1 October 2014 Update Croatia

Patient readers:

Let's get you up to date on the great adventures.
Mike added the pictures to Maggie and Nora's blog.
The Smiths arrived home safely on schedule. I understand Andy greeted them with surprises to the house which qualifies him for husband of the year including hiring an electrician, plumber, housekeeper, just to name a few. Go Andy!!

Saturday 27 Sept. was a bit gusty! We sat outside and had a delicious dinner at Porta Restaurant.

The shrimp with truffles and noodles was outstanding. MJ had fresh trout without the head/face. Kevin and Mike had chicken and steak. The Wine and Jazz Festival is held here every year. So after dinner we went to the outdoor concert to hear Jose Feliciano and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kissinger. The acoustics were amazing especially since the wind was really blowing down the street. When I say street I mean the marble block paved road flanked by hundreds years old stone buildings, with porticos and carved columns, survivors of earthquakes, infernos, bombings and tourists. Behind Jose and the stage was the Cathedral which provided a humble backdrop.

Jose with Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kissinger

Concert with light show on the Cathedral "screen"

When we first arrived in Dubrovnik I kept thinking of  Epcot at Disney World or The Bellagio in Vegas. However this place is the real thing and was the inspiration for what Disney and Vegas tried to capture.

Sunday 28 Sept. was another exceptional day.
Luci, our landlady and now good friend drove Mary Jo, Mike and me out past the airport to sightsee. We first stopped at the town of Gruda to pick up her niece, a recent college grad, who is living here volunteering for 5 months. She was visiting her grandmother and had locked her keys in the car. (been there). The five of us stopped to see Restaurant Konavoski Dvori. This is a rather large indoor/outdoor restaurant with many tables set among trees
Fresh water rushes down from the mountain in a river and some of it has been diverted through here on the way to the Adriatic. The town had used the creeks to run their grain mills in the past. These creeks and water wheels were incorporated into the outdoor seating of the restaurant and there was even a trout bed where the restaurant grew their own dinner trout. We saw a staff member come out with a net to scoop up someone's dinner.

Classy ladies room with water wheel

Back up on the road

We dropped Luci's niece (also named Luci) off at her family home so she could get her keys. Luci, MJ, Mike and I drove up to Sokol Grad a fortified city in the mountains. Patiently restored to preserve its history, it was a treasure of stone and another breathtaking view. It is worth a Google look.

Entrance to Sokol Grad, fortified city

Soldier statue with a crossbow defending the fort

View from the upper parapet at the fort

View from the top of the fort

We drove back to pick up niece Luci at her family home and she had graciously prepared tastings of grappa, rose liqueur, sage liqueurs. These were made by her uncle who has a shop in Gruda, her grandmother's town. These were very interesting. MJ's favorite was the grappa. The alcohol content is so high, it seems the grappa evaporates in your mouth. I loved the aroma and tastes of the rose and sage liqueurs. We would love to go back to the store in Gruda to purchase some to bring home for all to try. Packing wines and liqueurs in checked baggage is always a delicate matter.

Luci and her niece at the liqueur tasting

entering back of Luci's brother's house

Niece Luci in dining room of her family home
showing the back balcony with view.

This had been a wonderful day but was still not over. Luci drove us down to the coast to the town park built by the residents. It was a steep slope/cliff which had been fitted with a long staircase built into the cliff side Thestairs led down to a platform with a shelter and covered outdoor firepit. Luci's relatives and friends were already there. They had set the outdoor table and dinner was ready.
Bottles of their homemade wine were on the table.  Our hosts had prepared appetizers of salted sardines which had been previously caught, layered with salt and weighted down to preserve. These were served with olive oil, sliced raw onions and fresh bread.
The second course was a light fish bouillon with rice and bread for dipping.

going down steps to dinner

Dining table waiting for us all

another view of the dining area with column rail
All the concrete work was completed on site with materials carried down from the top.

Table with guests and covered grill in the distance

Not your ordinary wood fired grill

beautiful shoreline

This is part of the walk down to the sea.
See the steps in the foreground leading to the rocks.
The little fishing boat is the dot off to the left

The local town built all this to enjoy the cliff and seaside

Looking upwards at the rocks

The men had gone out in a boat to catch fish by net in the early morning. The fish had been cleaned and were cooking as we arrived. It is an old saying here that fish should swim three times, that is, once in the ocean, once in olive oil and once in wine. Arugula salad, fresh tomato salad, grilled vegetables (eggplant, peppers, squash) completed the main course. There was a variety of fish including our first taste of baracuda and all were delicious. Mike remarked that if I could cook fish like this, he would eat it every day. If he could catch fish like this, I would cook it everyday.

After dinner, led by Mary Jo of course, we gingerly followed the steps farther along the cliff down to the water, or rather down to boulders. Niece Luci and her cousin climbed over the rocks and went for a swim. We watched the men who had fished earlier hop from rock to rock, dive in and swim out to their boat, tow it in and carry it out ot the water to a secure place in the rocks.

We timed our ascent just right. Our hostesses had cleaned up and were preparing coffee to go with a delicious sponge cake that Luci had baked. Sponge cake is a specialty here and Luci's was perfect.
We took some pictures of all of us, thanked them all and were driven home after this master class of Croatian hospitality.
What else is there to say.

We wish everyone could have this experience.

Mari