Croatia (Hrvatska!)

(and Bosnia-Herzegovina, briefly)


Monday, 3 May

Tucson to Dallas to Frankfurt to Dubrovnik - seemingly a good two days of travel.  We were looking forward to lunch at DFW Terminal D...luckily to DFW was a short flight.  I was already tired from my whirlwind LA visit to go to the "Man on the Ladder" 40th anniversary gala for Dr. Arthur C. Bartner and the USC Trojan Marching Band, 1-2 May - too short of a trip (wasn't even on the ground in LA 24 hrs!).  We killed time on the flight to DFW with Robert looking out the window ("Look! The Otero Mesa!") and reading in the airline magazine about deep vein thrombosis (hey, the older you get, the more you have to think about these things), while I'm listening to my iPod.  Glad I brought it - looked like the movie choices to Frankfurt were lousy.

Tuesday, 4 May

The 9+ hour flight to Frankfurt was uneventful, and we both managed some sleep.  Navigating the airport was a bit weird, with a mess of construction; thought we'd have to exit security to check in with the Croatia Airlines flight to Dubrovnik, but were told we could go directly to the gate.  Of course no gate information was readily available as the flight wasn't for over three hours, but an information line (Robert made the call) provided the info.  We parked ourselves near the gate, Robert went off and got coffee (McDonald's, sigh - but not bad).  We also got some euros; Croatia uses the kuna (kn), but our room in Dubrovnik was quoted in euros and only takes cash, so we got them just in case!

Our phones worked - thank you T-Mobile.

The flight to Dubrovnik was a bit delayed, we arrived after 1330 instead of 1255 local time, and with customs weren't out until nearly 1400.  Pero Carević met us at the exit and drove us back to his establishment, Villa Ragusa, pointing out sites along the way.  (It is worth noting here that we read about Pero and Villa Ragusa in Rick Steves' Eastern Europe and Croatia/Slovenia books - he says it is his favorite place to stay in Dubrovnik - looked like we'd agree!)  Villa Ragusa was just inside the Buža gate (literally, he says, "hole in the wall") near the top of a steep, precipitous flight of stairs.  From our room at the very top we had an awesome view over the Old Town of Dubrovnik.

Pero gave us some homemade grappa - yum! - and oriented us with maps and suggestions.  He was then off back to the airport to pick up another couple, while we set out on a short stroll.  The steep steps out front led down to the Stradun, the main drag of the Old Town.  We walked its short length to the Pile gate, checked out the bus we'd need Saturday to get to the main bus station (autobusni kolodvor) where in turn we'd get a bus to Split, and generally just checked out restaurants.  Neither of us were terribly hungry - Croatian Airlines even fed us from Frankfurt on the 1 hr 35 min flight! - but a "tapas" sign at a place called Tjoverna Moro caught our eye, and we enjoyed some small bites of local goodies: pršut (prosciutto), cheeses including pag (salty sheep milk cheese), ćevapčići (sausage), and a salted whole anchovy, with yummy bread.  Robert had a Slovenian dark beer (Laško) while I had plavac, a rather fruity young strong red wine served with a glass of water (shades of Nona!) for drinking.  (Plavac mali, related, is said to be the ancestor of Zinfandel.)  It was all a perfect amount of food and drink on a nice quiet cobbled side street, most enjoyable.

Needless to say we were dead tired from the travel, and were back to our room early (6pm) to collapse and, we hoped, to sleep.  But not before we identified the birds out the window - many alpine swifts and herring gulls.

Wednesday 5 May

Cinco de Mayo!  After a much-needed long sleep of over 13 hours, we awoke to the sounds of the birds calling (gulls) and the bells on a nearby bell tower ringing.  We made our way down to the Stradun to the Dubrava Bistro cafe, which Pero had recommended.  His other guests were also there - a couple from Minnesota - and he arrived shortly afterwards.  No doubt he gets some free coffee for directing his guests there.  :-)  The cafe had good chocolate croissants and bijela kava (white coffee, really a latte), and was situated on Luža Square opposite the church of Sveti Vlaho (St Blaise), and symbol of Dubrovnik.  (Sv Vlaho's statues always depict him holding the Old Town of Dubrovnik in his hand, for warning a local priest of impending hostilities by the Venetians...)  We could see a few tour groups already; Pero said only one cruise ship had docked.  It must be completely overrun here in the high season of July/August.

After our breakfast we did our walk of the city walls.  Built largely in the 13th and 14th centuries, they were quite impressive, with gorgeous views from nearly every spot.  The sweet aroma of mock orange (pittosporum) permeated the air, and you could see how the city had been damaged in the war in the early 1990's by the contrast of newer, brighter orange roof tiles against the old.  The wall, cliffs, and sea made me wonder how Pt Fermin in San Pedro CA would look with a fortified defensive wall.

Near the end of our wall circuit (~2 km, or 1.2 miles), we visited the Maritime Museum.  Dubrovnik (Ragusa) was a maritime power dating to the 16th century and earlier.  Found a Bosković in the museum (one of the paintings), a shipbuilder.  The museum was a pleasant diversion and we enjoyed seeing the maps of the region in particular.

After the Maritime Museum we finished the walk of the city wall, then strolled over to some restaurants for lunch.  We ate at Arka, a somewhat vegetarian restaurant run by an Aussie from Brisbane.  We enjoyed draft beer (local?), I had a "ragusa plate" of grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, red bell peppers), pršut, and local cheese, while Robert had a nicely garlicky mushroom risotto.

We crashed at the room for an hour or so in the afternoon, then went out for a few more sights.  Our city wall ticket included the Fort of St Lawrence, which we did in a drizzle.  The vegetation was so California!  Dusty miller and foxglove on the slopes, and pittosporum everywhere.

We then arranged for a rental care the next day, for our day trip to Mostar, and bought a Michelin map at the Tourist Information office.

We thought we'd visit the Rupe Ethnographic Museum, one of the three on our museum card, but arrived too late.  So we went instead to the Sponza Palace, taking in the Memorial Room of Dubrovnik Defenders (there was a Martinović there) and an art exhibit (Rathman) in the courtyard.

Our church viewing for the day included St. Blaise, the Cathedral (scaffolding on the dome), and the Serbian Orthodox Church.  The Cathedral was the least impressive, suffering damage in a 1979 earthquake not to mention the 1990-91 "homeland war".  I supposed the Serbs were lucky that the Croats did not demolish the Orthodox church in retaliation during the war.

We hoped to have some wine at the D'Vino Wine Bar, but they were closed, for wholly unknown reasons (meaning, we had no idea what the handwritten sign on the door said).  So we strolled a bit and settled on Oliva Pizzeria, enjoying a Dalmatian pizza (anchovy, garlic, parsley), caprese salad (tomatoes, basil, mozzarella), beer (Laško) and wine (a Malvazija).  Our waitress spoke flawless English - turned out she was born in Sarajevo, but lived in Florida for 17 years with her parents, and now they all live in Dubrovnik.

Thursday, 6 May

After breakfast at the cafe, we picked up our rental car outside the Pile gate and headed out to Mostar, in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Due to the teeny bit of BiH that gets to the coast, we had three border crossings en route, but they were painless.  The drive took about 2.5 hours, as the coastal route before turning inland was a bit winding.  Then once inland, around Metković, we came up a bit and followed the Neretva River through a beautiful valley before arriving in Mostar.

We only had about three hours to spend in Mostar given our car return requirement of 5pm (well, without a hassle), but as it turned out that was enough.  The Old Town was pretty compact and once on the cobbled street it was a short walk to the Old Bridge (Stari Most).  The original was commissioned in 1557 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, and completed in 1566.  Sad that it came down in 1993, but it was rebuilt with stone from the same quarry (!), same design, and building techniques as the original, and was completed/re-opened in 2004. 

Crossing over the bridge we took a quick look at the free photo exhibit (where I bought a blue-white "evil eye" kitschy thing, believed in Turkish culture to keep bad spirits at bay).  We continued down Coppersmiths' Street, said to be like a Turkish bazaar, but I thought rather mundane.  We quickly completed the walking tour outlined in the Rick Steves' book and had lunch at a little place called Saray near the Karađozbeg Mosque in the more "modern" part of town.  Ćevapčići with pommes frites and salad and smoky, chewy pita bread - yum!

We visited the mosque afterwards - skipped the vertiginous climb up the minaret (well, started, someone was coming down, we backed up, and that was that - the circular stone staircase was *very* tight.

We had a few Bosnian "convertible marks" (km) left to burn - change from lunch, despite paying in kuna - so bought some gelato, and some earrings, then hit the road to return to Dubrovnik.  Bought gas, but slightly miscalculated - oh well.  We managed to turn in the car right before 5 pm without finding another gas station, but the girl was gracious about it (maybe she will charge our credit card anyway?).

We debated whether to go to a concert given by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra at the Rector's Palace at 8:30pm - Robert was sleeping at 7:00pm - and it was raining again, after such a beautiful sunny day!  He woke up, though.  So we went back to Tjoverna Maro for tapas, in the rain, and then to the concert.  It was supposed to be at the Rector's Palace in the (open-air) atrium, but due to the rain was moved indoors, to the Revelin Fortress just outside the Ploče gate.  In such a small space, a stone-vaulted interior no less, the sound was marvelous!  They played two Carmen suites by Bizet, basically all the highlights, and Mendelssohn's 3rd with which we were not familiar, but was fine.

Friday 7 May

It rained very hard overnight, with much thunder and lightning.  We were convinced there had been an earthquake, too!  After about 4:00am a jolt after the rain had stopped, so not thunder.  It was later confirmed by friend Tom Mosher, who sent a report of a 3.6 quake centered 46 km SE of Mostar - so between us and Mostar - ha!

Anyway, this morning was beautiful and sunny, so after breakfast we took the short boat ride (40 kn each) to Lokrum Island, home to hiking trails, a botanic garden, a former monastery, and what was once Maximilian's summer residence, before he went to Mexico.  The clouds soon came over and we got sprinkled on a bit, but it never unloaded.  The scenery was gorgeous anyway - such blue water, rocky shoreline, and trees to the waters' edge, and the beautiful long view of Dubrovnik and the city walls on the boat return - wow.

