Kavana Arsenal recommended by Fresh Sheets (and related to Restaurant Panorama from last night). It is a dreary day so we eat inside. I have omelette and Margi has a croissant and we both have coffee.
Through the hotel, we have scheduled a private car to take us to Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina. At about 8:30, we walk to Ploce Gate and meet the same driver who met us at the airport on Friday night. He is already there and we depart for Mostar, 3 hours away. Our driver Dani speaks very good English and he tries to point out significant sites along the way. We also talk some politics.
After about one hour out, Dani stops at a town that has a fort like structure on a hill above. We find some ladies selling fruit and nuts and I buy some dried apricots (using Euro’s). We walk about 1/2 way up and then decide it is not worth the walk so we go back down to the car and continue to Mostar.
To get there we cross the border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina several times. This involves waiting in a brief car line and then having our passports stamped. Seems like we must have had our passports stamped about 10 times on the round trip.
In Mostar, Dani looks for a reasonable place to park. Eventually he finds a place right at the end of a shopping area that leads to the famous Mostar bridge. Dani walks us up to the bridge and we agree to meet back at the car in about 3 hours.
Margi and I walk through the shopping area and up to the bridge (which was rebuilt after the war in 1995). Even though it is rather cool and threatening, there is a diver on the top of the bridge waiting for enough tourist and Euro’s to collect to do his dive off the bridge. We decide not to wait for the dive.
We cross the bridge and start up Coppersmith area where the tapping of hammers on metal is coming from most of the shops/stalls. We stop in the Coppersmith area at a restaurant on the river side, overlooking the bridge and have a coffee/coke lite and use the restrooms. We decide to go to the Muslim house (Muslibegovic House) and then try to find Cafe Alma to buy coffee for our son, Matt.
We continue up past a second mosque and find the cross street leading to the Muslim house. We are a little confused as it is not really evident. But, we find it and go in. We are charged 4 Euros each to go through three floors with 4 rooms decorated as it would have been in a Muslim house hundreds of years ago.
We walk back toward the bridge through increasing crowds. While threatening, it has not really raining, but does start spitting as we walk back. We find that we have lost one of our umbrellas, so we stop at the restaurant we had coffee at to see if we left it there 🙁 Margi is convinced that it was stolen by a Oriental person as the predominance of tourists seem to be Oriental!!
Back across the bridge, we head toward where we think Cafe Alma is located but have to ask directions from someone outside a restaurant. We are close, just around the corner. Cafe Alma is tiny and there is a small group inside getting a tour/lecture about roasting coffee. We find an attendant and order 1/2 kilogram of coffee beans (a little over a pound).
In the area around Cafe Alma, we find a restaurant that overlooks the bridge. We both have salads and drinks. After lunch, we continue sightseeing on this side of the bridge. At the agreed upon time, we walk back to where the car is parked and find Dani. We complete our Mostar visit and the weather has cooperated by not really raining while we were sightseeing. During our 2 1/2 hour ride back, it rains on and off.
Dani drops us at the Ploce Gate. It is raining lightly and we walk back to our hotel, stopping at a gift shop to buy a bottle of wine for our room. Back in the room, we open the wine, have a drink (good wine), and has a rest.
At about 7:30 AM, we head out to Olivera Pizzeria for a simple dinner. We have some troubles finding it but are successful on the second pass. Both Rick Steves and Fresh Sheets have recommended this. We share a Margaretta pizza and decide to get a full bottle of wine (which turns out to be 3x the cost of the pizza – LOL). Great thin crust pizza and good wine. We take the unfinished bottle of wine back to the room and crash.
Day 6 – Monday
We have nothing schedule until this afternoon, but I want to get our wash done, so I am up a little after 8 AM, shower, shave, & dress. I pack all our dirty laundry in my back pack and a foldup carryall that Margi has. In the process, I make enough noise to wake Margi, so I tell her to rest until I get back.
I leave for wash place which is just off Stradun. On the way out, I meet Jan, the co-owner. He wishes me happy anniversary as his parents have recently come from Canada to celebrate their 50th. He mentions that they also brought rain with them too. LOL
I find the laundry without too much trouble. It is a tiny place with about 6 machines on the back wall and bags of laundry all over the place. The lady there speaks enough English that she gets wash and fold only. She weighs the laundry on a bathroom scale which I am SURE had a seal from the Croatian Bureau of Weights and Measures on the bottom (LOL). It is 100 KN per kilo and I pay 350 KN in advance but she promises to have the laundry done by 1 PM today, which surprises me as I expected tomorrow. On the walk back, I find a shop open and I buy a 100 KN Croatia umbrella to replace the one “stolen” by the Asians yesterday – LOL.
Back at Fresh Sheets, I find that Margi is up and dressed. So we pack my back pack with water, camera, maps, etc and head out. We have our standard breakfast at our standard place, inside as it is a drizzly, spitting day. Over breakfast, we discuss our plan for the day which turns out to be shopping in the AM, lunch, and then our joining our pre-arranged group wine tour with Bo’s tour company.
After breakfast, we get our umbrellas out and walk up the Stradun, stopping at shops along the way. Margi buys a Croatian soccer outfit for Jack. At the end of the Stradun,we take Rick Steves shopping advice and go a few blocks toward the water where there are several jewelry shops and prices are supposed to be most competitive. At each shop, Margi goes in while I stand outside holding the umbrellas. I am only allowed in to pay. At one jewelry store, Margi buys coral bracelets for our grand daughters, Maddie and Hailey. The process takes a while cuz the shop owner’s WiFi has problems and so the credit card transactions first fails but then succeeds after a WiFi roboot.
We continue through the shopping area and make some more gift purchases. We stop at an Irish pub (recommended by Steves) to sit in a section with the least smoke and have a coffee and coke lite. After the pub, we do more shopping. I need to stop at an ATM to get more Krona so I leave Margi outside the Rector’s Musuem and go down Stradun to find an ATM. While I am gone, Margi watches what seems to be a high school band performing outside St Blaise. They are playing QUEEN. I return to join Margi and we listen for a few more minutes and then back to Fresh Sheets for a rest.
At about 1 pm, we pack my back pack again and head out for lunch. We decide to have lunch at Arsenal, which is the same place we have been having breakfast. We have a 10% discount card from our dinner at Restaurant Panorama, as these restaurants are connected. We eat at the back of the restaurant which overlooks the bay where we took the ferry to Lokrum on Saturday. As Margi gets a table, I head to the laundry to pick up our stuff and bring it back to Fresh Sheets. As things are pretty close, this takes only about 10 minutes.
At the table, Margi is a bit cold, so they turn the outside heater toward her. Margi has ordered wine while I have been on my laundry run, so I sit down to a nice refreshment. I have steak tartar and Margi has pasta with tomato sauce. As we enjoy our excellent, leisurely lunch, we strike up a conversation with a couple at an adjacent table. As is my habit, I am wearing a Syracuse University shirt which they have noticed. They are from Buffalo and are on a bus tour of Croatia. They are spending 3 days in Dubrovnik and then will be heading up the coast to Split. They had a group tour in the morning and have an afternoon free. The gentleman is planning on walking the easier section of the wall while his somewhat larger wife will sit somewhere and wait for him. We tell him to definitely bring water.
After our lunch, we head to the Ploce Gate to look for our wine tour group. At the designated spot, we find the lady guide holding a wine tour sign. She is young and petite and informs us that the other two couples who signed up for the tour have cancelled because of the weather and so our group tour will be a group of TWO. Bonus!! We laugh about cancelling a car/indoor wine tour on a rainy day. We walk to the taxi area, are introduced to the driver, and are helped into a mini-van vehicle.
The first part of the route is identical to the one we took to Mostar but our lady guide speaks perfect English so we have a nice conversation during the 1.5 hour trip to the Croatian wine peninsula. Once on the peninsula, we begin to see grape fields on the hillsides. The grape plants seem very low to the ground, less than 3 feet high, which we are told is because of the high winds that are frequent in this area.
Our first stop is the town of Ston, which is on the coast and is noted for production of salt. It also has a 5 kilometer wall running along the hillside between Ston and Mali Ston. Salt production continues to this day. We get out and see some of the salt beds and watch a short video describing the salt making process. We are shown the various grades of salt from the type we would use as a deicer on a driveway to a finer grain used for cooking. We buy some of the cooking grade salt for our daughter Amy.
The first winery we stop at is Milos Winery, a completely organic operation. We go into a stone building with casks and hear a short description of the winery and its history from one of the young members of the Milos family. We then to back into an area containing the huge oak casks containing the wine that is presently aging. The oldest cask is dated 1942. Then we go into the tasting room where we taste four of their red wines. The seven 10+ year old wines and do ship to the US for $82 per bottle with a minimum order of 6 bottles. All of the wines seem good to me.
We continue in the van into a valley and then up on single lane roads to a hillside high above the water where we stop for a closer look at the grape vines. The steep hillside must make picking of grapes a very difficult task as very little motorized equipment could be used.
We drive onto a second winery, the tasting room of which is located in a small village by the water. The vineyards are several kilometers away. Again, given four wines to taste, but this time, they are not all reds. We start with a Pocip, then go to an orange wine, then to a rose and finally to their grand coeur red. We also have prosciutto, hard cheese, olives, and chocolate. We are also offered a dessert made by the owner’s mother from grape skins and various spices. It is something like the consistency of a mashed prune and is fabulous. We end up buying a 20 Euro bottle of their Grand Coeur red to take home.
As we drive back to Dubrovnik, it gets dark. We left at around 2:30 and are returned to the Ploce Gate at about 9 PM, so it has been a full and interesting afternoon and early evening. We give the driver and guide a tip and walk back into the old city.
As we have not made any prior reservations, we decide to go back to the same pizza place we stopped at the previous night and we basically had the same items, but this time we did not buy a full bottle of wine. The pizza is again very good, the wine satisfying, and we walk back to Fresh Sheets around 10 PM.
Day 7 – Tuesday
This is our last full day in Dubrovnik. We had originally planned to take a private car to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro but canceled on Saturday at the recommendation of Bo. Given the amount of car travel we have done over the past few days, we are glad we took his advice. We are up, showered, dressed, and out to get breakfast around 9 AM. We meet Lena as we leave and confirm that the Porter (Marko) for 6:15 AM tomorrow right outside Fresh Sheets and the taxi (Dani) at 6:30 at Ploce Gate. All are good to go. Marko will come up and carry the bags down the two flights to the street for us and then use his hand truck to take them to the Ploce Gate.
We breakfast at our standard place, greeting our now familiar waitress, and sitting on the sea side in sight of the ferry dock. While today’s weather is questionable, the sun is shining now. In our laundry from yesterday, we found a 2X Star Wars shirt that is not ours, so as Margi goes to sit, I take a short walk to the laundry and return the shirt. They are a little puzzled, but I give it to them and leave. Wonder what we lost in exchange – LOL.
Margi has selected a table closest to the water in the bright morning sun. Coffee is already on the table when I return. I order my standard egg only omelette and Margi opts for a croissant. We both have OJ. Our breakfast is leisurely and we talk about what we might do today.
We walk down the Stradun, looking for a few last gifts. After a few purchases are stored in my back pack, we go to the Pile Gate. I try to use the WC in the tourist office inside the gate but decide that for 1.5 Euros, I don’t have the change and don’t have to go that badly (LOL). We walk out of the walled city of Dubrovnik through the Pile Gate. This is the gate through which most of the cruise ship people enter and the line entering is packed (there is a rope dividing the entrance into IN and OUT). During our stay, we have seen lots of tour groups going up and down the Stradun and we see many entering as we depart.
From Lena, we had gotten short cut directions to reach Fort St Lawrence which is outside the walled city. We get to the base of the Fort, but as we look at the several hundred steps up to the top, we just sit at the base and enjoy the small bay in front of it. We have already seen the view from the highest point on the wall which is above the Fort. We walk back to the Pile Gate and now enter with the hordes. We wind our way through the crowds down the Stradun and find a sidewalk cafe where we have a coffee and coke lite. Margi writes some postcards and I use a clean, free bathroom!!
It is 12-ish and so we make our way back to Fresh Sheets. Lena is there and we ask about stamps for US postcards. She tries to call the Post Office, but as they are public servants, she comments that they are not in a hurry to provide service. She shows me on our map where the Post Office is located (off Stradun).
After a little rest (yes, we do rest a LOT), we set out for the Post Office. We find it with no problem but there is a bit of a line, but there are two postal workers inside. I get in one line and Margi gets in the other. She lucks out and gets served first. We buy the required stamps and leave the post cards there. We are out in 5 min!!
We decide to go back up by the Cliff Bar for lunch as we saw some places along the way as we went there on Saturday. It is away from the tourist packed Stradun, so we hope to find something good and less expensive. We stop at one place and look at the menu and decide to move on. At a second place, we order Greek salad and a hamburger. Both are disappointing and with 4 glasses of wine, we pay about $35 for lunch. After lunch we wonder around some more and find some decent gelato on Stradun. As we wonder through the small streets and alley ways, we find lots more shops and restaurants. We find the Taj Mahal, which was recommended by both Steves and Lena as place to have good Bosnian food. We look at the menu and make a reservation for 7 PM this evening. We are leaving early tomorrow so we need time to pack tonight.
As we have seen most of the city inside the walls, we decide to return to Fresh Sheets and just hang out until later in the afternoon. At about 5 PM we leave and decide to go down the restaurant street that Bo took us on during our tour on Saturday. It is one street up from Stradun on the inland side. Rick Steves has warned about restaurants on this street, with people outside each place trying to lure you in for a meal. Even at this early hour, they are out and hawking. At the Pile Gate end of this street, we start to look for a place to just sit and have a drink and people watch. We walk down to the Stradun and end up at the same place we stopped at this morning.
It is getting overcast and a bit windy, so we opt for a table inside, but can still see Stradun through the windows. We have a few glasses of wine and people watch. There are crowds but they are much smaller than earlier, presumably because the cruise ship people have left. The place has nice music and we just enjoy the sights and sounds.
We leave at about 6:40 to go to the Taj Mahal restaurant. When we arrive, there are people sitting both inside and out. We are lucky we made a reservation because the weather continues to get cooler and starts to rain a bit, so we ask to sit inside where there are only about 10 tables. Some of the outside tables are being cleared as they are not under awnings.
We both have ethnic dishes whose names I cannot remember. Both come with baked potatoes covered with a cottage cheese/sour cream spread. Neither of us can finish and Margi takes the remainder of her lamb pieces with the intention of giving to some stay cats we see all over the city.
By the time we leave, the rain has stopped and we correctly guess the location of a church we have seen that has many cats in the area inside the gates. The Church is entry is raised above the street level, so we are feeding the cats at chest level. Once we open the food, the first cat comes over and starts to eat and this is then followed by 5-6 other cats joining. Most seem willing to eat but one silly one takes a piece of lamb but then drops it when a more aggressive cat comes over. After the cat feeding, we slowly wander back to Fresh Sheets and pack for our early departure tomorrow.
Day 8 – WEdnesday AM
We are up at 5:45 AM, do quick cleanup, close suitcases, and are ready to leave by 6:05. I take the suitcases out to near the stairway down and look out the window to see Marko, our porter, already waiting. I go down, let him in, and he comes up to get the suitcases. I tell him to just go onto the Ploce Gate and we will meet him there.
Back in the room and we make one final check to be sure we have everything and that we have the right things in our carry-on’s (like coats, umbrellas, money, passports, and Venice hotel info). All is ok, so we leave the key on the small reception desk near the stairway and head down the two flights for the last time. There is a light rain falling so we start to walk to the Ploce Gate under our umbrellas. I take a few last pictures of the rectory near our hotel and we say goodbye to Dubrovnik. We loved the city but we don’t think this is one we would return to again.
At the Ploce Gate, we meet up with Marko and after about 10 minutes our driver, Dani arrives. I pay Marko 100 KN and we leave for the airport. In about 25 minutes, we arrive at the small Dubrovnik airport. I pay Dani with most of my remaining KN and I give him a tip in Euro’s.
Check-in is quick as there is a separate line for the Rome flight (Dubrovnik to Rome and then Rome to Venice on Alitalia). While technically an Alitalia flight, it is run by Air Croatia. After check-in, it is security and then duty free. We bypass duty free in search of a breakfast place which we find at one end of the row of 10-15 gates in the entire airport. We have coffee and croissants and we use the free WiFi. After eating, we have about 40 minutes until boarding, so we walk through the duty free area and buy a few things.
As with many our of European flights, when boarding happens, we board a bus which takes us out to the plane on the tarmac. After a short ride, we arrive at a small Bombadier place that has 2×2 seating and little storage. As people leave the bus to board the plane, the attendants are taking any bag larger than a back pack and “gate checking” them. As it is raining, people leave the bus as space is available on the covered walkway up to the plane. Boarding completes quickly and we are off to Rome.
Hit back button and select Venice