July 6: Dubrovnik to Split

This morning I woke up around 5 and started packing as quietly as I could so I didn't wake up the kids. Eventually Maddy woke up and then she woke LB up at about 6:20, just in time to head down for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the room to finish packing and then around 8:15 we went to the lobby to check out and get on the bus and leave for Split. Driving north on the Adriatic coast was absolutely stunning, winding around sea cliffs and dropping down past towns situated along calm sapphire bays were truly sights to behold.

Looking Back at Our Hotel

Ivan told us earlier in the trip that the southern part of Croatia didn't have any big highways because of how close the sea is to the Bosnia and Herzegovina border, leaving no room for Croatia to construct a road. This geographic conundrum forces everyone to take the sea road, which is definitely to the benefit of us tourists. We had arranged with Ivan to make a stop about one third of the way to Split in a small town called Ston.

A Random Street in Ston

Ston is located at the beginning of the Pelješac peninsula, which happens to be the narrowest part of the peninsula, which was a perfect place to build a wall that was meant to protect against any Venetian attacks. The town also has been a significant producer of salt since those times as well.

The Salt Pans of Ston

Nowadays Ston is also known for producing very high quality oysters in the brackish waters of Ston Bay. Nemanja parked the bus and when we got out the parking lot had an olive press just sitting there. It also had a small area where there were Roman numerals painted and then numbers painted around them. Ivan showed us that if you stood on the Roman numeral that corresponded to the current month your shadow points to the time, so it is a human sundial. They even had numbers painted for daylight savings time.

Testing the Human Sundial

After the parking lot Ivan took us over to the salt production area and showed us the salt pans, where I eventually bought some fleur de sel to take home. Ivan had some unused tickets for entry into the city walls so Vaughn, Charlene, Paul, Andrea, Julie, Wyatt, Cedric and Evan all walked around the city walls.

Walking the Walls of Ston

In the meantime Ivan took the rest of us to a restaurant that was owned by someone who also owned an oyster farm, so that we could try the famous Mali Ston oysters. The restaurant was named Baća, and it had a large outdoor patio shaded by an old mulberry tree. LB, Christal and I all ordered 3 oysters on the half shell and Yeh-yeh, Ni-ni, Brian, Lindsey, Kelsey and Megan ordered two orders of the oyster flower, which had 3 raw oysters, 3 grilled oysters and 3 fried oysters.

Oysters on the Half Shell

The brininess of these oysters seemed like it was lighter than other oysters I've had and they had a meatier texture to them as well. LB really enjoyed them and told Uncle Brian they are definitely one of his favorite oysters that he's tried.

The Oyster Flower

The hikers had already finished walking the wall before we got our oysters, so once we finished we got back on the bus and drove the rest of the way to Split. Shortly after Ston we got on a newer highway that slowed us to travel a little faster and in some parts it wound around some hillside vineyards that supposedly produce world class wines using a local grape called plavac mali, which is like an older brother to Zinfandel.

A Plavac Mali Vineyard

We arrived in Split a little after 1pm and luckily the hotel pretty much had all our rooms ready, so we dropped off luggage and got settled and then met in the lobby. The group decided they wanted to get lunch and browse around the mall so we got Ubers and went to the Mall of Split. The food court had a decent variety of food and I got a meat burek from a place called "The Burek." Burek is a traditional filled pastry pie in Croatia and this one was pretty tasty, especially for a mall food court.

Beef Burek

Once we finished eating everyone kind of dispersed to wander the mall and shop until we got picked up by Nemanja at 5pm to go for a tour of old town Split.

A local tour guide named Saša joined us to give us a tour of old town Split, which is mainly made up of the former Roman emperor Diocletian's palace. Diocletian was the only Roman emperor to retire and he built his palace in Split because it was near his birthplace and childhood home. We started out touring the substructure of the palace which was along the south side and butted up against the sea when it was built. Game of Thrones actually used the substructure as Khaleesi's dragon lair, which was kind of cool.

The Dragon's Lair

After the substructure Saša took us up to the main square where the two main roads through the palace met and on one side of the square was Diocletian's mausoleum and on the other was the temple of Jupiter, who was supposed to be Diocletian's father.

