Day 24...Goulash and City Walls

Day 24, July 8th:

LIVE from Dubrovnik, Croatia it is Globe Trottin’: SAS Style!  Today was my first day in the most beautiful country I have ever seen!  I think I found a place that I could buy a nice vacation home in a few years.  I know…SAS already has made us become world travelers and already infected us with the travel bug, which unfortunately/fortunately (depending on how you look at it) all we want to do is travel everywhere now!  I also apologize for the numerous spelling mistakes in the last update in the p.s.s. section.  Don’t judge because it was super late and I was tired as you could probably tell. 

We began the day by heading into the Old City.  Extremely tall and massive stone walls surround the Old City.  Inside the walls, there are several restaurants, shops, great views of the Adriatic Sea, places to go cliff jumping, historical sites, ice cream shops and locals playing music on the street.  It is a very unique place!  When you first approach the city, you pass through the two city walls via a wooden bridge with two guards standing post.  Once you enter, you become mesmerized by all of the stone!  Every building, sidewalk, fountain, statue, church and even the city walls are built from the same type of stone.  It is pretty amazing!  A few years ago, the city was under attack; therefore, some of the stone buildings still have pieces missing. 

At sunset, we took a walk around the entire city along the top of the city walls.  The view of the city was amazing!  While we were walking, we could even see some of the damage from the bombings that still has not been repaired.  However, that did not take away from Dubrovnik’s beauty.  The terracotta roofs lined with various types of vegetation, the countless birds flying around the city and the views of the surrounding Adriatic Sea and Croatian islands made this trip around the city astounding.  You will just have to see the pictures!  Absolutely amazing!!!!

Many of you have been wondering about the Croatian cuisine here in Dubrovnik.  Well, you got the questions and I got the answers.  For lunch, I ate at Pizzeria Mirakul with Clark and Danielle.  The three of us split two pizzas: one salami and one cheese.  It was really good! Maybe even tied with those in Italy!  For dinner, I ate at Konoba Lanterna (a local Croatian restaurant).  I had beef goulash, which consisted of beef tips in a Croatian wine sauce (called Dalmatian?) served over gnocchi.  It was extraordinarily delicious!  I really loved it!  I also indulged in the ice cream too.  They don’t have gelato here, which was pretty upsetting.  Italy spoiled us as we ate like 2-4 gelatos every day.  The ice cream here is more like flavored whip cream.  I didn’t really like it because it was just too fluffy and airy, but it was okay.  Nothing to write home about (hahaha  this is me writing to home).  The best part was the check from dinner.  The bill was 435 kunas!  Now that is only about 87 US dollars for all four of us.  Not to shabby, but it is really weird getting a bill that is sooooo high!  It took a little time to get used to that, especially when shopping.  So I hope I answered all of your food questions!  I am not starving in Croatia! 

It was a great day exploring in the city.  All of the locals are really nice and provided us with many great tips.  They also pointed us towards this little bar that is through the wall on top of the rocks over looking the water and Lokrum Island.  This place consisted of about 10 tables sitting on a ledge of the rocks with a waiter and a few beach umbrellas.  BTW it just happened to be about 80-90 feet off the ground.  The view was great!  Several SASers (not in our group) were there cliff jumping, as many of the locals do!  I couldn’t do it, but they were all having a blast. 

Well, if anyone is looking for a great vacation spot or a great gift idea for me…Dubrovnik is awesome!  What a great first day in Croatia!!!!