Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Port: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Croatia…the true highlight of Croatia is the legendary Dalmatian Coast where pristine beaches and deep blue waters merge into the cool Mediterranean. With approximately 1200 islands (only 66 are said to be inhabited), the Dalmation Coast boasts the cleanest and clearest waters in the Mediterranean region.
Dubrovnik, the “Pearl of the Adriatic”, among the most unique cities in the world, is a place of ancient streets lined with stone palaces, Venetian-style buildings and bell towers. It was recognized in 1979 as one of UnESCO’s “world heritage treasures” due to the numerous restoration projects executed over the past several centuries.
The seas were, as usual, very calm, allowing for very good sleep. After waking up and dressing, Hubby and I jogged up to Deck 12 so we could take some photos as we sailed into the Port of Gruz, going by the bridge of Franjo Tudman – very beautiful. We later learn that this bridge has opportunities for bungee jumping. Shudder. I don't think so.
The scenery is very pretty. The weather looks cloudy – with possible rain showers off in the distance. Little did we know.
After snapping some photos, we went to the Windjammer for some hot breakfast.
We could get off the ship at 10:00 – we were one of the first ones off.
Important note here: Dubrovnik requires all guests going ashore to carry a government-issued photo I.D. Well, since our passports were still confiscated, we were lucky in that we packed our Driver's Licenses, which we carried. However, at the checkpoint, we were never asked for the I.D.'s. I would still be sure to have them, though!
We had booked a 4-hour tour through www.secretdalmatia.com. I had arranged it via the Internet, and had been in communication with Alan.
Once debarking, we saw numerous shuttle buses and taxis – but we weren’t really sure where we were to meet Luka, our tour guide for the day. A man came up and asked if we needed a taxi. I told him no and showed him my typed notes regarding our tour with Luka. I had happened to type Luka’s phone number – and the man whipped out his cell phone and called Luka. He asked Luka where he was – and then the man directed us over to where Luka was – about 50 feet from where we were - what great service!
Luka: dead ringer for Brad Pitt. I had to swallow my tongue for a minute and put my eyeballs discreetly back in my face after the initial shock of seeing Luka for the first time. Hubby just rolled his eyes.
We climbed in his silver Mercedes (that was hard to do – climbing into a Mercedes – now I’m rolling MY eyes!) and first, we went to top of a mountain – which had the ruins of an old French fort built in the 1700's–
and a giant cross, built in the memory of the 150 soldiers who died in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence.
Luka tells us that the French - back in the 1700's - entered the city peacefully, promising to stay only 3 days. They ended up staying 8 years. Talk about wearing out your welcome. Yikes.
We had an awesome view of the old city – although we could REALLY see the threatening rain clouds off in the distance.
We then drove down to Old Town, where Luka parked the car and we made our way to Ploce Gate – the entrance on the east side and less crowded entrance. It has begun to rain at this point, so Hubby and I don our lovely bright blue ponchos. That's me on the gate - not looking very fashionistic at this point, but dry. And that's what matters.
This was built in 1628 and was quite beautiful. Luka walked us down the main street, also known as Stradun, or Placa. This is a pedestrian-only zone that runs from the East Gate, Ploce, to the West Gate, Pile. The street came into being in the 12th century; was paved in 1468; and was reconstructed after the devastating earthquake of 1667. The pavestones are very polished from all of the pedestrian traffic and became quite slippery as the rains began to fall that morning. Use caution when walking on this – especially if it’s wet.
Luka quickly jumped off the Stradun and onto some side streets – taking us into small shops and showing us the Croatian native costume. We learned that the hat a woman is wearing is very important: young, unmarried ladies wear one hat; old, unmarried ladies were a different hat; and married ladies – of any age – wear a white hat. Men all get to wear the same hat – regardless of age or marital status. Hmmmm….sexism, anyone?!
Luka explained that EVERY side street in the village leads to the Stradun – or Main Street – which is the lowest point in the city. The side streets are all curved slightly to protect its inhabitants from the cold winter winds that can blow through.
At this point, still in the morning, it began to rain – quite hard.
Rain continued throughout the day – off and on – until about 3:30 pm when the sun finally came out for good. And when I say rain – I mean torrential rain; lightening; loud thunder – quite the sound and light show!
One good thing that came out of the rain: we learned that by simply dumping some water on the barbarians – mixed with some thunder and lightening – they will scatter like cats. The streets quickly emptied of barbarians when the rain began, and because we had our ponchos – and thus stayed pretty dry – we virtually had the streets to ourselves. Nice.
We visited the Franciscan Monastery and Pharmacy. The Monastery dates from the 14th century, and currently houses a museum containing equipment and utensils of the 3rd-oldest functioning pharmacy in the world. There was also old relics and jewelry in this museum; it was not only interesting, it kept us dry during one of the worst parts of the storm.