Looking Up in the Main Square

After the main square we toured around the rest of the palace, which by now has become a mixture of buildings up until it became a UNESCO site and now no new construction is allowed, just restoration work.

They Blocked Traffic

Then we went to see the north gate, which was the main entrance to the palace, and then the west gate, where there was a 24 hour clock that was very unique, before making our way back to the promenade where Saša and Ivan left us for the night.

All the Cousins Except Maddy

From the promenade we walked up to the Marjan viewpoint, that Sasha had pointed out before, to get a good look at the city and take a bunch of pictures.

Split from the Marjan Viewpoint

By this point Maddy had woken up and was really wanting ice cream so we walked back down towards the city and found a little shop called Luigi's that was very good. I had the splitzka rožata flavor which was inspired by a traditional Croatian dessert that is similar to creme caramel, and it was delicious. After that our kids were getting tired so we ordered some takeout and got an Uber with Yeh-yeh and Ni-ni back to the hotel for the night.

Splitzka Rožata

July 5: Dubrovnik Day 3

This morning LB woke me up at 4 and then Maddy woke up about 4:30. After the sun had come out, Maddy looked out the window and noticed Auntie Julie outside our balcony working out and announced it loudly to all of us. She and LB went outside to watch and Maddy ended up watching like a creeper for quite a while.

Maddy the Creeper

Eventually the four of us headed down to breakfast at 6:30, when they opened. Most of the options were pretty much the same as yesterday and LB enjoyed the crispy vegetable patties and the doughnuts. When we were done with breakfast we went back to the room to relax for about an hour before we met Ivan in the lobby to go to Dubrovnik old town.

The View From Breakfast

Vaughn, Charlene, Brian, Julie and Andrea all decided to walk to the old town and met the rest of us where the bus would drop us off. Most of the rest of the group was able to make it to the lobby on time, but Lana was nowhere to be seen and none of the cousins were able to contact her. Eventually Paul went to her room and pounded on her door, but still no answer. Luckily there was a housecleaner nearby who was able to open the door and Paul said Lana was still asleep with her earplugs in and eye mask on, so he told us to go ahead and they would catch us in the old town. We probably ended up leaving close to 9am and met up with the walking group right where Ivan had planned, just outside the east gate for old town Dubrovnik.

Entering the Old City

We started off walking up on the city walls, which gave us an amazing vantage of the whole city. Ivan planned on just taking us around half the city walls because it was pretty hot and we were fully exposed on top of the walls, so we ended up walking the northern half of the wall.

Touristing

When we came down from the walls we were at the end of the main street right next to a big water fountain, called Velika Onofrijeva Fontana, where we were all able to refill our water bottles, wet our hats and my dad soaked his shirt to cool off. Then Ivan gave us a quick tour of the old town before he left us to check on our kayak tour later.

Evan & the Velika Onofrijeva Fontana

After Ivan left us we went to a gelato store because Maddy had been asking for ice cream as soon as we came down from the city walls. We went to a shop on the main street called Mostro Gelato. They had a lot of unique flavors including Dubai chocolate, but both LB and I opted to copy my dad and get mango coconut which was refreshing and rich at the same time.

King's Landing?

After the gelato we went to a few souvenir shops and then looked for a restaurant that I had bookmarked since some people were hungry. The restaurant, Taj Mahal, couldn't sit everyone that came to eat, so Charlene and all the boys went to a pizza place right next door, while Yeh-yeh, Ni-ni, Brian, Julie, Andrea, Christal, Lindsey, Lana, Kelsey, Megan, Maddy and I all stayed. Taj Mahal is a Bosnian restaurant that specializes in meat and they also have a butcher shop in Dubrovnik. We ordered cevapi and a two dish traditional experienced, which we chose sarma, cabbage and grape leaves stuffed with beef and rice, and hadžijski ćevap, which was a stew of slow cooked beef, vegetables and kajmak or cream. The cevapi was the best we've had so far because it had a deep char flavor and you could tell the meat was of a higher quality.

