Some of you know Wes Grubbs, some of you don’t. Regardless, I’ve recently found out that Wes knows his stuff. He used to live in Croatia, and encouraged Michele and I over and over (and over …) to make sure that we stop here for a visit. We arrived in Dubrovnik, a beautiful, historic city in the south of Croatia yesterday morning. The city, the scenery, the surrounding coastline, and the people have all exceeded our expectations.
We got off to a bit of a rough start, trying to catch the ferry here from little known Bari, Italy. There were other ferries leaving for Albania and Montenegro … there was a huge lineup of people waiting to go through customs/immigration before leaving Italy. We waited in line for a good hour … not moving a step the entire time. With the help of an Albanian teenager, I was able to find out that we were indeed in the right line, so we kept on waiting. Michele found some other westerners (Aussies) that were also confused by the whole lineup, and we just stuck close to them. After close to two hours, with our ferry set to leave in less than 20 minutes, we all sprung to action. We grabbed our passports, showed them prominently, and loudly pushed our way in front of all of the helpless Albanians, and into the immigration line. Nobody reacted like this was wrong or out of the ordinary, and is probably something we should have done hours earlier. We made it onto the boat safe and sound, and really had no problems after that.
8 hours later, we were docked in Dubrovnik, slipped through immigration without a second look, and quickly found Nickoli, our ride. Nickoli and his family run a series of homestays/guesthouses throughout Dubrovnik … he picks everybody up at the bus station/ferry terminal/airport, drops them off at whatever house, makes sure they get a free shot of grappa (grape-based Italian/Croatian moonshine), and are otherwise taken care of. I don’t think that the guy ever sleeps, but he certainly gave us a good first impression. We have a beautiful private suite with an amazing view of the Adriatic Sea all to ourselves … air conditioned, with a small kitchen … and are probably going to stay longer than we originally expected. Things are exactly free here, but, they are cheaper than some of the other places so far. Dubrovnik also serves as a great place to do some side trips, as well as catch a bus or ferry to other coastal cities and islands. We’re pretty well set up.
Walking around the old town yesterday was pretty amazing. Less than 15 years ago, bombs were falling on the town, buildings were being destroyed daily … with the exception of a few signs of shrapnel damage on building walls, you’d never know that there had been a war here so recently. UN money helped take care of the problem pretty quickly. Nickoli told us that the population here is about 40,000 and on a busy day, another 20 – 40,000 tourists can be dropped off by visiting ferries and cruise ships. Certainly a lot of tourists here, but, for good reason.
Safe and healthy here in Croatia, and we have Wes to thank for it. Thanks Wes. You were right about the water in the public fountains too …