I miss Croatia

This is how we started each day in Dubrovnik. We'd wake up, prepare breakfast, and lounge on the balcony. We'd sit outside watching early morning swimmers floating in the a clear blue/green Lapad Bay as we sipped our tea. It was so peaceful. Not to mention delicious. I miss that yoghurt and honey.

Lekker!

I think it's impossible not to feel relaxed in this place. We stayed at a great apartment on Lapad Bay and only a 5 minute walk from the coast. Walking around the peninsula you can find tons of quiet, tranquil, shaded swimming coves.

We had some great afternoons in this little spot. It was perfect. Swimming access, no tourists, and lots of shade. We'd read for hours, lounging around, jumping into the water periodically to stay cool, and Jaap would listen to me talk about how much I love this country.

Jaap, my little fish

And a great way to end the day...some grilled squid. I had grilled squid almost every night. It was delicious and usually only 60 kunas. (That's about 8 euros). I wish I could eat like this in the Netherlands.

I'm longing for the Adriatic, another reason why I can't stop writing Croatia posts. So many good times and memories. Maybe I can squeeze one more post out of Croatia?! I'm still clinging to summer!

Game of Thrones Tour of Dubrovnik

Part of our stay in Dubrovnik involved our own Game of Thrones tour. It's one of our favorite T.V. shows and they filmed lots of the scenes from season 2 in Dubrovnik. Jaap is now working his way through the book series. In the amount of time that he's three Game of Thrones' books, I've managed to read through only 400 pages of my Salman Rushdie book for my book club summer read!

My book worm enjoying Game of Thrones

We visited two monasteries in Old Town, walked the city walls, took a day trip to Lokrum Island, and along the way tried to piece together scenes from one of favorite T.V. shows. 

King's Landing perhaps?

On our last day in Croatia, we visited Lokrum Island. It's a tiny island off the coast and a 10 minute boat ride from Dubrovnik. Lots of locals on the early morning boat heading to Lokrum for swimming. A good travel tip if you want to escape busy Dubrovnik.

We made it to Qarth!

We walked through this former Franciscan monastery piecing together scenes from Season 2's Qarth.

More of Qarth

Lokrum Island is also a nature reserve. The botanical garden has lots of plant life from all over the world. There was hardly anybody in the garden. Nice and quiet.

lizard

Olive tree grove

Lokrum's dead sea

The only inhabitants on Lokrum Island are tons of wild peacocks

It was a beautiful and quiet day exploring this nature reserve. Next time we'll bring our swimsuits for a quick dip!

King's Landing from afar

Living the Good Life--Dubrovnik Style

This trip was full of so many magic moments. I had to pinch myself and ask Jaap, "Is this really my life?" Our evening drinks at Buza Bar in Dubrovnik was one of those times. Just when I thought Dubrovnik couldn't get better, we visited this place.

Finding Buza Bar can be challenge, in fact I'm still not 100% sure that the bar we went to is actually called Buza Bar. (We couldn't find a name anywhere.) Dubrovnik has two bars like this and our apartment manager recommended one of them to us. It's a must see. It's literally a hole in the City Wall that you walk through and it brings you to a rocky outreach, complete with tables, chairs, good music, friendly bartenders, and amazing views of the Adriatic.

Ridiculously happy

People swimming, locals fishing, and drinks with Jaap as the sun started to go down. Croatians know how to live the good life and all I could think was how lucky we are to be here and experience it with them. What a great evening!

Lokrum Island

He's so cute.

Our night at the symphony

One night in Dubrovnik we went to the symphony as part of the Summer Festival of Dubrovnik. We watched the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra perform an evening of J.S. Bach music in an open air atrium complete with a warm summer breeze. We got tickets for a performance in the Rector Palace Atrium, a Renaissance style palace in the center of Old Town. Attending concerts on vacation are becoming a tradition for us and I love the variety of performances we have seen abroad.

Before the concert we had a nice stroll down the Stradun and dinner at a Bosnian restaurant. Lots of skewered meat and grilled vegetables. Lekker eten! 

Cavtat & the Peljesac Peninsula

Driving along the Dalmatian coast is breathtaking. It reminded me of a road trip I once took from L.A. to San Francisco on California's Pacific Coast Highway. Winding roads, high cliffs, and scenic views of the water. Our way to Dubrovnik was a little slow moving coming from Split, but really...there's no other way to get there. The major interstate that goes through Croatia suddenly stops at some point close to the Bosnian border. For political and various other reasons, there is no major highway connecting the bottom portion of Dalmatia to a faster route. This allowed us to drive along the coast and even through Bosnia Herzegovina for 20 minutes. Despite the slow pace, it was a beautiful ride.

Views of Dubronik en route to Cavtat

Fresh OJ in Cavtat

Driving more in Croatia, we took two day trips from Dubrovnik to Cavtat and the Peljesac Peninsula (famous for their wine production). The drives are winding, a little slow, but filled with lots of beauty. From high cliffs on the road you can see tons of hidden beaches all along the coast.

Peninsula surrounding Cavtat

Cavtat is a quiet town. A little more upscale than quaint little Rovinj, but very cute. Even though there is not much to do in this little town the walk around the peninsula made it worth our trip. It's a shaded stroll with tons of little swimming coves. We found a nice spot for a cold drink. We sat there and stared at the Adriatic sipping our drinks for awhile. It doesn't get better than that.

Vacation :)

Jaap and his fish later on that night in the Old Town

The Great Wall of Croatia- medieval fortication

For our last day with the rental car we took a trip to the Peljesac Peninsula, just north of Dubrovnik. This area is famous for their wine production and oysters. We stopped at a few wineries to sample some Croatian wine and made a small purchase.

We found a rocky beach for some swimming in Zuljana. I wondered why there weren't many people in the water until we entered and found it quite chilly. A lot colder than swimming near our apartment in Dubrovnik. Still beautiful though. The beach is secluded and quiet. Much more relaxing than busy Dubrovnik.

Orebic

We ended our tour of Peljesac in a little town called Orebic. Orebic also had a cute little beach, but we opted to sit in a big rocking lounge chair with a mojito instead of taking a dip. Our swings offered a nice, relaxing view of the harbor and the bright blue/green water. Another magic moment with Jaap!

And the perfect ending to our day trip... Returning home to our apartment, sitting on the balcony, sipping wine with a book, and watching the sun go down. Ah...vacation!