Ćevapi

The sarma was served on a bed of mashed potatoes with some of the braising liquid over the top. The rice was perfectly cooked and tender and the minced beef was nice and rich.

Sarma

The hadžijski ćevap had a nice variety of vegetables including eggplant, zucchini and carrots and the beef was braised nicely to the point where it was almost falling apart in the rich tomato based braising liquid.

Hadžijski Ćevap

After we finished lunch we headed back to the hotel by way of the public bus, which was very easy because the first stop was the old town and the last stop was our hotel. Back at the hotel LB went with Wyatt and Cedric to take a nap while we took Maddy to swim with the rest of the cousins.

Nap Time

After we were done swimming we got LB from Wyatt and Cedric's room and brought him down to our room. He was able to stay asleep until I woke him at 4:30 so that we could meet in the lobby at 4:45 to go on our kayak tour.

For the kayak tour we had an odd number of people and LB wanted to go with Wyatt so I was in a kayak by myself. Unfortunately Maddy couldn't come so she and Christal hung out in the old town and waited for us.

No Kayaking Means More Gelato!

Our guides, Eugene and Marco, took us around Lokrum island, which is the closest island to old town Dubrovnik, making multiple stops along the way. Most of the stops were for rest and to tell us the history of the island and some stops we were able to get out of the kayaks and swim or jump off some cliffs, some of which were pretty high.

Geronimo!

Towards the end of our circumnavigation of the island they took us to a small cave and had us swim inside, dive down and look out the cave towards the sun and the water was a vibrant turquoise blue. After the cave we got back in our kayaks and headed out into some open water to sit and watch the sunset.

The Flotilla

Once the sun set we headed back to the beach to return the kayaks and equipment. Maddy and Christal were waiting for us as we got back and then we all got on the public bus, which was really crowded, and rode back to the hotel in our wet clothes. By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 9pm, so we decided not to go back into the old town for dinner and just eat at the restaurant at the hotel, Restaurant Zoë to celebrate Brian's birthday. We all went and either took quick showers or just rinsed off and then met in the lobby before walking down to the restaurant.

Is That Daniel-San?

The food was Mediterranean with local influence and it turned out to be much better than I had expected and not too expensive. Christal and I shared a sea bass carpaccio starter that was served on a bed of arugula and dressed with olive oil, orange and lemon. It was nice and light and the sea bass was very fresh.

Sea Bass Carpaccio

LB ordered Istrian fuži, which is a local pasta, with a truffle sauce made with butter, fresh black truffle and Grana Padano cheese. LB loved it and ate most of it before getting full and letting us polish off the rest.

Istrian Fuži

Christal ordered the fish soup because she knew Maddy would like it. It was nice and light with a little bit of rice, lemon and parsley to help boost the flavor of the fish.

Fish Soup

I ordered the crni rižoto, or black risotto, which was obviously risotto but with cuttlefish ink and pieces of cuttlefish that turned the whole dish black. It was very good with the cuttlefish pieces cooked perfectly so that they were really tender with no rubberiness or chewiness at all. For the most part the rice was cooked well with just a few grains here and there being slightly under, but the dish was not too viscous so it had a pleasant mouth feel. After we finished dinner we all headed back to our rooms and went to bed.

Crni Rižoto

July 4: Dubrovnik to Kotor, Montenegro & Back

This morning I woke up a little bit before 4am, but luckily I was able to go back to sleep until Maddy woke me up around 4:45. LB was able to sleep a little bit more and woke up a little after 5. They were both hungry so they ate the leftovers from Pivnica Dubrava, which was the mixed grill with french fries. Luckily they didn't completely ruin their appetites since we headed down to the hotel breakfast at 6:30. The breakfast had a lot of different options and my favorites were the potato and Swiss chard patties, baguettes with different cheeses, and the sour cherry juice.

After breakfast we went back to the room for a quick bathroom break and to grab our things and then meet everyone in the lobby at 7:30. Ivan was waiting for us there and we all hopped on the bus and started driving south to the Montenegrin border. Because Montenegro is not yet a part of the EU it took a little bit longer to get through the border patrol, but it still only took about 20 minutes or so. Once we entered Montenegro, Nemanja, our bus driver, drove us around the perimeter of Kotor Bay to a small town called Perast. Along the way the bay was studded with small mussel and oyster farms everywhere and people swimming and playing in the bay wherever they could access the shoreline.

