It's been awhile since our last blog and our first trip to Cavtat. We have been having adventures with Mary Jo and Kevin, seeing the sights and enjoying our new friends here in Dubrovnik. One of MJ and K's first days here we climbed up to both Buzas and took in the views. They have been doing a lot of exploring on their own, discovering for themselves walls, views and museums.
Mary Jo and I also spent a day or more getting her local phone set up. She bought hers through VIP and had roughly the same experience we had with T Mobile. She patiently visited and revisited the local kiosk. She patiently fruitlessly attempted to translate the phone cues from Croatian into English and activate the SIM card. This called for a bus trip to the VIP store over in Babin Kuk. Her "experienced, local" guide tried a short cut to some private backyard and patio which led to a U-turn and a bit of rain sprinkle. All's well that ends well. The rain let up, her phone is working and is now giving English cues. We walked back and ventured into an aged cemetery which is still active. Many young men from the war are buried there in a designated area. Graves appear to be visited often as there are many fresh flowers.
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| large monuments at the cemetery entrance |
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| stone graves and monuments |
We strolled around the Cavtat peninsula again and climbed up to the Racic family mausoleum. This family of four all died in 1918 during the Spanish flu epidemic. The mausoleum and cemetery are on top of a hill and surrounded by a small cemetery. There should be some pictures of this trip to follow.
Luci and Niko, our landlords, invited us to their home (upstairs from our apartment) for a delicious dinner. We tried some homemade whiskey, walnut brandy, prosecco. We were introduced to quince preserves served with different cheeses and cured meats. Lucy made a delicious fillo dough cheese wrap. Niko grilled chicken, beef, lamb, pork and a mixed ground meat roll special to Croatia. He used his new Weber grill he had recently shipped from the US. Needless to say we had a wonderful time and learned much about Dubrovnik and their families. Niko trained here in Dubrovnik and had been a merchant sea captain sailing between Japan and California for 22 months while awaiting his US visa. They have run Adriatic Travel Inc. for 40 years in San Pedro, California and have great ideas for traveling in Europe.
Tuesday Luci and Niko invited us to Desa-Dubrovnik for the awarding of 10 scholarships to local students. The Desa-Dubrovnik organization was founded after the 1991 war by Niko's cousin, Jany, to help local women and their children remain independent, find jobs and provide many other types of support. There is a large Croatian community in San Pedro, California and many from there have connections here. Several ex-pats came to the ceremony. You can find the Deasa-Dubrovnik web site on line and a news picture of the awards ceremony. Luci, Niko and the scholarship winners are pictured on the website. (me too)
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| Luci in the atrium at Desa-Dubrovnik |
More later. MJ and Kevin just called and are at D'Vino's restaurant and asked if I wanted to join them for a late afternoon glass of wine. I'm glad their phone is working.
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That was refreshing. We had a cheese and fruit plate with figs, apricots and the most delicious spreadable blue cheese. We visited with a young software engineer from San Francisco who quit his job to backpack his way through Eastern Europe. I asked if he was blogging for his mother. Mom, if you are reading this, he's doing well. We met a couple from Williston VT who were amused that we knew the Williston Wheezers band and Andrew and Ronnell have played trombone and cymbals in their parades. We meet some of the most interesting people. And those are just the English speaking people. I keep looking for faces from Rochester. Who knows?
I have more to tell and more pictures but will stop now to post this.
Mari
Glad Mary Jo and Kevin arrived. It gives Marlene and me confidence that we can make it too. Hope you have lots of fun with them. Not sure I will be so willing to work to make phones work. I may just use your contact info if people need to reach me!!!!
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