Darting Around Dubrovnik (Croatia Part 3)

I had a fantastic time in Croatia -- so much so that I had to create three posts, one about each city I visited. If you want to read about Zagreb or Split, please do!

I'm about a month late in posting this, but better late than never, right?

We drove from Split to Dubrovnik. Both cities are on the coast. It reminded me of driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California -- amazing sea vistas around every corner. There's even a border crossing. You go into Bosnia for a few miles, then back into Croatia. The southern bit of Croatia is essentially an island; it's not connected to the rest of the country at all. And that's the only spot where Bosnia touches the Adriatic Sea. A friend sent me this meme before I went on the trip. It still makes me laugh.

Like the other parts of Croatia, Dubrovnik is gorgeous. We'd gotten used to staying uphill from the city center in Split, but this was a whole 'nother level. My FitBit told me that it was 25 flights from the old town to our apartment. So eat up, kids -- you'll work it all off!

Here's a photo of one staircase from near the old town to the homes in the hills above. It's definitely shorter than the distance we went up, but it'll give you a bit of the idea.

Why are there no benches on the way up??

On our one full day there, we went on a day-long odyssey of gastronomical delight. We were on a very small tour (only 4 of us plus the tour guide), tasting oysters that had just been pulled from the sea, followed by wine tastings at 3 different locations.

Welcome to the oyster farm!

First up was the oysters. I personally thought it was too early in the day for raw shellfish, but what do I know? Becky loves oysters, so this was really exciting for her.

We'd seen these floating things on our way into Dubrovnik and wondered if they were oysters. Ding ding ding -- good guess! Each of these floats has a rope tied to it with something like 50 oysters on it. They're glued to the rope, back to back. This allows them to get food as it floats by, without having a lot of silt.

Mario, our sommelier tour guide, introduced us to the guy whose family owns this oyster farm. Farms are handed down through generations, so this family has been farming oysters for (I think) seven generations.

Super Strong Oyster Dude pulls up a rope and shows us his trophies.

I mentioned the oysters were fresh, right?

Each of us got 4 oysters plated up. I think one of the people paid for extras. Mario demonstrated eating an oyster using one of mine. I ate one, didn't care for it, figured I'd better give it a real chance since these are some of the best oysters to be had anywhere, and tried another. Becky inherited my last oyster, which didn't upset her at all. Pretty sure she enjoyed it much more than I would have.

Mario explained how wine pairs with foods and how wines with high acidity pair well with seafood. So in addition to eating raw shellfish, now we're drinking wine at like 10am. Vive le Day Drinking!

Your mouth might be watering at this photo. Mine really isn't.

Mario also told us that food is meant to be tasted; oysters shouldn't be swallowed whole. If you have to hold your nose and swallow it, it's not fresh enough. On that point I completely agreed with him.

On the oyster boat, we'd had two tour groups along; the other group, on a shorter tour, was led by Mario's wife. We went our separate ways; after the oysters, we headed to our first winery.

Mario told us the history of the wines in the region; apparently the Plavac Mali, a versatile grape in the area, is very similar to Zinfandel; they share the same ancestor grapes. Mario talked about different ways that the same grape can be made into wine and said there are some exciting young winemakers in Croatia. Our first stop was at Vino Vukas, a small family-owned winery with a wonderful selection of wines.

Here's a photo of us with Dubravko Vukas, the winemaker. I enjoyed his wines so much that I recently ordered a case -- great stuff!

Bravo Dubravko!

For those keeping score, we had rose wine with our oysters, and we tried five wines at Vina Vukas.

After that, things get a little fuzzy -- shocking, I know! We went to two other wineries -- a larger, more commercial one, and another family run one. We had a lovely alfresco lunch. We drove through a vineyard and looked at the grapes (look - future wine!). We took a photo of our fun little group.

Everyone is so HAPPY!

On the right and left are the couple from Allen who were with us all day. I'm in the middle, with Becky on one side and Mario (the tour guide) on the other.

Let's see: what else is Dubrovnik known for? We've covered the excellent food and wine. There's the gorgeous clear water of the Adriatic. And oh yeah, some small-budget HBO series is filmed there.

Why yes, that IS King's Landing in the background!

It's also known for its city walls, which are almost a mile long, with more stairs than you'd care to count. We had a hard time finding the way into the whole wall thing, but stairs are easy to come by in the old city.

You wanted stairs, you say? Coming right up!

And feral cats. They are everywhere.

Pardon me; do you have any Grey Poupon?

Another curiosity in Croatia: People in school crossings apparently dance their way across the road. Made us giggle every time!

May I have this crosswalk dance?

We were told that the stones in the old city are so old and worn so smooth that it appears the streets are paved with gold! That's an exaggeration, but they are remarkably smooth.

Slippery when wet!

We had a lovely (if too short) stay. Hope to see you again soon, Dubrovnik!

Sunrise over King's Landi-- I mean, Dubrovnik