Sapphire Waters, Grand City Walls
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Historic Dubrovnik and VIllage Life

This was another beautiful day, and we looked forward to our first official “small group” tour, which meant we would be in a smaller vehicle with fewer people and our own guide. In theory this meant a more personal tour, which we hoped would be worthwhile; after all, we had paid extra for this excursion and expected to have a good time. On top of that, the tour was to include both some time in the old city and visit to a rural home where we would enjoy a wine tasting. What could be better!?

Before I start describing our trip, I have to say something about how beautiful Dubrovnik is. The Old City is well worth a visit for any number of reasons, but the new harbor, completely out of sight of the Old City, is also beautiful. It didn’t hurt that there were a lot of smaller boats around to entertain us when we were on our balcony, or that there were some fine looking yachts to drool over. What we saw across the little bay was a new section that had some character and enough trees to look inviting. I’ve put this one on my list of places I’d return to for a longer stay.

There were only 14 of us who piled into a “people mover” and started out for the Old City. Our guide was personable and clear in her explanations and instructions. The really enjoyed the stop in the old city. That’s a fantastic place, in spite of the “game of Thrones hype and all the touristy stuff. The walls are incredibly thick—thicker than York or Chester if my memory is correct. And these are complete, with the only entrances being a west gate (which we entered) and the harbor. I’m glad we were there sort of early and apparently on a relatively slow day. It seems there were only two cruise ships stopping that day instead of the usual four. There was still some crowding actually getting through the gate.

Our walking tour concentrated on the wide main street (which surprised me it was so wide), the harbor, and the market square. Our guide was very good as she described each thing we passed, and I particularly enjoyed the harbor. By that time I was ready to stop for a water break, and there was a handy cafe right there. But—that would have to wait for later. The tour ended at the morning market, whee Judy and I wandered around a little bit. We bought some candied almonds, just so we’re have some change for tips, and Judy bought a little necklace that’s sort of a bell. This is a Roman church, and the population seems to be divided between Romans, Orthodox, and Muslim. Then we went in the Church of the Assumption, saw the Titian above the altar, and sat and gawked a bit. this was clearly a Roman Christian church because seating was provided, and there was even an organ in the rear gallery. The case is very Italian in style and more than a little Baroque in ornamentation. But there’s an inscription at the impost level that says it was built by Zanin in 1987. I’m afraid it would be a little spiky sounding. One of the side altars had silver elements instead of gold, which was quite striking because it was so unusual.

The rest of our free time Judy and I sat at a cafe and watched people passing by. I got up and walked through one narrow alley that headed up the side of the hill and was really intriguing. I could imagine Arya running through there trying to escape the Lannister thugs. That was really enjoyable and might have been the hight point of the tour. I’m probably exaggerating because our time in the Old City was good. There are many beautiful seventeenth-century buildings as well as fascinating remnants of older structures. Those walls alone are worth a visit, and I’m a little sorry I didn’t take time to walk along them. 

But the rest of the day didn’t live up to the high expectations we had after our excursion the day before. Four of our group elected to stay in the Old City rather than continue with the program for the day and I think they made a wise decision, If only ….

The ride into the countryside south of Dubrovnik started out as expected. We got out of the city and followed a road that overlooked the old town We got great views of the Old City, boats from ferries to yachts, and a lot of islands that looked like they would be great places to spend a day. We stopped for a photo op that was barely long enough, and it was almost as enticing just to look at the landscape right around us. After that stop we got into scrub land, where the most interesting things I saw were hollyhocks growing wild and cypress tree towering over everything. Really striking. The cypress trees towering over even the pines brought back memories of being in this part of the world decades ago.

At the farm house, described in our brochure as a “family owned winery,” things were a little disappointing. The structures were interesting, and I really didn’t mind being greeted with another shot of grappa. We got a short tour of some of the older portions of the place, and those included some nice antiques: an old stone olive press and an even older-looking still for making grappa stand out in my memory. We then went into a relatively new room with table set up to accommodate not only our group but also the two busloads of our fellow passengers who were following the same path we took that day. It was kind of irksome to realize that we paid an extra fee only to have the chance to ride in a smaller van with seats that were not built for someone with my generous fundament. The snacks were good, the entertainment by a couple of singers who accompanied themselves on guitar and accordion were really pretty good, and the wine was OK. The local wine is a very dark red, pretty to look at, but not outstanding in any way. But a “wine tasting” this was not. We just had some wine with a good “snack.”

The drive back to the ship gave us some great views of the Konavle Valley. Pretty flat agricultural plain between the hill we were on and the rock-strewn mountain across the way. And more hollyhocks and cypress, of course. we were back on the ship by 2:00. Judy took a nap and I went down to the Coffee Connection to write up my notes on the day. Dinner in the Compass Rose was fine, but the best part of the day came after that. We went up to the Observation Lounge again to watch the sunset. We enjoyed talking with a couple from Brooklyn and played around with trying to get a photo of the sun seeming to settle into a drink glass. 

That never did quite come out right.

Eventually it was off to bed—after taking a couple of shots of the neighborhood at night.! We were excited about waking up the next morning inn Montenegro, Nero Wolfe’s purported homeland!

Photos