We ate lunch at a Rick Steves' recommended vegetarian spot, Nishta - again good service.

After lunch we did a dry run of our planned Saturday morning run out to the main bus station, out at Port Gruž.  We negotiated buying the bus tickets ok, and reminded ourselves how to validate them, before squishing on to the 1B bus outside the Pile gate.  Seriously crowded - perhaps the Friday pm outbound was way busier than Saturday am?  Maybe Saturday am everyone would be inbound?  We'll see!  So we got to the station, bought our tickets (about $25 each), and caught the return bus to the Pile gate minutes before the hour validation limit was up.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent at museums.  We'd hit the Rupe Granary and Ethnographic Museum before our bus adventure, interesting place with tools, jewelry, much clothing - such embroidery...made me wonder if any of our relatives had any photos of our grandparents in such finery.

We stopped at the Franciscan Monastery Museum close to Pile - which had a peaceful cloister - and I liked the double pillars, about 60 of them, each with a different capital.  The pharmacy inside was presumably opened in 1317!  The adjoining church was actually the nicest we'd seen so far - very ornate.

We finished the afternoon at the Rector's Palace.  Despite the Rick Steves' book giving it a neutral recommendation, there was more there than expected.  Besides the "wimpy gun exhibit" (ok, true), there was much furniture, an exhibit on Dubrovnik coats of arms, and photos from the homeland war.

After a short "downtime" in the room, we went out for dinner, ~7:30 pm, returning to Oliva Pizzeria.  Yum...dinner was followed by a stroll on the Stradun and at the old port.  Fewer people about and portions of the city wall were nicely lit, as were the clock and bell towers of the churches - very nice way to end the evening.

Saturday 8 May

The sound of rain - often heavy - made for not so good sleep for either of us.  When we finally awoke it seemed to finally let up, only to start coming down again as we were dressing.  So it made for a wet and slippery walk out to the bus stop outside the Pile gate.  Robert at least had his poncho; I went with cycling jacket and hat, got somewhat wet, oh well.  It was kind of funny actually, what's a little rain anyway?  As we came out the gate the 1A bus was sitting there, empty, so we were able to get on without standing outside (no cover at the bus stop).  The bus was empty - a real contrast from the prior afternoon!

After the bus got going, it only took about 10 minutes to get to the main bus station, compared to 25 the day before.  We parked ourselves at a bistro across the street and had a good "Croatian breakfast" (as opposed to full English) of pršut, cheese, ham, and bread - with two cups each of bijela kava.

Our bus to Split left at 1000 and was an uneventful ride.  The rain and mist hindered the view somewhat.  We did talk some to two girls from Toronto who had been travelling over a month and had another month left.  Seems the were unimpressed with Montenegro, but we were not sure what they were really doing or what their focus was.

The sun (woo hoo!) finally peaked out from behind the clouds as we arrived in Split.  We went straight to a taxi to get to the Art Hotel on Ulica Sloboda - just a bit more than 1-2 km from the bus station, but farther than we wanted to walk with our luggage (even as lightly as we had packed).

After settling in we walked back to the Old Town to orient ourselves.  We walked the palm-lined promenade, the Riva, watched a huge Jadrolinija ferry come in, checked out restaurant menus.  Saw a wedding with fireworks (sparklers!) upon exit from the church.  We enjoyed a beer (Karlovačko) at a Riva cafe, then made our way to dinner after 6pm.  Yes, early...at Maslina ("olive"), an eatery more for locals but in the Steves' book on the west side.  It was tucked cozily behind another building and reached via a narrow passage, and luckily there were other early eaters.  Robert had his black cuttlefish risotto, while I had a very very rich spaghetti carbonara - comfort food, indeed.

After that, back to the hotel.  We missed the opening Giro d'Italia coverage but did see the results - Bradley Wiggins in 1st, Cadel Evans 3rd.

The hotel was expensive and not much to look at outside, but very nice inside.  The bathroom had a towel heater that wouldn't seem to turn off, but it was great for drying hand washables.  To counter the heat we turned on the AC all night and closed the window, which served to block the bit of traffic noise, just as well.

Sunday 9 May

Mothers' Day!  After a very good buffet breakfast, we set out on foot back to the harbor.  We followed the walking tour in the Rick Steves' book - and ignored a few tour offers - starting at the "front" corner of Diocletian's Palace, really the back in his day. The water would have come right up to the foundation.  Really remarkably well preserved - the palace walls essentially became the Old Town, and buildings glommed on over the centuries and extended to the west.

We visited the cellars for a small fee (25 kn each), which were interesting to see how they held up, as well as the flower show setup taking place.  We continued up and through the Peristyl.  The church of St Dominus was busy with a mass, so no entry, same for Jupiter's Temple, oh well.  Should have gone in yesterday.  I did, though, get to climb the 183 (seemed like fewer) steps up the grand bell tower of the church.  The tight, claustrophobic stone steps opened onto metal see-through steps - Robert would have hated it!  But I made it up to the most glorious views of the harbor and city.

After poking around Old Town a bit more, including the Ribarnica / fish market, we walked to the "other Riva", out west to the Matejuška Harbor. There we had the fun of seeing a lot of very small, one-person sailboats set out.  Robert jokingly called them the Croatian Armada.  We soon found they were a kids' sailing club!  "Micro-mariners", Robert then pronounced.  It was fun seeing them launch, keep themselves from capsizing, and moving along pretty smartly.

We also explored the park out past the harbor, Susvetjan (sp?) and sat a bit watching the boats, before deciding it was late enough to go to lunch without looking silly (i.e., close to 1 pm).  We opted for Konoba Varoš after checking menus there and Sperun both (both recommended in the Steves' book).  An Asian film crew - Japanese? - was filming the food inside, but not the people, was interesting.  Robert ordered the ražnjiči - which was veal not lamb? - and I had pašticada, a house specialty, basically pot roast with potato dumplings (gnocchi, but lighter) with a wonderfully rich gravy.  Karlovačko beer on tap and roasted vegetables, good bread, a very serious and polite waiter - was awesome.

Although full, we had to hit the recommended Hajduk gelateria on the way back to the hotel.  I had cherry - really good - while Robert had nutella - both dipped in chocolate, yum!

We were still full from our big lunch, so opted instead to take a short walk to a local bakery, bought a couple of spinach-looking things, and went back to the hotel.  Went down to the bar to see if any VBT folks were about, but no...not yet.  So we had a drink on the patio.  Robert tried the prošec, seemed to be plum but less strong than šlivovica, while I had orahovac (walnut brandy).

Kicking back in the room later, the movie "Quiz Show" was on - never saw it - was interesting, at least until I fell asleep.  :-)

Monday 10 May

We met up with the VBT group after breakfast, meeting the tour leaders Marko and Milan as they were loading luggage.  Both are outgoing, cheerful, and positively hugged me when I said my grandparents were from Selca, Brač!

The ferry ride took about an hour, landing us in Supetar (St Peter...San Pedro by another name!).  From there a short drive to Postire, a beautifully picturesque village on a little cove.  From our room looking over the water, the mainland seemed a stone's throw away.  The small pier area had fishing boats and nets, with stone houses with requisite green shutters lining the pier.

We strolled over to the pier to a pizzeria for lunch - very good napoletana and of course, beer.  Late afternoon we had a bike check and a short ride, first along the water, then slightly inland to the village of Dol, and to a restaurant called Stori Gušti.  The proprietor Marijo Dominis and his wife were expecting us, and had set out frittule, figs, walnuts, and a selection of homemade brandies (travarica, orahovac, and grappa - fruit unknown, they said bean like? [which we later determined to be carob]).  Was awesome, and they were so friendly!

Total ride was only 10 km, we tacked on another 3-4 by retracing the route along the pier and up to the crossroad towards Dol.

Dinner was at 6:30pm, more properly a cocktail hour, with a glass of prošec, yum. We all got to introduce ourselves - then dinner - we had grilled tuna, preceded by grilled vegetables, soup, and salad.  Nice wine, too - and the waiter was funny and teasing too.  Was a great evening with marvelous views of the pier and mainland from the restaurant.

Tuesday 11 May

"There is no variety.  Just say, 'give me sandwich'.  Whatever they give you, take it." - Milan

Our pre-ride briefing for the ride to Pučišća was typically funny - these two crack me up.  It was a bit rainy to start but the temperature was fine.  The road to Pučišća was rolling hills with a lot of switchbacks, not really terribly steep, and as Robert said we started and finished at sea level, so it was a zero-sum game.

We arrived first in a light rain and the rest soon after.  We visited the stone-cutting school, state-run, young men learning the trade and turning out some fine work from the island's limestone, from rough to beautifully polished.  I was able to buy a beautiful little polished candleholder from a shop nearby.

From there, while the group went to find lunch, Milan drove us and our bikes to Selca.  (When I told him my grandparents were from there - before I could even ask how to get there - he said, "you have to go there, we will take you".  Wow!)  We were temporarily blocked by road construction but soon got through.  We were glad for the drive as the first 7 km was a steep switchbacked uphill, then fairly gentle downhill to Selca another 11 km away.  The village was dominated by the tower of the "new" church (built 1920's-1950's) and pretty much the only flat spot in town was the church square (Stjepan Božić).  Milan dropped us off there; we went into the church but the priest (whom I'd hoped to ask to see family records) was not to be found.  We did though admire the church interior - all Brač stone - lovely!  (If we hadn't visited the stone-cutters' school, I'm not sure how much we would have appreciated the stone!)  Also the stained glass in the new church had donor names on them - saw several we recognized from San Pedro, including Nižetić, Carević, and Trutanić.

We walked around a bit but found no cemetery - had been hoping to look for tombstones with family names.  We had lunch at a small konoba on the square, mostly out of necessity to use the toilet, but enjoyed the thick pršut sandwiches and cappucini.  The waitress spoke little English but recognized my name and said there was an Ursić house around the corner.  Well it wasn't obvious, so I went into the post office - again little English - but she said there were about 20 families with the name.

We went into the "old" church last, then walked up the steep road out of the village.  Took some photos near the Selca sign then made our way back to Pučišća then Postire.  The first grade to the turnoff, 11 km, wasn't bad at all.  The steep descent though was worrisome because Robert had a bulging front tire and was concerned about a blowout, so we were very slow on the descent.  From Pučišća to Postire was rolling but not bad, again a "zero sum" game.

All in all a great time, and about a 50 km ride.

After a Croatian language lesson - simple phrases - the group split in two and went to dinner at a host home.  Our host was Sovjetka (Sophie) and her husband Mate.  Great food, fun conversation, and brandy, wine, etc.

The evening ended as we strolled back along the pier and found the other group at a local bar.  I had more orahovac while we talked and laughted with the others - great time.  Laku noč!

Wednesday 12 May

Today - after awakening to bright sun and wind - we shuttled by van to Vidova Gora, the summit of the island at about 2500 ft (780 m) with a lovely forest up top.  But the last kilometer was in the fog, so no view!  We should have had a lovely view down to Bol (where we had yet to go) and the Zlatni Rat (Golden Horn) beach.

We put on extras (at least I did) for the cold descent but were out of the fog after only about 1 km.  The long descent though was windy and a bit exciting.  Robert at one point, ahead of me, was concerned about a car behind him honking - turned out it was just Marko in the van with polite "I am behind you" warning honks.  From the bottom we headed towards Ložišća, through Bobovišća, eventually to Milna back at sea level at the 18-mile mark.  There we rode out along the harbor to the end of the road where there was a little lighthouse.  We backtracked to the center of things along the water and collected up the group for lunch at Konoba Dupini (dupini = dolphin).  There we had a lovely salad and another take on pašticada (pot roast with gnocchi).  We split a large beer for good measure. :-)

After we lunch we continued riding (not all did) out of Milna, about a 3 km climb.  I was in my lowest gear so went along ok.  At the top I told Marco, "I win!" and he said I was the girl winner.  Didn't know anyone was ahead - turned out (we found later) it was Cliff (the musician/librarian) from Connecticut.

We rolled along another 15 or so km to Supetar.  The middle option stopped there, with 10 km back to the hotel. We continued riding through Splitska - lovely, flat riding right at waters' edge with pine trees - then one short sharp uphill which Robert negotiated well, me on foot...then back!

A hot shower, once the water warmed up, never felt so good!

Late afternoon was on the patio overlooking the water with a nice Pelješac (the peninsula near Dubrovnik) red wine.  Our laundry was undoubtedly enjoying the view from the balcony.

For dinner, Milan drove several of us back to Dol, to Konoba Stori Gušti, where we had cycled to the first afternoon on the island.  We were greeted by the most amazing aroma of lamb on a rotisserie over a wood fire.  The rotisserie, by the way, was homemade with bicycle gears and a small battery-powered motor.  We were first offered rijeka - brandy - choosing from an assortment, while watching Marijo the owner quickly toast thick slices of homemade bread over the fire.  We then sat outdoors, pleasant enough temps at 7:30 pm, and were served pršut, local cheese, and yummy black olives, with the toasted bread and olive oil, and homemade plavac (red) wine in glass pitchers.  Sooooo good!

Then...the lamb!  Two big platters for 7 of us - and 2 people ate fish - of delicious lamb, so tender, with potatoes cooked "under the bell" and salad right out of the garden (Toni had seen Marijo's wife picking it just minutes before).  I can't say enough about how totally amazing the lamb was.

We all managed to pretty thoroughly finish off all of the food on the table, with copious amounts of plavac.  Then - dessert!  A marvelous orange-walnut cake which had to be just full of butter.

It started to sprinkle lightly so while waiting for Milan, we moved into the old stone dining room, and settled our bill.  130 kn (110 for food, 20 for drink) per person - and I looked at the menu - the lamb alone should have been 90 kn, and we had all the appetizers and salad and dessert - we quite definitely got a deal.

Talked briefly with Marijo, who came to pick us up, before we left.  Marko (who came to get us, not Milan) told him my grandparents were from Brač, and Marijo asked, "Stambuk?".  "No, Ursić," I said.  "Ah, Ursić," he said, "you have many relatives here." :-)

To the hotel, nearly immediately to sleep.

Thursday 13 May

"Hey guys...this way to the beach." - Marko

Today's ride was relatively short.  We were driven to Pražnice and basically went through Gornje Humac then down a long sweeping descent to Bol and the famous beach Zlatni Rat.  We had about three hours to kill before our short boat ride, a private charter, to Jelsa, Hvar.  We grabbed a big cheese burek (yum) from a bakery for only 14 kn, then some gelato and lattes, before getting on the boat.  We didn't think the sign here for ćevapčići here looked very inviting - translated as "minced meat fingers"...

Sad to leave Brač, but did manage to buy a couple more Brač stone souvenirs (candle holders) for Luci and Lee.