When we got to Perast we unloaded from the bus and met up with our Montenegrin tour guide, Sonja. She took us into the town to catch a short ferry out to a small island that had a catholic church on it.

Catching the Ferry

The church was called Our Lady of the Rocks and the island it is on was man-made sometime in the 1400's. After Sonja had given us a thorough tour of the church and museum we took the ferry back into Perast and got back on the bus to drive to the town of Kotor.

Our Lady of the Rocks

Kotor is located at the very back of the volcanic fjord that houses the bay of Kotor. When we arrived, Nemanja dropped us off just outside the city walls and we walked to the main gate. After entering Kotor,  Sonja gave us a tour through the city that focused on the 5 squares within the city.

Kotor's City Walls

Each square had some sort of old palace and the main square even had a shame pillar under the clock tower where they would publicly shame people who had done stupid things.

Kelsey & the Obelisk of Shame

After we finished the walking tour Sonja showed us her favorite restaurant in town and said goodbye and luckily they had room for our entire party. Christal, Maddy and I were at our own table and we ordered grilled sea bream and a shrimp tagliatelle.

Grilled Sea Bream

The grilled fish was exceptional and it came with a sauce that was similar to a salsa verde, but with less acid and more garlic. The shrimp pasta was very good as well and had a white wine and tomato sauce.

Shrimp Pasta

After we finished lunch we walked around town looking at souvenir shops and going to the atm to get euros. Maddy even found a mermaid souvenir that might be her new best friend. Once we had wandered for about half an hour it was time to walk out of the city and meet Nemanja and Ivan back at the bus where we had been dropped off. From Kotor we drove back to the border and then back to our hotel in Dubrovnik.

Back in Croatia

I think pretty much all of us took at least a little nap on the drive back. When we got back to the hotel we all got changed into our swimming gear and headed down to the beach to cool off in the water. Today we jumped off some of the rocks into the sea and Maddy swam in the little pool by the beach.

Cooling Off in the Adriatic Again

When we were done swimming we all headed back to our rooms and got changed for dinner. Our dinner was at the hotel in the restaurant where we had breakfast and it was a buffet with lots of local foods like beef pasticada, fish soup and plenty of seafood. LB was so tired that he hardly ate anything and fell asleep at the table. Once we finished dinner we headed back up to the room and got ready for bed.

July 2-3: Sacramento to Dubrovnik

We had to leave the house at 2am Wednesday morning so I went ahead and stayed up all night. Apparently so did Megan and Lindsey, since they all are flying on the same itinerary as us. Our flights from Sacramento to Denver and Denver to Newark went pretty smooth, but we had a very tight layover in Newark. By the time our plane parked at the gate we had about 30 minutes until our flight to Dubrovnik was scheduled to leave and we had to go to a gate two terminals away. Luckily there were other people from our first flight that had to make the second flight and another connection that was also late, so they held our plane and we were able to make it with minimal sprinting. We had a tailwind for the flight to Dubrovnik so even though we left Newark late we were still able to arrive on time around 8am Thursday morning.

First Look at Croatia

The passport control and customs lines moved pretty quickly and we were able to get through and meet our tour guide, Ivan, who then showed us to our tour bus, which we will have for the whole trip. Ivan will stay with us throughout the Croatia part of the trip. Once we loaded up into the bus they took us over to the hotel, which is located on the Lapad peninsula, just west of old town Dubrovnik.

When we arrived at hotel Neptune we checked in at the front desk, but it was before 10am and our rooms weren't ready yet, so we left our bags at the front desk and walked around the promenade that Ivan had pointed out on our ride to the hotel. It was a very pleasant walk that followed the coast for a good while before going into town where it became surrounded by lots of restaurants and eateries. Everyone was getting hot and hungry by the time we got to the end of the promenade so we went to a grocery store that was a block or two away to get some snacks and drinks.

