Day 348, Dubrovnik, Croatia
The girls woke up earlier than usual so that we could walk around the old city walls of Dubrovnik. We managed to leave at 9:30, and walked down the hundreds of stairs to the center of town. The bus tours and cruise ship groups were already out in full force.
The views from the wall are spectacular, but even more important, this is the location where Game of Thrones shoots for Kings Landing. The orange roofs of the town are quite a site from the taller parts of the wall, I hope my camera did them justice. Difficult to believe we walked the wall all morning and evening climbed the stairs to pack up the car in the early afternoon to drive to Split. Feels like a different time zone on the wall, and the hours pass quickly.
When we got to the apartment in Split, the owner was surprised to see we had five people. Paul always puts in the search engine the filter for accommodations for five people, and this situation was no different. The owner remembered that they used to have a pull-out couch but he either didn’t notify Booking.com to limit his property for four people or the Booking.com had not yet updated the property classification. He was speaking to us in Spanish. He said that because we seem like educated people, he would let us stay. I looked at us in our travel clothes, one girl doped up on Dramamine with an eye mask on her head, one kid in pajama bottoms and one kid in mismatched comfort travel clothes, and thought, if this is educated-looking, we must present as geniuses when we’re cleaned up. The girls will sleep on the king-size bed. They’ve done it before and it’s only for two nights. There’s also a couch if one of them feels crowded. It’s good for kids who are normally pampered, to have some discomfort every so often. In many parts of the world, three to a king-sized bed would be a luxury.
Split, like Dubrovnik was on the water, but had a much different feel. The people of Split are very proud. Our waiter asked where in Croatia we have been, and we told him only Dubrovnik. He asked which city was better, and we answered like good tourists not wanting to offend the proud people of any city, especially if they are the gatekeepers of food, that his city was the fairest one of all. Well, maybe in milder terms. With a few hours in Split under our belt, it’s obvious this city has a wonderful casual feel and a large open area where people congregate down by the water to talk, sit with their dogs, and children with balloons are playing. It has a community feel with a beautiful view of the water.
We had a great meal. Kier had the best creamy seafood sauce I’ve ever tasted on large macaroni noodles. Paul had a spaghetti carbonara that was also top notch. I had a Greek salad that didn’t quite live up to all the others I’ve had on the trip, but was fine. Madi had a steak, because it’s that or Spaghetti Bolognese and she was taking a break from that dish.
It was a beautiful walk back up to our apartment on the hill, less strenuous than Dubrovnik but oh so pretty. Good for the leg muscles.
