Pozdrav iz Hrvatske!
Author: Brandon (Dad)
We made it in to Dubrovnik around 8:30 am on Monday, retrieved our luggage and headed over to the rental car area where our Opel Astra Wagon was out front and waiting for us. The manager of the rental company, who I had been talking with via e-mail, is a good friend of our cousin Ivan, and is currently with Ivan in Russia following the Croatia team at the World Cup.
People are very excited about Croatia's early success at the World Cup, though they weren't too stressed about last night's game as the team had already advanced and they were playing a youthful lineup. Still got the 2-1 win over Iceland on a late goal!
Sunday should be a lot of fun as the Croatian team plays Denmark in the knockout stage.
Back to our trip... after greeting our cousin Mato at the house and having coffee with him, we pretty much laid around all Monday. Even got in a little nap. It had been a long day (3:30 am wakeup call), so we were due a restful afternoon. We grabbed some food from a nearby market for lunch, then went to a little pizza spot in the town centre (Tata Mata Pizzeria) for dinner.
One thing I've found is that my greeting of "Dobar dan!" is good enough to fool the locals in to thinking I speak Croatian. When I give them a blank stare after they rattle off something in the local language, they give me a brief look of disappointment before shifting to broken English.
We got up on Tuesday and greeted Icina, the father of Mato, Ivan, and Ana, and had a drink with him. He tried to push rakija on me, but I settled for some bubbly water. Icina speaks no English, but we were able to communicate somewhat through Google Translate. One thing he was sure to ask me about was Trump. Pretty funny.
We went over to Cavtat, a nearby seaside village, around noon, had a nice lunch and then wandered through the town. We visited a cemetery set high on the hill overlooking the town and found two Bronzan gravestones. One thing Croatians do well is situate cemeteries in gorgeous areas. The views were spectacular.
After our walk we popped in to town for a drink, watched some football, then had a fairly good pasta dinner at a local spot on the water.
While Dubrovnik is undoubtedly the biggest tourist attraction in this part of Croatia, there are many other fantastic spots, like Cavtat. Tourism certainly drives these little villages, but you don't get the cruise ships coming in, dropping off thousands of day tourists (like you do in Dubrovnik). Like Barcelona, my one complaint about Dubrovnik is "too many people". Of course, I realize that as a tourist, I'm part of the problem. It's like someone sitting in traffic complaining about the traffic.
We got home and watched some of the Croatia game, then went upstairs to greet Marija (Icina's wife). She gave us all great big hugs and kisses, then set to pulling out all kinds of food and drink. The best part was when she sat a giant plate of grilled fish in front of Tiffany.
We all tried to eat more... not just out of kindness, but because the food was incredibly good. Icina joined us after work (around 9:00) and then Vlatka, the wife of our cousin Ivan (the one in Russia). I'll supply a family tree at some point.
We all ate, drank the family's white wine, and talked about everything from kids to Croatian real estate to family gossip. I'm not sure, but I think Tiffany negotiated the purchase of a house over here. I'll have to follow up.
Oh, one other thing... there are tons of cats running around. Both in Cavtat (stray cats) and around the house. Luke discovered a bunch of tiny kittens near the side of the house and was extremely excited about it. He loves animals.
Hoping to take it easy today. Maybe a bit of a drive. It's unseasonably cool and rainy right now. Doesn't bother me much...I've been hot this entire trip, from London to San Sebastian to Barcelona.
That's enough of out of me. Until next time....
We made it in to Dubrovnik around 8:30 am on Monday, retrieved our luggage and headed over to the rental car area where our Opel Astra Wagon was out front and waiting for us. The manager of the rental company, who I had been talking with via e-mail, is a good friend of our cousin Ivan, and is currently with Ivan in Russia following the Croatia team at the World Cup.
People are very excited about Croatia's early success at the World Cup, though they weren't too stressed about last night's game as the team had already advanced and they were playing a youthful lineup. Still got the 2-1 win over Iceland on a late goal!
Sunday should be a lot of fun as the Croatian team plays Denmark in the knockout stage.
Back to our trip... after greeting our cousin Mato at the house and having coffee with him, we pretty much laid around all Monday. Even got in a little nap. It had been a long day (3:30 am wakeup call), so we were due a restful afternoon. We grabbed some food from a nearby market for lunch, then went to a little pizza spot in the town centre (Tata Mata Pizzeria) for dinner.
One thing I've found is that my greeting of "Dobar dan!" is good enough to fool the locals in to thinking I speak Croatian. When I give them a blank stare after they rattle off something in the local language, they give me a brief look of disappointment before shifting to broken English.
We got up on Tuesday and greeted Icina, the father of Mato, Ivan, and Ana, and had a drink with him. He tried to push rakija on me, but I settled for some bubbly water. Icina speaks no English, but we were able to communicate somewhat through Google Translate. One thing he was sure to ask me about was Trump. Pretty funny.
We went over to Cavtat, a nearby seaside village, around noon, had a nice lunch and then wandered through the town. We visited a cemetery set high on the hill overlooking the town and found two Bronzan gravestones. One thing Croatians do well is situate cemeteries in gorgeous areas. The views were spectacular.
After our walk we popped in to town for a drink, watched some football, then had a fairly good pasta dinner at a local spot on the water.
While Dubrovnik is undoubtedly the biggest tourist attraction in this part of Croatia, there are many other fantastic spots, like Cavtat. Tourism certainly drives these little villages, but you don't get the cruise ships coming in, dropping off thousands of day tourists (like you do in Dubrovnik). Like Barcelona, my one complaint about Dubrovnik is "too many people". Of course, I realize that as a tourist, I'm part of the problem. It's like someone sitting in traffic complaining about the traffic.
We got home and watched some of the Croatia game, then went upstairs to greet Marija (Icina's wife). She gave us all great big hugs and kisses, then set to pulling out all kinds of food and drink. The best part was when she sat a giant plate of grilled fish in front of Tiffany.
We all tried to eat more... not just out of kindness, but because the food was incredibly good. Icina joined us after work (around 9:00) and then Vlatka, the wife of our cousin Ivan (the one in Russia). I'll supply a family tree at some point.
We all ate, drank the family's white wine, and talked about everything from kids to Croatian real estate to family gossip. I'm not sure, but I think Tiffany negotiated the purchase of a house over here. I'll have to follow up.
Oh, one other thing... there are tons of cats running around. Both in Cavtat (stray cats) and around the house. Luke discovered a bunch of tiny kittens near the side of the house and was extremely excited about it. He loves animals.
Hoping to take it easy today. Maybe a bit of a drive. It's unseasonably cool and rainy right now. Doesn't bother me much...I've been hot this entire trip, from London to San Sebastian to Barcelona.
That's enough of out of me. Until next time....
I visualized the “blank stare” part in my mind and found it quite amusing, great post!
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