Along the Promenade

After the grocery store the kids still wanted a real meal so we walked back to the promenade to one of the few restaurants that was serving lunch food, versus breakfast, called Mamma Mia. I ordered the cevapi, which are small minced sausages that are grilled and served with fries and ajvar, a sweet pepper and eggplant dip, LB ordered a kids spaghetti bolognese and Christal ordered a pizza Margherita for herself and Maddy. The cevapi had good flavor, but they were a little tough, which I thought was a little bit odd for ground meat, but the ajvar sauce that went with it was pretty good, and the fries were quite crispy and fluffy. LB's spaghetti bolognese was a little sweeter than what I'm used to, but it was still not bad, and I was too full to try the pizza, but Kelsey and Lindsey said that the pizza they got was good.

Cevapi w Fries & Ajvar

After finishing lunch we walked back on the promenade and stopped at a gelato stand. Surprisingly, only Megan and I ordered something. She got cappuccino gelato and I got strawberry sorbetto that I shared with Mads. When we got back to the hotel we all grabbed our swimsuits and changed so that we could cool off in the Adriatic. Our hotel was made up of several different "hotels" with different names that were all under the same resort name and directly down from our hotel were several of their pools and some rocky shoreline where the hotel had installed some small concrete platforms to help people get into the ocean. We all jumped into the Adriatic and swam around for a while, even Maddy came in and was having a ball. The temperature was probably high 70's, so it was perfectly refreshing after all the walking in the hot sun. After swimming in the sea we all transitioned to the pools, which were filled with salt water, and hung out there for a little bit before we got a text from Charlene that said their rooms were ready. Christal and I packed up the kids and we went up to get our room keys a little earlier than expected and then settled into our room.

Someone's Ready to Swim!

Once we were in our room we showered, did some laundry, brushed our teeth and then took naps until about 5:40. We made our way up to the lobby drowsily and met up with everyone in our group as well as Ivan, who walked us over to the restaurant for dinner. On the walk to the restaurant Ivan pointed out some trees that had lots of pods growing on them and said they were carob trees, which both Christal and I found really cool.

Unripe Carob Pods

We ate at a restaurant called Pivnica Dubrava, and Auntie Shirley had already arranged a fixed menu for us and we had each selected what we wanted. We all started with a vegetable soup and a beef soup, both of which were served with some homemade bread. The vegetable soup was pureed and had a thicker consistency and was quite flavorful. The beef soup was delicious and had small, bite sized chunks of tender braised beef with some thin noodles in a very clear broth that was almost like a consommé. Both soups were a solid start to the meal.

Beef Soup

For our main course we had a choice between a mixed grill, that they called a "Dubrava" grill, and vegetarian risotto. The "Dubrava" grill came with burger, cevapcici, sausage and a pork chop. Auntie Shirley had also arranged for there to be an option that was without pork which included grilled chicken and a small steak that had a parsley-garlic butter on it instead of the pork chop and sausage. Both options were served with fries and both were really delicious and way too big for me to finish, and poor LB was still so tired that he basically slept through the whole meal and we had to take his mixed grill to go. The ajvar that came with our mixed grills was really good and a lot better than the ajvar that came with my lunch.

Dubrava Grill

The vegetarian risotto was pretty good and seemed to be more well cooked with a better texture than the vegetable risotto that Brian had ordered at lunch. The main course was served with some salad that we dressed with some house olive oil and vinegar.

Vegetable Risotto

For dessert we had fruit salad and apple strudel. The fruit salad was a bit basic with grapes, apple, orange and apricot. The apple strudel was really good and the apple filling was made with grated apples and orange zest, which created a unique texture that I'm not used to in a strudel, and served over a generous amount of crème anglaise.

Apple Strudel

Once we finished dinner we said good night to Ivan and walked back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel it was about a half an hour until sunset so those of us that weren't ready for bed (Yeh-Yeh, me, Brian, Julie, Lindsey Kelsey, Megan, Paul, Andrea and Lana) went down to the shoreline to take some sunset pictures.

After that we headed back to our rooms and went to bed for the night.

Night Night