Christmas Market and thunderstorms

 12/10: We spent the morning at home doing schoolwork, then went into old town mid afternoon to explore and enjoy the Christmas market lights. We lucked out with no rain! We met up with Maria - a local woman who our friends had a home dinner with a few years ago (through Airbnb).

We would have gone to her house for a meal, but at this time of year she is at her booth every day making prickle. We really enjoyed it as well as some hot mulled wine (also traditional in the season). We enjoyed talking with her, and learned she grew up here during the war.

A yummy doughnut dessert that is typical in Croatia at Christmastime. In Dubrovnik it’s called Prikle, in other parts it’s called Fritule.

Simone put our feelings into words very well - that it feels like you have stepped back in time. The old city streets and the winding brick roads with deep gutters on each side made it feel like you were walking back in the days when the city was first built.

At a locals recommended restaurant. Bob’s octopus burger (the popular item - yeesh!). Our food was underwhelming unfortunately. I think this was one of our only subpar restaurants.

We walked home (383 steps again) and finished the movie Deck the Halls - would not recommend!

12/11: Simone made an advent calendar while we were in Becici (Budva) and it starts today! It says we will play Euchre tonight!

We love her creative ways to help us celebrate each season while we're away from home!

The weather was supposed to be crummy in the morning, and better in the afternoon, but it wasn’t raining when we got up, so we decided to head to the Fort Imperial.

Great views from the top, but a storm is rolling in - we better get moving!

Last view from the top

We got home 10 minutes before a huge storm hit!

Here it comes!

We saw two water tornados over the sea - a little worrisome initially. We later learned from our host that they are relatively common and do not come onto land.

2+ inches of hail

The city covered in hail

There were a few thunderstorms throughout the afternoon - it was fun to watch them from our place.

Bob and I went to the Croatian War Museum - it did not give any background/history of the war, which was disappointing. We were hoping to see the different perspective from the war museums in Sarajevo. But, it was still educational - one piece I’ll remember is the aggressor (Serbs) can still deny the destruction/death they caused. Reminds me of how some people even today deny that some horrific events have happened.

The view from the top was lovely

The light coming through was so pretty

We stoped at a local target/pier one/world market store (Emmezeta) to buy a few hand towels and a vegetable peeler (forgot our last one in Bodrum!). We played more Sheepshead and watched the Grinch - one of my favorites!

12/12: One last walk into Old Town for Bob and me on a gorgeous day. It’s tough to spend 3 hours in the car on our drive to Split!

We found the Buza Bar that was recommended by Rick Steeves - you have to go through the wall to a bar on the side of the mountain. It was really cool - awesome in the summer we’re sure! Closed in Dec though!

We are a bit sad to leave Dubrovnik. The people were very kind and welcoming to tourists. There is a high ‘Wow!’ factor - the Old Town and scenery all around are magnificent. We found it very enchanting - and felt like we had the city to ourselves. The whole time we were on the City Wall we only saw one tour group. So…we wonder how different we would have felt if we were here in the high season, and the town was jammed with people.

It definitely seemed like the locals were enjoying their downtime and taking things slowly, as our friend Maria told us. I asked her if she gets tired of the tourists, and she said absolutely not! She said she actually misses them sometimes (granted her business relies on tourism). I asked if people were kind, and she and her husband gave an emphatic yes - which is great to hear given that they said most tourists they meet are American.

I read Dubrovnik was the most visited place in Europe in 2023, with about 25 tourists/resident. Clearly they rely on tourism, but it’s interesting how different the people treat tourists here versus other cities that also rely on tourism (ie Venice) where we felt the locals were quite rude.