We stepped outside in front of Big Onofrio’s Fountain – a 16-sided drinking fountain built by Onofrio de la Cava in the early 1400’s. The fountain is part of the town’s water supply system which Onofrio managed to create by bringing water from a well located about 60 miles away – this fountain was considered a masterpiece of construction at the time.
At this time, the storms had stopped – temporarily. We took this opportunity to go up onto the top of the City Walls.
The City Walls are sometimes the only reason tourists come to Dubrovnik – they’re simply amazing. They are among the finest and most complete in all of Europe. The protected the freedom of the Dubrovnik Republic for centuries. The surround the entire Old City with almost 6,200 feet in length and up to 75 feet in height. The complex was constructed between the 8th and 16th century and is a true sight to behold.
We crossed over the City Walls near the west gate – Pile Gate – and looked down to see an interesting sight. There were hordes of barbarians INSIDE the Old City trying to get out – because of the rain, surely
– while hordes of barbarians were outside the gate trying to get in – 
and they were at a virtual stand-off. Scary. So glad I was up high, looking down.
Because of the rain, we virtually had the walls to ourselves, which made for a very nice stroll – albeit in the rain. With our ponchos, we were dry and toasty. The walls are not very wide – I can’t imagine strolling along these on a crowded day.
The views were beautiful wherever we looked. And Luka – he was more than a pretty face. He was a wealth of information – his English was perfect and he’s a local young man who knows the area, history and culture well.
Dubrovnik experienced a catastrophic earthquake in 1667, that killed over 5,000 people and virtually leveled the entire city. Luka pointed out the earthquake damage that still remains to this day. He also pointed out numerous damage from shells and mortar blasts from the 1991 Siege.
It was beginning to rain harder (again), so Luka had us duck into Sponza Palace – one of the few buildings that has maintained its form from before the earthquake. Formerly a 16th century customs house and mint, and is now home to the historical archives of the old republic. We went into a room dedicated to the defenders killed in the 1991 Siege; it contained photographs of the victims, as well as enlarged photographs of some of the buildings destroyed during this time. The Sponza is now used for concerts, as the acoustics inside are terrific – and Mother Nature decided to demonstrate this for us by throwing a TREMENDOUSLY loud thunderbolt at us while we were inside. I think my ears are still quivering from the reverberations from that sound!
We visited St. Blaise’s Church, which is honor of Dubrovnik’s patron saint. The church was constructed between 1706 and 1714 – it was not only beautiful inside – but again, it provided us shelter against the raging storm outside. We learned that St. Blaise is the protector of throats – so, if you have a sore throat, you should say a prayer to St. Blaise. If only I had known this a few days earlier.
We stepped outside when the rain quit and found ourselves at Orlando’s Column (also known as Roland’s Column). Paladin Roland stands in the center square between the Sponza Palace and St. Blaise’s church. It honors Roland, a knight, whose forearm was the standard unit of measure used way back when – if you look at the base of the statue, you will see a line on the ground – that’s the measurement used.
It was almost 2:30 pm – and time for Luka to go. I reach into my purse to pull out our Euros – and to my dismay and panic – there is NO envelope!!!! I have no money!!! My first thought, of course, is that I was pickpocketed. Dear Hubby then sheepishly admits that the envelope was laying out in our cabin this morning and he put it back in our cabin safe – not having any idea it was the source of money for the day!
Luka is not afraid; he knows he will be paid, one way or the other. He directs us to the nearest ATM – about 10 steps away – and so we were able to pay him in Kuna (the local currency) and he was on his way. The skies are still a little drizzly –and we are hungry – so we begin making our way to the Orhan Restaurant.
I had read high recommendations of the Orhan while reading the message boards on Cruise Critic. I knew it was located at the foot of Tower Lovrjenac, and so we made our way out the West Gate (Pile Gate) and over to the Fort…down a few steps, and we had a visual of the Orhan. It was very nice, as the barbarians were all stopped at the Nautica, a restaurant right outside the Gate. The Orhan had no waiting – we were seated immediately on the outside terrace, where we had a beautiful – albeit rainy – view of the Adriatic.
We both started our meal with tomato soup – it was delicious. For our entrée, I had the seafood risotto – which was excellent. Hubby had the shrimp – his was difficult and messy to eat, so he wasn’t as happy with his lunch as I was with mine. I let him have the rest of my risotto to make him happy.
After lunch, we walked the streets and browsed in shops, delighting in the warm sunshine that had broken through.
We then decided to backtrack and headed back over to Fort Lovrjenac – a monumental fort that rises almost 120 feet high above the Sea. It changed roles in the course of history. The main purpose of the construction was defense and the main idea was to protect the freedom of Dubrovnik. It was an essential fortification to the defense of the city from both ground and sea attacks. In order to prevent possible mutiny by the commander of the fortress, the walls facing the city are only 60 cm thick compared to those exposed to enemy fire which are 36 feet thick. Above the entrance to the fortress is an inscription that says “non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro” which translates to “Freedom is not sold for all the gold in the world.”