We arrived in Jelsa and transferred to our hotel, the Podstine, about 20 minutes away by van and a short walk.  Overlooking the beautiful private beach, we enjoyed a beer (Karlovačko, on tap) before returning to the room to catch the last hour of the 5th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Eurosport.

Our dinner was a "cooking lesson", so to speak, at a nearby home, with hosts Boris and Margreta.  Her kitchen was tiny, so she basically just told us what she was making - an octopus salad and seafood risotto. The octopus was on ice for 2-3 days, then boiled for 1 hour, then chopped, then mixed with sea salt, parsley, tomatoes, capers, and red onion, with olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing.  Awesome!  The risotto was yummy too - the flavors all coming undoubtedly from her rich fish stock.  Such a beautiful evening outdoors, with wine and grappa, and a wonderful view over the water - just marvelous.  We left thinking, where can we buy fresh octopus in Arizona?  (And all those times dad took us to the fish market, and I would see octopus and go "yuck!"...sigh.)

Friday 14 May

The weather looked threatening but Milan said, "other side of island!" so off we went.  We rode up and out of Hvar town, a steady climb of about 7 km to Brusje, then along the "spine" of the island before descending to Selca (another one!) and on down more steeply to Stari Grad. We did a short harbor loop before handing over the bikes to Marko.  There was a long option we waffled on, another 30 km, but they would not return to the hotel until close to 6pm.  So...after each having a .5 liter Karlovačko and pizza for lunch, and thus quite incapable of riding, we loaded into the van with 5-6 others and returned to the hotel.  Our driver Tihi, Marko called the "Croatian Cowboy"...no kidding...leather cowboy hat, boots, levis, big belt buckle, country music blaring Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash...ha!

We showered, visited the hot tub, and were generally "boneless chicken" (old joke) for a few hours, watching the end of the day's Giro stage (Matthew Lloyd of Australia won).  We then made the 20 minute walk into Hvar town, mostly along the water.  From the main square we hiked up the stone steps - Dubrovnik revisited! - to see the 13th century fortified wall up close, and get a good view over the city and harbor in the afternoon light.  We then strolled the Riva, went into the main square, St Stephen's Square (Trg Svetog Stjepana) and into the church itself.  Robert admired the paintings in the church were from artists whose names he didn't recognize but he found them somewhat Rubenesque.

We checked out many restaurants, and eventually settled on a restaurant up a side street called the Paladini, with a beautiful interior courtyard.  Fish was a specialty, of course, but with only two of us a whole fish was not in the cards.  Instead we had seafood carpaccio as an appetizer, with mussels, anchovies, smoked salmon over arugula with olives and tomatoes.  Then Robert had wood-grilled chicken with ajvar (the red pepper/eggplant condiment) and onions, and I had homemade noodles with *lots* of smoked mussels, octopus, and shrimp.  Wow!  In a light smoky broth - was a nice light treatment but quite a lot of food.  Robert also had a side dish of a tomato-y rice that was very good.  The waiter - also exceedingly polite - brought us grappa (anise, it seemed, this time) "on the house" after the meal. Well worth the visit!

On the way out, I finally stopped in a little shop, Soša, selling toy wooden boats.  Couldn't resist!  The lady personalized them so I had mine named Supetar!

While in the shop - turned out I had dropped a 10 kn note in the restaurant out of my pocket when we were getting tip money out.  (For some reason the credit card slips you sign here don't include a place to add a tip - so you leave it in cash if you are so inclined, and we were.)  Anyway 10 kn was dropped, less than $2, and our waiter came down the street to find me to return it.  Now would that ever happen at home?  I don't think so!

We ran into Bryan shortly after that, he had done the long option.  Indeed he got back to the hotel a little before 6pm.  He asked about restaurants so we pointed him at the Paladini.

The walk back was gorgeous - moonlight, the sound of water lapping the pier, the fortress lit up at night - definitely an evening to remember.

Saturday 15 May

Rained cats and dogs this morning, our last full cycling day.  The plan was to drive to Stari Grad, then cycle around to Jelsa, have a picnic, eventually perhaps ride back up through Selca to Brusje to Hvar (retracing the prior day's route down).  And also I hoped to get to St Sylvester's church in Jelsa and look for the priest there, Don Božo, who my cousin Michael had said was a first cousin of my dad (Zlata who used to live with Nona, was her niece - the priest was her brother - expect he would have been pretty old, as Dad himself would have been 85 this year).

Anyway, we did drive to Stari Grad, and saw poor Milan who had fixed up all the bikes for us, but it was raining so hard, we didn't even stop where he was waiting, but drove right to the little square there by the water and ran into a cafe.  We sat there inside/outside enjoying cappuccini, listening to a klapa group (Klapa Split - the same guys we saw near Diocletian's Palace).  The rain did not improve...so while Bryan went anyway (tough guy!) and four others went back to the hotel via Tihi taxi, the rest of us followed Marko's lead..."Guys?  Rain?  No problem, we arranged wine tasting for you!"  We smashed into the VBT van (9 in 6 seats!) and drove to Vrboska for a wine tasting at the Pinjata winery.  Wow!  We did pay - 55 kn each - for which they set out two full bottles each of three different wines, Bogdanjuša, Parč, both white, and Plavac Mali, a beautiful red (the ancestor of Zinfandel).  The Bogdanjuša was similar to a sauvignon blanc; the Parč similar to a muscat but done as a dry wine (but very floral).  The Plavac Mali was particularly good - we bought one bottle (only 40 kn) to bring home.

They also gave us three brandies - a travarica (herb/anise), martina (berry-like), and a prošec.  As I posted first on facebook..."one grappa, two grappa, three grappa, floor".  Robert later said that he had a degree of sobriety that I did not possess.  :-)

After that, even with the improving weather, we were in no shape to ride. The plan then became to go back to the hotel - in two vehicles this time - and have our picnic, originally set for Jelsa, there at the hotel outdoors after 3pm.

The picnic was on the hotel's top (4th) floor (reception = 3, our room = 1, restaurant ground floor).  Quite nice!  The weather was pretty decent by then so Robert, Mark (from Brooklyn) and I got our bikes (thank you, Milan!) and rode the climb up to Brusje.  Seemed a lot easier the second time.  Unfortunately it was a little windy on the descent, with a good crosswind in a few places and with the road pavement dropoff of about a foot - ugh.  But at least we got some exercise and a few last kilometers in our legs.

We had just enough time to clean up and partially pack before joining everyone for the farewell dinner. Luckily the array of hot and cold appetizers was buffet-style so it was easier to not overdo.  The dinner entrees were good; squid for Robert (way better than that one rubber squid meal in Spain) and chicken for me.

This really was a good group, and Milan and Marko were both so much fun.  One funny bit - Marko kissed Bill (from Little Rock) and his wife Karen let out such a shriek that literally all conversation in the dining room stopped dead - was pretty funny.

Too soon the evening was over...most would overnight in Split tomorrow while our plans were to fly to Zagreb and overnight there, then home.

Sunday 16 May

Aha!  The icelandic ash cloud from the E* volcano (Eijafjallalokul, or smoething like that) had just closed Irish airspace.  But the continent still appeared ok per CNN.  People at breakfast variously thought Paris and Frankfurt were closed or not flying.  We would see!

Our bags were out by 8am - Marko said they'd take them to the Art Hotel for us to keep for the afternoon, and that he'd show us where the bus to the airport departed from, to avoid the more expensive taxi ride.  (Bus about 20-30 kn each, taxi 300 kn - quite a difference.)

The ferry ride back at 11am took about two hours, but the time seemed to fly, as we fortuitously happened to have the Klapa Split group sitting in our section, and they sang nearly the entire journey.  (We hummed "In Vino Veritas" for days afterwards...)  We walked back up to the Art Hotel with Milan after arriving in Split after 1pm.  Saw our bags safely set to the side in the lobby, said our goodbyes to both Milan and Marko in their VBT area behind the hotel (wow, some 85 bikes, etc. - their entire setup).  Again, what great guys...went out of their way to get us over to Selca as well as just running a fine tour altogether.

We checked out the "suburban bus station" first which turned out to be just a few minutes from the hotel, and per the Rick Steves' book figured out which bus there would go out to the airport, for 20 kn.  We returned down to the waterfront...never did find the Croatian Airlines bus area, although we saw a sign for it directing us 100m in the direction we had just walked from...oh well.  Went to find lunch, decided on Sperun this time, went in to find several of our group there...Bill and Toni, Bill and Karen, Stephanie and Andy...they were just wrapping up.  For our last fine meal in Split, I had a black sepia pasta with salted fish sauce (couldn't see the fish - must have been anchovies etc. that disintegrate upon cooking), and Robert had a thick, baked pasta with mushrooms and tuna.  And of course more beer...and a last orahovac for me!

We walked back to the hotel, saying goodbye to the beautiful waterfront of Split.  Got our bags, took the short walk to the suburban bus station, and got on the bus headed out towards the airport.  Of the two buses per hour, we evidently took the slow bus...made every possible stop and took about an hour to get to the airport.  We had to keep an eye out since we didn't exactly know where the airport was, but Robert saw the tower about the time I saw a small sign on the road, and we just got out at the next stop.

The flight to Zagreb was short and sweet (about an hour).  We got a taxi outside the Zagreb terminal after getting our checked bags...wound up in a taxi with no meter, sigh...he charged us 120 kn ($22-24) to get to the hotel and it was only a 5 km ride. 

Monday 17 May

The last big travel day.  We had arranged for a taxi at 7:30am the previous evening.  We took our bags down to breakfast and minutes after we finished, sure enough, the taxi was waiting.  This ride was only 75 kn, so I was figuring to give the guy 80 kn - but Robert handed him the 100 kn bill I had just given him to pay, and said "hvala", the taxi driver smiled and said "hvala", and was off.  Ok, so a little bigger tip than we had planned.  On the other hand, he was on time, came from the airport to get us, etc., so...no worries.  Perhaps we made up for someone more local who wouldn't tip at all, anyway.  Or we are contributing to a well functioning tourist industry here with friendly people everywhere (none of that grumpiness that Rick Steves said was endemic and to get used to it!).  Whatever.

