26 September 2014 catch up blog

26 September 2014

Hello All

About this blog: I edited the pictures in this blog. You can teach me new tricks!

Food news:
We continue to find new restaurants and dishes to try. Black risotto colored by the ink in cuttlefish had been recommended and was a must-try. I tried the black seafood risotto in 2 restaurants. It was delicious but rather salty. I'll have to try again. On the other hand, we were served a hearty, delicious black bread this morning at breakfast. I do not know what made it black and will have to ask next time.

Visitors:
During the hike up Mt. Srd. Wednesday Maggie (10 yrs old) was kind and very protective of Mary Jo and me (bringing up the rear) and stayed behind to keep her eye on us.

Here is one of several men working on a private residence
who had to carry cement and masonry in wheelbarrows up and down many stairs

There were about 700 steps prior to the long switchback path to the top adding up to about 90 minutes hiking total.

Me bringing up the rear, hiking the switchbacks nearing the top of Mt. Srd

There were bronze plaques with the stations of the cross at the turning points of the switchbacks. You may be able to see the one behind me in the distance.
We had a lunch at the Panorama Cafe at the top with views of the mountains in Bosnia to the east, Montenegro to the Southeast, Dubrovnik to the Southwest and a number of Dalmatian islands to the West, The war museum was heartrending and changed the way we now look at the city. It is more evident to us how much damage was done. As we walk around the city now, we notice where there have been repairs to the roofs and walls. They are still rebuilding many areas as I hope you will see in the pictures.

Views from the top of Mt. Srd

Looking at Montenegro ("black mountains") in the far distance

The fort and communications tower were severely damaged

during the war and had to be repaired

Looking south on Dubrovnik

Looking North, Bosnia is on the other side of these mountains

We took the cable car down to the level of the steps. We were very proud of our adventure up the mountain and that we had missed landmines and snakes.
Wednesday evening Mary Jo and Kevin invited our landlady Luci, their landlady Doda and her son to a get-together at their apartment. We partied outside in Doda's beautiful garden and visited for several hours. Mike left early to attend a reception for the RIT Croatia Dean's List students.

Party at Antuna Masel 1, left to right are Kevin, Luci, Tae, Mari, Mike

Thursday Tae wanted to run and was concerned the crowded city would not be fun. She took a special trip to Lokrum to run the dirt path on the island in the morning while the girls, Mary Jo and Kevin ate al fresco at Posat restaurant. The Game of Thrones production crew had rented the entire parking lot adjacent to the restaurant for their trucks and unloaded gear while they were eating. Security guards were on patrol. Google Game of Thrones Dubrovnik if you would like to see them filming the King's landing segments in town.

Prop wagon load

readying set for Game of Thrones behind barricade fence

A few of the Thrones production trucks

This morning Tae, Maggie and Nora took off for home. The girls missed their dad and their guinea pigs. It was hard for Nora to leave the ice cream shops behind. We will miss them. They were full of energy and saw things with their young eyes that we would have overlooked.
Mike and I just got back from the concert at the Rector's Palace. Tonight was a group of 5 musicians and a jester all in costumes playing medieval music on medieval instruments. The program was The Magic Compass. The music started out with ditties by Dubrovnik composers and took us on a path to Italy, France, Holland, England. We apparently ended up with both a broken compass and a broken clock and heard an arrangement of "Take Five" played on the quaint instruments. It was fantastic.