Welcome to Dubrovnik

Yesterday we left from Gatwick and flew to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This place is gorgeous! Lots of stone buildings with terra cotta roofs, vineyards and olive trees, bougainvillea that is an intense purple, and aqua and sapphire seas: our pictures are incredible. We have an apartment just to north of the Old town Dubrovnik that overlooks an inlet where the cruise ships dock. We sat on our deck last night and finished off some wine and cheese while watching the sun set.

 Today we drove up to a little village called Ston (stone). It is on a peninsula that is part of the lower Dalmation Coast's wine region. Ston is a quaint little village that appears to be all wine, oysters, and tourism. It has, at its heart, an old, walled fort that is being restored. Much of it has existed for centuries, but it needs some upkeep. We took several pictures all around the village and the walls, then had lunch at a small family-owned restaurant. The local seafood was outstanding. And, yes, we had to try their famous oysters (excellent). It was called Maestral. It was also shady and had misters.

We then drove further up the peninsula looking for local wineries. We saw several but they were all in homes or small wayside stands. That was amusing. What we found that was really interesting was a WWII memorial to the people of the peninsula who died in the war. It was a unique memorial, but had been vandalized a few times. Hopefully the pictures of it will come out.

 Our problem since we've been here in Croatia is getting an international sim card that works for us. We got codes from AT&T before we left that supposedly allowed us to unlock our phones and put the new sim cards in. Yeah, that worked. So now we are just looking to get a cheap phone in case of emergency. The Internet at our apartment was down yesterday and we had no phone - it can be done but it's usually good to have an option. So tomorrow morning we go get a phone! And finally, tomorrow is Old Dubrovnik! I cannot wait! It's walls we're never breached in battle. Napolean won by cheating...he went in under a banner of truce and took over the city from within. And for those of my friends who watch the HBO series Game of Thrones, Dubrovnik is where they film Westeros. What a job that would be: get paid to live in Dubrovnik for part of the year and enjoy the Adriatic Sea during winter. Life could be worse.

 Hope everyone is healthy and happy. Later.