The Awesome Adriatic

 We've completed 2 awesome days in the Adriatic.  First up was Kotor, Montenegro.  This was at least the third time we've been there and I've climbed up to the ruins of the castle a couple of times before, but Linda had only made it up to the chapel that is about half way up.  This time she was determined to do it and she did!  In the photo, you can see the chapel and the flag indicating the top which is 260 meters above the city.

I should back up a step before I continue about the climb.  The sail into Kotor is one of the most picturesque.  The weather forecast for the day was not good with anticipated rain.  When we got up and looked out we saw that we were, in fact, once again blessed with good weather so we were able to watch the sail in from our veranda.

Now, for the climb.  You walk through the nice old town of Kotor to get to the path up to the castle.  Then the work begins as you encounter stones and rough steps which can be treacherous in the rain.  When we told GM Thierry that we planned to climb up he was quite concerned for our safety but we ensured him that we would be careful.  Fortunately, the rain held off all day.  The effort was slow going but reaching the top made it worth it. 

The walk down was almost as challenging as it taxed these old knees!  The reward was a coffee for Linda and a big beer for me.

Next up was Dubrovnik, Croatia.  We've been there many times and went back and forth about what we would do.  The walk around the walls surrounding the old town is great, but how many times do you have to do it?  There was a local tourist person on the ship, Linda asked her for suggestions and she said that if we like to walk, we should walk from the pier to the old town (the pier is about 3K from the Pile Gate of the old town) and that's what we did.  It was a good walk with nice water views.

When we got to the old town, we walked through, stopping for a coffee, of course, and made our way to the harbor on the other side.

The tourist rep also suggested a couple of restaurants for lunch and we picked one that overlooked the harbor.  It was excellent and another opportunity to have mussels.  We sampled some local wine and the Malvasia was really good.  We've now had three terrific Malvasias on this trip - in Lanzarote, in Mallorca, and now in Dubrovnik.  They also had some excellent local olive oil for dipping.  The waiter, who was also excellent, told us that the olive oil was produced on a small farm and that it was only available at the restaurant - not for sale anywhere.  Before we left, he slipped us a bottle to take home!  What a treat.  Since I know that Bob Stahl will be asking, the restaurant is Gradska Kavana Arsenal, Pred Dvorom 1 and the waiter's name is Marijo.

We're sailing out of Dubrovnik now and I'm about to lose a good signal, so I'll wrap up with today's Rule of Civility which is worth considering when soaking your bread in olive oil: Rule #94. If you soak bread in the sauce let it be no more than what you put in your mouth at a time and blow not your broth at table but stay till cools of it self.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry