Croatia Post - Five

We left Dubrovnic early, but not as early as we had planned. Getting up was rough, especially knowing that we had a really long drive ahead. Turns out it was not 350 km; it was more like 280. Still, it took six hours (including breaks) and we (fortunately) traveled down the same stretch of road we’d been down on the way to Dubrovnic. I say fortunately because we’d seen these stands with these fruits and bottles and I knew that they would make nice pictures.



Some of the bottles were filled with liquors made from local fruits, Fred guessed, but some are obviously vinegar with herbs. They are lined up one after the other on this one part of the road. We bought some fruit from the same woman who let us take snaps of her stuff – it just seemed right.


I must say that my opinion of Sibenik was a bit tainted by our experience of arriving at the hotel. After six hours in the car, all I wanted to do was lay on the bed and sleep for fifteen minutes before walking around the city. Turns out that our room was not air-conditioned. It’s like being in an airless apartment in New York City (or Texas) with no air conditioning in the middle of the summer. (I don’t mean to whine, but we’re on vacation!) So I took a sweaty nap and then we walked around.

The highlight for me was this church which has all these heads on one side. I don’t know what the heads are about, but they’re all different. We got several nice shots, check back later for the link to the full spread in the side bar. You can probably click on the picture and see them better. They were all different and pretty amazing.


We walked to the top of a (nother) fortress, which was a pain because my sandals broke and I bought some flip-flops, which are not agreeing with my feet. (I think there is a whole different set of muscles used to operate flip-flops.) Still, the view was pretty great and they have a nice harbor. It’s a pretty boat friendly city.



Other than that, it’s sort of “just another city on the Mediterranean,” (okay, I was bitter about the air conditioning) with its little streets and steps going this way and that, and everything that is hundreds of years old and looks like a postcard. It’s a tiny bit difficult to navigate. There’s a church we couldn’t find this morning.


Still, it’s one of those places that has a million shutters to take pictures of with chipped paint and old walls. Taking nice pictures is easy – great light and tons of shadows.



We arrived in Zadar today, ate lunch and decided to sit on the beach this afternoon rather than exploring another city. We’ll do that tomorrow. We’re having a great time still. I’m sort of glad the touring part of the trip is almost over. I’m looking forward to sitting and knitting and reading. I’ve managed to knit two inches on a sock, but I’ve finished This Book Will Save Your Life (can’t wait for the movie) and I’m about half way through Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. It’s so great to have someone with whom you travel well. Fred is great.