We began climbing the stairs outside of the fort, which turned out to more difficult of a climb than we had originally thought. We eventually ran out of stairs (for awhile) and found a man sitting behind a desk inside a small room of the fort. He looked at us curiously, so I asked if we could visit the rest of the fort – and he replied, “Tomorrow.” I must have had a look of pure horror on my face – I couldn’t imagine climbing this far and not being able to go further – as he cracked up laughing, and said, “Kidding! Go on ahead.” Oh, real funny. Remind me to laugh when the oxygen returns to my lungs.
We climbed some more stairs and found ourselves on the top – and it was worth every step and every muscle ache.
At 4:45 pm, we walked to a taxi stand outside the West Gate; we wait and wait and wait; no taxi. I walked up the street a bit and saw one and hailed it down. I was pretty darn proud of myself – I’m not used to hailing down cabs, but you would have thought I was a natural! Traffic was terrible; it was not moving. We were supposed to be back onboard the ship by 5:30 pm and we were starting to cut it close; our taxi driver knew our dilemma and decided to take an alternate route, which managed to beat the traffic and got us back by 5:10 pm. Whew.
Hubby had lost his Seapass somewhere today; we have no idea where (of course, if we knew WHERE he had lost it, it wouldn’t be lost, would it?) I had brought our Drivers Licenses with us, and we use this to get Hubby back onboard the ship, where we go immediately to Guest Relations to replace his Seapass.
When we enter our Cabin, we find our “frog” towel animal sitting on the sofa, “reading” a cocktail menu from the bar. I have to laugh at the imagination of Alston, our cabin attendant. I add my old mardi gras beads to the frog to dress him up a bit.
After we had showered and headed over to the Concierge Lounge, we found out that just about everyone had had a miserable day – mainly because of the weather. Hubby and I are shocked – we had such an amazing day and really never got wet – thanks to Luka, his strategic timing, and our wonderful ponchos.
At 6:30 it is time for dinner – I had cauliflower soup to begin with and then Steak Oscar. My steak was a little dry and tough for me; I am disappointed. I suffered a severe jaw injury about 6 years ago and I cannot chew tough meat very well, so dinner was not very filling. I decide to fill up on Cappachino chocolate cake for dessert; it was good. Made up for the tough, dry steak.
After dinner, we stopped back by our room, and Alston has already been in to visit. Besides Mr. Frog, who is still reading his drink menu (great – all I need is a drunk frog), Spot (our dog from a previous night) has now returned, and is reading the Suite Amenities folder…
and we have a new animal – an elephant – on the bed. 
Both Spot and the elephant are wearing sunglasses – no matter how I try to outdo Alston with my own creativity – he always one ups me. It is now a competition to see who can be more creative when it comes to the animals. I write out a sign, “Party Animals”, and place it by the group – after I move the elephant over by Frog and Spot. If only I had a deck of cards…I’d have the animals playing poker. That would get a laugh out of Alston, I’m sure! I’ll have to ask around and see if any of my ship friends have cards. We quickly go back to the Colony Club for the Platinum/Diamond Loyalty party – free champagne, rum punch, white wine and lots of food. Groan. Just what we need, after having a huge dinner. More food. I don’t think so. The Captain comes out and talks a bit and so does the loyalty ambassador. We sit with Mark & Jackie, Kathleen and Larry; and Susan and Pete.
After the party, it is now 9:15 pm and so we head to the show – tonight was a mystery, as our Compass only advertised “Gary Lovini – a spectacular, energetic and enteraining show with a difference!” Hmmm….who is Gary Lovini? Is he a singer? Comedian? Juggler? Magician? The mystery thickens….and so we go, intrigued. I have to say – I was glad we did go. Mr. Lovini is a violinist – but he IS entertaining – and very good. He played everything – bluegrass, classical, pop, British and American classics. He received a standing ovation at the end of the show. He had done a previous show at 7:15 pm this evening.
After this show, it is now 10:45 pm – just about time for Quest. Quest is an Adults-Only game show, held in the Colony Club. No further comment from me – it is always a secret and it will stay that way. We were not going to participate – we have participated enough in previous cruises – but let’s just say my services were needed at one point – and of course, later in the cruise, we find out that I made the Cruise in Review DVD for this little bit. Geez. A lady can never have any privacy. And the only other thing I can say is, what some people will do for a Royal Caribbean key chain.
Pretty sad. We sat with Rose and Howie, who always provide comic relief when we sit with them. They were great. Tonight was a Latin Fiesta from 11:00 pm to midnight, but we were zonked – so we were back in our room at 11:30 and it was time for bed.