Our flight to Frankfurt was on time, although we did note on the board in the airport that flights to Amsterdam and London-Gatwick were flagged as "Delayed".  The flight was uneventful (and even came with more food - lowfat meals even, as that's my preference on Expedia - does American Airlines remember this, no!!!).  We had hoped for a good beer and lunch in the Frankfurt airport, but their construction made things messy, plus there really weren't much in the way of good food options there - I guess we never really had a layover there before, but would just come in and train out.  Anyway, we grabbed a sandwich and a coke, and some fruit, and that was that.  Our flight to Chicago was also on time.  (We did find it amusing that while Zagreb's board said flights were "delayed", the Germans were more blunt in tagging them as "annulliert" (cancelled).)

Chicago, customs, layover, then onto Tucson, got the car, drove home sleepily...got in the door just before midnight.

So to wrap up...what a trip.  We are both very very happy we went...and Robert spent a chunk of time on the plane reading the Rick Steves book to see what itinerary we might take next time.  Would be nice to do the Istrian peninsula, not to mention Pelješac and the wineries, go down to Montenegro...do some birding, maybe more cycling.  But everything we did on this trip was just great, from seeing the beautiful city of Dubrovnik and really getting to take it slow there and enjoy it, the day trip to Mostar, Split, and of course the beautiful islands of Brač and Hvar.  I still can't get over the aromas of citrus, lavender, sage.  I didn't connect with any family members (although cousin Michael had given me the info about the priest in Jelsa, it just didn't work out), but got to see where our grandparents were from, and that was special.  I don't know if Selca has changed a whole lot in the last 100 years at least the part we walked - save for the new church.  :-) 

Interestingly the food wasn't what I expected from growing up - I think things diverged a little bit - for the coast of course seafood was the thing.  (Although the grilled tuna we had one evening did remind me of the dinners at Teta Helen's mother Kristina's home we'd have occasionally when the fishing boats had come in.  And I'm pretty sure I have a recipe for an orange-walnut cake like we had in Dol somewhere.)

Really, really looking forward to going back!

Email exchange with Michael while there...partial...

M. Ursich  Thu, May 20, 2010 at 12:59 PM
To: Liza 
Liza,
 
Glad you had a good time.  If you're in Pedro any time, call me and I can give you some Croatian language basics.  Looking forward to the pictures.  What did you think of Selca??
I can remember my first time there.  When I was in the piazza, the people all looked like they were from Pedro, or vice versa.  There was a man sitting at a cafana who I swear was your dad's double!!!  There is a look about Selcani.  You can pick them out of a crowd very easily. 
 
Ciao,
 
Mike 
 
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 09:39:21 -0700
Subject: Re: Jelsa, no
From: Liza
To: Michael

Home again...so after the downpour was unable to get to Jelsa the next day, as we pretty much packed up with our group (the cycling tour) and headed for the ferry back to Split.  I had been thinking that Don Bozo would have to be pretty old - my dad would have been 85 this year himself...geez where does the time go?

Overall, though, great trip.  I got to Selca, and although didn't connect with anybody in person, got to see the place and get a feel for it.  Robert is already planning our next trip back to Croatia!  We loved it.  The only question is next May or next September!

We did stay just outside of Hvar town at a nice hotel about 15-20 minute walk to the waterfront, for 3 nights.  Was lovely.  I heard the snow line too - our tour leaders told us that and laughed, although apparently they did get snow one day in the last year or two.

Am starting to go through photos, should be able to work on getting some on our website this weekend.

Thanks for writing while I was there and for your help...really appreciate it.  Going to have to work on the language a little more for next time.  I did ok with the absolute basics but would be nice to know a little more.

- L.

On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 10:37 AM, M. Ursich wrote:
To let you know, Don Bozo by now has got to be well-on in years.  He may not be saying mass, but if he is still alive, he will be at that church I mentioned before, St. Sylvester.  If you do see him and he has a memory, just mention his teta Luce, our nona.  When it rains there it really pours.  Their thunderstorms are amazing sometimes.  The lightning flashes are so frequent, it's like having a strobe light on.  One time on my way there, I happened to be in an airplane trying to land in Split at the time of one of those thunderstorms.  We had to divert to Zagreb--not a pleasant experience.  Another place you may want to consider visiting is the town of Hvar.  None of these places are very far, and I'm sure buses run there often.  It's a beautiful town.  It has the oldest theater in Europe there.  They say if you are staying in Hvar and it snows(and it does, but very rarely), your room is for free.  So go there and pray for snow.
 
Ciao,
 
Mike 
 
> To: Mike
> Subject: Jelsa, no
> From: Liza
> Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 16:18:47 +0000

>
> Today did not go as planned - should have cycled to Jelsa from Stari Grad then on farther...but it rained so hard the group wound up going to a winery in Vrboska (Pinjata), then all back to the hotel. We finally got on the bikes late afternoon but only rode to Brusje and back. :-( Not sure if we can go tomorrow - depends on ferry timing to return to Split...and being Sunday with mass...hmm.
> - L.
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile