Croatia's Walled City

We made it to Dubrovnik after a rather long day of travel. It started with our early morning realization that daylight savings time started in Croatia today--who knew? My I-Phone knew! So we were already an hour behind, but that didn't matter because we were up early anyway! The drive from Hvar to Sucuraj at the eastern end of the island is an adventure in bad roads. The surface is really uneven. And at times - always when the views so temptingly drew my attention away from the next hairpin curve - the road dropped to one lane with no shoulder--always when another car is coming...

We got to the ferry in plenty of time and had breakfast at the local-ham and cheese omelet for me and cappuccino for Pat! As we sat there, half the male population of Sucuraj arrived and started pounding beers and glasses of wine and talking rather loudly; I guess it was the breakfast club! Time for the ferry to go, An uneventful crossing except this time we could see the craggy mountains of the mainland. Then for the beautiful Croatian Adriatic Coast drive. And this is a beautiful drive rivaling the California Big Sur and the Oregon coast and the Maine coast! Wow! We couldn't take pictures while driving because there WERE some others on the road, but we'll just have to keep those vistas in our memory.

The highway goes through about 10 kilometers of Bosnia, and we had to stop and show our passports - no stamps though. We noticed in Bosnia the clocks were an hour slow - no daylight savings time in Bosnia. The approach to Dubrovnik is breathtaking, and the town has grown so much since I was here in 1977. Our quarters are on the south side overlooking the old town with its lit up city walls and its impossibly steep roadways and drivers tearing along the narrow one-way streets. (Pat here--I feel like Lucy Honeychurch in "Room with a View" because we are suckers for a terrace with a view--and although this place is a bit quirky, it has its charms. The terrace gives us a view of the Old City and the famous Dubrovnik walls with the sea and all the boats nestling beneath them.)

We walked to the old town, found a lovely Bosnian restaurant and had local food, some of the best we have had yet. The Bosnians sneer at the Croatian seafood restaurants and say they all offer the same menu--while their restaurant features MEAT! At present we have hiked up the hundreds of steps, settled in on our balcony, noticed the sliver of a moon, failed to conquer the satellite TV and are thinking of an early night. More tomorrow with pictures.