Although Croatia is an EU member (in fact, the newest one, having joined July 1 2013), it hasn't yet completely implemented the Schengen Agreement. The upshot is that at the Slovenia-Croatia border crossing, I got back-to-back passport stamps showing I left the EU on a train in Slovenia and immediately reentered in Croatia.
This was my first trip to any former Eastern Bloc countries, and I was concerned that there wouldn't be much English. It turned out to never be a problem in Prague and I was soon to learn it's not an issue in tourist spots of Croatia either. From the Zagreb main train station I readily picked up an English-speaking cab to take me to the airport. Surprisingly for a European capital city, Zagreb's airport is seriously small. Knoxville's is bigger; never mind something with multiple terminals like San Jose. It also turned out to be nearly deserted at 6pm. The flight to Dubrovnik was not until 9 (I'd booked a four hour gap, just in case of train or cab difficulties), and some earlier flights had been canceled due to weather. Luckily, the Dubrovnik flight went off fine. It was still raining when we landed. Between our landing time, the time spent trying to find and complete the car rental (hint: outside the terminal, across the parking lot), and the 20 mile drive to Dubrovnik proper, it was 1130 before I arrived at my lodging.
But then this is the view that greeted me in the morning:
The walled city of Dubrovnik was an independent republic in its time and is now one of the most southerly towns in Croatia. It's also a fantastic tourism draw: it's a beautiful place nestled between the hills and the Adriatic. It's also warm. Whereas Prague and Vienna flirted with frost, I was finally able to rock some shorts here, at least during the day.
The main draw in Dubrovnik is the Stari Grad, or Old City: the part of Dubrovnik within the walls. It's here that the King's Landing scenes in Game of Thrones were filmed. The best way to get the look of the place is by walking a mile or two around the perimeter up on the walls of the city, so for $15, that's exactly what I did. Money well spent:
Breakfast in the old town was an awesome omelet with some bruschetta-like bread and salty cheese and tomato (which was also really cheap). After coming down from the walls I found myself in a plaza with a bunch of restaurants. I was thinking of just getting some pizza by the slice, but one of the restaurants was selling sit-down pizzas that looked really good. A frutti di mare pizza that was larger than I could finish cost under $12. Food in Croatia is really cheap.
After lunch, I headed back up the hill to my room to get changed: the afternoon's plan was to do a little sea kayaking around the walls of the city, to a hidden cave, and to the island out in the middle of the bay. It wasn't cheap - almost $40 for about a three and a half hour trip - but didn't break the bank and was well worth it. The waters of the Adriatic are fantastic in Dubrovnik - the colors really must be seen to be believed, because they span the gamut of blues and greens, and shift during the day. Seeing them while on the water is even better. At the sea cave, the kayak guide pulled out some masks and snorkels, and we were able to appreciate another feature of the water: its incredible clarity. The beaches in Croatia are all rocky or gravelly rather than sandy, and as a consequence the water is super clear. After snorkeling in Hawaii and Australia, the fish population was certainly nothing amazing, but the water quality definitely was. After paddling out to Lokrum island (rumored to be cursed by monks who were evicted from the island), we turned back into shore, but first got to appreciate a sunset on the water. Must do.
Of course, kayaking shirtless at sunset is a good way to get chilled to the bone, so after running up the hill for a warm shower and a change of clothes, I was interested in finding some warming food - soup and something spicy. Tripadvisor pointed out that the "Taj Mahal" restaurant does not actually serve Indian food...it's a Bosnian restaurant! The closest fit seemed to be Nishta, a vegetarian restaurant serving a real medley of items. Among its virtues: it was close by, very highly rated, and had both soup and spicy food. Sold.
I neglected to take pictures of the first two courses -- some fried cake things and carrot-ginger soup -- because I was too busy scarfing them down. I did get a picture of my tempeh burritos, which were covered in really good sour cream, because by that point I had remembered that ordering while hungry is a terrible idea, and that I would be eating them for breakfast the next day:
No comments:
Post a Comment