After a most excellent breakfast buffet at the Hotel Grandior in Prague on Sunday morning, we UBER'ed over to the airport for the two hour flight south to Dubrovnik, Croatia. One thing that seemed mighty strange to us at this airport is that except for the usual passport control when exiting the country, there was no security checkpoint whatsoever until you got to the gate for your flight. Then, they had the usual metal scans, X-rays, etc. and all the people to do it. Being accountants, we quickly observed that rather than having one central location (like the rest of the world's airports) they had the cost of about seventy-five machines and all the attendant people...one for each gate at the place. Head-scratcher.
As we approached Dubrovnik from the air on the southeastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, we quickly saw the beauty that we'd read about and why we chose to come here. We'll let the pics tell it best but the coastline is comprised of giant craggly mountains tumbling down to the sea and the clearest water imaginable...not a sandy bottom but pebbles and small rocks.
We again UBER'ed to our hotel...the Hotel Zagreb in a very cool area of the city. Dubrovnik has an "Old Town" district but we elected to stay a few miles away and it was a wise choice. Our hotel was an old building, beautifully restored and somewhat of the focal point of a long promenade of restaurants, bars and shops that eventually led to beaches accessing the Adriatic Sea.
We walked down to the port where we eventually would catch our ferry in a couple of days and had happy hour sitting by the sea.
There was a Mexican restaurant right across the street from our hotel so we took a break from the traditional local fare and tore into chips, salsa, and enchiladas. Very good!
Next morning, after another beautiful buffet breakfast at our current hotel we launched out to visit old town Dubrovnik via the number six bus that came right by our hotel (as advised by the hotel concierge). Total chaos...as every other tourist within a mile or so was catching the same bus to visit the old town. We felt like hogs going to slaughter as it was hot, crammed like sardines and took forever. We later learned that bus number five was the "local's" bus...went to the same places so they were obviously herding us tourist on to the number six and away from their number five. ANYWAY...we survived the cattle car to old town only to be dumped out into thousands of fellow tourists pushing and shoving their way through the old town. In addition to the oppressive heat, the only way to see the place was to walk up several hundred flights of stairs, down again and then up again. Don't get us wrong...this was a spectacular, old place rich in history and in fact is the setting for many filmings of episodes of Netflix's "Game of Thrones" series.
The old town:
Inside the city walls:
After a few hours of it we'd had enough and fought our way back to the hotel via....bus number six. Bathing suits on and a few cold beers in the backpack, we headed straight for a spot at the sea. They're called "beaches" but what they really are, are carved steps leading down to a flat rock that accesses the Adriatic. We found a spot and dove into the most refreshing clear water one could imagine. Perfect!
Found a so-so restaurant that night and ended the night with a bottle of wine and a Cuban cigar. A great first day in Croatia!
Next day, our ferry to Korcula left at 1630 so we decided to make it a laundry day. After checking out of the hotel we caught bus number five (we're locals now) and had an easy three-load washing experience at Lucy's self-serve. Funny how these laundromats are meeting places for all sorts of people just like us who are traveling the world and need to wash some clothes. Aussies, law professor from Boston U., tech guy from silicon valley....etc. Anyway, clothes all clean and UBER'ed to the ferry port for the two hour ride to Korchula, an island off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. What a beautiful place this is!
View from the laundromat...not too bad.
As we approached Dubrovnik from the air on the southeastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, we quickly saw the beauty that we'd read about and why we chose to come here. We'll let the pics tell it best but the coastline is comprised of giant craggly mountains tumbling down to the sea and the clearest water imaginable...not a sandy bottom but pebbles and small rocks.
We again UBER'ed to our hotel...the Hotel Zagreb in a very cool area of the city. Dubrovnik has an "Old Town" district but we elected to stay a few miles away and it was a wise choice. Our hotel was an old building, beautifully restored and somewhat of the focal point of a long promenade of restaurants, bars and shops that eventually led to beaches accessing the Adriatic Sea.
We walked down to the port where we eventually would catch our ferry in a couple of days and had happy hour sitting by the sea.
Next morning, after another beautiful buffet breakfast at our current hotel we launched out to visit old town Dubrovnik via the number six bus that came right by our hotel (as advised by the hotel concierge). Total chaos...as every other tourist within a mile or so was catching the same bus to visit the old town. We felt like hogs going to slaughter as it was hot, crammed like sardines and took forever. We later learned that bus number five was the "local's" bus...went to the same places so they were obviously herding us tourist on to the number six and away from their number five. ANYWAY...we survived the cattle car to old town only to be dumped out into thousands of fellow tourists pushing and shoving their way through the old town. In addition to the oppressive heat, the only way to see the place was to walk up several hundred flights of stairs, down again and then up again. Don't get us wrong...this was a spectacular, old place rich in history and in fact is the setting for many filmings of episodes of Netflix's "Game of Thrones" series.
The old town:
Inside the city walls:
Walking up one of the many stairways:
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| Someone wasn't too thrilled about this walk.... |
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| Bill |
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| Andrea |
Found a so-so restaurant that night and ended the night with a bottle of wine and a Cuban cigar. A great first day in Croatia!
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| Eating squid! |
Next day, our ferry to Korcula left at 1630 so we decided to make it a laundry day. After checking out of the hotel we caught bus number five (we're locals now) and had an easy three-load washing experience at Lucy's self-serve. Funny how these laundromats are meeting places for all sorts of people just like us who are traveling the world and need to wash some clothes. Aussies, law professor from Boston U., tech guy from silicon valley....etc. Anyway, clothes all clean and UBER'ed to the ferry port for the two hour ride to Korchula, an island off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. What a beautiful place this is!
View from the laundromat...not too bad.
